Swing Dance

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Swing Dance

• Kassib-2012

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Types of Swing Dance

1. Lindy Hop
2. Balboa
3. Charleston
4. Shag
5. East Coast Swing
6. Shim-Shim
7. Big Apple

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(No Transcript)
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History of Swing Jazz Music

• Jazz had two major offshoots Swing and Blues.
• Blues Music was close to the original feel of the
  Spiritual with its emphasis on storytelling
  vocals.
• Swing Music had vocals too, but concentrated much
  more on the interweave of coordinated
  Instruments.
• The most popular dance in America is usually
  inspired by the most popular music (e.g., Disco
  music created Disco dancing).

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As Jazz Music became popular, suddenly America
had its first dance craze!

• With New Orleans as the "Cradle of Jazz",
  Dixieland music, Ragtime, Blues, and Spiritual
  music had been developing in the South for a long
  time before and after the Civil War. As freed
  slaves migrated in search of opportunity, they
  moved up the mighty Mississippi to St Louis, then
  on to Chicago as well.
• Many musicians moved from the South to Harlem,
  New York City.
• Harlem is given credit as the Birthplace of Swing
  music, the Charleston, and then Lindy Dancing as
  well during the 20's.
• However back in the 20s, there were no traditions
  in partner dancing to draw from. People danced
  freestyle as they looked for ways to express
  themselves and from this came the CHARLESTON,
  which fit the music to a Tee.

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Charleston

• A spirited dance characterized by swinging feet
  outward heel kicks, the Charleston probably goes
  back to Africa. Its American origins began on a
  small island off the South Carolina coast. World
  War I put everything on hold, but in the 20s the
  stage was set to see the Charleston break loose
  with passionate abandon as America's first dance
  craze. America had won the war, the Yanks had
  returned from Europe, the economy was booming,
  and now everyone wanted to party!
• In the beginning dancers went to the end of their
  arms, which then stretched like rubber bands to
  snap the partners back towards one another.
  After their arms got sore enough, footwork like
  the backstep, the twist, the ball-change, the
  rock step became ways to stop momentum without
  having to use arm tension.
• Recurring footwork began to develop as a natural
  way to keep their balance at the end of a move.
  For example, some basketball players know the
  exact number of steps a particular move takes
  the foot they must start with one extra step
  will allow a defender to catch up. Dance systems
  developed in the same way as dancers discovered
  precise footwork to gracefully accomplish their
  moves with an economy of effort.

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Lindy Gets Its Name!

• As Swing music developed in the 20s, so did a new
  dance, which was part Charleston, part, something
  else.
• One night shortly after Charles Lindbergh's
  historic solo flight across the Atlantic, a huge
  dance marathon was in progress at the Savoy. A
  very talented dancer was doing jumps, leaps,
  somersaults followed by sky-scraping acrobatic
  lifts with his partner. Impressed by the young
  man's skill, a reporter asked him what he was
  doing. "Hey, man, take a look, I'm flying! I'm
  doing the Lindy!" The airborne image clearly
  fit.
• Called the LINDY HOP in next day's newspaper
  write-up, America had its first Swing dance.
• Interestingly, many of todays Lindy patterns
  include all sorts of variations on the
  Charleston. It was the addition of the newer
  "Swinging" patterns plus the acrobatics and
  jumping that signified the emergence of this
  newer dance form. Inspired by the music, it
  almost seemed like the dancers were indeed ready
  to fly!

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Swing Dancing The Jitterbug

• The term SWING DANCING came along five years
  after the LINDY HOP got its name.
• The term JITTERBUG also appeared in the early
  30s.
• "The Call of the Jitterbug", but its original
  meaning was far removed from dancing. Back then
  the "Jitterbug" had darker connotations.
• A big band musician, had a trombone player who
  trembled from alcohol abuse ("bug juice
  jitters").
• Not long after the song came out, the meaning of
  "Jitterbug" shifted to become a slang word for
  "hepcat" (a musician who plays swing or jazz) and
  the type of music he played (i.e., Jitterbug
  music).
• "Jitterbug" shifted again to signify a person who
  moved his body well while dancing ("Shake,
  Rattle, Roll").
• By the late 30s the "Jitterbug" had joined
  "Lindy" to become yet another popular name for
  Swing dancing.

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WW II was the major reason that Swing dancing
became an American Dance

• The radio had already made Swing music enormously
  popular but the spread of the dancing lagged far
  behind.
• Back in the 30's there was no television to
  spread images of the dancing around the country
  quickly. However by the start of the war, all of
  the large cities had become Jitterbug hotbeds.
  When GIs, sailors, and flyers enlisted to fight
  for our country, they were sent to major ports
  for a temporary stay before departure. These
  service men women headed straight for the USO
  dance halls since dancing was by far the major
  form of recreation.
• As the 40s began, many GIs from all parts of the
  country now saw the Lindy/Jitterbug for the first
  time. Once they saw it however, they didnt waste
  any time learning how since dancing was the
  quickest way to break the ice in an age when time
  was very precious. Swing dancing had arrived!
• The Lindy also acquired yet another name, "Jive",
  the British slang word for "Jazz". Although its
  impact on England was the strongest, as one
  country after another was liberated, the Lindy
  appeared in France, Italy, the Philippines,
  Japan, and yes, Germany.
• American culture had found a very peculiar way to
  make its Swing Dance international!

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Modern Swing