East Coast Swing Dance Basic Steps

East Coast Swing Dance

East Coast Swing is a popular universal dance that’s very beginner friendly. You can east coast swing dance to a wide range of music and music tempos making it a popular dance for new dancers. It’s seen everywhere from ballroom dance studios to country dance halls across the world.

There are many types of swing dancing. Swing dancing has its roots in Lindy Hop but you might be familiar with terms like Jitterbug, Charleston, West Coast Swing, Shag and of course East Coast Swing. They are all slightly different forms of swing rooted in swing style of Jazz and they all track back to the Lindy Hop.

East Coast Swing is probably the most common form of swing done in america today. You’ll see in on social and competition dance floors across the country.  In this post we will focus on learning the east coast swing basics. Make sure you wear some comfortable dance shoes, and be patient. Ready to start learning? Let’s get started!

East Coast Swing Basic Steps

The east coast swing basic steps are easy to learn. Each basic has 6 count of music and is comprised of a rock step and two triple steps.  Now the triple step might be tricky to master but below is a video we did that will show you all the basic patterns you need to learn as a beginner!

Leaders steps start with left foot

Rock step – Step back with left and replace on right.
Triple step to left – Side, close, side (left, right, left)
Trip step to right – Side, close, side (right, left, right)

Followers steps start with the right foot:

Rock step – Step back with right and replace on left.
Triple step to right – Side, close, side (right, left, right)
Triple step to left – Side, close, side (left, right, left)

East Coast Swing Timing

The timing for East Coast Swing is pretty straight forward for beginners. We describe it in this video in detail. Wiki has a nice entry showing the ECS timing if you wanna see things written out or better yet look at our description below.

Leaders Timing:

• 1&2: Triple step (chasse) to the left (left-right-left)
• 3&4: Triple step to the right (right-left-right)
• 5: Step backward with your left foot
• 6: Weight shifts to your right foot

Followers Timing:

• 1&2: Triple step (chasse) to the right (right-left-right)
• 3&4: Triple step to the left (left-right-left)
• 5: Step backward with your right foot
• 6: Weight shifts to your left foot

East Coast Swing Beginner Moves

After learning the basics you might wonder which west coast swing moves you should learn next. Don’t worry we’ve got you covered. Inside you’ll learn the Cuddle, Hammerlock and the Shoulder Check for East Coast Swing. These beginner moves are based on the basic steps you already know. Win!

East Coast Swing Dance Steps

Now that you’ve mastered the basics and you’ve learned some beginner moves you might wonder is that all? Well there are lots of different dance steps to learn for ECS based off of the beginner patterns you already know. You’ve already put in the hard work mastering the basics. Now it’s time to head on over to our video vault where you can learn lots of fun east coast swing dance steps. We’ve laid everything out for you step by step so as you’re confidence and skills improve, you’ll have the perfect moves to learn!

East Coast Swing Music

So you’re loving you new ECS moves. You might be practicing at home or even better you might be social dancing at a wedding, dance studio, cruise or even in the park! The next question that might pop up is what types of music can you dance to? We’ve compiled a really helpful list of east coast swing music for you to practice to.  You can even download a clickable list of song choices and play them right from youtube. Perfect right?

Other Types of Swing Dance

As we said at the top of this post there are lots of different types of swing dancing. East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Balboa, Hand Dancing, Shag, West Coast Swing, Jitterbug, Jive and more. One of the questions we often get is what is the difference between East Coast Swing vs West Coast Swing. We’ve covered all the answers you need in several articles and videos! You can learn the basics of west coast swing too!

What’s Next?

You love dancing – we love making it easy! We’ve created an amazing resource for dancers of all styles. Inside you’ll find videos on different types of dancing! It’s like Netflix for Social Dancers. Head on over and check out the amazing patterns and techniques that will help take your dancing to the next level!