What to wear to your first west coast swing class

3 min readJun 16, 2023

How did you first see west coast swing? For me, it was at a country bar during the hip hop sets and I immediately thought, “I want to learn that!” For others it’s a social dance class at their university. Or maybe it’s a friend that has gotten hooked and brings you along to try out something new. Regardless of how you found your way to it, we can’t wait for you to start learning. West coast swing is an extremely rewarding style of dance, and our community just keeps growing.

If you’re in the Austin, Texas area, Austin Westie Academy offers beginner classes every week! Come join us for our Foundations class to dip your toes into west coast swing. (Check out our website for class time, price, and location: https://www.austinwestieacademy.com/)

But the question we hear all the time is, “What do I wear??”

In short, whatever you want! For an intro level class, don’t overthink the outfit. Just pick something casual and comfy that you can move in! Jeans 👖 , shorts 🩳 , T-shirts 👕, skirts 👗, leggings… It’s all fair game. For some general guidelines, here are our recommendations for the Austin Westie Academy team (with Liz as our fierce model):

Avoid wearing something that makes additional noise or can easily get snagged. Liz’s belly dance skirt sure is fun, but definitely not a good fit for west coast swing.

2. You don’t need to dress up to go to a dance class! No matter how much Liz is killing this look, high heels and a fancy dress aren’t practical for west coast swing.

3. More casual skirts and dresses are less common but absolutely still an option! If you choose to go that route, depending on the length just consider wearing something underneath so you can spin to your heart’s content without worrying about the skirt floating up.