I've been teaching western dance since 87. By that time we had abandoned the shoulder for the back.Many ballroom teachers aren't aware because they don't take western lessons. 25 years ago and they still don't know. By the late 80's western had made wcs one of its major dances far before ballroom did. Our goal is to improve on a dance not destroy it. Our western champions were good enough to pretty much dominate the US open. That would be like going to Blackpool and winning. That couldn't happen but the swing dancers are much more impressed by real talent.

I don't think any ballroom moves really translate into 2-step. I think you can steal a lot of moves from country waltz, though...you just have to change the timing!

was in Dallas on business last week.

At Cowboys dance hall (both Dallas Red River and Arlington venues), they teach triple two, or progressive two, as

walk, walk, triple step, triple step.

(same timing as WCS 6 count basic.

You can eliminate the beginning launch on the first quick by teaching the leaders to begin their forward body movement on the last slow. This is how we walk and it should be how we dance.

As said earlier the leaders hand on the follow's shoulder was eliminated from most 2-step years ago. It's just too darn hard to initiate turns. Also the double prep went away as well. Thankfully!

Currently UCWDC Triple-Two is unrecognizable to those that learned it as the Shuffle. The timing is the same but almost everything else has changed. Too bad but happy to hear the progressive is still around in Texas at least.

Let's get rid of the oft repeated thought that Foxtrot is in some way related to 2-step. The timing, posture, hold, patterns and floor travel is not even close. The closest Ballroom dance in Tempo is the Quickstep. The closest in technique is Swing. My WCS has some 2-step patterns but that's not surprising since my WCS has elements of many dances from American Tango to International Standard.

I agree that the current UCWDC dances are really American Smooth & Rhythm. If you don't believe this just go to the UCWDC web site and watch the video demonstration of the Waltz, ECS & Cha.