Hustle (dance) - New York Hustle

New York Hustle

The couple dance form of hustle is usually called "New York Hustle" but frequently referred to by other names including "la hustle" or "latin hustle", it is very similar to the "Detroit hustle" but counted somewhat differently. It has some resemblance to, and steps in common with, swing and salsa dancing. As in the Latin dances, couples tend to move within a "spot" on the dance floor, as opposed to following a line of dance as in foxtrot, or as opposed to tracking within a slot as in West Coast Swing or LA Hustle.

One similarity between hustle and swing is that the lead takes the rock step on his left foot; however, if the dance is taught by counting, the rock step happens at the beginning of the count – "and-one, two, three" rather than at the end of the count as in swing – "left, right, rock-step". This can confuse beginner leads who are used to triple-step swing, because the lead rock-steps on the right side of his "track" in the swing basic but on the left side in the hustle basic.

The dance is somewhat unique rhythmically because of the syncopation it is associated with. Most dances are danced with either 4/4 or 3/4 music with counting to match, with either a triple or duple base depending on the dance. The New York hustle is generally danced to 4/4 music but counted in triple time leading to a somewhat confusing count. “One, two, three-and, four, one, two-and, three, four, one-and, two, three, four-and, one, two, three-and, four, one, two-and etc.” Most of the time the dance is simply counted in triple time and the fourth beat accent is ignored or only used every fourth measure to indicate the correct timing of the dance.