The Line Walk

Here's another very basic line dance; any Kickery readers planning a 1970s-theme party are going to be all set this week.  This one is also from The Complete Book on Disco and Ballroom Dancing (1979).  It's thirty-eight beats long, but very easy, though the odd length means it will cross the phrase of the music.  That's not unusual in disco-era line dances but drives some people crazy.

Unusually, the Line Walk starts on the left foot.

The Line Walk (38 beats)
1-2-3-4  5-6-7-8  9-10-11-12
Forward-backward-forward walks (L fwd, R fwd, L fwd, R close without weight; R back, L back, R back, L close without weight; L fwd, R fwd, L fwd, R close without weight)

1-2-3-4  5-6-7-8  9-10-11-12
Side steps (R side, L close, R side, L touch; L side, R close, L side, R touch; R side, L touch, L side, R touch)

1-2-3-4  5-6-7-8  9-10
Heel clicks, taps, and turn (Click heels, click again, tap R foot fwd-fwd-back-back-fwd-back-side, and kick R gently forward making a quarter-turn to the left)

11-12-13-14
Backward walk (R back, L back, R back, L close without weight)

Repeat as many times as needed for the music, making a quarter turn each time.  The heel-clicking is done by rising up on the toes in order to get the weight off the heels so they can move freely.

My patient dance-testing guinea pigs, who get dragged through many different eras of dance, note that the second part is a bransle-style sequence of double-double-single-single (though starting to the right instead of the left) and call the third part "Dorothy" for obvious reasons.

Comments

[Michelle Lee]

I did these as a kid in USY dances. My daughter is now doing variations on them in her school dances. I wonder how they compare to the Cupid shuffle and the electric slide?

[Susan de Guardiola]

These dances are certainly harder than the Cupid Shuffle (side slide right, side slide left, some gentle kicks, then, um, shuffling around in place).

The Electric Slide dates from the same time period as the other line dances I've posted here and uses similar 1970s line dance movements with about the same level of difficulty as these. It's actually got a known choreographer (as much as you call anyone a choreographer who simply rearranges common elements) who is very aggressive about his copyright.

There are more challenging line dances, such as the one done in Saturday Night Fever, which I'll post here at some point, but they're all meant to be picked up on the fly, so none of them are really overwhelmingly difficult.

[Marilee J. Layman]

One of the physical therapists who was teaching me to walk again in 1990 promised me I'd be able to do the Electric Slide someday. I appreciate his optimism, but I think it was a bit misplaced. Then again, I did learn to walk.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Somehow, I think there are more important things to aspire to mobility-wise than the Electric Slide. (Walking would be #1.)

[mietwagen]

Sehr gute Seite. Ich habe es zu den Favoriten.

[Susan de Guardiola]

Danke sehr!