Fly Like a Bird Line Dance Steps: Learn the Routine

The 'Fly Like a Bird' line dance you're looking for is a 32-count, 2-wall intermediate routine choreographed by Hedy McAdams and danced to 'Fly Like a Bird' by Boz Scaggs (also known as 'The Boz'). The full sequence runs counts 1 through 32, then repeats from count 1 facing a new wall. You'll start after a 32-count musical intro, and the whole thing is built around rock-and-recover steps, quarter-turn pivots, kick-ball combinations, cross-and-unwind moves, and a long sliding drag at the end that genuinely feels like a bird settling into a glide before lifting off again.

Which version this is (and how to confirm you have the right one)

There are a few line dances floating around with 'fly like a bird' in the title, so it's worth locking in the right one before you start drilling steps. The choreography covered here is Hedy McAdams's version, set to Boz Scaggs's song. Every credible step sheet identifies it as 32 count, 2 wall, intermediate. On some sites it's listed as 'Fly Like a Bird (a.k.a. The Boz),' which is your clearest confirmation. If the step sheet you find lists a different choreographer or a different song, you're looking at a different routine. Stick to the Hedy McAdams / Boz Scaggs combination and you'll have the right chart.

The music sits around 124 BPM, which is a comfortable intermediate tempo. Not so fast that beginners can't catch up, but quick enough that sloppy turns will cost you. Hedy McAdams's choreography has been documented as one of her enduring early works, and it remains popular on the line dance circuit precisely because the 32-count block is satisfying to loop once you lock it in. SFGate describes Hedy McAdams’s "Fly Like a Bird" as an early choreographed line dance that has stayed popular documented as one of her enduring early works, and it remains popular on the line dance circuit.

Stance, starting position, and how to read the counts

Set up in a standard line dance stance: feet together, weight centered, knees very slightly soft (never locked). You start facing 9 o'clock (imagine a clock face on the floor with 12 o'clock as the room's front wall). This matters because the routine is 2-wall, meaning after 32 counts you'll be facing a new wall, and the facing-angle annotations on the step sheet (9:00, 6:00, 12:00) are your compass throughout the routine.

The 32-count intro plays before you move. Count it out silently. When count 1 of the choreography arrives, your left foot is free and you're ready to rock. Every count group in this routine either starts or ends with a hold or a weight-settled position, so the sheet gives you natural 'reset' moments. Use them. If you lose your place, those holds are where you can breathe and reorient.

• Feet together, weight even, knees soft at the start
• Starting wall: face 9 o'clock
• Left foot is your free (unweighted) foot on count 1
• Listen through the full 32-count intro before your first step
• Each count group ends with a clear weight transfer you can feel

The full 32-count choreography, step by step

Below is the complete count-by-count breakdown. The step sheet is organized in natural groupings of 4 or 8 counts. Work through one group at a time before chaining them together.

Counts 1–4: Rock left, recover, quarter turn, hold

1. Count 1: Rock left foot out to the left side (weight shifts left)
2. Count 2: Recover weight back onto right foot
3. Count 3: Turn 1/4 left and step left foot forward (you're now facing 6 o'clock)
4. Count 4: Hold (balance, settle weight, prepare)

Counts 5–8: Quarter turn, rock right, recover, quarter turn, hold

1. Count 5: Turn 1/4 left and rock right foot out to the right side (now facing 3 o'clock)
2. Count 6: Recover weight back onto left foot
3. Count 7: Turn 1/4 right and step right foot forward (facing 6 o'clock again)
4. Count 8: Hold

Counts 9–12: Quarter turn, rock left, recover, quarter turn, hold

1. Count 9: Turn 1/4 right and rock left foot out to the left side
2. Count 10: Recover weight onto right foot
3. Count 11: Turn 1/4 left and step left foot forward
4. Count 12: Hold

Counts 13–16: Kick-ball-turn and kick-ball-change

1. Count 13: Kick right foot forward
2. Count &: Step right foot back together (ball of foot)
3. Count 14: Turn 1/4 left and step left foot in place
4. Count 15: Kick right foot forward again
5. Count &: Step right foot in place
6. Count 16: Step left foot in place (weight settles left)

Counts 17–24: Cross-unwind, crossing shuffle, pivot turns

1. Count 17: Cross right foot over left
2. Count 18: Unwind 1/2 turn left (weight ends on right foot — you've rotated 180 degrees)
3. Count 19: Cross left foot over right
4. Count &: Step right foot out to side
5. Count 20: Cross left foot over right (crossing shuffle complete)
6. Count 21: Turn 1/4 right and step right foot forward
7. Count &: Step left foot together
8. Count 22: Step right foot forward
9. Count 23: Turn 1/4 right and step left foot out to side
10. Count 24: Turn 1/2 left and step right foot forward

Counts 25–32: Cross-touch, cross-unwind, crossing shuffle, big slide and drag

1. Count 25: Cross left foot over right
2. Count 26: Touch right toe out to the side
3. Count 27: Cross right foot over left
4. Count 28: Unwind 1/2 turn left (weight ends on right foot)
5. Count 29: Cross left foot over right
6. Count &: Step right foot out to side
7. Count 30: Cross left foot over right (second crossing shuffle complete)
8. Count 31: Take a big step right out to the side
9. Count 32: Drag left foot in to close beside right (let this one breathe — it's the glide moment)
10. Repeat from count 1 on the new wall

The birdlike movement quality hidden inside this choreography

This site is rooted in bird flight biomechanics, and it's genuinely worth thinking about 'Fly Like a Bird' through that lens because it actually helps your technique. Birds don't flap chaotically. A soaring hawk generates lift through smooth, controlled weight shifts and precise angle adjustments. The rock-and-recover pattern in counts 1 through 12 mirrors that principle almost exactly: your weight rolls from side to center to forward in a continuous, balanced transfer, just like a bird shifting its center of mass to bank a turn. If you want to go beyond the movement and explore how to shapeshift into a bird in fiction, start with a clear idea of the form, the transformation trigger, and what changes physically first just like a bird shifting its center of mass. Force the motion and you look clunky. Let the weight flow and it reads as flight.

The cross-and-unwind combinations at counts 17-18 and 27-28 are your wingspan moments. Think about how a bird folds and unfurls a wing to change direction: there's a gathering phase (the cross) followed by an opening, rotating release (the unwind). If you initiate the unwind from your core and let your arms open slightly through the rotation, the movement suddenly has the quality of an actual wing deploy rather than a stiff pivot. Keep your chest lifted through every turn, just as a bird in flight keeps its sternum angled into the airstream for aerodynamic efficiency.

Counts 31 and 32, the big step and drag, are where the routine earns its name. A bird coming in to land doesn't just stop. It extends its wings, slows its momentum, and settles. That slide-drag is your landing flare. Give it the full two counts, let the drag be smooth and unhurried, and resist the urge to rush into count 1. That brief glide before the restart is exactly what separates someone executing steps from someone actually flying through the routine. To learn to fly like a bird, focus on keeping that glide smooth and unhurried before the routine restarts. You can practice that flying bird step by step feeling by keeping the glide smooth and matching it to the music’s restarts. If you focus on letting your weight flow like it is actually flying, the steps start to feel more natural, too flying through the routine.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

A practical plan to learn this fast and actually polish it

The fastest way to learn a 32-count loop is to break it into four 8-count chunks and master each chunk before combining them. Don't put the music on until you can do all 32 counts silently, slowly, with correct footwork. The music will always be there. Your muscle memory needs to be built without it first.

1. Day 1, session 1 (15 minutes): Walk counts 1-8 without music, saying each count aloud. Do it 10 times until the rock-turn-hold rhythm is in your body, then add counts 9-12 and repeat the combined 12 counts another 10 times.
2. Day 1, session 2 (15 minutes): Add counts 13-16, the kick-ball section. This is the trickiest early section because of the & counts. Practice this block alone until the & step doesn't surprise you, then chain counts 1-16.
3. Day 2, session 1: Learn counts 17-24, the cross-unwind and shuffle-pivot block. Do each unwind slowly and feel where your weight lands before moving on. Chain to counts 1-16 and run the full first half.
4. Day 2, session 2: Add counts 25-32, especially giving extra attention to the big step and drag. Once you have 1-32 without music, run the whole thing slowly to music three times, then at full tempo.
5. Day 3 and beyond: Run the full loop 5-10 times per practice session at full tempo. Record yourself from the front to check facing and posture. Focus one run on arms only, one run on holds and drags, one run purely on turns.

For intermediate dancers who already have the steps but want to polish timing, the most effective drill is to isolate only the transition moments: the holds at counts 4, 8, and 12; the & counts at 13-16 and 29-30; and the drag at count 32. These are the hinge points where timing either locks in or falls apart. Nail these and the rest of the routine will feel effortless. If you're exploring what it means to move with genuine birdlike quality rather than just correct footwork, the ideas behind 'how can I fly like a bird' and the mechanics of avian balance and glide come directly into play here, because the posture and weight-transfer principles that make birds efficient in flight are the same ones that make this routine look polished rather than plodding.

One final timing anchor: the song runs at roughly 124 BPM, which gives you about half a second per count. The Linedancerweb step sheet for Fly Like a Bird indicates a blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">roughly 124 bpm tempo for the Boz Scaggs track. At that tempo, holds and drags feel short. Count them out in your head on every single run-through until they feel natural. The holds are not decorations. They're load-bearing moments in the choreography, the equivalent of a bird pausing at the top of a wingbeat before the downstroke that generates lift.