Rhythm Starz Dance Club

The Two Step as it is danced today may have descended from the "Collegiate Foxtrot," the parent dance of the Texas Two Step. Over time, the dance was called the Country Foxtrot, and square dancers merged into the Country Western Dance Community. The Two Step was traditionally danced by bringing the feet together on each step, as in a Polka Triple Step. However, since it is now done as a progressive dance moving around the floor, dancers pass their feet on each step to keep it flowing smoothly. The timing is Q Q S S, although Two Step is sometimes counted as two slows followed by two quicks.

The Waltz is the oldest of the modern ballroom dances, dating back to 18th Century Germany. In the United States, the Waltz was introduced in 1834 in Boston. At the close of the 19th Century, a slow waltz called the Boston had developed, later evolving into the style still danced today. Another style, The Hesitation, used one step for three beats of music. Hesitation steps are still commonly seen on the dance floor. The Waltz has become a timeless dance, possibly because of the beauty and appeal of music in ¾ time, and because its steps have such a direct relationship to the music. Country Western versions are more relaxed, featuring mostly progressive step patterns.

The origins of Polka have been traced to a young peasant girl in Czechoslovakia in the mid-19th Century. The Polka is the only 19th Century European dance to have survived to the present. Its popularity led to a wider acceptance of the closed dance position in Waltz, and these two dances are still widely danced today. As Czech and Polish immigrants settled in various parts of the United States, their dance steps adapted naturally to other types of music. The Polka can be danced to music in 4/4 time as well as 2/4, traditional Polka, so the dance regained popularity because of its suitability for Country Western rhythms.

The smooth style Triple Two Step we know today is quite different from its ancestors developed twenty to thirty years ago. The original version was a Polka rhythm style dance developed in the Dallas, Texas area and known as the Double Two Step. Other areas called it different names. In Virginia it was known as the Norfolk. In the mid-west and Canada, it was called Swing on the Run and/or Swing on the Move. The walking steps were eventually put at the beginning of the basic and became counted as 1-2, 3&4, 5&6: walk, walk, Triple Step, Triple Step. Over time, the UCWDC made progress in creating an updated, smooth, flowing Triple Two, a dance anyone can do regardless of age. They eliminated the Lilt and developed a beautiful dance that is romantic and sweet in nature.

This dance was formalised by Buddy Schwimmer in the 1960s and developed from slow dancing in nightclubs, with a swaying motion.