Line Dance · Absolute Beginner

Wagon Wheel

Everyone sings it. Most rooms dance it too.

Rockin' The Wagon Wheel Line Dance Tutorial

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

Absolute BeginnerPamela Williams’s sheet

Danced to

Wagon WheelDarius Rucker

Structure

32 count4 walls

This version choreographed by

Pamela Williams

Most standards have been choreographed several ways. The steps below follow this choreographer’s sheet; we credit them and link it rather than reprinting it. Their step sheet on CopperKnob

The cheat sheet

What you are walking into

Warm and singalong. Less about precision, more about being in the room with everyone else.

What catches people out

It is slower than most, which tempts people to add flourishes and drift off count.

How to get through it

Resist decorating it. Plain and on time beats fancy and early.

Moves it leans on

Grapevine Rock Step Shuffle Lock Step Mambo Step

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 · Absolute beginner

No tags, no restarts — rare and welcome. One of the gentlest on this list.

1–8

Lock steps

Step forward right, tuck your left in behind it, step forward right again, scuff the left through. Then the same starting left.

9–16

Heel struts

Touch your right heel forward and drop the toe. Same with the left. Do it twice, adding a quarter turn on the second pair.

17–24

Side mambos

Rock out to the right, recover, bring your feet together, clap and hold. Mirror it left.

25–32

Rocking chairs

Rock forward on the right, recover, rock back, recover. Then the same starting left.

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

Saturday · Spring Lake