The home of WCS in Louisville Kentucky
West Coast Swing (WCS) is a partner dance derived from Lindy Hop. It is characterised by a distinctive elastic look that results from its basic extension-compression technique of partner connection, and is danced primarily in a slotted area on the dance floor. The dance allows for both partners to improvise steps while dancing together.
The Music
The origins of the dance that became known as West Coast Swing can be traced to the Swing Era. During this period many jazz, blues, and western musicians incorporated, or emphasized, the “swing” in their music. By the later half of the 1950s the early styles of rock 'n' roll had become the most popular music for dancing. The strong rhythmic groove of funk, and soul provided the most popular dance music from the mid 60s into the 70s, a period not known for partner dances such as swing. In the mid 1970s, disco music and dancing repopularized "touch" partner dancing. By the 1990s country western dancers were dancing West Coast Swing to contemporary country western songs. West Coast Swing is now one of many dances done at country western venues. Today West Coast Swing may be danced to almost any music in 4/4 time, and music of many different styles may be found in an evening of West Coast Swing dancing.
The Style
West Coast Swing can be danced to almost any music written in 4/4 time at speeds ranging from very slow to very fast, but the character of the dance changes over that range. At the slowest speeds the dance tends to exhibit a highly elastic connection with the possibility of very sexy, "slinky" walks for the lady, and a slight backward leaning poise at the full extent of the connection. At faster speeds the partners become more upright and the connection shortens with more of a "push and pull" feel and look. Dancing to different types of music gives a different feel and look.
The History
It is believed that the origins of the WCS are in Lindy Hop. Dean Collins was influential in developing the style of swing danced on the West Coast of the United States. Collins arrived in the Los Angeles area around 1937.
In a 1947 book, Arthur Murray recognized that, "There are hundreds of regional dances of the Jitterbug type. Each section of the country seems to have a variation of its own." One of Murray's dance instructors, Lauré Haile, documented swing dancing as done in the Los Angeles area. She named it "Western Swing'"
Western swing, country boogie, and, with a smaller audience, jump blues were popular on the West Coast throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s when they were renamed and marketed as rock 'n' roll in 1954. Dancers danced "a 'swingier' - more smooth and subdued" form of Jitterbug to Western Swing music.
The name "West Coast Swing" was used in a little known hand book for Arthur Murray dance studio teachers in the 1950s, but the Murray studios used the term "Western Swing" on charts. West Coast Swing as the name of the dance in its current form was first used in an advertisement by Skippy Blair in 1962, but wasn't incorporated into mainstream swing circles until the late 1960s. Blair credits Jim Bannister, editor of the Herald American newspaper in Downey, for suggesting the name West Coast Swing.
Murray's taught Western Swing with the walk steps as counts 5 and 6, following a coaster step on counts 3&4. Although the dance remained basically the same, the Golden State Dance Teachers Association (GSTDA) began teaching the walk steps as counts 1 and 2, and with an anchor step replacing the coaster step in 1958. As late as 1978, the term "Western Swing" was common usage among Chain and Independent Studios to describe "slotted swing."
Circa 1978 "California Swing" was yet another name for West Coast Swing, albeit with styling that was "considered more UP, with a more Contemporary flavor." By 1978 GSTDA had "some 200 or more patterns and variations" for West Coast Swing."
In 1988, West Coast Swing was pronounced the Official State Dance of California.
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