The Jitterbugs Stroll was originally choreographed by Ryan Francois in 1992 to fit the music of "The Woodchopper's
Ball", as recorded by Woody Herman (the stroll starts at the end of the 48-beat introduction, just as the
clarinet enters).
Latterly, it is often danced to a recording made by Steven Mitchell (entitled "The Jitterbug Stroll"), which
includes verbal calls for the moves.
The stroll is structured as a repeating set of four 48-beat sequences; each sequence is performed with the
dancers facing 90° left from the previous sequence. If we labelled the four sequences as N, W, S and E
(corresponding to the directions that the dancers are facing for each sequence), then the overall structure
of the stroll is NWSENWSENWS.
As well as the larger structure, each of the individual 48-beat sequences also has a particular structure.
In each case, the 48-beat sequence can be broken down into six 8-beat sub-sequences, and these six
sub-sequences are always arranged in a pattern that we can write LRLXLR. In this pattern, the 8-beat
sub-sequence marked "L" is the element that changes between each of the four 48-beat sequences. The
sub-sequence marked "R" is always either the mirror of the "L" pattern, or is the same as the "L" pattern.
The sub-sequences marked "X" and "Y" are the same for all four of the 48-beat sequences—"X" is
a Big Strong Turn, and "Y" is a Tap Behind.
To sum up, the overall structure of the stroll is:
| Facing |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
| North |
Shuffle and Boogie Forward |
Shuffle and Boogie Forward |
Shuffle and Boogie Forward |
Big Strong Turn |
Shuffle and Boogie Forward |
Tap Behind |
| West |
Knee Slap and Shorty George |
Knee Slap and Shorty George |
Knee Slap and Shorty George |
Big Strong Turn |
Knee Slap and Shorty George |
Tap Behind |
| South |
Suzie Q to Left |
Suzie Q to Right |
Suzie Q to Left |
Big Strong Turn |
Suzie Q to Left |
Tap Behind |
| East |
Boogie Back and Tic-Toc to Right |
Boogie Back and Tic-Toc to Left |
Boogie Back and Tic-Toc to Right |
Big Strong Turn |
Boogie Back and Tic-Toc to Right |
Tap Behind |
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left side view |
right side view |
facing view |
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&. S:eFR Start with the dancer's weight on their left foot. The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their right foot.
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8. S:eFL The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their left foot.
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&. S:eFR The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their right foot.
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1. S:eFL The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their left foot, leaning back.
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2. S:0B The dancer claps.
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&. S:JuBR The dancer performs a jump backward with their right foot.
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3. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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4. S:PxR The dancer points with their right foot across and in front of their other foot.
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5. S:FR The dancer takes a step forward on their right foot, sweeping the foot in a semicircle and pushing right hip to the right side as the step is taken.
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6. S:PxL The dancer points with their left foot across and in front of their other foot.
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7. S:FL The dancer takes a step forward on their left foot, sweeping the foot in a semicircle and pushing left hip to the left side as step is taken.
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8. S:0B The dancer claps.
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1. S:FR2L The dancer takes a step forward on their right foot, turning 90° to their left.
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3. S:RL2L The dancer replaces their weight on their left foot, continuing to turn another 90° to their left.
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5. S:FR2L The dancer takes a step forward on their right foot, continuing to turn another 90° to their left.
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7. S:RL2L The dancer replaces their weight on their left foot, continuing to turn another 90° to their left.
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8. S:FR The dancer takes a step forward on their right foot.
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1. S:TaHL The dancer taps with their left foot back and behind their other foot.
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2. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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3. S:TaHR The dancer taps with their right foot back and behind their other foot.
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4. S:BR The dancer takes a step backward on their right foot.
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5. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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6. S:BR2L The dancer takes a step backward on their right foot, turning 90° to their left.
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7. S:FL The dancer takes a step forward on their left foot.
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8. S:StR The dancer lifts their right foot next to their left foot, with the right knee bent, slapping the right thigh with right hand.
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1. S:FR The dancer takes a step forward on their right foot.
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2. S:StL The dancer lifts their left foot next to their right foot, with the left knee bent, slapping the left thigh with left hand.
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3. S:FL The dancer takes a step forward on their left foot.
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4. S:KsR The dancer performs a kick to the side with their right foot.
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5. S:eFR The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their right foot, pointing both knees to the left and lowering left shoulder with left arm straight down at left hand side (Shorty George).
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6. S:eFL The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their left foot, pointing both knees to the right and lowering right shoulder with right arm straight down at right hand side.
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7. S:eFR The dancer takes a step slightly forward on their right foot, pointing both knees to the left and lowering left shoulder with left arm straight down at left hand side.
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8. S:KsR The dancer performs a kick to the side with their right foot.
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1. S:XR The dancer takes a step with their right foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing right toe to the left, crossing right arm across body.
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2. S:SL The dancer takes a step to the side on their left foot, rotating the right foot around the heel to end pointing to the right, swinging right hand out to right.
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3. S:XR The dancer takes a step with their right foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing right toe to the left, crossing right arm across body.
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4. S:SL The dancer takes a step to the side on their left foot, rotating the right foot around the heel to end pointing to the right, swinging right hand out to right.
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5. S:XR The dancer takes a step with their right foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing right toe to the left, crossing right arm across body.
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6. S:SL The dancer takes a step to the side on their left foot, rotating the right foot around the heel to end pointing to the right, swinging right hand out to right.
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7. S:XR The dancer takes a step with their right foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing right toe to the left, crossing right arm across body.
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8. S:KsL The dancer performs a kick to the side with their left foot.
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1. S:XL The dancer takes a step with their left foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing left toe to the right, crossing left arm across body.
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2. S:SR The dancer takes a step to the side on their right foot, rotating the left foot around the heel to end pointing to the left, swinging left hand out to left.
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3. S:XL The dancer takes a step with their left foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing left toe to the right, crossing left arm across body.
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4. S:SR The dancer takes a step to the side on their right foot, rotating the left foot around the heel to end pointing to the left, swinging left hand out to left.
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5. S:XL The dancer takes a step with their left foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing left toe to the right, crossing left arm across body.
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6. S:SR The dancer takes a step to the side on their right foot, rotating the left foot around the heel to end pointing to the left, swinging left hand out to left.
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7. S:XL The dancer takes a step with their left foot across and in front of their other foot, pointing left toe to the right, crossing left arm across body.
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8. S:KfR The dancer performs a kick forward with their right foot, clapping at the same time.
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&. S:BR The dancer takes a step backward on their right foot.
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1. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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2. S:KfR The dancer performs a kick forward with their right foot, clapping.
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&. S:BR The dancer takes a step backward on their right foot.
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3. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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4. S:SR The dancer takes a step to the side on their right foot, pointing the toes of both feet outwards.
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5. S:0B The dancer pivots on their left heel and right toe to end up with their toes pointing inwards.
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6. S:SR The dancer takes a step to the side on their right foot, pointing the toes of both feet outwards.
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7. S:0B The dancer pivots on their left heel and right toe to end up with their toes pointing inwards.
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8. S:KfL The dancer performs a kick forward with their left foot, clapping at the same time.
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&. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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1. S:BR The dancer takes a step backward on their right foot.
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2. S:KfL The dancer performs a kick forward with their left foot, clapping.
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&. S:BL The dancer takes a step backward on their left foot.
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3. S:BR The dancer takes a step backward on their right foot.
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4. S:SL The dancer takes a step to the side on their left foot, pointing the toes of both feet outwards.
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5. S:0B The dancer pivots on their right heel and left toe to end up with their toes pointing inwards.
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6. S:SL The dancer takes a step to the side on their left foot, pointing the toes of both feet outwards.
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7. S:0B The dancer pivots on their right heel and left toe to end up with their toes pointing inwards.
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