machines · machine
4 Steps
A classic must-learn star-family washing machine: Star, knee-weight shift, base step, Back Bird, and back up to Star.
4 Steps
Why it matters
4 Steps is a classic.
One of the first star machines people should actually learn, not because it is flashy, but because it tells the truth.
The flyer usually falls here.
Why?
Because the center leaves the body.
Keep your navel in.
Keep the knee alive.
Keep the weight through the knee.
Do not become decorative luggage.
What it is
4 Steps is a star-family washing machine.
It starts from Star, lowers one flyer knee while the flyer stays connected through the core, passes the leg forward through a 180-degree pathway, lets the base step, arrives through Back Bird logic, and rises back to Star.
Core loop
Machine map
- Star.
- Flyer lowers one knee but stays connected through the center.
- Weight moves to the knee.
- Flyer passes the leg 180 degrees forward.
- Base steps.
- Back Bird.
- Rise back to Star.
- Repeat or reset.
About Tangled Web / Ninja Steps
Daniel Scott’s Four Step & Tangled Web reference mixes the 4 Steps logic with Ninja Star family material.
For TheAcroGuru map:
- 4 Steps is the classic star machine.
- Tangled Web is the mixed variation / bonus pathway.
- Ninja Steps can be treated as an aka or variation bridge when Ninja Star logic enters the machine.
Do not confuse the clean machine with the remix.
Learn the beat before jazz.
Incoming
- Star
- star-family prep
- supported inversion route
Entry
Start from Star.
The flyer lowers the knee without losing the navel.
The base receives the knee line and prepares the step.
Exit
- return to Star
- reset through Back Bird
- continue into Tangled Web / Ninja Steps variation
- safe inversion exit
Goes to
- Star
- Back Bird
- Tumbleweed
- Ninja Bats
- Tangled Web variation
What breaks
- flyer drops the knee instead of placing it
- navel leaves the body
- base steps before weight transfers
- leg pass becomes a kick
- pair forgets this is a loop, not a stunt
Field notes
Four steps.
Not fourteen excuses.
Sources / attribution
Reference links
External refs are credited pointers, not ownership claims. The AcroGuru layer is curation, connection, and correction.