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Resources |
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Swing Dance Styles |
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General Information |
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A
Short Note on the History of Dancing in America
The
Origins of Swing Dancing
What Styles
of Swing Dance Do the Hepcats Teach? |
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Swing Dance Styles |
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Info on swing dances taught by the
Hepcats:
Lindy Hop;
Balboa;
Charleston;
Collegiate Shag
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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.
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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! |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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The Hepcats provide instruction primarily in the original
swing dances of the 1930's: Lindy Hop and Balboa. |
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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! |
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| 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 a t
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 comm emoration 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 danc ing
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 creative
energy came to be known as the "Lindy Hop", it
 should 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.
Rendezvous BallroomBy 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 .
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.) 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. 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 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.
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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).
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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.
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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. |
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For questions or information about Hepcats activities,
contact Mike Richardson,
859-420-2426; or
info@Luv2SwingDance.com. |
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