Phrase Change Patterns
Table of Contents
Pattern-planning tables #
If you lost your count, stop counting the pattern you are currently dancing a few moments before hearing the upcoming one. Focus on counting the 1 and 2 of the music.
You may stop counting the music at any point, but I suggest stopping on an anchor step. The count you end up with is the number of beats since 1.
The number of beats since 1 will determine how many patterns you can dance and how many beats the last pattern in the sequence must be before hitting the one.
| Beats since 1 | Patterns | Break Pattern | Total beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 4*6 | 6 | 32 |
| 4 | 4*6 | 4 | 32 |
| 6 | 4*6 | 2 | 32 |
| 8 | 3*6 | 6 | 32 |
| 10 | 3*6 | 4 | 32 |
| 12 | 3*6 | 2 | 32 |
| 14 | 2*6 | 6 | 32 |
| 16 | 2*6 | 4 | 32 |
| 18 | 2*6 | 2 | 32 |
| 20 | 1*6 | 6 | 32 |
| 22 | 1*6 | 4 | 32 |
| 24 | 1*6 | 2 | 32 |
Notice the following patterns are equivalent:
| 24 beats | 18 beats | 12 beats |
|---|---|---|
| 6+6+6+6 | 6+6+6 | 6+6 |
| 8+8+8 | 12+6 | 12 |
| 12+6+6 | 10+8 | |
| 12+12 | ||
| 8 |
Some songs have 48-beat phrase changes, so this may come in handy:
| Beats since 1 | Patterns | Break Pattern | Total beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2*6 | 2 | 16 |
| 4 | 1*6 | 6 | 16 |
| 6 | 1*6 | 4 | 16 |
| 8 | 1*6 | 2 | 16 |
| 10 | 0*6 | 6 | 16 |
| 12 | 0*6 | 4 | 16 |
| 14 | 0*6 | 2 | 16 |
Major vs minor phrase change patterns #
Sometimes a musical phrase like a verse or a bridge may be 64 beats instead of 64 beats. In such cases, the first 32 beats will be the minor phrase and the second 32 beats will be the major phrase.
If you do a fancy pattern to heat the 1 on a minor phrase change you will look too dramatic. In the other hand, if you don’t do a dramatic pattern to hit the 1 on a major phrase change you will look dull and non-musical.
Major phrase change patterns #
3-beat hit #
Slingshot into groves #
Right-side clockwise hand-switch turn #
Right-side clockwise hand-switch hand-grab turn into straight walk #
The pattern that Matt Auclair taught.
5-beat hit #
Left side spinning pass into dip #
Hand-switch whip into clockwise walk-around #
Sugar tuck into over-rotated shadow position grove #
Whip into outside step into clockwise ride #
Sugar push into hand-release counter-clockwise male turn #
7-beat hit #
Handshake handhold right-over-left male clockwise turn into straight walk #
The pattern that Matt Auclair taught.