Finding the Perfect Dance in Seconds

BootStepper's dance and song filters go far beyond a text search box. This guide covers every filter available and how to combine them to find exactly what you need, fast.

Raz Friman

Search faster

Stack filters like a question, not a checklist

BootStepper search is most useful when you combine intent: level, count, wall count, steps, choreographer, date, song mood, and what your dancers already know.

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Text Search and Sort Options

The main search box on the Dances page searches by title, choreographer name, and song title simultaneously. You don't need to know which field a piece of text lives in—searching Copperhead Road will find both dances named after the song and dances that use it as their music.

The sort dropdown gives you more control than most people use. The default is Most Relevant for text searches, which weights exact title matches above partial ones. Switch to Most Viewed or Most Favorited to see what's popular with the BootStepper community. Use Newest First to stay current with releases. Most Awards surfaces dances with competition recognition.

Jump to dances by level

Each badge opens the Dances page with that difficulty filter applied—same as on dance cards in the app.

Absolute Beginner Beginner Improver Intermediate Advanced

Tip: the Favorites area in your account pairs with the Favorites and Followed filters below the search box.

Difficulty

Filter by Absolute Beginner, Beginner, Improver, Intermediate, Advanced, or any combination. Mix levels for a class that covers multiple floors.

Labels

Labels are community tags on dance styles and characteristics. Use them to find dances tagged with a specific style like 'Waltz' or 'Cha Cha'.

Choreographers

Search by choreographer name. You can add multiple choreographers to see dances from any of them in one result set.

Counts

Set a min and max count range. Useful for level-appropriate sets—most beginner classes work best in the 32–64 count range.

Walls

Filter by number of walls: 1, 2, or 4. Two-wall dances are often easier for beginners; four-wall dances are the classic format.

Restarts

Restarts add difficulty. If you're planning a beginner class, filter to 0 restarts to keep it clean.

Search in Steps

Type a step pattern like 'pivot right' or 'jazz box' to find dances that include that specific step in their written choreography.

Release Date

Use quick filters for Last Week, Last Month, Last Year, or set a custom date range. Useful for finding recently released dances.

Awards

Filter by award programme, event, or category. Find UCWDC finalists, Linedancer Magazine winners, or dances in a specific award category.

AI-Generated Songs

Show only AI-generated songs, exclude them, or see everything. Useful if you have a preference for or against AI music in your classes.

Tempo (BPM)

Filter by beats per minute. Most line dances work between 100 and 140 BPM. Slow dances often sit around 80–100 BPM.

Danceability

A measure of how suitable the track is for dancing based on tempo regularity, beat strength, and rhythm stability. High danceability = easy to lock steps to.

Energy

High-energy tracks feel intense and fast; low-energy tracks feel mellow or acoustic. Useful for matching the energy arc of a class.

Mood (Valence)

Valence measures how positive or upbeat a track sounds. High valence = cheerful and bright; low valence = sad or tense.

Musical Key & Mode

Filter by key (C, D, E, etc.) and mode (Major or Minor). Minor-key dances can feel more dramatic; Major-key tracks tend to feel upbeat.

Combining Filters Effectively

The power of BootStepper's search comes from layering filters together. Here are a few combinations that answer real questions instructors ask:

"What beginner dances are under 48 counts with no restarts?" — Set difficulty to Absolute Beginner and Beginner, counts max to 48, restarts to 0. Sort by Most Viewed to see what's actually being used.
"What new dances came out this month by choreographers I follow?" — Set Release Date to Last Month, toggle Followed Only under User Filters, and sort by Newest First.
"What award-winning improver dances use a jazz box?" — Set difficulty to Improver, add an Award filter for any award programme, then use Search in Steps with jazz box.
"What 4-wall dances are choreorated by someone from Australia?" — Set walls to 4, open the Country filter, and select Australia. Sort by Most Favorited.

Active filters display as pills below the search bar so you can see exactly what's applied and remove individual filters without clearing everything.

Step Search: The Hidden Gem

The Search in Steps filter searches the full text of each dance's written choreography—not just the title or description. This means you can type a specific step combination and find every dance that uses it.

Practical uses: if you're building a technique segment around triple steps, search triple step. If you want dances that include a rolling vine, search rolling vine. If you're trying to find a dance you half-remember, search the step pattern you do remember.

The step search isn't about exact string matching—it's a full-text search across choreography notes. Variations in how choreographers write steps mean you may need to try a few phrasings to get comprehensive results.

Song Search Filters

The Songs page has its own filter set for finding music based on audio characteristics rather than dance metadata. These are particularly useful when you're planning a themed session and want to find songs with a specific feel before looking at which dances use them.

Song Filter Combinations

Song filters are additive. To find upbeat tracks at social dance tempo for a beginners' night, set BPM to 100–120, energy to High, and valence to High. The results will be fast-paced, energetic, and happy-sounding tracks that fit a lively beginner floor.

For a slower, more emotional set—common at the end of a night or for a waltz or rumba block—filter BPM to under 90, valence to Low, and mode to Minor. This surfaces melancholy or atmospheric tracks that change the room's energy deliberately.

The Musical Key filter is useful if you're programming a set where you care about tonal consistency across back-to-back dances. DJs sometimes use it to create a seamless-feeling transition between tracks without jarring key changes.

Navigating from Song to Dance

When you find a song that interests you on the Songs page, the song detail page shows every dance that uses it. This lets you work backwards from a track you like—find the music first, then see which dances are available for it, instead of always starting from the dance side.

This workflow is covered in more depth in the From Song to Floor guide.

Saving Your Search

BootStepper's search filters live in the URL as query parameters. If you find a combination that's useful—say, your standard weekly new releases filter—bookmark the URL and you can return to the same filtered view without rebuilding it. Share the URL with a colleague or student and they'll see the same filtered results.

Put the Filters to Work

Open Dances or Songs and try combining two or three filters. The right set is in there.

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