[bigdjiver]

Originally Posted by David Franklin

Depends what you mean - from your previous postings on similar topics I am honestly pressed to think of anything danced to 4/4 music that you wouldn't consider incorporatable into MJ.

Please pay attention at the back. I have pointed out that if MJ is danceable to a count, that there is no reason for any particular interval between counts, so it follows that MJ moves are danceable even to random (within limits) beats.

I do have limits. For example I would hope that the Lindy "bum-out" would usually cost points in MJ.

But in terms of telling "does this clip look like WCS or like MJ?" - even if you only look above the waist, I think it's actually quite easy. I'd say the most obvious difference is that WCS moves use every beat, rather than MJ which only uses every other beat.

The MJ moves may be taught that way, but, to me, it looks like most dancers can do something with every beat. Perhaps that is where I am going wrong ...

At first glance, the clip might look like MJ, but listen to the beat of the music at the same time, and it's very different to what MJ would look like to the same music. The other two things I notice are more subtle, and there's some overlap between the styles, but WCS doesn't have the same 'bouncy' in-out rock-step in-between moves (though some MJ couples don't either), and it's more slotted than almost any MJ couple would dance.

I am having great pleasure researching this to try and improve my perception. However I am still seeing the WCS dancers doing in-out rock steps where it suits. I am still looking for examples done to the sme music.

There's a bit of overlap between the styles - ...

That is the second time that you have used that phrase, and my point - where is the exact boundary? Even the WCS community has some dispute over what is and what is not WCS, and the consensus has changed with time.

I am moving towards dance styles = mountains
WCS = Everest?
MJ = Himalayas?
Ceroc classes = Foothills?

...the clips with Ben Morris mentioned here are towards the MJ end of the spectrum. If you look at say Brent and Kellese's US Open routine in 2003, it's much more blues than MJ - moreover, 90% of that routine is in the footwork - take that out and you'd be left with almost nothing.

Interesting - so is "blues" part of WCS? Can "blues" be part of MJ? Can MJ be a generic term? Can we inject more triple steps and slotted dancing into MJ and still call it MJ?

And if MJ had half the footwork in it that WCS does, I expect we'd have some MJ couples still in SDF...

You are talking to someone still considering therapy after a lesson incorporating Syncopated Butterfly kicks and a Cha-Cha move.

Thanks for the detailed reply