Texas Country Western Dance Association

The Fort Worth Shuffle (FWS) is a regional C&W dance that originated about twenty years ago in Fort Worth, Texas. It started, according to one account I have heard, when a lady showed a drunk man the ladies footwork from Dallas Progressive Double Two Step (PD2, a variation of Triple Two Step, T2S). When the man sobered up, he did the ladies footwork from PD2 - not realizing what had happened, and a new dance was born.

The count of the dance is 123,4&5,6&. The dance is progressive and generally orbits in a continuous left hand turn. Many of the spins and wraps were taken from West Coast Swing (WCS). The basic position is closed, and the man begins with his right foot on a 'down' beat. From the count, the first 'triple step' begins on an 'up' beat. This makes the dance different from East Coast Swing (ECS), polka, and T2S which begin the 'triple steps' on the 'down' beat. The dance is growing slowly in popularity, and is currently offered for United Country Western Dance Council (UCWDC) and the American Country Dance Association (ACDA) competitions as a regional dance. The 1995 UCWDC rules contain a dance description for Southwest Shuffle (a.k.a. Ft. Worth Shuffle).

The footwork is three sliding steps forward (123). A step directly to the side (4), slide the other foot to close (&). Step forward on foot that took 4 (5). A step to the other side (6), and slide the feet closed (&). You should now be ready to step forward on 1 again. The man begins with his left foot, and alternates on every step (left, right, left, right, etc.). On the side steps there is ideally no forward progression. The ladies footwork mirrors the mans. You don't pick your feet up. This gives the dance a very smooth appearance on the floor, dancers who are good at it look like they are ice skating.