East Coast Swing - Lesson 2 - October 20, 2025

Jennifer started by quickly reviewing most of what was covered in lesson 1: the basic step (rock-step, triple step, triple step) and the underarm and reverse turns. The underarm and reverse turns follow the same rhythm pattern as the basic: rock-step, triple-step, triple-step, rock-step, etc.

Then she taught two new patterns: (1) the stop-and-go and (2) sliding doors. These patterns “break” the basic rhythm because both have only one set of triple-steps. The rhythm for these patterns is rock-step, triple-step, rock-step, triple-step, rock-step, etc.

Both the stop-and-go and sliding doors start with the follower out to the leader’s left side and facing the same direction as the leader. To get into this position, do the 180-degree underarm turn we learned in lesson 1.

The stop-and-go is like a cut-off version of the reverse turn. To start the move, leaders raise their left-arm to “check their watch” to signal/start the reverse turn AND move their right hand out in front to block the follower after the first set of triple steps. The follower ends up right in front the leader, facing 90 to the leader’s left. Then both the leader and follower take the rock-step but it’s a variation of the basic rock-step in that leaders rock forward on their right foot and step back with their left, and the follower does the rock-step with their left foot back instead of the usual right. Then do a mini underarm turn (one triple-step, followed by a rock-step) to return to the original side-by-side position.

Sliding doors also starts off in the side-by-side position, but there are no turns involved so both the leader and follower are facing the same direction for the whole pattern. Partners stay in parallel while passing back and forth to swap positions. The trick to leading this move is for leaders to keep their hands at waist level so the follower doesn’t start to turn. The leader moves their left hand forward to guide the follower to pass in front. The leader does a triple-step to the left, while the follower does a triple-step to the right. The follower ends up on the leader’s right side. After the rock-step, the leader uses their right hand to signal to the follower to pass behind them. This time the leader does a triple-step to the right, while the follower does a triple-step to the left. After the rock-step, you can repeat this pattern or do a reverse turn to get back into a face-to-face position.