Line Dance 101: A Quick Start Guide to Line Dancing (Shawn Trautman's Learn to Dance Series)

I've only been line dancing for a couple of months and I'm having a blast. I take 2 classes a week, so I'm going at a pretty good pace. I bought his DVD's so I could work on dancing on the days when I'm not taking a class. And most of these (not all) are already a review for me. BUT I must say that some of his explainations for some of the steps involved are MUCH better than I've heard before. He gives great instructions and shows more than once how to do the dance. I love ethe picture in a picture in the lessons. I only wish I could take some real lessons from him, I bet that would be a blast!Now as far as the music goes, some folks will be dissapointed that he doesn't actually use the music that one would normally use to dance the dances he teaches. I'm going to make a wild guess and say that it would be very expensive for him to get a license for each of the dances and would make the cost of the DVD go way up. I can live with the music he provides. I do wish that he'd make a point of telling us on each dance what music is usually used for that dance, he did that a time or two, but I don't think with each dance.I would recommend his DVD's to anyone, I think that anyone could pop this DVD into their player and be dancing before more than an hour was up! He'a a good teacher for sure.

I work better when things are broken down and in black & white sometimes, which would have been nice if some sheet of some kind was included. I also wish he would do the dance first then break down the steps so we know what we're working towards. He just jumps right to the steps and I never knew where it was gonna end. I also think the music he has in is like bad 80's wanna be jazz with way to much electric guitar & sax....the songs that accompany the dances would be so much better....BUT, with the the slow pace that he proceeds...(and constantly using that rewind button) this can be a great DVD......overall I liked it enough to buy the following 4 Line Dance DVDs in this series.Line Dancing 1011- Electric Slide Dancegrapevine Rgrapevine Lstep back 3 timesstep forward touch then back touch - oncestep forward touch then back touch - twicebrush step with ¼ turn to the R - only 2 counts2- Cotton Eyed Joe Dancetriple lock-step forward - 4 times twice with each footcross kick and triple lock-step back 4 times back3- Ole' Dance2 kick ball changesmilitary turn on same footjazz box starts by crossing over on same foot startsthen entire thing repeats with the other foot4- Swing Time Dance2 kick ball changes followed by2 heel splitssame foot swing slow 2 countsrock back quick-quick same footgrape vine same direction as foot usedfoot swivel back to start5- Slappin Leather Dance2 heel splits2 Charleston steps starting with kick on right foottap front 2 times right foot - 2 countstap back two times right foot - 2 countstap front once - 1 counttap out to the right once tap 1 countcrossed behind left leg & tap to the left once - 1 counttap out to the right again - 1 countslap right heel from behind with left hand¼ turn to the left while slapping outside of right heel with right handgrapevine rightgrapevine leftwalk back 3 stepsshuffle forward 3 steps7- Monterrey Turn - Extra Move1- point - right foot2 - turn - right direction weight on left foot3 - point - left foot4 - cross - left foot over right5- point - right foot6- turn -right direction weight on left foot7- point - left foot8- cross - left foot over rightstart again

I can't tell you how many times I have embarrassed myself trying to dance at weddings and other functions. I've tried countless times to learn the dance steps from others, but it always seems so confusing. This video has been a HUGE help to me.Shawn breaks down each dance into VERY simple steps, and shows you two different angles so you can really understand what it should look and feel like. Since they are in their own segments you can rewind and repeat each step until you are completely comfortable-at the end of the "step" lessons they are all tied together and vuala! you're doing an actual dance! (some with some pretty snazzy variations too!) The only thing I would have preferred is if the actual versions of the songs had been used-a very minor setback.I would not hesitate to purchase another video from his collection when needed-this one has already worked wonders! Buy it-you'll be happy you did!

I was so very much disappointed in the music! How in the world can a beginner of line dancing hear any kind of beat with that type of jazz music?! I was shocked this music was used for a Line dance 101 class. I would really like to know why this music was used. It made it much harder to learn.

I recently ordered Line Dance 101 to get me started with line dancing. I am currently a beginner in an intermediate class due to scheduling conflicts...I felt totally lost until I got Shawn Trautman's video....It is excellent and is a great beginning for anyone who wants to learn to line dance. It has really helped me tremendously. He goes through and shows you each step and then you practice each one several times before putting a series together....excellent resource. I no doubt will order whatever comes next when I feel I am ready for it...Thank you Shawn for your excellent teaching.I feel anyone who wants to learn to line dance will be dancing in no time if they use Shawn Trautman and his video as their instructor. And best part is, you can do it at your own pace.Enjoy everyone...I sure am.Sharon

This is a tape that is easy to learn by. I would recommend it for anyone that is new to line dancing. Easy to follow because they do not goto fast and repeat the steps until you pretty much have them. Its fun and good cardio exercise. I do this in my kitchen right now but amgetting up enough confidence to maybe join a class or go public.

It's pretty good.You can learn from this, the instructor is good.

Line Dance 101 bietet ganze 5 tänze an.diese 5 tänze wurden als over 30 steps angepriesen (was ja eigentlich korrekt ist, aber was weiss ein anfänger!).die tänze sind für absolute nichttänzer erklärt und das ist schon das einzig gute was sich über diese dvd sagen lässt.man hat das gefühl dass der tanzlehrer viel zu wenig platz hat.das menü ist eine katastrophe.die tänze sind nicht in einzelne abschnitte unterteilt.wenigstens der fertige tanz sollte anwählbar sein!!sucht jedesmal den teil wo der fertige tanz angeht, wenn ihr ihn öfer als 1 x tanzen möchtet!! das nervt ganz einfach und nimmt den spass am üben.nun habe ich mir die (fairplay 1x1) zugelegtdiese dvd hält nicht nur was sie verspricht(8 tänze und 4 partnertänze von tanzlehrern gezeigt + mit gruppen getanzt + booklett + übungs- cd), sondern überraschte mich mit tollen details.(um nur einen punkt zu erwähnen wurde z.B. eine dauerschleife über den fertigen tanz gelegt. das heisst ich übe den tanz so lange ich lust habe und muss nicht ständig neu starten!!sie kommt ungefähr aufs selbe geld,ist jedoch jeden cent wert.

There was no music.

The DVD only offers me the last elements rather than the step by step components advertised. There is no access to the menu, top menu or any way around this issue that I've found. No end of fiddling, putting it in different DVD players / computers has managed to bring the basic steps to light, just 8 'end of course' dances! Disappointed as I wanted to encourage a friend to learn and this isn't. A waste of money.

We started as a group of 6 Not-So-Good Dancers, and now we are up to 21. Everyone is enjoying the physical exercise in these winter months, gaining skills and confidence as dancers, getting noticed when we go out to dances now. And many more people want to join our practice group.