East Coast Swing

What is East Coast Swing?

A very simple style of swing dancing, East Coast Swing can refer to two things:

  1. "Ballroom" East Coast Swing - The style of swing dance taught by many ballroom studios.
  2. "Street" East Coast Swing - A style of swing dancing based on easy six-count Lindy Hop moves, taught around the world in many Lindy Hop communities. Many instructors simply refer to this as "beginner swing," "beginner Lindy," or "six-count Lindy Hop."

The History of East Coast Swing

Originally, East Coast Swing was a term used by dance teachers on the West coast of the US, to refer to swing dances such as Lindy Hop that were done in New York. When Lindy Hop became popular, at first no studios taught the dance; you had to find a friend who was willing to show you the steps. Eventually ballroom studios realized how big a market there was for swing dancing.

As ballroom dance studios added swing dancing to their repertoire, they borrowed steps from the Lindy Hop. They showed the simplest moves first, with a style and aesthetic borrowed from other ballroom dances. Over time, the combination of the ballroom look and the simplified vocabulary became a separate dance. At the same time, the separate development of West Coast Swing helped to make East Coast Swing a separate dance that looked very different from the Lindy Hop that originally inspired it.

East Coast Swing has a much more limited vocabulary of movements than Lindy Hop, and is done with an upright posture and sometimes even a cuban hip motion. Originally, East Coast Swing was done with triple-steps (three steps in two beats), but over time the single step variation has become popular.

Triple-Swing and Single Swing

In ballroom Swing, the dance is often referred to differently depending on the footwork used. When triple-steps are used, the dance may be called "triple-swing," and when single steps (one step in two beats) are used, it's called "single swing." This is quite different from Lindy Hop, where improvised footwork variations are a major feature of the dance. Lindy Hoppers often mix triple-steps, single steps, kicks and other footwork variations together when they do their basics, without requiring both partners to match footwork.

East Coast Swing today

East Coast Swing was a major feature of the swing dancing revival of the 1990's, and as such has become an important feature of many swing scenes. However, the style of East Coast Swing is closer to the "street" style than to the ballroom style.

East Coast Swing in Ottawa

At Swing Dynamite, we teach Lindy Hop in our beginner classes, starting with easy moves that are very similar to East Coast Swing and progressing to more complex Lindy Hop moves as students advance. If you want to try to start swing dancing in Ottawa, check out our Swing I class! You'll learn the basics common to all styles of Swing in just six weeks, including fast and slow dancing, triple-steps and Charleston! Sign up for classes here.

Lindy Hop

Learn more about the dance behind East Coast Swing: Lindy Hop!