Track2 DanceNet

Triple-Step East Coast Swing Review Notes - Pg 2

Triple-Step East Coast Swing Review Notes - Page 1

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1. Introduction

Question: What are these practice sessions all about?

• Answer: This session is a review and practice of East Coast Swing.

Question: What is the objective of these practice sessions?

• Answer: To get comfortable with the basics of East Coast Swing.

Question: Who are these sessions for?

• Answer: These sessions are for anybody who has had some lessons in East Coast Swing, but is not really sure of the step, and wants additional practice.

Question: Can you accomodate singles?

• Answer: We can probably work more efficiently with couples, as they have a partner to practice with at home. But we can accomodate singles.

Question: Are Jim and Petie qualified instructors?

• Answer: No. We just know the basics fairly well, and feel we can competently guide people for practice sessions.
  
  If you have not had any lessons in East Coast Swing, you may probably want to eventually get in a regular class with real instructors.
  
  However, we may also be able to give you a "head start" if you want to practice with us before you take an official class.

Question: How can we find "real" instructors for this dance, if we have never had a formal lesson, and want to take a class?

• Answer: For lists of dance instructors in Lycoming County and nearby, use this link which takes you to the DanceNet Ballroom Dance page:

http://www.track2.com/dance/ballroom.shtml#herb

Question: Why are you focusing on East Coast Swing? ?

• Answer: East Coast Swing (or triple-step swing) is probably one of the most useful dances you can learn, because you can dance it in rocks bars, ballroom dances, country western clubs, weddings--anyplace music with a steady tempo of approximately 100 to 150 beats per minute is being played. 

Question: Which partner has the hardest part?

• MEN! -- Men have the toughest part. The men have to learn this, plus lead it. Don't get discouraged. The "hump" is at the beginning, getting your "muscle memory" trained to do the basic step. This is what we will be working on.

2. Syllabus

This section shows an syllabus that we used for a small group practice. Sessions with individuals can of course be tailored to those persons needs and desires.

 

Question: What is your overall agenda?

• What We Plan To Do -- We plan to start with the basic step, walk everyone thru it step-by-step, then just practice it over and over to slow music, to try to get people comfortable with it.

Question: What results are we going to see for our effort?

• Results -- The basic steps should make sense to you after this review session. If they don't, that means we probably didn't do our job well enough. In that case, consult some of the regular instructors.

Abbreviations -- M = Man, W = Woman, L = Left, R = Right

Men & Women Together

PART 1 -- Demo 6 count step, No Music. (5 minutes)
 

PART 2 -- No Music -- Line Everybody Up in 2 or more rows, M facing W. (5 minutes)
March in place counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Purpose -- Get everybody comfortable with the "formation".

PART 3 -- Add Slow Music -- same lines as above, but march in place. (5 minutes)
March to music counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Goal will be to have everybody's foot hitting the floor at the same time.
Purpose -- Get everybody hopefully hearing and stepping to the music.

 

(maybe) SPLIT Men & Women into 2 separate groups.

PART 4 -- Explain -- 6 beats of Music, 8 steps with the feet. (5 minutes)

Two of those steps are between the beats.

 

PART 5 -- Demo slowly, each of the 8 foot positions. (5 minutes)

 

PART 6 -- Walk Men (Women) through 8 positions. (5 minutes)

Start with Count 1. Then do Counts 1 &. Then do Counts 1 & 2. Continue up to Count 8.

 

Purpose -- Get everybody hopefully doing the basic step properly.

 

PART 7 -- Have men practice doing the 8 steps. (5 minutes)

 

REJOIN Men & Women into 1 group.

PART 8 -- Line Everybody Up in 2 or more Rows, M facing W. (5 minutes)

Partners not touching. Practice doing all 8 steps, facing partner.

 

PART 9 -- Add Slow Music -- same lines as above. Partners not touching. (5 minutes)

Practice doing all 8 steps, facing partner.

 

PART 10 --Now put partners together, facing, in Open Position. (15 minutes)

Use M's palm up, W's palm down. Continue practicing. Rotate partners every 3 minutes.

3. Counts

You need 8 syllables to count the steps. We suggest you use one of the following "Chants"

 

Recommended:

• Men--We suggest you use the following at first to keep track of where you are:
  
  1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5-6 

Alternates:

• Tri - ple One, Tri - ple - Two, Rock - Step.
• Tri - ple Left, Tri - ple - Right, Rock - Step (L/R applies to the man)
• Tri - ple - Step, Tri - ple - Step, Rock - Step.

Reminders:

• Start: M's weight on R foot, W's weight is on L foot.
• On Count 1 --M's L and W's R foot should hit the floor.
• On Count 5 --M should be rocking back on L foot, W rocking back on R foot.
  
  
• STYLE POINTS:
  • Small Rock Step -- Don't take a big rock step. A big rock step (a) looks clunky (b) is a lot more work.
  • Minimize Hopping -- Don't hop and and down a lot. A small amount of vertical motion of the head & shoulders is OK, but it shouldn't look like you're on a Pogo stick or a trampoline.

4. Additional Topics

• Closed Position-- W's R palm down, M's L palm up. M's R fingers in closed postion, pointing down about 30 degrees from horizontal, on W's L shoulder blade.
  
  
• Woman's Inside Turn -- M leads on Triple 1. M's L hand goes between, W turns L.
  
  
• Woman's Outside Turn -- M leads on Triple 2. M's raises L hand, guides W under arm w/R hand. W turns R.
  
  
• Man's Left Turn -- On Triple 1 , M raises L arm, brings R hand in to stomach. On Triple 2, M turns L under his L arm.
  
  
• Faster Music -- You can "shift gears" to the less desirable Single-Step swing. Use a single step on the L foot for Trip-ple-1, and a single step on the R foot for Trip-ple-2.