Easy Brilliant
WEST COAST SWING
Become amazing! Super fast!
WCS BEGINNER/ADV.BEGINNER BOOT CAMP
3 Sundays: Sept 15th (4-6pm) + 22nd (2-6pm!! Double!! Starts at 2pm!!) + 29th (4-6pm)
Gently accelerated. Immersive. Intensive. Be amazing fast! Progressive (sorry, no drop-ins).
3 Sundays: Sept 15th (4-6pm) + 22nd (2-6pm!! Double!! Starts at 2pm!!) + 29th (4-6pm)
Gently accelerated. Immersive. Intensive. Be amazing fast! Progressive (sorry, no drop-ins).
Location: Studios 353 • 353 West 48th St, Floor 2, Studio 3
Instructor: Ken Kreshtool. "The best instructor I've ever had in anything." —Harvard Univ. students 6 years in a row.
Instructor: Ken Kreshtool. "The best instructor I've ever had in anything." —Harvard Univ. students 6 years in a row.
ADV. WCS FOR ADV+ LINDY TEACHERS & EQUIV.
Postponed - new date TBA
In-depth Advanced WCS moves & skills & ideas — adaptable back into Lindy Hop in whole or part. Example: 100 Reverse Whips (Rev.SwingOut); 100 Advanced Folds & Wraps & Roll-In/Roll-Outs; etc.
Postponed - new date TBA
In-depth Advanced WCS moves & skills & ideas — adaptable back into Lindy Hop in whole or part. Example: 100 Reverse Whips (Rev.SwingOut); 100 Advanced Folds & Wraps & Roll-In/Roll-Outs; etc.
SCROLL for FULL DESCRIPTION & VIDEOS
WCS BEGINNER/ADV.BEGINNER BOOT CAMP – 8 hours!
Sun. Sept 15: 4-6pm (2 hours)
Sun. Sept 22: 2-6pm (4 hours! Double session (with a break)! Bring extra water & shirt! Maybe a snack.)
Sun. Sept 29: 4-6pm (2 hours)
PRICE:
• Early Bird (until 9/12 11:59pm): $168
• Regular: $178.
Instructor: KEN KRESHTOOL. "The best instructor I've ever had in anything." –Harvard Univ. students' comments 6 years in a row, while Ken was in a PhD program there. (For videos of Ken dancing with Paula Wilson, scroll down.)
Location: Studios 353 • 353 West 48th St, Floor 2, Studio 3 (betw 8th & 9th Ave, closer to 9th), Manhattan NY
No prior experience or partner needed. If you have prior dance experience, we'll use that to maximize your learning, drawing on the things that are similar, and being very careful about the things that are different!
Class size strictly limited to 16 due to room size – we want lots of room to move while learning!
Be amazing, super fast! An 8 hour accelerated, intensive crash course. We'll focus immediately on the things that empower you to dance WCS all night with everyone of every level, with confidence, comfort and joy!
All the true building blocks, all the basic & intermediate moves (patterns), powerful partnering skills & technique, and sweet styling. Gently accelerated for fastest & best learning. We'll focus on easy, brilliant partnered movement, to create WCS's cool moves so easily, it's almost magic! With lots of freedom for musicality and expression.
WCS is surprisingly easy and fast to learn … if you start smart. Nearly everything in WCS is a matter of just a few "building blocks" that we mix and match. And a few super helpful "partnered movement" skills to make everything work smoothly. Once we have that, we use it to construct all the basic and intermediate moves ("patterns" in WCS-speak), and we're ready to add sizzle, styling, fancier variations, and musicality! So fast and easy this way!
Sun. Sept 15: 4-6pm (2 hours)
Sun. Sept 22: 2-6pm (4 hours! Double session (with a break)! Bring extra water & shirt! Maybe a snack.)
Sun. Sept 29: 4-6pm (2 hours)
PRICE:
• Early Bird (until 9/12 11:59pm): $168
• Regular: $178.
Instructor: KEN KRESHTOOL. "The best instructor I've ever had in anything." –Harvard Univ. students' comments 6 years in a row, while Ken was in a PhD program there. (For videos of Ken dancing with Paula Wilson, scroll down.)
Location: Studios 353 • 353 West 48th St, Floor 2, Studio 3 (betw 8th & 9th Ave, closer to 9th), Manhattan NY
No prior experience or partner needed. If you have prior dance experience, we'll use that to maximize your learning, drawing on the things that are similar, and being very careful about the things that are different!
Class size strictly limited to 16 due to room size – we want lots of room to move while learning!
Be amazing, super fast! An 8 hour accelerated, intensive crash course. We'll focus immediately on the things that empower you to dance WCS all night with everyone of every level, with confidence, comfort and joy!
All the true building blocks, all the basic & intermediate moves (patterns), powerful partnering skills & technique, and sweet styling. Gently accelerated for fastest & best learning. We'll focus on easy, brilliant partnered movement, to create WCS's cool moves so easily, it's almost magic! With lots of freedom for musicality and expression.
WCS is surprisingly easy and fast to learn … if you start smart. Nearly everything in WCS is a matter of just a few "building blocks" that we mix and match. And a few super helpful "partnered movement" skills to make everything work smoothly. Once we have that, we use it to construct all the basic and intermediate moves ("patterns" in WCS-speak), and we're ready to add sizzle, styling, fancier variations, and musicality! So fast and easy this way!
ADV. WCS for ADV+ LINDY HOP TEACHERS & EQUIV
Postponed - new date TBA
Prerequisite: You teach Lindy Hop, or you compete at major Lindy Hop weekend events in Advanced, All Star, or Invitational. Or equivalent. Class size will be very small.
Instructor: KEN KRESHTOOL. "The best instructor I've ever had in anything." –Harvard Univ. students' comments 6 years in a row, while Ken was in a PhD program there. (For videos of Ken dancing with Paula Wilson, scroll down.)
Ken dances WCS and some Lindy Hop, and teaches WCS. Ken sez, "I'm assuming your Lindy Hop is better than mine, and I am grateful that you are willing to join me for this. If I bungle anything I say about Lindy Hop, please jump in and correct me! I look forward to a mutually respectful and joyful workshop with all of you!"
Where do you find new ideas that are completely compatible with Lindy Hop – its spirit, structure, history? If the OG Lindy Hop folks had a few more years, I think these are some moves and ideas they would have come up with. Natural extensions of what they were already doing when Lindy Hop went dormant after WWII.
WCS — especially the “classic WCS” that we will work with — has been operating like a secret R&D laboratory for Lindy Hop ideas for the past 70 years. It is like a huge secret library, just waiting to be raided and brought into Lindy Hop life. Yes, yes, WCS looks different, very flattened and “white,” and the music and some recent fads in WCS are exceedingly strange. But the magic bones are there. In fact, the 'flatness' of WCS makes its structural bones easier to see and easier to adapt. I'd like to work at that level.
Please let me show you. We'll first learn in the context of Advanced WCS, because WCS is pretty fun. And we'll try to make time to adapt everything back into Lindy Hop. Our goal is for these workshops to be doubly useful.
• Topic A, in depth - Probably the huge, infinitely variable family of "Reverse Whips" aka "Inside Whips" — easily adaptable back into Lindy Hop in whole or in part. Emphasis on the 'building blocks' that we mix-and-match to construct all the moves from, as well as many example moves.
• Topic B, in depth - Probably Wraps, Folds & Roll-in/Roll-outs, Rib-Catches, Behind-the-back Whips/SwingOuts (different from the one in current use in Lindy Hop) – incl Adv. exit options. Includes safe hammerlocks. Might include Rock-n-Go. Emphasis on the 'building blocks' that we mix-and-match to construct all the moves from, as well as many example moves. Or Ducks, Rides, Pivots, One-foot Spins. We'll ask participants for their input and suggestions.
• Topic C, Optional: Anything in the 3 videos below that you would like to know more about? We can do that.
Postponed - new date TBA
Prerequisite: You teach Lindy Hop, or you compete at major Lindy Hop weekend events in Advanced, All Star, or Invitational. Or equivalent. Class size will be very small.
Instructor: KEN KRESHTOOL. "The best instructor I've ever had in anything." –Harvard Univ. students' comments 6 years in a row, while Ken was in a PhD program there. (For videos of Ken dancing with Paula Wilson, scroll down.)
Ken dances WCS and some Lindy Hop, and teaches WCS. Ken sez, "I'm assuming your Lindy Hop is better than mine, and I am grateful that you are willing to join me for this. If I bungle anything I say about Lindy Hop, please jump in and correct me! I look forward to a mutually respectful and joyful workshop with all of you!"
Where do you find new ideas that are completely compatible with Lindy Hop – its spirit, structure, history? If the OG Lindy Hop folks had a few more years, I think these are some moves and ideas they would have come up with. Natural extensions of what they were already doing when Lindy Hop went dormant after WWII.
WCS — especially the “classic WCS” that we will work with — has been operating like a secret R&D laboratory for Lindy Hop ideas for the past 70 years. It is like a huge secret library, just waiting to be raided and brought into Lindy Hop life. Yes, yes, WCS looks different, very flattened and “white,” and the music and some recent fads in WCS are exceedingly strange. But the magic bones are there. In fact, the 'flatness' of WCS makes its structural bones easier to see and easier to adapt. I'd like to work at that level.
Please let me show you. We'll first learn in the context of Advanced WCS, because WCS is pretty fun. And we'll try to make time to adapt everything back into Lindy Hop. Our goal is for these workshops to be doubly useful.
• Topic A, in depth - Probably the huge, infinitely variable family of "Reverse Whips" aka "Inside Whips" — easily adaptable back into Lindy Hop in whole or in part. Emphasis on the 'building blocks' that we mix-and-match to construct all the moves from, as well as many example moves.
• Topic B, in depth - Probably Wraps, Folds & Roll-in/Roll-outs, Rib-Catches, Behind-the-back Whips/SwingOuts (different from the one in current use in Lindy Hop) – incl Adv. exit options. Includes safe hammerlocks. Might include Rock-n-Go. Emphasis on the 'building blocks' that we mix-and-match to construct all the moves from, as well as many example moves. Or Ducks, Rides, Pivots, One-foot Spins. We'll ask participants for their input and suggestions.
• Topic C, Optional: Anything in the 3 videos below that you would like to know more about? We can do that.
CLOTHING & SHOES & HYGIENE
• Wear clothing. Preferably comfortable. Bring an extra shirt and change into it as needed.
• Wear comfortable shoes that let you pivot. Suede or hard-leather soles are good. Most dance-sneaker or plastic soles are good. Grippy rubber soles like on running shoes are bad. High heels and Salsa shoes: not good for WCS; flats or low heels are much better. Character shoes: marginal; your feet will probably hurt after 30 minutes.
• Deodorant & fresh breath required. Bring a clean shirt and change into it as needed.
• Please do NOT wear perfume!
• Please do NOT use hand moisturizing lotion immediately before class (ick slippery).
• NO BLACK SOLED SHOES! Studio requirement — they leave streaks. If that's all you own, wear socks or nylon thingies OVER your shoes. (Exception: Official "dance sneakers" with plastic (nylon) black soles should be OK.)
• RAIN & SNOW: Bring clean, dry shoes and change into them at the door, to protect the nice wood floors.
NOTE: Full refund available if you test positive or show any symptoms before class of cold, flu, allergies, COVID. Please stay home if sick. If you come to class sick, we will have you wear a bag over your head for the health of your fellow classmates. (Does anyone actually read this far?)
• Wear comfortable shoes that let you pivot. Suede or hard-leather soles are good. Most dance-sneaker or plastic soles are good. Grippy rubber soles like on running shoes are bad. High heels and Salsa shoes: not good for WCS; flats or low heels are much better. Character shoes: marginal; your feet will probably hurt after 30 minutes.
• Deodorant & fresh breath required. Bring a clean shirt and change into it as needed.
• Please do NOT wear perfume!
• Please do NOT use hand moisturizing lotion immediately before class (ick slippery).
• NO BLACK SOLED SHOES! Studio requirement — they leave streaks. If that's all you own, wear socks or nylon thingies OVER your shoes. (Exception: Official "dance sneakers" with plastic (nylon) black soles should be OK.)
• RAIN & SNOW: Bring clean, dry shoes and change into them at the door, to protect the nice wood floors.
NOTE: Full refund available if you test positive or show any symptoms before class of cold, flu, allergies, COVID. Please stay home if sick. If you come to class sick, we will have you wear a bag over your head for the health of your fellow classmates. (Does anyone actually read this far?)
YOUR TEACHERS
Ken Kreshtool: Internationally ranked West Coast Swing competition dancer. International West Coast Swing instructor. "The best instructor I've ever had in ANYTHING!" — Harvard University students' comments, 6 years in a row, for his on-campus dance classes (while working on a PhD there). Ken is compressing what he has learned from over 200 dance teachers into the best classes you'll find anywhere.
Ken danced Ballroom for a few years, then Lindy Hop for about 10 years, including attending Swing Out New Hampshire (SONH) for 7 years, and was in SONH's top level is his final year there. Ken started WCS in about 2007 to add vocabulary to his Lindy Hop, and has kept going with it ever since. He also has advanced degrees in law, psychology, and education policy.
Paula Wilson [not teaching this session]: Internationally ranked West Coast Swing competition dancer. Graduate of the Alvin Ailey School's Professional Division. Professional modern dancer and internationally traveling Argentine Tango teacher for 12 years. Award-winning former early childhood education teacher.
Some videos of us. These are pure improvisational lead-follow dancing — we are making it up as we go along. Not choreographed, not rehearsed. Typically for a demo like this, we hand the DJ a playlist of songs and say "you choose - play any one of them."
Ken danced Ballroom for a few years, then Lindy Hop for about 10 years, including attending Swing Out New Hampshire (SONH) for 7 years, and was in SONH's top level is his final year there. Ken started WCS in about 2007 to add vocabulary to his Lindy Hop, and has kept going with it ever since. He also has advanced degrees in law, psychology, and education policy.
Paula Wilson [not teaching this session]: Internationally ranked West Coast Swing competition dancer. Graduate of the Alvin Ailey School's Professional Division. Professional modern dancer and internationally traveling Argentine Tango teacher for 12 years. Award-winning former early childhood education teacher.
Some videos of us. These are pure improvisational lead-follow dancing — we are making it up as we go along. Not choreographed, not rehearsed. Typically for a demo like this, we hand the DJ a playlist of songs and say "you choose - play any one of them."
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WHAT IS WEST COAST SWING?
In very short: West Coast Swing (WCS) is Swing and Lindy Hop moves done to R&B and contemporary Pop music.
Here is a really good introductory video — a compilation of short clips of various top Champions each dancing to a different genre of music, put together by a fellow in Barcelona.
Here is a really good introductory video — a compilation of short clips of various top Champions each dancing to a different genre of music, put together by a fellow in Barcelona.
More thoroughly: West Coast Swing (WCS) is a partner dance, a smoother and highly sophisticated descendant of Lindy Hop style Swing dance. Lindy Hop was born and reached its highest peak in New York's Harlem — a Black American dance. And it spread world-wide during the WWII era. WCS spun off from Lindy Hop in California during the post-WW II decades when Lindy Hop itself went dormant for about 50 years. WCS has continued evolving dramatically even today, adapting to new music and new dancers. Over the years, it has "borrowed" (stolen and adapted) almost every cool move, turn, dip, and styling from Lindy Hop, Salsa, Hip Hop, Country, and booty-shakin', and even some Ballroom, Zouk, Tango and Blues. West Coast Swing has one of the biggest vocabularies of moves and combinations of any partner dance — and the widest range of music styles. At the same time, WCS is more "conversational" between the partners, and WCS Followers have more freedom for improvisation than in almost any other partner dance. WCS is the easiest of the Swing dances to learn (if you have the right teachers — that's us!), while remaining one of the most fun and challenging to fully master. Come get in on the fun!
FAQ: World's best WCS group classes?
Are these NEW YORK CITY'S best West Coast Swing (WCS) classes?
Yes. We teach very differently, focusing on the simple core *partnered movement* skills and elements that we mix & match to create 95% of WCS's moves & patterns. Why? Because this is how good WCS dancers actually dance with you! WCS is so much simpler than most teachers make it out to be. Our students are out dancing with joy and confidence all night immediately.
In short, these are the best West Coast Swing classes in New York.
Are these the WORLD'S best WCS group classes?
We're going to say yes.