ORIGINS OF SWING
Whether it is Lindy Hop, Charleston, Shag, Balboa, East Coast or West Coast, it always swings.
Swing dancing developed out of the Jazz dances of the 1920s and without it there would have been no Rock and Roll or Jive. Furthermore, Swing is alive and (Charleston) kicking today with multiple international competitions and dance camps held every year. Many UK cities have a Swing scene with classes and social dances, because, after all, Swing is a very social dance: you change partners every three minutes!
During the 1920s Harlem became a cultural centre for black Americans. Harlem was where a people ostracised from white society could live and work with greater acceptance. African-Americans migrated to Harlem from all over the United States and it was here that Lindy Hop originated as a reaction and rebellion against ballroom dancing—a genre danced almost exclusively by the white population. Unlike ballroom, Lindy Hop is danced in a relaxed, slightly hunched over stance with bent knees and allows for, even encourages, improvisation.
Lindy Hop is not just a lively, social and flexible dance but it is also important for the way it broke through the race barrier in a period when segregation was the norm. The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem was where Lindy flourished. The Savoy was one of the few racially integrated ballrooms, allowing people of any ethnic background to dance, be inspired and share moves.
It was there that Frankie Manning and his partner Freda Washington wowed the audience with the first ‘air steps’ (where one of the dancers, usually female, flies through the air, helped by her partner.) The Savoy was also the place where the Lindy Hop found its name. In 1927 Charles Lindburgh made the first ever solo flight from New York to Paris and it was this ‘hop’ across the Atlantic that apparently inspired George “Shorty” Snowden, a popular and great dancer of the era, to say ‘Lindy Hop’ to a reporter at the Savoy who asked what was the name of the crazy dance so many people were doing.
Swing dancing developed out of the Jazz dances of the 1920s and without it there would have been no Rock and Roll or Jive. Furthermore, Swing is alive and (Charleston) kicking today with multiple international competitions and dance camps held every year. Many UK cities have a Swing scene with classes and social dances, because, after all, Swing is a very social dance: you change partners every three minutes!
During the 1920s Harlem became a cultural centre for black Americans. Harlem was where a people ostracised from white society could live and work with greater acceptance. African-Americans migrated to Harlem from all over the United States and it was here that Lindy Hop originated as a reaction and rebellion against ballroom dancing—a genre danced almost exclusively by the white population. Unlike ballroom, Lindy Hop is danced in a relaxed, slightly hunched over stance with bent knees and allows for, even encourages, improvisation.
Lindy Hop is not just a lively, social and flexible dance but it is also important for the way it broke through the race barrier in a period when segregation was the norm. The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem was where Lindy flourished. The Savoy was one of the few racially integrated ballrooms, allowing people of any ethnic background to dance, be inspired and share moves.
It was there that Frankie Manning and his partner Freda Washington wowed the audience with the first ‘air steps’ (where one of the dancers, usually female, flies through the air, helped by her partner.) The Savoy was also the place where the Lindy Hop found its name. In 1927 Charles Lindburgh made the first ever solo flight from New York to Paris and it was this ‘hop’ across the Atlantic that apparently inspired George “Shorty” Snowden, a popular and great dancer of the era, to say ‘Lindy Hop’ to a reporter at the Savoy who asked what was the name of the crazy dance so many people were doing.