West Coast Swing has a long and evolving history, developing from earlier forms of swing dancing into the modern partner dance enjoyed around the world today.
Its history isn’t always straightforward. Different dancers, teachers and organisations influenced its development over many decades, and the dance continued to change as music, teaching methods and the wider swing community evolved.
Where Did West Coast Swing Originate?
The origins of West Coast Swing can be traced back to Lindy Hop and the swing dancing of the 1930s.
Lindy Hop developed alongside jazz music and became strongly associated with venues such as the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York. As swing dancing spread across the United States, regional variations began to develop.
On the West Coast, particularly in Southern California, dancers developed their own approaches to swing. Lindy Hop dancer Dean Collins, who moved to the Los Angeles area in the 1930s, was one of the influential figures in the development of the style of swing dancing that would eventually become West Coast Swing.
From Western Swing to West Coast Swing
During the 1940s and 1950s, the dance continued to develop in California.
Arthur Murray studios taught a slotted form of swing known as Western Swing, and dance director Lauré Haile documented the style being danced in Los Angeles. The teaching of the dance gradually evolved, including the now-familiar concept of the follower beginning patterns by walking forward.
Skippy Blair became one of the most influential teachers in the development and standardisation of West Coast Swing. She opened her studio in 1958 and later founded the Golden State Dance Teachers Association, helping to train generations of dancers and teachers. She is widely credited with helping to popularise the name West Coast Swing.
Over time, the name helped distinguish the dance from Country & Western dancing and increasingly became the term used for the Californian style.
The Growth of Competitive West Coast Swing
Competition has played an important role in the development of West Coast Swing.
The U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships began in 1979 in Las Vegas. Michael and Amber Cross won the Classic division at that first event, and the competition went on to become one of the most influential stages for swing dancing.
As dancers travelled more widely to compete, teach and attend conventions, ideas that had previously developed within regional communities began to spread much more quickly.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, generations of dancers and champions brought their own movement, technique and personalities to West Coast Swing. Competition provided a place for new ideas to be showcased, copied, adapted and developed by dancers across the community.
West Coast Swing’s importance to California was formally recognised when it became the state’s official swing dance in the late 1980s.
West Coast Swing Goes Global
The growth of international travel — and later the internet, online video and social media — transformed West Coast Swing from a predominantly American dance into an international community.
Teachers and competitors began travelling extensively between the United States, Europe and other parts of the world. Major events gave dancers opportunities to learn directly from leading professionals, while online video allowed performances, competitions and new ideas to reach dancers almost instantly.
This dramatically accelerated the evolution of the dance.
How Has West Coast Swing Changed?
One of the defining characteristics of West Coast Swing is its ability to evolve.
Its music has changed considerably over the decades. While swing, blues and jazz form an important part of its history, modern West Coast Swing is danced to a much broader range of music, including R&B, soul, pop, acoustic, hip hop and electronic music.
The movement of the dance has evolved alongside the music. Styling, technique, rhythm and approaches to partnership have all continued to develop as each generation of dancers brings new influences into West Coast Swing.
Despite those changes, the characteristic ideas of connection, elasticity, improvisation and partnership continue to link modern West Coast Swing with the dance’s swing roots.
West Coast Swing Today
Today, West Coast Swing is danced socially and competitively throughout the world.
Its ability to adapt to contemporary music while still offering enormous depth in technique, partnership and musical interpretation has helped it continue to attract new generations of dancers.
And its history isn’t finished. West Coast Swing continues to change as dancers, teachers, DJs, competitors and communities around the world influence what the dance becomes next.