Dance slot

In slotted dances, the dance slot is an imaginary narrow rectangle along which the follower moves back and forth with respect to the leader, who is more or less stationary.

Slotted dances include: West Coast Swing, Dallas Push, Houston Whip, Supreme Swing in Tulsa, Imperial Swing in St. Louis, Alcatraz in New Orleans, Carolina Shag, DC Swing^[1], as well as variants of other dances, such as Salsa or Hustle, that may be performed in a slotted style as well.

As a rule, the leader mostly stays in the slot as well, leaving it only to give way for the follower to pass him. The leader almost never makes the follower to circle around when passing by. They may go into a common rotational figure when the follower happens to come close, but such figures are usually in a tight position and do not change the overall "slotted" appearance.

Factors that have often been accounted as conducive for developing a dance style as a slotted dance include:

1. Making a dance more fit for shows.
2. Coping with limited space for dancing.

Notes on West Coast Swing family of dances

Although most of the above mentioned dances belong to the "West Coast Swing family" of dances, they may have developed independently. The differences have been both acknowledged and listed; "Swing Dance Encyclopedia" by CoupleDanceWorld lists the differences among the dances.^[2]

The most typical slotted dance is West Coast Swing. The origin of this style is uncertain. There are two main theories. By one of them, the slotted style was born in Hollywood: the directors supposedly wanted to keep dancers in a straight line all the time to keep the profiles of both dancers in the sight, which would show most of action, as opposed to rotational styles, when much of the time one sees the back of one dancer to occlude the second one. Another story is that during jazz concerts the fans were dancing in the aisles (which are actually slots), and the style stuck. Still another one is that this style emerged in densely packed nightcubs. None of the stories, however reasonable and convincing, has a solid confirmation.

References

1. ^ Swing Dancer - A Swing Dancer's Manual. Craig R. Hutchinson. 1998 Version 1.17. Pontiac Swing Dance Club. page 5.1-6. ISBN 0-9620617-0-0
2. ^ Swing Dance Encyclopedia. Thomas L. Nelson. 2008. second edition. Authorhouse. page 6.218.??? ISBN 978-1-4343-5960-5