I've been a dance instructor for several years, and while I love almost all styles of dance - I've hated country swing. Never saw a purpose for it that a different dance can't do better, but I did see every dancer of it lacked rhythm.. but most of all lacked control. So many country swing dancers are destroying their shoulders and more by having full force and no absorption of momentum. You two have completely changed my opinion of the dance through this one video. You have rhythm, which brings purpose, and you have control which brings safety. Thank you for such an excellent video! I look forward to more videos on this style in the future
That’s amazing and we love to hear that. As with pretty much every dance when it was in its beginning stages, most CS dancers aren’t as trained as with dances that are more established. The majority (not all) of the teachers are the same, but give it some time. There are a few quality teachers coming up that have a desire to incorporate quality movement, partnership, and technique. We believe this dance has a future and will become something that has the respect of “dancers”. Thanks for being here and for the excellent contribution.
@@countrydancex Now that I understand country swing, I'll likely start teaching it myself. Not only will it be one of the most popular dances for my area.. but I would be happy to join in the cause of bringing proper technique to the dance. Out of curiosity, do you have any plans to ever teach some of the other less common country dances? Arizona two step, Fort Worth shuffle, pony swing, or other dances along those lines are things I've recently started teaching or plan to in near future, but they're dances I would love to see get more exposure just like proper country swing
That’s great that you’re going to help teach CS! It’s very unlikely that we’ll ever teach any of the regional dances as our channel’s reach is quite broad.
@Nolan King You and me both. I'm a ballroom dance instructor and every time I've asked a CS dancer what they're doing, they just shrug their shoulders. What's the timing? "I don't know". Extremely frustrating. Anthony and Rose have given me hope that this dance will finally get it's footing of legitimacy.
I’ve watched a number of “basic” country swing tutorials on TH-cam in an attempt to build my base. Your video was the most clear, broken down to morsels I could easily process. Thank you so much for this.
I have background in Latin American music and is all about RHYTHM I’ve seen people dance to country music and it seems chaotic TOO FAST and aggressive it doesn’t look enjoyable, however the way is EXPLAINED HERE make TOTAL SENSE. Love the video thank you
Somebody just turned me onto this dance country swing last night Monday it is now Tuesday. I love dancing and this actually looks like it'll be pretty easy. I watch all your videos
Thank you for breaking this down so clearly. By far the best I've found on youtube. Dancing is supposed to be rhythmic and so many dancers and even teachers just kind of do their own thing which makes it look random and chaotic.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! There are many good instructors teaching Country Swing, but they may not be on TH-cam. We feel like there are a lot of good Country Swing dancers... but being a teacher is something very different. Rhythm is important in any dance style.
Thank you for cleaning up the social confusion and putting structure to an amazing trend within partnership dance. You'll be one of the reasons it will be forever recognized as a true dance style!
I like the way you showed the feet when stepping through the basic steps. I have taught swing before many years ago and used slightly different steps,but your steps seemed easier to follow. Thank you.
In our 'neck of the world' we got into couples dancing by going to Ceroc dance classes. The selling point was that you could dance it to any music, but it often just felt like stuffing a sausage with random moves at no real specific rhythm or step pattern . We find it very similar to What we see in country swing and west coast swing. Thanks for pointing us into the path of fitting it to the actual music, your explanations make sense and are helping us find our way out of the sausage factory. Keep up the good work and videos, thanks!
This is a great explanation! I'm a semi-expert at east coast swing, so it's a challenge to break out of the habit of: "rock-step, triple-step, triple step"!
I’m a Brazilian Zouk and Sensual Bachata dancer mostly but there’s a country swing night close to me on Fridays that I’m thinking about checking out so I’m here getting a feel for how this dance is. 1:44 that looks a lot like a Brazilian Zouk soltinho (soul-cheen-yo). Maybe I won’t have such a hard time getting into this dance after all. I’ll go this Friday and see how I do. Edit: Brazilian Zouk also has a slow-quick-quick basic rhythm (or boom-chik-chik as Brazilian Zouk dancers say it). I’m really interested to check this out now. Definitely appreciate this video!
Hello! Fellow dance instructor who teaches other forms of Swing here! I’m learning basics of country swing and appreciate a lot of your content, but the foundation of timing is confusing and is not consistent if you can please clarify. You keep saying “slow quick quick, slow quick quick” right along with “1 & 2, 3 & 4”, but those are not the same. If you say “quick quick slow” that would be “1 & 2” correct? And “slow quick quick” would be “ 1, 2 &”, yes? I understand these line up the same depending on if your starting on the rock or the longer step, but it’s confusing with what you are starting each pattern with. Thanks for the help!
Hi! You're totally right. We misspoke in this video. We teach slow, quick, quick. That's the thing about video ... once we film, the editor does his thing, and it posts, there's no editing. Good observation 🙂
I have seen different teachings of this dance. However, they all taught stepping on beat and not pulling each other's arms out. I like it as a break from dancing East Coast swing.
I am brand new to partner dancing. We just moved to Texas and I am determined to learn (despite my inherent lack of rhythm). This video was GREAT! THANK YOU! It explained the "mysterious" rhythm and improved my understanding of the "steps". I am subscribed to your channel and a frequent visitor to your tutorials 😀 😊. I think your tutorials are some of the best I have seen on YT, Thank you !
OK... so we couldn't find a "blushing" emoji. That makes us so happy to hear! Welcome to Texas and to partner dancing. Let us know if we can help in any way!
@@countrydancex So we will definitely do the one month free membership but I have to wait until my husband's Foot injury resolves. At 1 point I thought you had a studio in North Texas and I got so 😁 excited. But then I realized that studios are near Houston. Would love to do a boot camp if you bring one up this way towards Fort Worth
We were getting ready to pull the trigger on a 3rd dance studio location in Dallas/Ft Worth and then the stupid COVID thing happened. We'll get there eventually! We'll also replan a tour once we feel comfortable that things won't shut down again :-)
Thank you both for this video. I grew up country dancing but just mostly followed the girl. I was in HS and was just doin* it for fun. That was 40+ years @go and now I want to pick it up again for entertainment and exercise. I appreciate your structured approach. Very very thoughtful in how it’s developed.
Thanks for this. It is nice to see an actual syllabus for the basic rythms of this dance. I danced and competed county in UCWDC for over 10 years, and have focused more in the West coast swing world the last 10 years. I have been teaching for about 12 years, and really struggle even watching country swing. I am so torn, because I love to see people interested in partner dancing again, but without connection, technique or structure.. to me, it's just a mess. At the same time, I see so much potential in a lot of these young dancers... but most just want to do moves like schottische where everything is telegraphed and not led. In addition it seems to be a lead dictated dance, where the ladies do not have really any opportunity with musicality.. I really want to be sold, so that I can see the value of this dance. Can you both help me? Thanks 🙂
Country Swing has definitely opened the door to a flood of new dancers! We believe it is in it's infancy stage right now and will continue to develop into something amazing.
How completely sure I was that what everyone was doing was somehow not quite what it should be. Went to visit relatives in Montana and I saw them doing it in 'A' rhythm, just not in sync. I've competed in all kinds of dance and was certain this had derivatives of Swing and Salsa. Now that you show it here, I know I was right. Funny how crossing over steps can lead to an entirely different dance. Seeing people do 'Country Swing' without any rhythm what-so-ever and just doing arm movements, gives me the same feeling as watching so-called New Hustle or Disco Fox. In West Coast Swing, Rhythm is paramount, It's actually very prominent in Hustle too, but a lot of kids don't get it because they haven't been exposed to accurate instruction. Thanks for putting this out there. I now have some place to recommend to those that ask me why my dance looks so smooth. I mean demonstrating and telling someone something only goes so far until they see someone else that is doing it professionally.
A lot of dancers give Country Swing dancers a hard time and kind of look down on it. We feel like it has huge potential and would love to help people understand it. We’re glad you enjoyed the video and are so glad it’s helpful!
I greatly appreciate the focus on rhythm! Here in SLC so many people seem like they don't even listen to the music and just 'go!'. I am getting tired of how 'spinny' Country Swing is. Do you have any blended styles? Country meets Bachata? West coast? ETC?
if i understand what you said correctly, on the 1-and-2, the man rocks on his right foot and the lady rocks on her left foot and so this is an opportunity to turn the lady to the left and use her left rock to complete/stop her left turn. but on the 3-and-4 the man rocks on his left foot so this is an opportunity for him to turn left and use the left rock to complete his turn. but if the man is turning the lady to her right, does this mean he should do so on the 3-and-4 so that she is ending her right turn when she rocks on the right and he rocks on the left?
Love your videos and your detailed explanations for each move!! This is the first country swing lesson I have seen. Could you give some examples of songs you could dance this to?
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for joining us. Country Swing is a dance that doesn’t seem to really have a set musical feel just yet. We can say, however, that most any country song around 100 beats per minutes will work just fine.
Any music that is counted in 4 beats, especially those with a high beat 2 and beat 4. "Dibs" by Kelsea Ballerini and "You Broke Up With Me" by Walker Hayes spring to mind.
Its probably partially people assuming two steps rhythm to be proper for country swing. The quick quick slow slow of two step given it is one of the popular "country" dances. Good to know though I've been searching for this information for a while. Slow quick quick, slow quick quick or 12& 34& makes much more sense to the flow of country swing and its moves.
Is this style of dance your interpretation of Country Swing? I haven't seen any other videos like this where you rock step on the right and left foot. If so I appreciate your attempting to put rhythm into a dance without any. If I want to Swing dance to Country music I just use Single Step East Coast Swing but I don't call it Country Swing. It's ECS and the tempo of most Country Two Step music works just fine for me. At least no one has complained yet.
Single time ECS and country swing are very different. Anyone that tries to sell you single swing as country swing doesn’t understand country swing. CS is it’s own dance altogether.
Love your videos, I really do, but I lost my mind over your count. You call and dance it SQQ SQQ which would make the count 1 2& 3 4&. 1& 2 3& 4 translates to QQS QQS. Love your stuff! Your video quality, presentation, and information is top-notch.
Yeah… here’s a behind the scenes peek at our video production process… (5 minutes before teaching) Rose: “What do you want to teach?” Anthony: “Hmmmm… country swing?” Rose: “Ok” Videographer: “Action” We clearly misspoke in this video with the counts. It IS danced SQQ… but at one point we counted it 1&2, 3&4. You’re right about the count being off. It should be counted 1 (2), 3, 4, 1 (2), 3, 4
Love to do the Western swing the Oklahoma style the old style and the bar dance with all they want to do is line dance. They will line dance to the waltz. They were line dance to the two stepping songs. If you they were like Dancin the swing songs if you go around them on the outer side, they call you Fragers and get mad at you. The teacher refuses to teach any other dances but line dancing what should I tell my cousin who owns the bar about this? What is your advice?
So the question I have about the basic rhythm is Is the pattern always done within 4 beats of music or is it more fluid and the pattern repeats after a movement(when the dancers do the next rock step)? For example you spun her 2 or three time, that might take more than 2 bars of music and rock might happen on the two or three instead?
That’s an excellent question. We do cover that concept in later videos, but you can certainly repeat a turn multiple times. The trick is that everything is done in multiples of 2 beats of music (2,4,6 etc). That way, the rock steps always begin on an odd count :-)
I'm glad to see Texas is getting into the country swing game! I think you're right on with what a lot of folks are doing. No real rhythm out structure. But that's mostly the ones who learned in a bar. Up here in Oregon we teach it with a Step, Step, Turn, leading with the left foot. I grew up with Cowboy Swing, which leads with the right foot, Step, Turn, Rock. You've given me a new angle to play with though, and I really like your take on it.
But, I am gonna disagree with you calling it a newer dance. It's been around out west for quite a while, but it's only recently started to spread to other regions. Keep up the good work, you're hands down the best country dance instructors on TH-cam.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Country dance can be very regional in style and dance popularity. Country swing is a newer dance in comparison to the other dances. By “new” we didn’t mean fresh for 2021 haha
I've been dancing this country swing for a while and there hasn't been much people technically teaching the real foot work. And now that I see this video I'm realizing that I just doing hustle or single step East Coast swing. I've learned these other dances as well so now I'm all confused. I'll be needing to talk to you.
I went to my first country bar a couple weeeks ago and this girl was teaching me a few moves. She had told me the basics start out with a waltz like hold and then from there do a lot of the common swing dance moves that I see (like the pretzel, back side, etc). I danced with a few other girls that night and saw other couples dancing similarly here in AZ. But I can't seem to find anything like that on the internet. Is that just a thing here in AZ or maybe at that specific bar?
Hi! The reason you might be seeing that is because in AZ we tend to mix country swing with Rhythm/AZ 2-Step. That's the side-together-side-tap dance you see. Everywhere else I've been, people dance country swing with a traditional swing hold with the leader's left hand low. Try looking for some AZ 2-step videos and see if that's more familiar?
Similar steps are also found in Rumba, Waltz, Bolero, NC2, Cumbia, and more. You only have 2 feet and so many combinations. But, no I wouldn't say they were the same.
Yay Country Swing! I’m a little confused about the rhythm. It looked like you guys were doing QQ on the rock step and S on the steps between. That would make [step, rock step, step, rock step] be [SQQSQQ]. Did I get that right?
Rock step, step, step is called single time East Coast Swing. 100% not country swing. We've seen videos with people teaching single swing and passing it off as country swing. Totally different dance altogether.
Single time swing is a popular and valid version of ECS generally for faster music. It is sometimes taught by dance instructors who don't know country swing AS country swing. They are, however, NOT the same dance and presenting single swing as country swing is just ignorance on the part of the instructor.
Single time swing (ecs) is danced with 4 weight changes over 6 beats. “Push Pull Swing” (as made up by the FADS organization is 4 steps over 4 beats. Neither of these are country swing. Country swing is 6 weight changes total and alternates which foot goes backwards. If we had to compare it to another swing dance, it would be most similar to a single time Lindy or a single time wcs whip pattern. It is just its own dance.
Can totally see why someone would say that. Hustle, however, only has 4 weight changes while the country swing basic has 6, so it's a little different... not just in step but in structure. Side note... "4 count hustle" is something just kind of made-up by the franchise studios to get non dancers feeling confident (and it's sister made-up dance "push pull swing")
Concur with Anthony, having taught in several 'franchise studios' I was totally put off with their insistence to teach "4 Count" Hustle Never took long before the Director would be pushing the younger ladies at me because they wanted to learn my style (It was never my style, just Hustle) and I wasn't even the best by far. No matter what people call it, New York, Swing and 3 count Hustle. 4 Count was just a way to keep students in the studio longer. Same could be said for the abhorrence to teach Salsa instead of Mambo, East Coast Swing instead of West Coast Swing or at least include it. That goes for Lindy Hop being was avoided at many studios because it takes a lot more dedication stamina and energy to stick to many particular dances. I've notice tons of different ways Country Two Step is done, The way many dances were competed in earlier don't look anything like they do now. Buddy Schwimmer gets pretty frustrated when someone takes a side step as the beginning part of a rhythm in Night Club Two Step, but you will see many people teach it that way as if that is the way the inventor did it. He will tell you, It's a 'NIGHT CLUB 2 Step. Not Ballroom 2 Step. Not that it matters, I feel the same way about Salsa, Salsa is for Clubs and Mambo is for the Studio. Now lets Carolina Shag. ha ha ha
This is not the first time we've heard this. People also confuse it with single time east coast swing. However, both of those dances rock step with the same foot over and over. Country swing alternates.
@@countrydancex thanks for the reply you guys are awesome. I teach ballroom and latin in Florida but have always wanted to learn more country dancing due to the freedom! Lol
@@countrydancex Thank y'all for everything and good luck! Luckily you're in Texas. Covid 19 has crushed our business for now. We will rebound but it definitely made it challenging not being open for 2.5 months
Thanks for showing the rhythm as no other "country swing" video I have seen has ever shown that. Honestly country swing looks like a train wreck to me and I have yet to see anyone do it where it looks graceful or musical in any way. I have danced and taught ballroom, country and latin dances for over a decade. All other dances have a well defined musicality and specific steps on beats so country swing always looks horrible to me whether on the floor or on youtube. I did enjoy your Nightclub Two Step, WCS, East Coast Swing, Country 2 etc as those are dances I enjoy also. I now see it actually has a rhythm and steps, so great, but I doubt I will ever get used to see dancers do it in public. It looks like they are just trying pack as many violent acrobatics as they can during a 3 minute song. haha sorry
Totally see why you think that. Country Swing is still in its infancy and is, like all dances before it, growing and developing. As a whole, the majority of country swing dancers are younger, newer dancers without much (or any) real dance training... so it becomes about moves, dips, and tricks for them. There are, unfortunately, too many "teachers" who don't understand how dancing actually works just teaching moves without any regard to any essential structure. There are some, however, who have begun to teach rhythm, connection, partnership, and structure. That is the direction that country swing is going just as every other dance style. The dance does have a lot of potential and we decided to use our platform to help develop it into what it can be. Give it some time :-)
I wanna learn how to do this so bad but as a man all I can think is that God must have made women different because if I got spun a bunch like that I'd be so dizzy I'd fall over
We dance Cumbia. We also dance old school nightclub two step (which also has the same basic step). We also dance Rumba and waltz which also incorporate the same movement. But, as with Country Swing, the steps and movement become different as they advance… bro 😎
The step of "side, rock step" is used in Cumbia, International Rumba, Bolero, Samba, Old School Nightclub Two Step, and more. The motion and structure of country swing is very different than any of those. BTW... no one dances country swing as step, rock step. That is just to get a feel for the counts and concept.
I was all psyched to watch this ... and then you lost me when you added two quick-quicks for the extra turn and called it "syncopating"! Sigh. Confirms the more general observation that "country swing" is hardly country and certainly not swung. however I applaud any of your efforts that gets people on a dance floor (it's the nomenclature I'm objecting to)
Hi. Thanks for watching. Not sure which section of the video you’re referring to, but the word “syncopation” refers to any rhythm that varies away from the standard rhythm. Syncopation Definition: A deviation from the basic or expected rhythm. ~ The Dance Dictionary, Ballroomdancers.com Anyone who tells you that is not the correct definition of syncopation when referring to dance is simply lacking in their understanding. That’s standard across all dance styles (not sure how that would be country dance or swing specific). You could call it chicken, turnip, and pickles for all we care. Nomenclature varies by region, sure… so it seems irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, yeah? Btw… ALL dances incorporate syncopations at some level.
I've been a dance instructor for several years, and while I love almost all styles of dance - I've hated country swing. Never saw a purpose for it that a different dance can't do better, but I did see every dancer of it lacked rhythm.. but most of all lacked control. So many country swing dancers are destroying their shoulders and more by having full force and no absorption of momentum.
You two have completely changed my opinion of the dance through this one video. You have rhythm, which brings purpose, and you have control which brings safety. Thank you for such an excellent video! I look forward to more videos on this style in the future
That’s amazing and we love to hear that. As with pretty much every dance when it was in its beginning stages, most CS dancers aren’t as trained as with dances that are more established. The majority (not all) of the teachers are the same, but give it some time. There are a few quality teachers coming up that have a desire to incorporate quality movement, partnership, and technique.
We believe this dance has a future and will become something that has the respect of “dancers”. Thanks for being here and for the excellent contribution.
@@countrydancex Now that I understand country swing, I'll likely start teaching it myself. Not only will it be one of the most popular dances for my area.. but I would be happy to join in the cause of bringing proper technique to the dance.
Out of curiosity, do you have any plans to ever teach some of the other less common country dances? Arizona two step, Fort Worth shuffle, pony swing, or other dances along those lines are things I've recently started teaching or plan to in near future, but they're dances I would love to see get more exposure just like proper country swing
That’s great that you’re going to help teach CS!
It’s very unlikely that we’ll ever teach any of the regional dances as our channel’s reach is quite broad.
@Nolan King You and me both. I'm a ballroom dance instructor and every time I've asked a CS dancer what they're doing, they just shrug their shoulders. What's the timing? "I don't know". Extremely frustrating. Anthony and Rose have given me hope that this dance will finally get it's footing of legitimacy.
I’ve watched a number of “basic” country swing tutorials on TH-cam in an attempt to build my base. Your video was the most clear, broken down to morsels I could easily process. Thank you so much for this.
I have background in Latin American music and is all about RHYTHM I’ve seen people dance to country music and it seems chaotic TOO FAST and aggressive it doesn’t look enjoyable, however the way is EXPLAINED HERE make TOTAL SENSE.
Love the video thank you
Somebody just turned me onto this dance country swing last night Monday it is now Tuesday. I love dancing and this actually looks like it'll be pretty easy. I watch all your videos
Thank you for breaking this down so clearly. By far the best I've found on youtube. Dancing is supposed to be rhythmic and so many dancers and even teachers just kind of do their own thing which makes it look random and chaotic.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! There are many good instructors teaching Country Swing, but they may not be on TH-cam. We feel like there are a lot of good Country Swing dancers... but being a teacher is something very different. Rhythm is important in any dance style.
Thank you for cleaning up the social confusion and putting structure to an amazing trend within partnership dance. You'll be one of the reasons it will be forever recognized as a true dance style!
Any time! We have really started to enjoy country swing
4:59 Thank you for officially stating this!! I thought I was the only sane man in the dancing universe!
th-cam.com/video/pAyKJAtDNCw/w-d-xo.html
I like the way you showed the feet when stepping through the basic steps. I have taught swing before many years ago and used slightly different steps,but your steps seemed easier to follow. Thank you.
In our 'neck of the world' we got into couples dancing by going to Ceroc dance classes. The selling point was that you could dance it to any music, but it often just felt like stuffing a sausage with random moves at no real specific rhythm or step pattern . We find it very similar to What we see in country swing and west coast swing. Thanks for pointing us into the path of fitting it to the actual music, your explanations make sense and are helping us find our way out of the sausage factory. Keep up the good work and videos, thanks!
Ha! The sausage factory? That’s a new one lol
Thanks for being here. We’re glad you enjoyed it :-)
This is a great explanation! I'm a semi-expert at east coast swing, so it's a challenge to break out of the habit of: "rock-step, triple-step, triple step"!
We’re glad you enjoyed it. It’s definitely a different dance than ECS!
I’m a Brazilian Zouk and Sensual Bachata dancer mostly but there’s a country swing night close to me on Fridays that I’m thinking about checking out so I’m here getting a feel for how this dance is.
1:44 that looks a lot like a Brazilian Zouk soltinho (soul-cheen-yo). Maybe I won’t have such a hard time getting into this dance after all. I’ll go this Friday and see how I do.
Edit:
Brazilian Zouk also has a slow-quick-quick basic rhythm (or boom-chik-chik as Brazilian Zouk dancers say it). I’m really interested to check this out now. Definitely appreciate this video!
Oh wow… I LOVED this. I’ve searched this so many times and I’m glad I found the right video to learn. I’m ecstatic.
Hello! Fellow dance instructor who teaches other forms of Swing here! I’m learning basics of country swing and appreciate a lot of your content, but the foundation of timing is confusing and is not consistent if you can please clarify. You keep saying “slow quick quick, slow quick quick” right along with “1 & 2, 3 & 4”, but those are not the same. If you say “quick quick slow” that would be “1 & 2” correct? And “slow quick quick” would be “ 1, 2 &”, yes? I understand these line up the same depending on if your starting on the rock or the longer step, but it’s confusing with what you are starting each pattern with. Thanks for the help!
Hi! You're totally right. We misspoke in this video. We teach slow, quick, quick. That's the thing about video ... once we film, the editor does his thing, and it posts, there's no editing. Good observation 🙂
don't do country swing... yet will get there..thanks for another great video..later press
"Yet" is the key word here ;-)
We are in Palm Beach County, FL, 13:22 and we have lots of people that like to dance around here, so come to S Florida.
We do the Carolina shag and also teach. I was watching to see if we can incorporate some swing it our dance.
I have seen different teachings of this dance. However, they all taught stepping on beat and not pulling each other's arms out. I like it as a break from dancing East Coast swing.
This is the best break down I've come across and deeply appreciate it guys.
Fabulous breakdown of differences between country Swing and other Swing style dances!!
I am brand new to partner dancing. We just moved to Texas and I am determined to learn (despite my inherent lack of rhythm). This video was GREAT! THANK YOU! It explained the "mysterious" rhythm and improved my understanding of the "steps".
I am subscribed to your channel and a frequent visitor to your tutorials 😀 😊. I think your tutorials are some of the best I have seen on YT, Thank you !
OK... so we couldn't find a "blushing" emoji. That makes us so happy to hear! Welcome to Texas and to partner dancing. Let us know if we can help in any way!
@@countrydancex So we will definitely do the one month free membership but I have to wait until my husband's Foot injury resolves. At 1 point I thought you had a studio in North Texas and I got so 😁 excited. But then I realized that studios are near Houston. Would love to do a boot camp if you bring one up this way towards Fort Worth
We were getting ready to pull the trigger on a 3rd dance studio location in Dallas/Ft Worth and then the stupid COVID thing happened. We'll get there eventually!
We'll also replan a tour once we feel comfortable that things won't shut down again :-)
@@countrydancex OH yes that is FANTASTIC! We will be first on line for the new studio!!!❤👌😄
Thank you both for this video. I grew up country dancing but just mostly followed the girl. I was in HS and was just doin* it for fun. That was 40+ years @go and now I want to pick it up again for entertainment and exercise. I appreciate your structured approach. Very very thoughtful in how it’s developed.
We're so glad you enjoyed it! Welcome back to country dance :-)
Thanks for this. It is nice to see an actual syllabus for the basic rythms of this dance. I danced and competed county in UCWDC for over 10 years, and have focused more in the West coast swing world the last 10 years. I have been teaching for about 12 years, and really struggle even watching country swing.
I am so torn, because I love to see people interested in partner dancing again, but without connection, technique or structure.. to me, it's just a mess. At the same time, I see so much potential in a lot of these young dancers... but most just want to do moves like schottische where everything is telegraphed and not led. In addition it seems to be a lead dictated dance, where the ladies do not have really any opportunity with musicality.. I really want to be sold, so that I can see the value of this dance. Can you both help me? Thanks 🙂
Country Swing has definitely opened the door to a flood of new dancers! We believe it is in it's infancy stage right now and will continue to develop into something amazing.
How completely sure I was that what everyone was doing was somehow not quite what it should be. Went to visit relatives in Montana and I saw them doing it in 'A' rhythm, just not in sync. I've competed in all kinds of dance and was certain this had derivatives of Swing and Salsa. Now that you show it here, I know I was right. Funny how crossing over steps can lead to an entirely different dance. Seeing people do 'Country Swing' without any rhythm what-so-ever and just doing arm movements, gives me the same feeling as watching so-called New Hustle or Disco Fox. In West Coast Swing, Rhythm is paramount, It's actually very prominent in Hustle too, but a lot of kids don't get it because they haven't been exposed to accurate instruction. Thanks for putting this out there. I now have some place to recommend to those that ask me why my dance looks so smooth. I mean demonstrating and telling someone something only goes so far until they see someone else that is doing it professionally.
A lot of dancers give Country Swing dancers a hard time and kind of look down on it. We feel like it has huge potential and would love to help people understand it. We’re glad you enjoyed the video and are so glad it’s helpful!
I greatly appreciate the focus on rhythm! Here in SLC so many people seem like they don't even listen to the music and just 'go!'.
I am getting tired of how 'spinny' Country Swing is. Do you have any blended styles? Country meets Bachata? West coast? ETC?
Great video. Would love to see more of the Country swing
We’ll definitely do more! Thanks for being here :-)
if i understand what you said correctly, on the 1-and-2, the man rocks on his right foot and the lady rocks on her left foot and so this is an opportunity to turn the lady to the left and use her left rock to complete/stop her left turn. but on the 3-and-4 the man rocks on his left foot so this is an opportunity for him to turn left and use the left rock to complete his turn.
but if the man is turning the lady to her right, does this mean he should do so on the 3-and-4 so that she is ending her right turn when she rocks on the right and he rocks on the left?
We had so much fun doing this! 💜
I was at a joint in North Texas (Marty Bs) and so thought I saw you Rose... but I'm certain it was just a Beautiful look alike, ❤ lol
@@tatianaguile618 Ahhh! I wish it was... this mama needs a night out;) Plus.. always love meeting our internet friends
Thanks for breaking down the steps. Very helpful!
We’re glad to hear it was helpful! Thank you for being here :-)
The cool thing with country swing/WCS is you can incorporate a lot of it into your routine while two stepping to make it less mundane and boring
Awesome video.cant wait to start practicing
Get it!
Love your videos and your detailed explanations for each move!! This is the first country swing lesson I have seen. Could you give some examples of songs you could dance this to?
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for joining us.
Country Swing is a dance that doesn’t seem to really have a set musical feel just yet. We can say, however, that most any country song around 100 beats per minutes will work just fine.
Any music that is counted in 4 beats, especially those with a high beat 2 and beat 4. "Dibs" by Kelsea Ballerini and "You Broke Up With Me" by Walker Hayes spring to mind.
Its probably partially people assuming two steps rhythm to be proper for country swing. The quick quick slow slow of two step given it is one of the popular "country" dances.
Good to know though I've been searching for this information for a while. Slow quick quick, slow quick quick or 12& 34& makes much more sense to the flow of country swing and its moves.
Nice! Made sense, thank you!
Love to hear that!
Is this style of dance your interpretation of Country Swing? I haven't seen any other videos like this where you rock step on the right and left foot. If so I appreciate your attempting to put rhythm into a dance without any. If I want to Swing dance to Country music I just use Single Step East Coast Swing but I don't call it Country Swing. It's ECS and the tempo of most Country Two Step music works just fine for me. At least no one has complained yet.
Single time ECS and country swing are very different. Anyone that tries to sell you single swing as country swing doesn’t understand country swing. CS is it’s own dance altogether.
These moves I've seen before at CEROC (modern jive) venues here in Europe. Very good demo though.
You have 2 hands and 2 feet and there are only so many things. There really is nothing exclusive to any dance.
Love your videos, I really do, but I lost my mind over your count. You call and dance it SQQ SQQ which would make the count 1 2& 3 4&. 1& 2 3& 4 translates to QQS QQS.
Love your stuff! Your video quality, presentation, and information is top-notch.
Yeah… here’s a behind the scenes peek at our video production process…
(5 minutes before teaching) Rose: “What do you want to teach?”
Anthony: “Hmmmm… country swing?”
Rose: “Ok”
Videographer: “Action”
We clearly misspoke in this video with the counts. It IS danced SQQ… but at one point we counted it 1&2, 3&4. You’re right about the count being off. It should be counted 1 (2), 3, 4, 1 (2), 3, 4
Love to do the Western swing the Oklahoma style the old style and the bar dance with all they want to do is line dance. They will line dance to the waltz. They were line dance to the two stepping songs. If you they were like Dancin the swing songs if you go around them on the outer side, they call you Fragers and get mad at you. The teacher refuses to teach any other dances but line dancing what should I tell my cousin who owns the bar about this? What is your advice?
So the question I have about the basic rhythm is
Is the pattern always done within 4 beats of music or is it more fluid and the pattern repeats after a movement(when the dancers do the next rock step)? For example you spun her 2 or three time, that might take more than 2 bars of music and rock might happen on the two or three instead?
That’s an excellent question. We do cover that concept in later videos, but you can certainly repeat a turn multiple times. The trick is that everything is done in multiples of 2 beats of music (2,4,6 etc). That way, the rock steps always begin on an odd count :-)
Very Helpful!
That makes us happy to hear!
I'm glad to see Texas is getting into the country swing game! I think you're right on with what a lot of folks are doing. No real rhythm out structure. But that's mostly the ones who learned in a bar. Up here in Oregon we teach it with a Step, Step, Turn, leading with the left foot. I grew up with Cowboy Swing, which leads with the right foot, Step, Turn, Rock. You've given me a new angle to play with though, and I really like your take on it.
But, I am gonna disagree with you calling it a newer dance. It's been around out west for quite a while, but it's only recently started to spread to other regions. Keep up the good work, you're hands down the best country dance instructors on TH-cam.
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Country dance can be very regional in style and dance popularity.
Country swing is a newer dance in comparison to the other dances. By “new” we didn’t mean fresh for 2021 haha
I've been dancing this country swing for a while and there hasn't been much people technically teaching the real foot work. And now that I see this video I'm realizing that I just doing hustle or single step East Coast swing. I've learned these other dances as well so now I'm all confused. I'll be needing to talk to you.
Great class!
Glad you think so!
I went to my first country bar a couple weeeks ago and this girl was teaching me a few moves. She had told me the basics start out with a waltz like hold and then from there do a lot of the common swing dance moves that I see (like the pretzel, back side, etc). I danced with a few other girls that night and saw other couples dancing similarly here in AZ. But I can't seem to find anything like that on the internet. Is that just a thing here in AZ or maybe at that specific bar?
Hi! The reason you might be seeing that is because in AZ we tend to mix country swing with Rhythm/AZ 2-Step. That's the side-together-side-tap dance you see. Everywhere else I've been, people dance country swing with a traditional swing hold with the leader's left hand low. Try looking for some AZ 2-step videos and see if that's more familiar?
So it’s pretty much a faster version of nightclub two step but with more spins?
Similar steps are also found in Rumba, Waltz, Bolero, NC2, Cumbia, and more. You only have 2 feet and so many combinations. But, no I wouldn't say they were the same.
Amo mil sus consejos
Gracias por ver.
I've been counting 1234 but 1&2 3&4 makes a tad more since
Every dance should have a standard rhythm ... or is it even dancing? ;-) We're glad you enjoyed the video!
We call that a "pause step" and all that momentum is full. But I was just a honky tonker.
Yay Country Swing! I’m a little confused about the rhythm. It looked like you guys were doing QQ on the rock step and S on the steps between. That would make [step, rock step, step, rock step] be [SQQSQQ]. Did I get that right?
That is correct. Did you watch the first video in the series where we broke that down? th-cam.com/video/MYfVD9l5x3o/w-d-xo.html
thanks
You’re so very welcome
Would you say the rock step is kind of like the cumbia back except on 3?
I’m over here overthinking country swing but essentially its exactly like Mexican Cumbia but more graceful and fancier 😂
Structure is very different.
Saw another video on country with different footwork. Rock step, step step. 1,2,3 4,5,6,7&8. Confused.
Rock step, step, step is called single time East Coast Swing. 100% not country swing. We've seen videos with people teaching single swing and passing it off as country swing. Totally different dance altogether.
How did you determine what the "real country swing" is? I understand single time is being taught and is popular, depending on where you live....
Single time swing is a popular and valid version of ECS generally for faster music. It is sometimes taught by dance instructors who don't know country swing AS country swing. They are, however, NOT the same dance and presenting single swing as country swing is just ignorance on the part of the instructor.
I need to correct myself, single time country swing is being taught. That's 4 steps on 4 beats. Looks like both are valid.
Single time swing (ecs) is danced with 4 weight changes over 6 beats. “Push Pull Swing” (as made up by the FADS organization is 4 steps over 4 beats. Neither of these are country swing. Country swing is 6 weight changes total and alternates which foot goes backwards. If we had to compare it to another swing dance, it would be most similar to a single time Lindy or a single time wcs whip pattern. It is just its own dance.
What would be a good #2 dance style to complement Country Swing?
I’ve seen kids doing this to Waltz music. I don’t think music mattered to them.
Ha! Unfortunately, we've seen that too
May I ask what shoes you are wearing?
Hi. Anthony is wearing a brand called International Dance Shoes. Rose is wearing Ultimate Dance Boots.
"He has his half." Poetry
What other dance have generated the country swing?
Very similar to walking 4 count Hustle....
Can totally see why someone would say that. Hustle, however, only has 4 weight changes while the country swing basic has 6, so it's a little different... not just in step but in structure.
Side note... "4 count hustle" is something just kind of made-up by the franchise studios to get non dancers feeling confident (and it's sister made-up dance "push pull swing")
Concur with Anthony, having taught in several 'franchise studios' I was totally put off with their insistence to teach "4 Count" Hustle Never took long before the Director would be pushing the younger ladies at me because they wanted to learn my style (It was never my style, just Hustle) and I wasn't even the best by far. No matter what people call it, New York, Swing and 3 count Hustle. 4 Count was just a way to keep students in the studio longer. Same could be said for the abhorrence to teach Salsa instead of Mambo, East Coast Swing instead of West Coast Swing or at least include it. That goes for Lindy Hop being was avoided at many studios because it takes a lot more dedication stamina and energy to stick to many particular dances. I've notice tons of different ways Country Two Step is done, The way many dances were competed in earlier don't look anything like they do now. Buddy Schwimmer gets pretty frustrated when someone takes a side step as the beginning part of a rhythm in Night Club Two Step, but you will see many people teach it that way as if that is the way the inventor did it. He will tell you, It's a 'NIGHT CLUB 2 Step. Not Ballroom 2 Step. Not that it matters, I feel the same way about Salsa, Salsa is for Clubs and Mambo is for the Studio. Now lets Carolina Shag. ha ha ha
This looks a lot like Hustle. Is it?
This is not the first time we've heard this. People also confuse it with single time east coast swing. However, both of those dances rock step with the same foot over and over. Country swing alternates.
so basically faster NC2 is what they are calling country swing now?...without any sway/flourish etc.....
Yeah… no
1, 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, 8 and 1. Those are your basic counts
Is Country Swing the same as Western Swing?
“Western Swing” is what “West Coast Swing” used to be called a long time ago. WCS and Country Swing are very different.
Seems similar to the hustle
Agreed. There are some distinct differences too, but it is very similar.
@@countrydancex thanks for the reply you guys are awesome. I teach ballroom and latin in Florida but have always wanted to learn more country dancing due to the freedom! Lol
That's awesome. We teach smooth/rhythm as well. Good dancing is good dancing and the discipline of ballroom will really help you in country.
@@countrydancex Thank y'all for everything and good luck! Luckily you're in Texas. Covid 19 has crushed our business for now. We will rebound but it definitely made it challenging not being open for 2.5 months
Yeah. It was difficult for our studios for a while, but now we’re back in full force. We’re looking for instructors if you wanna consider Texas :-)
Matt Williams
Thanks for showing the rhythm as no other "country swing" video I have seen has ever shown that. Honestly country swing looks like a train wreck to me and I have yet to see anyone do it where it looks graceful or musical in any way. I have danced and taught ballroom, country and latin dances for over a decade. All other dances have a well defined musicality and specific steps on beats so country swing always looks horrible to me whether on the floor or on youtube.
I did enjoy your Nightclub Two Step, WCS, East Coast Swing, Country 2 etc as those are dances I enjoy also. I now see it actually has a rhythm and steps, so great, but I doubt I will ever get used to see dancers do it in public. It looks like they are just trying pack as many violent acrobatics as they can during a 3 minute song. haha sorry
Totally see why you think that. Country Swing is still in its infancy and is, like all dances before it, growing and developing. As a whole, the majority of country swing dancers are younger, newer dancers without much (or any) real dance training... so it becomes about moves, dips, and tricks for them.
There are, unfortunately, too many "teachers" who don't understand how dancing actually works just teaching moves without any regard to any essential structure.
There are some, however, who have begun to teach rhythm, connection, partnership, and structure. That is the direction that country swing is going just as every other dance style. The dance does have a lot of potential and we decided to use our platform to help develop it into what it can be. Give it some time :-)
I feel like you're saying rock step and expecting me to just know what that means
I have no idea what a rock step is 😭
Ha! Put one foot slightly in front of the other and rock back and forth between your feet
@@countrydancex thank you!
I wanna learn how to do this so bad but as a man all I can think is that God must have made women different because if I got spun a bunch like that I'd be so dizzy I'd fall over
Ha! Everyone gets dizzy in the beginning. It’s like lifting weights. You build strength over time
bro that's straight up cumbia
We dance Cumbia. We also dance old school nightclub two step (which also has the same basic step). We also dance Rumba and waltz which also incorporate the same movement. But, as with Country Swing, the steps and movement become different as they advance… bro 😎
That was country swing
Glad you agree ;-)
So Cumbia?
The step of "side, rock step" is used in Cumbia, International Rumba, Bolero, Samba, Old School Nightclub Two Step, and more. The motion and structure of country swing is very different than any of those. BTW... no one dances country swing as step, rock step. That is just to get a feel for the counts and concept.
Looks similar to Cumbia...
So confused.
Thank you in this Video👌👏❣️ I can now Differentiate the Single, Push and Pull from Country Swing. 👍 Big help ❤
Dude: you talk way too fast. Slow it down so EVERYONE can understand.
I was all psyched to watch this ... and then you lost me when you added two quick-quicks for the extra turn and called it "syncopating"! Sigh. Confirms the more general observation that "country swing" is hardly country and certainly not swung. however I applaud any of your efforts that gets people on a dance floor (it's the nomenclature I'm objecting to)
Hi. Thanks for watching. Not sure which section of the video you’re referring to, but the word “syncopation” refers to any rhythm that varies away from the standard rhythm.
Syncopation Definition: A deviation from the basic or expected rhythm. ~ The Dance Dictionary, Ballroomdancers.com
Anyone who tells you that is not the correct definition of syncopation when referring to dance is simply lacking in their understanding.
That’s standard across all dance styles (not sure how that would be country dance or swing specific). You could call it chicken, turnip, and pickles for all we care. Nomenclature varies by region, sure… so it seems irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, yeah? Btw… ALL dances incorporate syncopations at some level.