M46 — Spin the Top
Teaching unit M46 of the CALLERLAB (New) Mainstream Suggested Teaching Order, effective
1 September 2026. Prerequisites: Ocean Wave,
Spin the Top
At a glance
| Starting formation | Ocean Wave |
| Ending formation | Ocean Wave perpendicular to the starting formation |
| Timing | 8 beats |
| Unit | M46 of 50 |
Animation
▶ Play this call — pause, step and scrub it: Watching the animations.
Dance action
"Each end and adjacent center Turn 1/2. New centers Turn 3/4 while the ends move forward in a
quarter circle around the formation to become ends of the final Ocean Wave."
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
What you do
- Start in a wave. You are one of four dancers in an Ocean Wave — two centres in the middle, one end on each side.
- Ends and the adjacent centre turn a half turn. Each end takes the hand of the centre beside it and turns half way round, by the same hand you are already holding.
- Now you have new centres. After that half turn, the two dancers standing in the middle are the ones who must turn again.
- The new centres turn three-quarters — 270 degrees — around each other.
- The ends, meanwhile, walk forward in a quarter circle around the outside of the formation, and stop as the ends of the new wave.
You finish in a wave that points across the one you started in — at right angles to it. If you started in a wave running left to right, you finish in a wave running toward and away from you.
Timing
8 beats — four bars of music. It is the longest call in this group, because it is really two turns and a walk packed into one command. The animation runs over seven and a half beats, which is why the track stops just short of the fourth bar.
Styling
"Use same styling as in Swing Thru."
— CALLERLAB, Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026.
In practice that means the same light forearm handhold you use for a Swing Thru, released as dancers move on to their next partner. Keep your arms relaxed and let the turn carry you.
Restrictions
Spin the Top starts from an Ocean Wave. From a Right-Hand Ocean Wave the phrases "Left Spin the Top" and "Centers Start, Spin the Top" are improper, because neither tells the dancers anything true about the call.
From a Left-Hand Ocean Wave you may hear "Left Spin the Top"; that is acceptable but not required. More often, "Left Spin the Top" is used from facing couples, to mean "step to a Left-Hand Wave first".
Common faults
| What happens | Why | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| You finish in the same wave you started in | Turning the second part a half instead of three-quarters | The new centres turn three-quarters, not a half |
| The ends stay put | Forgetting that the ends keep moving | The ends walk a quarter circle around the outside while the centres turn |
| Both parts turn the same amount | Missing that it is two different turns | Ends and adjacent centres: 1/2. New centres: 3/4 |
| You try to turn with the wrong partner | Not noticing who the new centres are | After the first half turn, look again — the middle pair has changed |
Where you meet it
Spin the Top is a wave-to-wave call, so you will meet it wherever a caller wants to swing the wave round through a right angle — often after a Pass the Ocean or an Extend. Callers sometimes say "Spin the Top; Spin it again", which means dance it twice. See the course overview.
Related calls
- Swing Thru — turn half by the right, then half by the left. See M33.
- Cast Off Three-Quarters — the same three-quarter turn done from a stationary line. See M45.
- Pass the Ocean — the usual way to build the wave you start from. See M35.
- Scoot Back — another wave-to-wave call with an arm turn in the middle. See M47.
Also called / formerly
Some callers say "Spin your Top". It is the same call.
Manual source: Mainstream Dance Program Definitions, revised 29 March 2026, page 54. Reproduced under the permission in sources and attribution.