West Coast Swing Basics, Vol. 1 (EXCP Bronze)

This is the first of several available WCS discs in a WCS series by Gary McIntyre and Susan Kirklin (2010). This is their “Beginner 1” disc. Their beginner disk 2, “Not Just Basics Anymore” doesn’t seem to be on Danceflix yet, but the other discs are…

It seems the idea in the series is to teach you the common moves and variations first, and then with the other discs start adding more and more moves that are, in the end, just moves or patterns. After a while, whether something is “advanced” often just depends on what you learned first. “New stuff” is always, “advanced” - until you catch on to it.

This disc is very cleanly produced - good lighting, good pacing, and good editing. It covers the common six-count moves; then the common eight-count moves; and, finally, right-hand leads of many of the same moves. It’s not a bad way to progress… All you need to “Go WCS dancing…” is a Sugar Push and a few side passes and turns. And, learning early on that a lot of moves can be done with the other hand leading just makes you look better sooner. And, “the more you know, the more you go…” So…

It’s a good, “Beginner” disc, or “Beginner’s” disc. It’s short enough not to bore you, clear enough to see what’s going on, and not overly bogged down in details you can learn later.

The only major knock on the disc is that it isn’t well indexed. You wind up watching an undivided section on something and then have to search through it for one thing or another. Better is being able to dial directly into say, the lead’s footwork on a particular thing, so he can “get right” without wasting the Follower’s time and energy… And, as a minor knock, there could be longer dance demos too; it’d be nice to see three to five minutes of the patterns to music rather than 60 seconds or so here and there.

A very nice disc to view and pretty good to learn from… I can see why it’s such a popular Danceflix rental. Looking forward to the rest of the series…