Dancing

BEGINNING EAST COAST SWING

*** Attitude ***

The key to this dance is loosening up. In fact, the whole style started decades ago as a rebellion against the straight-laced style of ballroom dancing. In ballroom, you step smoothly, keep your shoulders upright, and stare vacantly over your partner's shoulder. In swing, you hop all over the place, move anything that feels like moving, and find that little twinkle in your partner's eyes.

"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."

*** Kick-Step (a.k.a. Double-Step or Jump-Jive) ***

There are several mutant variations of East Coast Swing, my favourite being Kick-Step. It's relatively easy to learn because something is happening on every beat. And it burns off lots of excess energy. Dips anyone?

To learn it, put on your favourite swing music with about 160 beats per minute. Listen until you can hear the difference between a downbeat and an upbeat. The two alternate, and the downbeat is the heavier of the two. Normal human beings (such as those in marching bands) would tend to put one foot or the other down on each downbeat.

Not so in swing, where everything is wonky. In swing, you kick on the downbeat and put that same foot down on the offbeat. Try it. Your feet should be going lLrRlLrR where a small letter means kicking on a beat and a capital letter means stepping on the beat. Be absolutely sure that you're kicking on the downbeat and stepping on the offbeat. If you've got that, you've already mastered the "kick-step" (pronounced "KICK-step"). Two such kick-steps will occupy beats 3456 of every six-beat pattern.

Now, put your fancy new kick-steps on the shelf for a minute. If you are a lead, place your LF (left foot) and little behind your RF (right foot). Conversely, if you're a follow, place your RF behind your LF. Then, put your weight on your back foot on downbeats and on your front foot on offbeats. Thus leads do LRLRLRLR while follows do RLRLRLRL. It is critical that you put your weight on your *back* foot on the downbeat (everything else can be forgiven, including messed-up hair). This two-beat pattern is cleverly called the "back-step" (pronounced "BACK-step"), and it will occupy beats 12 of every six-beat pattern.

What remains is to put the back-step LR in front of two kick-steps lLrR in order to wind up with the six-beat pattern LRlLrR (follows put RL in front of rRlL to get RLrRlL). Practice it until you're exhausted and have driven your housemates to madness. The pattern is pronounced "BACK-step-KICK-step-KICK- step." The "steps" are on 246 (the offbeats) while "BACK KICK KICK" are on 135 (the downbeats). So, when you start getting out of breath, you pronounce it "BACK - KICK - KICK - ." If all else fails, remember to put your weight on your back foot on beat 1 (and pronounce it "BACK - - - - - ")

*** Open Position ***

Now approach a member of the opposite sex and do this six-beat pattern together (at a reasonable distance so that no one's shins get hurt). If it's working right, you'll notice that the partners look like mirror images of one another. That is, his LF is paired with her RF, and his RF moves with her LF. Dance a minute or two like this. Notice that you're stepping away from each other slightly on each the "back" of each back-step, and that you're coming back together again on the "step" of each back-step.

The next project is to hold hands. Partners face each other straight on, and bend their arms 90 degrees at the elbows. The follow holds her hands backside up with fingers dangling in front. The lead holds those fingers, having his hands backside out with thumbs gently resting (no pressure) on the back (top) of her hands. Arm muscles must be kept slightly taut so that the lead can direct the follow by moving her hands. This is the "open position."

Important safety tip! When you're holding hands like this, you're close enough to inflict serious damage on your opponent's shins. Some traffic control is necessary. The rules of the road are simple: you always kick out (politely) with your LF and you always kick in (rather impolitely between your partner's legs) with your RF. This works surprisingly well because the lead is kicking out and the follow in on the first kick, and the lead is kicking in and the follow kicking out on the second kick. But don't think about it that way: it's simply LF out and RF in.

Now you're in business. You're doing "East Coast Basic," kick-step style.

The critical thing to be conscious of is keeping time with your partner (in both the literal and metaphoric senses). You do that (at least in the literal sense) on the back-step. On the first beat, you back away from each other, increasing the tension on your arms. On the second beat, you snap back together. After that, you have four beats to do strange things before coming back together again for another back-step.

*** Simple Open-Position Moves ***

Basic Orientation. First, East Coast is a slot dance, meaning that many of the steps are designed for a couple which can claim and defend only a small rectangular "slot" on a crowded dance floor. Accordingly, many of the simple moves involve the two partners switching places, so that they both wind up facing each other once again, but on the other side of their slot. Second, in general, the first two beats of every six are used by the lead to plot and prepare his next devious move. The action (such as switching places) occurs on the two kick-steps. General All-Purpose Insult

180's: Hang on to both hands and lean way back into the back-step (we're talking momentum here). Then on the two kick-steps, pass on the left and switch places quickly while staying face-to-face the entire time. This will mean that on the first kick-step you'll be really close to your partner before your second kick-step takes you farther apart again. Ornery Follows.

Lead's Left Turn: Here is another way to change places (remember that you should wind up facing each other again). On the back-step, drop her LH (from your RH) and continue to hold her RH (with your LH). Then on the two kick- steps, pass the follow (on the left) while turning to your left 180 degrees. Meantime, she should simply walk around you (to her left) and wind up taking your old spot. Her only instructions are to keep looking at your back as she walks around you (in the process she'll turn 180 degrees without realizing it). Your life is a little more interesting because your rotating is against your revolving (to put it in astronomical terms). You also have the difficulty of being restrained across your belly by your LH which is attached to her RH: It feels like a rope that you're walking into. To get through the rope, deftly pass her hand to your RH and then back to your LH as you turn around.

Oodles of variants for the Lead's Left Turn. (1) Don't ever break the rope, rather, duck under it (fun if you're really tall and she's really short). (2) Make an arch with the rope and walk through it forwards with a little (but not too much) dignity. (3) Again make an arch with the rope but this time do your left turn first and fall through the arch backwards (winds up looking like you were trying to do a cuddle turn into her - related to the Time Waister below). (4) Make that arch low so that it bumps into the back of your neck as you walk through backwards: this winds up draping her RH on the back of your neck during the first kick-step so that you can let it slide down to your LH on the second step (looks racey). (5) Let go of her hand once you start walking into the rope, and have her drag her RH across the back of your waist so you can find it again (not especially good if you're really sweaty). (6) against all logic, start by letting go with your LH and hanging on with your RH, lift that RH high in the air as if you know what you're doing and do the very same footwork.

Follow's Left Turn: This is the same as the Lead's Left Turn except now the follow turns to her left while the lead just walks to her old spot while facing her the whole time. Hold her RH in your LH. Formulate your plan on the back-step. Lead by pulling on her RH as you switch places with her. Some follows are particularly ornery about this move (so ornery in fact that you might have to skip it). If all else fails, after you start pulling her toward you, hold your LH (her RH) right in front of her face so she has to turn to her left. (Cool Combination. Simply alternate Lead's Left Turns with Follow's Left Turns. This is a very slow version of salsa's one-handed figure-8.)

She-Turn-He-Turn: Very flashy and not too difficult. In other words, just the thing to build the confidence of a beginner. Pull the follow into her left turn quickly on the first step. Then on the second step, do your own left turn underneath your left arm (this is variant (2) of the Lead's Left Turn). The trick is to get her through the middle of the intersection before you need the same space: else your right shoulder will collide with the back of her left shoulder and you lose points (particularly if it knocks her dentures loose).

Frisbee Throw: A wee bit reckless if the music is too fast (you're quite likely to fall into each other). Get her LH in your RH (sorry...the frisbee analogy works only for right-handers) and imagine throwing a frisbee (backhanded, that is, for you ultimate types). First wind up on the rock- step, and then throw her on the first kick-step. She should then spin to her left. You can go along with her and spin to your right. In contrast to the other moves in this section, you do not switch places in this one. (Common confusion: she thinks the windup to the frisbee throw is encouraging her to move to her right ... keep the windup under control.)

*** A Few Dips for Starters ***

The Knee Sit. Here's a simple one. No one can get hurt, and it's a great way to end a dance. Shake her hand (that is, hold her RH in your RH), kneel down on your left knee, pull her RH out over your right knee, and have her sit down on that right knee. Short and sweet.

The Last-Second Dip. This one's a little more dangerous. It's called the Last-Second Dip because everyone uses it when the music ends unexpectedly. Spin your partner 1 1/4 turns to the left (that's the same direction as in the Knee Sit) so that at the end of those 1 1/4 turns, her right shoulder is in the general vicinity of your left shoulder. Towards the very end of that process (and hopefully in one fluid motion), drape her right arm around your neck (this works best if you started out shaking hands but it really doesn't matter). Then put your LH behind her shoulders and your RH behind her waist and encourage her to lean back. The follow can hang on, but should not throw herself into his arms, regardless of how strong he appears to be (more than one trip to the chiropractor has resulted from overzealous follows). Rather, she should bend her knees and give him only a little weight while leaning back (you can add more weight after some practice).

The Social Science Dip (simply the best). Shake hands with your partner but hold onto each other's wrists rather than hands (imagine you've fallen over the railing of a 98-story building and that she might actually want to pull you back). The project now is to spin her to the left 2 1/4 times around (that would be 810 degrees). The trick is to be very gentle as she spins because your mutual wrist lock will prevent your hands from shifting (as they do in almost all other moves).

(continued) After one rotation, you should be facing each other, each with your right hands in front of your faces as if you were trying to block the other person away from your face. After two rotations, you should again be facing each other, this time with the lead's hand around the follow's back (go especially slowly here and let the follow spin faster than your arm is reaching around her back). After 2 1/4 rotations, there's not much more room to spin because the lead's RH is wrapped around the follow's waist (admittedly this move is best for two people with long gangly arms). After those 2 1/4 rotations, the follow's right shoulder should be in the general vicinity of the lead's left shoulder (much as in the Last-Minute Dip above).

(continued) The lead can then support the follow's back with his free LH and lean into her so that his RH is more or less above his left knee. At first, the follow more or less keeps her feet underneath her. With practice, the follow can give the lead more weight and can earn multiple style points by lifting up one of her legs and by dramatically throwing her LH over her head. At the same time, leads can dispose of their hard-earned style points either by depositing her on the ground or by dragging her off the dance floor (certain follows have been known to be somewhat less than cooperative about this).