Lead projection in West Coast Swing is the technique of foreshadowing the upcoming movement (pattern) through positioning within the slot, adjusting the pitch, rotation, etc at the end of previous movement. Lead Projection is also sometimes referred to as "pre-leading" or "slot dynamics". > This is written in the spirit of “Thinking in public” > It is by no means an authoritative guide, but more of a snapshot of my (intermediate, 75% lead) current understanding of the idea. Feedback & contributions are welcome! Why * This leads to one pattern influencing the next, giving a consistent flow to the dance. * Reduce the amount of work/force required to lead any given pattern - as the follower is already partially prepared for the movement - only a very light lead is required. * Reduce cognitive load for both leader and followers by constraining the space of possible patterns. * Give follower more time to figure out appropriate styling based on upcoming movement. If the follower knows (roughly) what pattern is coming next, it is easier for them to plan musicality and variations that are compatible with the next pattern. * When follower does the projection - it allows them to request the (characteristics of) next pattern * By picking their own position, the follower can put the partnership in new configurations that the leader might not have in their vocabulary, or encourage the leader to pick specific moves to match the music. * It also helps leaders to determine how ready a follower might be for a certain move. For example, over-rotating the follower preps them for rotational movement coming next. If when you're trying to over-rotate them they stay more square - that's a sign that you should probably try leading something more linear in the next pattern. How You create a projection by adjusting your position, pitch or rotation at the end of preceding pattern (~through last 2 counts of it). Projecting Direction People often talk about slot as "train tr

Hi, welcome to Modern Swing Forum, here are some of the reasons I've made it: * I want there to be a place where someone can go and excitedly tell everyone about a dance concept they just learned (deepening their understanding of it in the process) * I want there to be a place where people brag about a new drill they came up with that finally made them internalize stretch * I want there to be a place where people share on how they used a VR headset to create delayed replay mirror to give themselves better visual feedback loop (post incoming) * I also want to easily find the best WCS content people have created * Finally, I want there to be wiki page where someone would tell me where to find a microwave for the event hotel I'm in 👀 What are some core principles for MSF (Modern Swing Forum) Focus on evergreen content There are several active online WCS communities out there (WDoD, r/WestCoastSwing). By the most part the interactions in those spaces take a form of Q&A. It's valuable to have that, and the community derives a lot of interesting insight that way. But it also tends to be ephemeral: * Questions tend to repeat * There is only that much time and effort people are willing to put into a comment I'd love for there to be a space where focus is more on evergreen content - where people come to share their models and their best understanding of how this dance works. Building a durable set of shared concepts and ideas over time. So an interaction mode I'd like to encourage here is more like "I think Lead Projection is cool - let me research a bunch and write and article about it" vs asking "What is a lead projection?". Though the latter can serve as an inspiration and a source material for the former The key difference here is depth of engagement and internal motivation on the part of the content creator. You're writing about a concept because you find it interesting and were motivated to go deep on it vs responding to a question generated by another