1
To:
Bob Wills & George Strait
Arthur Murray & Fred Astaire
And the Rest of the Male Species
For:
All the Neglected Women
who want . . . and need . . .
more men to know how
and have the desire . . . to dance
2
HAVE HARMONY WITH WOMEN
Cowboys-- You know where you stand with your horse, but: have you ever reached your full potential to satisfy the ladies on the dance floor? Whether you're a gold-buckle bronc rider or steer roper or still a tenderfoot, this Heinsian
WESTERN SWING dance manual is just the thing to help you round out your skills as a top-hand. Using fine horsemanship skills, learn:
thirty-three Western Swing move-basics for both four- & six-count swing
And use your swing moves with these other gaits:
Montana two-step ~ Slow Dance
Fabulous one-step ~ Waltz ~ Polka
Texas two-step ~ Chaparral cha-cha
Alternative two-step
~ Alternative cha-cha
Possible misc-steps
Using the most danceable music of Bob Wills, George Strait, and many others, learn from GARY HEINS, the master of western swing, from the HeinsQuarters of the SWINGIN' G RANCH.
Dance together, to the music, with disciplined spontaneity, not arbitrary memorization, and keep your lady light and responsive, so she won't go looking for a stranger--or worse, another Line Dance or another Social Networking site. And, with his appoint-ment as U.S. DANCE TEACHER, now you can feel even safer on the dance floor.
Ladies-- If your man is perfect in every way . . . except that he won't dance you to your full potential, it could be deep down . . .
dancing is the one social scene that scares him most. Written in a language men can understand, Heinsian WESTERN SWING will give him confidence and yourself satisfaction on the dance floor and beyond. But be careful: he'll be certified to dance with strangers.
Includes his classic poem, "The Dancing of Shoe McGrew."
GARY HEINS
WESTERN SWING It behooves . . . a man to learn.
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Thee first
---
SWINGIN' G BOOK
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HAVE HARMONY WITH WOMEN
---Heinsian
WESTERN
SWING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ GARY HEINS ~
U.S. DANCE TEACHER
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HAVE HARMONY WITH WOMEN
---Heinsian WESTERN SWING
by GARY HEINS
Published by:
SWINGIN’ G BOOKS
PO Box 784
Saint Johns, Arizona 85936
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in critical reviews.
Copyright © 1992, 1997, 2010 Gary Lee Heins LCCN
97-091089
P-book
ISBN 10
1-882369-11-4
ISBN 13
978-1-882369-11-9
E-book
ISBN 10
1-882369-10-6
ISBN 13
978-1-882369-10-2
#
5
6
DISCLAIMER & CLAIMER:
Western Dance can be dangerous: a difficult move, an awkward song, a slippery dance floor, ill-fitting boots, unre-quited love, a lag in confidance, an angry partner, a jealous boy-friend or girl-friend, forgetting to take off your spurs, . .
. and all the unpredictable dancers around you with similar problems---these and more problems too numerous to mention . . . are all very real possibilities. For some people who don't have the knack or the right partner, dancing can be like pro wrestling---but with no referee. This book attempts to make it as easy for you as possible; but there is no guarantee you won't find danger along the way. There could be mistakes in the writing, typos, or you might misinterpret---going left when you should be going right could be a problem.
I do believe this is the safest, smartest, gentlest book on the subject---but it is a dangerous subject, Western Dance, probably more dangerous than taming broncs. Especially be considerate of other people's feelings, even your own; but steer clear of high-percentage of dysfunctional dancers out there who have what I call "a Black-Belt in Cowboy Jitterbug"---don't you dare confuse my brand of slow-n-smooth Western Swing with that. Please take responsibility for your own dancing and where it takes you; but I don't think we need to resort to wearing mouth-guards and cups. Be careful out there---I didn't get where I'm at today without a few bumps and bruises and broken hearts along the way.
---GARY HEINS
U.S. DANCE TEACHER
SWINGIN' G BOOKS
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"You've got to dance with who brung you, swing with who swung you---
life ain't no forty-yard dash.
Be in it for the long run;
in the long run, you'll have more fun
if you dance with who brung you to the bash.
Yeah, dance with who brung you to the bash."
---Ray Benson
&
Asleep At the Wheel
8
HAVE HARMONY WITH WOMEN
---Heinsian WESTERN SWING
Forward Foreword---& Meet GH---USDT (by JD) . . . . . . . . 11
Dancing Is Like Riding a Horse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Cowboy/Lady Reciprocity
23
Three Main Rules For Leading
27
---Three Basic Rules For Following
Enforcing the Art & Science of Western Swing---I, II, III . 31
(Don't be overwhelmed, Guys: learn as much, or as little, as you want)
A Word About: Music, Dance Floors, Etiquette
32
"Butt-First" OverView---
36
Western Swing---four-count
39, 68, 93
the most common, but overlooked, beat
Montana Two-step
51, 83, 108
a most basic, but neglected, beat
Slow Dance
52, 84, 111
a step worth mentioning
Fabulous One-step, False Waltz
53, 85, 112
the same beat as walking
Western Waltz
55, 85, 113
a uniquer form of walking
Western Polka
56, 86, 114
a slower beat than many think
Texas Two-step
58, 87, 116
a great step, but not a panacea
Six-count Swing
88, 117
---like four-count, only timed different
Chaparral Cha-cha
89, 119
---a nice hybrid of MTs&P
Alternative Two-step
90, 120
---a quieter dance beat you'll encounter
Alternative Cha-cha
120
---a spicy hybrid, of ATs&CC
Possible Misc-steps---just in case
121
Summary------------------------------------------------------- 127
9
Picking Up a Stranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
"Wanna dance?"
132
Out on the floor
134
When the band quits playing
138
The Dancing of Shoe McGrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Afterword (By JD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
with a Big FootNote
152
Apndx A: GH Wstrn Swing Moves & Gaits
160
Apndx B: GH Cntry-Wstrn Song List
163
Certificate . . . to Dance With Strangers . . . . . . . . . 186-7
10 -- Heinsian WESTERN SWING
Forward Foreword -- 11
Forward Foreword---
& Meet Gary Heins
---U.S. Dance Teacher
Congratulations: this is a great book . . . and a simple book to follow. But, before we get too far, let's nip something in the bud right now. It would be a huge mistake to assume that you know what Gary Heins does or how he does it; and, until you get into this book, it would be difficult for you to fully understand why he does what he does. Gary Heins does not teach Square Dancing, which requires a trained caller and an exact number of couples in multiples of four: Square Dancing is an established phenomenon best left to highly-specialized clubs where every member is on the same sheet of music----oftentimes, at a guest ranch, for instance, where the trained caller is brought in, some of the participants are ranch workers forced to participate after a hard day's work in order to get the exact number needed for the guests, who may also see it as a chore. He does not teach Line Dancing, the fast-food of Western Dance, where desir-ous couples are often stampeded off the floor to make room for the unbending lines of the main herd. "I get so tired of defending what I do sometimes," says Gary: "people find out you're a western dance teacher, and too many of them automatically assume you dress up like Roy Rogers and Dale Evans for hard-core Square Dancing; . . . or they assume you've sold out and succumbed to Line Dancing." . . .
And Gary does not teach Ballroom Dance or the mainstream
12 -- Heinsian WESTERN SWING
Latin Dances or the Dirty Dancing that Patrick Swayze made popular, or the Disco Dancing that John Travolta made famous; nor does he teach his Western Dance with the same laborious methods as the teachers of those other disciplines.
. . . Not that each of those dance disciplines don't have their flash-in-the-pan place---it's just that you won't find them here, and Gary swears he "won't be swept away by what everyone else is doing---not when there's a dire on-going need for someone to be doing what I'm doing, and how I do it." This disciplined yet-spontaneous Western Swing, and all the easy steps that go with it, . . . is something you can take downtown or do at home: you can do it anywhere popular country-western music is played, as long as you have a man and woman who have a desire to get along with each other,
. . . which undoubtedly will be forever.
To be united in one dancing unit of heart, mind, and body on the western dance floor is, by many couples, a desired goal older than Bob Wills, the king of western swing. -
--But! sadly, this has been a waning goal for too many decades, and it's always been the women's goal more than the men's. When dance teachers don't do their job, and then the men can't do their job, we see unintimate line-dancing sweeping the country like impervious paving, with fewer and fewer men out on the floor; and we hear young DJs . . .
afraid to play classic western swing for fear that no one will dance to it---because very few know how. Not to mention: many so-called country dance halls often resort to playing non-country music just to get more people out on the floor---
what a sad commentary on the country dance lessons we've been offered by everyone else up to now. Then, when too many folks do get out on the floor, either for too many line-dances or too much non-country music, the establishment owners need to get a high-percentage of them back to their tables and the bar for buying drinks---our growingly-greedy economy makes it hard for folks to get to dance (but, as America's economic policies and attitudes backfire since 2008, we are finding out we need to get back to the simpler
Forward Foreword -- 13
pleasures in life, like dancing with your partner, maybe even a stranger). . . . Congratulati