Dance is an art form that includes many steps and movements. The movement often reflects some aesthetic and symbolic value. Dance isn’t a new art.
When there was no development of written language, it was a way to pass stories from one generation to others. It is as old as the ancient civilizations.
In the case of India, the evidence of dance is found back to 9000 years old. During ancient times, people danced to reflect their internal feelings or to show gestures to the almighty.
The main motive of dance is to express emotions. For communication purposes, people danced. Not only human beings dance, but also certain animals like peacocks, monkeys dance.
Like, peacock performs when there is rainy weather. Animals dance to express a sudden spirit of joy and happiness. Even human beings also dance with the same purpose.
Like when there is something positive things happen in life, people have started dancing to express excitement.
East Coast Swing vs Western Coast Swing
The difference between East Coast Swing and Western Coast Swing is that East coast swing uses two triple steps and one rock step, whereas the West Coast swing uses two walking steps and two triple steps. East Coast Swing uses big band jazz music, whereas West Coast Swing uses blue music. And also, jazz music. East coast swing is an energetic dance, whereas West Coast Swing saves energy. East coast swing is one of the most famous dances for weeding, whereas West Coast Swing is a social dance upgrade.
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East Coast Swing is a type of rational dance. It uses two triple steps and one rock step, along with big bands, fast blues, rock and roll music. It is an energetic dance format.
Speed of music varies between 136 to 144 beats per minute for dancing.
West Coast is a type of slotted dance, uses two walking steps and two triple steps.
It is popular among the dancer because it is adaptable to a wide variety of music genres. Speeds of music vary between 90 to 130 beats per minute for dancing.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | East Coast Swing | West Coast Swing |
|---|---|---|
| Types of dance | It is a type of rational dance. | It is a type of slotted dance. |
| The components | It uses two triple steps and one rock step. | It uses two walking steps and two triple steps. |
| The style | Style is circular. | Style is in linear fashion. |
| The Music | Associated with big band jazz music. | Associated with blue music |
| The technique | It is an energetic dance. | It is a slow dance. |
What is East Coast Swing?
Eastern swing is the other name of East Coast Swing. It came for the first time in 1940. Arthur Dance is the one who introduced this dance format. It has many alternatives names.
But after 1975, East Coast Swing has become the common name of Eastern Swing.
East Coast Swing is a social partner dance and belongs to a group of swing dances. It is a rhythm-based dance.
East Coast Swing uses two triple steps and one rock step, along with big bands, fast blues, rock and roll music. It is an energetic dance format. Speed of music varies between 136 to 144 beats per minute for dancing.
It contains both 6 and 8 beet dance patterns. It is a standard form of dance format used to differentiate from street format.
After some time, it has allowed for the comparison of competitive ballroom dancers. The East Coast swing is a part of Landy Hope. Landy Hope , never recognized by the Dance Council Of America as a standard dance format. But still, it gains popularity in another part of the world. Now it is popular among dancers.
What is West Coast Swing?
Western swing is the another name of the Western East coast and a part of modern style swing dancing. It came into existence during 1930s and 1940s. At that time it was not popular. Spade Cooley did a lot of promotional campaign after 1940. Its genre contains elements from many other dance music styles like from traditional, classical to pop music.
It is a ballroom dance consist of western flair. East coast Swing is like West coast Swing but there is some differences exist here also.
It is a type of slotted dance where lady’s or followers do forward and backward movement in a straight line.
West coast Swing dance has many styles and vary considerably. It allows a lot of fun while dancing between partner. West coast Swing is famous all over the world.
There are the highest number of West coast Swing dancer present in United State. The biggest dance center is also in California and Texas.
In European country, it is famous in France, Hungry, England. We can say that it is a living dance as it is evolving continuously and it has more adaptability.
This format is tolerant and open to mix the other dance format.
Main Differences Between East Coast Swing and West Coast Swing
- East Coast Swing is widely used in the wedding. On the other hand, dancers perform West Coast Swing for social upgrades.
- East Coast Swing is an energetic dance format, while West Coast Swing saves energy.
- For the East Coast Swing, the speed of music varies between 136 to 144 beats per minute. On the other hand, West Coast Swing uses 90 to 130 beats per minute.
- East Coast Swing is a type of rational dance. On the other hand, West Coast Swing is a type of slotted dance.
- East Coast Swing is not adaptable easily. On the hand, East Coast Swing is easy to learn.
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1466138111398231
- http://csuchico-dspace.calstate.edu/handle/10211.3/213382
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
