Katherina: I try to know a little of lots of things- Steven Mitchell calls it "dance floor survival." I just got into boogie woogie and hollywood lindy, but my true love is in collegiate shag and charleston. I'm just now getting comfortable enough with modern savoy lindy to be able to talk to my partner on the floor and do some styling, but I've been dancing six count east coast since I was a little girl. E-mail me at swgnhepkat@aol.com so we can talk without cluttering the thread )

uh ooops.. SO SORRY GRACIE!!! It's SO easy to get me sidetracked!!

By east coast I meant the 6-count (which can be combined with lindy, just as west coast can). I seriously cannot tell the difference between east coast and west coast, but I was told by the people who taught me that I was learning east coast. I have also been told that my lindy is hollywood style.
The reason why I said I dance east coast was since I don't know the difference between it and west coast I don't know if there would be any differences with sugar push. Personally, I don't really care about what style I dance. The only thing that I would not like to do would be to dance with a savoy leader who couldn't make adjustments--from what I hear, followers in savoy style go aroud the leader while in hollywood we go straight forward--I wouldn't want to run into a guy who was expecting me to go around him!

Belle
My first comp went pretty smoothly. I scored 4 Golds (first place) and one Silver (2nd place in Cha). I did get a gold in WCS! It was fun but I felt like the judge was very generous with the golds. All night long it was Gold Gold Gold. There was much comp on my level (newcomer). I kind of felt like he was giving everyone gold unless it came down to actually having to pick between more than one couple. Is this common? Thanks for asking.
Gracie

oh yeah, that whole job thing would help...

BTW, GRACIE: sorry we've sort of taken over your thread!

I bet when she comes back (if she's not lurking around already and not posting) she's gonna see a whole bunch of messages and go "oooh yay, I got some answers! only to find us talking...oh well we DID answer her. Anyway, Jess, I recommend you either email me (tanythetree@hotmail.com), make a new thread somewhere, or whatever before GRACIE kills us

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Trees are people too!
¡Viva los árboles!

Thanks Jess!
Sorry Philip, but as I said I'm also new to this site, and I just wanted to know more about WCS. The only dance I did so far was the one I mentioned, and I thought maybe somebody knows it. But it wasn't my main "problem".
Jess, you're 18, too! What do you dance?

Tany- assuming that by "east coast" you mean savoy style lindy and not the six count (which is what is called east coast in Ohio) then there is a big difference. Some say west coast is smoother.. I don't feel any smoother when I dance it, but the bodies are more upright which makes it appear "classier" than savoy. The swing out is crazy. It's sheer momentum, which means it happens a lot quicker. I'm assuming that this is so the couple is open for a longer amount of time, and they can do flashy moves like switches. It's really a show dance, whereas savoy is definately a social dance. That's the difference )
Now to when and where you lean: It does sound like you're talking about sugar pushes. Lean where ever it feels comfortable or whatever works for the styling that you're doing. Personally, when I do just a regular sugar push without any other variations involved, I tend to lean when the leader first starts to pull me forward. I don't completely lean though because I don't know what he's doing yet, so I just start it a little. My lean is at it's maximum when he stops pulling me forward and I stop leaning as he pushes me back out; but that's just what's comfy for me. Lean whenever you want-swing isn't so technical as long as you're not hurting yourself or your partner, or ruining the next move.. but I don't see how you could lean in a wrong manner on a sugar push...
-Jess

No, unfortunately I also lack money and transportation! I know how it feels- everyone in Ohio is going to Midwest Swing Fest but me, which is really a downer but the way I see it there will be other swingfests, catalina camps, and exchanges to go to in the future. I wish I could go to everything though! I'll probably go to Catalina next year because I'll be closer and hopefully have more money and more importantly a car!

Phillip, I thin her post really is in the right thread.. afterall, the thread IS about positions in West Coast, and that may be where the difference is.
Katherina, there's nothing wrong with being "only 18" (that's how old I am! ) I'm not sure how to answer your question- it just feels different! The leader does something different, but it's not hard for the follower to adjust.
-Jess

Gracie,

Hmm, I'm not sure I can describe it but I'll try.

The key to really good body rolls is isolations...meaning you need to use each part of your body in isolation from the rest of it to make it look like a ripple or wave is progressing through your body. Body rolls can start low and go up, or start at your head and go down. You can roll forward from a body position behind your leading foot, or back from a body position ahead of a trailing foot, or sideways in either direction.

You start with your weight solidly on your standing leg and will progress towards the (ooh, rats, where's that proper term when I need it) 'other' foot in the direction of the other foot and end up on the last count with all your weight on the other foot. You can do body rolls without a weight change too, but it's a little harder to learn that way because the motion is not as pronounced. The replacement step body roll I suggest below works that way, with the step after the roll.

Since you are wanting to put this in context, here are some suggestions for moves that use body rolls:

If you have a move that puts you in a bowtie position (side by side with lady's L arm across man's shoulders, man's R arm around lady's back, lady's feet together or with weight on L foot and R foot to side) you can (each) do a side body roll out of it. Starting in the bowtie, imagine a hole in a wall on your R side. There is an invisible glass wall on the other side of the hole that you are going to line the R side of your body up against. You are going to crawl through the hole one part at a time. Tip your head over to go through the hole. As you straighten your head on the other side (line up with the glass wall and bring the rest of you along it in alignment), bend your upper spine to take your shoulders through the hole. Straighten your shoulders and bend your waist to take your hips through. As your hips come through, take weight on your R foot to finish (you should end up with your body upright along the glass wall over your R foot, L foot still in place where you started from). Like I said, it is key to isolate the movement. Once you have straightened, don't tip your head or shoulders back to the left, keep them straight on the glass wall. Try this in front of a mirror to see what works. You can use any number of even counts to get there depending on how fast you can do it.

BTW, to go to the next move, your partner will have to lead you forward on the "and" count to get your weight back on your left foot before you can step forward with your R foot on 1.

In case you don't have a bowtie move, you could do forward body rolls with a replacement step on an underarm turn variation using 10 or 12 counts instead of the usual 8. I'm not sure I can explain that, but perhaps you can play around with it using the sideways imagery. The replacement step switches the weighted foot back so you can keep going.

Another cool body roll move would be on a tuck turn. Do 1, 2, then on 3 face your partner weight forward on R foot, L foot back, double hand hold (note: again, both partners will roll, but I'm only giving the lady's part). In this case, your L heel is at the base of the glass wall that you will roll back against starting with your head. Tip your head back, straighten head OVER YOUR L FOOT WITHOUT CHANGING WEIGHT -- Important! You must already be at the glass wall when your head straightens, but your CENTER should still be over your R foot. Obviously, you can't leave your L foot too far behind or this will be very difficult. You will be in a weird curvy shape at this point (if you stop here). Roll your shoulders and back straight on the wall, then bring your center (hips) and change weight all at once ("plop"). Your L knee will be bent and your R knee straight. To roll back up, do a pelvic thrust forward, then roll up your body and end with your head over your R foot (in this case you will change weight gradually on the way up). You can do this fast -- 3, down on 4, up on 5, 6; or, down 4, 5, 6 up 7, 8. The last two counts should be something along the lines of: step L down the slot on 7, turn to face partner on 8 (no weight change on 8).

Whew!

I don't know if you'll be able to figure any of that out without seeing it, but you can try it just for fun. I don't know how popular body rolls are for ballroom comps, but they are huge right now for country and social dancing.

[This message has been edited by Belle (edited 08-10-2000).]