West Coast Swing (WCS) is a partner dance with roots in Lindy Hop. It is characterized 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, putting West Coast Swing in a short list of dances that put a premium on improvisation.
Typically the follower walks into new patterns traveling forward on counts "1" and "2" of each basic pattern, rather than rocking back. The Anchor Step is a common ending pattern of many West Coast Swing figures.
Read more about West Coast Swing: History, Slot, Music, Styles, Basic Guidelines, Basic Figures or "Patterns", Global Spread
Famous quotes containing the words west, coast and/or swing:
“It was in and about the Martinmas time,
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That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country,
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—Unknown. Bonny Barbara Allan (l. 1–4)
“Have we even so much as discovered and settled the shores? Let a man travel on foot along the coast ... and tell me if it looks like a discovered and settled country, and not rather, for the most part, like a desolate island, and No-Man’s Land.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Swing low swing low sweet sweet chariot.
Nothing but a plain black boy.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)