COWBOY 'TUDE GETS ROLLING; VALLEY'S COUNTRY-WESTERN DANCE SCENE BEATS ADVERSITY WITHOUT LOSING A STEP.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Film Writer

I'm not a complete outsider to the country-western world. I've been to my share of rodeos. I know what bulldogging is (steer wrestling), the reason cowboys wear Wrangler jeans (the outside seam is better for riding) and the difference between Winona Ryder and Wynonna Judd.

I can even ride a horse without a seat belt.

What I don't know how to do is that modern ritual called the line dance, which I always thought looked a little like doing aerobics in cowboy boots.

When dancemaster Paul Barner started leading the Cowboy Attitude Friday night at the long-dormant Reseda Country Club's first country dance night, I thought I'd join in.

But I pretty much got left in the dust. He didn't even start counting on one.

``Five, six, seven, eight,'' said the man in the black hat and embroidered Western shirt. ``Fan, two, three, four, heel, heel, toe, toe, out, place, hitch, right bind, left bind, slide, slide, back, back.''

Are you getting that down?

I wasn't, but a couple of hundred other people were. After about five minutes of instruction, the deejay played the Charlie Daniels Band's ``The South's Gonna Do It Again,'' a fast, fiddle-heavy number, and everyone else started dancing the Cowboy Attitude at blinding speed. And making it look pretty smooth, too.

And from the grins on their faces, it looked like this was the best time some of them had had all week.

No more fightin'

I beat a retreat, whipped out my notebook and started asking questions about why and how country dancing has come to the Reseda Country Club, which has been lit up only sporadically in the past few years after hosting everything from boxing matches - which thrived here in the late 1980s - to concerts by everyone from Merle Haggard to James Brown, U2, X and Prince.

It seems the club's country-western incarnation - which will take place on Friday nights only - is the answer to a fervent quest by a 500-member group of country dance enthusiasts who have been more or less homeless since InCahoots in Glendale closed in March.

Coming soon after the shuttering of the Denim and Diamonds club in Woodland Hills, the closure threatened to decimate the country dance scene for San Fernando Valley residents - until a lawyer named Steve Ipsen, who works at the Van Nuys courthouse as a deputy district attorney, organized a group called Cowboy Attitude (for which Friday night's impromptu dance was named), and dedicated it to keeping the scene alive for the dancers.

Ipsen, 36, grabbed the deejay's mike on Friday night and laid it out for the people in the club. ``We've been through a lot of loss,'' Ipsen said. ``We lost Denim and Diamonds, we lost InCahoots. But if we can make this work, we can keep it going every Friday night for as long as we want!''

Judging from the turnout - which was aided by the free admission, $1 beer and the club's efficient promotional network - the effort is initially a success.

By 9:30 p.m., the club was packed with more than 500 people, most of whom made a beeline for the dance floor.

With a boot-polishing operation set up at the door and a crowd dressed in everything from miniskirts and fringed boots to Resistol hats and rodeo belt buckles, the club, which is set on a nuts-and-bolts block of Sherman Way studded with pawn shops and check-cashing joints, achieved a fairly authentic Western feel without too much trouble.

Earning their spurs

Still, I found out that most of the people who attended were not exactly to the saddle born but are merely crazy about dancing.

``Until InCahoots closed, I was doing this four or five nights a week,'' said Jesse Ybarra, 29, of Canyon Country, who is part of Cowboy Attitude's eight-member competitive dance team. ``It's a great buzz, kind of like sky diving. Some guys tell me it's not a manly thing to do, but I tell them they're wrong, because it's a great way to meet girls.''

Tina Collier of Sunland said she was delighted at the prospect of a new dance venue closer to her house than well-established country-western clubs such as the Borderline in Thousand Oaks and Cowboy Boogie in Anaheim.

``I was totally disappointed when InCahoots closed,'' she said. ``My mother and I were both dancing there for about a year. You really get to know everyone, and it's like a big family.''

``It's one of the few activities you can do and meet 300 friends at the same time,'' said Nick Carson, also a Sunland resident who says he has ridden a horse once, but not well.

``You put on a cowboy hat and cowboy boots, the music starts, and you're a cowboy,'' said Barner, a West Los Angeles resident who plans to teach a six-week country dance class this September at Los Angeles Valley College.

Barner says he became interested in country dance while visiting his parents in Tucson, and he soon became so adept at it that people were constantly asking him to show them some steps.

Among the dances he has learned are such partner dances as the Texas two-step, the 10-step polka and the cotton-eye Joe, and line dances like the popular tush-push, the cowboy hustle, the slappin' leather, the Le Doux shuttle, the black velvet and the electric slide.

``People forget all about themselves and let loose, and that's the reason they're here,'' said Barner.

Good vibrations

Among the crowd Friday night was North Hills resident Robin Bolden, a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy who doubles as a country-western singer and whose ``High Integrity'' was named album of the year for the Los Angeles region by the California Country Music Association.

``This is a great turnout, said Bolden of the Friday night showing. ``They're filling a void, and as long as they keep the beer prices low, the people will keep coming.''

``There's a good energy here tonight,'' said Alan Benedict of Sunland, who runs a small insurance company and doubles as a dance host on cruise ships. His cowboy specialty, he says, is the Western swing. ``There are a lot of professionals here,'' he said, pointing out a book author and a trial lawyer in the crowd. ``What brings us together is a passion for dancing.''

A regular on the country dance scene, Benedict said he makes a point of giving newcomers a spin around the floor. ``I make sure they get a taste of it,'' he says. ``Then they take it from there.'' He said he recommends that first-timers take advantage of the free dance lessons offered early in the evening at many country-western venues.

On Cowboy Attitude Friday nights at the Reseda Country Club, says Ipsen, free dance lessons will be offered from 6:30 to 7 p.m. and from 7:30 to 8 p.m., covering both line dancing and partner dancing.

Club owner Mehdi Zamani says he also has plans to install a wooden dance floor during the next few weeks.

Nicki Haskell of Valencia said she took up country dancing a year ago, and now makes regular ``road trips'' to far-flung venues like Midnight Rodeo and the Branding Iron, both in San Bernardino, with her friends.

``Some of the dances are hard to learn, but a lot of people want to help you and teach you,'' she said. Then she paused and cocked an ear toward the dance floor. ``Wait a minute - if this is a tush-push song, I have to go dance.''

It is, and she's gone.

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5 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) Cowboy dance fever 

Two-steppers and line dancers strut their stuff at Reseda club

(2--Color) Country-western dancers have found a new home Friday nights at the long-dormant Country Club in Reseda. One of the club's features is a ladies-only section.

(3--Color) More than 500 people attended the Cowboy Attitude Friday night at the Country Club, where line dancing was the order of the day.

(4) Robert Correa shines Nicki Haskell's boots at the Reseda club.

(5) Steve Ipsen tries to give all newcomers a spin around the floor.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News