Nightclub Two-Step - What Is It?

The Nightclub Two-Step is the only modern ballroom dance whose origins are completely unambiguous. In fact, as of this post, the creator of this dance is still alive and still teaching dancing. It was invented in 1965 by Buddy Schwimmer when he was just 15 years old. If you follow the popular dance contest TV shows at all, you might recognize that last name. Buddy Schwimmer is the father of swing dance champion and So You Think You Can Dance champion Benji Schwimmer, as well as SYTYCD contestant and Dancing With The Stars professional contestant and sometime choreographer Lacy Schwimmer.

At the time, he and his friends were doing a line dance called the Surfer Stomp. It involved the boys lining up on one side of the floor and the girls lining up on the other side of the floor, and then stepping to the side, crossing over with the other foot, stepping to the side, and then stomping the feet together. This was a fun dance to do to fast music, but when slow songs came on, the only thing anyone knew how to do is put their arms around their partner and sort of sway from side to side.

Buddy felt that there had to be a more interesting way to dance to slow music. So he took that basic side-together step from the Surfer Stomp, altered the rhythm to a quick-quick-slow motion, changed the stomp to a rock, and a dance for medium-slow music was born! The Nightclub Two-Step is not the same dance as the Country Two-Step, also known as the Texas Two-Step. The Country version looks more like a foxtrot and is danced in the line of dance (travelling counter-clockwise around the dance floor). Nightclub Two-Step is a spot dance, which means that the couple dances in a small circle-ish "spot" on a crowded dance floor. Ironically, Nightclub Two-Step is not danced in nightclubs much anymore, like the Country Two-Step; it's danced in ballrooms in spite of the fact that Buddy has resisted the typical attempt by ballrooms to formalize it with a stiffer frame and changing the order of the slows and the quicks.

It is actually important whether you dance slow-quick-quick vs. quick-quick-slow. Which order you dance the steps in changes which beat you do each step on. Those quick-quicks are a rock step, and it is necessary to rock step on the first beat. Rock-stepping on the second beat changes the dance to an entirely different dance, usually the Bolero. It may be difficult to tell the difference if you are new to dancing, but to experienced dancers, the difference is pretty striking. The music for the Nightclub Two-Step is any contemporary romantic ballad with an accent on the second beat. Lady In Red is the quintessential Nightclub Two-Step song.

This video is an excellent example of the quick, quick, slow rhythm. The dancers clearly maintain that rhythm throughout the entire dance. It also shows the smooth gliding movements that are characteristic of the Nightclub Two-Step and several simple but elegant patterns. These are steps you can expect to do after only a few lessons, some of which you can do after your first lesson. This video is a classic, simple, elegant Nightclub Two-Step.

Nightclub Two-Step Demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwqiMVoNy74