Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston, I am a five time world champion of country dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music and that’s country music. Two very similar terms and very similar steps but a definite difference in style and technique are the shuffle step and the polka step. Now, they do kind of fall under the umbrella of the triple step. The triple step is three steps to two beats of music, which we talked about before, but the shuffle and the polka have to do with really traveling movements. Like if your really moving, if your doing a ten step or a cotton eye Joe or one of those dances where you’re really going to cook down the floor. A shuffle step, usually done to really fast music, and we shuffle our feet right underneath ourselves, step together step, step together step, so we shuffle step, shuffle step – you should be sliding your feet -shuffle step, shuffle step. It’s also very smooth, you’ll notice there’s no bounce in the head. That’s a shuffle step. A polka step does the same step together step, we’re more on the balls of our feet and there’s going to be a little bit of a bounce or lilt to it. Polka step, polka step you can’t polka quite as fast as you can shuffle, so it’s a little slower sometimes when you get to polka step. Polka step, polka step or shuffle step, shuffle step and it’s important to understand the difference. If you try to do a polka step to a really, really, really fast shuffle song you are going to struggle, right. And if you try a shuffle to a polka song you’re going to feel like you’re standing still while everybody else is passing you. So shuffle doesn’t travel as much, polka travels a lot, shuffle very smooth, polka has bounce or lilt to it. So that’s the difference to the shuffle step and the polka step.

Transcript

“Hi! My name is Robert Royston.I’m a 5-time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carey Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to Hawaiian dance and experience what its like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.

So now that you’ve learned the basic two-step, were going to teach you the closed turn, or a closed basic turn. So what’s gonna happen here, were gonna take our basic of quick-quick, slow-slow. Quick-quick, slow-slow. But as we step our last slow, that’s my right foot, her left foot. Im gonna start to take the ladies a little more to my right. So Imma go quick-quick, slow-slow. So I kinda moved her out of the way. Im gonna do that coming right at you so you see what I’m doing. I’m gonna go quick-quick, slow-slow. So I just try to move her to my right ’cause I’m still heading forward. As that happens, as I move to the right on that slow-slow, I’m now going to start coming right up alongside of her on quick-quick. Kind of turn her to face line of dance as well. On the slow-slow, I’m going to face her. Slow-slow. So now I’m going backwards. Quick-quick, slow-slow. Quick-quick, slow-slow. Let’s think of it like this, I’m gonna take the ladies and I’m gonna open ’em like I’m opening a door. I’m gonna open the door which is my right arm. But I’m gonna be the door that closes in front of the right arm. So although I’m opening the ladies, I’m closing the door. So from here we’re gonna go quick-quick, slow prepare slow. Open, quick-quick, guys close, slow-slow. And going backwards quick-quick, slow-slow. Quick-quick, slow-slow. Now turning back around we do the exact opposite. I’m the first door to open and then she closes the door. So as we are going backwards, I go quick-quick slow, same thing on slow. I start to prep myself open on the second slow. She passes quick-quick, closes slow-slow. And now she’s going backwards again quick-quick, slow-slow. So the first one she opens, and I close. The second one I open and she closes. So we can two-step around the floor, opening up, guys in front, stay here for a little while, have a good time. Guys open up, ladies close, and we are back to our basic.
So that’s the basic couple’s closed turn. Have fun!”

Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. So what is a syncopation. As we talk about syncopation, I’m gonna talk about it how it relates to a dancer, specifically line dancing, not necessarily how it relates to a musician. A syncopation by definition is the splitting of a beat, splitting up a beat, right? How it relates to a dancer is what we’re doing in between the beats, on the beats, so on and so forth. So for instance, if I have two beats of music, well there’s a beat and there’s a beat, let’s say that’s beat one and that’s beat two right? So that’s one, two. So if I walked and I went one, two, that’s me walking to straight time. But if I went one and two, if I took three steps within those two beats I’d be adding something in the middle there. So it’d be one and two, yea. So the fact that I’ve split that, right, and created something is a syncopation. I’ve split the beats up. I’ve added something within a certain beat structure. If I took that same syncopation or that same two beats, and I put one right there kind of splitting that beat a little bit, right? And another one right there kind of splitting that, so we’re kind of like going, that beat is sharing another step and that beat is sharing another step and that’s one, two, I might go, one and two and. So I try to in the same period of time, get more steps. So we have a beat, we have beat, right? There’s a duration of time there, one two, one, two. If I walk it, one two, that’s straight time. If I had any amount of steps in there, I’m creating a syncopation. So, as it relates to dancing, we can create syncopation’s like this. You can change that up and add and do whatever you want to do with that, or it also relates to anything outside of the basic. So if I go one, two, three, four, and instead of doing that I went one, two, three, four, in dancing a lot of times we’d call that a syncopation as well cause we do the turn. We did a variation of what of what the basic is. Most the time it relates to beat structure, but sometimes you’ll hear dance teachers say that it relates to a variation of step. One of the things as you learn to line dance is the line dance you’ve learned is one, two, three, four. So I started on my right, one, two, three, four, and I ended on my left. I could do whatever I want to do as long I start right and end left, I could create syncopation’s. Now that’s four steps, right? It’s four beats, four steps. So I could go one and two and three and four and, and end up on my left, right? So I went one and two and three and four and. So a line dance that goes one, two, three, four, I could stand next to somebody and go one and two and three and four and, and be on the same beat. Let’s say the next step is to go straight back. So we have one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. That’s say a line dance pattern. Somebody next to me could syncopate that and go one and two and three and four and one, two, three, four and be right with me. What they’ve done is split up the beats along the way to then still be on the same pattern. Now without getting too complex, here’s what we know about out two beat structure, right? So we know that if we have a one two, and then let’s say, the next one we have a beat there, we have a beat there, and let’s say we split that a little bit, right? And we went three and let’s say that’s an and,and we went four. So we’ll go one, two, three, and four. So the line dance went one, two, three, and four, right. So we have four beats there. This is an even number, this is an odd number, right? Walk, walk, and then we have three steps. So we have two steps and three steps. If I want to create a syncopation, I can put any number of even steps. If I can fit four steps in there, bah, bah, bah, bah, that’s fine to the triple steps. So I could go one and two and, still do my three and four, and be on phrase cause I replaced an even number of two walks with an even number of four. Potentially if I could fit six in there, I could do that as well and it still feeds me into this the way it’s suppose to. Just like this is an odd number, so it’s an odd number of weight transfers, right? So if I went one, two, and three, and a four, it would still work. Yea, so now that’s kind of hard, putting five into that is hard. But, what if I did a touch step? What if I went one, two, and then I went three, four, and did a touch step? Well a touch step is only one weight transfer. It’s one weight transfer cause I touch then I step. So I’m only taking one weight transfer. So how many weight transfers in three and four? There’s three, there’s three weight transfers. How many weight transfers in a touch step, let’s say a touch doesn’t get dark, right, if I went touch step? How many weight transfers, one. So three, that’s one, they’re both odd, works the same. So I could go one, two, three and four, four finishes on my right foot. I could go one, two, three, four, four finished on my right foot. So I can syncopate that rhythm a little bit, right? Replacing any odd with an odd, or replacing an even with an even. So then we understand a little bit how we can syncopate as we go. I know that all sounds a little bit confusing, but once you start to play with it a little bit and you go one, two or and one and two, oh wow that makes sense to me. I started on my right, I finished on my left, right? Or going one and two, or going one, two. Okay, I started on my right and finished on my right. I go one and two, started right, finished right. If I go one, two, started right, finished right. I can replace those up. So as I’m learning a new line dance, once I get it and it feels really good, well I want to start to play with it a little bit. So that instead of going one, two, three, four, I go one and two and three and four and, right? And then I’ll go back, five, six, seven, eight. So we can start to make the dance our own by syncopating within the dance. Remember, it’s splitting a beat, or it’s varying the basic. That is a syncopation.

Transcript

“Line Dancing Steps for Country Couples Dancing: Laces

Hi my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music and that’s country music. So to take what we’ve learned in two step and go one step further, especially after ladies outside turn, we’re going to do laces. Now depending on where you learn your two-step or where you go two-step dancing, they will either call this laces or they’ll call it weaves. So what you’re going to do is take that same basic outside turn you did with the ladies. Quick, quick, slow, slow outside turn. What’s going to happen is guy’s are going to make one half rotation. Quick, quick, slow, slow. So on the slow, slow what will happen is we will both be backwards to line up dance. So if we were headed that directions this is where we end up on slow, slow. And I actually can see my partner. From here here’s where the lace part of this comes in. She’s going to walk in front of me as I walk behind her lifting this arm. Quick, quick, slow, looking at each other, slow. Now from here she’s going to do an inside turn in quick, quick, slow, slow, and back to close, quick, quick, slow, slow. So again, we’re going to go quick, quick, slow, half turn, slow. Now I’m going to step underneath as she weaves behind. Quick, quick, from here slow, turn and face each other with kind of a quarter rotation, slow. Now from here we’re going to do an inside turn with my left hand it’s going to come to the inside, quick, quick, slow, slow to a basic slow, slow. So if we do that with kind of small steps coming right at you you’ll see us go quick, quick, slow, slow, outside turn, quick, quick, slow, slow. Now she’s going to come around as I cut underneath, quick, quick, slow face each other, slow. Now we’re going to do an inside turn, quick, quick, slow, slow and then we can two-step, quick, quick, slow, slow. So we have quick, quick, guys turn, go under, check the lady end, and we’re done. Now what you can do, the reason why we call them laces, is you can repeat the pattern over and over and over. Once you’ve done the outside turn, guys is you come underneath quick, quick, slow and check. From this inside turn guys you can cut all the way across quick, quick, slow, back to the backward position, and cut underneath and we’re doing laces. And then at any time from the inside turn you bring her back to closed and we’re two-stepping. Five, six, seven, go. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Quick, quick, slow, slow. One more time. Quick, quick, slow, turn. Quick, quick, slow, slow. Guys under. Ladies under. Guys under. Ladies under. And we’re done. Have fun with your laces.”

Transcript

“Hi my name is Robert Royston. Im a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.
Two very similar terms and very similar steps but a definite difference in style and technique are the Shuffle Step and the Polka Step. Now they do kind of fall into the umbrella of the triple step. The triple step is three steps to two beats of music, which we talked about before. But the Shuffle and the Polka have to do with really traveling movements like if you’re really moving if you’re doing a ten step or a cotton eyed joe or one of those dances where you’re really going to cook down the floor. A Shuffle Step, usually done to really fast music, and we shuffle our feet right underneath ourselves. Step together step, step together step. So we shuffle step, shuffle step. You should be sliding your feet, shuffle step, shuffle step. It’s also very smooth, you’ll notice there is no bounce in the head. That’s a shuffle step.
A Polka Step does the same step together step, we are more on the balls of our feet and there is going to be a little bit of a bounce or lilt to it. Polka step, polka step, you can’t polka quite as fast as you can shuffle. So it’s a little slower sometimes when you get to polka step. Polka step Polka step, or shuffle step shuffle step. And it’s important to understand the difference. If you try to do a Polka Step to a really really really fast you are going to struggle alright. And if you try to Shuffle to a Polka song your going to feel like you are standing still while everyone else is passing you. So shuffle doesn’t travel as much. Polka travels a lot. Shuffle very smooth. Polka has bounce or lilt to it. So that’s the difference between the Shuffle Step and the Polka Step.”

Transcript

“Hi, my name is Robert Royston, I am a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music and that’s country music.

So, moving into the variations of triple steps for line dancing. What is a triple step? A triple step is three steps to two beats of music. I’ll say that again; a triple step is three steps to two beats of music so if I have one, two, a triple step will go one, two so I took three steps but within the two beats, I went one and two; three steps, two beats of music.

Now there’s a lot of different types of triple steps that we use in line dancing but the main three, we have a swing triple or an east coast swing triple you’ll hear it called sometimes which is step together step other side step together step so that would be one and two, three and four, yeah and there’s usually a little bounce to that, one and two, three and four, that’s a swing triple.

We then have what’s called a sailors step and a sailor’s step hooks behind, you hook and side, hook and side. And the idea there is that you kinda look like a drunken sailor, right on a boat that’s weaving back and forth, right that’s why it’s called the sailor’s shuffle, cause it’s a sailor who tries to walk down a deck cause it’s moving like this, with a little bit of alcohol in him them it becomes the sailors shuffle, yes, so what you’re doing there is taking a foot behind, doing behind, replacing it and then going back to the side side so it’s going behind and side, behind and side, you’d be going right then right again, left and left again so we create that little hook thing and we wanta kinda feel like our bodies almost figurating,so we go one and two, three and four, five and six, seven and eight; that’s a sailors shuffle. So our final triple step that we use is called a coaster step, and the coaster implies: back together forward so if I take my right foot and go back, back then I go together with my left and back forward again with my right and that’s called the coaster step so we go back together forward, that’s a coaster triple rhythm the timing would be one and two, again that’s three steps to two beats of music, so that would be one and two, yeah? I can do the same thing with the other foot one and two, so anytime I do any sort of coaster forward action, I can even hook the coaster a little bit and go one and two, as long as I’m coming forward at the end of the triple step its a coaster action.

So our three main types of triple steps that we use is a swing triple; step together step, step together step, sailor’s shuffles; hook behind, hook behind. And a coaster step; back together forward or back together forward.

And those are our triple rhythms.”

Transcript

Hi my name is Robert Royston, I’m a five time World Champion of Country Dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to Americas music and that’s country music. So this is all about some line dance terminology when it comes to phrasing or music. We’re gonna talk about 3 specific things here. We’re gonna talk about being out of phrase, what a tag is and what a restart is. So in a perfect world the song that we’re dancing to will be perfectly phrased. What does that mean? That means that it happens in 32 beats and then starts over, happens in 32 beats and then starts over. Or for dancing to blues music it happens in 48 counts. So a 12 bar blues rythym right, which would be 6 measures for a dancer would go; a one two three four five six seven eight, two two three four five six seven eight, three two three four five six seven eight, four two three four five six seven eight, five two three four five six seven eight, six two three four five and a six and a seven and a eight, one two three four and start over. So we would just draw six eights and then it starts over. But we do have things that called tags and off phrase music and a lot of the music that we dance to is off phrase. What would that look like? So if I took something like doe a deer, so if I went doe a deer a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun into this you know, me a name and I go through this whole thing right. If we counted this, doe a deer a female deer, ray a drop of golden sun, there’s another 8 right, me a name I call myself, far a long long way to run six seven eight. Sew a needle pulling thread, la a note to follow sew, tea I drink with jam and bread, towards the end, that’ll bring us back to doe doe doe doe doe. And we start back over. That’s perfectly phrased yes? So I have 32, 32 and then it starts over. But what if somebody did a club remix of do a deer and they went, that’ll bring us back to doe doe doe doe doe doe doe doe doe a deer and then start it over. They added four beats, they went five six seven eight, five six seven eight before the restart. That would be out of phrase, that song is out of phrase because you have 32 and now we have 36, we have, we have 4 extra beats there that’ll bring us back to doe doe doe doe doe doe doe doe doe a deer. And actually that sounds ok, it’s ok to do that 4 beat tag. It doesn’t feel ultimately wierd, somebody might be just wanted to stretch that out and give a little bit more build to then restart the next phrase. So out of phrase, this would be out of phrase, but it would also be a 4 beat tag. That would mean that we’ve added 4, we’ve added 4 beats to the end of that 8. So being out of phrase and having a tag can be very much the same thing. Not always the same thing but similar, because you can also have a song that would go one two three four five six seven eight, one two three four, then one two three four five six seven eight, one two three four five six seven eight right. In that instance, it’s out of phrase but there’s nothing that’s added to the 32 counts, we’ve actually taken 4 beats away. So that’s out of phrase but it’s not a tag. So sometimes they can be the same thing and sometimes they’re completely different. A tag would be adding beats to a perfectly phrase, so there’s a perfect 32 counts, we have 4 beats, that’s a tag, that’s out of phrase. In this instance, we took away 4 beats out of phrase but we’ve tagged nothing. What is the restart? The restart is when we start the line dance back over. So we might take this and do one big line dance when we do 4 eights, we do 3 eights and in this instance we do a twelve count pattern right at the end of it and then restart the dance. What’s the restart? The restart would be doe. Doe is the tonic or the keynote, all songs are written in a key. Each verse begins on the same note, that’s called the tonic or the keynote. That’s your restart. So whether you go doe doe doe doe doe a deer, that being your restart or doe doe doe doe doe doe doe doe doe your restart is the same after the tag or if there is no tag, after the last 8. So we understand what it means to have a out of phrase dance, we understand that a tag is adding beats to a phrase and the restart is where does that music resolve, what’s the tonic, what’s the keynote, what’s doe. That’s where we restart the dance and the whole thing goes over again and usually facing another wall. So we understand a little bit about some musical terms that you’re going to hear as you start to learn line dancing. And sometimes, what choreographers will do is they’ll call this A and they’ll call this B. So you do A and then you do B. They might be the exact same dance but what we do is in A we go here, we go bum bum bum bah and then start the dance over again whatever the dance is. And when you get to B, you have to go bum bum bum bah bum bum bum bah and then start the dance over again. So a lot of times you’ll get that happening throughout. One of the consistent things about an off phrase dance is if there’s a 4 beat tag somewhere in the song, chances are there’s gonna be a 4 beat tag everywhere in that same place. What does that mean? If I have one two three four, one two three four plus four, I’m probably going to go one two three four, one two three four plus four again. It’s probably gonna happen, wherever it happens in this part of the phrase it’s gonna happen again and again and again and again. Music is consistent. It’s even consistent when it’s off phrase or when there are tags. So as you choreograph a dance you would have A, B, A, B and you could keep going with that. So I hope this makes a little bit of sense for you as you start to chart your own songs for your own choreography or start to learn line dances and understand when a dance teacher says this dance has a A and B, this dance has a tag, this dance is off phrase. You’ll now know what that means.

Transcript

“Hi! My name is Robert Royston.I’m a 5-time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carey Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what its like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.

So one of the highlights of line dancing is hip move ment, hip action, body rolls, all that kind of stuff. And country bars you see a lot of hip movement, hip rolls, hip bumps, right, hell digs, all kinds of stuff going on body rolls. So we should really break those down for you as well. Hip bumps are easy. The hip bump is just like you imagine somebody being there and you were doing the bump. And you were just bumping your hip against theirs. But you’re doing it imaginary, yeah. Usually you double the hip bump. You go like two forward, two back and then you go back, forward, back, forward so you see kind of that bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump, bump.

A grind though is bump, bump, bump, bump. The grind is a circular motion with the hips so your grinding, yeah. So it’s a grind in the hips. Back when I was in high school we called it the freak. This is called the freak, alright. So we’re gonna go bump, bump, bump, bump, grind, grind, yeah.

We also have hip rolls, you can roll the hip back and then forward, back and the forward. Or forward and around, forward and around. Or of course a full circle, yeah. So that’s the hips rolls.

We also have body rolls. Now body rolls are not always easy to do. One of the best ways to practice a body roll is to kind of go up against the wall with your back and sit like you’re sitting up against the wall. So put your body against the wall, your back, your head, everything. The let your hips come off first, then your stomach, then your chest, then the head last coming off the wall. So you sit up against the wall, push your hips up against the wall first, push up, and that teaches you to do an upward body roll. So we have…that.

You can reverse that by facing the wall. A good thing to do is to face a wall that has a corner to it so your head can pass the wall. As that happens you put your head pass the wall ’til your shoulder hits the wall. So your shoulder touches the wall, then your chest, then your stomach, and as a new body part touches the wall, you take another body part off. So the shoulder, so as my chest touches it I pull my shoulder back, then my stomach, then my hips, and I come back. So I roll against the wall, and then come off. So a body roll down, or a body roll up. Yeah. The thing to think about it is like having two fence like a fence post right here, that you’re gonna try to step underneath and take your head first to see what’s up before the rest if your body comes through. Same thing other side, Kind of coming underneath that fence post, you wanna see what’s on the other side of the fence before your entire body comes through. So we can have side body rolls, right. We can have forward body rolls, right. And we can have up body rolls, yeah.

So we have hip bumps, grind, hip rolls, yeah. Then we have body waves or body ripples, right, down and up.

Not necessarily the hardest thing to practice and a lot of fun to practice. So make sure you close your drapes and don’t let your cats watch you and practice your body rolls. “

Transcript

“Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I am a five times world champion of Country Dance working with actors like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley.I really hope that you learn how to Line Dance and experience what it is like to move to America’s music, that is Country Music.

So, some of the kicking elements that you use in Line Dancing are things like Rodeo Kicks and Figure 4s usually followed up by sort of triple steps.Rodeo Kick tends to go forward and side. So you are going to kick forward and side and it is like “”Ba””, “”Ba””. Flexed foot, relaxed leg “”Ba””, ‘Ba”” then usually followed up by triple steps, “”triple step””, same thing other side, “”kick””, “”kick””, “”triple step””. It helps to get a little bit of bounce in that kick, “”kick””, “”kick””, “”triple step””, “”kick””, “”kick””, “”triple step””. It is kind of

relaxed, free, kicking type action by the time company buys some group holiday.

Right. So, we have “”hee””, “”haa””,””triple step””, right “”kick””, “”kick””, “”triple

step””.

Then, we have what we call Figure 4. Figure 4, you kick your foot in one

direction then you do exactly as I says and Figure 4 the leg also usually

followed up by triple step.””triple step””, saw kick, Figure 4, “”triple step””,

“”kick””, “”figure 4″”, “”triple step””. Now that is one and two, three and four,

takes two beats, five,six, seven and eight.So, we have “”figure 4″”, “”triple

step””, “”figure 4″”, “”triple step”” and you see that a lot. You cannot Figure 4

quickly and throw the foot out there too. One and two but you do not put weight

on it until the three and four, five and six, seven and eight. The two

variations you see the whole of the Figure 4 or you see them pass down

quickly,One and two, three and four, five and six, seven and eight,One and two,

three and four, five and six, seven and eight , these are the two variations of

the Figure 4. So, Rodeo Kicks, Figure 4s, couple of kicking actions that you use in your Line Dancing.”

Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. So solid steps, camel walks, and slides, three other terms you’re gonna come across in line dancing. A solid walk really just means a hard hitting that doesn’t have much movement afterwards. You can land it bent leg, boom, boom, that’d be like a solid walk. Or you could land it straight leg, boom, boom, that’d be a solid walk, right? So it’s just kind of a hit, hit, hit alright. If you take a solid walk and as you land that straight leg, boom, you took that solid walk and you really over exaggerated the break of the knee as maybe you lock stepped, bam. You get what’s called the camel walk. Big exaggerated step, break at the knee, yea, same thing. Big solid walk, really exaggerate the break. Big solid walk, exaggerate at the break. You don’t always have to lock step though, you could go boom, bah, boom, bah, that’s a camel walk. You could go boom, bah, boom, step, step, break, step, step, break. As soon as we break a solid step with a kind of hard collapse of the knee, it becomes a camel walk, and we can camel walk sideways too. Boom, bah, boom. I can take my grape vine, right, and camel walk them to add a little style to it. So style walks, camel walks, now we have slides, just what it implies. Slide, slide, forward and back, slide, slide, forty-five degree angles,slide, slide, just sliding the step. So we can take solid walks, boom, boom, straight leg, boom, bent leg, boom, boom, boom, camel walks, boom, bah, boom, bah, and slides, slides, slides.

Transcript

“Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance. Working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music and that’s country music.

Some really fun kind of advanced elements that you might have to learn for line dancing are Shorty George, Boogie Walks, and Scissor Steps. So Shorty George named after Shorty George Snowden who was a Lindy Hopper, a very famous Lindy Hopper, in the late 20s’ in Harlem. George Snowden, or Shorty George, came up with this step and it’s really a kick-ball-change kick-ball-change you do a kick-ball-change and then you’re going to walk forward. The difference is, is when you walk forward you’re going to bend your knees and you’re going to swivel to the inside and outside of your feet. So you do a kick-ball-change and then swivel your knees as you walk forward. So as we do the Shorty George it goes; kick-ball-change walk, walk, walk, walk. That’s the Shorty George. And the thing about it is we try to keep our feet, and I have these nice arrows that we call boots on my feet right now, right, we try to keep them pointing forward so we’re not swiveling this way. Right? We’re keeping our feet forward and our knees are folding from side-to-side. So that’s called a Shorty George. And again kick-ball-change walk, walk, walk, walk.

A Boogie Walk, similar to a Shorty George, a little bit slower. You’re going to brush-land and you’re going to take both knees to that direction. And you’re going to walk, so you’re going to kind of reach, and walk your knees. So my knees are folding to one side and the other while my feet are trying to track straight. Boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie. So we’re are going to Boogie Walk folding the knees, one more time. That goes, boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie. There’s a gentleman named Bob Fosse who made the Boogie Walks very famous. By doing things like, this.

So we have Shorty Georges and Boogie Walks, both very similar, where I try to track my feet straight while my knees fold from side-to-side. And then we have Scissor Steps. Scissor Steps are just jumping and crossing, just doing a Scissor Step. Like we’re scissoring our legs. A lot of times with the Scissor Steps they’ll scissor and have you rotate, like they do in Good Times, scissor and have you rotate. So Scissor Step is anytime I’m scissoring my legs with a jumping step. Open, cross one foot, open, cross the other. As we scissor whichever foot crosses in front you’re turning in the opposite direction. So if my right foot is in front, I’m turning to my left. If my left foot is in front, I’m turning to my right.

Shorty George, Boogie Walks, Scissor Steps just some more advanced stuff for your line dance tool-box.”

Transcript

“Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.
So, one of the dances that you must learn, and it’s really called round dancing, what we’re doing, what we’re about to do, because it goes in a circle but it’s a set piece of choreography, a lot like line dancing. But, no matter where you go in the United States, if you’re going to a place that does line dancing, they’re probably going to do the Cotton Eyed Joe. The Cotton Eyed Joe is a dance that you can do with a partner, you could have somebody alongside you, or you can do it by yourself, or you can do it in rows of people. Sometimes you’ll have rows of eight or nine people, all shoulders around each other, doing the Cotton Eyed Joe.
Cotton Eyed Joe has two variations that I’ll show you. One is stomp, just a stomp stomp. Kick the same foot back up with the triple step, triple step. Then, same thing with the other foot. Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Yeah, so that goes one, two, a three and four. Five, six, a seven and eight. One, two, a three and four. Five, six, a seven and eight.
The variation, depending on the region you are in, to that, is that instead of a stomp, they do a touch. They go touch across, touch, kick, triple step. Touch, kick, triple step. Touch, kick, triple step. Touch, kick, triple step. So depending on the variations so you can see that in the front, I’ll either cross my foot over, then kick, then back up. Cross, kick, triple step. Cross, kick, triple step. Or, I’ll stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step.
I tend to like to make a lot of noise so I do the stomp.
Then what you’re going to do after the final triple, you’re going to do eight counts of a shuffle, which we’ve learned in another series here in the line dance series, is a shuffle step, shuffle step, shuffle step, shuffle step. You’re going to do eight counts of that. So you’re going to go one and two, three and four, five and six, seven and eight and it starts over. One, two, a three, and four. Five, six, a seven and eight. One, two, a three, and four. Five, six, and then you shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle and start it over.
And again, lines of people. The more people in there the more fun it is. Or, you can do it by yourself, cruise around the floor, see other people in a line, hook on up and do the Cotton Eyed Joe.
We’re going to do this to music right now.
Five, six, five, six, seven go. One, two, triple step. Triple step, stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick and here we go. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, and stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Stomp, kick, triple step. Shuffle, shuffle. I’ll do the other variation. Touch, triple step, touch, kick, triple step. Touch, kick, triple step. Touch, kick, triple step. And shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle. And it repeats itself.
And there you have the Cotton Eyed Joe.
“

Transcript

Hi my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. So the CC shuffle, really fun, easy, thirty-two count, four wall line dance. So we’re gonna start off with our right foot, and we’re gonna do a little step together, step touch, right? So we’re gonna go one, two, three, touch four. We’re gonna go off at about a forty five fegree angle. So we’re gonna go one, two, three, four, and just back it straight up at that forty-five degree angle, five, six, seven, eight. Then we’re gonna go back to our right, backwards forty-five degree angle, one, two, three, four. Repeating it forward, five, six, seven, eight. Always going step, together, step, tough, step, together, step, tough. So we go forward at a forty-five, back at a forty-five, back at a forty-five, and refold. So let’s try that again. Right foot, forty-five degree angle forward. Step, together, step, touch, back, together, back, touch, back, together, back, touch, forward, together, forward, touch. Now we’re gonna do just that same little forty-five degree angle, but just one step. Forward, touch, back, touch, back, touch, forward, touch. So we go forward at a forty-five degree angle, back, back at a forty-five degree angle, forward, and then we do a much shortened version of that. From here we’re gonna go forward with the heel, one, two, slightly back with the heel, three, four, then you’re gonna go, five, six, touching together, seven, out to the side, quarter of a turn with a hitch, eight. And then we start over at the forty-five degree angle. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, hitch eight, forty-five degree angle. One, two, three, touch four, five six, seven, eight, one, two, three, touch four, five six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, and it starts over at the forty-five degree angle. So we’re gonna go ahead and try this to music. Five, six, five, six, seven, go, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, a one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, a one, two, three, four, five six, seven, eight, and step together step touch, step together step touch. Forward and back, and forward, side, side, hitch. Five, six, seven, eight, and touch step, together, step all at the forty-five. Back and forty-five and back, and forty-five and touch forward, a touch, a touch, a hit, hit, side, and it starts over. Have fun with your CC shuffle.

Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. So one of the most popular line dances in the last five or six years has been good times done to Alan Jackson song, “Good Times”. So let’s break this dance down for you. Starts with walking forward with your right foot, little touch steps. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Then we’re gonna do little side points. One, two, three, four, with a turn, five, six, seven, touch eight. Then do the same thing. One, two, three, four, turn the other way, five, six, seven, eight. Now we’re gonna do hitches right, with the lifting of the leg, right, little tiny hops you might say but kind of opening the leg up and going behind. One, two, three, four, five, six, then we’re gonna do a little cross, seven, with a quarter of a turn, eight. So we’re gonna do a little cross hop to a quarter turn hop seven, eight. Starting with your right foot, cha, cha forward with a break step, cha, cha back a break step. Then we’re gonna do little side step boogies. Side step with a boogie, close. Side step with a boogie, close, and the dance starts over, forty-eight count dance. So try it one more time, by the way it’s a four wall dance. So we’re gonna go one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One and two, three, four, five and six, seven, eight. One and two, three, four, five and six, and do it again. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One and two, three, four, five and six, seven, eight. Wiggle, wiggle, close, wiggle, wiggle, close, and the dance starts over. So we’re gonna go ahead and try this to music. Obviously we’re not gonna be doing it to Alan Jackson’s “Good Times”. We’d like to be able to do it a little bit slower for you to be able to practice this at home, here we go. Five, six, five six, seven, go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Cha cha cha, and back, side, close, boogie, and again. Touch, touch, touch, touch, side, side, and turn, side, side, and turn. And pitch, pitch, pitch, cross and cha, cha, cha, back it goes. Side, side, and again, touch, touch, touch, touch, point, point, and turn, point, point, and turn. And hitch, hitch, hitch, and cross and cha, cha, cha, back it goes, boogie, and close, and boogie, and close, and it starts over. There you have good times.

Transcript

“Hi. My name is Robert Royston. I’m a five-time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you’d learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.
So a really great, easy dance to do is a four-wall dance. It’s only 24 counts called the sleazy slide. It looks like this. Start with your right foot, sliding to the side. You’re going to go, 1, 2, you’re going to do a little bumping grind, 3, clap, 4. Then, again, 5, 6, 7, clap, 8. Only once back to the left, though. 1, 2, 3, clap, 4. Then into a little rock forward, 5, 6, rock back, 7, 8. Yeah? You’re going to do a half turn. You’re going to go half turn, half turn, quarter turn to the new wall, step, clap. That’s going to be 7, 8. And then it starts over. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, other side. 1, 2, 3, 4, rock, 5, 6, 7, 8. Half, half, quarter and stomp, clap on that last stomp. Yeah? And then it starts over. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Half, half, quarter and step, go. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and back. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Half, half, and quarter, and new wall. And it starts over. We’re going to do that to music right now. 5, 6, 5, 6, 7, go. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Groove and close, clap. Groove and close, clap. Groove, and rock, and rock. And half, and half, and quarter, and stomp, clap. Groove. And there is your sleazy slide.
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Transcript

“Alternative Line Dancing: How to Do the Wobble: “”Hai I am Robert Roysten. I am five time World Champaign of Country dance with methods like skills with . I really hope that you learned how a line dance and experience what it is like, to move to America’s music and that’s country music.

“”Hai, so now we can teach you how to do the wobble. You may be seen the wobble at a wedding or you may be seen the wobble at club. You know that is not done with the country music. It was done with the song called wobble. It was more the hip-hop on the song, but it is incredibly popular in the line dance right now, in the country bars, all the in the state and in some country dance conventions that happens. So we think it is appropriate to teach you the wobble in the country attire. So starting of the wobble, we can start with the and you can jump forward right foot and apt to you can go an one. and you just gone to group two, three, four and you can jump back and to five, six, seven, eight. So that can be jump forward a wobble and then back wobble. So this is five, six, seven, eight and one. Then four, five, six, seven and eight. So you can board your left both hands and you can do one, two, three, four. Other side, five, six, seven and eight. You can to put on flare on this. Right, you know this is not the exact way to wobble. Right, so like as you go forward, you can jump forward, you can just and jump back and just on a group you can do that. Use that to point that way and that way, you can do it everyone as there or you can really get the end. So again, jump forward wobble, jump backward wobble point to the left with group, and point to the right with the group. So we will start one more time. Five, six, seven go and one, two, three, four and five, six, seven to the left and one, two, three, four and five, and six, seven and eight. Now we go to the cha-cha step. Right foot you can go forward, and cha, cha, cha, left foot forward and cha, cha, cha. Go again with right foot forward, back cha, cha, cha, forward back, cha, cha, cha. From here you go the touch-touch steps. You want to go touch and touch and touch and touch and touch and touch and touch and. You can do it with turn to the left. You can simple by this steps by doing it eight counts of walks, so you can do it one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. And we can do and one, and three, and four , and one, and two, and three, and four, and five, and six, and seven, and eight. So you can do it with several walks. After you complete the jerk, you want to turn you at the new wall and you done all over again. And one, two, three, four and five and the left, five, six, seven for the left and one, two, three, four and five and now the cha-chas right forward and cha, cha, cha left forward and cha, cha. cha, and one, and two, and three, and four, and five and six and one more time for one, two, three, four and back five, six, seven and eight to the left and two, three, four and five and now the cha-cha step, one, two, cha-cha step forward and backward and you can walk if you walk it, walk one, two, there, four, five, six.”

Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. So one of the things about country line dance is that we have an infusion of other line dances that we do within country line dancing, and some of those line dances are not country music specific, but are widely done in country bars and country clubs all over the United States. One of those dances is the cupid shuffle. Cupid shuffle, not done to a country song, but done in every major country bar all across the United States. So we thought it appropriate to show you the cupid shuffle as part of our line dance series, so here we go. You’re gonna start right, very easy dance. You’re gonna do a little step together, step together, step together to your right for eight counts. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, touch on eight. So don’t put weight on it, touch on eight. The same thing going back to your left, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, touch eight. So, step together, step, all the way through to a touch, then back the other way. Step together, step, all the way through to a touch. Eight counts of heel switches. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and then eight counts of walking to a quarter turn to your left. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and the whole dance starts over. So the scoots, one, two, three, four, five, six, touch on eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, heel. One, two, three, four, five, six, walk eight times. One, two, three, four, five, six, and it starts again. One, two, three, four, five, six, touch on eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, touch the heel. One, two, three, four, five, six, walk it out. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Super easy line dance, a lot of fun to do, plenty of room for you guys to put your own flavor and style into it. We’re gonna go ahead and try it to music, of course we’re not doing it to the cupid shuffle. A little bit slower so you can practice, but download the cupid shuffle and try it after you’ve run this a few times. Here’s the music, I’ll count you in. Five, six, five, six, seven, go, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, heel, one, two, three, four, five, six, and walk it out, a one, two, three, four, five, six, scoop to the right. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, a one, two, three, four, five, six, heels, one, two, three, four, five, six, and walk it out, a one, two, three, four, five, six, and one more time. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, back, a one, two, three, four, five, six, to the heels, one, two, three, four, five, six, and walk it out, a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Starting again, that’s the cupid shuffle, have fun with it.

Transcript

“Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music that’s country music.
So the dance we’re gonna talk about now is called the cowboy boogie. It’s a very popular dance done throughout the United States. One of the great things about the cowboy boogie is that it’s done to a lot of different songs so you’re gonna get it to different songs, to different speeds depending on where you live and what your bar likes to play.
So we’re gonna start with just the basic vine to the right. We’re gonna go side, behind, side, with a little hitch which is the knee up, hitch. Then go right back to the other direction: side, behind, side, hitch-with a forward hitch-step, hitch, and another one, step, hitch. Now that’s gonna back you up. Back, back, back, and one more hitch. Hitch. Let’s try that from the top again. So we’re gonna vine right then left, hitch forward and then come back with a hitch.
So starting with the right. Step, behind, step, hitch! Side, behind, side, hitch! And forward, hitch, and forward, back, back, back, back, back, hitch. From there we’re gonna step down and we’re gonna boogie forward with twice our hips, boogie twice with the hips. Boogie back with the hips. Boogie forward, back, right? So it’s gonna go twice forward, twice back, forward, back. Yeah.
From here as we come forward down to our left leg we’re gonna do another hitch with our right leg, making a quarter of a turn, hitch. From there we start the vine to the right again: step, behind, step, hitch! Step, behind, step, forward from the hitches. Forward hitch, forward, back it up. Back, back, back, hitch. Boogie twice forward, twice back. Forward, back, and hitch! Side, behind, side, hitch! Side, behind, side, hitch! Forward, hitch! Forward, and back it up, hitch! Go forward, go back. Go forward, back, and hitch! Step behind, hitch! Step behind, hitch! Forward, hitch! Forward and back it up, hitch! Boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie now, hitch! And start the dance over with.
So that’s the cowboy boogie. We’re gonna go ahead and try that to music. I’ll count us in. Five, six, five, six to the right. Here we go. Step, behind, step, hitch. Step, behind, step, hitch. Forward, hitch, forward, hitch and back, back, back, hitch. And boogie, and boogie. And forward, back, and here’s the hitch! And step behind, hitch, and step behind, forward! Forward hitch, forward and back it up, hitch! And boogie, and boogie. And forward and here we go! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8! 1, 2, 3, 4, here we go, 7, 8! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and a forward, and forward, and back it up and boogie and boogie and here we go, hitch!
And THAT is the cowboy boogie! Have fun! “

Transcript

“Hi my name is Robert Wilson, I’m a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Kerry Underwood, Brad Lesley, I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience whats its like to move to Americas music and that’s country music, so Nicole now is going to show you probably the most popular line dance done throughout the united states for the last 20 something years, its one of our favorites, its called the tush push, so were going to take it from our right foot, were going to do heel switches were going to go 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1 and 2, 3 your going to clap four, yes so that’s going to go heel then twice with the heel, heel, heel then clap so one more time before we move on so its going to go 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1 and 2, 3 clap, now were going to do the part known as the tush push, were going to go forward twice with the hips, twice then back twice then groove, groove, however you do this, now were going to do cha cha steps forward, were going to go triple step forward then back, triple step back then forward again triple step and this time doing half of a turn, forward half turn, triple step forward, triple step, now were going to do a quarter turn and a half turn so you step forward with the quarter, step forward with the half, your going to take two walking steps clapping at the second one, walk clap, that’s 8 and then it starts over so its 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7,8 1 and 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, 7, 8 , 1 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, cha cha and then go back cha cha then go forward half turn quarter than half, quarter half two blocks clap on the second and start over and that is the tush push, were going to go try with music try with this
5, 6, 5, 6, 7 go 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, 6, 7, 8 and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7,8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, 7, 8 , 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6, 7,8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 half, quarter, half, walk, clap, heel, twice and heel, heel heel, clap, boogie, boogie, and boogie cha cha full and full half back, half turn, quarter, half and start again and hit, hit hit, clap boogie, boogie, groove, cha cha, half turn, quarter and stop and again, and that is how we tush push. “

Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I’m a five time world champion of country dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you’d learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music. As part of our country line dance series, we wanted to arm you with a little knowledge of country couples dancing. Chances are, you are going to go to your country bar, you going to go to your country line dance club and in between line dances, there’re gonna have some couple dancing and the most popular couple dance done in United State is of course the two step. So we would like to show you a good basic version of the two step, there’s a lot of regional variations but just a good basic version of country two step. We’re going to start off first with the close position hold. My right hand is going to go under Nicola’s left arm, so I’m going to be kind of cutting the upper part of her shoulder blade, not down here, upper part of the shoulder blade. Nicola is going to take her left arm and put it on top of my right, that’s gonna kind of be just below the shoulder and just above the bicep ladies. So below the shoulder above the bicep. Then my left hand is gonna hold her right hand just very comfortable at about shoulder level, nothing too overly done or pronounced yeah. Once again, there are variations to this that you will see, this is just a good basic couple dance hold. Now I’m going to start with my left, she’s going to start with her right. Two steps is made up of a series of quicks and slows, a quick is one step for one beat, a slow is one step for two beats. So if you were to do quicks, it would be quick quick quick quick quick quick quick quick. If you were to do slows, it would be slow slow slow slow right. By count of that, quicks would be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, slows would be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, so it’s one step for two beats. The timing for two step is quick quick slow slow, 2 quicks 2 slows and a walking pattern. I start left she starts right, she goes back I go forward and we go quick quick slow slow, right, 2 fast 2 slow steps. We’ll do that again. We’re going to go quick quick slow slow and you’ll just continue that pattern, quick quick slow slow, quick quick just like you’re walking, quick quick slow slow, quick quick slow slow and quick quick slow slow. The thing about two step you should also know is the trivial line of dance. Line of dance kind of in every bar you will ever go into or even ballroom dancing, line of dance is counterclockwise, so you’re always gonna move counterclockwise. And some floor etiquette, if there’s a two step that’s playing and some people are line dancing to it, you can two step around the outside. Think of it like a race track, the faster you go, the more of the outside of the floor you are. The slower you’re going, the more to the inside of the floor until you get to the middle which is for line dancing. So we’re going to do a little two step music for you and you can follow along at home. 5 6 7 go, quick quick slow slow, quick quick slow slow, quick quick slow slow, quick quick slow slow, quick quick slow slow. So grab your favorite lady, get off the bars cause this is two step.

Transcript

“Hi. My name is Robert Royston. I’m a five-time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you’d learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.
So, the first open position turn you should learn in two step is a ladies outside turn. That’s what we’re going to show you right now. So, ladies outside turn. We’re going to do the same prep that we did in basic closed turn. We go quick, quick, slow, on the second slow start to prepare her open just a little bit. Now, what’s going to happen from here is she’s going to turn. So, from that slow, slow, she’s going to go quick, then turn, quick, then turn, slow, then she’s done, slow, then we take the basic, quick, quick, slow, slow. Now, the thing about that is each step is a half of a rotation, ladies. So as I go quick, quick, slow, prepare slow, she’s going to go half a rotation, half a rotation, half a rotation, half a rotation, to then finish quick, quick, slow, slow. And, leaders, what you’re going to think about is kind of go and up the arm ramp of a freeway, creating a little halo over the head because she’s such an angel. So you kind of go… just don’t scratch your hands on the horns as you go around. You’re going to go up, you’re going to ramp of a freeway, create a nice circle, and come down the off ramp, right? So, we’re going to go quick, quick, slow, prepare slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. We’ll do it one more time, quick, quick, slow, prepare slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow. Let’s go ahead and try that to music. Five, six, seven, go. Quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow. Just one more element before she’s done for ladies outside turn. Quick, quick, slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, slow.
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Transcript

Hi, my name is Robert Royston. I have been country dancing since 1985. I’m a five-time world champion of country dance. I’m also the youngest member of the United Country Western Dance Council Country Dance Hall of Fame, and this is my wife, Nicola Royston. Hello. And together we are the 2011 United Country Western Dance Council World Champions of the showtime division. We’re also the U.S.A. grand national cabaret champions and many time showcase swing dance champions, but I think the thing we’re the proudest of is we’re also parents of two amazing children. I’ve danced on Broadway, I’ve danced in film, I’ve danced in television. I’ve choreographed for major country music stars, working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Steel Magnolia, the band Perry, Charlie Daniels, and many more. I’ve also worked on films like ‘Love and Dancing,’ with actresses like Betty White, actors like Billy Zane, Gerald Butler, Michael C. Hall in the movie ‘Gamer,’ and of course Amy Smart in ‘Crank 2.’ I’m a judge, currently, on the reality CMT show, ‘CMT’s Next Superstar.’ My music video for Taylor Swift ‘Love Story’ won the CMA Video of the Year, as well as the CMT Video of the Year, you can see my dance choreography in that. The great thing about line dancing and what I’m hoping that you’ll get from this series is, a chance to get up and move to music you listen to on the radio. A lot of times when you take dance lessons, you take dance lessons for a style of music that you wouldn’t normally listen to, a style of music that you wouldn’t want to go into a bar and have a drink and listen to. I happen to really really like tango music, but you’re not going to put tango music on in your car, most likely, and you’re not going to find a radio station that has tango music, most likely, in your metropolitan area. But you will find country music, and a lot of you listen to country music as your primary source of musical entertainment. So, what this does is gives you a dance that you can do to that music that you’re listening to in your car, at your house, or when you go to your local bar. I really hope that you take this series, learn how to line dance, learn how to couple’s country dance, do a little two-step, and get out there in the clubs, and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music, and that’s country music.

Transcript

What is Line Dancing? Hi, my name is Robert Royston, I’m a five time world champion of country dance working with artists like Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley. I really hope that you learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music and that’s country music. So what is line dancing? Most of the time when you say to your friends I’m going to go line dancing they think of country music, going to a country bar, they think of Achy Breaky and things like that, but line dancing has been around for hundreds of years. Most of the dancing we do here in America stems from Europe, Africa or South America. And in all those dance cultures, historically there’s been some type of line dancing. Most of the time it was done in like the courts in Europe where people would line up and have like these pre-choreographed things that they would learn to do. A lot of times men on one side and ladies on the other side and it was a mean of interacting with the opposite sex while dancing and not necessarily touching and everybody doing side by side motion. We see it in Africa and we see it in South America as well. We’ll see men all line dancing next to each other doing the exact same choreography as a means of kind of a rite of passage for manhood, showing off for the women. And then we’ll see the women doing the same thing historically in those different areas where the women will get up and do set pieces of choreography as a mean of showing off for the man or as a rite of womanhood. So all that’s kind of influenced here in America over the last few hundred years where we see line dances throughout the centuries. Line dancing has kind of found a place though in country dancing to still live and breathe. So line dancing is a set piece of choreography done in a line, just as it implies. Most of the time we’re doing it to country music but they do it to hip hop, they do it to rock and roll, they do it to all different genres of music. And you can find line dancing everywhere from country bars to rhythm and blues clubs and of course at most weddings because where else would you be doing your electric slide but at a wedding. So line dancing is choreography where everybody gets in a line and does the exact same movement. Once you start line dancing and you start doing the exact same movement there is room of course for your own personality and to embellish inside of that line dance. So that is what line dancing is.

Transcript

“Hi! My name is Robert Royston. I am a five time world champion of country dance, working with artists like Taylor swift, Carrie Underwood, Brad Bazley…

I really hope that you’d learn how to line dance and experience what it’s like to move to America’s music. And that’s country music.
So basic pattern structure of line dance…

What we’re talking about with this is how you would either create your own line dance or if you’re learning a line dance and you are watching… you’re watching some people do it and you wanna jump in ‘n try to do it with them quickly, you wanna look at the basic structure so you can jump in at the beginning of the line dance and understand where the restart point is and where the finish of line dance is.

So I’m gonna talk a little bit about structure.

Basic pattern structure of the line dance starts on a wall whatever a wall you’re facing. So everybody is facing the same wall.

Somewhere on the way you’re going to, probably, move right, move left, move forward , move back, everything else… until you hit a new wall. Most line dancers do a quarter of a turn, and most of them to the left. So you do a quarter of a turn to your left and than you’ll start a new wall. So as you’re watching a line dance, you build the ability to watch it, watch it, watch it … and when they face a new wall and do a step, you recognize that you’ve just seen it a minute ago, you can probably take a good guess that that’s the new wall in a dance is starting over.

I am gonna go ahead and do this little pattern which is basic 8-counts. So we do just 8 counts… we do 4 counts to one side , 4 counts to other side, and so on.

So I am gonna go to my right and I am gonna go: one, two, three, four… Now you might choose to go to your left if you’re creating your own line dance. But for the sake of what we are doing we go right: one-two-three-four.

Now I’m gonna go back: five-six-seven-eight.

Let’s do it this way: think, right with a touch step. So you’re gonna go: walk, walk, walk, touch and you go left : walk, walk, walk, touch.

Now you can choose to go forward and back. Let’s go ahead and go back. There you go back, back, back, touch.

So we’ve gone to the right, we’ve gone to the left, we’ve gone back.

At this point I’ll either go forward again, I can go right or left again or I can make a quarter of a turn.

Let’s go ahead and go forward. So here we go forward, forward, forward, tap.

Now from here let’s take 8 counts to make a quarter of a turn to my left:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

This would be our new wall and we restart the pattern structure again. So we have 1,2,3, touch-4, 5,6,7, touch-8. Back 1,2,3, touch-4, 5,6,7, touch-8. 8 counts to the quarter of turn: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

And we start the pattern again: 1,2,3,4; 5,6,7,8.

Back, 2, 3, 4; 5,6,7,8.

1,2,3,4, 5,6,7,8.

So what you’re looking for in this… kind of line dance sequence is you’re looking for where’s the restart point, where’s the dance restart, where’s it happen again … and than you look for the structure: OK, so they start here, and they finish here.

Now, as another example, one of the other pattern structures they use in line dancing is you do one pattern and instead of a quarter of a turn your new wall is the back wall. That’s called the two-wall line dance, ’cause you only ever face front or face back.

Same exact pattern structure. We are gonna make this a two-wall line dance.

So we go to the right first : 1,2,3,4; and left : 5,6,7,8.

Back up 1,2,3,4; forward 5 ,6, 7, 8.

Now take the same 8 counts of walking and make a complete half-turn: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

We’re at our new wall and we start again : 1,2,3,4 ; 5, 6, 7, 8.

Back 2,3 ,4 ; 5, 6, 7, 8.

8 counts of walking with a half-turn: 1,2 ,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

We’re back to our beginning wall.

So we have a 2-wall line dance.

When you watch people doing line dances your either gonna see a 4-wall line dance or a 2-wall line dance. So I mean they gonna make a quarter of a turn at each restart. Yeah, I did all 4 walls. Or I’m gonna make a half-turn… at each… at restarts. We have a 2-wall line dance.

And then there are some line dances out there that are 1-wall line dances.

So let’s do this together. Same structure. We take those final 8 counts. Let’s make one complete turn.

So we’re gonna go 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. Back, 2,3,4, 5,6,7,8. Around 2,3,4,5,6, and start over.

So that’s a one more line dance.

So those are some basic pattern structures that you wanna think about when you’re creating your own line dance or watching a line dance that’s happening right in front of you and you wanna pick up and start to learn. Look for the structure, look for the pattern, where is it going and where does it restart, and then you’ll know when you can jump in, and when you’re ready to start with those people. “