Comparison of Swing and Salsa

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salilsurendran

Hello Friends,
I recently started swing dancing. I was surprised to see that I could figure out Swing music in just 2 days. While dancing Swing I don't count but just feel the downbeat in the music. Compared to this I still have to specifically listen to the 2nd and 4th beats(being an on2 dancer) while dancing Salsa. In spite of listening to Salsa music for almost 2 years, I still don't feel Salsa music as much as I do Swing. If I could feel Salsa like the way I feel Swing, it would make my dancing so much better. I am wondering if this is because I started Salsa first before going to Swing, or Swing is much easier music than Salsa(just like Bachata) or it is just that psychologically, I am still trying to hard in Salsa to count or hear the beats rather than just feeling it?
 
In my mind being as On2 dancer you should feel and dance 4th and 8th count of the music. And surely find breaking step on 6th beat of music. On2 dance kind of flows through the strongest beats of the music.

It though depends on on the song how easy it is to feel the music. If you practise on2 I perhaps you try listening songs like la 33: La pantera mambo, La Excelencia: Unidad and Oscar D'Leon: LLoraras. I think those songs very different from each other all have strong feel of On2 on them and it is pretty easy to find 6th beat on them.
 
Ok my swing-dancing gf says the reason is "because swing is awesome".

salilsurendran: this is natural because of the complexity of the salsa rhythms. That's why the Salsa Beat Machine is so popular and why musicality threads are often simply about "finding the 1" in salsa. IMO it's worth doing a lot of listening to salsa to tune in your ear, then salsa can feel good and natural like swing is obviously doing for you right away.

But if swing's working for you, go for it!
 
salilsurendran said:
I recently started swing dancing. I was surprised to see that I could figure out Swing music in just 2 days. While dancing Swing I don't count but just feel the downbeat in the music.
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I am wondering what do you mean by "Swing music" and by "swing dancing" or "dancing Swing", because you know there are many Salsa dances (CrossBody, Casino, …) and they are danced on different kinds of music, and there are many Swing dances and they are danced on very different kinds of music.

You have for instance, "Lindy Hop", and many other dances danced on some kind of Jazz music, some dances danced on early Rock'n Roll, but also "West Coast Swing" now danced on different kinds of music (may vary upon the period, the fashion, the DJ).

Generally "Swing music" would refer to a particular era of Jazz music, in Swing parties one may include dancing Jazz music (also covering some Jazz music before and after that era), but of course one shouldn't use "Swing music" to qualify some music heard in "West Coast Swing" dance parties for instance.

So maybe, specifying more the dance and the music would help clarify the discussion, it's an interesting topic by the way.
 
Alias said:
I am wondering what do you mean

"swing dancing" or "dancing Swing", .



.
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Its an "americanisation " that implies E. coast swing.. other swing genres in the States are more specific.. as to the music, its very varied ( danced in three different tempi.. Single Time, Triple time, and Double time used more sparingly, for specific movements within either speed ).

At one point in time, if you lived on the E coast in the States ,that is all that was taught in most studios... and the W. coast studios would teach " W.coast" swing . Its a California "thing "... I worked around and among the people who " invented " it...
 
Terence beat me to it. :D Anytime I hear people talk about swing around here (Washington, DC, MD, VA) it's a reference to Lindy Hop (6 count, 8 count). Westies make a point of saying they're "west coast swing" dancers and don't just say they're dancing "swing."

On a side note, an instructor friend of mine did a really great job of introducing West Coast Swing to some salseros (2 group classes) because moves in WCS have counterparts in salsa. Cross body lead = left side pass. Cumbia step = anchor in place.
 
Beto said:
On a side note, an instructor friend of mine did a really great job of introducing West Coast Swing to some salseros

Cumbia step = anchor in place.
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Actually, the Cumbia basic, is similar to a Whisk in Samba thats been modified ..
 
terence said:
Actually, the Cumbia basic is a modified Whisk in Samba ..
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Don't know samba so I'll take your word for it. Anyhow in this instance I believe it helped the salseros make sense of anchoring on beats 5&6 at the end of the 6 count basic.
 
So I need to start out by admitting that I'm just an intermediate dancer, but for the last few months, I've been working a lot on musicality and feeling the music rather than just counting it. The thing that's been really helpful for me is learning more about the instruments, especially the percussion.

When I actually manage pick out the different rhythms played by the claves, cowbell, conga, etc., I not only know what style of shine I should do, but my counting also changes. I'll suddenly realize that I'm not saying "1-2-3--5-6-7" but singing the drum beat in my head. Those are the dances that feel the best. :D
 
I was looking up what country western (CW) dancing is. It is 2-step, nightclub 2-step, country swing, etc. When I watch it as a salsa dancer they look easy to do. Only different music but if you watch people dancing in real you can do it without missing a heartbeat. I didn’t know what country swing was. Here is an example of country swing dance competition I randomly found on YouTube.


Does it remind you of all the spinning and patterns in salsa ? :)

The second half is all dips and trucks. LA salsa on steroids. Everything from neck drop to aerials.
 

More than half the time they are doing lifts and tricks. I think the Cali dancers pale in comparison to how many lifts and dips the country swing people do.


Now we know where to send all those salsa leaders who want to do weird stuff when dancing. :D
 
This is really fun jive dancing. Jive the way I knew it. Very close to rock and roll dancing (still very popular in Buenos Aires).


Age no barrier to having fun :)
 
Offbeat said:

More than half the time they are doing lifts and tricks. I think the Cali dancers pale in comparison to how many lifts and dips the country swing people do.
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That music just doesn't make me want to dance. Nor does the dance they are doing seem particularly suited to such music.

Whereas the salsa popular in Cali is some of the most danceable music in the world, even if its rhythmic complexity is too much for some. And I would add some slower rhythms to it.
 
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Bostontraitor said:
West coast swing? I find it very random. I would compare Zouk to Salsa on 2 long before I compare Swing dance with Salsa.
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Mambo became popular at a time and place when lindy was very popular. In fact mambo even took a lot of moves from lindy, so to me that would be the obvious comparison.
 
DJ Yuca said:
Mambo became popular at a time and place when lindy was very popular. In fact mambo even took a lot of moves from lindy, so to me that would be the obvious comparison.
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In Saint Petersburg's renowned dance school "Casa Latina" they teach swing dances (lindy, jazz, blues), NY style salsa, Afro Cuban dances, etc. I've been to their parties where small live band plays both music for lindy and for mambo - intermixing it. Creates different vibe from usual salsa-bachata mix, a bit cooler, but much more interesting.
 
Smejmoon said:
In Saint Petersburg's renowned dance school "Casa Latina" they teach swing dances (lindy, jazz, blues), NY style salsa, Afro Cuban dances, etc. I've been to their parties where small live band plays both music for lindy and for mambo - intermixing it. Creates different vibe from usual salsa-bachata mix, a bit cooler, but much more interesting.
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Sounds amazing. And the parties must be a million times more interesting than any I've ever been to. Having a band playing music for both mambo and lindy must be a challenge - for percussion do they have a conga player and a drumkit player, the latter playing timbales patterns in the mambos?
 
DJ Yuca said:
Sounds amazing. And the parties must be a million times more interesting than any I've ever been to. Having a band playing music for both mambo and lindy must be a challenge - for percussion do they have a conga player and a drumkit player, the latter playing timbales patterns in the mambos?
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They had drumkit, organ, bass, guitar, some woodwinds and horns, and some small percussion. I don't remember details, but I found gallery from same dates when I had booking in SpB, so you can get a feel. https://www.casa-latina.ru/media/20...na-salsa-sving-zhivaya-muzyika-foto-happy-kub

If you check their other galleries you can see band instrumentation changes, but they have timbales, congas, bongos there in location, since they teach percussion as well. So depends on who's there, someone might sit in or come with their own instrument.

Живая музыка - means live music, when you choose which party to check out. https://www.casa-latina.ru/media/ I bet you'd like some of their parties. You can dress up like it's 1925 and fit right in.

I guess last 2 years nobody wanted to put pictures online. Or they moved to insta, where all clientele are.
For example this is where I found that Boris Hecha has a new band and they played yesterday https://www.instagram.com/borishecha/


I just wanted to give real example of salsa and swing dances living together in the same spacetime.
 
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