What Makes Quality Line Dancing Instructions?
The first thing to realize is that there is a definite set of structures to any line dance, the largest of which is called the “count.” This is the number of beats in a dance before the entire dance starts over again from the beginning. Sometimes this will coincide with the length of the song the dance is performed to, but usually it is the duration of a verse and chorus. Within the count there will be several “patterns,” or groups of steps strung together. These steps will be described in the dance instructions by phrases such as “do a grapevine to the left for 8 beats,” or “two jazz squares, starting with the left foot, then a ball change and step-hop on the left.” If a person already knows the meaning of these steps, then written dance instructions from a web page such as the Line Dance List may work perfectly well to get people moving. Within the “patterns” – which usually repeat the same sequences of moves, or close to it – are variations, sections of the dance where a single sect
