Rock step may refer to one of similar dance move

Dance move

Dance moves or dance steps are the building blocks of many dances.More complex dance moves are called dance patterns, dance figures or dance variations....

s. The name refers to the rocking action during the move: the weight is transferred from one foot to another and then back. It is used in a number of dances, such as East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing is a form of social partner dance. It belongs to the group of swing dances. It is danced under fast swing music, including rock and roll and boogie-woogie....

, Zydeco

Zydeco (dance)

Zydeco as a dance style has its roots in a form of folk dance that corresponds to the heavily syncopated zydeco music, originated in the beginning of the 20th century among the Francophone Creole peoples of Acadiana...

, Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop

The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based...

, Tango

Tango (dance)

Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....

.

Most often it is a two-step dance move

Dance move

Dance moves or dance steps are the building blocks of many dances.More complex dance moves are called dance patterns, dance figures or dance variations....

 executed in two beats of music. There are two basic versions: rock back and rock forward. They may start with any foot.

Basic rocks

In rock back, the dancer steps backwards with full weight transfer then transfers the weight back to the front foot while keeping it in place. In rock forward, the dancer steps forward with full weight transfer then transfers the weight to the back foot while keeping it in place.

In some dances, e.g., East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing is a form of social partner dance. It belongs to the group of swing dances. It is danced under fast swing music, including rock and roll and boogie-woogie....

, the partners rock from opposite feet in opposite directions, i.e., both are doing rock back, e.g., during the basic step sequence: "triple step, triple step, rock step". In others the rocks are done from opposite feet, but in the same direction, i.e., when the leader rocks back, the follower rocks forward.

Turning rocks

In some dances (Tango

Tango (dance)

Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....

, Argentine tango

Argentine tango

Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...

) the rock step is used to change the direction of travel. In such cases a one or both steps the dancer may perform a certain amount of pivot turn

Pivot turn

The term pivot turn or simply pivot refers to certain turning dance steps which may differ in different dance styles, with common character that the turn is a rotational movement of the whole body around one's own vertical axis, as if around a pivot. During the turn the foot swivels on the floor...

.

In Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop

The Lindy Hop is an American social dance, from the swing dance family. It evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based...

, the turning rock step is also known as a rotational rock step, due to the rotation

Rotation

A rotation is a circular movement of an object around a center of rotation. A three-dimensional object rotates always around an imaginary line called a rotation axis. If the axis is within the body, and passes through its center of mass the body is said to rotate upon itself, or spin. A rotation...

 of the body's center

Center of mass

In physics, the center of mass or barycenter of a system is the average location of all of its mass. In the case of a rigid body, the position of the center of mass is fixed in relation to the body...

 to change direction or prep for a move

Dance move

Dance moves or dance steps are the building blocks of many dances.More complex dance moves are called dance patterns, dance figures or dance variations....

. The degree of rotation in the turning rock step varies with how far the dancer wants to change direction

Relative direction

The most common relative directions are left, right, forward, backward, up, and down. No absolute direction corresponds to any of the relative directions. This is a consequence of the translational invariance of the laws of physics: nature, loosely speaking, behaves the same no matter what...

. When used as a prep for a move

Dance move

Dance moves or dance steps are the building blocks of many dances.More complex dance moves are called dance patterns, dance figures or dance variations....

, the degree of rotation depends on how much tension must be built up in the connection between the dancers in order to properly execute the move.

Rock step vs break step

Sometimes the terms rock step and break step are used interchangeably e.g., Forward Rock and Forward Break. The stylistic difference is that in the rock step the emphasis is in the rocking action during the step, while the term break carries the meaning of the change of the direction into the opposite, i.e., the forward break changes the direction of the movement from forward to backward.

Dance variations named "Rock Step"

• In Zydeco
  Zydeco (dance)
  Zydeco as a dance style has its roots in a form of folk dance that corresponds to the heavily syncopated zydeco music, originated in the beginning of the 20th century among the Francophone Creole peoples of Acadiana...
  
  , the Rock Step is the name of a pattern obtained from the Zydeco's Basic Step if the leader on count 6 makes a little push for the follower to rock back (on 7,8) and rocks himself back.