History of Lindy Hop
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The History of Lindy Hop began in the African American communities of Harlem, New York during the late 1920s in conjunction with swing jazz. Lindy Hop is closely related to earlier African American vernacular dances but quickly gained its own fame through dancers in films, performances, competitions, and professional dance troupes. It became especially popular in the 1930s with the invention of aerials. The popularity of Lindy Hop declined after World War II, and the dance remained dormant until revived by European and American dancers in the 1980s.
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[edit] Early influences (1900s-1920s)
Lindy Hop combined a number of dances popular in the United States in the 1920s and earlier, many of which developed in African American communities. Just as jazz music emerged as a dominant art form that could absorb and integrate other forms of music, Lindy Hop could absorb and integrate other forms of dance. This hybridity is characteristic of vernacular dances, in which forms and steps are adapted and developed to suit the social and cultural needs of its participants in everyday spaces. Therefore, Lindy Hop was not originally the creative or economic project of formal dance academies or institutions.
Lindy Hop's genealogy can be seen in its ideological themes, social uses, and specific steps, which it has absorbed during its development. For many Lindy Hop historians, the Charleston is Lindy Hop's most influential predecessor, and Lindy Hop's basic footwork and timing reflects that of the Charleston. The transition from Charleston to Lindy Hop was facilitated by the Breakaway, a partner dance which introduced the 'throw out' and 'open position' of dances such as the Texas Tommy to the 'closed position' and footwork of partnered Charleston. The development of Breakaway is largely associated with the dancer Shorty George Snowden in the late 1920s.
As jazz music in the late 1920s changed, so did jazz dances. The swung note of swinging jazz encouraged dancers to introduce a 'delay' in their timing which influenced the execution of footwork and approaches to tempo within Charleston and Breakaway.
[edit] Classic era (1927 to 1935)
[edit] Harlem and the birth of lindy hop
The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s raised the profile of African American vernacular culture in white communities within the United States, particularly in New York. The popularity of African American dance and music fed what became a fascination with the somewhat illict nature of the ghettoised area. White patronage in the area brought much-need income to the bars, clubs and theatres of Harlem, as well as work for black artists in a city increasingly belaboured by economic depression.
Upper and middle class white audiences were exposed to Harlem's working class entertainment, at first through white audiences attending black venues and shows in Harlem, but later through travelling shows, popular music and cinema and prompting a mainstream thirst for "black" cultural forms. By the time dances such as the lindy hop reached mainstream white audiences, however, they had often been reworked by white teachers and film studios to accord with the aesthetics and social values of white mainstream America. White dancers such as Dean Collins in Hollywood films played pivotal roles in popularising Lindy Hop, and Collins' dancing not only spread the form across the United States, but also provided less 'risque' versions for more conservative American palates.
Harlem's increasing popularity as an entertainment district, as well as a vibrant creative centre for African Americans in the 1920s and 30s eventually saw both the creation and popularising of Lindy Hop, both in social dance spaces and on the stage.
[edit] Origin of the name 'Lindy Hop'
The origins of the name 'Lindy Hop' are much debated in Lindy Hop communities today, and the fact that there are no living Lindy Hop dancers from the late 1920s available for comment only adds to the confusion.
In one account it is argued that, in the slang of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a 'lindy' was a young woman. The word "hop" was documented as early as 1913 as a term for swing dancing and was also, apparently, a term used by early Texas Tommy dancers to describe the basic move for their dance.
In a more influential account, however, popular legend has it that dancer "Shorty" George Snowden renamed the breakaway Lindy Hop in a dance contest. In this version, Snowden was a competitor in a dance marathon on June 17, 1928 at the Manhattan Casino, a New York ballroom. During the contest "as he remembers it - Snowden decided to do a breakaway, that is, fling his partner out and improvise a few solo steps of his own. In the midst of the monotony of the marathon, the effect was electric, and even the musicians came to life. ...Fox Movietone News arrived to cover the marathon and decided to take a close-up of Shorty's feet" and an interviewer then asked him "What are you doing with your feet?" Snowden, "without stopping, replied 'The Lindy'" [1]
Whether Snowden intended it or not, Lindy Hop was associated with Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic airplane flight, completed in 1927. "Lindy" was the aviator's nickname. The reporter interviewing Snowden apparently tied the name to Charles Lindbergh to gain publicity and further his story. While Lindbergh's trans-Atlantic flight may or may not have inspired the name "Lindy Hop", the association between the aviator, George Snowden and the dance continues in Lindy Hop folklore.
Often referred to as the "first generation" of Lindy Hop, dancers such as George Snowden, Leroy "Stretch" Jones, Twistmouth George and Edith Matthews inspired many other dancers and troupes (including Frankie Manning) to take up Lindy Hop. Twistmouth George and Matthews are credited with inventing the "twist" that characterises the first few steps of the follower's footwork in the Swingout. By the end of the classic era Lindy Hop was danced across Harlem in ballrooms, night clubs, cabaret clubs, rent parties, private apartments, and street parties — almost anywhere people came together with music to dance.
[edit] Aerials era (1935 to 1941)
In 1935 lindy Hop - with swing music - had became increasingly popular throughout America, attributable in part to the success of musicians such as Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Chick Webb.
Ballrooms across the United States hosted the big bands of the day, with Chick Webb leading one of the most popular at the Savoy Ballroom. It was with his orchestra that the teenage Ella Fitzgerald first gained fame. These ballrooms continued a national tradition of sponsoring contests where dancers invented, tested and displayed new steps for prizes. At first banning lindy hoppers because they took more space than other dancers and often kicked nearby couples, the Savoy eventually relented and welcomed them as an attraction for other guests.[2] As the 'Home of Happy Feet', the Savoy became the hottest ballroom in New York City, if not the world.
[edit] The first air steps
Head bouncer at the Savoy Herbert "Whitey" White (an African American man nicknamed for a white streak in his hair) managed a team of local dancers that included George Snowden. White arranged for dancers to perform at professional engagements, including parties and shows, all over the city and country. George Snowden's absence from the ballroom with these performances gave a new generation of dancers the opportunity to shine, Frankie Manning among them. With the most popular dancers returning to the Savoy between engagements, rivalries soon developed between different groups, particularly between Shorty George and his friends and newer dancers such as Manning. These rivalries were often played out in formal competitions between groups. It was at one such competition that the first air steps were performed.
Since the beginning of jazz dance, acrobatics were an essential part of vernacular dancing, commonly known as flash dancers who toured with bands across United States during the first part of the 20th century. In the early 1930s, however, they had not yet been introduced to lindy hop. The precise history of events cannot be ascertained, yet the most popular story of the development of aerial steps in Lindy Hop is told by still-living (and so most influential) dancer Frankie Manning.
Determined to out-do rival dancers, Frankie Manning devised the Over the Back air step with his partner, Freda Washington, for a dance competition designed to resolve the rivalry between Snowden and Manning's dancers. Shorty George and his partner, Big Bea, often finished dances with Big Bea picking Shorty George up on her back and carrying him off the floor while he kicked his feet in the air. Manning planned the Over the Back aerial to top Shorty George and Big Bea's trademark move. The Over the Back not only won Manning and Washington the competition, but saw the beginning of Lindy Hop's most famous family of steps.
It is important to note, however, that Al Minns rebutted Manning's story and claimed that he was the first dancer to do aerials in the Savoy Ballroom. Either story may be true, but Manning, now in his 90s, remains an influential figure in contemporary Lindy Hop and his stories gain credence from his living presence.
Manning went on to dance extensively with one of the most influential Lindy Hop troupes, the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (also known as Whitey's Lindy Maniacs, The Congeroos, The Hot Chocolates, and other names). Based at the Savoy and managed by White, they also performed around the world from 1935 to 1941 at private parties and in stage shows and films. These performances contributed to the spread of Lindy across America as well as Manning's status in the dancing world. Frankie Manning went on to become one of contemporary Lindy Hop's most famous dancers. He choreographed and performed in films and around the world, and he still teaches and dances today.
[edit] Dean Collins and Hollywood
- See Dean Collins and Hollywood-style Lindy Hop for further details
Lindy Hop's movement into the American and international mainstream is largely attributed to four factors: Hollywood films, dance studios and instructors such as Arthur Murray and Irene and Vernon Castle, touring dance troupes, and ordinary people (e.g., American troops in WWII bringing lindy hop to new countries). One of key figures in Lindy Hop's move to Hollywood was Dean Collins.
According to swing culture legend, Dean Collins learned Lindy Hop in the Savoy ballroom and took the dance to the west coast of the United States. He danced in a number of Hollywood films that quickly capitalised on the popularity of swing music and dancing. Frankie Manning and other African American dancers also appeared in key films of the era, however, their films were not as numerous and they frequently had inferior working conditions.
[edit] World War II era (1941 to 1945)
During the war many top performers were called to military service, including many lindy hoppers and musicians. Frankie Manning and other members of the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers were drafted, prompting the disbanding of the group.
Lindy hop became a wartime recreation, with white dancers developing as the most well-known and common faces in popular musical films.
In 1943, Life magazine featured Lindy Hop on its cover and called it America's National Folk Dance.
[edit] Post-war era (1945 to 1984)
After the Second World War, music changed. Jazz clubs, burdened by new taxes and legislation limiting venues' ability to employ musicians and dancers or host dancing, employed only smaller bands and filled dance floors with tables. Musicians, immersed in the new world of bebop and cool jazz wanted patrons to pay attention and listen, not dance. The rise of rock and roll and bebop in the 1950s saw a further decline in the popularity of jazz for dancing, and Lindy Hop slipped from the public eye, replaced by Rock and Roll dancing, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing and other dances.
[edit] Revival era (1984 to 1996)
Lindy Hop was revived by European and American dancers in the 1980s.
A group of Swedish dancers who later formed an influential performance and teaching group called The Rhythm Hot Shots travelled to Harlem New York City in the 1980s, pursuing names found in archival films from the 30s and 40s, seeking any original Lindy Hoppers who were still living. They found Al Minns, one of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Californian dancers Steven Mitchell and Erin Stevens also visited Frankie Manning in 1984 on a similar mission. Similar projects were conducted by British dancers, including Ryan Francois. These groups sought out the historical underpinnings of the lindy hop dance through independent means. They originally had no connection to each other, and to this day it is unknown as to why isolated populations sought to revive lindy hop dance at approximately the same time.
Within a year, these dancers sparked a lindy hop revival that continues today. Al Minns, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller came out of retirement and toured the world teaching lindy hop, later to be joined by dancers such as Sugar Sullivan.
[edit] Neo-swing era (1990s)
The 1990s saw the rise of popular neo-jazz bands such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies in the swing revival, and many other artists moving on from ska and punk rock based music to a reworking of swinging jazz musical themes and standard songs. Almost overnight, neo-swing bands and clubs popped up in most large cities in the United States, with the music's popularity growing internationally, with bands such as The Louisville Sluggers in Australia and many others. Neo-swing music was a deviation from jazz and swing and instead was based on rock, rockabilly, jump blues and ska rhythms played with blazing horns and over-the-top presentation.
Film such as Swing Kids (1993) and Swingers (1996) capitalised on the popularity of neo-swing, with the former discussing youth resistance to the Nazi party in Germany through jazz and lindy hop, and the latter becoming a cult-hit story of love and misadventure in Los Angeles. The popularity of films such as Swingers (which featured the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and landmark lindy hop venue The Derby) prompted the American Gap commercial "Khaki Swing" in 1996 exploited the popularity of neo swing music with a sequence of swing dancing and the song "Jump Jive and Wail". Many swing dancers who came to lindy hop in the 1990s cite these films, advertisements and bands as key factors inspiring them to take up lindy hop. Neo-swing dancers often dressed up with fancy zoot suits and many accessories. The dance - in order to be made simpler and easy to sell - was mainly taught as a six-count form based on East Coast Swing.
Revivalist Lindy Hoppers such as the Rhythm Hot Shots in Europe and Syliva Sykes in the United States were able to offer classes in Lindy Hop and other swing dances to interested young people in the late 1980s and 1990s.
As the fad died towards to end of the 1990s, the numbers of dancers dwindled and Lindy Hop was taught again as a jazz dance, and dancers had turned back to jazz music and continued to develop their dance. The neo-swing era, with all its problems, had one important contribution to Lindy Hop - popularising the dance revivalists were researching and learning, and bringing it once again to the general public and creating a popular basis that has been a firm foundation for the continuation of the art form into the 21st century.
[edit] References
- ^ Stearns, Marshall, and Jean Stearns. Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance. 3rd ed., pages 315-316. New York: Da Capo Press, 1994. ISBN 0-306-80553-7.
- ^ Frankie Manning, Northern California Lindy Society workshop interview, January 2002.
[edit] Further reading
- DeFrantz, Thomas. Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001. ISBN 0-299-17314-3.
- Emery, Lynne Fauley. Black Dance in the United States from 1619 to 1970. California: National Press Books, 1972. ISBN 99928-11-04-8.
- Friedland, LeeEllen. "Social Commentary in African-American Movement Performance." Human Action Signs in Cultural Context: The Visible and the Invisible in Movement and Dance. Ed. Brenda Farnell. London: Scarecrow Press, 1995. 136 - 57.
- Gottschild, Brenda Dixon. Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance. Connecticut and London: Greenwood Press, 1996. ISBN 0-275-96373-X.
- Hazzard-Gordon, Katrina. Jookin': The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-87722-956-2.
- Jackson, Jonathan David. "Improvisation in African-American Vernacular Dancing." Dance Research Journal 33.2 (2001/2002): 40 - 53.
- Malone, Jacqui. Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996. ISBN 0-252-06508-5.
- Szwed, John F., and Morton Marks. "The Afro-American Transformation of European Set Dances and Dance Suites." Dance Research Journal 20.1 (1988): 29 - 36.
[edit] See also
- Lindy Hop
- Lindy Hop today
- Swing (dance)
- African American vernacular dance
- Vernacular dance
- Hollywood-style Lindy Hop
- Savoy-style Lindy Hop
[edit] External links
- Transcript of an interview with Frankie Manning and Normal Miller for Ken Burn's Jazz documentary, 1997. Retrieved 12 July, 2006.
