The “Holy Moly” is like the Holy Grail of Catalan Style Country Line Dancing. The pinnacle of style and movement when added together express the Catalan Style finesse and technique. This dance looks like so much fun with all those spinning kicks mixed in.
The “Holy Moly” is extremely difficult to learn unless you can get an in-person lesson with a group. But don’t put the cart before the horse, choreographer David Villellas travels the world offering lessons.
The “Holy Moly” is a Catalan style line dance that is performed to Blake Shelton’s version of “Footloose.” The dance consists of two separate eight counts that are repeated as a group of dancers form a line together and follow the same movements.
It looks difficult and it’s not easy to learn. But remember the old cowboy saying: “Don’t worry. about biting off more’n you can chew; your mouth is likely a whole lot bigger than you think.”
David Villellas, aka Lizard, is a choreographer from Spain. Villellas creates line dances in the Catalan Country Style that has swept Europe and is quickly gaining a boothold in the rest of the world.
It’s those steps with a rotation that really show off the style. Kick and spin is the real name of the game. And if your gonna try this at home, remember a special piece of cowboy logic, “If you climb in that saddle, be ready for a ride.”
If you haven’t noticed the fit cowboy who dances front and center, that’s Villellas himself leading the pack. Notice he never misses a step. That’s because he created and choreographed the “Holy Moly” dance. It’s not often you get to watch the choreographer perform his own dance.
Villellas also designs those painted-on jeans that these dancers are wearing, so you can look the part as you learn the dance.
According to Starting Linedancing here are some key elements of Catalan Style. You can see in the video that many of these ingredients are used throughout.
-A white hat and boots are worn
-No use of arms and hands, thumbs are often hooked into the belt loops
-Rock Step, Rock Back, Kick, Stomp, Flick, Scuff and similar steps dominate
-Steps with rotation are popular, and there is a lot of rotation
-It is not uncommon for people to shoot on the heels
-The dances are very fast, sometimes the counts are double the basic time
It looks like all the dancers are having a blast. They’re wearing their white hats, and cowboy boots.
It’s fun to watch as some of the dancers get a bit mixed up with the difficult choreography, but they get themselves back in there once they catch the timing and steps. As the old cowboy said, “If ya get tossed from your horse, you have to get up and get back on, unless you’ve landed in a cactus; then you need to roll around and scream a bit.”
Learning this dance is not for the faint of heart. Watch how many moves there are. And this is only a two different eight counts and repeat.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make ’em drink. It’s really up to each individual cowboy or cowgirl if you want to step onto the dance floor and try it. Or you can sit with your back against the wall and enjoy watching those skilled dancers. As an old cowboy once said, “If it doesn’t seem to be worth the effort it probably isn’t.”
These moves aren’t for the amateur, and you really gotta be in shape. It’s near impossible but as you see in the video, none of these dancers are even winded while dancing!
No wonder they all look so good in them jeans. They are in wonderful shape, from dancing like this for hours every day.
Some folks have taken to the comments section to address the painted-on jeans situation. Nowhere in the Catalan stylebook does it mention jeans need to be this tight, but boy they sure have a certain style.
“Looks like they are all wearing the size of jeans, tight.”
To which someone replied…
“Dont be jealous lol.”
This reminds me of what an old cowboy once said, “If ya think the grass is greener on the far side of the hill, then you best water your own grass.”
If you’re ever in a dance club and you see folks lining up to kick into the “Holy Moly” make sure to give the dance floor a wide birth. With all that kicking and spinning you might get your spurs tangled.
Or as a wise old cowboy once said, “Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a Catalan Style line dancer from any direction.”
That Catalan style line dancing is a real hit. The “Holy Moly” requires a lot of practice but it’s a whole lot of fun to do.
Check out this video below and you’ll see why it’s so popular in Europe. Be careful as line dancing is addictive, and as the wise old cowboy says, “You might take to line dancing like a horse takes to oats.”
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