OUT to Dance offers group dance classes in West Roxbury
and private lessons in Roslindale. Join us!

About West Coast Swing

The “other swing”; west coast swing is the soulful, slinky, bluesy descendent of east coast swing and lindy hop. The official dance of California, West Coast Swing is a truly funky “slotted” dance where the follower travels back and forth along a shoulder width rectangle, called the slot, with respect to the leader. The leader is more stationary but will move in and out of the slot depending on the pattern led. You’ll need to see it or do it to appreciate its hotness! (Various reasons have been given for the slotted style. One reason is that when all followers dance in lines, club owners could pack many more dancers onto the floor. Another reason was that in Hollywood, film makers wanted dancers to stay in the same plane, to avoid going in and out of focus.)

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History of West Coast Swing

Although West coast swing originated in the 50’s and 60’s, it’s currently danced to a huge selection of contemporary popular music, from blues to R’n’B to soul to country to disco to hip hop.

Music for Dancing

Our West Coast Swing playlist on Spotify
Lizzo- About Damn Time
Lady Gaga- Born This Way
Stevie Wonder- Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Adele- Rumor Has It, Rolling in the Deep
Aretha Franklin- Evil Gal Blues
Bonnie Raitt- Something to Talk About
Annie Lennox- Legend in My Living Room
Usher (feat. Lil’ Jon & Ludacris)- Yeah!
Christina Aguilera- Ain’t No Other Man
Gloria Estefan- Turn the Beat Around
The Isley Brothers- Who’s That Lady
Pitbull- Give Me Everything
The Chicks- I Can LOve You Better
Beyonce- Crazy in Love, Love On Top
Patti Labelle and Pink- Lady Marmalade
Buttons- Pussycat Dolls
Disturbia- Rihanna

When joining our West Coast Swing and other dance classes, note that our OUT to Dance studio locations, West Roxbury and Roslindale, MA, are within twenty minutes of downtown Boston, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Brighton, Allston, Brookline, Newton, Chestnut Hill, Dedham, Norwood, Needham, Westwood, Milton and Quincy; and within 25 to 35 minutes of Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington, Wellesley, Natick, Waltham, Braintree, Brockton, Stoughton, Canton, Foxboro, Weymouth and surrounding towns. We are also less than an hour from Providence, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.