Album	An Album is usually either a CD (Compact Disk) or an MC (Music Cassette). When the album title for a recording is not known, all such recordings by that artist are grouped together, even though the recordings may actually be on several separate albums.
Choreographer	All choreographers for each dance are listed when known. Multiple choreographers are listed in alphabetical order, and no inference should be made as to relative significance of their individual contributions. Suspect or otherwise non validated designations are suffixed with a "?".
Dance	For the purpose of this database a Dance is a unique piece of choreography. Multiple dances with what would otherwise have the same name are given arbitrary suffixes to make them unique (e.g. " /2"). No inference should be made as to which is the "authentic" dance, or which was choreographed first.
Dance Level	For conciseness at this web site, it is necessary to use simple numeric codes to describe the Level (Degree of Difficulty) of dances. The text terms normally used are in fact totally non standardised, subjective, and often very verbose! The numeric codes used herein are still mostly just a shorthand for those assigned by the choreographer, so their applicability to a particular dancer /class may actually vary (e.g. at least +- 1). Also note that an "Advanced" dance to senior citizen with poor memory may be an "Easy Peasy" dance to an agile sub-teen who has been dancing since he/she first fell out of the cradle... 0 (Novice) A dance (or more likely a training exercise) suitable for the first couple of lessons for students with no previous dance experience of any kind. OR a dance taught at a party "fun" event for non dancers. Dances at this level are rare (they are not much fun for very long!). 1 (Beginner or Easy) A dance suitable for the first few lessons of students with some previous dance experience. OR a dance suitable for the few several weeks of lessons for other students. 2 (Beginner/Intermediate or Low Intermediate) A dance suited to improving students; probably fast or longish. 3 (Intermediate) A dance with some syncopation and a few of the more complex steps, such as Monterey Turns or Heel Switches. May be fast OR long. 4 (Intermediate/Advanced or High Intermediate) A dance likely to contain considerable and/or unusual syncopation and such steps as Running Man, Heel Jacks, Applejacks. Probably fast AND long. 5 (Advanced) All of the above, with the most advanced steps such as Mashed Potatoes. Almost certainly fast, with many turns, and may be complicatedly phrased.
Recommended Dance to a Song	Dances for Songs are listed in alphabetical order, with recommended dances indicated by highlighting. A dance may be recommended for many reasons (e.g. promoted by the recording artist or by the dance choreographer etc.).
Recommended Song for a Dance	Songs for Dances are listed in alphabetical order, with recommended songs indicated by highlighting. A song may be recommended for many reasons (e.g. by the choreographer, dance instructors, DJs or just popular demand).
Recording	For the purpose of this database a Recording will always have a fixed duration, tempo and mix. If any of these parameters are known to have changed significantly, it is considered a different recording. A Recordings is a Song on a named Album.
Song	For the purpose of this database songs are considered to be performances of compositions, with a known style and approximate tempo. Performances with significantly different properties are given an arbitrarily different name or suffix (e.g. "Club Mix").
Step Sheets	Links are often made to several step sheets for a single dance; the order is not currently significant. For dances with named choreographers, the sheets are likely to have different styles of presentation, or slight differences in interpretation. For older traditional dances without named choreographers, the sheets may even have different beat counts, or be for substantially different dances. In all cases the onus is on the reader to decide which sheet is most authentic, or otherwise best suits their requirements.
Step Sheet Formats	References to step sheets attempt to indicate their file format. Every format has its benefits. The commonest formats are as follows: TEXT - Displays quickly, downloads quickly, prints on any computer. May not convey the meaning of a complex dance very easily, and is not normally suitable (without further work) for use as a student hand-out. HTML - Produces a good looking display when viewed with a browser, but may not produce such a good printed document. May unnecessarily occupy several paper pages. Note that some HTML documents are actually text files in disguise. MSWORD - Does not normally display at all without an add-in. Downloading is fairly slow. Requires utility software (free from Microsoft) to print. Quality can be very good. The style may not be to your liking, but documents can be re-formatted. PDF (Acrobat) - A generic and very portable method of distributing files. Very slow downloading if images incorporated. When used to distribute scanned images of sheets, quality can very variable. Documents cannot normally be re-formatted, so very good for "signed originals".
	This icon next to a Dance name indicates that at least one step sheet is available; click on the icon to link to the sheet.
	This icon next to a Song name indicates that at least one dance is available.