Looking t ur description of the sugar push, or push as u call it, it didn't seem correct to me.

The WC Swing typically starts from the open position with the man stepping back on the left foot, then back on the right, he will do a touch step in front and then step forward on the left foot, followed by a triple step (r l r)

The lady does forward on her right and left followed by a touch behind her left and then a step back with her right foot and finsh with a triple step (L R L)

Phil

Are you sure you're looking at WC Swing? We don't have a step called "Push", we have a "Sugarpush", which is step #6 in the syllabus, the one you describe below.

The ballroom community sometimes considers the Sugarpush to be the basic action, but the WC Swing community doesn't typically see it that way. Most street WC Swing dancers I talk to refuse to acknowledge the existence of a "basic step" at all, but if I push hard enough I can get them to admit that if there has to be step we call basic, it would most likely be either the Side Pass or Underarm Pass.

After collaborating with a few swing dancers on the matter, I understand that their concept of a syllabus is not necessarily to list steps in order of difficulty, starting with a perceived basic action like we do in ballroom. Instead, they think in terms of the order one might teach them in a beginning group class. And if you've ever been to a beginning WC Swing group class taught by a street swing dancer (not a ballroom teacher who knows some WC Swing), the first step you would learn would be the starter step to Throwout... Which is more or less an EC Swing basic followed by a Throwout, usually then followed by either a Sugarpush or a Side or Underarm Pass.

So to stay true to the Swing community, I have chosen to keep in step (no pun intended) with their concept of WC Swing syllabus, starting with the (1) Starter Step and (2) Throwout, then following with the basic "Passes" --(3) Left Side Pass, (4) Right Side Pass, and (5) Underarm Pass, and then finally arriving at the (6) Sugarpush.

A very knowledgeable person in matters of WC Swing is my very first Swing teacher from years back, Sonny Watson. He has a really good website dedicated to all forms of Swing, http://www.streetswing.com. Since it's technically not my area of expertise, I always refer people to Sonny and his website for more information on the matter.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Maybe the issue Phil is raising has to do with the "tap" he's describing. The website's description calls for a compact triple where he indicates a tap.

In my experience, fashions in wcs change over time and the steps are more variable than they are in the long-established ballroom syllabus. I've been taught the sugar push with a triple, a tap, and a hook step by various teachers.

My theory is that different teachers learned whatever was in fashion at the time they first learned the dance and that's what they've continued to teach!

I have had many privates to get current on WCS. I now compete and take lessons with pros that are active competitors.

Tap steps are dated and old style. Everyone is doing anchor steps now. It has been this way for years. You will place last at any WCS comp. doing a tap step. You do tap steps in the studio if you like--I did the same. And had to take many lessons to switch over to the anchor step technique and break a bad habit. You can't do lots of the WCS patterns unless you do an anchor step.

Do not take lessons on WCS from any pro that is still doing tap step-especially if you may want to compete one day or do WCS correctly.

A tap-step and a compact triple are both an odd number of weight changes bracketing one beat duration (3&4 or *-4). Very old school is to consider the tap-step the basic. More contemporary teachers consider the triple the basic, and the tap-step just a variation (and not a very interesting one at that), or even what the WCS community misnames a syncopation. That also makes the basic push and the basic pass have the same "basic" step counting (1-2-3&4-5&6).

IMHO. YMMV.
--
Ron N.

I do teach WCS. Beg level through Advanced. When teaching the Sugar Push (some now call it a Push Break, just like to mix things up) I teach the 3&4 the compact triple. This is easier to learn in the beg. If the Tap Step is taught it is difficult to get students to change to a triple. It is easy to get students that learn the Triple instead of the Tap to learn the Tap. I use it only as a variation not as a syllabus figure. The Tap step can take on a jerky look while the triple allows more Hip (swing) action. And as Ron N said "That also makes the basic push and the basic pass have the same "basic" step counting (1-2-3&4-5&6)." Lori

Thank you so much for posting this!!! I was just wondering the same thing! I'm a beginner being taught the tap step . I saw it done as a triple step instead of tap step on this site. The triple steps looks better, but now it's hard to break the tap step habit. I don't find the triple step particularly difficult to do. It' seems like just a slight variation of the triple step in ECS. I realize that one steps back during the triple step. Personally I don't like learning adapted steps, and then trying to break the habit.

Sorry, i didn't read the posts carefully. I didn't realize the tap step was an old step . I thought it was a simplification for beginners.