Resources


Swing Dance Styles


General Information

A Short Note on the History of Dancing in America

The Origins of Swing Dancing

What Styles of Swing Dance Do the Hepcats Teach?

Swing Dance Styles

Info on swing dances taught by the Hepcats:
Lindy Hop;  BalboaCharlestonCollegiate Shag
 

One note before proceeding to the information below - learn the original swing dances, especially Lindy Hop and Balboa.  In swing dancing, you can't separate the dance from the music.  Learning and becoming proficient at Lindy Hop and Balboa will help you connect to the music and gain a much greater appreciation for the dance itself.  
     

Yes, it's true, at most Hepcats events (and at lot's of other swing dances), the pre-dance lesson is often a "step, step, rock step" type of lesson.  But that lesson is designed to get those up on the dance floor that have never danced before or that have very little dance experience.  So as you progress, don't settle for anything less than the original swing dances: Lindy Hop and Balboa!  

A Short Note on the History of Dancing in America

     Despite Puritan disapproval, there had been dancing in America since Colonial days.  A very formal and rigid code of propriety governed the types of dances and the behavior of the dancers.  Americans emulated the European cultural prototype, and did their best to dance and dress in the styles of Paris and London.  Americans were painfully aware that Europeans considered them rough-hewn and socially unskilled.  The presentation of a ball was a serious social ritual with an intricate and highly formalized etiquette.  Dances consisted mostly of private balls and affairs, danced in the European tradition.  The music at these dances consisted of mostly European music, methodically based and with a highly formalized structure.
 
     But with the arrival of ragtime music in the 1890's, this formal code of dancing began to erode.  The new ragtime music was intoxicating to dance to, since it featured both a rhythmic beat and a syncopated melody.  Many late Victorians found it refreshing and an electrifying reprieve from the antiquated waltzes, schottishes, and quadrilles they had grown up with.  As ragtime music spread, so did the desire for dances that reflected the new and emerging styles of music.
 
     Thus, the American approach to dancing began to take serious shape at the beginning of the 20th century. A prevailing national sentiment developed that America should make a clean break with the past, be progressive and develop its own cultural identity.  The lore of the American pioneers, with their independence and freedom, was popular in the press at that time.  Americans grew less embarrassed about their differences from European culture, and increasingly proud of their uniqueness.
 
      As Americans began to feel comfortable with their identity as a melting pot of diverse cultural influences, they began to question (as did some Europeans) the validity of dance forms so inescapably bound to tradition by their relatively limited form and style.  As a result, American dance gradually became a synthesis of European, African, Caribbean and Latin American influences.  In addition, Americans also began to emphasize creative personal expression in their dancing, along with the informal adaptation of steps from one dance into another.  As a result, innovation, creativity, and improvisation became major characteristics of American dancing.

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The Origins of Swing Dancing

     Swing dance locates its roots and origins in the spontaneous dances of gifted improvisers to the music of Ragtime Piano, Jazz, and Dixieland, beginning roughly at the turn of the 20th century.  The roots for this music is primarily in "The South", in areas such as New Orleans, although cities such as Chicago, Kansas City and New York also played a part in the early development of swing.  Given its evolution from American Jazz music, swing has deep historical roots in American music and dance history.  In fact, just as Jazz is often noted as America's most important contribution to the world of music, swing dancing has been called America's most important contribution to the world of dance and was the first dance invented entirely by Americans.
 
      In the 1910's and 1920's, the African-American community, primarily in the larger metropolitan areas, began dancing to a music form that was a synthesis of contemporary music. This included Jazz music (an expressive and rhythmic mixture of Irish and African-American music forms), Ragtime (which emphasized a lively and syncopated melody line), and the Charleston. The dance that evolved from that process later became known as the "Lindy Hop".

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What Styles of Swing Dance Do the Hepcats Teach?

     The Hepcats provide instruction primarily in the original swing dances of the 1930's:  Lindy Hop and Balboa. 
      A quick note on dance styles.  Although the Hepcats teach the original 1930's styles of  swing dancing, we also believe in adapting and developing swing dancing.  After all, improvisation, creativity and innovation are the hallmarks of American dancing!
     A caveat before we proceed.  Any attempt to define the exact development of a particular style of dance or music (or indeed, of any art form) is an inexact science.  It is important to keep in mind that swing dancing and swing music, like any artistic genre, represent the sum of many parts.  Swing reflects the culmination of many different factors, influences and mutations.  The development of swing dancing certainly includes geographical developments and distinctions that occurred in parallel and concurrently.  The information on this web page is based on a variety of readings, research and experience. 

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Lindy Hop

     The Lindy Hop was developed primarily in New York City by African-Americans aThe historic Savoy Ballroom a part of swing dance History. Known as the Home of Happy Feett the Savoy Ballroom.  The Savoy Ballroom opened on March 26, 1926 in the Harlem district of New York City.  Of course there were other ballrooms in New York City, the Alhambra and Roseland, among others.  But the Savoy was an immediate success with its block-long dance floor and a raised double bandstand.  Legend has it that in the mid 1920's, dancers at the Savoy Ballroom were dancing the Charleston and incorporating elements from other popular dances of the day, to include the Texas Tommy, the Black Bottom and the Cakewalk.

     The Lindy Hop was born when dancers began using breakaways during partner Charleston dancing.  This breakaway eventually became what is known as the Lindy Hop swing out or whip.  The name Lindy Hop was  supposedly given to this dance in 1927 at the Savoy Ballroom, in commemoration of Charles Lindbergh's famous solo flight across the Atlantic.  The first aerial or air-step was performed by Lindy Hop Legend Frankie Manning at the Savoy Ballroom in 1935 during a dance contest.

     Nightly dancing at the Savoy attracted most of the best dancers, both black and white, in the New York area.  Stimulated by the presence of great dancers and great bands, music at the Savoy was largely a swinging type of Jazz.  Creativity mushroomed because of the diversity and a new generation of dancers emerged.  Chick Webb and his orchestra were the house band at the Savoy.  Their job was to hold their ground, as bands came to the Savoy to square off in "The Battle of the Bands", where each band would do their best to outdo the other.  The dancers did their best to keep up with their lightening tempos and intricate solos.  At Saturday night competitions, the dancers competed with each other throughout the night, inspiring even greater creativity and energy.
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     The Lindy Hop quickly began to spread all over the U.S.  By the late 1930's and through the 1940's, the terms Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Swing were used interchangeably by the news media to describe the Lindy Hop style of swing dancDancing at the Savoying taking place on the streets, in the night clubs, in contests, and in the movies.  The August 23rd, 1943 edition of Life magazine even declared the Lindy Hop as the "national dance".  With influences that originated in the Charleston, traditional West African dance styles, and a variety of European social dances, the Lindy Hop included not only partner dancing, but also individual solos and line dancing.  The Lindy Hop quickly spread all over the U.S. and overseas, influencing and reflecting the development of many regional styles of swing dance.  Lindy Hop eventually evolved into many variations of swing dance, to include West Coast Swing, Boogie Woogie, etc.  

     While the dance that evolved from all this creativeDancing at the Savoy energy came to be known as the "Lindy Hop", it Dancing at the Savoyshould be remembered that during this early development of Swing dancing, there were certainly many different styles of now unnamed and undocumented swing dance.  With all the creative talent in the Savoy Ballroom, one would not expect to find a homogeneity of style on a 4000-capacity dance floor, but instead, limitless combinations of various contemporary popular dances.  

    
Defining Lindy Hop from a technical or stylistic perspective can be difficult, because Lindy Hop is not primarily defined by counts, stylings, moves or patterns.  Lindy Hop is defined by the music, and the music defines Lindy Hop.  Indeed, Lindy Hop is all about dancing to the music.  As the original swing dance, Lindy Hop is not based on imitation but on creation.  Lindy Hop is best thought of as a creative, energetic, free-spirited partnered dance.
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     But any art form needs a frame of reference in order to provide context.  So here goes.

     Technically, the Lindy Hop has an 8 count basic step: 1,2 (normally step, step for the follower); 3and4 (triple step); 5,6 (step, step); 7and8 (triple step).  The Lindy Hop consists primarily of 8 count patterns, but is a versatile dance that can easily incorporate 6 count patterns.  The Lindy Hop is often defined by it's "swing out " or "whip" type basic pattern.  For its basic patterns, the dancers' "frame" in Lindy Hop is more of a rectangular and elongated shape, given that the leader and follower often spin simultaneously on an axis.  This axis also tends to stay more in one place and not move around the floor.  If the dancers are offset (i.e. looking over each other's shoulders), the frame can easily collapse due to uneven weight distribution.   

     Stylistically, the Lindy Hop is danced using a low, loose-legged posture, a low center of gravity, with bent and elastic knees.  Various kicks and Charleston type patterns are often incorporated into the Lindy Hop.  An attractive and key feature of the Lindy Hop as a partner dance is that it includes the flexibility for freedom of musical expression, creativity, innovation and improvisation, not only as a partner dance, but also for individual solos.

     The Lindy Hop is probably the most advanced form of swing dancing from the perspective of the "lead and follow" skills and techniques necessary for musical expression.  The Lindy Hop is one of the few partner dances that allows the lead and follow the freedom to stylize movements within the framework of the musical phrasing.  This freedom is very attractive to dance partners once they progress beyond the basic level of experience and expertise.  
 
     Utilizing intermediate and advanced "lead and follow" skills and techniques, movements in the Lindy Hop are best done in relation to the music.  The lead "feels" the music and creates for the follow an environment with which she can use improvisation and creativity to manage her movements, but at the same time employing good follow techniques.  This is a somewhat hard concept to "master" given that one never totally masters "lead and/or follow" skills and techniques, but merely obtains additional experience.  But the rewards are tremendous for those that try and achieve any level of success!

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Balboa

     Tradition holds that Balboa was developed primarily in the Southern California/Los Angeles area in the 1930's, as a result of very crowded dance floors in ballrooms.  The dance was named after Balboa Island in the Newport Beach area which was the location of the Rendezvous Ballroom.  The dance is known for its closeness, fast and fancy footwork and effortless looking flow and an overall look optimized for fast swing music.  By the mid 1930's, it was not unusual for ballrooms to host dances for 3,000 or more people.  (The photo to the right shows about 6,500 dancers at the Palladium Ballroom in Los Angeles dancing to the Glenn Miller Orchestra in the late 1940's!)  As ballrooms became more and more crowed, dances like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop became less practical; some ballrooms even instituted "no breakaways" policies to prevent injuries. 

     After a while some of the original Balboa dancers grew tired of doing just pure Balboa and started to introduce fancier variations which forced the close connection to be broken.  Today, this is often called Bal-Swing.  In this form anything goes: spins, turns, dips, tricks, slides, etc.  Bal-Swing variations keep the overall style, feeling, and framework of the original dance with recognizable Balboa footwork. 

     Balboa's popularity diminished in the post war years, although it was kept alive by many of the original dancers, such as Maxie Dorf, Willie Desatoff, Hal Takier and Ann Mills, to mention but a few (for which the swing dance community owes them a tremendous debt!).  The dance was "rediscovered" by Sylvia Sykes and Jonathan Bixby in the 1980's (the dance also benefited from the swing dance "revival" of the 1990's).  They learned from many of the original dancers, to include Maxie Dorf, considered to be the King of Balboa.  (Maxie Dorf was part of a very popular dance troupe in Southern California in the 1930's called the Ray Rand Swingers.)  Because of it's simplicity and economy of movement, Balboa is well suited for dancing comfortably to faster tempo music, i.e. 190 to 250 beats per minute or higher.  This has meant that Balboa is sometimes thought of as a fast dance.  Indeed many of the original Balboa dancers could dance at extremely fast speeds, but they also liked to dance Balboa to slower music.

     Balboa is very popular with swing dancers today.  The original or "pure" Balboa is danced in closed position, with a fairly upright posture and with the dance partners' torsos touching.  Most of the variations in "pure" Balboa are footwork based.  Balboa has an 8-count basic pattern not like the traditional Lindy Hop basic pattern.  Balboa looks like cartoon dancing, with lots of fancy footwork, feet using a "shuffle" type basic that hardly leaves the floor.  The upper body remains still and the dance does not normally travel much around the room on the social dance floor.   

     Balboa is a great dance for songs as slow as Tuxedo Junction or as fast as White Heat!  Check out the Balboa Nation web site for more info on all things Balboa.

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Charleston

     The Charleston dance became established (worldwide) during the Ragtime-Jazz period.  The series of steps are thought to have originated with African-Americans living on a small island near Charleston, South Carolina. The Charleston was performed as early as 1903 and made its way into Harlem stage productions by 1913.  In 1923, it was introduced to the theater going public at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York, when the "Ziegfeld Follies" staged a dance that featured the Charleston.  The dance was an immediate hit.  
 
      In the 1920's, women who did the Charleston were called "Flappers" because of the way they would flap their arms and walk like birds while doing the Charleston.  Many college students of the period, mostly men, wore raccoon coats and straw hats when doing the Charleston.  Many saw the Charleston and Flappers as the downfall to many moral issues of the day.  In 1925, Variety Magazine reported that in Boston, the vibrations of Charleston dancers were so strong that the dancers caused the "Pickwick Club" (a dance hall) to collapse, killing fifty people.  In many dance halls, signs were posted that stated "PCQ" (Please Charleston Quietly).
 
     By 1926, the Charleston had been replaced by other popular dances of the day.  Charleston-style dance patterns and steps (often called Lindy Charleston) are very popular today with Lindy Hop swing dancers. 

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Collegiate Shag

     Collegiate Shag is a dance that is thought to have evolved from the Charleston and originated in the South.  It was popular in the 1920's and 1930's with college students.  Collegiate Shag is normally danced to a six count basic step pattern.  It may be danced in both closed and open position and is often danced to faster swing music.  Collegiate Shag basically consists of hopping type steps, instantly recognizable by the flicking of the feet backwards and sideways with a pronounced hopping action.  Collegiate Shag was so popular that in the late 1930's even Arthur Murray began to teach a "toned down" and more "proper" version of Collegiate Shag.
 
     Collegiate Shag is a very aerobic and energetic dance that experienced a revival in popularity in the 1990's and is popular with swing dancers today.  If you've ever seen cartoons which show dancers pressing their faces and torsos together while their feet move fast underneath them, that's the Collegiate Shag style of swing dance. 

Check out the Collegiate Shag web site for more info on this dance.

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The Hepcats only teach the original swing dances of the 1930's/40's.  We sometimes get questions about other styles of swing dance. 
For information about other swing dance styles, click here.


For questions or information about Hepcats activities, contact Mike Richardson, 859-420-2426; or info@Luv2SwingDance.com.


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