Dancing to Lyrical Music

west coast swing lyrical music

If you’ve been to a WCS event in the last few years, you’ve heard lyrical music or acoustic covers played. These genres (which we’ll discuss interchangeably for this post) have rapidly become a significant part of social WCS music. This post will give you some tools for dancing to these kinds of songs. As a … Read more

Dancing to Top 40 Music

west coast swing musicality top 40's music

Top 40 music is extremely popular in WCS. Whether it’s mid-afternoon and you’re ready to rock, or 3am and you need a pick-me-up, pop music has a high-energy vibe that gets you moving. In this post, we’ll talk about some strategies for dancing to top 40/pop music. As always, remember the caveats for styling any … Read more

Dancing to R&B Music

west coast swing music r&b music

If you want to dance to a relaxed, groovy rhythm & blues song, it would be hard to find a dance better suited than west coast swing. This post will help you feel the rhythm in your own dancing. As always, remember that these suggestions should not override your basics—they are styling choices and should … Read more

Musicality: Accenting the 1 for Leaders

Musicality for leaders

Musicality in West Coast Swing for leaders comes down to this… Your ability to connect your patterns to the music. Once you’ve learned to hear musical phrases, the next step is to start matching those phrases with the patterns you lead. This drill is designed to ingrain some simply accents into your dance memory. Struggling … Read more

Musicality for Followers: Accenting the 1

Musicality for followers

For followers, accenting the 1 of the musical phrase is more challenging than for the leaders because you don’t get to pick the pattern that is being led. As a result, you need to have options to accent the 1 at any point within a pattern.  In this article we will help you!

The good news is that you don’t have to do any math while you’re dancing to figure out how long you have until the accent occurs; as long as you can identify the 1 of the music, you don’t need to calculate how many beats away you are like the leaders do.

Need to find the ‘1’ in the music? Download> The #1 Key to WCS Musicality

Here is your drill

With or without a partner, practice dancing side passes to a song that has a clear accent on the 1, like Fill Me In, Pt. 2 by Craig David. Begin by dancing the side pass starting with the 7 of the phrase, and note where you are in the side pass (it should be count 3). Pick some styling option that you like in order to accent that count. As a “starter kit” for follower accents, try out the following options:

  • Tilt your head
  • Drop a shoulder
  • Do a chest pop
  • Isolate your ribcage to the side
  • Push the free arm out
  • Throw a hip to the side
  • Syncopate your footwork to accent the downbeat
  • Add a level change

Need some styling ideas? Get our WCS Styling Checklist

After you dance the accent, reset for the next 7 of the music. If you miss the 7 because you or your partner aren’t in position, wait until the next 7 rather than rushing to catch up. The point of this drill is to teach your subconscious how to style a side pass when you start on beat 7; practicing a different timing will negate the value of the exercise.

Once you find an option that is comfortable, watch in a mirror or video tape yourself to make sure that the movement looks good. Keep practicing that movement until it becomes second nature when you are led in a side pass beginning on count 7.

Next Drill

Repeat this exercise but start the side pass on beats 1, 3, or 5 of the phrase. The “start on 1” option is especially important because at that point your leader has missed the accent and can’t set you up. If you can create something out of that situation, it will dramatically improve the musicality of your partnership.

Once you are comfortable with all the times that you could start a side pass, extend the drill to your other basics. Your eventual goal is to have the ability to accent any downbeat within any pattern.

Watch our video “Accenting the 1 in the Music”

My #1 Musicality tip

Did you miss the video download above? If you did, you’ll want to get it here! Of all things related to musicality I think that “counting straight 8’s” is the first really big key to unlocking musicality.  Thats why I call it my #1 Tip. You can get the video here…

The #1 Key toMusicality in West Coast Swing
WATCH THE VIDEO 
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But wait there is more….Lots more!

There are SO MANY things that can go into mastering musicality in WCS.

  • Counting the music
  • Keeping time to the music
  • Critical Timing
  • Critical Accents
  • Counting Straight 8’s
  • Mapping the music
  • Contemporary & Blues music phrasing
  • Understanding the build in the music
  • 4 Ways to accent the music
  • Extending patterns to hit accents
  • Rolling count

Because of that we have created the “Ultimate Guide to Musically for WCS.” Because it contains 14 videos, 6 PDF’s and a BOUNUS 1 hour live video of our musicality class it’s priced at $149. For a short time you can get it for a 54% discount with this link>> Ultimate Guide to MusicalityI hope you guys enjoy. Happy dancing! -Brian B

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