WCS, via?

[Ghostdancer]

For those of you who do dances other than WCS

So did you come to WCS after doing another dance form, ballroom, salsa, lindy, etc. or vise versa?

For those who do just WCS, do you want or plan to learn a different dance?

It does seem to me that more dancers are crossing over lately.

[wcoastswingdancr]

I took tap and jazz as a kid. When I decided to learn to dance as an adult, I started with East Coast Swing as it was the first place I stumbled on for lessons.

Before a lesson one day I saw a couple warming up doing WCS and immediately asked them what it was and where I could learn it. Never looked back on ECS.

Since that time I've added hustle, cha cha, two step, night club 2step to the list and I can follow some of the ballroom dances with no technique other than following. But WCS is still what I prefer. Not that I have managed to get out and actually do any for quite some time now, but hope to remedy that before long.

[Ghostdancer]

Never looked back on ECS.

Sounds like me, ECS was my favorite dance for a very long time until I took up WCS and Cha Cha surpassed it. I'll still do ECS when I'm at a ballroom dance though.

[Arjay]

Melissa has a degree in dance. She has experience in modern, jazz, tap, ballet, lyrical, theater, and hip hop. Together Melissa and I have competed in 10 dance competitions. International Standard and Latin 5 dances in each. Melissa and I have performed Lindy Hop, Salsa, Night club two step and Theater Arts routines. We've dabbled in hustle, argentine tango, and country two step. My background consists of Hip hop, little American style ballroom. but primarily 17 years of violin instruction.
One of our favorite dances is a partner improvography dance.... creating and dancing to music with no specified format of dance to random music. I wouldn't even call it a fusion of dances because the types of movement and positions and connection is unique to its own.
(didn't i write this in another post?) can't remember anymore oh well

[TJZitoJr]

TJ and Wendy Zito

Wendy has a background in ballet, tap, gymnastics, jazz, hip hop, and also theater. She also was a theater apprentice with stage make up and design.

She took dance at the University of Alabama, but received her degree in Early Child Development. She dabbled in couples dancing some during college and when we were first married. She did not start to get training until a few years later after we had our baby. She was looking for a way to lose baby weight and before we know it we were competing in theater arts. From there, she and I have started working in American Rhythm, west coast swing, and aspiring to work on hustle.

I was an ex wrestler in high school and was dragged into dancing by a girl who said I couldn't do it (see earlier post) I competed in UCWDC for many years (96-2000) and worked up to showcase 1 way back in the day. I also had the opportunity to dance in some ballet/jazz at the University of Alabama, but my degree was in communications.

After receiving a tape back in 1996 of the US Open, I was amazed at west coast swing. Back in 1996 and being from Alabama, I didn't even know that the swing world exisited! (pre internet-remember!) I attended UCWDC Worlds in 1997 at the Disneyland Hotel in California and watched the Saturday Night swing party with the "California Swing Dance crowd" in amazement.

I left so amazed and dumbfounded at the difference between country way back then and the swing world that I felt lost. (and yet that feeling never goes away....always so much to learn) It was like watching a foreign film with subtitles....I loved every second of it, but I did not have the knowledge to understand what they were doing. (and yet I still feel that way a lot of times!)

I found out Grand Nationals SOS was in Atlanta and I have attended every year except for one year. Even the years that I quit dancing, Grand Nationals was the only event I attended. I have an amazing collection of swing VHS and DVDs and love the new and old stuff. West Coast swing became like a guilty passion, obsession...a drug if you will...filled with ups, downs, good times, bad times, etc.

It is really the crack cocaine of dancing if you think about it. We are all hooked, spend our money, and have the ups and downs! Our friends and family don't get it, we try to get others hooked, and most people think we are crazy for doing it. Don't get me started on the traveling....how many of ya'll have been to really cool cities, but have never seen anything but the hotel and airport?

I competed briefly with another partner in UCWDC and also bombed pretty bad in my only attempt at showcase swing at Grand Nationals 2001. I had an opportunity to dance my first theater arts exhibition the next day with her and did....well it was what it was..... We just needed more training and work. Too inexperienced, but it was fun.

I walked away from dancing that summer when I got into grad school at Alabama. Wendy and I met while I was in grad school and we dabbled in some dancing, but nothing serious. I finished grad school, we got married in 2004, and had our son in spring of 2006.

We came back into dancing in the fall/winter of 2006 in theater arts. We want to work hard with west coast swing and work towards competing in that sometime in the future. We would also enjoy competing in hustle and look forward to training in that as well.

We started our own dance company here in Birmingham, opened our own studio specializing in aerobic dance fitness classes, traditional kids classes, and adult classes in couples, hip hop, ballet, etc.

I resigned from the corporate world last week and now dance full time. Once again....it is like a drug. So I guess I relapsed back into west coast swing and dance!

TJ and Wendy Zito
www.bhamrhythm.com
www.vulcanperformers.com

So what is everyone else's story? I love hearing how other people get hooked into this and other styles of dance. Feel free to open it up, laugh at yourself, and have fun. I love laughing at the stupid stuff I have done in this crazy dance world and I hope ya'll do, too!

[whipkitten]

I never took any dance lessons as a child, because my parents really didn't think it was important. I always wanted to so in college, I convinced some of my friends to take a western swing class with me. That lasted about a semester.

When I graduated, I decided I wanted to try dance classes again. I found a local studio that offered all kinds of classes. Since I had done western swing, I decided that I would give ECS a try. Loved it! I stuck with it for about a year, then I also learned some two step and some salsa.

I took a year off from dance because I was getting a little burnt out on it. Then a couple of friends of mine had moved to Houston and wanted to try ECS - this was right after the big swing revival from the Gap commercials. So I decided to give it another try since my friends were going. Haven't stopped dancing since.

From ECS, i did Lindy for about a year, but halfway through that year, I also discovered WCS. Eventually I completely dropped Lindy and went WCS all the way!

Even though I really just do WCS now, I'd like to learn more CW and also I'd like to learn Balboa.

[Ghostdancer]

For a long time I did not want to touch WCS. At first I had problems with it and just told myself the heck with it; I'll just stick to those I already know fairly well. As I became a more experienced dancer I got to thinking that with that I may just be able to handle WCS better so I went to some classes and sure enough I did much better with it and now I just can't get enough of it.

[whipdancer]

No dancing as a child (lots of music though). Mom was a choir director, music & education major, etc. I did lots of stage and musicals as a child (hey we need a child for this scene, go stand over there).

Mom drug me into it kicking and screaming.

The women got me to stay (well and the music, too).

A long time ago I chose to make dance a hobby and not a career. I have more fun with it today than I ever have. I dance when I want (a few times a week). I teach when I want (when someone convinces me that they truly are interested in learning what makes this dance work).

So for me there is no via (well, you could say via my mother and the most amazing community that nurtured me until I chose to make the dance my own - and asked only that I give back what I was given - a love of the dance).

I do consider Lindy and Bal. After attending SNE last fall, I can say that the Lindy I saw there is not the Lindy I've seen here. And Bal just looks cool. I also wouldn't mind re-learning the basic C&W dances and Cha.