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Swing Dancing/East Coast Swing/Intermediate

< Swing Dancing | East Coast Swing
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Intermediate moves

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Let's introduce some symbols to quickly reference counts and motions you have probably become familiar with:

  • 1-2 is rock step
  • 3-4 is left step
  • 5-6 is right step
  • CW is clockwise
  • CCW is counter-clockwise

The Swayze

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rock-step: On the forward step the lead takes a big step forward, bringing his midriff in contact with the follow's. Lead's right hand should be low on follow's back.

3: Lead quickly does a quarter-turn CCW, bringing follow with him (still connected at midriff).

4-6: Lead and follow bend away from each other at knees, interleaving knees and rotating clockwise. For style, follow can dip a little backwards and go "whoo!"

Headroll-dip-hop

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(I have no idea what it's actually called)

Init: Lead and follow in open position, holding right hands

rock-step: like normal, but lead also grabs follow's left hand (?)

3-6: lead turns follow half-around (CW or CCW?), getting right hand onto follow's right shoulder. Follow's hand drop down.

rock-step: like normal

3-6: Follow turns CCW, dipping head under lead's right arm. Should end with lead bringing follow in midriff-to-midriff.

rock-step: lead brings follow into dip. Weight should be over left leg, with right leg straight and slightly angled to right.

3-6 (or however long it takes): Lead brings left hand down, holding it firm to support follow's hop. Follow hops over lead's right leg (don't stick it out too far, so she can actually hop over it). Lead uses right hand to help pull her through hop.

Minidrag

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(with this move, the lead may need to warn the follow he's about to do the minidrag, unless she's telepathic or really good)

Init: Lead and follow in open position, holding right hands

rock-step: Like normal

3-4: Lead has follow do quarter-turn CCW, while he does quarter-turn CW. Lead bends down while positioning follow's right arm over him.

5-6: Follow leans back. Lead's back should be perpendicular from birds-eye perspective.

At this point the lead does a sideways "Pimp walk," starting out by stepping to the right with his right foot (taking 2 beats). He then crosses over with his left foot (taking 2 beats). This is repeated as many times as desired. When stepping out with right leg, right arm should swing out; when cross-over with left leg, right arm should come back in. For extra style, snap your fingers every two beats.

Meanwhile, the follow is sort of dragging her feet backwards to keep up. To get back to open position, the lead turns a little to the right, positioning his butt against her butt. Lead then pops butt, sending follow outwards. Lead and follow turn to face each other and dancing continues.

Cuddle-drop

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Init: Open position, with both left and right hand holds.

Rock-step: Normal

3-6: Lead gets follow into cuddle position by having her do a standard CCW turn while maintaining hold with both hands. At end of cuddle, lead and follow should be side-by-side. Lead should be certain that he has a firm grip with his left hand, as well as his right.

(not sure about timing after this)

At this point, the lead shifts to the left, so that follow leans on him. Lead then pushes follow forward a little, so she slips in front of him, while he shifts weight to right. Lead supports follow with his hands while she dips down to the ground (almost like sitting down, like lying down if follow is really confident in lead's capabilities).

The lead then uses his arms to lift the follow back up onto her feet, and dancing continues.


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