Line Dance · Beginner

Achy Breaky Heart

The dance that put line dancing on national TV.

Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus · Dance Tutorial · @TUI…

We did not make this video — we found the clearest one and linked it. There is no single official version of most line dances, so we are filming the version taught on West Michigan floors with local instructors. Teach it here?

Level

BeginnerMelanie Greenwood’s sheet

Danced to

Achy Breaky HeartBilly Ray Cyrus

Structure

32 count4 walls

Choreographed by

Melanie Greenwood in 1992

Choreographers own their work. We credit them by name and send you to their official step sheet rather than reprinting it. Official step sheet on CopperKnob

Why this one is in the library

The dance that started the 1990s line dance boom.

The cheat sheet

What you are walking into

The dance that started the 1990s boom. Simple, repetitive, and unembarrassed about it.

What catches people out

It is easy enough that people stop concentrating and drift off the beat. Stay with the count.

How to get through it

If you learn one dance before your first night, this is the cheapest one to learn.

Moves it leans on

Grapevine Heel Dig Hip Bump Walls

These are ours, written for someone who has not danced it yet — not a step sheet. For exact counts, see the choreographer's sheet linked above, or come to a night and let someone teach you.

How it goes

32 counts · 4 walls · Beginner

The dance that started the 1990s boom. Choreographed in Nashville in 1992.

1–8

Vine and hips

Vine right and hold. Then bump your hips left, right, left, and hold, finishing with your weight on the left.

9–12

Star turn

Touch your right toe back, then forward, then cross-touch it over your left. Unwind three-quarters to the left.

13–20

Back it up

Step back left, back right, hitch your left knee and turn a quarter left as you step together. Step back right, back left, back right, then stomp your left in.

21–28

Hips, quarter, half

Step left and bump your hips left, right, left, hold. Turn a quarter right stepping forward, stomp your left in. Turn a half left stepping forward, stomp your right in.

29–32

Vine and clap

Vine right and stomp your left together with a clap.

Written in our own words from the most-voted step sheet, so you can read it before you go. It is not the choreographer’s own notation — for that, see their sheet. Most of these dances have several versions; your room may do a different one.

Go dance this week

We do not claim to know which night plays which song. What we do know is where country dancing happens — here are three of the region's nights, and the calendar has the rest.

Stomp
Verified

Wednesday · Wyoming