Sunday, September 4, 2011

Ron Montez on West Coast Swing

I came across another pair of gems on www.youtube.com, Ron Montez speaking about West Coast Swing. His main points, from the bit that was posted:

  • West Coast Swing only has 5 or 6 basic patterns*.
  • The elements that define these patterns allow for a great deal of artistic creativity on the part of each of the partners. 
The patterns he had in mind are the Closed Basic, Throw Out, Sugar Push, Under Arm Turn, Left Side Pass, and Basic Whip.
Some examples he gave of variations were syncopations on the anchor steps, variations on the left side pass, such as the right side pass and the tuck turn, and different kicks and stylings that could be used in the anchor step part of the patterns.

* American style dancers typically refer to "patterns", International style to "figures", some Salsa dancers to "combinations". These all correspond to a defined set of steps and movements that occur regularly within a dance.