Return to the Swing Dancing main page
Swing has an interesting history including the fact that West Coast swing is the California State dance. It has the distinction of being a truly American dance form. Swing was created and evolved in the United States. At the Pattie Wells Dancetime Center, we are proud to continue the tradition of swing dancing and to participate in swing dance community building and outreach to help spread swing dancing globallly. The development of a swing beat in Jazz music was instrumental in the evolution of swing dancing in the 1920's. The first style of swing was Lindy Hop, which began in Harlem. Eventually of forms of swing and swing related dances like Charleston, Shag, Western Swing, East Coast swing, Hand dancing, Jitterbug, Balboa, Carolina shag, Jive and West Coast swing spread across the United States and around the globe. Originally, the designations West Coast swing and East Coast swing referred to regional differences but now are completely different dances which are danced around the world.
East Coast swing evolved from Lindy hop with the advent of Big Band 1940's style music. East Coast swing works well for many styles of music including blues, pop, jazz, big band and neo swing from the 1990's. This form of swing is circular and uses many passing movements, turns, spins and ends in a rock step. One form of swing is jitterbug which is a single rhythm variety of East Coast swing done to faster music. It works especially well to the Doo-wop music of the 1950's. There are three rhythm styles for swing: single rhythm, delayed single rhythm and triple rhythm according to the tempo of the swing music.
West Coast swing evolved in the 1950's from Lindy hop with a shift away from the big band era music. The West Coast swing is danced in a slot, back and forth rather than circular like East Coast swing. West Coast swing is well suite for R&B Honky Tonk, Country Western, pop, soul, hip hop, rock and ballads. The West Coast swing has spread across the globe through competitions that are featured in many different countries including Russia, France and in various parts of Australia too. New trends allow the dancers to respond to the lyrics of the music and to participate in a kind of non-verbal communication where the leader sometimes follow and the follow sometimes lead. This new innovative dance concept has made it a very popular contemporary dance genre. The West Coast swing encourages spontaneity and allows the dancer more freedom to create while dancing.
In recent years, many other forms of swing dancing have flourished like Carolina shag, hand dancing, Lindy hop, Balboa and Jitterbug. There are swing dance clubs all of the United States featuring these other forms of swing dancing. At the Pattie Wells Dancetime Center we feature all the major forms of swing dancing in three major departments: Jitterbug (single rhythm East Coast swing), Lindy hop (including Balboa, Charleston and East Coast swing) and West Coast swing (including social, dancesport and performance).
History of Swing Dancing
Swing has an interesting history including the fact that West Coast swing is the California State dance. It has the distinction of being a truly American dance form. Swing was created and evolved in the United States. At the Pattie Wells Dancetime Center, we are proud to continue the tradition of swing dancing and to participate in swing dance community building and outreach to help spread swing dancing globallly. The development of a swing beat in Jazz music was instrumental in the evolution of swing dancing in the 1920's. The first style of swing was Lindy Hop, which began in Harlem. Eventually of forms of swing and swing related dances like Charleston, Shag, Western Swing, East Coast swing, Hand dancing, Jitterbug, Balboa, Carolina shag, Jive and West Coast swing spread across the United States and around the globe. Originally, the designations West Coast swing and East Coast swing referred to regional differences but now are completely different dances which are danced around the world.
East Coast swing evolved from Lindy hop with the advent of Big Band 1940's style music. East Coast swing works well for many styles of music including blues, pop, jazz, big band and neo swing from the 1990's. This form of swing is circular and uses many passing movements, turns, spins and ends in a rock step. One form of swing is jitterbug which is a single rhythm variety of East Coast swing done to faster music. It works especially well to the Doo-wop music of the 1950's. There are three rhythm styles for swing: single rhythm, delayed single rhythm and triple rhythm according to the tempo of the swing music.
West Coast swing evolved in the 1950's from Lindy hop with a shift away from the big band era music. The West Coast swing is danced in a slot, back and forth rather than circular like East Coast swing. West Coast swing is well suite for R&B Honky Tonk, Country Western, pop, soul, hip hop, rock and ballads. The West Coast swing has spread across the globe through competitions that are featured in many different countries including Russia, France and in various parts of Australia too. New trends allow the dancers to respond to the lyrics of the music and to participate in a kind of non-verbal communication where the leader sometimes follow and the follow sometimes lead. This new innovative dance concept has made it a very popular contemporary dance genre. The West Coast swing encourages spontaneity and allows the dancer more freedom to create while dancing.
In recent years, many other forms of swing dancing have flourished like Carolina shag, hand dancing, Lindy hop, Balboa and Jitterbug. There are swing dance clubs all of the United States featuring these other forms of swing dancing. At the Pattie Wells Dancetime Center we feature all the major forms of swing dancing in three major departments: Jitterbug (single rhythm East Coast swing), Lindy hop (including Balboa, Charleston and East Coast swing) and West Coast swing (including social, dancesport and performance).
