Grapevine (dance move)

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Grapevine is the name of a dance figure, which may look different in various ballroom, club, and folk dances, but shares a common appearance: it includes side steps and steps across the support foot.

Sequence

The most basic endless grapevine sequence of steps may look as follows:

  • Side step,
  • Step behind the support foot,
  • Side step,
  • Step across support foot.

The sequence is then repeated.

The whole movement is in the same sidewise direction. The sequence may start from any of the four listed steps and may break at any place wherever it is convenient to move into another dance figure, e.g., into a grapevine in the opposite direction.

Troy Kinney (1914) described the Grape-Vine as part of One-Step as follows: [1]

The grape-vine is an alternation of second and fourth positions of the feet ; one foot travelling sidewise on a straight line, the other foot going from anterior to posterior fourth position, and vice versa. The step travels to the woman's right (the man's left), without turning.

The man's steps are the converse of the woman's, he starting with his left foot. The step is executed in closed position of the couple, and is usually performed several times in succession. The arrival of the feet in fourth position is usually punctuated with a slight dip.

The step is used, e.g., in Foxtrot, Polka, Freestyle aerobics, Electric Slide and Hustle.

In some dances (e.g., Polka, Hustle, Electric Slide) it is an eight count figure, often split into two, mirroring each other and called "Grapevine to the right" and "Grapevine to the left".

  1. Step right
  2. Step left foot to the right, crossing in front of right foot
  3. Step right
  4. Tap left against right
  5. Step left
  6. Step right foot to the left, crossing in front of the left foot
  7. Step left
  8. Tap right against left

See also

  • Mayim Mayim, a popular Israeli folk dance that uses a grapevine-style step

References

  1. ↑ Troy Kinney, Margaret West Kinney (1914) "The Dance: Its Place in Art and Life" (public domain, digitized by Google)
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