History of Swing

Swing dancing is a favorite American pastime, and it recently experienced a resurgence in poularity. Where did it come from? what makes it so poular?

The history of swing dates back to the 1920's, where the black community, while dancing to contemporary Jazz, discovered the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. On March 26, 1926, the Savoy Ballroom opened its doors in New York. The Savoy was an immediate success with its block-long dance floor and a raised double bandstand. Nightly dancing attracted most of the best dancers in the New York area. Stimulated by the presence of great dances and the best bands, music at the Savoy was largely Swinging Jazz. To this day, the Lindy is possibly the only dance in the world to evolve almost completely in one contained space.

The Lindy Hop developed and grew through a series of competitions, where partners would make up new steps to defeat each other. Within a short amount of time, the Lindy Hop was an increadibly energetic, imporvisational dance incorporating Big Band sound, jazz harmonies and jumping steps. The origin of the name is legendary - one evening in 1927, following Lindbergh's flight to Paris, a local dance enthusiast named "Shorty George" Snowden was watching some of the dancing couples. A newspaper reporter asked him what dance they were doing, and it just so happened that there was a newspaper with an article about Lindbergh's flight sitting on the bench next to them. The title of the article read, "Lindy Hops The Atlantic," and George read that and said, "Lindy Hop," and the name stuck.

The Lindy Hop was the first dance to include swinging one's partner into the air, as well as jumping in sequence. Upon careful consideration, many American experts are now proclaiming this dance the true "grandfather" of Swing.

In the mid 1930's a bouncy six-beat variant was named the Jitterbug by band leader Cab Calloway whn he introduced a tune in 1934 entitled "Jitterbug." With the discovery of the Lindy Hop and the Jitterbug, the communities began dancing to the contemporary jazz and swing music as it was evolving at the time, with Benny Goodman leading the action.

Once Swing was established, it went on to take many forms. Two of the most notable forms are the East Coast Swing and the West Coast Swing, so-named after the developments that each part of the U.S. gave to the dance. Other dances that sprang from swing were the Jitterbug, Push, Whip, Shag and Imperial styles.

An early divergence occurred when frisky Frank Manning debuted the first aerial move (a back-to-back flip) at a Savoy contest against teammate "Shorty" George Snowden. From that ecstatic moment (and the roar of crowd approval), many teenagers began to explore acrobatic dance possibilities, or aerials as they are called today. Others, including Shorty George, dedicated themselves to floorwork. In the '90s repeated surgeries have prompted some of the most gifted professional aerialettes to give up the drastic stuff. However, aerials in varying degrees remain to this day the inviolable birthright of the young at heart.

It should be noted that Frankie Manning is still teaching swing dancing today... all over the world... at the age of 95!