The Universal Unit System Saves the Day

The Universal Unit System Saves the Day

By

Buford G. Collins

Today was not an unusual day for lessons the first four students to arrive were ladies training to follow. No leaders came in during this start of session. I began to strategize how I would effectively teach four ladies with no partners. I went with my first thought which was to work with them on footwork and styling. We used one “8 beat” pattern for “Free Style & Break Away” movement and four “6 beat” Steppin’ patterns to enhance their practice of rhythm changes within the dance. The 32 beats of patterns became a motion study routine that eventually was turned into a line dance called “Slow Walk”. We worked on the line dance patterns for the entire time without any leaders’ participation. The ladies found the class challenging and fun. They problem solved a lot of their own issues while supporting each other’s efforts. It was a pleasurable and educating time for all, especially me. If it wasn't for the Universal Unit System and the training from the Golden State Dance Teachers Association I might have spent the time leading all the followers that attended and trying to convince them to learn how to lead steppin’ with each other. It's not unusual in our community of social dance lessons for Steppin’ to have a large imbalance of men and women in attendance at the same time. One of things we can hopefully fix in the near future is that we can put the partnership into partner dancing.  Students should arrive ready to partner with one another. When such imbalances occurs in a class an instructor with good training and foresight can plan to make the most of their class with other trainable techniques. Using the Universal Unit System allowed me to not be hindered by a problem that most social dance instructors aren't sure how to face and solve. I have put a strong focus on taking my dance from street to teach and the Universal Unit System and the Golden State Dance Teachers Association has been a great guide to achieving my goal.

Note: UNIVERSAL UNIT SYSTEM® - A method of training dancers that emphasizes connecting the dancer to the music - starting on lesson one. The system concentrates on elements of music and timing and elements of movement. (2) This system isolates the components and covers all forms of dance, social level to performance level. (3) This is the trademark for the teaching system and system of annotation that is the basis for certification through the Golden State Dance Teachers Association.


Skippy, B. (1998). "Dance Terminology Notebook" Advancing Communication in Dance With particular focus on California’s official State Dance: West Coast Swing Skippy Blair original © 1998 - Latest Edit 7-07. Retrieved from http://www.swingworld.com/dance_dictionary.htm