East Coast Swing

Ballroom dance

East Coast Swing

East Coast Swing dance

Swing swept the entire generation in America in the mid 1930s and from that came dances, which went on to become famous as a part of the “Swing Family”. These included dances called East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Jive, Lindy Hop, Single Time Swing, Jitterbug, Rock’n Roll, Collegiate Shag and Balboa, Shag, St. Louis Shag, Charleston, Back Charleston. From America, Swing spread across the entire world and all generations ever since have been experiencing the pleasure of this fun dance.

Swing is easy, intuitive and not structured. The basic step is triple step, triple step, rock step. This dance is a great dance for someone wanting to get out on the dance floor and dance right away since it is easy to pick and understand and dance in the most carefree and fun way with smiles all the while as dancers are moving to this one of the most energetic dance. Swing is ultimately a great way to let your personality show since it is so varied and you can choose your favorite version or adapt your Swing dancing to many styles of music that are being played.

Swing teaches fingertip leading and following and is best known for its turns and position changes.

Music Pattern

The music is diverse and includes oldies (Elvis and Chuck Berry), jump blues and country. In fact, Rock and Roll, pop, Jazz and folk also use the swing rhythm.

In Swing, the stress is more on the 2nd beat which means that if you were tapping to the Swing music you would tap harder on the 2nd beat. Hence, the basic Swing step follows the rhythm of 1’and’2 3’and’4 5 6. Here, the 5 6 is the Rock Step (Step away on ‘5’ and then back towards your partner on ‘6’)