Round Dance Trivia

Two Step - Odd name for a three step move.

by Jesse Chisholm

Dancing terms often mean something very close to what you actually do, but sometimes they have some historical reason for the name even if it doesn't describe what you do. An example is found in Country Western Dancing and Round Dancing, where we are taught how to do a movement called the "two-step" even though it requires taking three steps. And no, that isn't because Cowboys can't count. It's because there is a Dance called the Two-Step that used two kinds of step movements: a simple walking step and the movement now called the two-step. That is the foundation movement for all variations of that Dance. If you learn that movement, you can do just about any Two-Step variation. So the movement came to be called the "two-step" after the Dance. It is pure happenstance that you move your feet three times while doing the basic two-step.


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12-November-2006 14:26:16