History of West Coast Swing

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WEST COAST SWING got its start around 1947 in motion pictures when dancers were required to dance in a line facing the cameras and to slower styles of jazz/swing music. Dean Collins was believed to be the first to do this by taking the traditional swing styles of the 40's and transforming it into the slotted dance known then as Western Swing. 

It developed slowly through the 50's as the sophisticated style of swing, then in 1958 it was used in the musical movie "HOT ROD GANG" however it was still considered an underground style of swing and not really supported by the swing community at the time. In the 60's the name was changed from western swing to WEST COAST SWING as suggested by Jim Bannister the editor of the Herald American and the swing style of West Coast Swing took off with immense popularity.


Now WEST COAST SWING has many sub styles and is danced by 1000s of people around the world. It is ever growing in popularity and will contiue for a very long time to come. Please see the styles page for a brief description of the different styles of    WEST COAST SWING there are and the music it can be danced to. We hope to see   you in our classes soon!!!!!!!!