Dance Links
West Coast Swing Dance Organizations
Skippy Blair's Swing World Includes:
- Universal Unit System®
- Golden State Dance Teachers Association
- National Dance Dynamics® Judges Certification Board (Approved in 2002 by the World Swing Dance Council as the official judging certification
- 22 Foundation Patterns and Techniques in West Coast Swing
World Swing Dance Council
National Association of Swing Dance Events
Swing Dance Events
SwingDiego San Diego's Premier West Coast Swing Dance Convention. Held each January.
U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships
Dallas Dance (Labor Day weekend)
In Western US
Greater Phoenix Swing Dance Club
Seattle Swing Dance Club
Strictly Swing New Mexico (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
The Next Generation Swing Dance Club (San Francisco Bay Area)
West Coast Swing Dance Club (Whittier, CA)
Articles
West Coast Swing "22 Fundamental Patterns" by Skippy Blair: A list of the fundamental patterns and techniques in West Coast Swing that forms a syllabus for learning West Coast Swing. This is what Mary's teaching is based on.
Got That Swing! (PDF) An article on technique by Mary Manzella
Information Sources (North County and San Diego)
History of Swing Dancing
Historic photographs of swing-era dancers and musicians
http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3wcs1.htm
Note: Mary Manzella has known or has met and can tell you about many of the people discussed in these articles as being influential in the development of swing dancing. Mary met and can tell you about Dean Collins and Lauré Haile. Skippy Blair, who has been the single greatest influence on west coast swing from the 1950s through the advent of funky west coast swing, is Mary's current dance mentor.