My first teaching job was in 1993 at a mobile home park teaching senior citizens how to line dance. The gratitude and appreciation that I received from them spurred me into expanding my teaching activities into Park & Recreation districts all around the greater Sacramento area. For many years I taught up to eight classes per week of beginner and intermediate dancing. The need for a safe, social environment in which to linedance led my wife & I to sponsor dances through the various Park & Recreation Districts where we taught. I became the DJ, and my wife took over the task of assisting beginners at the dances. We presently do a dance each month on the first Friday evening at the Clarke Dominguez Gym in Rocklin, CA.
In 1996, the need for new line dances that appealed to my students led me into linedance choreography. I have created over 75 linedances over the years (some of which I would just as soon forget) but am thrilled at the apparent success that “Burlesque” has garnered. I was inspired to do the dance after watching the credits to the movie Burlesque where Cher sang the song “Welcome to Burlesque”. Reflecting back, I was also driven by the music to choreograph “Sway Me Now” in 2005 after seeing the movie “Shall We Dance?” with Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez.
I have had the privilege to be an invited instructor at the Pismo Beach Country Western Dance Festival, subsequently Clovis Western Days, and Cambria Western Dance Festival. I have been the DJ for Scooter Lee’s “Dancing for the Dream” event in the Sacramento area since 2008.
My dance choreography can be found on my website at: wild-horses.us, and on a variety of other sites including Linedancer Magazine, Kickit, and Copperknob.
Norman Gifford has choreographed 169 dances, of which 6 have been co-choreographed. Their first published stepsheet on CopperKnob is Language Of Love from October 2007, with their most recent stepsheet of Build An Ark in January 2021.
Choreographer Stepsheets
32 Count 4 Wall Improver / Intermediate Samba style Music: Build an Ark - Scooter Lee
32 Count 2 Wall Absolute Beginner Music: Things - Billie Jo Spears : (Album: C'est la Vie - iTunes)
32 Count 4 Wall Beginner Music: Same Kind of Crazy As Me - Scooter Lee
48 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Same Kind of Crazy As Me - Scooter Lee
48 Count 2 Wall Improver waltz Music: Crowd My Mind - Brett Eldredge
64 Count 2 Wall Improver Music: I Forgot to Remember to Forget - Scooter Lee
32 Count 4 Wall Beginner / Improver Music: Jambalaya - Scooter Lee
32 Count 4 Wall Improver / Intermediate NC2S style Music: Sisters Brothers - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
32 Count 4 Wall Beginner Music: Midnight Hauler - Scooter Lee
32 Count 2 Wall Improver Music: Family - Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors
32 Count 4 Wall Improver / Intermediate Music: Something's Going On - Trace Adkins
34 Count 2 Wall Low Intermediate Music: Two Words One Finger - Robynn Shayne
64 Count 4 Wall Low Improver Music: Hillbilly Boogie - Nitro Express
32 Count 4 Wall Beginner / Improver Music: Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi
32 Count 4 Wall Low Intermediate Music: Only A Fool - Bouke
68 Count 4 Wall High Improver Music: Got Lonely Too Early - Amy Jack
48 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Honey Do - Folk Soul Revival
64 Count 2 Wall Intermediate Music: Chains Are Broken - The Devil Makes Three
32 Count 4 Wall Improver Music: Must Be the Whiskey - Cody Jinks
32 Count 4 Wall Low Intermediate Music: Kiss You All Night Long - Bouke
