West Coast Swing

West Coast Swing (WCS) is a popular street dance derived from Lindy Hop and first introduced by Dean Collins from New York who came to Los Angeles back in the late 1930s.  It is also known as the “Official State Dance of California”.  WCS was coined with different names such as “Western Swing” but now known today as West Coast Swing with Los Angeles being the WCS mecca.  People from all over the world still flock to Los Angeles not only to take their dancing to the next level but to learn and dance with many of the top dancers in the word.

WCS is a slotted dance which uses compression/leverage techniques to create elasticity or what is sometimes referred to as the concept of the “rubber band effect”.  It is a smooth, sultry and sophisticated dance where dancers are able to improvise and syncopate their steps according to the timing of the beat, lyrics or various instruments being played in the music.  It can be danced to all genres of music and is fast becoming a worldwide dance phenomena.

Since its inception, WCS continues to evolve as trends in the music also change with time.  It can be danced to all forms of genre music and is very popular with all ages, young and old.  Originally danced to Blues and Jazz music during the Swing era, WCS is now done to Country, Disco, Funk, Hip Hop, Latin, Pop, R&B and many of the Modern music that you hear on the radio.  It is also popular with all ages, young and old.

WCS can be done to any music written in 4/4 time ranging from as slow as 80 beats per minute (bpm) to as fast as 140 bpm but ideally dance to those from 110 to 125bpm.  For faster music such as those used for Rock & Roll and Salsa, the best way to dance to this music is to do it to half-time rather than normal timing which will slow the rhythm by half and to a more acceptable manner so that it does not look like you are dancing in fast-forward motion.  Although not normally done to classical music which may or may not have any beats, you can still dance WCS to it as long as everything is done by feel and using the concepts of lead/follow techniques.

There is no one standard style when it comes to WCS.  Most of the old-timers still dance to what is known as the Traditional or Classic style with more emphasis on footwork while the younger generation are doing more of a Modern (aka “Funk” back in the early 2000s) style with emphasis on extensions and visual lines.

WCS is unlike many other dances which are normally done in 8 counts.  Most of the patterns first learned are done in 6-count or 8-count manners with the flexibility to shorten or extend counts once you start going beyond basics and getting into what is known as syncopated footwork that involves footwork and timing changes.  Below is an example of the breakdown for standard patterns being taught and learned at the beginner level:

Pattern Type	Pattern Count	Pattern Rhythm
4-count	1&2-3&4	Triple-Triple
6-count	1-2-3&4-5&6	Double-Triple-Triple
8-count	1-2-3&4-5-6-7&8	Double-Triple-Double-Triple

 

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Tags: Social Dance, West Coast Swing