This is exactly dead-on. As a musician, I talk about this all the time. All swing music and most blues (especially shuffles and walking beats) is ‘swung’ - sub-divisions are based on triplets often unevenly spaced - but the music (and good swing dancers) also get swing expressiveness from slightly ‘stretching’ the downbeats or ‘jumping’ a beat slightly ahead of the downbeat - good swing dancers do this in their feet, hips, body, shoulders and head - often in a sequence or together. Listen to any Tony Bennett song or Sinatra - they change the melody exactly this way. It’s what makes it sound like swing.
Hey it's Brian B here (the other comment was megan) The website has ALL of our videos and 18 different dance styles. They are broken out by levels (Beg-Beg/Int-Int-Adv-Pro) There are moves, technique videos. There is a favorite function, a recently added section, a community section for you to ask us questions and lots more! Check it out here: westcoastswingonline.uscreen.io/catalog See you on the other side! -Brian
Ooh, this was my comment you're responding to! I think this clarifies a bunch of stuff, nicely - but particularly with the triple steps I'm still puzzled for the following reasons, particularly for straight count songs is the following: - In the "Rolling Count and Location" article of the Skippy Blair series on your website, it says that the "&" in a straight count, is _not_ on the same place as the "&" in a rolling count: "Note that the “&” Count and the “a” Count are not located in the SAME place in Rolling Count as they are in Straight Count." - But if I am then utilizing a rolling count for my triples, to a straight time song, and stepping on the & - How am I not stepping off time?
HEY - Thanks for the question. It generated a helpful video for folks! I'm glad you're here in the comments too. The short answer is to not worry about it. When I spent time with Skippy and tried what you're talking about... I just ended up dancing like a fool. I felt and looked awful. When I just DANCED, using the basic concept of constant movement... I was a good dancer again LOL My takeaway is to think about Rolling Count as just a movement NOT a musical concept. Although there is swung music... I'm just using the continual movement of my feet regardless of the style of music. As you get better your body will start to create what you want to show as you dance to the music. I hope that helps a bit 🙂 -Brian
Everything you wanted to know about WCS is right here
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www.westcoastswingonline.com/
Trust me 🙂
-Brian
This is exactly dead-on. As a musician, I talk about this all the time. All swing music and most blues (especially shuffles and walking beats) is ‘swung’ - sub-divisions are based on triplets often unevenly spaced - but the music (and good swing dancers) also get swing expressiveness from slightly ‘stretching’ the downbeats or ‘jumping’ a beat slightly ahead of the downbeat - good swing dancers do this in their feet, hips, body, shoulders and head - often in a sequence or together. Listen to any Tony Bennett song or Sinatra - they change the melody exactly this way. It’s what makes it sound like swing.
Love how you said all of this!
I love how dancers and musicians can express through their art!
Loved it. thanks!
Are you spying on us? xD I just came from a nerdy class on timing, that covered _exactly_ these things!
Ha that is amazing!
Thank you for all the videos. What’s the difference between all the videos here and the ones on your website for which you pay the membership ?
Hey it's Brian B here (the other comment was megan)
The website has ALL of our videos and 18 different dance styles.
They are broken out by levels (Beg-Beg/Int-Int-Adv-Pro)
There are moves, technique videos. There is a favorite function, a recently added section, a community section for you to ask us questions and lots more!
Check it out here: westcoastswingonline.uscreen.io/catalog
See you on the other side!
-Brian
Ooh, this was my comment you're responding to! I think this clarifies a bunch of stuff, nicely - but particularly with the triple steps I'm still puzzled for the following reasons, particularly for straight count songs is the following:
- In the "Rolling Count and Location" article of the Skippy Blair series on your website, it says that the "&" in a straight count, is _not_ on the same place as the "&" in a rolling count: "Note that the “&” Count and the “a” Count are not located in the SAME place in Rolling Count as they are in Straight Count."
- But if I am then utilizing a rolling count for my triples, to a straight time song, and stepping on the &
- How am I not stepping off time?
HEY - Thanks for the question. It generated a helpful video for folks!
I'm glad you're here in the comments too.
The short answer is to not worry about it. When I spent time with Skippy and tried what you're talking about... I just ended up dancing like a fool. I felt and looked awful. When I just DANCED, using the basic concept of constant movement... I was a good dancer again LOL
My takeaway is to think about Rolling Count as just a movement NOT a musical concept. Although there is swung music... I'm just using the continual movement of my feet regardless of the style of music. As you get better your body will start to create what you want to show as you dance to the music.
I hope that helps a bit 🙂
-Brian
@@WestCoastSwingOnline Thanks Brian! That helps a lot!
Do both leader and follower need to be counting this way?
It is good to know for both the leader and follower.
Daugherty Burg