Single Swing—

In the 1920s, swing dancing emerged as young people moved to the jazzy, bluesy, big band music of the time. In round dancing, the dominant swing rhythm is East Coast or triple swing. However, the figures that we use have mostly come from International style, competition Jive, and most of our cue sheets identify these dances as "jives." There has been some effort to distinguish between triple-swing and triple-jive, with jive being faster, bouncier, and more in place, and swing being slower and with more travel during the triples.

Single Swing is certainly not as common as the triple style, but there are a few perennially popular Single Swings, and Roundalab has begun to standardize and to list some Single Swing figures. Actually, any triple swing figure or jive dance can be danced as a Single Swing. Simply dance each triple or each chasse as a single slow step. Each 6-count figure changes from a rock, recover, and two triples to a rock, recover, step, step (QQSS), four steps over the six beats of music. So visit the Jive page to see many more figures than are listed here, and make the timing conversion yourself. Dance with soft knees, with forward poise, and on the balls of the feet. The music is often fast, but the "slow" counts give the dance an easygoing, swaying, bluesy feel.

Single Swing traditionally consists of six-count figures only, QQSS, as described above, but round-dance choreographers have (of course!) gone beyond this repertoire to include eight-count and even longer figures. But the use of longer figures in single swing has not been standardized and now our conversion formula breaks down. By the "single swing rule," a link to a whip turn (in triple swing: 123&4; 123&4;) would be danced in single swing QQSQQS (still 2 measures). But a single-swing whip turn might alternatevely be danced QQSSSS. If the music is particularly fast, this timing would be more comfortable, or the choreographer might simply want the more easygoing feel. Of course, the whip turn is now 2 1/2 measures long, so you have to know what the choreographer wrote; you can't just dance it "to cues." For another example of a longer figure danced with two different timings, see the pretzel turn below.

In addition to Triple Swing (Jive) and Single Swing, there is (less common still) Double Swing, with six steps or actions over the six beats: rock L, recover R, press L, step L; press R, step R, (QQQQQQ) (of course, the woman begins with her right foot). I don't think I have ever seen a round dance choreographed as a double swing, but I did once see a triple jive danced with some double swing styling. The press actions were done as little, stabbing kicks into the floor: rock, recover, kick, step; kick, step. It looked very good.