Updated in September 2024, originally published November 2016
– by Maria
The topic of musicality gets a lot of air-time in West Coast Swing dancing. Musicality is integral to all dancing, but in West Coast Swing it’s kind of a Holy Grail — or as I like to call it, an endless frontier — that dancers of all levels, from Beginner to Champion, chase after.
Definition of Musicality in Dance
Musicality in dance has two main components: listening and responding. We must be able to hear and understand the structure (and some details) of the song we are dancing to. Then, we must be able to respond to what we hear with complementary movement.
As Dance Advantage puts it: “Musicality in dance then might be considered a measure or degree to which a dancer is receptive and creative in his translation or rendering of music through movement.”
The Endless Frontier
There are a few reasons that musicality gets a lot of focus in West Coast Swing dancing:
- Popular music. WCS is danced to popular music. WCS dancers are constantly chasing after the newest songs to dance to, which means that we’re often dancing to songs we don’t know very well. Unlike many other partnered dances that are danced to a classic “canon” of music, WCS is musically promiscuous. We don’t even dance to a single particular rhythm. So, the ability to hear and understand musical structure (the listening part of musicality) is key to success in quickly figuring out how to dance well to an unfamiliar song.
- An inherently un-phrased dance. WCS is not a “phrased” dance, meaning that the basic patterns of the dance do not match the musical structure. Pop music is built in fours (the musicians count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4), which dancers count in 8s (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8). But our patterns are in 6 counts, 8 counts, and endless two-beat extensions. The first step of each WCS pattern, then, does not always fall on the “1” of the music. As dancers, we have to make that work in other ways. This is where both listening and responding come into play.
- Partnering. It’s a challenge enough to dance alone, to understand music, and to be respond creatively. In a partner dance, we have to do it WITH a partner. And of all partner dances, WCS is the most open to individual expression and interpretation. If the leader and follower are “on the same page” musically, this can be easy and even glorious. But if both partners are not in tune with the music, we can’t share a musical dance. Not only do we need an understanding of music and creativity, we also need skills to converse with our partner about that music — without using our words!
These are the challenges that keep us interested and engaged in the dance. They are the reasons that we can dance nothing but WCS for hours and hours straight. Every song presents a new challenge. It’s also fun to watch other dancers of all levels “work it out” on the dance floor.
How to Learn Musicality
If you’re truly interested in learning, you will never stop learning musicality in WCS. Even those who achieve mastery in it continue to play with it – to see how far they can push the edges of musicality and the dance.
My best advice is to take every musicality lesson or workshop offered, by anyone who offers it. Each one will give you a new bit of insight, a new way of thinking about it, and will connect another dot in the great landscape of West Coast Swing musicality.
Also check back with this website or our Facebook page because we occasionally offer musicality-themed workshops.