Partner Dancing
We love partner dancing! Our culture at Starlight Strut is to ask different people to dance and to try both “lead” and “follow” roles.
In the Main Room, our partner dance mix is primarily Country-Western Two-Step and Country Waltz with some West Coast Swing and a sprinkle of Nightclub Two-Step and East Coast Swing.
Country-Western Two-Step and Waltz
Our version of country-western two-step was born out of San Francisco-based LGBTQ country dance clubs from years past. We dance two-step with a beginner-friendly “slow-slow-quick-quick” as opposed to other regions that do it with a “quick-quick-slow-slow.”
The country waltz follows the counts “1-2-3-4-5-6.”
Both dances move counter-clockwise around the dance floor.
Nightclub Two-Step and East Coast Swing
On any given night, we’ll likely play some songs for nightclub two-step and maybe an east coast swing or two. These are usually the 3rd or 4th dances we learn after country-western two-step. By the time you learn these, you can probably dance to every song we play.
Check out our video: nightclub two-step basics.
West Coast Swing
West coast swing is danced in slots in the middle of the dance floor. Leads and follows will move forward and back and switch places in that slot. It takes a bit of time to learn, but well worth the patience.
The tempo of the music is slower, and those who feel comfortable will partner up to dance “shadow” around the perimeter of the room.
What is shadow? Watch our video.
Learn to Dance
Many of us started to learn partner dancing at events like Starlight Strut, Sundance Saloon, and Texas Rose. We continue to improve, however, by attending additional classes or taking private lessons at various schools throughout the Bay Area.
Luckily, we have two amazing weeknight classes in this building: Explore West Coast Swing & Community Space on Mondays and Oakland Queer Dance Studio on Wednesdays.
