West Coast Swing

Friday 9 July 2010

Favourite WCS videos on Youtube

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Counting in 8s

The following section is something I learnt from Samantha Buckwalter's workshop. The information is my understanding of what was said and might include inaccuracies.

For WCS dancers who have been dancing for a while, the way to become a good lead or follow is to get out of the habit of counting in terms of 6 beats or 8 beats and to start counting music as sets of 8.

e.g. Starting at beat 1 of a phrase and doing a routine consisting of a sugar push (6 beats), left side pass (6 beats), underarm turn (6 beats) and whip (8 beats), which totals to 26 beats the normal practise is to count as follows

Move Count
Sugar push – 1,2, 3&4, 5 &6
left side pass – 1,2, 3&4, 5 &6
underarm turn – 1,2, 3&4, 5 &6
whip – 1,2, 3&4, 5 ,6, & & 8

If you are to start counting in sets of 8 the count will be as follows

Move Count
Sugar push – 1,2, 3&4, 5 &6
left side pass – 7,8, 1&2, 3 &4
underarm turn – 5,6, 7&8, 1 &2
whip – 3,4, 5&6, 7 ,8, 1 & 2

Accenting on 1

The benefit of using the sets of 8 counting method is that it makes it easier to know when a new bar of music is going to start. It therefore allows you to introduces style to the dance and allows you to accent your dance in relation to the music. As a practise, try to add some style like a shoulder roll, pointing, clicks etc, each time you hear the 1. With practise, this set of counting will be second nature and will give you more flexibility in bringing style to your dancing.

Note: To keep it simple rolling count hasn't been used in the above counting system. In practise it is advisable to use the rolling count system. So instead of counting 1, 2,3,4... etc, you can count &1&2&3&4.... and so on.

Saturday 15 May 2010

Core Beginner Moves

Following section outlines my core set of beginner moves

1. Starter Step - Open
2. Start Step - Closed
3. Starter Step (Sailor Shuffle)
4. Sugar Push
5. Tuck Turn
6. Left Side Pass
7. Left Side Pass with inside turn
8. Under arm Turn
9. Under arm Turn with change of hands
10. Low Side Roll (Back to Back)
11. Shoulder Slide
12. Comb
13. Whip Basic
14. Whip Inside Turn
15. Whip outside Turn
16. Basket
17. Hustle whip

Weight Percentage

At the strike of a beat, there should be 50% weight on either foot. This is also the case with the lady’s footwork on count for a whip. There should only be 50% of the weight forward on count 4. Weight is completely transferred by 4 &.

30 second rule

This section looks at the 30 second rule that leaders and followers should use when starting a dance.

It is important as a leader to keep it simple for the first 30 seconds. Take the time to gauge your partner's ability and slowly offer her the chance to play.

As a follower when commencing your dance concentrate on purely following for the first 30 seconds on dance regardless of how well you know the song and what you can do it. This time is for you to gauge your partner’s ability, his rhythm and also how much he is willing to let you play.

Turns

This section focuses on turns in west coast swing

Travelling Turn:Both Robert and James prefer followers to do a chaines turns when doing travelling turns down the slot. If we take a travelling turn which is a triple step down the slot then on beat 2, the follower’s feet are closed or nearly together in a chaines turn as opposed to doing three open steps.

When turning the lady, leaders need to understand the difference between an open turn and closed turn. When turning the lady the leaders need to lead open or closed turn depending on the speed that the expect the lady to turn.

Open turn: Imagine the lady turning with her arms out. This is an open turn. Open turns are slow

Closed turn: Imagine the lady turning with her arms crossed in front of her. Closed turns allow the lady to turn faster.

Foot Placements

There are three ways to place your feet when taking a forward step which are:

1. Heel Toe: Heel strikes the floor first followed by the toe
2. Toe heel: Toe strikes the floor first followed by the lowering of the heel.
3. Toe Release: Toe is folded as it passes the supporting leg, once passed the supporting leg the toe is unfolded or released and followed by a heel toe walk.

Followers are advised to practise all three modes of walking. Most Pro’s use two or even three of the above technique depending on the type of music. ( I think Brandi Tobias generally prefers toe heel while Tatiana prefers toe release ).