Swango

Our dance teacher Melissa has learned yet another dance for us…Swango! Gary and I have wanted this dance for awhile now. First we ordered a CD and tried to teach ourselves. Swango is a combination of west coast swing and Argentina tango. We know WCS but not tango. We taught ourselves a move. It was OK, but something was missing.

Then we gave the CD to Melissa. We hate doing this because Melissa has enough on her plate without us trotting out yet another dance…and she’s already learned and taught us rockabilly and numerous moves we’ve sent her via youtube. But in the end we did ask, because we knew she would make us look beautiful and she graciously agreed.

The way we learned the move was clumsy and awkward compared to her delicate yet powerful interpretation. Now I’m seriously wrapping one leg around Gary’s and then flicking the other through his feet. Wow. We can’t wait to learn more!

It’s a fun respite to all the jumps and dips we’ve been learning. Swango has reminded us that dance progression is not all about leaps.

Some WC swingers think Swango is dumb. Some tango folks say its sacrilege. But I think Swango is a lovely amalgamation of two dances.