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General West Coast Swing Knowlege

·2 mins

General West Coast Swing knowledge #

  • There are 6 pattern types:

    • four count triple pairs (4 beats)
    • side passes (6 beats): result in 0.5 turns
    • sugar pushes (6 beats)
    • whips (8 beats)
    • redirects
    • dips
    • lifts

  • Side passes are named from the leader’s perspective. For example, in a left pass, the follower passes by the leader’s left side.

  • In West Coast Swing, the dancer is trying to trace his or her path on the floor while dancing, meaning that the feet should be in contact with the floor if possible. For example, this means that the first two steps in a sugar push should look like Michael Jackson’s moonwalk because the feet are always in the contact with the floor. When stepping forward, the follower also needs to trace the path while moving forward with the inside front part of the foot. The foot comes off the floor when the change is moved onto the hill. When the lead walks forward, he also needs to trace the path on the floor with the inside front part of the foot, but the weight change may happen on the ball of the foot as opposed to the hill because the lead may need to apply force on the ball of the foot to to stop the follower’s movement.

West Coast Swing elements #

There are many elements in West Coast Swing dancing:

  • Musicality: Are the dancers on beat, synchronized to the music? Are the dancers stopping on the breaks? Are the dancers accentuating the 1s in the music?
  • Rock-and-go: are the dancers able to combine patterns without doing an anchor?
  • Repetition: Are the dancers able to take a basic pattern, split it into increments, and repeat those increments?
  • Tension and compression: Is the leader and the follower connected? Are they reacting to each other or dancing independently? Is the leader prepping correctly?

General dance knowledge #

  • An inside turn is a left, counterclockwise turn
  • An outside turn is a right, clockwise turn
  • Collecting your feet means placing them right next to each other, ankle-to-ankle.
  • A collect-tap-return step involves collecting the free foot, tapping with the free foot, and returning the free foot to its original position.
  • Replacing your foot means taking it off the ground and placing it back on the same spot.