This is a game changer.
It's time. Let Swing Literacy help you discover what's actually possible for your West Coast Swing.
Is this you?
West Coast Swing brings you joy, you want to keep it in your life.
You're doing your best to take teachers' advice, and to practice your drills.
You want to be more expressed in your dance, but also want more partners to be excited to dance with you.
But you still struggle...
"I'm craving some kind of structure to help me organize and actually use all the random advice I have collected"
"I feel lost and confused by conflicting ideas - I'm not sure which to believe or what to focus on to improve."
"I feel like I should be progressing faster than I am. There must be a better way, or something I'm missing."
"I feel like a robot, just marching around. I want to be able to express myself more and feel like I'm really dancing."
"I feel like workshops and intensives just scratch the surface - I want more, and I have so many questions..."
"I loved the community learning environment in the Challenge and the mini-course and now I'm craving it"
We get you!
Never fear - Swing Literacy solves all of these issues and many more!
End the struggle and #trainWCSsmarter
There is a way to make training your West Coast Swing more efficient, effective, and fun, so you can develop your skills smarter, faster, and easier.
This game-changing method makes a profound difference in your WCS dancing and learning, regardless of your chosen style or philosophy.
Introducing the
Swing Literacy Development Method
Way beyond a workshop...way beyond a theory...
A comprehensive program that delivers
a powerful, progressive, and most importantly, proven method to learn WCS
that solves your learning frustrations and
rescues you from your struggling...
...like a Superhero!
How does it work?
There was a problem:
When we first started teaching WCS way back when, we followed the model of our own (awesome) teachers, and didn't question if it was the best method - it was just the method we were used to. But something never felt right. Something was missing, and we felt there must be an easier way.
We solved it:
So we started borrowing pedagogical methods from Tessa's training in teaching school and coaching sports. We taught the same West Coast Swing that everyone knows and loves. We just changed HOW we taught it and the order we taught it in.
The Results:
Several years of research and testing proved that our evolving method was way more effective than the way we were taught, and way more fun for our students. Students in group classes, workshops, and private lessons were improving faster AND having more fun learning! We even used these methods to accelerate our own progress, launching us to Champion level in both improvisation and choreography competition.
The Final Product:
We really wanted to share this method so everyone can enjoy the same results and help West Coast Swing grow strong and healthy around the world! We knew it was going to revolutionize the way people learn WCS, so we didn't just create a workshop or an intensive - we produced an entire certification program for teachers, called the Swing Literacy Teacher Development Program. If you are a teacher, check this program out instead.
It has been so successful all around the world, we created a version just for DANCERS!
Not just another "style"
Swing Literacy method is style-agnostic: It is the physical pedagogy that is the underpinning for all styles. First, we transform how you think about learning dance. Then once you understand the method, we coach you to discover the missing tools that have been holding back your dance.
Way more than a workshop
The Dancer Development Program is not as simple as an intensive. This is a program of study for serious dancers of any level (beyond beginners) that consists of online coursework, feedback, coaching, and certification that you can complete at your own pace.
DIY, group learning, or VIP
Choose either the DIY self-guided study version, or join in a group-learning Bootcamp, or apply for the VIP version that includes a complete roadmap, remote coaching and customized bonus material. In any version, you can start now and see results this month!
Unleash your dancing superpowers
We’ve consolidated and refined our 40+ years of experience and many thousands of dollars in teacher trainings and tailored it to West Coast Swing to create a concentrated, powerful learning resource that will...
...permanently upgrade your dancing within days.
Right from the first chapter, you’ll feel a paradigm shift in your thinking about learning to dance. After just a handful of hours, you’ll have a much deeper understanding of the dance, and a powerful set of tools you can put to use immediately.
Sam Jackson
I immediately saw results after taking the SLDM. For the first time in my (substantial) dance experience, I had a coherent and structured approach to learning dance. I had gained knowledge and skills that I feel would have taken many years to develop by any other method. Each new topic in the SLDM felt like a revelation, impacting my classes, as well as my own dancing, significantly.
Jen Malcolm
Life before Swing Literacy was frustrating!!! I was doing poorly in competition and was not exactly the most popular dancer on the social floor. After 2-years of rarely making finals in Novice, I started working with Myles & Tessa. I jumped from Novice to Advanced in just 1 year (6 events)!!
M&T's Swing Literacy system is brilliant. I can see many more “Tessons” and “Mylestones” in my future."
What is the Swing Literacy effect?
Imagine...
Even superheroes need coaches
Here are yours:
Myles Munroe
Myles brings a lifetime of dance background, including classical solo dance training, Ballroom, Salsa, Theatre Arts, and 6 UCWDC World Championship titles, He also brings Karate, Wing Chun Kung Fu, Jiu-Jitsu, golf and motorcycle racing to the table, and considers himself an eternal student of manipulating kinetics for sport and art.
Myles is so passionate about improving his craft, he literally has a tattoo that reads, “Technique prevents the body from limiting the soul’s expression”. His studies in all of these non-dance fields, along with being classically trained and studying the inner workings of over 20 different dances, is a huge part of what made it possible for him and Tessa to create Swing Literacy.
Tessa Cunningham Munroe
Tessa’s academic background started with competitive swimming, where she received National Coaching Certification, created a Coach Training Program, graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Kinesiology, and started an Olympic-track coaching career, all before returning to school to complete her Bachelor of Education.
Tessa has been professionally practicing physical education, movement analysis, and pedagogy for the past 30 years, and this constant training in “how to teach” was the other huge factor that allowed Myles and Tessa to create such a powerful and effective suite of programs (Swing Literacy).
As currently active, highly decorated WCS Champions and master teacher trainers, Myles and Tessa have traveled the world accumulating, studying, and analyzing a variety of teaching resources in order to narrow down the elements the most successful ones all have in common. Myles and Tessa hunt for the best and worst methods available, analyze why they work (or don't), and diligently research and test any new methods against physical education best practices, to produce a current, curated, comprehensive collection. Through teaching thousands of group classes and private lessons, and a variety of workshops and intensives, they have already tested their methods on real students many thousands of times.
Swing Literacy is the product of all of this research and development.
“We are in the business of R&D for teaching West Coast Swing, and making Swing Literacy the gold standard for West Coast Swing teaching.” - Myles and Tessa
The clear curriculum and training program you've been looking for.
Here are some of the key takeaways you’ll get from the Swing Literacy Dancer Development Program:
Relief from overwhelm
Solve all your technique confusion once and for all so you can decode any instructors’ advice and leverage it to learn more advanced material.
Figure out what to prioritize
Learn what you should be spending your time and effort to work on first to make the biggest improvement impact on your dance
Learn skills faster
Improve your ability to learn faster so that you can get more value out of any workshop, video, or lesson.
Relief from overwhelm
Solve all your technique confusion once and for all so you can decode any instructors’ advice and leverage it to learn more advanced material.
Figure out what to prioritize
Learn what you should be spending your time and effort to work on first to make the biggest improvement impact on your dance
Learn skills faster
Improve your ability to learn faster so that you can get more value out of any workshop, video, or lesson.
Conquer "Quality of Movement"
Drastically improve your “quality of movement”, so you get more recognition from more experienced partners, peers, and judges.
Own your dance
Finally be able to “feel like you’re dancing”, comfortable, self-expressed, and musical instead of just marching through patterns.
Get more fun dances
Be able to survive and compensate for any social dance partner, (without sacrificing your own fun) and become one of the most desirable, social dance partners in your region.
Conquer "Quality of Movement"
Drastically improve your “quality of movement”, so you get more recognition from more experienced partners, peers, and judges.
Own your dance
Finally be able to “feel like you’re dancing”, comfortable, self-expressed, and musical instead of just marching through patterns.
Get more fun dances
Be able to survive and compensate for any social dance partner, (without sacrificing your own fun) and become one of the most desirable, social dance partners in your region.
Plus a community you'll love
Hisaki
Minoda
Swing Literacy Bootcamp was the light that enriched my life the most in Corona time! Nowhere else can you learn WCS in total, and it's a great tool for someone in a small community like me here in Japan who doesn't have the opportunity to get new knowledge and dance every week with coaches. It is a precious place with friends from all over the world. We have a guidebook and community packed with the resources we need. Experience the amazing verbalization of WCS. I recommend it!
Rae Bailine
This Swing Literacy program is 1,000% worth it! I cannot even begin to tell you guys how much value I found out of this Bootcamp. I can't have imagined going through quarantine without it. With WCS, I felt like I just jumped into the middle and have been looking for a breakdown of everything - this gave me the info I needed to understand the root of the movements and get it into my body. My perspective of dancing has changed - I feel like my eyes were only cracked open, and now they are half open and I can start to see more of what's going on.
Jasper LaFortune
Swing Literacy was the missing piece in my dance education. So many blocks in my dance growth I didn't understand until I took this course. I find myself going now back through all my previous lessons and advice and using Swing Literacy to figure out how it all fits together. This experience has also changed my practice habits. Before, I had no idea how to practice. Now I have a social group I practice with and they keep me motivated to keep improving. This was a unique and invaluable service. 100% worth it.
What's Inside:
The Dancer Development Program
digital course
6 Modules included:
- Don't just learn more about how to dance - use the science to learn more efficiently by learning how to learn
- Learn a way to build skills progressively to develop your movement fluency, which is the quality-of-movement you've been craving
- Learn how to better prioritize, structure, and optimize your practice habits so you can be confident you are not wasting time
- Discover what foundational physical skills you might be missing that is holding you back in your development at any level
- Get detailed explanations of how to develop each skill, and the recommended sequence for each
- Solve all your technique confusion once and for all so you can decode any instructors’ advice and leverage it to learn more advanced material
- Get a much clearer picture of what “quality of movement” means at your level, and ways to improve it in your dance
- Discover and practice the surprisingly under-taught partnership skills that every West Coast Swing dancer needs to learn to have amazing dance conversations at any level
- Get detailed explanations of how to develop these skills, in a strategic sequence
- Get a much clearer picture of exactly what “connection" entails, and exactly what your partner needs from you and how to provide it
- Solve all your connection confusion once and for all so you can decode any instructors’ advice and leverage it to learn more advanced material
- Get the fundamental Music theory all WCS dancers need to know, sequenced in a way that makes it easier to learn
- Learn how to strategically practice listening to music no matter what your musical background is
- Learn how to effectively practice musical movement both solo and with a partner
- Manipulate your movements to "play" with features in any genre so you can access musicality no matter what level you are
- Dissect how patterns are constructed, so you can efficiently break down and teach yourself any pattern
- Make standard WCS patterns function and feel better
- Organize the patterns and styling you already know so you can recover your investment and regain mental bandwidth for more
- Make better decisions while dancing so you can feel more musical in the moment and have a more balanced partner conversation
- Learn the real history of our dance and essential cultural skills all West Coast Swing dancers should know so you can feel more connected to West Coast Swing
- Learn how to adapt, survive, and compensate for any social dance partner without sacrificing your own dance, and become one of the most desirable, successful social dance partners in your region
- Learn ways to get a better perspective and train smarter for competition so you can trust your skills, enjoy it more, and thrive
- Find out how you can be a positive influence on your community and start a growth spiral
Plus get LIVE coaching during our next Bootcamp:
included for FREE with your purchase:
The next DDP Bootcamp
Offered 1-2x/year
Make it official
The Bootcamp provides the practical component required to complete your Swing Literacy Dancer Certification you can add to your resume and upgrade in the future.
Happy campers!
Hear what a few of our Bootcampers had to say at the end of our Social-DisDancing Bootcamp
I was blown away by how well M&T were able to teach remotely. By demoing over video and working with the partner I wrangled to assist, they were able to diagnose and correct many (so many!) things in my dance. Surprisingly, I was also able to learn several new skills that I previously assumed required hands on training, and their frequent comp and social dance video reviews confirmed that I was on the right path.
Aaron Abramowitz
Since working with Myles & Tessa in my Fast Track Coaching program, I feel like I have cracked a "glass ceiling" that until now was unavailable to me. I feel much more confident in my ability to follow higher level dancers, I move more gracefully and interpret the music more creatively. I'm enjoying my dancing more than ever and see this enjoyment reflected back to me from my partners on the dance floor.
Ruth Cnaany
"Swing Literacy has changed my entire perspective on how I look at not just West Coast Swing but all Dancing in general. As someone who has spent years practicing and thousands on lessons in both Ballroom and WCS, I can honestly say that this is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to learn how to dance. Thank you so much M&T for all of your dedication to not just dance but to the art of teaching it as well."
Glenn Clark
How much is a permanent upgrade in your dancing worth to you?
How much is it worth to you to stop struggling to improve and
start thriving and loving your own dancing?
12 months from now, how would you feel if your dance looked and felt
exactly the same as it did before the pandemic?
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this program just for newer dancers, or would it be relevant to a seasoned competitor?
The Dancer Development program is incredibly relevant to experienced dancers. Regardless of your past education, it is a unique method that requires training to understand and put into practice. Your years of experience might make you quicker at learning it, but they don't exclude you from getting an immense value from the training, because the content is not something you have likely studied before. You would be surprised how much of your dance is simply "surviving" when it could be "thriving".
How does this compare to your Teacher Development Program?
Everyone starts with the Swing Literacy Dancer Development Program, but the newly upgraded teachers' version contains additional teacher materials and assignments on how to develop dancers smarter. The Bootcamp version also includes a Teachers Lab: live weekly teacher coaching.
Upon completion of the Dancer Development Program, teachers continue to the Teaching Impact Practicum, which is a separate course for more applied skills on implementing their Swing Literacy skills into their teaching, structuring their class series, planning their lesson content, practical dance pedagogy, and optimizing marketing efforts.
How long does it take to complete?
It depends on how focused and motivated you are. The DDP takes about 40 hours. There are 6 Modules with 4-6 Lessons each. Each lesson might take 20-60 minutes to work through, some with a short quiz at the end. Each Bootcamp, focuses on a different part of the DDP.
What kind of assignments and testing will I have to do?
In the DDP, all of your coursework is online, inside this website. You will be able to progress at your own pace, and return to re-read material. Each lesson requires you to answer a few multiple choice questions in order to access the next lesson. There is no final exam.
Can't I just download the videos and do it offline?
No: The program is not just a bunch of instructional videos. The DDP takes advantage of the power of a digital course. It includes mostly written material, supported by videos, images, article links, and interactive quizzes to create a more thorough and balanced learning experience than simply reading a manual or watching a video.
Can I just take the Bootcamp and not the Dancer Development program?
No. The Bootcamp is simply a delivery method of the DDP - the Bootcamp doesn't exist on its own. It's like a book club - there's no point in showing up to the meetings if you have no intention of reading the book.
What happens after the Bootcamp?
When you complete all 6 Modules of the DDP, you will receive Swing Literacy Dancer Certification.
Teachers enrolled in the DDP Teachers' Track continue on to the Teaching Practicum (Bootcamp or self-study)
You will have 3 years access to the Dancer Development Program website and the Bootcamp Facebook group. After that, members get ongoing access in Momentum (membership exclusive to alumni).
Benefits | 6 Private Lesson package |  |
|---|---|---|
Personal diagnostics & detailed corrections | Limited | |
Prescribed video feedback on both practice drills and social/comp dancing | Limited | During Bootcamp |
Coaching: Zoom or Live | Limited | During Bootcamp |
Developmentally appropriate skill progressions & drills to prioritize what you need to improve most efficiently | Limited | |
Techniques, Tactics, and Strategies for all fundamental WCS skills that often get skipped or not detailed in classes or workshops | Limited | |
3 year access to online multimedia course | ||
34 Lessons on how to optimize dance learning you can use to augment any other teachers’ information | ||
30 lessons on the hard-to-find details of WCS technique for personal movement skills | ||
34 lessons on the hard-to-find details of WCS technique for partnership movement skills | ||
23 Lessons on how to master pattern skills rather than just collecting a pattern library | ||
21 lessons on developing musicality skills specific to WCS | ||
21 lessons on survival tactics for social dancing | ||
10+ M&T Instructional Videos and recorded workshops | ||
Audit and upgrade of your skills inventory | ||
Audit and upgrade of your patterns & styling inventory | ||
Swing Literacy Dancer Certification | ||
Dedicated practice groups with peers trained in feedback exchange | ||
Purchasing Options |
Join thousands of dancers worldwide enjoying progressing faster, feeling better, and excited about learning!
The Swing Literacy program for me was like a eureka moment, finally understanding what I had been missing. Having a path connecting the common ideas together, often in logical, causal ways, creating real understanding, gives a real level of confidence to build my dance on. I couldn’t recommend this course more highly, to both existing teachers and students alike. The ideas and concepts in the material are so effective and make so much sense, one might wonder why this isn’t the standard for all.
- Ian Manson
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