s. Sometimes I will have eight in
a line across, and I may have six lines of eight to begin with;
sometimes eight lines of ten, and perhaps as many as twelve in a line,
all depending on the shape and size of the hall.

After they have been arranged in perfectly straight lines one directly
behind the other, the next thing I do is to teach them the eight
different directions, which are so important. Let me recall them to
you: (1) left oblique, (2) left, (3) left oblique back, (4) back, (5)
right oblique back, (6) right, (7) right oblique, and (8) front. They
are taken through these directions until I am sure they understand
them thoroughly. Then I divide the foot into four different parts,
just as I do in my courses: the toe (the end of the shoe), the ball
(the half-sole), the heel, and the flat. I always make them stand with
their knees together, their heels together, the left toe pointed to
left oblique, the right toe pointed to right oblique, hands down at
their sides, the weight equally distributed between the two feet,
heads up, and looking straight front on a line with their eyes. I
insist upon their standing this way. Every time they come to their
places on the floor during rehearsal, I remind them of it.

Now, I begin to show them simple movements in order to get them to
shift their weight easily and to give them confidence. First the
hopping step. When they do this I can immediately tell just how far
they can go in my dancing--by giving them what I call the hopping
test. They hop on the ball of the left foot eight times and they
repeat that eight more times, on the ball of the right foot to a 4/4
tempo. Then they hop on the ball of the left foot for eight counts,
and alternately for eight on the right foot, through a number of
refrains or popular choruses. I caution them to be careful about
bending the knee when they land the weight of the body on the floor,
because many of them have never danced before in their lives. They
know nothing about it, but by bending their knee they make a cushion
for their weight, and they must land on the ball of the foot, not on
the heels.

After I try them out doing that, I put them in a circular formation,
where everybody can see me, for I stand in the middle of the ring. I
turn them toward the left hand, and I start them around in a circle on
the hopping steps; left hop, right hop, left, 2, 3, 4; right hop, left
hop, right 2, 3, 4; alternately through, in time with the music o