I like it without a dress. She looks great, and so do all the other girls in the WCS vids I have watched. A dress such as used in ballroom latin or salsa competitions, would hide a lot of the subtleties of the smooooth ladies hip movements that the pants really bring out nicely. WCS has a smooth element that does not typically exist in Salsa.
@mrapina In strictly competitions, you aren't allowed to wear costumes. (I just had to look up the rules myself) and most of the time WCS dancers don't wear dresses because 1. It doesn't go with the shoes (super low wide heel doesn't fit well with costumey type dresses) and 2. The synergy comes from the body movement alone. Try searching "classic" and you'll find some spectacular glittery pantsuits. I hope this helps your search!
West coast swing is all about showing off the full body. Something that a dress takes away with the flowing appeal. You go to a west coast event (as opposed to a ballroom event that has ballroom west coast) your not going to see any dresses unless its a routine if that.
To answer the question as to whether or not this was "improvised": Yes. Strictly is a social dance category involving no choreography. Of course, it's a lot easier to "improvise" when you're familiar with the song being played, as Jordan & Melina clearly were. And they did an amazing job. Oh, and I'm going to have to disagree on the dress thing. I like it much better when women wear pants for WCS. Dresses and skirts obscure the leg line.
Doing the splits in a dress is a bad idea; a dress would be inhibiting. Lindy dancers sometimes wear very full skirts with shorts underneath, but that is less sophisticated look, and is not in keeping with WCS. Take a look at some of the WCS dances posted on my video section to see WCS moves that would be quite awful if done while wearing a dress!
is this really not rehearsed? if not they probably dance together a lot. just looks too good to be an on the spot performance, unless they dance together all the time.
