There’s much debate in the West Coast Swing world of late about whether the dance has become something other than WCS – or if there is a new form of dance emerging that should not be characterized as WCS. The “new” style that people refer to has certain characteristics, which include:
- Music that does not swing (i.e. does not have swung 8th notes)
- Footwork that does not swing (i.e. singles and doubles but few if any triples)
- Heavily influenced by lyrical/contemporary dance styles
I started to learn WCS in 2005 and attended my first events in 2006. From that time, the dance has always been adapted to different music, so that’s “normal” to me. Sometimes it swings, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve taken workshops with pros who’ve been in the game for more than 20 years who showed how to change a triple step so that it doesn’t swing if the music doesn’t swing. It still feels like versions of the same dance to me.
(As an aside, I was also one of those Canadian kids caught right in the middle of the transition from Imperial to Metric measurement, and to this day my brain switches between the two without much thought).
In any art form, a great deal of experimentation and innovation should be expected to occur at the very advanced levels. And yes, that trickles down and influences everyone doing the dance, particularly in the new age of YouTube. But I don’t feel that I have a personal stake in the heated debates.
This article is not about that. It’s about my own personal journey to answering the question, “Am I swinging?”
It all started with choreographing a routine.
Swing Content
In the choreography divisions we compete in (variably called Rising Star, Open Routine, and Classic divisions), competitors are given guidelines that include “swing content”. Depending on the event, routines in these divisions are required to have 70%-90% swing content.
The first routine that I did with David Ward (“Temporary Insanity”) most certainly did NOT meet the minimum requirement for swing content. We knew it at the time, had many conversations about it, and tweaked the routine endlessly to try to get more swing content into it. The main problem was that the song we’d chosen was extremely contemporary, theatrical, and about as far removed from swing as one could get.
So why’d we choose that song and why’d we invest more than a year into developing a routine that didn’t swing?
I think we did it because it seemed okay to do it. It seemed like the routine was not very different from other routines that the Champions were doing at the time. In retrospect, I’m sure the Champions put much more thought into “swing content” than we did, but to us at the time, it seemed like what we were working on was suitable. It’s a rookie mistake. In hindsight, we focused on the wrong things.
This time around, we decided to choose a swung-blues song (“Tore Down”), which is currently rare among routines in the divisions we compete in. The challenge we set for ourselves was to tap into our broader knowledge and experience in Swing dancing to see if we could create a “pure swing” routine that still looks like today’s WCS (which is much smoother than it was 15 years ago and compared to other Swing dances), and which other WCS dancers would respond well to.
We chose patterns, rhythms and tricks from vintage swing dances like Lindy Hop and Balboa, and we focused on working with 6- and 8-count WCS basics and seeing how interesting we could make those patterns, how musically we could execute them. We also focused on doing all of it within a WCS aesthetic: smooth, stretchy, some sexy for me and some cool for David.
Based on feedback and scores, we feel that we’ve met our goals. During the journey, I came to a few of my own conclusions about “Swing” that I thought to share here. (Gulp)
What is Swing (and why are people asking)?
So here we go – my conclusions about “Swing Content” in the context of West Coast Swing.
Swing is not (just) about swung music.
Early in the process of choreographing “Tore Down”, we went to Mario Robau Jr. (a.k.a. Swing Daddy) for feedback. We had the first third of the routine choreographed and we asked him what seemed like a simple question: “Does this look and feel like a Swing routine to you?” It sure felt like one to us. How couldn’t it be – it was a swung-blues song and we were doing stuff like Shorty Georges and Lindy kicks and Balboa in-and-outs!
Imagine our surprise when Mario pointed out that I was doing very few two-beat anchors. In some cases we had strung patterns together without an anchor for nearly a whole phrase. In other cases, I was doing hustle steps (a.k.a. rock-and-gos) instead of anchoring. That was enlightening. Why was I doing that? I don’t think it’s any easier or more difficult to step forward on an anchor than it is to stay behind the connection – it’s just two different things. It was a habit. When had that habit formed? I don’t know. I have been in WCS workshops where Mario and others have taught rock-and-go syncopations as variations. But when had that become my “basic”?
It turned out to be an easy problem to fix – but I had to be aware of it first, and focus on it for a while to get my anchors back. I learned that swung music does not a swing dance make.
Swing is not about triple-step anchors.
I’ve been privy to a few conversations now regarding judging swing-content violations for Rising Star/Classic routines. What most people seem to be taking away from these conversations is that a routine needs to have “triple step anchors” to meet the swing content requirement.
But that’s not the case. Lindy Hop, the grandfather of all Swing dances, does not require a triple step at the end of every pattern – you can kick, syncopate, swivel, rondee, jump, even do a hand-stand instead. You’ve got two beats to do it and you’ve got the option of extending it – but taking it out makes it something else (like Hustle). Mario himself has a “wheel” exercise teaching a variety of two-beat variations, only some of which are triple rhythm – the others are singles and doubles (holds and step-steps).
Maybe it’s easier to throw in gratuitous triple-step anchors than it is to capture the essence of a Swing anchor. Here’s what John Festa has to say about the essence of Swing:
“In my mind, the one quality that that makes swing swing is the center to center connection and elasticity of tension and release between two moving bodies. That a leader can anchor and the follower sit into that anchor while both expressing rhythm, only to realease all that stored energy, is one of the most glorious of all kinetic actions.”
My conclusion is that, in a division where all or most of the routines do NOT meet the swing content guidelines, judges have to come up with different evaluation criteria because, swing content or not, they still have to award first, second and third placements. Then they are put on the spot when competitors ask about the violations: “Well what is swing content? What do you mean by swing content?” I’ve concluded that it’s not a lack of triple steps that is the real issue – it’s a lack of recognizable swing patterns, rhythms, and connection.
After our hour with Mario, we went through our entire routine thus-far and identified places where we could – but were not – completing one idea with a two-beat anchor before beginning the next idea. I learned that Swing dancing needs “periods” between sentences and paragraphs to look and feel like Swing. To this day, we continue to refine the routine and find new joy in matching the rhythms and connection to the song.
If you have to ask what Swing content is, don’t enter a Swing division.
After going through this year-long exercise of thinking about, living inside of and choreographing a routine that is based on Swing patterns, rhythms, styling and tricks, I feel like I understand the conundrum that judges of WCS routine divisions are facing.
Probably the most appropriate answer to a competitor who asks, “What do you mean by Swing Content?” would be to say: “If you don’t know, then you haven’t learned enough yet to enter a routine into a division with a Swing Content requirement” (i.e. me a year ago). The problem is that answer sounds like prevaricating. It invites people to say things like, “Well if you can’t define it then how are we supposed to dance it?”
But it’s true. I learned that if you know what Swing is, then you know whether or not you’re swinging.
Swing has a history.
It’s not like Swing Dancing is a big mystery. It’s not like it’s a lost art form because all of its originators are dead or dying. Vintage swing communities all over the globe do an exceptional job of preserving the music and the moves, the history and the culture. And there are numerous written histories, documentaries, and examples of “original” swing dancing in old movies.
For a history of swing dancing and the evolution of WCS, here’s a great start >>, provided by Skippy Blair. I learned that knowing at least the basics of all of those dances that Skippy lists as precursors to West Coast Swing helps in understanding both the dance and the Swing Content requirement.
Swing evolves.
We wanted to explore a “pure swing” choreography but we didn’t want to do something that looked out of touch. We still wanted to show off the dance we love – with its stretch and its body pulse and its creativity and its smooth, chill, sexy-cool factor. The process forced us to think about how WCS has evolved from vintage Swing dancing.
It’s certainly not the same dance as Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing or Shag. It’s also not the same dance that WCS was in the 1980s and 1990s. Skippy Blair describes the evolution this way:
“Classic West Coast Swing has evolved into a sophisticated dance, with an elongated slot, critical timing, controlled movement and pulsing that can run chills up your spine. The upper level technique of Classic West Coast Swing today, has reached an artistic level, worthy of being classified as a Performing Art. … Some Contemporary music has a steady beat that almost fights a rolling count. BUT, the Rolling Count is identifiable in the body movement of the upper level dancers.”
I learned that I can both Swing and capture the essence of today’s West Coast Swing.
What’s Next?
If we are entering routine divisions with a Swing Content requirement, we plan to meet that requirement. If a different type of division was created to accommodate more “contemporary” WCS content then I’d probably like to try that, too. We’ve not yet decided on what our next routine will sound like, feel like or look like, but whatever we choose, I know it will be a new and interesting challenge that deepens our appreciation of this dance and its community even further.
Aside from the opportunity to perform and the challenge of getting an audience to respond, one of my favourite things about doing a routine is that it creates a space for exploration. Through that exploration, I find I learn more about myself, about David, about a song, and about the dance. I can’t wait to see what’s next for us!
