Product Description

The West Coast Swing Starter Pack is for any beginner dancer who is looking for a firm foundation in West Coast Swing fundamentals as well as several cool and completely leadable combinations that you simply cannot find anywhere else outside of Shawn Trautmans Dance Collection. Order today to take the dance floor by storm! This 3-DVD set includes everything a beginner would need to get on the dance floor with confidence and be able to dance with just about anyone. Key features of this set includes 4 different camera views, extended review time with music alongside the instructors, real-time practicing in the same direction of the instructors, and a proven learning system based on learning blocks and stacking information. If you are serious about learning West Coast Swing, you should not overlook this set.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84165 in DVD
• Brand: Shawn Trautman's Dance Collection
• Published on: 2006
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: AC-3, NTSC, Full length, Full Screen, Color
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 270 minutes

Features

• * Street Release Date: November 15, 2006
• * Professional and easy to follow for beginners
• * 3-DVD Set with well over 4hrs of Instruction
• * One-on-One Training with Proven Instructors

Customer Reviews

Thorough and well dissected elements of West Coast Swing.
Benji and Heidi helped bring west coast swing to a wider audience on "So You Think You Can Dance", and this set of videos can help you get started. These videos do about as good a job teaching dance without a "live" instructor. It would be best to have an instructor, but it that isn't possible, this would be the next best thing. These aren't just "move" videos, but they also discuss footwork, frame, connection, leverage, compression and all the nuances that go into leading and following a dance. If you are an experienced dancer these are probably things you already know, but if you've only been dancing a little while, or have learned socially without an instructor, this series may turn you on to some concepts that you haven't thought about. If you've never danced before, this will get you started in the right direction. A video can't look at you and tell you what you are doing wrong, but the instructions go a long way towards heading off problems you might have. The moves are easy to follow because you can position yourself in the same plane as the instructors and follow them step for step. There are also quite a few exercises that break down the moves into their component parts to help you get the feel of the music or steps without having to worry about leading or following. I'm a fairly experienced dancer, and most of this stuff I'd heard before, so I know it's a pretty thorough course. Having had classes with the Trautmans I know that they know what they are talking about. If you know some other dances and want the basics of west coast, or want to clean up your social dancing, or just learn the dance period, then these are the videos you'd want.

A great series
My wife and I are new to ballroom dancing in the last year. We've taken some lessons, but found that we needed the extra help of videos that we can use on our own schedule in our home and we've tried a bunch of them. This DVD and the whole series of new videos from Shawn Trautman have been a godsend and much more useful to us than the others we've tried. We are actually doing the dances within a short time and having fun, rather than getting aggravated with one another. Trautman's emphasis on the differing roles of leader and follower and the very clear demonstrations of those roles have helped us enormously. These DVDs include much more music and time to practice the new steps than most videos, rather than just watching an instructor do a step and go to another step. We like this video a lot and strongly recommend it. On a side note, the logistics/timing of shipping and subsequent email communications with the company were, after many frustrations with other online outfits, the best we've seen.

Best WCS instructional set
This is an excellent instructional WCS set. I have been dancing WCS for about 12 years and my fiancée wanted to learn. I knew that in order to save the relationship I should not try to teach him! (Plus I do not know how to lead). I reviewed a lot of DVDs and was most impressed by Shawn Trautman's series. WCS is a complicated (but fun) dance and it really helps to have Shawn and Joanna break down every aspect (rhythm, counts, footwork, hand holds, compression, passes, turns, etc.) My fiancée is really impressed with the quality of instruction and finds it easy to follow and learn from. If you are learning WCS I would recommend having this set at home, even if you are taking lessons. My fiancée and I find that we may go home and review something we learned at a lesson by going to that section of the DVD, or we learn a new move by practicing one section of the DVD before going to a dance. I highly recommend all of Shawn Trautman's instructional dance DVDs. Shawn and his wife Joanna are excellent teachers. Shawn does a great job of breaking down the footwork and also provides tips on style and leading. Joanna does a good job on providing info on following and style- and she makes funny comments along the way keeping it fun. They are very down to earth and personable and really care about feedback from dancers.