Welcome to West Coast Swing!
Start Here!
Congratulations on making the excellent choice to start learning West Coast Swing, arguably the most rewarding social dance you can find!
Quick preview of West Coast Swing
This is West Coast Swing
- WCS is an improvised social dance, not choreographed. There is no memorizing of choreography.
- It is the most versatile partner dance - you can use it to dance to most of your favourite music.
- It is the most balanced partner dance - the follower has more freedom, rather than strict leading and following.
- There is a world wide network of WCS communities, weekend conventions, and competitions.
Here's what Beginners look like after dancing for a few months
- You can choose to learn to lead or follow - gender is irrelevant
- You don't need a partner because everyone rotates in classes and switches partners each song
- It's never too late - dancers range from high school students to retirees
- Competition is optional - social dancing is far more common
Ways to learn
Nobody is born knowing how to dance West Coast Swing. It doesn't matter if you have years of classical training or you have two left feet - everyone needs to take lessons in order to learn. No one expects you to know anything about dancing before you start - that's what the lessons are for.
There are 4 main ways you can learn West Coast Swing: Group Classes, Workshop Weekends, Private Lessons, and Instructional Videos. You can see a detailed list of pros and cons of each of these modes of learning here.
While the best way to learn is always live in person,
here are a few videos to supplement your live learning:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Swing Dancers
This 2-hour video download is full of the techniques you need to make your WCS work properly.
West Coast Swing Starter Kit
This 1-hour video download introduces you to all the basic patterns of West Coast Swing.
Newcomer Workshop Bonus:
Choose a video to help kickstart your WCS! Free with promo code: LAUNCHMYWCS
All your questions answered
Whether you are just starting out, or you have been dancing for several months already, you probably have a ton of questions....
You deserve to know the answers! We have ALL of them, compiled into this handy article.
This is one of many Coach's Corner blog articles about learning and dancing West Coast Swing. Enjoy exploring the rest!
Explore more
Lessons are only the beginning!
This website is actually a massive resource for everything you need to know about West Coast Swing.
Browse the About WCS section
Read the advice for Westies in the Coach's Corner blog
Enjoy this video playlist to get inspired
Join the community
West Coast Swing is a global and local community, with regular dance parties, social events, weekend conventions, and online groups. It uses Facebook for networking. We encourage you to search for West Coast Swing in your area and join these groups to get connected and discover all the resources that are available.
