Come “Dance Thru The Decades” to a great mix of WCS music from the 1960’s to the Top 40 of today!  Join in on a couple of fun mixer dances from years gone by and enjoy some tasty treats at the snack table!

Lesson 4 of New Program starts at 7:00pm – We are getting amazing feedback on our lessons!!!!

Dance Practice from 8:00 – 8:30 pm

Dance starts at 8:30 pm with great tunes from our DJ team!!!

The earliest versions of WCS began to appear on the Lindy/Swing scene sometime after the late 1930’s. In the 50’s one version was called “Sophisticated Swing”. Until 1961, many variations of the dance were being developed. The Arthur Murray Schools were one of the first to try to define it in some kind of formal way. The problem was that it was evolving very quickly, so by the time it was defined, the boundaries and rules had already adapted to the next “iteration” of the dance, a phenomenon that is still happening today.

The most important development for WCS came around 1961, when Murray’s “coaster step” was replaced by an “anchor step” by Skippy Blair and the GSDTA, whereby the last step of the last triple of any pattern was slightly backwards for both partners, thus creating the characteristic stretching action that fundamentally defines the dance today. Also around the same time, the name “West Coast Swing” began to be used in print instead of “Western Swing” as the Arthur Murray Schools called it.

The 1960’s could thus be said to be the real beginnings of WCS as it is done today. So here we are 55 years later, with an awesome improvisational dance that has continued to evolve and embrace the most popular “music of the day”. Join us as we dance to some of the best of the best WCS songs from the 1960’s to the top 40 of today!!