16/10/2019
Category: rock-n-roll-dance-moves

This rock n roll dance move is great to watch and quite easy to learn. I call it the merry-go-round. It's fun to perform and it's easy to master.

It's a simple move that makes a welcome change from spinning and turning. It requires the lady to be agile on her feet, but even those who aren't brimming with fitness can still perform this move if the man helps her.

The key to this is that you can travel around the circle at any speed you wish. That's because it's the size and speed of steps taken by the lady that count. The pace that she travels at on the outside of the circle is not directly linked to the beats of the music. You'll find that you can speed up and slow down at will in the middle of the move.

To initiate this move, first take the lady in a right-hand to right-hand connection. Give her a forward spin (anti-clockwise). On the return spin, wrap your left hand around her waist and go straight into the merry-go-round. I normally whizz around with the music for two bars. One bar is too few and more than two can be overkill - especially for the lady who is doing all the work!

To exit the move, I like the lady to make a quick skip across to my right side. I catch her with my right arm, then immediately propel her back to the other side. From there a forward and return spin brings the couple back to centre.

This is the sort of filler move you can add to spins and turns to give your dance routine a bit of variety. It works well with medium-paced music. You can still manage if the music is quite fast, but with a very fast song the lady will be hard-pressed to keep the pace. You don't want to wear her out and have her sit down, particularly if she is a great dancer, so give that one a miss.