Six-count basic
Rock step, triple step, triple step: the first complete pattern. Both dancers move side to side; learn it first with plain steps, then turn them into triples.
Slow, slow, triple, triple (1 2 3&4 5&6)
Swing Hall
Six-count patterns are widely taught as the way into swing and are especially associated with the East Coast swing and jitterbug tradition that spread through dance studios in the 1940s. Lindy Hop dancers use the same rock step and triple step building blocks, although many prefer to think in eight counts.
The first full “sentence” of the dance. Everything else, from turns to swing outs, grows out of the rock step and triples you practise here.
- First learn it with plain steps: rock step, step, step, step, step. Then turn each pair of steps into a triple step.
- Walk through it slowly, counting “1, 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6” out loud.
- Dance it alone first, then with a partner at 70–90 BPM.
- Keep the same energy on every count: triples are not “rest” beats.
- Check that you end exactly where you started.