Dancing in Seattle

Updated December 2, 2015

Every part of the world where they do country-western and line dancing has things that they do a little bit different.  Here are some of the ways we dance in Seattle that you may want to know about for the Emerald City Hoedown.

Couples Dancing

  • Our DJs generally “call” a song’s dance style (except for Two-Step and Waltz) — “Next is a West Coast Swing” — to ensure that dancers know how to best utilize the dance floor space we are used to.  During the hoedown weekend, we will have more room in the country couples ballroom for multiple dance styles to use the floor at once, so the called dance style may be just a guideline.
  • Two-Step: We dance Two-Step “slow slow quick quick”, also known as San Francisco-style Two-Step . (The lead action comes at the first slow, with turns and moves mostly occurring on the “slow slow” and often having a swing “rock step” feel to the “quick quick”.)  Many of our dancers can also dance “quick quick slow slow” (Progressive Two-Step),and we will have some Progressive Two-Step workshops during the weekend, so just ask if that's what you are used to.
  • Night Club: We teach Night Club as “slow quick quick”, the form most prevalent in the country dance scene.  (You may also be familiar with Night Club Two-Step, danced “quick quick slow”, common in the swing dance scene.)   We will play primarily SQQ Night Club music in the country couples ballroom.  The step pattern is dictated by the music played, so dancers of either style should generally be able to adjust to the other rhythm and still dance most patterns they have learned.
  • West Coast Swing: Be sure to leave a dance lane on the outer edge of the floor.  There may be Shadow and even Two-Step or Shuffle dancers on the floor at the same time.
  • Shadow: While some parts of the country dance Shadow fast, to songs in the 120 bpm range, we dance it primarily to slow West Coast Swing-rhythm music (or sometimes to swingy cha cha songs) in the 78–100 bpm range.
  • Polka and Cha Cha: We do not generally dance Polka or Cha Cha in Seattle.  A few Polka and Cha Cha songs in the 100–115 bpm range get used for Two-Step, and some Cha Chas in that range get used for West Coast Swing.  Feel free to dance genuine Polka and Cha Cha to those songs, however, and our DJs may be able to play some specific Polkas and Cha Chas by request.

Line Dancing

  • In recent years, Seattle has trended toward the more popular newer line dances, while keeping some of the older and even classic early line dances in our repertoire, so that we have as many as 80 dances being done with some regularity.
  • In addition to a dedicated line dance room, there will be limited line dancing in the main country couples ballroom, primarily the most popular dances.  If a song is played which you want to line dance to, though, by all means use a portion of the center of the dance floor, leaving plenty of room for the regular couples dancers.  And if you want to West Coast Swing, Two-Step, etc. to a song being used for a line dance, feel free to use the edges of the dance floor, but watch out for moving line dancers.
  • Here are some of the ways our line dances may differ from what you are used to:
    • Barn Dance (Wild Wild West): At the end of the dance cycle, move to the partner to your right.
    • Cowboy Cha Cha: Our version of this dance is an 80-count couples circle dance.  This one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDPTqyEbqV4
    • Slap Leather: We have danced a 34-count variant of this in Seattle for decades.  We dance the general pattern in this step sheet, but dropping counts 5 6 (heel front, toe back) in the second segment.
    • Hold Your Horses: We dance the second tag three times rather than once, which makes the rest of the dance match up better with the lyrics.
    • Roll Back the Rug: We do this with facing lines which cross during the dance cycle.
    • Sick Of Me: We do not do the second restart.
    • Shake It Off: When the music slows to a stop after the rap section, we do a largo slow down of the dance, resuming with the lyrics.

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Got Questions?  E-mail info@emeraldcityhoedown.com