After 5: West Coast Swingin'

Cool. Smooth. Sexy.

These are the three characteristics that West Coast swing is meant to embody, says Dave Lutz, a psychologist who teaches at Missouri State University.

Lutz and his wife, Ellen McLean, are two of the many after-five dancers in the area who practice the style, one that combines the steps of standard Lindy hop and the sultry elasticity of hip-hop.

McLean, who acts as executive director of the Missouri Psychological Association, says she loves West Coast swing because of its flexibility.

"It's one of the hardest dances to learn, but ... it's also one of the most interesting," she explains. "It's not (routine), where you repeat (the same step) 400 times and go home."

McLean and Lutz first danced in 2007 at Swing Springfield, a club organized by Andy and Anne Walls, owners of Dance With Me. The couple hosts a weekly club session, teaching styles from swing to salsa for a bargain $8, in addition to giving private lessons.

Andy Walls says West Coast swing has recently become one of the most popular dancing styles in Springfield, though it's been popular elsewhere for decades. "That's Springfield," he says jokingly, "about 20 years behind the curve."

"A lot of the appeal in dancing is obviously the music," Walls explains. West Coast swing can be done to anything with a blues beat. Beyond R&B, that includes country, pop and rock genres - a versatility that helps the style appeal to a broader demographic, he notes.

West Coast swing is also a favorite because it can be easily danced in a crowded bar or club. Other swing is often performed in big circles and with big lifts, but the West Coast version is a "slotted dance" that a couple can do on a door-sized bit of floor, says Mark McArtor, an army sergeant stationed at Fort Leonard Wood.

"No matter where you go in the city, you can do it," McArtor says.

"It's the sexy version of swing," he adds, one that allows the dancer to exude his or her personality, be it provocative, fun-loving or anything else.

Donna Watkins, owner of Hairy's Salon in Lebanon, is attracted to the West Coast swing because it can be personalized. "It's one of the most fun because it draws things out of you," she says.

McArtor and Watkins met at a dance workshop in Springfield and travel into the city to dance. Though McArtor has been dancing for twice as long at 12 years, the two have no trouble gliding into an impromptu West Coast swing at Bruno's downtown restaurant, where Swing Springfield takes place on Wednesday nights.

Watching them and other couples do the West Coast swing is like seeing traditional swing dancing done in the confines of a Thomas Hart Benton painting: They endlessly flow and sway as they rock-step and twirl.

Two couples recently highlighted the style in the 2008 season of reality TV show "Dancing With the Stars." After singer Toni Braxton did the West Coast swing with partner Alec Mazo, one of the judges remarked that the biggest difficulty "is making it look so easy."

Anne Walls, who during the day is a graphic designer for Moore Printing Co. Inc., says West Coast swing is her preferred style. "It gives me a voice in the dance," she explains. "A waltz is a waltz anywhere, but West Coast swing is different everywhere, even though the rules are the same."