M35 — Pass the Ocean
Teaching unit M35 of the CALLERLAB (New) Mainstream Suggested Teaching Order, effective
1 September 2026. Prerequisites: Facing Couples,
Pass the Ocean
At a glance
| Starting formation | Facing Couples only at Mainstream |
| Ending formation | Right-Hand Ocean Wave |
| Timing | 4 beats |
| Unit | M35 of 50 |
Animation
▶ Play this call — pause, step and scrub it: Watching the animations.
Dance action
"Pass Thru; Face your Partner; Step to a Wave"
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
What you do
You start facing your partner, with another couple alongside you.
- Pass Thru. Walk forward past the dancer you are facing, passing right shoulders, and stop back-to-back.
- Face your partner. Turn where you stand — a quarter turn — to look at the dancer you just passed. You are now facing each other again, and the other couple has done the same.
- Step to a Wave. Take one small step forward and join right hands with your partner.
You finish in a right-hand Ocean Wave: four dancers in a line, right hands joined in the middle, left hands reaching out to the ends of the wave.
Timing
4 beats — roughly one beat of passing, one of turning and two of stepping into the wave. Callers put a Pass the Ocean on the same phrase as a Swing Thru.
Styling
"Although this is a 3-part definition, it is frequently danced in one smooth action. However, none
of the dancers are considered to have a turning body flow at the end of this call."
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
Dance it as one movement rather than three, but do not spin or add momentum on the last step. The turn to face is a plain quarter turn.
Restrictions
The manual is blunt about the starting formation. Pass the Ocean at Mainstream is "Restricted at Mainstream to Facing Couples only" — you must begin as a couple facing another couple. The same restriction is recorded in the Plus program manual, which notes that at Mainstream Pass the Ocean may start only from Facing Couples.
The manual also records that the application of the Ocean Wave Rule to this call is not used at Mainstream, although it may be applied in other programs. So do not expect the call to be legal from a wave or a line.
Common faults
| What happens | Why | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| You stop back-to-back and never turn | Forgetting the middle part | After the Pass Thru you turn a quarter to face your partner |
| You step into the wave still facing out | Skipping the quarter turn | Face first, then step forward and take the right hand |
| The wave is left-handed | Taking the wrong hand | At Mainstream it is always a right-hand wave |
| You swing past your partner and end up somewhere else | Adding spin on the turn | It is a traffic-free quarter turn — no body flow at the end |
Where you meet it
Pass the Ocean is the standard way to build an Ocean Wave from facing couples, and it is the gateway to a huge amount of Mainstream dancing. Almost every tip will have one, usually followed by Swing Thru, Boys Trade or Boys Run. See the course overview for where this unit sits.
Related calls
- Step to a Wave — the last third of the call on its own. See M31.
- Pass Thru — the first third of the call. See M07.
- Swing Thru — the most common call from the wave you just made. See M33.
- Extend — walks the wave forward one step. See M36.
- Ocean Wave Rule — not applied to this call at Mainstream. See Ocean Wave Rule.
Also called / formerly
Pass the Ocean has always been called Pass the Ocean. The manual notes that although the styling encourages one smooth movement, the definition has three distinct parts, and in other programs a caller may use those parts separately — for example "Pass the Ocean, all but the last part".
Manual source: Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026, page 43. Reproduced under the permission in sources and attribution.