In music, "swing" is an OBJECTIVE term, it's a pulse timing finger-snapping quality -- fast or slow -- that is woven into the music. It's not a matter of taste or opinion, it's either objectively, factually there, or it isn't, pure and simple. WCS was originally danced to down-tempo, or mid-tempo swing music, or straight-up rock'n'roll of the right tempo. About two generations ago, dj's and dancers started using techno pop and other insipid strains of music and that swinglessness blights west coast swing dancing to this day. Check out true swing music of the 40's and later, not the 30's, and not muffled, early-40's shuffling pre-swing or almost swing, check out the cool and hot swing that came together and continues when the cats really caught on how to swing it and see if you don't find one hell of a lot more to dance to in that kind of music.
Fair point, but west coast has changed with the times. If you’re mad about the name, I’m not sure what can be done to alter it at this point but you’re welcome to campaign for it. If you’re mad about how the dance has changed, then Lindy or some other swing dance might be more your speed.
@@worthythaneofross3925 "mad about"??? Are you sure you read English well enough to understand it? And what are you trying to talk about, west coast swing dancing? or music? As a dance, WCS has evolved in exactly the way any dancer familiar with it would expect it would evolve. In its foundational essentials it's no different now than when I first learned it 40 years ago. As far as the music is involved, IT IS NOT SWING MUSIC, for one thing. Can you make your peace with a simple factual statement like that without launching yourself into some kind of laughable tangent that demonstrates an exceedingly ignorant ear and a lot of self over-estimation tinged with pretentiousness. And if you have the ability to learn, and the ability to ACTUALLY HEAR swing music, why don't YOU try some Lindy for a few years? Me, I've danced Lindy for over 30 years, and have played in swing bands, and come from a Dixie/swing musician family. IF IF IF the dj'ing is competent, you might be able to liberate yourself from the prison of musical tastelessness you're in. The lamentable facts about the wide-scale ignorance and pretentious attitudes of the younger generation applies in some areas of dance as well so I'd say you are better off if you take whatever pablum you're being fed about WCS music (the music, got it?) with a huge grain of salt. Believe me, the crud you WCS dancers dance to these days is quite a joke in musically-hip circles. A lot of good dancers with real ears for music have fled WCS over the decades SOLEY BECAUSE OF THE EMPTINESS AND SWINGLESSNESS OF THE CRUD MUSIC. A lot of us went to salsa where the music is always well-chosen and almost always the dj'ing is competent, if not thoroughly golden-eared. Seriously, Man, that's the case and the result is the WCS scene has screened itself, so to speak, into being a hopelessly unhip scene with respect to swing music, or music in general for the "tin eared" set, as such folks used to be called. Also, the actual SCIENCE side of dj'ing (there is a SCIENTIFIC side to it, in addition to the artistry side) was never picked up by WCS dj's -- at least, I have never heard a competent curve in a WCS setting since the change to crud music, and I've been around. Prior to the younger generations, dj's were much more competent because they understood the "curve" that was needed, and of which you and probably your dj, have no clue about, if you've even heard the term. AND (you might not understand this) it is NOT POSSIBLE, simply not possible, to do a proper dance music curve playing just the mid- and slow-tempo crud modern WCS wallow in endlessly these days. For lack of a proper curve, WCS dancers miss a lot of the inherent pleasure of dancing, believe it or not (you folks, AT BEST, are only getting half of dancing, seriously, people like me would say that is a FACT, not an opinion or matter of taste because -- surprise surprise -- it's a PHYSIOLOGICAL FACT, but I won't attempt to explain that here (but could elsewhere, if I thought the reader could and would give it a fair reading). THAT costs WCS dancers A LOT but as far as I can see, present-day WCS dancers and dj's simply don't have a clue about any of the super beneficial dj'ing skills that preceded the crud music generations, the lack of which really delivers empty crud, as we can hear, and constant under-experiencing of the pleasures of dance by the crud music dancers.
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In music, "swing" is an OBJECTIVE term, it's a pulse timing finger-snapping quality -- fast or slow -- that is woven into the music. It's not a matter of taste or opinion, it's either objectively, factually there, or it isn't, pure and simple. WCS was originally danced to down-tempo, or mid-tempo swing music, or straight-up rock'n'roll of the right tempo. About two generations ago, dj's and dancers started using techno pop and other insipid strains of music and that swinglessness blights west coast swing dancing to this day. Check out true swing music of the 40's and later, not the 30's, and not muffled, early-40's shuffling pre-swing or almost swing, check out the cool and hot swing that came together and continues when the cats really caught on how to swing it and see if you don't find one hell of a lot more to dance to in that kind of music.
Fair point, but west coast has changed with the times. If you’re mad about the name, I’m not sure what can be done to alter it at this point but you’re welcome to campaign for it. If you’re mad about how the dance has changed, then Lindy or some other swing dance might be more your speed.
@@worthythaneofross3925 "mad about"??? Are you sure you read English well enough to understand it? And what are you trying to talk about, west coast swing dancing? or music? As a dance, WCS has evolved in exactly the way any dancer familiar with it would expect it would evolve. In its foundational essentials it's no different now than when I first learned it 40 years ago. As far as the music is involved, IT IS NOT SWING MUSIC, for one thing. Can you make your peace with a simple factual statement like that without launching yourself into some kind of laughable tangent that demonstrates an exceedingly ignorant ear and a lot of self over-estimation tinged with pretentiousness. And if you have the ability to learn, and the ability to ACTUALLY HEAR swing music, why don't YOU try some Lindy for a few years? Me, I've danced Lindy for over 30 years, and have played in swing bands, and come from a Dixie/swing musician family. IF IF IF the dj'ing is competent, you might be able to liberate yourself from the prison of musical tastelessness you're in.
The lamentable facts about the wide-scale ignorance and pretentious attitudes of the younger generation applies in some areas of dance as well so I'd say you are better off if you take whatever pablum you're being fed about WCS music (the music, got it?) with a huge grain of salt. Believe me, the crud you WCS dancers dance to these days is quite a joke in musically-hip circles. A lot of good dancers with real ears for music have fled WCS over the decades SOLEY BECAUSE OF THE EMPTINESS AND SWINGLESSNESS OF THE CRUD MUSIC. A lot of us went to salsa where the music is always well-chosen and almost always the dj'ing is competent, if not thoroughly golden-eared. Seriously, Man, that's the case and the result is the WCS scene has screened itself, so to speak, into being a hopelessly unhip scene with respect to swing music, or music in general for the "tin eared" set, as such folks used to be called. Also, the actual SCIENCE side of dj'ing (there is a SCIENTIFIC side to it, in addition to the artistry side) was never picked up by WCS dj's -- at least, I have never heard a competent curve in a WCS setting since the change to crud music, and I've been around. Prior to the younger generations, dj's were much more competent because they understood the "curve" that was needed, and of which you and probably your dj, have no clue about, if you've even heard the term. AND (you might not understand this) it is NOT POSSIBLE, simply not possible, to do a proper dance music curve playing just the mid- and slow-tempo crud modern WCS wallow in endlessly these days. For lack of a proper curve, WCS dancers miss a lot of the inherent pleasure of dancing, believe it or not (you folks, AT BEST, are only getting half of dancing, seriously, people like me would say that is a FACT, not an opinion or matter of taste because -- surprise surprise -- it's a PHYSIOLOGICAL FACT, but I won't attempt to explain that here (but could elsewhere, if I thought the reader could and would give it a fair reading). THAT costs WCS dancers A LOT but as far as I can see, present-day WCS dancers and dj's simply don't have a clue about any of the super beneficial dj'ing skills that preceded the crud music generations, the lack of which really delivers empty crud, as we can hear, and constant under-experiencing of the pleasures of dance by the crud music dancers.