Cajun Jig

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Cajun Jig, or Cajun One Step, is among the simplest of Cajun dance forms. It has only one basic step. The Cajun Jig was popular in Louisiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but has since fallen out of favor, with the Cajun Jitterbug (two step) becoming more popular.

The Cajun Jig is danced to fast Cajun music played under two-step timing, rather than one-step blues time or waltz timing. The Cajun Jig shares vague similarity to Merengue.

Despite the single-like step, variations of the handhold combined with turns give the dance infinite dance move options. The dance's handholds can be uncrossed (the right hand of one parther meets the left hand of another one and vice versa) or crossed (joined right hands over left or left over right).

Basic step

To begin:

Start marching one-two, one-two, left-right, left-right: in place, sideways, forward, backward.
Now pretend that to have a nail in one boot that hurts your heel, so that this foot steps on a toe, and you march in a limping way. This limping also gives you this slight bob-bob-bobbing up and down. It doesn't matter which foot limps; you can freely switch during the dance.
When stepping on your toe, you push a little bit up on count "One" and on "Two" simply drop onto the second, flat, foot.

Using this step and holding each other's hands all the time, the dance partners go in and out of cuddle (sweetheart), (hammerlock), tie pretzels, turn inside out from face-to-face to back-to-back, or just simply walk around each other for a change in any of dance positions.

External links

[Audio clip of Marc Savoy and Michael Doucet performing a traditional Cajun song, One-Step De Chameau, in traditional Cajun style]

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