Would ther be any other dance styles that would be useful prior to learning West Coast Swing?

Question

I know in those youtube videos that there are some moves that are entirely improvised or borrowed, but if there are any dance styles that would help one learn WCS what would they be?

Answer 1

  Bah, if you want to learn WCS, learn it.  Nothing helps as much as doing the dance you want to do.  Each dance has its own character, even if they often share moves.

Answer 2

You can learn any other Swing dance but East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop would be the best as WCS is just a mixture of both: it's like an "8 count ECS".  If these dances aren't available then try Jive from International Style dance.  I would go for the Cha Cha next.  It has a triple step in the basic (just like WCS) and will help you learn to move your feet quickly.  There is even a 'cowboy' style Cha Cha in the USA that uses the same genre of music as WCS.

Another dance you could learn is the Hustle - other names for it is CeRock or Modern Jive.  The Hustle developed form the Swing in the 70s (see Saturday Night Fever movie with John Travolta) and CeRock or Modern Jive was developed in France from the Lindy Hop that was brought over by American soldiers during the war.

Samples of all these dances can be found on YouTube.

Hope this helps :-)

Answer 3

Trying ballet would definitely help with your balance and coordination. Because ballet is the foundation of most dances. Then also jazz would help you keep up with the fast tempo.

hope it helped ya a bit : )

Answer 4

Since WCS is based on earlier types of swing, it only makes sense that knowing something about them makes it a lot easier to learn it. And of course the basics are the basics, so knowing any partner dance at all is a help.

If you're starting from scratch and trying to learn from YouTube, good luck. Without the personal instruction/training of real lessons, you're going to miss the important parts of proper connection and develop some bad habits that will be difficult to overcome later.