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To turn double dutch evenhandedly is essential. There is no rhythm without it. The rope should be clothes line with heavy wires in it not the cheap lightweight kind. Tie the two ends parrallel in a knot so that the line now doubled in half. Person A grasps the knotted end in one hand and the halfway end (knotting optional) in the other hand and rolls them up around her fists. Person B steps inside the rope and backs up with the doubled rope around her waist until the rope is taut. B must be perfectly centered. B then grasps the double rope emerging from her waist sides with each hand in order to turn. The length is adjusted by the number of rolls around the fists. Beginners start to turn by alternating their hands up and down. Eventually, the turners will be moving their hands in circles that move inward from the top. The tops of the ropes should alternately hit their apex at the same height and hit the pavement in a steady rhythm. The test for double handedness is to look upside down at the turner in question. As previously mentioned, foot patting, singing and hip swinging go a long way. More advanced techniques include “hot-pepper” very fast turning and turning in the reverse from the top outward. Turning TOO slow is a crime and makes it impossible to jump. To get into the rope, stand with your strong side next to a turner. When her closest hand goes up, leap with both feet onto the spot where the ropes hit the ground and start jogging in place. Moving your hands in and out helps get the feel for entering the rope. “Footsies” is jumping with both feet on the ground simultaneously. Feet can also criss cross while doing footsies. “Jack-be-nimble” is bounding up in the air as if jumping single. Turning around 180 degrees involves hopping on the same foot twice while turning. Bending down and touching the ground while jumping is another advanced technique. There are master techniques like doing cartwheels and stuff into the rope, but let’s stick to basics. Keep your heels, knees and hands close into your body center. As you develop speed, economy of motion becomes such that the feet barely come up 2″ from the ground when the rope passes under and the body and head become almost still. The best way to count after all the songs have run out and the champs are still jammin is “ten,twen,thir, fort, fift, sixt, sevnt, eight, nint, 1-ten, twen, thir……2-ten……3-ten” and so on… ‘sixt seven eight nine” are syncopated with the six and the eight being eighth notes and the seven and nine being dotted quarter notes. (Help on the music notation) That is the West Philly style from the 60’s and 70’s. Enjoy!