“TNGSDC” OR NEXTGEN? The legal name of the club is “The Next Generation Swing Dance Club”. We often refer to the Club by it’s nickname “Next Gen”, especially in conversation or more informal documentation. We will sometimes also use the abbreviation “TNGSDC”, and our first website used the domain “tngsdc.org”.

At the original meeting of interested dancers, in 1989, suggestions for possible Club names came down to a vote between “The Next Generation Swing Dance Club” or “Rock n’ Rhythm Swing Dance Club”. The final vote was 27 to 25, in favor of TNGSDC. TNGSDC was suggested by Steve Wong, an avid Star Trek fan. Steve got the idea from a conversation he had with one of the older swing dancers who told him she was glad to see that the next generation of swing dancers had come along to keep swing dancing alive.

A group of swing dancers all learned to dance at the Avenue Ballroom in San Francisco around 1986. Many of these dancers did not realize for a long time that there were other places to swing dance in the Bay Area. As people began to discover other dance venues, an informal phone network developed to pass along information.

In November 1988, Kelly Buckwalter and Dominic Yin competed at the U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships in Anaheim (and won the Classic Division); about 40 swing dancers from the Bay Area went to cheer them on, wearing t-shirts designed by Steve Wong and Rosemary Zachary that said “Swing Dancing. The Next Generation, Into the 21st Century.” This group had a very noticeable presence at the US Open but did not have an official identity. At historical swing dance conventions, dancers had to be members of swing dance clubs to enter some competitions (club membership is no longer a requirement to enter competitions). This requirement prompted interested dancers to develop an official identity by forming a club.

The Board of Directors oversee all club activities – including running our regular monthly dances, and overseeing the organization and execution of our annual convention “Boogie by the Bay”.

Board members are elected by club members, for the following positions annually: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Director, up to five Independent Directors, and up to seven committee directors.

All club members are welcome to attend board meetings, please contact the club president for details. Please contact any board member if you would like to get involved.

West Coast Swing, the State Dance of California since 1989, is a form of swing dancing that evolved on the West Coast in the early 1940s from the Lindy Hop and Jitterbug of the 1920s and 1930s. Unlike other forms of swing dancing with circular patterns, West Coast Swing is danced in a linear slot, allowing a large number of dancers to pack a dance floor. The basic patterns (underarm pass, side pass, push break, whip, etc.) are 6 or 8 counts long, and there are hundreds of intermediate and advanced patterns and syncopations of various lengths, providing endless variety in an evening of dancing.

Nobody knows for sure who created the dance. Some claim the dance evolved by necessity in overcrowded California dance halls during World War II. Others credit Dean Collins for creating slot patterns to keep dancers within camera range. Dean was a legendary Lindy dancer who came to California in the late 1930s and choreographed most of the swing dancing performed in Hollywood movies during the next two decades. Some give at least partial credit to Laure Haile, who developed the first syllabus of steps for the Arthur Murray Studios in the mid-1940s based on what she saw the street dancers doing. We do know that it has its roots in Lindy Hop. Whatever its origins, the dance was known as “Sophisticated Swing” or “Western Swing” until the 1950s, when the dance was renamed “West Coast Swing” as a parallel to “East Coast Swing” and to distinguish it from Country-Western dancing.

Absolutely! This dance is incredibly popular all over the world, with dancers across Europe, Asia, South America, Oceania, as well as Canada and the US.

There are other swing clubs only a short distance from San Francisco – for example, The Capital Swing Dancers in Sacramento, the Santa Cruz Swing Dance Club, and the North Bay Swing Dance Club in Santa Rosa. Some of our members attend their dances, and some of their members come to ours, and some dancers belong to multiple clubs.

There are also several WCS events each week – check out our calendar for more details. Lindy classes and other swing dances are also offered throughout the San Francisco Bay Area (check out sites.google.com/bayarealindyhopandswingevents for details).