Coach’s Corner

What’s Your Dance Profile?

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 Can’t get your body to do what the teacher expects? You could be dancing in the wrong profile. I’ve got good news for you:It’s not your fault – there’s nothing wrong with you, but you need different tools.You are not alone – most dancers are struggling to conform to an ideal.There is a solution – it’s […]

3 Juicy teaching strategies you might not be using yet

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Enjoy these rare but super-effective teaching tools from our massive collection:GamificationTrained Feedback podsThe Missing W’s Good teachers are collectors, tinkerers, and experimenters. They hunt and gather for nuggets of tips and advice to scuttle home to their students in the hopes that it will entertain them and help them improve.We know, because we are master collectors. […]

The Big Picture: Your WCS Blueprint

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It’s hard to see the forest for the trees. When you were a beginner, overwhelmed by this amazing dance, all you knew were your local classes and dances. Slowly, you became more exposed to the big, wide world of West Coast Swing. Between events and competitions and routines and levels, it’s quite daunting to navigate. […]

The “Not-Good-Enough” Myth

Psyching yourself out of dance experiences you think you aren't worthy of yet? You are not as restricted/excluded as you think you are! This article needs sharing! #WCScoachscorner #iamworthy #ideserveit #iamgoodenoughforarmstyling

“One day, I hope to speak Egyptian Arabic well enough to visit Egypt” This makes no sense, right? You don’t need to be fluent in Arabic in order to visit Egypt. In fact, the Egyptians would probably be pleasantly surprised if you even tried “Hello” and “Thank you”. When it comes to language, skill proficiency […]

Pep Talk for the Girls: Part 1

The boys had their turn with Guy-Guidance and Dude-Dilligence. Now it’s our turn. I’d like to address some of the common concerns and complaints I hear from women in my Feminine Styling Intensive, private lessons, and in personal conversations. It’s a bit of tough love specifically for women, whether they lead or follow.

Girls*, let’s chat. The boys had their turn with Guy-Guidance and Dude-Dilligence. Now it’s our turn. I’d like to address some of the common concerns and complaints I hear from women in my Feminine Styling Intensive, private lessons, and in personal conversations. It’s a bit of tough love specifically for women, whether they lead or […]

Pep Talk for the Girls: Part 2

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Last week’s Part 1 featured concerns that women have about their own dancing – things that women should take personal responsibility for, as opposed to blaming outside sources. This week, I need to shift the focus to more serious concerns: things women should NOT take responsibility for, and ways women can and should take a […]

Why You Didn’t Make Finals

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Ah, the eternal competitor question… “What are the judges looking for?” Consider that judges are not necessarily “looking for” positive elements of your dance as much as they are “looking to eliminate” negative elements. We call these “red flags”: bad habits or errors that prevent judges from giving you a callback to the next round. […]

Right Teacher; Wrong Tools

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 There are so many great teachers out there! You might be one! But even great teachers will have limited success with the wrong tools. Let’s be logical about this and take emotion out of it: “Wrong” in this case, simply means “less effective”, or “with negative side effects”. It doesn’t mean “bad” or “useless”: […]