The History of Texas Two Step
Ask most anyone in the dance world, and they will tell you they’re not really sure exactly where or how Texas Two Step came to be. A popular theory in the recent past was that Texas Two Step is a version of Foxtrot. That theory pretty much collapsed when the proponents were shown to have falsely attributed Foxtrot’s genesis to ballroom dancers. It was actually Harry Fox, a vaudevillian performer, and thereby looked down upon, who popularized a dance known as Fox’s Trot or Foxtrot. After that, a variety of parties have tried to take credit for the dance, including the idea that Foxtrot is actually a version of Texas Two Step, though it was not known as such when Harry Fox encountered and learned it on the Vaudevillian circuit.
So a new theory evolved. In particular, that a mish-mash of different dances are at its genesis, based on articles of dubious evidence. In particular, there is a current view that Texas Two Step is the evolution of a Waltz, in particular, French waltzing. Some have now come to believe the case closed. This appears to be a confusion of nomenclature clashing with actual Texas history. It’s the old mistake of trying to find the first use of a word or phrase instead of looking at what you see and finding what it means.
According to Wyatt Gauss, there are three problems with both of these theories. One, Texas Two Step itself is a set of dances, as evidenced by the variety of footwork called Texas Two Step. Two, the Waltz footwork is not part of any Two Step variant, regardless of trying to somehow fit French dancing into Czech and German Dance Halls. Which leads to point three, it is the sheer abundance of German and Czech dancehalls and venues that made Texas a dancing state and the home of Two Step. The low estimates for these dance halls and venues are a little under 1000 and the upper estimates are in the range of 2500.
So what dance or dances could be the actual genesis, that both fit all the footwork seen in all of the varieties of Texas Two Step and fit the evidence of dance halls in Texas? It’s the German Polka and the Czech Schatzi. Not only do they fit the bill perfectly, the two original versions of our state dance, known interchangeably as the Texas Two Step and the Texas Shuffle, are still extant and danced throughout the Hill Country to this day. And they can be traced directly back to their German and Czech roots.
Go to any large dancehall throughout the Hill Country and you will see the Polka Rhythm danced all night long as a gliding or shuffling footwork, not as a traditional polka with the hop. Unlike the Waltz, which is three steps to THREE BEATS on each side, the Polka rhythm is three steps to TWO BEATS, also known as a Triple Step, on each side. They are very different dances.
Say you are leading the Texas Shuffle (German version of the Two Step), the left foot starts the rhythm of One-and-Two, followed by the right doing the same rhythm of One-and-Two. That is how you can take three steps to two beats. You are Triple Stepping on alternating sides.
When you see this dance, you can actually see ‘boot scooting’. Varieties that have evolved over time are the use of single steps interspersed between your Triple Steps. One version is even on the menu of many dance studios, called the Triple Two Step. It’s simply a “Ballroomized” version of the Texas Shuffle particularly popular in the 1970’s, though most of the studio instructors are unaware of the history of the dance.
On the Czech side, we have the Schatzi. It is still danced in its original form throughout the Hill Country. Once again, taking the leader’s perspective, you have side to side steps followed by two forward steps. You take a step to the left and tap with no bearing weight with your right foot next to it, then take a step to the right and tap your left foot with no bearing weight next to it, then two steps forward, with your free left foot followed by your right and repeat.
The original rhythm is slow-slow-quick-quick, as in Slow to the left, Slow to the right, and Quick Quick forward. Varieties include taking the left slow as a forward step instead of to the side, or simply walking the slow-slow-quick-quick rhythm around a dancehall, and even reversing the rhythm so it becomes quick-quick-slow-slow as studio dancers have done to distinguish themselves from social dancers and set a standard for competitive purposes.
When Wyatt is asked how the history of these dances could have gotten so lost in time, he answers that it appears to be one of the byproducts of World War I and World War II. It is difficult to imagine today, but “One little known fact is that by 1850, and for many years afterward, European, mostly German, immigrants in San Antonio outnumbered both Mexicans and Anglos.” Texas Historian T. R. Fehrenbach, Lone Star, A History of Texas and the Texans, p. 285.
Texas Two-Step (in all its varieties), danced now for close to 200 years in Texas, and the wider family of swing dancing, picked up by both black and white communities and danced throughout the South in its early years and now throughout the world, were primarily derived from Czech and German Polka, Schatzi, and Brute dances. All the popular moves we see today on the dance floor, from ‘cuddles’ to ‘promenade’ walks were part of the Schatzi, or, ‘Cute’ dances. The moves mimic in dance what couples do in real life.
As anti-German sentiment with World War I continued and increased with World War II, many Germans left or changed their names, stopped speaking German in schools or in public, and German was banned from being taught in many municipalities in Texas. This had a detrimental effect on our communities, with many halls closing, one by one over the years and changing the face of our communities.
Take one of the most famous halls still in service, Gruene Hall. The German owners and strict German community are no more in Gruene. Ironically, it was purchased by a family with Czech heritage. We are all interconnected.