Here are my notes on how to do some Country Swing moves. They are from the Háskóladansinn class taught by organization's president, Catherine O'hara.

Pre-requisite and reviewed moves

First there are two to three pre-requisite moves. We went over these three moves because some or all of the moves are required in order to execute the five moves covered in this class.

  1. Two-step
  2. Beltloop
  3. Inside turn

The moves

Then, these relatively easy new moves were all taught in the same class session:

  1. Arch (or lasso as I call it) + proposal
  2. Windmill + Sweatheart
  3. Head rolls a. follows 1. Hands attached 2. Hand on shoulder only b. leads
  4. Anchor dip
  5. Basic dip/sit

The moves in-depth

Arch (lasso)

The lead stays in one place but moves their hand like they are holding and whipping a lasso. Then the follow makes a clockwise circle around the lead.

Arch + proposal

This move is the same for the follow but now the lead bends their right leg and their left knee touches the ground.

Windmill

For the Windmill, the lead lifts their right arm up behind them then sweeps it down while holding the follow's hand. Around waist level, the lead uses their left hand to grab the follows hand. This ends with the lead and the follow having crossed hands in front. Then the lead can turn it into a sweatheart and then use another Windmill to get out of the crossed hands position.

Head rolls

Head rolls are done by only one partner at a time.

Follows

Follows have two types of head rolls. There's the hands attached head roll that looks like an arm bar. Then there's the no-hands head roll.

Leads

Leads only have one type of head roll called the matrix. The lead head rolls by putting the follow's hand on the lead's chest and then rolling their head under the follow's arm like they are doing the limbo.

Anchor dip

The follows are at a forty-five degree angle from the leads and the partners have their arms locked at the elbow. The lead leans down a bit while the follow basically does a pistol squat as low as they are comfortable with. It is important for the follow to keep their center of balance over vertical.

Basic dip/sit

First the two partners do an inside turn. Then the lead puts their hand on the follows back. A hand straight down the back slightly indicates to sit. A hand slightly backwards without moving down indicates the follow should do a dip. The follow should still be supporting most of their own weight.

Finally we also did some line dancing during this class.