Linking moves together

Once you know a few moves you need to add them together. All of the beginner moves on this site teach the individual moves in their basic form for ease of use. You will find on some occasions that you will need to change the end of a move slightly so that it can be added on to the next move more easily or more smoothly.

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You will notice that every move on these pages starts with a step back and then ends with a step back. This makes learning the moves as individual items nice and easy because it gives you a nice start point and a nice end point. However, if you simply butt the step by step instructions of two moves together you will find that they contradict each other because if you both step back at the end of move 1 how can you be nice and close to your partner ready for the first step back of move 2.

The answer to this is that you ignore the last step back beat of move 1 and replace it with the first beat of move 2, swapping hands if necessary. The only difference being that because you have already started dancing there is no need for the small semi-circle.
Linking Moves
When it comes to linking moves together you will generally find that the way you mix and match the moves is usually up to you. There is no set pattern to follow and no particular rules or order that you should abide by, it all comes down to personal taste, you do the moves you want in the order you want and leave out any that you don't like.

Having said this you will find that some moves fit together a lot more smoothly than others and some simply don't go together well at all

Trying some combinations
Below are several pairs of moves that will let you practice linking moves together. Once you have read the explanation of the various methods of linking moves try out these pairs and you should begin to see how easy it really is. When you can link these moves then you have cracked it because from here on all your links will be through one of the following methods so it will not be long before you don't even have to worry about it, it will just happen.

Example 1 adding the First Move to the Basket

This is the most straight forward as it involves no changes of hands so it can be used to link any moves where move 1 finishes with the same hand as move 2 starts with. Dance the first 7 beats of move 1 as described, ignore the last beat and replace it with the first beat of the Basket i.e. both step back, men, offering his spare hand so that you are then ready to continue with move 2

Example 2 adding the Armjive to the Yoyo

This is different to the example above because move 1 finishes with the left hand and move 2 starts with the right hand. In this case follow all of the instructions for move 1 and then right at the end when you lower your hands and both step back, men, swap your ladies hand form your left to your right so that you end up finishing right to right. From here you can step in and continue with move 2 as notated

Example 3 adding the Catapult to the First Move

In this example and any other move like the Catapult where you let go of the ladies to spin her all you have to do, men, is catch with the correct hand you require for the next move, you can then finish off move 1 by raising the hand that you caught with to return your ladies and you will step back with the correct hand for the next move.

If you should catch your ladies with the wrong hand, don't panic just resort to example 2 and change hands at the end.

To show you how moves fit together, or not as the case may be, is not easy because as we have already said there are no set rules, below however there are some combinations of moves. Try them out and you will see that some will feel more comfortable that others.

First Move to Armjive | Basket to Wurlitzer | Yoyo to Manspin
Wurlitzer to Armjive | Octopus to Half Windmill

Routines to Try
Once you have learned some moves and read how to link them together, try the following 3 move routines to see how all of the moves can be put together in almost any order. You should also find that move 3 should link back to move 1 so that, if you wish, you can keep going non-stop. As soon as you are comfortable with the moves in this order simply mix up the moves and try them in an order of your choice. You will find that some moves will go together better than others but at the end of the day the choice is yours, nothing is wrong.