As you may or may not know, I am an avid social swing dancer. I admit, it’s a bit of an addiction.
A couple of years ago, I asked my many dance friends if they knew of a youtube video that was appropriate for showing non-dancers what "West Coast Swing" dancing was all about. I got a lot of suggestions, but none of them really fit the bill. At last, I think I’ve found the video I was looking for. You’ll see it at the bottom of this post.
This video features Mario Robau and Samantha Buckwalter.
These two people are some of the best pro dancers around. The trouble I had previously with showing videos of professionals doing this dance (again, called “West Coast Swing”) is that when the pros are on video, they are generally doing big “competition routines.” However, in this dance, you will see them doing a lot of popular social patterns that are doable even by intermediate leaders like me. It’s just that they’re doing them… so well.
For those of you who have never partner danced, here’s a little insight into what’s going on: the follower is moving herself and turning herself, but what you want to look for are the subtle little “lead points” (this is a phrase I just invented) where, with just 5 ounces of pressure, the leader is guiding/inviting her into a turn or a spin. These are most obvious when they are standing far apart and you can see him drawing her forward, and perhaps the most obvious are when you see her suddenly reversing direction. Again, the dancing you see is not preplanned, he is making up the choreography as he goes, and she is “following” on the spot. And yes, it's very cool.
They also happen to be dancing to one of my favorite West Coast swing songs. Enjoy.
Note, you can google these two dancers to see more of them, and if you are even more interested, there is probably a West Coast swing dance community where you live, and you can get begin with instructional DVD’s from Mario’s Co. in Houston, the dance factory.
