Dance InstructionHistory of SwingStyles of Swing
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Dance InstructionHistory of SwingStyles of Swing
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Styles of Swing DancingThe flyer for the Chicago Windy City Classic gave this definition (and I believe it comes from the defunct US Swing Dance Council): "Swing dancing is an American Rhythm Dance, consisting basically of 6 and 8 beat patterns that cover either a circular or slotted area on the dance floor. The dance incorporates underarm turns, side passes, pushes and whips; plus variations, syncopations and extensions. All styles incorporate the same basic identifiable moves. If you can define the dance as something other than Swing, it is not Swing."The best way to see the differences would be to watch a video of competitive dancers doing: - American Rhythm (East Coast) Swing - International (Latin) Jive - Jitterbug/Lindy-Hop - West Coast (from US Open not a NDCA event) - fast West Coast Jack & Jill (competition with random partners) - slow West Coast Jack & Jill. They would all look different. The winners of Jack & Jill competitions in west coast are characteristic of how very good people look doing "real" west coast swing. Jack 'N Jill | Arthur Murray Shag | Balboa | Beach Bop | Bop | Boogie Woogie | Carolina Shag | Country Swing | D.C.Swing | Disco Swing | Double Swing | East Coast Swing | Imperial | Jamaica | Jitterbug | Jive | Kansas City Shag | Leroc-CeRoc | Lindy Hop | Prep Step | Push | Rock and Roll | Shag | Single Swing | Stepping | St. Louis Shag | Texas Tommy | Western Swing | West Coast Swing | Whip | MiscellaneousJACK N' JILL Angelino Jack Carey, whose long-time partner is Little Annie Hirsch who often serves as Chief Judge of Swing competitions, created the Jack 'n' Jill form of competition in 1955. Individuals sign up as individuals. Men are usually designated as Leaders and women are usually designated as Followers. The usual manner of partner selection is the names are placed in segregated hats. A Leader's name will be called. He will reach into the other hat for the name of his Follower. She, then, will select the name of the next Follower's Leader. Sometimes the dancers are judged as individuals. Sometimes they're judged as couples. Sometimes there are preliminaries followed by a final with many fewer couples. Sometimes it's a one- shot deal. Sometimes in the preliminaries the competitors are judged as individuals and then, in the final (with a newly-selected partner), judged as couples. I think the Jack 'n' Jill is the _best_ form of competition because it's so highly dependent upon the skill of the individual participants as opposed to couples entering competitions with choreographed routines. And, of course, the unpredictability makes for good fun such as people separated by two generations competing together or people of widely varied physical types and all sorts of fun combinations. When a Leader draws his regular Follower, such a selection is likely to be greeted with friendly boos and cries of "Fix! Fix!" [TOP] ARTHUR MURRAY SHAG A style of Shag with a 6 count flavor. This can been seen in an old Arthur Murray video that occasionally shows up when somebody like Ernie Smith shows his old film clips. This is done in Santa Barbara and Ventura. The steps described in the St. Louis Shag, which are indeed part of this dance, are also described as Shag variations in the East Coast Swing (ECS) part of Buddy Schwimmer's book on Swing dancing. [TOP] BALBOA Very fast, 8-count, partners basically glued together, all footwork. The Balboa was created in, and named for, the Balboa Park Club, an enormous wood-frame building, home of the Naval Officer's Club in San Diego during WWII (Lowell Gosser, several-time WCS champion, *was* here in San Diego during the war, and backs up this story.). The floor is about 13,000 square feet. The Balboa has lots of fast footwork but not much whole-body movement, and was developed as an answer to the question, "what do you dance when the band plays Dixieland jazz?" (The Balboa uses a "shuffle" basic, with short foot movements and overall "look" optimized for really fast swing music, such as Dixieland.) It goes 1-2-3 kick. Skippy Blair says that the Balboa is *not* a swing dance since it has no 6 count patterns, only 4's and 8's --Skippy said that all swing dances have a 6 count basic pattern. According to Sylvia Sykes (who, along with Jonathan Bixby, has made Santa Barbara the Balboa capitol of the world), the Balboa really isn't a style of swing at all. It is danced almost exclusively in closed dance position and most closely resembles a dance the natives of 1930's Chicago called the "Shag". The Balboa has an eight count basic but the rhythm pattern isn't like traditional single swing's "slow, slow, quick, quick". "It looks like cartoon dancing, close together, with lots of footwork, although the feet hardly leave the floor. The upper body remains still and the dance doesn't travel much around the room. You could dance to very fast music - 190 to 250 beats per minute! while being dressed up. At one time it was popular up and down the west coast, from Seattle to southern California."
BEACH BOP In the [paraphrased] words of the president of the Society of Stranders (a collection of shag clubs): "It's been said that it only takes 1 couple beach-bopping to use up an entire ballroom floor" - i.e. the dancers move around quite a bit! It's a circular style of swing, I believe with a lot of bouncing motion. Beach Bop comes out of Florida The Beach Bop is popular from Memphis, Tennessee south to the southern tip of Florida. Pete Wade in Memphis describes the dance as a six-count basic related to the jitterbug with almost no eight- count variations. The step is a kind of shuffle triple with a push and pull on the ball change that leads into the turns. The music is typically slow with preference given to rhythm and blues and beach music from the 1950's. Some clubs like 60's music, and some don't. Those that don't describe 60's music as "lollipop music.' The dance is smooth with a preference given to showing off the woman. According to Pete, the partners do their turns in tandem, remaining squarely face-to-face most of the time, not turning away from each other. Although a party crowd, Shaggers and Beach Boppers don't tend to have contests (nearly every other style of dance has competition weekends with instruction). However, they have huge weekend dance parties that take place, usually in a beach town, where there's dancing and fun from noon until far past midnight.
BOOGIE WOOGIE A variation of Bop? Boogie Woogie is a swing dance that came from America to the continent in the 50's together with rock-n-roll music. Jive and rock- n-roll are dances based on the boogie basic movement. But Jive is the official form ( called triple boogie ) without lifts but with a bouncing movement and a lot of hops and kicks. Rock-n-roll has included hop and kick movements in his basic movement and has its main intention in doing acrobatic jumps and lifts. [TOP] BOP Version of lindy hop done in the 50's [TOP] BUGG Swedish bug, the number one dance in Sweden, originates from the Lindy Hop, but has developed into a new dance. It resembles the Lindy, the fellow lets the lady perform different turns. The starting position is about the same. In contrast to the Lindy, Swedish bug is an upright dance, no swinging dance, and forget the twisting! Also, the basic steps are simpler, instead of having kicks, triples etc. you mostly just walk on every beat. A special form of Swedish bug is the double bug, invented during the early eighties, when there were lots of ladies dancing, and not as many guys. Here the fellow dances with two ladies simultaneously. [TOP] CAROLINA SHAG A 6-count, slotted dance, with mostly footwork and a few simple turns. Traditionally the man showing off and the woman doing basics, but there are mirrored patterns (often unleadable so verbally cued) and nowadays women are allowed to shine too. Very laid back, 120bpm shuffle music (`beach music'). Carolina Shag is a spot dance, with the man doing most of the fancy moves and the woman either mirroring what he is doing or marking time. There is very little motion (if any) in the upper body. Most of the motion is in the footwork (which can get *very* fancy!). Its style developed from being danced in crowded tiny dance floors commonly found in bars. It is a street dance, but it does have it's own competitions, is taught in a bunch of studios in the South East U.S. and at least one Arthur Murray near Myrtle Beach N.C. There are a number of videos available also. Note that the Carolina shag basic is 6 counts and if you watch carefully (it took me a while) you can see a sort of 'restricted' East Coast basic. Rather than go left and right as in EC, in Shag the partners go forward and back with respect to one another. If you like Shag and want to meet some like minded individuals, every year there are two gatherings in Myrtle Beach (one in April, one in September) and one gathering in Memphis. Each gathering consists of about 10,000 people from all over, who just want to dance. (There is a video tape, The Best of Charlie and Jackie, that has competition performances of Charlie Womble and Jackie McGee. Incredible stuff, and interesting to see how their style evolved over the last ten years.) It is largely a Southeastern dance. The style is based upon foot movement, with arm motion being largely disguised. Most of the action is done by the male, although that is changing. The music is similar to, but slightly faster than west Coast Swing music. It was created to be easy to do on the beach with a beer in one hand and "a lady" in the other. The Carolina Shag group is wrestling with the influences of WCS on their dance. Charlie and Jackie have started a trend of a much more "balanced" dance than traditional Shag. Like any community, there is a split between those who want to preserve the traditional look and feel of an artform, and those who are attempting to evolve the artform. I'm not quite sure myself how whip/push-style wraps would change the fantastic way the leaders in Shag can move. Carolina Shag is far more akin to West Coast Swing than to these other Shag's. It is generally a slotted dance done to beach music and old R&B. The tempo is usually more like a slow to medium speed WCS tempo. The look is relaxed, as if you're too cool to admit you're having a great time. It moved in a slot but the in and out motion differs from West Coast Swing (WCS) and you never have the "hanging back" look that WCS dancers have. It offers fancy footwork, historically more by the male, and occasional revolving patterns such as the Pivot, which can be used to establish a new slot on a crowded club floor. In Atlanta the Carolina Shag dominates the swing dance scene. According to Ace Asip of the North Atlanta Beach Club, Atlantans used to do mostly beach bop. Now they mostly do the Carolina Shag. As Ace mentioned, Carolina Shag originated in Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. It is a smooth dance done to medium and slow music. The upper body and hips hardly move as the legs do convoluted kicks and fancy footwork. The man is the center of attention (sometimes lending the appellate "peacock dancing" to the Shag) and the woman's steps are either mirror steps of the man's or a sort of marking time while he does spins and other wildness. Traditionally the music was rhythm and blues, mostly from the 1950's. But some Shag dancers have branched out into music from the 1960's to the present. Shag has the same basic as ECS, except back/forward instead of sideways. And I think they start with the rock-step. [TOP] COUNTRY SWING Country & Western variants of both East Coast and West Coast Swing are very energetic, have little or no footwork, but extremely intricate turns and wraps. (Watch Club Dance on TNN cable) Country East Coast Swing is typically a triple step, with some social single steps. Seldom seen as double. Lots of high speed wraps. If you have the opportunity, try to see Barry Durrand and Dawn Blorstad dance. They are nationally recognized experts in country competition. Recently my husband and I had our swing teacher (of the straight swing community) choreograph us a west coast routine to do in country western competition. We did not request or desire any particular country western styling (since we knew there was none). After doing this routine twice so far in competition, when we receive our judging score sheets, there is a part that asks of each judge to rate each routine: "country western styling?" (Meaning does the routine fit in with country dancing, as opposed to ballroomy looking dancing or whatever.) Well, all eight judges always put "yes" for our swing routine, thus indicating that it conforms with the styling they want. So, apparently country-western judges see no differences between "country" and "straight-swing" dancing. It should be one and the same. [TOP] D.C. SWING DC Hand Dancing? You could think of it as West Coast swing except that there are no 8-count moves and the woman does not move in a slot. Instead she moves in a counterclockwise circle (a circular slot?) around the man who scarcely travels from the spot where he starts. Normally he does his footwork in one place slowly turning to stay facing the woman as she circles around him. Actually, the woman does sometimes move in a normal slot because a West Coast swing (sugar) push is one of the basic steps. You do a lot of pushes. To move from doing pushes to a closed position, you do a figure that starts off like a whip right - after walk (1,2) the woman has made a half turn right and the man has his right arm on her back - but then on counts 4-6 she moves back to the end of the slot from where she started the figure, turning 1/2 left with the man following - an exception to his not travelling - to maintain the closed position. From there the woman could start circling left, doing a tuck or just about any pass left figure from West Coast swing. Going around in a circle most of these figures can end in closed or open position with just slight adjustments. Ok, that's what I got from the workshop taught by Bonnie Richardson, who teaches from her house in a Maryland suburbs of Washington. When I look at a tape of a demo given at the Virginia State Swing Championships in 1992, by Mike Ramey, I don't see much of this circling. Instead I see many variations of the push with a few pass-rights and a lot of smooth footwork that reminds me of Carolina shag. Mike Ramey teaches at Teddy's, in the Ramada Inn in Fallls Church, Virginia Wednesday nights from 7:30 to 8:30. D.C. Hand Dancing is a variant of WCS. While it maintains the basic 6 & 8 count patterns of WCS, it allows the man to break the slot and reestablish it in another direction to provide flexibility on a crowded dance floor. Also, it is a man's dance, in that the man is the one who does most of the playing vs the woman. The dance can be done anywhere WCS is done because it uses basically the same music (Blues/R&B). [TOP] DISCO SWING A catchall name, it can be any of several hustle dances - hustle, 4 count hustle, NY hustle (see descriptions below). [TOP] DOUBLE SWING Buddy insists it should be called delayed single swing, but everybody else calls it double. The triple-step is replaced by touch-step. [TOP] EAST COAST SWING (ECS) A descendant of Lindy hop -> Jitterbug -> Swing. A combination of 6 and 8 count rhythms. Can be done SSQQ like jitterbug, or triple step, 1-a-2, 3-a-4, 5, 6 (or 1, 2, 3-a-4, 5-a-6). The jitterbug style is usually done to fast music; the ballroom version uses triple step rhythm and hip action to use up time in slower music. Eastern swing is a spot dance (more or less) with lots of turning, which can take up an arbitrary amount of space. In ballroom competitions, it is danced to music at 32-40 measures per minute. Most American swing dancers begin figures with the first triple (or "chasse") step, although some begin with the rock step -- as do dancers of "jive", the international style version of eastern swing. The character of the dance often is fairly excited and rarely rock step -- as do dancers of "jive", the international style version of eastern swing. The character of the dance often is fairly excited and rarely is sexual. East Coast Swing is kind of a subset of Lindy. East Coast is about 90% 6-count figures and Lindy is about 35% 6-count figures (the rest in both cases being 8-count figures).is kind of a subset of Lindy. East Coast is about 90% 6-count figures and Lindy is about 35% 6-count figures (the rest in both cases being 8-count figures). In ECS the rock back is more of an instantaneous weight change. The shoulders and the hips arrive together. The weight never settles towards the heel. In ECS the triple steps are equal length steps: side- together-side. Swing music gives a dancer an 'Up' feeling. Swing (and Rock freestyle) dancers dance with a 'Up and Up' step. Latin (and Disco freestyle) is more into the floor, the steps are 'Down and Down'. Taught in studios as a social dance and as a competitive American style dance. Triple swing would be one of the basic dances taught to beginners at general ballroom dances. ECS revolves around a spot on the floor. Most ECS dancers also dance other ballroom dances. Virtually all patterns are 6 count. Danced to fast music (30-60). Double then Single swing is used as the music gets faster. The basic is typically taught *non* rotating. Yes, ECS is typically a rotating dance, but basic moves are typically taught using a non- rotating basic. Usually, even after a few classes, most beginners start to have rotation in their dancing - without it specifically being stressed - simply because of the turns. Usually, however, their basic will not rotate - unless specifically encourage to do so by the instructor. It is perfectly acceptable to do an open position basic both rotating and non-rotating. As int/adv dancers you probably don't spend half the dance doing basics and you should be able to do them both ways and lead/follow moves either rotating or not. ECS doesn't look like Jive. Jive is very hoppy and bouncy, lots of arms and legs. ECS is smooth and flows from move to move. In New York, there has been a frustration among some of us that ECS, or what used to be called triple or double or single step Lindy, has been perceived as a "bouncy" dance. In fact to those of us who have worked with Teddy Kern or the Savoy Dancer George Lloyd the essence of good Lindy "social dancing" is smooth. The smoother the better. Well, in the Double Lindy the tap step can be flexed for a small bounce, but the body should remain smooth. There are certain performance styles in Savoy that are theatrical, These styles were developed by Frankie Manning and his Whitey Lindy Hopper associates for performance and SHOW ME competitions (jams). It's great stuff, but I've seen many new dancers try to imitate the look of these steps with not-so-smooth results. Unfortunately good smooth Lindy does not look too exciting and there is not the legion of great dancers out there, as there is in WCS, so exposure to smooth Lindy might be weak. Jive is suppose to emphasize and thus rise on 2, 4 of 1-ah-2, 3-ah-4, rock-step and Swing does not emphasize the 2 & 4. In ECS one stays down till the rock step and "swings" the hips except during the rock- step. From: Richard Fowler, Dec 1994 Subject: Re: ECS bouncy True American ECS has a vertical component, as does jive, but the ECS movement is downward from standing, whereas the jive is a rise. This is why footwork for jive is given as [ball,ball-flat, ball], giving the dancer foot-rise through the first and third steps, while ECS footwork originally was [flat, ball, flat] with knees flexing on flat steps, giving it a "fall, return to natural height, fall" look, which you'll notice makes the hip motion considerably easier. The difference between all of the above and the way C&W dancers do swing, at least in this part of Texas, is primarily the tendency to not close the feet completely on the second step of the triple, making jive rise impractical since there would be no secure landing point from a balance perspective, and ECS difficult since rising from the initial step onto a foot that is not underneath you either launches you into the next step uncontrollably, or makes you fall , neither of which is an experience likely to cause repetition. In short, with inefficient movement (ie. not closing the feet), it's just easier to keep things level/smooth as this is least likely to challenge one's already precarious balance. What's different about West coast and East coast (Lindy) Swing? 1) Lindy and Lindy Hop follow the primary lead of pattern with a travelling triple, WCS expects a travelling double. Everybody counts it differently, but you can look at it as: Lindy Hop: Switch Tri ple-Step Tri ple-Step Switch... Lindy whip:Rock Step Tri ple-Step Tri ple-Step Rock Step | Lead | WCS whip: An chor-Step Tri ple-Step An chor-Step (where the capital letter indicates a beat of music) 2) WCS is "slotted" -- the follower tends to move in a linear path from one open position to another with the leader moving "cross- slot" to get out of the follower's way. The leader stays roughly fixed in his position. Lindy and Lindy Hop are w/o slot rules and tend to involve non-linear motion of the follower and interchange of the positions of the partners. Most everything else is "tends to be" in nature; for example: WCS tends to be danced to blues at a slower tempo than the blues or big band swing that Lindy tends to be danced to. WCS tends to be danced more smoothly than Lindy and tends not to use lifts and drops in social dance. WCS tends to use wraps and break from the 6/8-beat basic patterns more than Lindy. Hot Lindy dancers put a full turn into their whip in 8 beats, most WCS dancers at any level tend to use only a half-turn (yea, I know Wayne and John have their own full-circle whips, but it is entirely different than a Dean Collins 8-beat Lindy whip. [TOP] FLYING LINDY West Coast swing to fast music, sort of a slotted Lindy Hop. Flying Lindy is a specialty style or pattern that can be used with Lindy. [TOP] IMPERIAL A swing-related dance native to St. Louis, Mo. is Imperial Swing. So called because it was nurtured in the Imperial Dance Club on Florescent Street in St. Louis, it is a variant of east coast swing with a six-count step which includes eight-count steps similar to the Lindy. A fusion of East Coast/West Coast, Imperial Swingers say "we swing both ways" Imperial Swing is danced to the same slow blues-flavored music as West Coast Swing and has the same sensual character but is not the same dance. Much of Imperial Swing looks like triple East Coast swing danced to slower music. Imperial is very smooth and level, lacking the bounciness found in Jive and East Coast. [TOP] JAMAICA In New Orleans a Lindy variant called the ''Jamaica" is very popular. Barbara Horridge of the New Orleans Jamaica Dance Club recounted how the dance became popular in the 1950's in the Jamaica Lounge on Magazine Street where the city's good dancers tended to hang out. Alice Palmer of the west bank of the Mississippi (the clubs are identified as west and east bank clubs--Barbara' s club is on the east bank) says the Jamaica is an east coast circular-style dance which uses Dallas push tempo music. Jamaica dancers don't drink much. Which is to say that although nightclubs have teachers teaching the Jamaica in the early evening hours, once the bands begin to play most of the floor space is given over to tables. There are perhaps 1500 people belonging to Jamaica dance clubs in the New Orleans- Metararie area. [TOP] JITTERBUG Originally done by whites in the 30s/40s imitating blacks doing Lindy Hop. Popular music was speeding up, and the triple-step became a single step. Essentially, single step, (mainly, but not completely) 6 count East Coast Swing, SSQQ. Buddy Schwimmer says: It's not the same as single swing. A simplified 4 step is sometimes taught and improperly called Jitterbug. I think you can call single or triple step swing - Jitterbug - as long as it's danced in a circle motion (not slotted). When I was in high school, in the mid- to late '50's, we called what we danced "Jitterbug", in the Washington, D.C. area. When I went to college, my girlfriend from New York did exactly the same dance, but called it "Lindy". Both seem to me to be just what people today call the "East Coast Swing". In those days, it was all 6 count (in my dance class, anyway.) Around these parts, Jitterbug == single swing, and current classes are offered by several teachers. The basic is six counts, like Buddy's description of single swing, just replace "touch step" with "step touch". There is really no speed advantage in doing single vs. double swing -- you can do "hold, step" in double as easily as you can do "step, hold" in single. Advanced dancers use all three ECS timings, sometimes in the same basic -- my favorite instructor uses step, touch, triple step, hitch-and-step a lot, it gives a good "look" and fits the feel of the dance well. Jitterbug, the form popularized by the GI's in WW2. Famous for the aerial where the lady puts her legs around the chap, then the chap lifts her upside down, so her legs are in the air. uses a 6 beat basic (triple-step, triple-step, back step) on the whole. [TOP] JIVE Ballroom variant of Triple swing. American GIs brought an unstructured, rowdy, wild, undisciplined, amalgam of jitterbug, lindy, etc., to England during World War II. The U.S. Armed Forces did their bit by importing big bands that played suitable music. (See _The Glenn Miller Story_, the "hangar party" sequence in _Memphis Belle_, etc.) The account I read indicated that many USO dances were held in English ballrooms that had previously seen only far more elegant, restrained, etc., forms of dance like waltz and foxtrot... and the very proper English were horrified at what they saw as the Americans' shabby excuse for ballroom dancing. ~"Nevertheless", wrote one English dance authority at the time, ~"it is possible that a place might be found for this form of dancing in the English ballrooms." When danced well, Jive appears to be hopping, but actually it's the retraction before the first step of each chasse that gives it that look. Instead of breaking the two beats into 1-a-2, an extra partial beat is used at the beginning of the two-count for retracting the foot and lower leg: a-1-a-2, with the retraction on the first "a". (Often this partial beat is evident in the music, since a lot of swing music in shuffle rhythm has a shuffle on each beat rather than on every other beat.) At faster tempi, the retraction can cause the feet to lift slightly off the floor simultaneously, which looks like hopping. Actually, a compression in the abdomen, sometimes causing the foot to lift off the ground, rather than hopping. The compression and hip action give body speed to execute quick turns to fast music. Another characteristic of jive is the hip motion, which is a result of the faster tempo; since there isn't time to travel your body slightly from side to side, the momentum is absorbed in the hips, while the location of the body on the floor changes less. In the correct jive styling, your feet "hop/bounce" but your head stays level. Most all of the vertical motion is in the feet only. In Jive, the rock back is a latin press back. Touch down on the toe of the foot and roll onto the heel. This gives the continuous motion that is typical of latin. (Don't let all of your heel down on the rock back, you'll never get it off of the ground in time for the next step.) Jive triple steps are latin as well. In Jive the 3 step is small and the 4 step is larger. This is synonymous with the 4&1 of cha-cha. Jive is ECS swing with Latin motion danced in a 'Up and Up' type feeling. The Jive bounce is not necessary to dance fast. Anyone can dance ECS to Jive tempo and it doesn't bounce. ECS requires more push off of the non-moving foot to get the instantaneous weight shift, but you get more time to do this. Jive is limited to a narrow tempo range. Jive also has a syllabus, which means you are limited in what you can do outside of the syllabus. Jive dancers communicate what their feet are doing into the connection with their partner. Their shoulders are moving up and down. If you dance ECS with a Jive dancer, you get a lot of noise from the connection. The International style competitive swing dance. (One of 5 "Latin" dances, but is not Latin.) A stylized version of ECS. Has a bouncy look vs a smooth look for ECS. Has a rigid syllabus with very specific requirements on directions, timing, etc. Many of the syllabus patterns would not be done in ECS. In the US, Jive is almost exclusively danced as choreographed routines. Jive has QaQ instead of Q&Q in ECS, so you can see here how ECS is smoothed out. However, at 44 mpm, QaQ is a concept not reality, and there isn't really enough time for a full 3/4, 1/4, 1 time difference. In eastern swing, your "swing" action comes on two and four, with a little bit of compacting on those beats; in jive, hip and knee action replace swinging, on the same beats Jive has a "bouncy" or "hopping" look and feel. Actually, the feet bounce or hop but the body is supposed to stay almost level. As mentioned, this is somewhat a result of the speed, QaQ rhythm, and hip action. There are these kick steps where you hop but keep your head perfectly level as if you were balancing a book on your head. The effect is that your body appears to be floating in the air as your feet move wildly. In contrast, ECS has a more grounded look. ECS is more of a revolving dance with a relatively smooth and constant rotation. In contrast, Jive would be more "slotted" with specific straight directions and direction changes. For example, the "Underarm Turn" in ECS is the same as "Change of Places LR" in Jive. In ECS, the man smoothly raises and lowers the arm, the lady rotates and revolves continuously while the man revolves around the lady in a circular motion. In Jive, the style is more like a hockey stick where the lady travels in a mostly straight line, then turns mostly between counts 4 and 5 of 1 2 3&4 5&6 as the man brings down the arm. The 3&4 and 5&6 triples in Jive are chasses (step-together-step) which travel mostly in a straight line, whereas in ECS they would travel in an arc. Jive is not as leadable as a social dance compared to ECS. There are arm leads where the hands are over the head or extended, e.g. in Spanish Arms, and directions and amount of turn are often very important. Hence, if you see social "Jive" in the US, it is most likely ECS patterns done with the QaQ bouncy style of Jive. In ECS the leads are at the center of the lady (e.g. as in an American Spin), in closed dance position, or in a wrap. A tuck an turn is a common ECS and WCS pattern, which is kind of like an American spin combined with an outside underarm turn. (In an American Spin, you compress on 3&4, spin on 5&6. We use L to R hands, though.) Excessive bouncing and poor arm leads make typical (beginning- intermediate) Jive dancers look silly and sloppy. Only very beginning ECS dancers (who take huge rock steps) look dorkey since the dance is smoother and precision is not as important. Of course, good Jive dancers look really neat. ECS has lots of spins, and double spins are common at intermediate level dancing. In an American spin both the man and lady spin (I double spin with a good partner), whereas in Jive the man would be disqualified from a Bronze competition if he did a spin since the syllabus doesn't allow it. Underarm turns can have extra spins for the man and/or lady on 5&6. Note that a "spin" here is not a Jive gold level "Simple Spin". It means you rotate once or twice over your toe on a single spot. The technique of Jive is fairly rigid, whereas in ECS it is more open to interpretation, and different styles are possible according to the music. Jive is ususally danced to faster music, e.g. 44, vs a typically slower range for ECS, e.g. 30-40, switching to double or single swing at faster tempos, e.g. up to 60. jive - latin jive - the ballroom/ competition form of the dance. No aerials. Much work on style here. Upright stance. [TOP] KANSAS CITY SHAG It bears no relation to the Carolina Shag done in the Southeast. Instead, it is a hyperspeed (240+) dance done frequently in Southern CA, with a lot of kicks and not a lot of revolving or movement in a slot. It has 8 counts. [TOP] LEROC/CEROC The French form of the dance, where there is NO footwork, so it's very easy. These make up for that by doing very complex 6/8 beat moves with the arms. Looks very good for a while, but is mechanical, and contains little expression. [TOP] LINDY HOP Precursor of East Coast Swing: both 8-count and 6-count patterns. The original swing. Lindy hop has lots of kicks that you don't have in any other type of swing. Has an 8 count basic (1 2 3&4 5 6 7&8), but typically includes 6 count patterns. Craig Hutchinson tells that "swing" dancing gets its origins from the Charleston. In the 30's with Frankie Manning and crew - it evolved into what they danced - the Lindy - named after that little ole airplane flight. Craig would say from here - it went to the average dancer - and studio trained dancer to the Jitterbug - or ECS. In the process - losing many of the socially unacceptable kicking moves taking up dance floor and moves above the ability of the casual dancer. When the dance was used by Hollywood (by choreographer Dean Collins) it lost it's more circular motion - consequently developing into the slotted style - or WCS. "There is also the Lindy style, danced often around Santa Barbara and Ventura, CA. This is a revolving style of Swing, done to fairly fast music, that mixes 6 and 8 count patterns including the whip. Lindy also uses many throw outs, so as in West Coast (but less often in East Coast) the partners are in an extended position. Something more subtle is the lead; the lead gives the follower minimal time to react -- West Coast Swing and others who have not grown up doing the Lindy almost invariably feel like the "correct" Lindy lead happens too late. Lindy-hop uses an 8 beat basic - triple-step - 1-2 triple-step back- step on the whole. Clear origins. includes aerials, but more concerned with stylish routines. low dancing posture with butt stuck out. [TOP] PREP STEP a Shag variant danced on the coast of Virginia and inland. [TOP] PUSH Texas variation of West Coast Swing. Has a double resistance `rock step' on the second triple. Very distinctive look. Push is a swing dance originating in Texas around the late 1940's to slow rhythm and blues music. Originally called the "Cat Dance" because the cool cats were the guys doing this dance, it really differs very little from West Coast Swing. Texas's Push or Whip dancers who do many more patterns, intricate arm work, and many more spins for the ladies than WCS dancers. Whenever Debbie Ramsey, an LA instructor and swing champion, is in town she very pointedly makes a distinction between push, which emphasizes arms, turning, and complex patterns, and west-coast swing, which is built on a few basic steps and relies on an occasional pattern and a lot of syncopated footwork for zip and style. She claims that the basic style of WCS is much more "relaxed" than the other forms, and allows the follower more freedom to be creative with syncopations and is thus more "active" for a follower. Push is a slotted dance. Push, originating in the North Texas area, was named for the move performed in the last two beats of the pattern. The gentlemen, with a two-hand lead, gives resistance to the woman. The woman uses that resistance to perform a body roll. The body roll varies widely between women. The double-resistance step is done occassionally, just like any ending pattern. There is no "snap and bounce"; the move is gentle and causes the woman's body to do a gently sway or roll. Texas dancers frequently perform lots of multiple spins. Men "prefer" to lead most all footwork and so the break endings found in CA are not encouraged. Many women in Texas are working towards changing this as we see this styling and learn it on our trips to dance contests in CA. Dancers in Dallas dance prefer to music in the 118- 130 beat range; Houston dancers like considerably slower music. Two years ago, Mario held a get together for all the old-time swing dancers in Dallas. He videotaped a discussion amongst them about the history of the dance as it is done in Dallas. One of the participants said that he first saw the dance returned from overseas in the service after the World War II in 1945. At the ballroom in LA, folks were standing in a long line facing their partners and everyone would do the basic whip step together. He said he and others brought this pattern back to Dallas-whip in a slot-and other moves were added. It was originally called the "cat dance" here because only the cool cats did it. They said each guy had his own secret patterns. No one would share their special moves. The dance wasn't taught anywhere so everyone learned it on the floor. Terry Rippa of the Dallas Push club describes the Push as a dance which uses lots of turns and spins. ''lt is a smooth provocative dance," he says, most often done to rhythm and blues music. Terry noted that the Push is a barroom dance, not a ballroom dance. Most Push dancing in Dallas is done out at nightclubs, rather than in private dance halls. Barry Durand, a country western swing dancer, explained that the Dallas Push and the Houston Whip have a double rock step on the end ofthe slot, rather than the syncopations common to west coast swing. [TOP] ROCK AND ROLL A version of swing done in Europe to rock and roll. A street dance. The Germans standardized the basic for modern Rock & Roll dancing as it is being danced at the world championships. The basic is composed of a kick ball change kick with the left foot (gents) and a kick with the right foot. The ladies do a kick ball change kick (right), kick (left). The ladies kick forward and the gents a little bit to the sides in order not to hit the lady. The space between the partners should be big enough to let the lady kick the last kick above horizontal without any discomfort for her partner. The music to which this dance should be danced: Rock & Roll / boogie /swing music between 160 to 200 beats per minute. A theater arts version of Lindy, with lots of aerials. It has a 6-count basic, so it classifies as a bona fide swing, but it involves lots of acrobatics. "Le Roc" or "Ceroc" is not the same the same as "Rock 'n' Roll". Cerocers try to dance Ceroc to almost anything, fast and slow. The emphasis, for beginners at least, is on "moves" more than footwork. I find that Ceroc nights are social events as much as lessons. Rock 'n' Roll, on the other hand is a very distinctive dance style, usually to a faster beat than Jive. From a UK point of view: R-n-R, aka "the lazy man's jive'" uses single steps instead of the triple steps of lindy/jive/jitterbug. Uses arm movements to count beat. [TOP] SHAG Either Carolina or St Louis There's a third Shag; I call it the "Arthur Murray Shag" for want of a better name (there's an old, 1936, film of him teaching it). It is a 6- count version, basic step something like: step-hop-step-hop-run-run, done more-or-less facing partner. There are, of course, lots of variations. My suspicion is that this was a chief source of the 6- count Lindy, and that the original was mostly an 8-count dance developed out of the Charleston. Ie, characteristic of the Lindy Hop was the syncopation (up-movement on count 1, instead of bending), and the "away-together" break. Characteristic of the Shag was more hopping steps, and 6 counts. In the early 30's, when the Lindy, Shag, (and others like Suzy Q, Truckin', etc) started to be picked up by the white ballrooms, and being described by the White dance teachers, they melded into a single dance, primarily 6-count, and strongly related to what we now call the East Coast Swing. [TOP] SINGLE SWING The triple-step is replaced by a single step. Needed for very fast music, and is easy for beginners. [TOP] STEPPING It's mostly done by black fraternities and sororities now, but has some long roots. There was an article in "Jitterbug" a couple issues ago about Stepping. Its a form of swing and is apparently popular in Chicago. [TOP] ST LOUIS SHAG 8-count patterns with partners mostly side by side. Triple step (or kick), Kick Hop, Step Stomp, Rock Step. It is done at high tempo (min. 200 bpm) and the leader's basic is 1&2 LRL triple forward, in a closed position where partners can look forward in the direction of the minimal travel. 3 K keep the weight on the L foot and there's a bounce in the L leg though you do not get airborne. kick the R, from the knee. 4 bounce again, the L leg bounces, but there's no weight change The R foot comes to the left leg, somewhere between ankle and knee height. 5 R step weight finally comes down 6 L stomp the but do not place any wieght on it 7 L rock forward 8 R rock back The follower does the natural opposite and the whole thing is done with a relaxed body. This style has been very popular in contests at swing conventions. The St Louis dancers do indeed do this, and quite well. I've had the impression that they may tend to do this more outside of competitons than the CA dancers do. Sherry Lawson (described by a Californian as the "Queen of the St. Louis Shag") described the St. Louis Shag as "a dance with a bouncy step that swivels in and out very much like the Charleston. It has patterns with kicks and jumps, patterns that are traditional, dating back more than twenty-five years." The St. Louis Shag, like the Balboa, is described as a non-swing dance. Also like the Balboa, the Shag is done to very fast music: 165 beats per minute and faster. [TOP] SUPREME (no info) [TOP] TEXAS TOMMY According to Hutch the oldest type of swing. Eileen Bauer writes: This info is from a Time-Life Boxed Set of Albums (from 1970) entitled "The Swing Era 1941-1942/Swing as a Way of Life". The liner notes (by John Stanton) actually came in hard-cover books with excellent pictures. Very abbreviated notes follow: 1913: Texas Tommy from "Darktown Follies". Some of the TT survived in the Hop which retained the breakaway and added a synchopated 2step or boxstep accenting the offbeat. From the Charleston of the '20s, the Hop borrowed the Charleston Swing, a forward and back kick. After Lindbergh's solo flight, the Hop became the Lindy Hop. By 1936 it was known as the Jitterbug. In a slightly modified form, jitterbugging spread to the white world where it was joined by the "Big Apple", which has been traced to a black dance hall in Columbia, SC. The Big Apple started when the band leader (or any dancer) cried, "Cut the Apple!" and dancers formed circles of 8- 10 people each. The Big Apple, which matured in 1937, allowed for improvisation, as did it's "predecessor", the Lindy Hop. (quotes are mine - ecb) Truckin' and Suzie Q were done by the group when the caller yelled out "Truck to the Left/Right!" or "Suzy-Q!" There were a number of other calls that were done - "Peck to the Left/Right", "Praise Allah!", etc End of abbreviated notes. The Black Bottom certainly predates the Lindy. I don't have my notes handy, but I believe it has the same general history as the Texas Tommy. - Eileen The Big Apple was a called dance with all the dancers in a big circle facing inward. Many of the breakaway steps from classic Lindy like Boogie Back, Suzie-Q, Tack Annie, etc., came from Big Apple roots. The Shim-Sham started similarly -- the Shim-Sham step itself coming from tap jams where the circle would mark the (ever increasing) tempo with a "time-step" -- shuf-fle step, shuf-fle step, shuf-fle ball-change, shuf-fle step. [TOP] TRIPLE SWING (Like East Coast Swing.) WESTERN SWING Originally, west coast swing was called western swing. The name was changed to differentiate it from country-western swing. Skippy Blair was alive at the time that West Coast Swing evolved, and, in fact, is the one who first called it "West Coast Swing" (prior to that, it had been known as Western Swing and had been "codified" by Arthur Murray). At various points during Craig "Hutch" Hutchinson's workshops he reminisced about the history of west coast swing. Apparently he learned it in the '50s in Denver. Hutch credited Arthur Murray with codifying the west coast swing, at that time called western swing, later renamed (I think he mentioned Skippy Blair in this connection) to avoid confusion with country and western. Hutch claimed that old movies (has anyone ever seen `Don't knock the Rock'? I don't think it's on video of LD) show in general the push, a pass and some form of whip. He showed the difference between the whip it was done in the '40s, and the more civilised Arthur Murray version. The original whip had swivels on 12 for the woman, then a very fast whip around on 34 (I got the impression that Lucy did something like an &3&4&, otherwise she could never have travelled that far in 2 beats), square off on 56, and to some rhythm break (sailor shuffle, for instance) on 78. Hutch also showed the difference between the coaster step as taught by Arthur Murray and the original coaster, which does has a back- together-forward, but additionally it has a large forward-backward body sway on the forward, which brings both partners to a stand still, instead of throwing the woman forward. Western Swing is the accepted name for a particular type of country (or rather, western) music, as practiced by Bob Wills, and groups like Asleep at the Wheel. [TOP] WEST COAST SWING Slotted, 6-count and 8-count patterns. Depending on the style lots of turns or lots of footwork. Syncopations are common. The man stays pretty much in one place while the woman moves back and forth in a slot. Therefore, it's the woman's movements that are emphasized. There's a lot more hand and arm motion than in the shag to produce figures like left/right passes, tunnels, and various wraps. West Coast developed from the Lindy. As done in the Swing community the end of patterns typically use an "anchor step" and not a "Coaster step." The follower is discouraged from moving forward under her own power at the end of the pattern. Instead, she hangs out until the guy remembers to lead. Another distinction between the styles has to do with the "rock- step." Purists in the swing community claim there is never a "rock- step" in West Coast; by definition the "rock-step" is Eastern Swing. In practice, the purists are thankfully in the minority. Yet another distinction between the communities is in leverage and being grounded; the ballroom West Coast dancers are more "up" while in the swing community they are more "into the floor." Similarly, in the ballroom circles there is little leverage while in the swing circles many dancers strive for leverage and connection that appears to be more "heavy." Syncopations are used far more frequently in West Coast than in other Swing styles that I am familiar with. One rarely sees syncopations used in the East Coast style or Lindy, but perhaps because there is so much more time available with the slow tempos used for West Coast, everybody does them. As dancers are learning the West Coast, they typically add syncopations at the end of patterns first. Latter, other parts of the rhythm are changed such that the basic 12 3&4 5&6 becomes &12... or 12 &34..., etc. We emphasize footwork, often using a minimum number of patterns. WCS is indeed a slot dance. In theory, the lady should never step outside her slot (except, of course, to avoid colliding with another couple). The man is normally either in the other end of the slot, or immediately next to the slot so that the woman can pass by him. Her assignment, should she choose to accept it, is to get from one end of the slot to the other, preferably doing something stylish in the process. The man either leads her down the slot, or starts her down the slot then blocks her path, forcing her to go back to the end she came from. There are, of course, various turns, spins, fancy footwork and such associated with these manouvers. WCS is very improvisational among advanced dancers with "syncopations", i.e. rhythm variations, footwork variations, body waves, etc. Individual styles vary widely. Most of the finalists at the US Open Swing competition have radically different styles. There are no set "rules". There is a lot of leeway for the follower to improvise and add styling and syncopated footwork, typically as she turns around at the end of her slot. West coast swing is a "slot" dance, which means that the woman travels forward and back along a single straight line on the floor, with the man moving off of and onto her line. Although there are turning figures, they still keep the woman on her line. The tempo is 28-32 mpm. Figures begin with two walking steps, followed by two triple steps (or a triple step, two walks and another triple, in Lindy time figures). The second triple step is generally danced in place and is called the "anchor step;" its main purpose is to reestablish physical tension between the partners, generally achieved by leaning slightly back. The style is very casual and sometimes overtly sexual. Perhaps most important, west coast swing features many "syncopations," which are changes in the basic pattern. The most common is the tap step to replace the first triple step; since both patterns use the same number of weight changes, they are equivalent. Feature | Eastern Swing | West Coast Swing -------------+----------------------------------+--------------------- Tempo (mpm) | 32-40 (triple),>40 (single) | 28-32 Floor use | Spot | Slot (woman's) Begin on | Triple (most), rock step (jive) | Two walks Style | Excited and fun | Casual and sexy Syncopations | Few | Any step; encouraged 1 2 3&4 5&6 (walk walk triple-step triple-step) rhythm for sugar push, underarm turns, side passes. 1 2 3&4 5 6 7&8 rhythm for whip patterns. Danced in a narrow slot so is suitable in a crowded night club. Danced to a wide range of tempos and styles of music (15-45). Blues is a traditional style of music for WCS. Has a smooth, grounded, "earthy" look for slow blues songs. Is very improvisational among advanced dancers with "syncopations", i.e. rhythm variations, footwork variations, body waves, etc. Individual styles vary widely. Most of the finalists at the US Open Swing competition have radically different styles. There are no set "rules". In WCS, the underarm turn of ECS is straightened out so the lady moves straight down a narrow slot and the man passes the lady only a few inches outside the slot. The chasse side-together-side is changed to fwd-fwd-fwd. Also, the ECS back-replace for the lady on 12 is changed to fwd-fwd in WCS. WCS is danced anywhere from extremely slow, e.g. 15, to fast Jive, e.g. 50. It is very open to interpretation with radically different styles and lots of "playful" exchanges. If you are in California, try to lookup the following as they are also nationally recognized: Buddy Schwimmer (LA area I Believe) Kelly Buckwalter Robert Roysten and Laureen Baldovi (From San Jose) Michelle Meyers-Kincaid Richard Kear & Helen Voss Described as ' 'the Cadillac of swing" by Robert Bryant of the (now defunct) US Swing Dance Council, the California versions of West Coast Swing stay in a slot and have the lady moving from one end of the slot to the other. Annie Hirsch, who with Jack Carey, represents the golden days of west coast swing, mentioned Dean Collins as a leading figure in establishing the west coast swing. It was in the 1940' s that Dean Collins and several others were the West Coast version of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers--the best of the best. According to Annie the dance remains pretty much the same since its creation sometime in the 40's. Skippy Blair, another dancer involved with west coast swing in it's formative years says it was first called western swing and then came to be called west coast swing to differentiate it from country-western swing dancing. Both Annie and Skippy agree that the big difference between west coast swing then and now is that now both partners dance more upright to slower music, allowing time for interesting footwork variations called "syncopations." The syncopations may take several beats when the woman goes to the end of the slot and are the primary difference between the California and mid-west variants of West Coast Swing. The music varies and the only thing most people seem to agree on is that it is best danced to a medium tempo. At Joel Koosed's Avenue Ballroom in San Francisco, the music changes from night to night according to the DJ's preference. Some people like rhythm and blues, some like contemporary rock, some like oldies from the 40's, 50's and 60's. The dance originated in Los Angeles, probably at Hollywood's Palladium Ballroom, in 1946. Swing dancing, especially Lindy, was very popular. Dance floors became very crowded and dangerous. Some folks apparently thought that if they could develop a dance that was done in a slot, more dancers could get on the floor in safety. And that's what we do. We dance in a very small space, approximately a person and a half wide and two arm-lengths plus a body width long. My research has failed to learn just who those people were. Jack Carey (the other half of Annie Hirsch) might very well be one of them. In 1955, he created the Jack 'n' Jill form of competition. If you watch the jitterbug/lindy scene from Day at the Races, one of the couples performs their moves completely slotted. That way the lindy circle and the WCS whip hardly differ. If you continue in this vein, you find lots of jitterbug moves that could easily be done slotted, almost giving WCS. It may be that WCS was not really invented, but more likely grew out of stylistic developments in the Jitterbug.... which, according to the stories that Craig Hutchinson tells, is exactly what happened. Tiny excerpts from his article "The Origin of West Coast Swing": Via Hollywood, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers brought the black's Lindy Hop and Dean Collins and his disciples brought the white's Swing to the movie screens... Distilling what was seen performed on the movie screens... played a role in the development of dancing on a straight track. Now, what Craig says in his article in places comes across quite differently than what Margaret Batiuchok's (sp?) thesis says. His terminology doesn't match what we use here (Charlottesville, VA) nor *some* large fraction of the Washington DC dance community. It's in his book. WCS dancers themselves do not consider WCS a ballroom dance and want to preserve a separateness. This separate vision has to do with considering WCS as a "living" dance form. Its steps cannot be "cannonized" because they are constantly developing, transforming, adapting, incorporating regional styles, etc. Regional swing dance clubs feel they serve two groups of members: those interested primarily in social dancing and those interested primarily in competitive dancing. As ballroom dancers get more and more advanced, their dancing approaches "perfection", which is measured by comparing against a known ideal; hence the various ballroom dancers' technique tends to *converge* on the ideal. Whereas swing dancers are encouraged to use and even invent new patterns, new body positions, new footwork variations, etc., etc. W/C allows the woman much more freedom simply because they are in dance hold so much less time than in E/C. In E/C if the guy knows one move that's the only move the lady will be doing all night. In W/C if the guy knows a sugar push for example she could do 10 variations and scores of synchopations. In East coast you are moving on the triple which makes variations a bit more difficult since you're not standing in one spot. [TOP] WHIP Whip is like west coast except that it is done with longer inticate patterns with neck wraps and such. Whip is a swing dance originating in Texas around the late 1940's to slow rhythm and blues music. Originally called the "Cat Dance" because the cool cats were the guys doing this dance, it really differs very little from West Coast Swing. Whip dancers who do many more patterns, intricate arm work, and many more spins for the ladies than WCS dancers. Whenever Debbie Ramsey, an LA instructor and swing champion, is in town she very pointedly makes a distinction between whip or push, which emphasizes arms, turning, and complex patterns, and west-coast swing, which is built on a few basic steps and relies on an occasional pattern and a lot of syncopated footwork for zip and style. She claims that the basic style of WCS is much more "relaxed" than the other forms, and allows the follower more freedom to be creative with syncopations and is thus more "active" for a follower. Whip is a slotted dance. The Whip, originating in the Houston area and found in Austin and San Antonio, is named for the 8-beat Whip patterns characteristic of many swing dances. Like Push, they too have a body roll step although it's performed with slightly different footwork and body movement. Houston Whip Mario Robau of the Houston Whip Club is a leading exponent of the Whip, a slotted variant where the woman does a circular body undulation at the end of the slot. Both the Whip and the Push are done to medium tempo rhythm and blues music, much the same as the Carolina Shag. Debbie Ramsey explains that WCS does indeed have more "open" steps because the emphasis is on a few basic patterns (sugar push, side passes, 8-count basic) dressed up with improvised footwork and an occasional pattern. Texas Push or Whip, OTOH, has very few basics, and moves from pattern to pattern (wraps and closed-position stuff) as exemplified by Mario Robau. It is more difficult to improvise footwork in this form, especially for followers, since you have a lot less time (and room) to do your own thing. The leader is much more in control. Only on the fist four counts of a six count pattern are the Push\Whip and WCS even similar. One has to understand the style and feel of Push\Whip to understand that it is entirely different from the WCS. It was originally created in the 40's to be danced to R&B music. To feel the whip it must be danced to slow R&B first. You can take whip patterns and dance them in WCS but the look and feel can never approach that of the Whip. The most defining step is the hip bump on 5&6. I have seen WCS dancers attempt this basic step and never get it right because they won't dance close enough or try to bounce their own hip off of their partners. A Whip dancer will brush and roll off the hip off their partner but never ram. The other major difference is in the area of patterens. Most WCS dancers will dance only in combinations of 6 and 8 count patterns. Whip dancers have no boundaries. As long as the first and last two counts are on the correct beats and with time to the music, it doesn't matter how many counts the pattern takes. Good whip dancing is revered in the country of it's birth: The Republic of Texas. The primary differences that we have noticed is that in Whip/Push there are alot of wraps both neck and waist. If a woman can't spin she is at a grave disadvantage since most of the patterns have at least one multiple spin (double the most common but frequently back to back with perhaps a reverse inbetween). If you dance with a Whip/Push leader who does not go to the larger competitions and their workshops such as Dallas Dance there will be very few, if any, syncopations led and the woman must pay close attention if she wishes to do any on her own. If she does do a syncopation or alternative footwork she absolutely must finish it and be ready to go on the next pattern. Body ripples or rock-step, hitch step are sometimes subsituted for the 5 & 6 & 1 although this is becoming less common as WCS has more influence. The Texas (Whip/Push) men sometimes complain when dancing with a woman who does WCS that they won't follow a lead into a neck wrap or complain about the amount of spins. While the women complain that after awhile the women get tired of doing their more limited repetoire of "footwork" on the numberous side passes that WCS leaders give them. But as more and more Whip/Push dancers are getting exposed to WCS they are modifiying both what they lead and learning more syncopations and other footwork. [TOP] MISCELLANEOUS From: Ann Detsch Subject: WCS Origins/Skippy Blair Here is a write-up of my recent telephone conversation with Skippy Blair regarding the origins of West Coast Swing. Skippy is a well- respected dance instructor who lives in Southern California. She has been asked to write a history of WCS, which she would like to do since she's getting annoyed by so many strange versions of WCS history being told by people who were born long after WCS developed. When I asked her where WCS started, she made it clear that it didn't just start in one place. Rather, there are more like ten histories of WCS out there due to synchronicity, with different variations evolving in different places. What follows is her personal experience with WCS. Back in the forties, "swing" was a word that described music, not a dance. There were several dances that were done to swing music, like the Jitterbug, Lindy, and New Yorker, but the dances weren't called "swing." As has been mentioned in numerous posts, the dance floors were crowded, and couples doing Jitterbug were taken up so much room (or causing so many injuries) that they were getting thrown out of ballrooms. Therefore, a need arose for a dance that could be done to swing music but that wouldn't take up so much room. Skippy's first exposure to a slotted "swing" dance was in 1942 in Atlantic City. She specifically mentioned a serviceman called "Red Rex" who was from California. She said that every time that she started to rock back, he would pull her forward. (My notes get a little sketchy here, and I can't remember what else she said about Red Rex). She also mentioned a slotted type of "swing dance" appeared in some movies of this era (other posts have alluded to this as well). According to Skippy, the term "swing" first started to be applied to dance in the 50's. Skippy worked for Arthur Murray who did the first codification of a slotted swing dance, which was called "Western Swing." In Western Swing, the woman walked forward on 5-6 instead of doing a rock step. Skippy left Arthur Murray and opened her own studio in 1958 in Downey, CA. At that time, Downey was a little more "rural" than it is today so when she advertised her "Western Swing" class, she got "sh--kickers" showing up expecting a different kind of dancing. Someone asked her why it was called "Western Swing" if it wasn't a "western" dance and said "Why not call it West Coast Swing?" This was in 1958, and, according to Skippy, she was the first person to use the term West Coast Swing. The name "West Coast Swing" started to spread in the '60's and eventually "Eastern Swing" became known as "East Coast Swing" and "Western Swing" became known as WCS. (BTW, Skippy said that Fred Astaire studios still call WCS "Western Swing" and that Arthur Murray just calls it "Swing."). West Coast Swing is the official state dance of California. From: Sheri Peterson Subject: Re: Dean Collins JennyRedo@aol.com wrote: Who is Dean Collins? In reply to Jenny's question, and also to inform any of the rest of you who may be interested, Dean Collins lived in Newark, New Jersey. He learned to dance the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug by watching the younger kids dance at the Savoy Ballroom in New York. He moved from New Jersey in early 1937, traveled across the country, and made a pit stop in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he learned how the people there danced the swing to jazz and blues music. He finally arrived in California in early 1938 and became a dancer and choreographer for Hollywood. He danced in and choreographed more than 100 movies from 1939 to 1971. In the movie "Stagedoor Canteen" (1943), for which he choreographed many of the dances, you can see him dance a Lindy Swing routine. If you watch carefully you can see the sugar push (push break), whip, underarm turn, and turning sugar push of what is now known as the West Coast Swing (slotted or linear swing). Swing in the 40's was renamed Western Swing by Laure' Haile in the 50's. Finally, it became West Coast Swing in the 60's, due to the efforts of Skippy Blair. In conclusion, Dean Collins became one of the founding fathers or originators of West Coast Swing. Therefore, even in the 40's (during Glenn Miller's time), people were dancing a basic form of West Coast Swing. From: knopf@rtsg.mot.com (William A. Knopf Jr.) Subject: Re: Coaster vs. Triple Step Date: 7 Oct 94 19:03:26 GMT THIS IS TAKEN FROM THE SUPERDANCE U.S.A. WEBSITE AND REPRODUCED HERE FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE. PLEASE REFER TO/CREDIT SUPERDANCE U.S.A. FOR ANYTHING RELATED TO THIS PAGE Note from Eileen Bauer: The following is a basic overview of most, if not all types of swing. It includes threads from rec.arts.dance along with descriptions from occasional newsletters put out by teachers. This is just a basic overview and therefore the parts of threads which go into more depth on the topic were not included. IMHO, (and for the purposes of this document) swing started with the Lindy, Savoy Ballroom, Whitey's Lindy-Hoppers and all that. Discussions on dances such as the Charleston, Big Apple, etc will appear most likely in a document called /ftp/nonprofits/dance/swing/swing-precursors.txt. Hustle descriptions appear in /ftp/nonprofits/dance/swing/hustle-discussion.txt -Eileen (Editor-in-Chief :-) ) Some contributors: bt: Bob Thomas, not on network ve: Victor Eijkhout so: Someone, name not known. Edited-Date: Sat, 3 Dec 1994 Editor: Mark Balzer |
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