If you’re struggling to count WCS start here.  Then master these beats. Finally master the ‘secret’ to Musicality! Join the “Ultimate Guide to Musicality” waitlist A step by step guide to mastering the music as a west coast swing dancer no matter your level of experience! Learn More> The post Improve your Musicality for WCS appeared first on West Coast Swing Online ..read more

What a crazy year it’s been. Those of us who built our lives around social dancing or simply love it I’ve been really thrown for a loop. We’re stuck questioning what’s going to happen to this activity that we love so much. Like anything else in life dancing will evolve. Although many of us desperately want to get back to what once was, let’s take a look at the new normal and how old bridge us from the good times of the past to the good times of the future. What will the new normal of dancing look like? We’ve already seen a strong emergence of new trends. The presence of social media, online le ..read more

Struggling with creating footwork that matches the music? One of the most common types of contrast within a song is between smooth and crisp sounds. Vocalists will draw out some syllables and punch others; instruments will let some chords ring while others are attacked and then silenced. Great dancers show these moments of contrast within their bodies. Footwork is a great place to show the contrast between smooth and crisp sounds because your feet are always moving. By making your footwork show the difference between these sounds, you can be musical no matter what pattern you are dancing. In t ..read more

When you dance on the social floor, do you find movements that don’t work as well as they did in class? Looking for a way to improve your social dancing? If you feel overextended, off-balance, or just plain uncomfortable, the problem might be that your body isn’t in the right position. Improve your social dancing for west coast swing with this drill In this drill will try to fix these problems by eliminating the handhold connection. By letting go of your partner, you can easily see if your body is under your own control—or if one of you is misaligned. This drill is useful for dancers at all le ..read more

When your own dancing hits a plateau, it’s easy to become frustrated and jealous about the people who just “get it.” Every community seems to have someone who is a west coast swing natural. This might be the person who dances well despite never taking a lesson, or it might be the person who can see a complicated move once and then just do it socially. It seems that some people just have the natural talent for the dance. Except…talent doesn’t work like that. There are no natural west coast swing dancers In Genius Explained, Michael J.A. Howe examines the cases of apparently naturally talented g ..read more

You may have heard the term degender west coast swing. West coast swing being a dance with so much creativity and a strong connection between leader and follower has been on the fore front of allowing men and women to dance whichever role (leader or follower) they choose. No matter what your preferred roll, anyone who is serious about learning to dance should learn both roles for the dance. Degender West Coast Swing – Learning the Opposite Role You don’t have to become an expert in both roles. But, experiencing the dance from the opposite perspective teaches you how lots of little details—fro ..read more

1. Practice west coast swing blindfolded Everyone agrees that a great connection makes the dance better. But, it’s hard to get good feedback on your connection as a beginner because we don’t always listen to the physical connection. It’s easy to respond to what you see from a person and assume that the connection is working. However, there’s a simple way to focus on the physical connection: dance blindfolded. Blindfolded dancing is a very popular instructional technique. How to practice blindfolded  For this exercise, pick one or two of the objectives below. With a partner, blindfold the follo ..read more

Most of us think about practice as something we do in order to get good. We want to get good at west coast swing fast. We practice skills that we don’t have, with the end goal of being able to perform the skill. The truth is, this is only half of the value of practice. In this post, you’re going to learn about the idea of becoming good enough to practice. Practice what you know to get really good at west coast swing Think about it: if the only purpose of practice was to work on something that you couldn’t do yet, then you would expect experts to spend most of their time practicing brand new th ..read more

Are you looking to get good at west coast swing? It is no accident that expert performers spend hours practicing the fundamentals of their craft. Every day, NBA players shoot free throws, instrumentalists play their scales, and MLB players take batting practice. In this post we are going to help you find what to focus on to get good at west coast swing as as efficiently as possible Get good at west coast swing with basics Science provides an explanation for why experts continue to drill their basics, and why dancers should as well! Because the brain continually adapts through practice, the per ..read more

Pro dancers have a phenomenal ability to work off of what their leader or follower is doing. Working off of your leader or followers styling can be a powerful tool to up your game. Many of the magic moments we see in on-the-fly choreography come from a particularly inspired way for the partners to build on each other. 4 ways to work off your leader or followers styling: Contrast your partners styling Compliment your partner’s styling Mirroring your partners styling Match your partners styling Each of these options can create a beautiful moment, but some are easier than others. Generally, newer ..read more