Christy Lane's Complete Guide to Line Dancing

Though, personally, I think ‘cowboy boogie' and ‘gettin' jiggy at the hoe-down' are both oxymorons, this tape shows that even if cowgirls get the blues, line dancing with Christy Lane rocks! Lane is one of the few instructors out there who will turn her back to the camera so the audience can mimic the moves exactly the way the good Lord intended (none of this moving-right-is-really-moving-left-so-do-it-the-opposite-way stuff). She starts off with a runthrough of terms--the ‘tap', ‘hitch', ‘chug', ‘toe-split', ‘grapevine', etc.--followed by demonstrations: first very slowly, then in ordinary time and finally a little adventurously, with attitude. The problem here is ‘so many dances, so little time' and with over 20 dances on this tape, including The Electric Slide, Boot Scootin' Boogie, Achy Breaky, The Cowboy Cha Cha, Slappin' Leather, and many, many more, you sometimes feel like your watching an encyclopedia of moves, with no real sense of rhythm or performance. (It would have helped viewers to see how these steps come together on the dance floor in a line with ordinary people.) That quibble aside, the energy and fun Lane displays here is contagious, and if it weren't for all that doggone country music...hey, maybe she'd consider teaching line dancing for jazz lovers. Recommended. Aud: P. (N. Plympton)