LineDance4You

Us or them? It’s not either/or…

I have been getting the feeling lately that people feel that we are in “competition” with other instructors in the area and that our dancers shouldn’t go elsewhere to dance with other instructors. So, I just want to set that straight…

I LOVE our peers in this industry and I love that there are so many for you to learn from (including our growing variety of instructors in our own team)! Many of us talk behind the scenes to make sure that our shared dancers have a cohesive experience and we often refer people to each other’s classes when it fits. We don’t do it publicly because (duh!) this is a business and we don’t want to ENCOURAGE people to go elsewhere, but we also don’t want to DISCOURAGE them either from expanding their repertoire from, frankly, some pretty awesome people.

So yes, you can have it ALL! I mean, clearly, if you can only dance one night and you have to choose between one of our classes and another, OF COURSE I want you to come out to ours, but I wouldn’t want somebody to NOT dance with another, perfectly capable and fun instructor because they are loyal to me/us (I truly thank you and humbled by that sentiment though!). Hopefully you’ll come back to our classes because you want to and enjoy them and perhaps you’ll bring us back something new that you’ve learned!

I liken it this way… where LD4Y may be a line of Chick-fil-A franchises where you get the same food at every site and the same feel, but slight differences based on who manages it, I consider our peers to be the McDonalds and Taco Bells (or whatever appealing option you prefer to insert). Just because you’re a loyal Chick-fil-A diner doesn’t mean that you don’t crave a Big Mac or a Chalupa from time to time? 🙂 (Ok, now I’m hungry!)

Years ago, we never would have dreamed that line dancing would take off the way it has and I am thrilled that we have been able to expand like we have and that so many other instructors have arrived on the scene to help it grow (including the many that came before me). The additional instructors out there only help us to spread this activity we love and sometime give us a fresh perspective or opportunity to try something new. Many of us learn from each other and teach in similar methods, but we all offer something a little different which we hope you will enjoy.

I will remind you though that because most of us do this at bars, we are always seeking more people to come out and PURCHASE items to keep this going. So, whether you’re at one of our classes, another bar, at a conference or any place where they are providing line dancing for free, please be sure to support that place because doing so means we can continue to have this great variety of venues and instructors!

So, go out and get dancing… with whomever you choose (but hopefully us too)!

Step of the Week: Scissor Step

Level:
Improver

Step count:
4 Steps / 4 counts

Directions:
Step foot A to side A (1), step foot B next to A (2), cross foot A over foot B (3), hold for final count (4)
Example: Step right to right side, step left next to right, cross/step right to left of left foot, hold.

Dances featuring this move:
BCBC, Come Dance With Me

Tips for this move:
The hold is the hardest part! Don’t overlook that it is a legitimate part of this step or else you’ll get ahead of the dance. (Check out: The hardest step in line dancing)

Step of the Week: Double Grapevine

Level:
Improver

Step count:
8 counts/ 8 steps

Directions:
Step out with foot A, step foot B behind A, step out again with foot A, cross/step foot B in front of foot A, continue to basic vine right (Step out with foot A, step foot B behind A, step out again with foot A, tap foot B next to A)
Example: Step right to right side, step left behind right, step right to right side, cross/step left foot in front of right, step right to right side, step left behind right, step right to right side, tap left next to right

Dances featuring this move:
Cruise, One Step Forward (many other dances feature a variation of this… the “twisted double grapevine”… watch for that step for more!)

Tips for this move:
You are simply combining two basic grapevines by using the cross/step in the middle rather than tapping at the end of the “first” grapevine.

Step of the Week: Mambo Step

Level:
Improver

Step count:
2 ½ counts (1&2)

Directions:
Step foot A forward, rocking weight onto foot A, recover the weight back onto foot B, then step foot A next to B.
Example: Step/rock forward on your right foot (1), bring your weight back onto your left foot (&), step your right next to your left (2)

Dances featuring this move:
Mambo Shuffle , Rockin’ the Wagon Wheel, West Coast Lover, Say Hey Love, La Cucaracha

Tips for this move:
This step is just as often done to the sides and backward as it is to the front. Same principal applies, so instead of rocking forward on foot A, you’d either rock to side A or backward on foot A. Weight always ends on foot A.

Sorry for the interruption

Sorry for the delay in posts for a while. For those that don’t know, I announced a few weeks ago that I’m pregnant (with a little girl due Jan 1) and since then I’ve been so focused on training my replacements both at dance and my regular job that I’ve fallen behind on the blog scene. But I’m back and still have a few more step of the weeks to add before we get to the full list. Keep checking back and thanks for reading!

Recycling… it’s not just for those empty beer cans

As I was jamming out to this new tune this morning, I thought “we’ve got to come up with a dance to this!” However, immediately afterward, I was reminded that we’ve added more than 6 new dances to the lineup in the past couple months (far exceeding my rule of only one new dance few months or so; see “LD4Y Philosophy”). So what’s an instructor to do?!

Well, that started me thinking then about how things have changed in the past 8 years of teaching. When I started out, we only did about 15 dances TOTAL (we do ~130 now)! Most of them were older dances and none of them were our original choreography. With so few dances in the lineup, we did the same dances multiple times during the night to different songs. Granted, if you ask anyone who started dancing with us back then, they’ll tell you that they’d probably be happy never doing Easy Come, Easy Go or Sleazy Slide again! Ha! But everyone knew the dances, so they were always on the floor and we often tried out new tunes to the dances as a way of changing things up.

Not that I’d want to go back to such a restrictive format, but it does remind me that not every new song requires its own new dance. While we do still recycle dances now, we don’t do it as often. Perhaps that’s something we should do a little more going forward? With so many great songs coming out, we want to add them all to the lineup and recycling a current dance is the fastest way to do it.

Here’s are some examples of dances we currently “recycle”:

Dance	Original Song (in our group)	Alternative Songs
Easy Come, Easy Go	Honey I’m Home	Any Man of Mine; Cruise; Little Bit of Everything
Sleazy Slide	Honky Tonk Badonkadonk	Hicktown; Yee Haw; Wrap Around
Wooden Nickel	???	If You’re Going Through Hell; Red High Heels; Watching You; There’s Your Trouble; Gone Country; She’s In Love With the Boy; Would You Go With Me; Nothin’ ’bout Love Makes Sense
Canadian Slap	Good Ol’ Days	Online ; High Maintenance Woman, Love Done Gone
El Paso	Neon Moon	Your Man; Amarillo By Morning; Straight Tequila Night; Whiskey Girl
Bartender Stomp	Indian Outlaw	Put Some Drive in your Country ; Dancing Cowboys (remix)
Mamma Maria	Mamma Maria	Poker Face; Hard To Love; Natural Disaster; Do Your Thing
Let’s Chill	Ice Cream Freeze	Ol’ Faithful
Teach Me How to Diffie	1994	Boys ‘Round Here
Hunt You Down	Hunt You Down	5-1-5-0; Ex Old Man
Metamorphosized	Metamorphosized	Total Eclipse Of The Heart; Brown Eyed Girls Remix; Believe; Blown Away
Country As Can Be	Country As Can A Boy Can Be	Devil Went Down to GA

Dances can easily be recycled usually (especially beginner dances with no tags or restarts) because most songs follow similar patterns (ie: 32 count stanzas). Some dances either just aren’t recycled because they are choreographed so perfectly to one song or may have some unusual aspects or tags, but most dances can be recycled.

So try it out next time. When you hear a song on the radio that just makes you want to dance, go through the dances you know in your head and see which one would match the tempo and stanza count of the song. Or… you can always ask me and I’ll help you find one! If it can’t be paired up, then maybe it’s time to find or create a new dance just for that song, but if it can, we’re much more likely to start dancing to it right away, so why not give it a whirl!

Step of the Week: Cross Chasse

Level:
Advanced

Step count:
3 steps/ 2 counts (1&2)

Directions:
Cross/step foot A over foot B (1), slide foot B next to foot A while legs are still crossed (2), step foot A further in the direction of B (legs remain crossed at end with weight on A) (3)
Example: cross left over right, slide right next to left (outsides of both feet should be almost touching), keeping legs crossed, step left to right side.

Dances featuring this move:
Guitar Hero, Moves Like Jagger, Chill Factor

Tips for this move:
This is an “inside-out” chasse, where rather than stepping away from your body for the first step and following behind, you’re starting with a cross over, so you tend to look a little like a pretzel when you do this. As you get comfortable, expand your steps wider to make the step look more graceful and less like you need to go to the bathroom! Ha!

Note that “chasse” and “shuffle” are often used interchangeably in step sheets. Technically, a chasse moves right or left, while a shuffle moves forward or backward, but the idea is the same.

Step of the Week: Step Turn

Level:
Beginner

Step count:
2 steps/ 2 counts (1-2)

Directions:
Step forward with foot A, push off with foot A to make a 1/X turn in the direction of B, weight falls to foot B (1/X could be 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc)
Example of ½ turn left: Step forward on right foot, pushing off with right foot, turn ½ turn to your left, dropping weight onto left foot as you turn.

Dances featuring this move:
Almost every dance features a step turn. Take your pick from any at LineDance4You.com!

Tips for this move:
When stepping forward on foot A, step “gingerly” so that you can push off to turn with it too (some will say this is not actually a “step”, but just a placement of your foot A in front of you to push off). Note that you will automatically turn in the direction of the back foot when you step forward, so don’t think too much about which way to turn – just think of the foot you place in front (right foot = left turn; left foot = right turn). This is similar to a rock step in that rather than stepping on foot B, you are keeping that foot in place and just recovering your weight back onto it after the turn.

Step of the Week: Turning Jazz Box (or Turning Box Step)

Level:
Improver

Step count:
4 steps/ 4 counts (1-2-3-4)

Directions:
Cross/step foot A over foot B (weight moves from B to A), step backward on foot B, turn ¼ turn to direction A and step foot A forward, step forward on foot B*
Example: cross right over left, step backward on left, turn ¼ turn right stepping forward on right, step forward on left

Dances featuring this move:
Beers Ago, Ghost Train, BCBC, Country Walkin’, Sittin’ Pretty, Giddy On Up

Tips for this move:
Picture a box on the floor where your left foot (this is for a right box step) is in the top left corner, then alternating R-L-R, move counter clockwise around the box stepping on each corner. Only difference is that on step 3, you are turning ¼ turn right (for a right box).

*The 4th step has some variations: Some people do the 4th step as a step together or to the 4th position of a regular box step (original top corner), but we choose the step forward method to keep consistent with the 4th step of a standard jazz box.

Step of the Week: Heel Switches

Level:
Beginner

Step count:
4 steps / 2 counts (1&2&)

Directions:
Tap heel of foot A forward (1), step foot A next to foot B (&), tap heel of foot B forward (2), step foot B by foot A (&)
Example: Tap right heel forward (1), step right foot next to left foot (&), tap left heel forward (2), left foot by right foot (&)

Dances featuring this move:
West Coast Lover, Cowboy Casanova, Guitar Hero, Sittin’ Pretty, Party Like You, Askin’ Questions

Tips for this move:
What makes heel jacks unique is that for each tap of the heel, there is a corresponding step together on the upbeat. Since this move involves syncopated steps (half steps), you need to (1) move a little faster than a typical 1-2 step and (2) do not leave out that second & step (stepping together). Heel jacks are most often followed by a step turn and almost always started with the right foot, but that is subject to choreographer’s discretion.