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There is a difference between knowing the song and knowing what song they will be dancing to.

@@GFSwinger1693 um okay....

You need to release your mindset from the word choreography. When you go out on the dance floor at say a wedding and you start shaking your booty. Are you dancing to choreo or are you listening to the music and letting your body take over. That's what dancers at this level are doing. They listen to the music and let all the body isolation movements that they have worked on for years take over. They are just very well practiced at this.

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Hi. You can definitely hit both. But the 5th should be bigger than the 3rd. I refer to the third one as the 'midphrase' and the 5th as the phrase change. As a general rule, you can hit the midphrase a little bit smaller and with less of a build up, then hold it for 1 count. So hit 1, hold 2, then continue dancing on 3etc. For the phrase change you generally want a larger buildup + you want to hold the hit at least 4 counts (closer to 8 when dancing for a crowd. It t takes a while before the crowd starts cheering and you don't want to make them stop right away..). When I say hold I mean that you should not start dancing a new pattern.

@@RolfandKarin Thanks. What do you think of the idea of having ways to lead up to the 5th 1. For example: 4 6's and a 9? 3 8's and a 9? Etc Etc? Or after you just his the 1 and then you grove for 8 and now you just have to make 25. 2 8's and a 9 or 3 sixes and a 7? (After the 8 count groove makes it 33. I'm asking this because I was going to take some lessons and practice these ideas but I am not sure if my insructor would think it's not too much math and then if its too complicated I'm spending a lot of $ but not really having a good strategy. I mean I like your approach but it leaves you vulnerable to being on the 4th 8 and having to think, OK do I need a 5,7,9 or 3? Where as if I plan into it, I know which hit I will use. And of course I am only referring to the strong hit on 33. Not 17.

I get it, and I hear you. Eventually, you'll learn to catch the phrase change, but it takes time. Dancing within set structures can be fun in the short term because you might hit some phrase changes, but it's not a sustainable way to approach dance. So, it's better to avoid learning and sticking to a specific 32-count combination. It limits the dance and partner's creativity. Plus, not all music follows a 32-count structure, so it won't work for most songs. Flexibility is key. Improvisation allows for more enjoyable and creative dances. Instead of fixed patterns, focus on practicing counting music and recognizing the last 8 counts before the phrase change while dancing. At the very least, you only need patterns for 1 count, 3 counts, 5 counts, and 7 counts. If you have 9 counts, simply do another basic step, and you're left with 3 counts before the phrase change. By the way, another approach we've used when teaching this is to just stop your pattern when the phrase change happens. So whatever you're doing, just stop and dance in place. It can be useful if you struggle with counting. Good luck!

@@RolfandKarin Thanks again. I'm in Albuuqerque NM. If you guys ever want to come out to do a workshop here I can get you right to the heads of all the swing clubs.

Karin is a trained dance teacher, I don't have any formal training, but taught a lot in my previous job.

Glad it helped you! :)

Dance shoes, jazz booties, etc. People call them different things but if you go into any dance clothing/shoe store and show them this video they'll show you a pair right away. 😊

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