Intro to Beginner West Coast Swing

Welcome to the West Coast Swing beginners Track series! This series of posts is designed to get new west coast swing dancers started with good practice habits. Whether you are new to dancing or coming to WCS with previous dance experience, this series will establish a solid foundation for learning west coast.

A couple of caveats before jumping into the series:

• This series is not a replacement for your group or private lessons. Dance is a physical activity and is best learned in a studio, rather than from a website. This series will complement your beginner classes with some practice drills to work on at home, but it is not designed as a standalone method for learning WCS.
• There are many variants of west coast swing. Unlike the ballroom dances, which have standardized technique and patterns, WCS remains true to its heritage as a bar dance. Different instructors will teach different techniques, foot placements, and styles. That’s ok! If something you read here conflicts with what your instructor says, ask them about it.
• At higher levels of WCS, many beginner rules become suggestions. As you develop in the dance, you will discover the freedom to modify elements of the dance from the basic versions taught to beginners. This series is designed to get you started with some commonly accepted beginner principles, but you will probably encounter instructors and dancers who seems to ignore these principles. For now, focus on learning the beginner principles—it’s much easier to grow beyond these principles if you first establish them as a solid foundation.

Resources:

• Start with our blog post Understanding the beginner patterns part 1 to create a basic understanding of WCS patterns.
• West Coast Swing Music page has some suggestions for songs that are danceable for newer WCS dancers and that show off the breadth of music available in social WCS. Hop on over and enjoy some great tunes!
• Trouble shoot your learning with our Beginner Resources Page.

Lets get started…

CLICK HERE to read learn about the beginner patterns of west coast swing in Part 1 of our 2 part series!