As for me, I was still having problems. I could not figure out the secret if my life depended on it (and I might add my career did depend on it). My students ask me incessantly about those turns. That just aggravated me more. My inner self was clawing at the chance to spin women again. I tried all sorts of patterns trying to get the hang of it. I made up a dance I called the "Western Swing". I had heard of Bob Wills playing "Western Swing" music back in the 30’s. I liked the name so I used it to describe these new turns. Then for yet the third time in my Western career, I rashly stuck my neck out and offered to teach this dance. As usual, I came very close to getting badly burned.

 

I combined my knowledge of Twostep, which was limited to begin with, and my knowledge of Swing and Jitterbug to put together an absolutely ridiculous dance where you Single or Double Turned the lady on beats 1-2-3-4, the finished 5-6 with a backstep (I am so ashamed), then crossed the line of dance on the Slow-Slow, then did another backstep (I am truly embarrassed). It was an awful dance. I am quite sure that Orville and Wilbur had some bad moments too, but frankly my dance did not fly very well.

Then to make things worse, I actually scheduled a class to teach this dance. At least this time I told them the truth. I told them I was working on the dance. Since no one else in the city was teaching turns, that was good enough for about 12 people. The class met two times and the moves sort of worked, but I knew something wasn’t right. But what ? Every day I would spend time cooking up new patterns. I kept beating my head against the wall.

One day a Disco student named Herb Fried told me someone in a club had shown him how to cross the line of dance starting on the quick-quick. He knew I had been trying to figure out the dance and wondered if I had tried that trick yet. His suggestion absolutely stunned me. I couldn’t imagine… Starting on the Quick Step ?  No way !

I have to tell you this concept was as radical to me as the discovery that the sun, not the earth, was the center of our solar system might have been to a Medieval Man. And don’t forget back in those days some people were actually put to death for making that suggestion ! After deciding to spare Herb‘s life, I wondered if it was possible those double turns really started on the quick-quick. Then I dismissed the thought. No way ! Herb, you have got to be kidding! God meant for Twostep to start on the Slow. However curiosity began to creep into the corners of my brain. I wondered if it would work ...

 

To me this suggestion was revolutionary ! It may be obvious to you because you have always known the right way, but this information completely went against my mind-set. In those days, everything started on the Slow ! That is the Way Twostep Was Done. In the spirit of the open mind, I asked him to turn me a couple times. Damn, it seemed to work ! It had never in my wildest dreams occurred to me to flip-flop the Quicks and Slows.

However now that my mind-set was shattered, it was obvious he was right. Western Swing started on the Quick, not the Slow. No wonder none of my ideas ever worked. Like any person who works a puzzle and has to peek at the answers, I was disappointed in myself, but at the same time I was vastly relieved to finally discover the Secret.

Unfortunately I had to face one final embarrassment. A day later my Advanced Twostep class came back for their third week. I had been thinking about Herb’s ideas, but I had not had the chance to try them with a partner. Furthermore I did not want to admit I had completely wasted these people’s time and money for two weeks with total BS. Like a coward, I started with my pathetic make-shift version of Western Swing. I had hoped to have some time to experiment with the new ideas before introducing them. However as we started our first pattern, a man spoke up and said he had been watching some people and doubted my way was the correct way.

Oh Great, another test !  Fortunately, by now I had quite a bit of experience at surviving them. After a deep breath, I decided to come clean. I said I had been experimenting with a new way and maybe we should try it. Obviously the moves needed some fine-tuning, but for the most part the Quick-based moves worked much better. By the end of class, those people were so excited ! They shook my hand, slapped me on the back, and a lady hugged me. Thank Goodness ! Everyone knew I was on the right track now. As usual, I had survived by the skin of my teeth. I just shook my head.

 

I may have been slow getting started, but once I understood every move began on the Quick, the whole dance fell into place. I began to develop a system of patterns for my Western Swing dance that operated like a Programmer‘s Flow Chart. The Swing Out leads to the Double Turn Open Up which leads to the Cross the Line Wind Up which leads to Double Turn Step Right Up which leads to Wild West Shuffle... You would be surprised to realize how little the dance has changed at SSQQ from my formative days of late 1979 and early 1980 ! Other than changing how the ladies should prepare for their Double Turns around 1989, SSQQ’s Western Swing is the same now as it was back then.

My friends Bob Job, Bill Sampson, and John Montieth would get together with me on Saturday mornings. We would make up a new move each week. One of our first projects was the Pretzel. In Disco the Pretzel had stayed in one spot on the floor. It was our goal to find a way to make the Pretzel travel. It was a great triumph when after several hours of tinkering we succeeded. Yes, today’s SSQQ Pretzel is step for step the same move that we cooked up 19 years ago.

Although similar forms of Western Swing are now seen around the country, (especially at Western dance competitions) Houston is where it started. Compare the simplistic moves danced on The Nashville Network (TNN) to the complex moves taught in SSQQ’s Ghost Town or Death Valley for perspective. While parts of the country are still surprised to see a man Twostep backwards and believe line dances were meant by God to be the dominant form of Western dancing, we have an entire city where thousands of dancers do intricate double turns effortlessly. Houston has the right to be proud of its Western Swing. Not many cities can take exclusive credit for creating an entire dance. In fact, with the exception of the Lindy Hop in Harlem, I doubt any other city can claim the sole authorship of a national dance form as difficult and impressive as Houston’s very own Western Swing !

 

In 1979, the innovation of the Double Turns meant no woman would be stuck going backwards for an entire song any more as long as she lived in Houston, Texas. Even the die-hard Kickers, the ones with the "Disco Sucks" bumper stickers on their pickup trucks who enjoyed doing the Polka on the heads of Disco dancers, decided it was time to learn the turns. The ladies enjoyed double turning so much that your basic redneck had to either learn to lead them or spend a lot of time watching at the railing.

Even the style of the Twostep and the Polka got classier. In a change I credit mostly to the old Exclusive Dance Studio, the men were taught to get their arm off the lady’s neck and put it around the lady’s back instead. This studio helped introduce Ballroom dance techniques to the Twostep, Polka, and Waltz that vastly changed the appearance of these dances for the better. The fancy Western dance contests- Dance Fever in blue jeans– reinforced this emphasis on style to the point that there was no turning back.

The new style of Western Dancing was so superior to the "Redneck" style that soon almost everyone converted from the Neck Lock to the arm wrapped around the lady’s back. The women agreed this change looked better, felt better, and was easier to follow. The men had little choice but to give in or visit the railing for long stretches at a time.

Things would never be the same in Western Dancing. Disco may have died a premature death in the Space City, but it left a legacy that was transformed into Western Swing... Disco on the Run, a Houston tradition !

 

I hope you have enjoyed this article. I might add I have had time to completely proofread it, so if you find words missing, paragraphs missing, or perhaps even a page or two feel free to let me know and I will take care of it.

If I am correct, Microsoft would call this my "Alpha" version. So send those critiques flying
over to dance@ssqq.com . I will also appreciate any thoughts you would like share.

Thanks, Rick Archer