In slotted dances, the dance slot is an imaginary narrow rectangle within which the
follower moves back and forth in relation to the
leader
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
, who is comparatively stationary.
Slotted
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
s include: West Coast Swing, Dallas Push, Houston Whip, Supreme Swing in Tulsa, Imperial Swing in St. Louis, Alcatraz in
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, Carolina Shag, DC Swing, as well as variants of other dances, such as
Salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (food), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
Arts and ent ...
or
Hustle, that may be performed in a slotted style as well.
As a rule, the leader mostly stays in the slot, leaving it only to make room for the follower to pass by. The leader almost never makes the follower circle around when passing by; they may go into a common rotational figure when the follower happens to come close, but such figures are usually in a tight position and do not change the overall "slotted" appearance.
Factors that have often been looked upon as contributing to the development of slotted dance style include:
# Maximizing visibility for the audience, when a dance will be performed on the stage.
# Coping with limited space for dancing.
Although most of the above-mentioned dances belong to the "West Coast Swing family" of dances, they may have developed independently. The differences have been both acknowledged and listed; ''Swing Dance Encyclopedia'' by CoupleDanceWorld lists the differences among the dances.
[Thomas L. Nelson, ''Swing Dance Encyclopedia'', 2008, second edition. Authorhouse. p. 6.218.??? {{ISBN, 978-1-4343-5960-5]
The most typical slotted dance is
West Coast Swing
West Coast Swing is a partner dance with roots in Lindy Hop, characterized by an elastic look that results from its extension-compression technique of partner connection (dance), connection. It is danced primarily in a dance slot, slotted area on ...
. The origin of this style is uncertain. By one theory, the slotted style was born in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
: film directors supposedly wanted to keep the performers in a straight line to keep the profiles of both dancers in sight, which also helps the camera to catch the most action, as opposed to rotational styles, in which much of the time one sees only the back of one dancer with the other dancer hidden completely. Another story is that during jazz concerts the fans were dancing in the aisles (which are essentially slots) and the style stuck. Still another is that this style emerged in densely packed nightclubs. None of the stories has a solid confirmation.
References
Partner dance technique