Line Dance

Line dancing is a great exercise for seniors that I’ve been enjoying lately. It’s good for both physical well being and for keeping the brain healthy.

There are classes all over New Zealand, including a brand new Absolute Beginners class I’ve just started in Wellington (see timetable). But you can also access a lot of dances online.

  • To start by learning some basic concepts and some of the most common steps, read on.
  • To go straight to a selection of easy line dances, click here.

Some helpful concepts

  • Levels – Absolute Beginner dances are the easiest. Beginner dances are a little more complex, but still fairly easy.
  • Counts – AB and B dances are most commonly 32 counts (4 bars of 8)
  • Walls – Dances can be 1, 2 or 4 wall. This is how many different walls are faced during the dance. 4 is most common.
  • Where is my weight? – At the end of each sequence, you need to be aware of which foot your weight is on, so that you can start the next sequence on the correct foot. Sometimes you will put your weight fully onto the last step, and sometimes you will keep it on the previous foot.
    • eg – when we do heel switches (taps) or toe switches (points), we don’t put any weight on them. We just move them away from the body, and then bring them back, keeping your weight on the supporting foot.
    • Another eg – if we do a vine to the R, and the next step starts on the R, we will finish with the weight on the L. But more usually, we will be going back the other way next, so we just touch the L into the R, without any weight on it.
    • Most beginner dances you will start with your weight on your left, and lead off with your right. But waltzes and some Latin style dances start with your weight on the right, leading with the left.
  • *# Step vs Touch or Tap

Common beginner steps

First you will want to check out some tutorials to get familiar with some basic steps and their names. I like these tutorials by Kari. Note that she is teaching the basic concepts, but how a particular dance is choreographed or taught might use a slightly different version.

Traveling steps

Standing steps

Rock steps

Triple steps

Turning steps

Tutorial playlists

Dance lists