CopperKnob Stepsheets

This is not a beginner dance. Beginners don't have restarts and tags, especially 2 of each in the same dance. If I teach this dance I will call it a Low Intermediate because my beginner students won't even look at it.

I understand that George changed the higher designation that the choreographer put on the dance when he published it, but has amended it to high beginner at her request. Instructors always use the rating as a guideline, then measure the choreography against the ability of their students in judging whether or not it is appropriate and evaluating which level will be receptive to it. In our beginner classes (NOT absolute beginner), we routinely do tags and restarts--the sooner they learn about phrasing, the better. We learned this in class last night, and although some students struggled a bit with one sequence (because they didn't LISTEN to the explanation by the instructor), everybody got the phrasing just fine.

Beginner levels across the country differ. In the area we live in FL, this beautifully choreographed dance is a "piece of cake" for people that dance here 5-6 days a week for the past 10-20 years, with an age range of 55-85. We are blessed to have the choreographer among us! Along with a few others!

I had the distinct pleasure of teaching this dance to my Beginner class this morning. Most of my Saturday dancers are experienced Beginners, and after a very deliberate teach with plenty of repetition, they executed the dance beautifully. We routinely do dances with tags and restarts that are more difficult to hear and recall than those in this dance. Feedback from dancers was overwhelmingly positive. We will happily dance this to other appropriately slow songs. Thank you, Lisa!

Thank you Bailamo and Susi--I appreciate your comments. As Catman said, the rating a choreographer puts on a step sheet is a guideline. Some dances labeled AB I would never teach to my newbies, but I do teach them to my transitional students in the beginner range. In the absence of hard and fast rules, that's the best we can do as choreographers and as instructors.