Ah ha! That explains it! I was unaware you were in a different country. Many decades ago, a version of swing was introduced to Australia & New Zealand that goes by the name Rock N Roll, which has since evolved on its own. I am largely unfamiliar with that branch of swing, as we don't do it here.
Mostly the reason why the dance examples I've shown have the dancers moving in less space is because, as social dancers, they're used to crowded dance floors and it's considered rude to take up too much of that floor. So it's not that any style of dance has bigger steps than another, it's just courtesy that the steps are as short as possible. If you notice in the professional cha cha dancers, although they rarely do the basic step, they do an awful lot of steps that take them several feet away from where they started. That's only because they have the floor to themselves and can afford to show off extended arm and leg lines, not because there's any particular set distance that the steps are supposed to move them in.
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Re: Hustle
Date: 8/25/13 04:50 am (UTC)From:Mostly the reason why the dance examples I've shown have the dancers moving in less space is because, as social dancers, they're used to crowded dance floors and it's considered rude to take up too much of that floor. So it's not that any style of dance has bigger steps than another, it's just courtesy that the steps are as short as possible. If you notice in the professional cha cha dancers, although they rarely do the basic step, they do an awful lot of steps that take them several feet away from where they started. That's only because they have the floor to themselves and can afford to show off extended arm and leg lines, not because there's any particular set distance that the steps are supposed to move them in.