are there any shaggers or west coast swingers out ther

[agask2]

hi all im new to this forum and was wonder if there was any west coast swingers or shaggers in on this site.. ?

[Spitfire]

This westie reporting in... :wink:

Welcome to DF agask. :D

[dancergal]

I'm a westie and a country two-stepper. :D

[kansas49er]

Welcome!

Another westie here (or at least a westie wannabee (sigh))

[Vince A]

Welcome . . .

I can spell WCS.

[cornutt]

I do a fair amount of WCS and ECS. I've done a bit of lindy, but since there's no one in my area that teaches it, that's gotten pretty rusty.

[Swingolder]

There are a lot of us around here.

[leftfeetnyc]

Westie all the way through.

[dancin/dj]

hi im a east coast westie :) , with other dance background also.welcome :P

[agask2]

no carolina shaggers??? :( where is a good place to learn new moves are there any websites that show new moves?? for shag... i dont do west coast swing but i know shag and west coast are semi simular.. at least i hear they are..

[leftfeetnyc]

There are a lot of similarities between WCS and Shag. And like any forms of swing, there are differences too.

Try doing a google search on "shag: video clips" or searching by name. Looking up Michael Norris or LeAnne Best is a good place to start. A lot of WCS and Lindy pros have clips on their sites and I'm sure Shaggers do too.

[chandra]

Westie, reporting for dutie

[agask2]

you guys wanna see shag video clips you can go to my site..
its on my profile..

[pygmalion]

Holy cow! Just watched the first clip. Beauty! :applause: Gorgeuse. I had been wanting to see shag in action by people who really know how. Wowza! :D

Welcome agask2. :D

[agask2]

yes most people think its an old foggie dance.. but when those old foggies were young they used to tear it up .. shag has changed alot since then though....

alot of younger people say thats for old peole....
but if you have seen the young profesionals do it at myrtle beach its a differnt story..
that exactly why i have made my website...shagdancers.com... to help promote shag and get more people into it..

[pygmalion]

Cool. It's totally cool. I'd only seen it done by a few folks who specialize in other dances, and who "learned" shag in order to teach it. Meaning, I'd never really seen shag before. Wow. I'm impressed. It looks so -- laid back and cool. 8) :D

[agask2]

yah its supposd to be smoothe,social dance with fancy feet work and ocasional together steps perpormed by both the male and female in unison

back in the golden days the male did most of the fancy footwork...

but later ,im guessing around the 70s (correct me if im wrong somone) , the female started to shine alot more doing spins,together steps and some and her own fancy foot work..

[pygmalion]

Yeah. What I'm wondering from the video is how the guy leads all the fancy footwork. I mean, it looks like it must be choerographed, that's how intricate the footwork. And it's done in unison, like you said. So how does the lead/follow work? Hand signals? A lead through the frame? :?

[leftfeetnyc]

Frame, it's all lead/follow. As a follow you can feel the weight changes and visual leads help as well if there are variations to a kick-ball-change (or whathaveyou).

[pygmalion]

Holy cow! How do you lead those fancy foot patterns (whatever they're called in the shag world) via the frame? Amazing. I wonder if I can find someplace outside SC to do shag, or if I have to wait until I go visit my parents. 8)

[leftfeetnyc]

I don't know much shag, but the little bit of fancy footwork I know is in single hand hold and all lead via frame and weight changes. It's a little confusing when first learning, but once you get it a few times becomes quite easy and pretty cool. A lot of westies blend shag footwork for variations.

Come to Dallas Dance and you might see some.

[pygmalion]

Is that the one Labor Day weekend or the one the first week in November?

[leftfeetnyc]

Labor Day. Four of us from StrictlyWestie are coming down for it.

[pygmalion]

Yeah. I saw that on your site. I can be there for the first two days, maybe. After that, I'll be headed off to a non-dancing vacation with my Mom and sisters in Joisey. 8)

[leftfeetnyc]

You're coming up our way!
I get into DFW at 8p and am staying through Monday.

[pygmalion]

Woohoo! Let's make arrangements -- at least I can see you on Friday, right? 8)

Sorry about the change in plans, btw. I got strong armed by my five sisters. They called me every day for a week. I had to promise to do the family thing or else get excommunicated from the sisterhood. :lol: :lol:

[leftfeetnyc]

5 sisters, damn! What a strong mom you have...ai! one kid has to be heard enough to pop out!

I'm still trying to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel. I hear taxis are expensive, but I think there's some discount shuttle thing. Do you know how long it takes? I do carry-on, so no waiting at baggage claim for me.

[agask2]

the together steps are choreographed for the most part.... but usually when your gona do one you just signal your partner..

technically speaking the male lead steps which the male does alone can be done withougt interfering with female...

lead/follow is generally the simple things like female turns, pivots, male turns and stuff that is all leadable on the dance floor or (social dancing) no conversation is needed
if the female is a good follower and male a good leader then they should have no problems... then the male can throw in a few steps he does by him self and then if you know yoru partner then you can do somt together steps..

there are however a few together steps that most all shaggers know
boogie walks, duck walks, sugar foot... are some that the ladies might know..

i like these forums this is a kewl site.. :)

[pygmalion]

5 sisters, damn! What a strong mom you have...ai! one kid has to be heard enough to pop out!

I'm still trying to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel. I hear taxis are expensive, but I think there's some discount shuttle thing. Do you know how long it takes? I do carry-on, so no waiting at baggage claim for me.

Yikes! The airport's in the middle of nowhere, compared to downtown. A fairly straight shot from my house, though, so I don't know about the shuttle. Let me look around and ask around and I'll get back to you sometime this weekend, probably over on your site, so everybody gets the info. 8)

[pygmalion]

the together steps are choreographed for the most part.... but usually when your gona do one you just signal your partner..

technically speaking the male lead steps which the male does alone can be done withougt interfering with female...

lead/follow is generally the simple things like female turns, pivots, male turns and stuff that is all leadable on the dance floor or (social dancing) no conversation is needed
if the female is a good follower and male a good leader then they should have no problems... then the male can throw in a few steps he does by him self and then if you know yoru partner then you can do somt together steps..

there are however a few together steps that most all shaggers know
boogie walks, duck walks, sugar foot... are some that the ladies might know..

i like these forums this is a kewl site.. :)

Yeah. I fugure some of the stuff could be just personal improvization when they're in open position -- if they're not in unison, they guy or girl could do whatever they want, whenever they want. What I couldn't understand is how the really fancy moves seem to be done perfectly in synch, with perfect timing. How can you lead all that with your body weight? Wow. 8) :D

[agask2]

yah they usually practiced then ..you signal or say hey lets do this.. and u do it..

[pygmalion]

yah they usually practiced then ..you signal or say hey lets do this.. and u do it..

Hey. That works for me. Anything you do that gets me to actually do the step when and where I'm supposed to? That's leading. :wink: 8)

[pygmalion]

5 sisters, damn! What a strong mom you have...ai! one kid has to be heard enough to pop out!

I'm still trying to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel. I hear taxis are expensive, but I think there's some discount shuttle thing. Do you know how long it takes? I do carry-on, so no waiting at baggage claim for me.

Try this link for shuttle info. $11 each way, if you book in advance. And a $2 discount, in your departure city, if it's served by the same ground transportation network. (Which New York is.)

http://www.yellowcheckershuttle.com/dallasdance/

Will post at your site, too. :D

[pygmalion]

Dang! Looks like shag is still mostly an East Coast thing.

Found a cool website with some links, though. 8) Lots of different swing-related dance orgs posted there, not just shag. :D

streetswing.com/mainlink.htm

[chandra]

In terms of leading fancy footwork, I cant claim to be anywhere near as good at it as the follow on the clip. In fact I ussually lost, and just do my own thing while the guy does his thing. But Im getting better. Watching it, you dont think It could be leadeable. But it is. It has to do with what foot your on, and where you end up putting it in the simplest sence. I am sure if you are doing a starter step, and the guy is crossing his feet, you could follow that, simply because of how far you travel, and the fact that if, say your left foot is planted, and your moving farther to the left than your foot in the time of one footstep, you have to cross. You could follow that. I can follow that. Other stuff is just extensions of the same idea, familiarity with the footwork etc.
Like a sailor shuffle. Almost everyone knows sailor shuffles, so we can do them in sync...


yeah- that probably didnt make anysense... But its a totally awesome feeling when you start effortlessly following things like that. You dont even think about it sometimes, it just happens, because its th only thing that logically can.

[luh]

Dang! Looks like shag is still mostly an East Coast thing.

Found a cool website with some links, though. 8) Lots of different swing-related dance orgs posted there, not just shag. :D

streetswing.com/mainlink.htm

thx
luh

[leftfeetnyc]

Street Swing is a really good information site. I found another on the history of the dances, but I'll have to retrace the link.

Thanks for the shuttle info pygmalian. I'm looking forward to the trip...going to try to see a little of Dallas while I'm down there.