OK, so I'm having a hard time finding a good youtube clip, because the problem is, much like competition ballroom waltzing is ridiculous looking oftentimes just because of the costumes, competition west coast swinging is often ridiculously cheesy. Much like how Benji does it.

But non-competition west coast swinging (which doesn't end up being the stuff on youtube) is HOT.

If you ignore the crowd cheering, and look the the individual moves (and not the group), you can kinda see it in this group dance here. Really, what I'm saying is, I like the basic stuff. Or when the really good people improv, rather than competition dance. But even then, there's a little too much performance to it, and not enough paying attention to your partner and the connection between you, which is what makes it sexy for me, as a performance.

There's a reason that everyone I know who sees it done in the club by people who are good at it goes "Ooh. I want to learn how to do THAT". Two step is fun and all, but people just want to learn it so they can dance. When they see people west coast swinging, it's like "Damn, that looks sexy"

This is maybe a dumb question, but is there East Coast Swing?

There is, and it is the swing I prefer.

Heh. There is East Coast Swing (I suddenly feel like I'm about to stir up an East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry too). I also do East Coast swing. It's probably more what you think of when you think of swing dancing. Boogie woogie bugle boy and all that. I think of East Coast stuff as being cute. Bouncy. Fun. But not sexy.

t runs away from msbelle

This is maybe a dumb question, but is there East Coast Swing?

Apparently yes! But I've read the descriptions of both on Wikipedia and still don't get the difference.

no need to run away. I don't think of east coast as sexy, just swingy. It is fun to dance. I've never done west coast, but the slides and pausing in it (of what I've seen) bother me. This is kinda sexy WC swing and I still don't like it to watch: [link]

Oh they're very different!! When you're not dancing in competition, just in a big group of people (which is how I do it--obvi, competition is going to be different from everything):

East Coast swing, the basic is step, step (side to side), backstep (or triple-step, triple-step, backstep, depending on the speed of the music and who's teaching you). It's bouncy and fun. You and your partner face each other, and don't tend to move out of your spot much, but may kinda go in circles. So you start with that side side backstep and then start throwing in turns and kicks and so on and so forth.

In West Coast, in theory, you and your partner are in a "slot", so you have a space on the dancefloor where the two of you may move back and forth in a line. It's more similar to a LindyHop, and I'm sure it is known as west coast swing because it somehow evolved from East Coast blah blah etc etc. There are a few different basic moves, but the first one they usually teach you is called a sugarpush, and the follow walks towards the lead (you're facing each other) (one-two) they are together for a sec (three-and), and then the lead pushes the follow away (four) and then there's a step (five-and-six). There's more hip action. Which I like. :)

I've never done west coast, but the slides and pausing in it (of what I've seen) bother me

Hah! And that's what I love. You can have a lot of fun with the music if there's pauses or sudden stops in the music and BAM! It's something people do a lot in LindyHop too.

It makes a little more sense to me now. Maybe what was bothering me about the WCS last night was that it felt too jerky, because I don't see any jerkiness in the pauses in those videos. So it was slow, and it didn't feel like the flow of the dance was maintained during the pauses. I also came away feeling like WCS was related to line dancing, or the country dancing I see people do in "cowboy bars" here, but I think that was the fault of the costumers.

Heh. Well, that's where I do my WCS, Sassy, but...

Now I really want everyone to come out to Seattle and watch the gay ballet dancer and his partner dance them some WCS. Forget me and the GILF, you can't take your EYES off them two when they get going on the dance floor.