From the Author: I live in Southern California and have been country dancing for over 6 years. I have spent many nights out both line dancing and partner dancing and like to travel to find all the good places to dance. I still really enjoy dancing the Electric Slide! Author bio here. If you have any questions I respond quickly to comments!
If you are a regular line dancer and growing in your skill on the dance floor, This short, but very sweet list of IMPROVER line dances is probably a list of some dances you already know, but if not these are some staple and very popular dances out there that have withstood the test of time and will probably be around for a while!
Improver line dances have a little more difficulty and are ideal for experienced beginner line dancers to focus on. Experienced beginner dancers may still find intermediate-level line dances a challenge, but an improver level is perfect to learn and grow their line dance skills!
7 Popular Improver Line Dances To Know:
1. Country Girl Shake
2. Good Time
3. Linda Lu
4. My Maria
5. Slappin’ Leather
6. Tush Push
7. Watermelon Crawl
If this level of line dance is still a little daunting, check out my current list of 20 Beginner Line Dances first! Also, some line dancers like to brush up on or become aware of the steps that line dancing is made of. These are the building blocks for line dancing: 53 Line Dancing Steps You Need to Know!
1. Country Girl Shake
| Count: 32 | Wall: 4 | Level: Improver |
Choreographer: Michele Adlam & Maria Hennings Hunt (2011)
Music: Country Girl (Shake It for Me) by Luke Bryan
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
Country Girl Shake is another really popular improver line dance. There are a few variations out there, but I think this demo and Teach video along with the step sheet will get you close to whatever you might see.
2. Good Time
| Count: 48 | Wall: 4 | Level: Improver Line Dance |
Choreographer: Jenny Cain – 2008
Music: Good Time by Alan Jackson
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
Good Time is a staple and a great old-time favorite now for line dancing at country bars. It is very common and if you stick with it I think you’ll get it down pretty quickly. The highlight to me is the toe-taps & rolling grapevines, first to the right and then repeated (mirrored to the left). This fun part of the dance is probably why it is considered an improver line dance.
Fun fact: Alan Jackson’s music video of Good Time shows him singing out on the road and trying to set the record for the longest line dance. 22 miles long it says at one point! There are different opinions about whether it’s true or not, some say it was a real honest attempt but falls short of the actual record set in China. Please leave a comment if you know the real facts!
3. Linda Lu
| Count: 16 | Wall: 2 | Level: Improver Line Dance |
Choreographer: Neil Hale
Music: Linda Lu by Lee Greenwood (alternative songs: Turn On The Radio by Reba McEntire, Cowboy Casanova by Carrie Underwood)
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
Linda Lu is also another super common line dance called out and at 48 counts, it is aptly called by Copperknob an improver line dance. This isn’t a favorite of mine w/ the “out-outs,” and “in-ins.” Maybe it’s just me! Even though it’s an improver, I think this one is pretty easy to quickly pick up for beginners.
4. My Maria
| Count: 32 | Wall: 4 | Level: Beginner/Intermediate |
Choreographer: Mike Camara & Dan Albro (1996)
Music: My Maria by Brooks & Dunn (a Cha-Cha at 136BPM)
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
My Maria is another beginner/intermediate, but at 32 counts, it’s not too hard. This is a great line dance to another classic Brooks & Dunn song. The unique thing is that it is a Cha-Cha line dance. The Shuffles between a lot of the steps are 3 steps: Cha-Cha-Cha. The pivot hooks are a lot of fun too. I would say “beginner/intermediate” line dance is another way to say improver line dance.
5. Slappin’ Leather
| Count: 40 | Wall: 4 | Level: Beginner Line Dance |
Choreographer: Gayle Brandon (California modified version, 2016)
Music: Footloose by Kenny Loggins and Blake Shelton (alt: T.R.O.U.B.L.E. by Travis Tritt)
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
Slappin’ Leather is a very famous line dance that is considered a beginner dance. You can dance this to the Footloose song from the movies, but the movies didn’t have Slappin’ Leather as part of their choreography. The Footloose movie features the more advanced line dance Fake ID. Click here to go to my post that talks all about that.
Slappin’ Leather has a part in it (the Slappin’ Leather part!) that seems pretty intermediate and takes some coordination! But the dance is just too fun and famous not to include it here. This dance is going to pretty much get called almost every night depending on the club you’re at. There are many variations of it worldwide, but the step sheet and the video here are the So. Cal. version. Even thought it is considered a beginner line dance, I think it could also be considered an improver line dance by some.
Fun Fact: Slappin’ Leather was used in an episode of the TV Show Pretty Little Liars.
6. Tush Push
| Count: 40 | Wall: 4 | Level: Beginner/Intermediate |
Choreographer: Jim Ferrazzano (1979)
Music: Chattahoochee by Alan Jackson
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
Tush Push has been called the most popular line dance in the United States for the last 20 years! There’s a great story about how Jim Ferrazzano came up with the dance over some time, to check it out see this page about The History of the Tush Push. One thing interesting is that it’s kind of 2 dances in one. This is because it was only 1/2 written for months. When completed, the final steps were cha-cha steps setting them apart from the first part of the dance.
It is listed as a beginner/intermediate I think you can think of it as an “improver line dance.”
Note: When you download the Step Sheet you’ll notice there are 6 options included on the 2nd page!
7. Watermelon Crawl
| Count: 40 | Wall: 4 | Level: Beginner/Intermediate |
Choreographer: Sue Lipscomb
Music: Watermelon Crawl by Tracy Byrd
Step Sheet: Click here to download.
Watermelon Crawl is a beginner/intermediate (which seems like an improver line dance really) but is also super common and popular and a lot of fun. One small tip to learning this one that helped me was to just ignore the two 1/2 turns at the end of the dance just wait for everyone to stop turning and you’ll be a little more ready to start the beginning of the dance again with everyone. But when you are ready for sure do the turns!
The fun part of this dance, of course, is stepping out to the right and then sliding back. I think that part is supposed to be the “watermelon crawl.” And the song, of course, has a good message: “If you drink, don’t drive…do the watermelon crawl.” Click on the video below to see Ranch dance instructor Shelly Graham demo the dance!
Some Line Dancing Basics
I hope this brief list of 7 popular improver line dances gives you some good ones to focus on and be that much more ready for your next visit to the local country dance venue! What I love about improver line dances is that they are in that sweet spot where experienced dancers still enjoy the dance, while being accessible to many beginners and offering them a fun challenge. One of the most popular, if not THE most popular line dance right now is Gives Me Shivers. I think that it is an improver level dance is part of its popularity. For some in-depth info about this dance go here!
Also if you are still new to line dancing here are a few things to keep in mind:
Line dances are typically 16, 32, 40, or 48 steps (based on the level of difficulty) You may have noticed these numbers are all divisible by 8! Most popular music has a 4/4 time signature, but dancers count beats in sets of 8, hence line dance choreography is grouped and taught in sets of 8 or with “8-count.”
Next (and the other major thing), line dances are known for having one, two, or four walls. A one-wall dance means everyone will face the same direction when all steps are performed. A two-wall line dance is when at the end of each sequence of steps everyone has turned 180º and you begin again facing the back — for these dances, you will always just face the “front” and “back” walls. Then, with a four-wall line dance (the most difficult), at the end of the steps, everyone has turned 90º and “begins the dance” again facing one of the “side” walls. As the dance progresses you will keep finishing and starting again facing a new wall.
| TIP: When first learning and taking a class it is tempting to hide in the last row! But that’s a bad idea! As soon as the dance has moved on to the back wall if you were in the back, you are now in the front! You can’t see anyone and everyone is looking at your back! So, find a good spot somewhere in the middle and you’ll be able to always keep your eye on someone in front of you who (hopefully) knows what they are doing! |
