DescentBB

So, I've been learning to dance over the past year and I have become very interested in learning West Coast Swing.

I have been learning to dance Lindy, East Coast, Slow Jazz, Salsa and a number of other styles. Mostly swing of course but I'm interested in something different but that isn't taught anywhere near me, which is West Coast Swing.


Anyone here ever learn WCS by chance? Just tossing out a line to see if anyone will bite.

No idea what West Coast Swing is. But we had a \"Swing Dancing\" group in high school, could it be similar?

Only \"swing\" dancing I ever heard about was done in a nude all male gay bar.

dú dùn tīssshh..

Swing dance has been popular since the 1920's and has evolved into what seems to be a gazzilion other forms of professional and non-professional dance styles. Country Swing is used mostly in bars around here and is usually an easy and boring version of East Coast swing. ECS is generally bouncy and fun and VERY easy to learn.

Lindy, is the 20's-30's style and pretty much any other style of swing is based off from it.

Example of Lindy:

Fast, fun, extremely acrobatic and involves lots of lifts and tricks. I've been to competitions very similar to this one where a lot of these kinds of tricks were used. I can't do a 10th of this lol.


West coast... is very different. It is a tad bit slower, smooth and sexy and looks a bit like a latin style (salsa) dance. It is still evolving and is a spin off of lindy in another direction. It is more complex and intricate than east coast but doesn't involve as many acrobatics. You can also dance to most current music.

Example:

I'll cut a rug right out from underneath ya with a western swing, as seen here: (not me)



But there's a lot of variations on it, like in my town it's traditional to take your Stetson off on the second spin and put it on her head, and on her second spin she puts it back. Do it fast enough and with the right angles, it kinda looks like a magic trick.

lol@SilverFJ. Every move there I have seen and done. We teach much more difficult stuff at my college and we have professionals teach us. Yes, we do also perform country swing. The footwork is extremely simple and I get bored with it very quickly so I usually revert to east coast steps and style it so that it looks like it is country. One of the guys that teaches us is very much into country swing dancing but also prefers East Coast footwork for the same reason. He is very smooth but the thing that actually prevents him from being even better, is the he has a lot of country swing habits in the way he does his steps, so every dance comes out looking a bit country in styling. This guy is a BIG guy and performs all kinds of advanced lifts. I've also traveled to Utah where I learned from professionals. In-fact, there were people from all over the country there. Sadly, I lost a lot of the Lindy skills I gained there.


Not saying, country is a bad thing, It is a LOT of fun but not as complex as the stuff I'm learning. The one thing that East Coast, Lindy, and Country Swing will not teach you, is how to be smooth and hold correct posture. Well, I can't completely say that because Lindy does require a different sort of posture but it is a bit silly in nature.


To be honest, people know of West Coast around here but not many dance it or teach it. Most people I talk to aren't really fully aware this particular style, although it is respected as a really great form of dance.