The Allure Of West Coast Swing Dancing!

The Allure Of West Coast Swing Dancing! 

West Coast swing is the ultimate dance genre for free expression and musicality for the dancer. However, because of this freedom to express, it is also one of the most difficult dances and takes longer to become accomplished than many other dance genres.

 West Coast swing incorporates a unique set of techniques which create a fluid movement including rolling count, contra movement, action-reaction lead/follow and flexion/extension, read more about the West Coast Swing Techniques here. The West Coast swing is unique among the swing dances. All of the swing dances like the Lindy Hop, Balboa, St. Louis Shag, East Coast Swing, Jitterbug and Carolina Shag share more swing dance elements but also have unique movement that distinguishes each different style of swing dance.

Read about the Differences Between Lindy, Jitterbug & West/East Coast swing here!

The first swing dance was the Lindy hop, which took movements from the earlier Charleston dance genre. The Lindy hop evolved into the East Coast swing, shag, boogie-woogie and Jitterbug during the forties and fifties. During the late fifties and sixties the West Coast swing originated in Southern California; first called the Western Swing.

Read more about the Evolution of Swing Dancing here!

The West Coast swing has been popular ever since the sixties partly because it has continue to adapt along with contemporary music. It is sometimes called a "Living Dance," because of this continual evolution. New generations of swing dancers gravitate toward the West Coast swing because it is danced to contemporary music and incorporated features of other dances including C&W 2-step, salsa, hustle, zouk and Argentine tango. This adds to the allure of the dance as well. All ages of dancers do West Coast swing and since younger dancers continue to learn it, it continues to flourish.

West Coast swing has gone global to places like the UK, France, Australia, Russia, Italy and many other countries. YouTube has been instrumental in spreading the West Coast swing globally. It is more popular than ever in the 21st century and it looks like it is going to be around for a very long time.

Read more articles on West Coast Swing  here!

Article written by Pattie's bio here, she teaches dance in San Diego, California!
More dance articles at DanceTalk on her website at DanceTime Global!

About the Author

Pattie Wells hails from San Diego, California where she writes article and video blogs for her world dance resource website at DanceTime.com. Also, Pattie is working on several writing projects including her new website at PattieWells.com, a novel in linked stories and a poetry manuscript titled Fire In Rain.  In addition, she continues to teach a limited number of private dance lessons in San Diego including dance lessons for weddings.