Line Dance Step Sheets

Line dance step sheets are invaluable tools for anyone wanting to learn or teach a specific dance. Better yet, they are easily available in many places on the Internet, and more are added almost daily.

Simply put, line dance step sheets are the history of line dancing put into archival form. Like any kind of dance, line dancing is best learned in person, directly from an instructor or fellow aficionado.

However, in the absence of those, being able to find a step sheet for a particular dance can help liven up a party, a wedding, or just an evening barbecue with friends. Moreover, experienced country line dancers can easily and quickly share and learn new dances, which keeps the entire art form alive and growing all over the world.

When you first see a step sheet for a country line dance, it's pretty obvious what most of the information is. At the top will be the title of the dance, possibly along with the name of the person who choreographed it.

However, the next bit is a very important piece of information: the description. This tells you how many counts are in one full cycle of the dance and also what kinds of formations are found in the dance. For example, in the "Wild Wild West" Barn Dance taught at the 2008 Sundance Stompede, the description tells you that the dance is designed for "beginner partnered mixer circle dances". This means the steps will be relatively easy; dancers will be partnered, but will also be switching around ("mixing") and the line of dance will be in a circle (almost always counter-clockwise). That's a lot of information in a few words, and helps people plan the right dances for the right occasions and locations.

The steps themselves are listed with the counts, usually with very brief descriptions of the steps for both leader and follower (in partnered dances). Wherever necessary (such as the beginning of the dance), there will be a brief direction such as begin dance with partners facing each other in closed dance frame'.' For the most part, however, it is simply expressed in Step L to L (left foot to left side) or notations for turns over a series of counts:

9-12 Repeat steps 1-4 with inside turn, leader raises L arm and follower turns under clockwise.

By focusing on only the steps, the step sheets allow for a great deal of personal expression by the dancers. Often the step sheets will also let you know what songs work best with each dance, sometimes even with links to online music sources.

There are many different places to find line dances on the Internet.

• Personal Sites – Like any other art form, many people set up their own websites or blogs to celebrate the joy of line dancing. 38 Step is one example, but many more can be found with a simple Google search.
• KickIt Search Engine – One of the more useful ways to track down a dance by song, artist, choreographer, or even just area of the country, is to use this search engine. While it doesn't necessarily have every line dance in it, it comes pretty close, and is sort of the Google of Country Line Dancing.
• Static Archives – Occasionally, events such as the Stompede mentioned above will publish all the dances taught at the event, along with links to the music. One great convenience of the Stompede site is that the step sheets are downloaded as PDF files, ready to print out and formatted for clear and easy use.
• Newsletters and Newsgroups – In the world of social media there are many online groups and even daily newsletters that keep you up-to-date with line dancing worldwide. Checking Google groups, tribe.com, and other online groups can help you find other people interested in the same kind of dance.

Whatever the source, the step sheets themselves are a fantastic way to share the joy of line dancing with all kinds of people all over the world.

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