Swing (dance)

"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, the origin of the dances predating popular "swing era" music. The most well-known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a fusion of jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston, which originated in Harlem in the early 1920s, but includes a number of other styles such as Balboa, Shag, West Coast Swing, and Boogie Woogie to name a few.^[1] While the majority of swing dances began in African American communities as vernacular African American dances, some swing era dances such as West Coast Swing and the Balboa developed in white communities. Swing dance was not used as a blanket term for this group of dances until the latter half of the twentieth century. Historically, the term "Swing" referred to the style of Jazz music, which inspired the evolution of the dance.

Forms of Swing

In many scenes outside the United States, the term "swing dancing" is used to refer to one, or all, of the following swing era dances: Lindy Hop, Charleston, Shag, and Balboa. This group is often extended to include West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Hand Dancing, Jive, Rock and Roll, elden Jive, and other dances developed in the 1940s and later. A strong tradition of social and competitive boogie woogie and Rock 'n' Roll in Europe add these dances to their local swing dance cultures.^[2]

Early forms from the 1930s and 1940s

• Lindy Hop evolved in the late 1920s and early 1930s.^[3] It's a dance of African American origin characterized by a high degree of physical vigor.^[4] It is characterized by an 8-count circular basic or "swing out" and has an emphasis on improvisation and the ability to easily adapt to include other steps in 8-count and 6-count rhythms.^[3] The name "Lindy Hop" is often attributed to "Shorty" George Snowden during an interaction with a reporter who asked him what kind of dance they were doing. Because Charles Lindbergh had just made his famous solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, Shorty George is said to have replied, "the Lindy Hop." Whether it was Shorty George who coined the name is disputed by some writers, but, in any case, the name stuck.^[5] The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem was the home of the Lindy Hop. It attracted a variety of people such as, African Americans, European Americans, the middle class, tourists, blue-collar workers and many more. As it’s popularity increased, professional troupes were formed. These troupes toured the United States and Europe performing versions of the Lindy Hop.^[6]

• Balboa, also known as "Bal" is danced to an eight-count rhythm in closed position. Pure Balboa evolved in conservative dance halls in southern California where space was limited and which had strict codes of conduct that prohibited the wild kicks of the Charleston and Lindy Hop. Pure Balboa is characterized by an upright posture with partners standing chest to chest. There are no spins or turns and the dancers remain in contact through the upper chest at all times. Not leaving much scope for variations, pure Balboa is an intrinsically very simple dance. The few step variations generally play with the rhythm or look and feel (style) from below the knee downwards and deal with changes in direction. Balboa is frequently danced to fast jazz (usually anything from 180 to 320 BPM beats per minute), though many like to Balboa to slower (170-190 BPM) tempi. While most dancers differentiate between pure Balboa and Bal Swing, both are considered to be a part of the dance. Bal Swing evolved from Balboa when original Balboa dancers experimented with fancier variations of the dance which forced the chest to chest connection to be broken. In this form of Bal a variety of spins, turns, dips, tricks, and even air steps are introduced. These improvisations are permissible provided the overall style and framework remain true in spirit to the original dance and are combined with original Balboa footwork.^[7]

• Collegiate Shag (or "Shag") is done primarily to uptempo swing and pre-swing jazz music (185-200+ beats per minute). It is believed that the dance originated in the Carolinas in the late 1920s,^[8][9] later spreading across the United States during the 1930s. The shag is still danced today by swing dance enthusiasts worldwide. The name Collegiate Shag became somewhat standard in the latter part of the 20th century to help distinguish it from other later contemporary dances that shared the "shag" designation (e.g., Carolina Shag). Collegiate Shag is accompanied by music that emphasizes a 2-beat rhythm and is danced in the varieties of single, double, and triple shag. The variety of names describe the amount of slow (steap\, hop) steps executed before being followed by a single quick, quick rhythm.

• St. Louis shag evolved from Charleston.^[10] As its name suggests, it is recognized as being started in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis Shag features a stationary 8-count basic that is most commonly composed of triple-step, kick, triple-step, kick. It is a very fast closed position dance that is usually done to stomp, jump, and boogie-woogie music.

• Jitterbug is a name often used interchangeably with Lindy Hop, but it more appropriately describes a swing dancer rather than a specific swing dance (i.e. a jitterbug can dance Lindy Hop, Shag, or any other swing dance). The term was famously associated with swing era dancers by band leader Cab Calloway because, as he put it, "They look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor due to their fast, often bouncy movements.^[11] The Jitterbug consists of a bouncy six-beat rhythm.

Later forms from the 1940s, 1950s and later

• Lindy Hop is the original style of swing.^[12] It continued into the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s and is featured in many movies of the era featuring Whitey's Lindy Hoppers with Frankie Manning, Dean Collins (whose style would lead to the creation of West Coast Swing), and Hal Takier and the Ray Rand Dancers. Traditional Lindy Hop in its purest form is found in many US locations and in Sweden. Swedish Lindy Hoppers preserve much of the old-style technique which was passed on to them by Frankie Manning, through various visits in the 1980s and 1990s. Template:Pfeiffer, L. (2000). Swing King: The Legend Frankie Manning. American Visions, 15(5), 16.
• Lindy Charleston is essentially the 1930s and '40s Partnered Charleston woven in and out of Lindy Hop moves. Lindy Charleston involves a number of positions, including side-by-side, hand-to-hand, and tandem Charleston. In "jockey position", the closed position is opened out so that both partners may face forward, without breaking apart. In side-by-side Charleston, partners open the closed position entirely, so that their only points of connection are at their touching hips and arm contact, wherein the leader's right hand and arm touch the follower's back and the follower's left hand and arm touch the leader's shoulder and arm. Both partners then swing their free arms as they would in solo Charleston. In both jockey and side-by-side Charleston, the leader steps back onto his left foot, while the follower steps back onto her right. In tandem Charleston, one partner stands in front of the other (usually the follower, though the arrangement may vary), both face in the same direction to start, and both begin by stepping back onto the left foot. The partner behind holds the front partner's hands at the latter's hip height, and their joined arms swing backwards and forwards, as in the basic step.
• Eastern Swing is an evolution of Fox Trot.
• East Coast Swing is a simpler 6-count variation of Lindy Hop, that evolved with swing-band music of the 1940s and the work of the Arthur Murray dance studios in the 1940s.^[13] It is also known as Six-count Swing, Triple-Step Swing, or Single-Time Swing. East Coast Swing has very simple structure and footwork along with basic moves and styling. It is popular for its simple nature and is often danced to slow, medium, or fast tempo jazz, blues, or rock and roll. Occasionally, Rockabilly, aka Rock-a-billy, is mistaken for East Coast Swing, but Rockabilly is more closely related to Western Swing.
• West Coast Swing was developed in the 1940s, as a stylistic variation on Lindy Hop. It is a slotted and danced to a wide variety of music including: blues, rock and roll, country western, pop, hip hop, smooth, cool jazz, R& B, and funk music.^[14][15][16] It is popular throughout the United States and Canada but was uncommon in Europe and much of Asia until the 21st Century. West-coast-swing communities are growing in Australia, Brazil, France, India, New Zealand, Ukraine, Romania, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.^[17]
• Western Swing has long been the name for jazz-influenced western music of the 1940s and, by extension, two-step, line dancing or swing dance done to such music. Contemporary 21st century Country Swing or dancing or "Country Western Swing Dancing" (C/W Swing) has a distinct culture, with classes and instructional videos on YouTube and DVD teaching dips, lifts, aerials and flips. It adds variations from other country dances, swing styles, salsa and more. As the name suggests, it is most often danced to country and western music.
• Boogie-woogie developed originally in the 1940s, with the rise of boogie woogie music. It is popular today in Europe, and was considered by some to be the European counterpart to East Coast Swing, a 6-count dance standardized for the American ballroom industry. It is danced to rock music of various kinds, blues or boogie woogie music but usually not to jazz. As the dance has developed, it has also taken to 8-count variations and swing outs similar to Lindy Hop, while keeping the original boogie woogie footwork.
• Carolina Shag was danced along the strands between Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, during the 1940s but, during the 1990s and later, has expanded to many other places. It is most often associated with beach music, which refers to songs that are rhythm-and-blues-based and, according to Bo Bryan, a noted shag historian and resident of Beaufort County, is a term that was coined at Carolina Beach, North Carolina.
• Imperial Swing is a cross between East Coast and West Coast Swing as it is done in slot and in the round. It started at the Club Imperial in St Louis. George Edick, who owned the club, let teenagers dance on the lower level and the swing dancers of the time taught them what was learned from their trips to the east coast. As people traveled around, they added parts of west coast, bop and Carolina shag to complement the dance and make it distinctive. People can tell the difference between St. Louis dancers and dancers from other parts of the country. "The Imperial" has elements of "East Coast", "West Coast", "Carolina Shag" and "Bop".
• Jive is a dance of International Style Ballroom dancing. . It is a very upbeat dance in which the performers look to be hopping off the ground. It initially was based on Eastern swing taken to England by American Troops in World War II and evolved before becoming the now standardized form of today.
• Skip Jive is a British variant of the Jive, popular in the 1950s and 1960s, danced to trad jazz.
• Modern Jive (also known as LeRoc and Ceroc©) developed in the 1980s, reputedly from a French form of Jive. Modern Jive is not technically of the Jive family; which typically use a 6-count pattern of various combinations of walking and triple steps (Ballroom Jive - back/replace triple-triple; Swing Jive - triple-triple back/replace), etc. It is paired down to a simple box step and concentrating on the simpler forms of couple dance styling, gauged to provide a social atmosphere rather than technical aptitude. There are debates about whether it is a form of swing dancing due to lack of syncopations, rhythmic footwork variations, a static partner dynamic, and lack of swinging music, amongst the swing community at large, but they do consider themselves a style of swing.
• Rock and Roll - Developing in the 1950s in response to rock and roll music, rock-and-roll is very popular in Australia and danced socially as well as competitively and in performances. The style has a long association with Lindy Hop in that country, as many of the earliest Lindy Hoppers in the early 1990s moved to Lindy Hop from a rock-and-roll tradition. There are ongoing debates about whether rock-and-roll constitutes swing dancing, particularly in reference to the music to which it is danced: there is some debate as to whether or not it swings. Despite these discussions, many of the older Lindy Hoppers are also keen rock-and-roll dancers, with rock-and-roll characterized by an older dancer (30s and older) than Lindy Hop (25 and under).
• Acrobatic Rock'n'Roll Popular in Europe, acrobatic rock'n'roll is popularly associated with Russian gymnasts who took up the dance, though it is popular throughout Europe today. It is a performance dance and sport rather than a social dance, though there are people who remove the acrobatic stunts to dance it on a social level.
• Washington Hand Dancing originated around Washington, DC in the mid-1950s, and a new generation of dancers started innovating and dancing to Motown music. From its very beginning, DC Hand-dance was referred to and called “DC Hand-Dance/Hand-Dancing”, “DC Swing”, “DC Style” (swing) and “fast dance” (meaning DC Hand-Dance). This is the first time a version of “swing” dance was termed “hand-dance/hand-dancing”. DC Hand-Dance is characterized by very smooth footwork and movements, and close-in and intricate hand-turns, danced to a 6-beat, 6-count dance rhythm. The more modern footwork consists of smooth and continuous floor contact, sliding and gliding-type steps versus hopping and jumping-type steps of the older style which stylistically still held elements of its Jitterbug/Lindy Hop roots, and there are no aerials.
• Push and Whip are Texas forms of swing dance developed in the 1940s and 1950s. They are slotted swing dances, danced to a wide variety of music including blues, pop, jazz, and rock and roll. Similar to West Coast Swing, they emphasize the closed position, double resistance/rock step, and lead-follow and also incorporate intricate arm work. Slow Whip is a variation on Whip/Push that is danced to slow blues music, typically 60 BPM or slower.

Swing Dancing Today Swing dancing was most popular in the 1930s through the 1950s, but it still continues today. Dance moves have evolved with the music. Swing dancing styles are the foundation of many of dancing styles such as, disco and country line dancing. Swing dancing movies helped keep swing dancing alive. Swing dancing clubs and contests are still held around the world.^[14]

References

Competition, social dancing and music

Competition

Traditionally, distinctions are made between "Ballroom Swing" and "Jazz Dance Swing" styles. East Coast Swing is a standardized dance in "American Style" Ballroom dancing, while Jive is a standardized dance in "International Style"; however both of these fall under the "Ballroom Swing" umbrella.

Jazz Dance forms (evolved in dance halls) versus ballroom forms (created for ballroom competition format) are different in appearance. Jazz Dance forms include Lindy Hop, Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and Charleston.

Types of Competition

Dance competitions specify which forms are to be judged, and are generally available in four different formats:

1. Strictly: One couple competing together in various heats, to randomly selected music, where no pre-choreographed steps are allowed.
2. Jack and Jill: Where leaders and followers are randomly matched for the competition. In initial rounds, leaders and followers usually compete individually, but in final rounds, scoring depends on the ability of the partner you draw and your ability to work with that partner. Some competitions hold a Jill-and-Jack division where leaders must be women and followers must be men.
3. Showcase: One couple competing together for a single song which has been previously choreographed.
4. Classic: Similar to Showcase but with restrictions on lifts, drops, moves where one partner supports the weight of the other partner, and moves where the partners are not in physical contact.

Levels

The competitions are divided into sections by level of experience. The levels are Newcomer, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. There is no official system in the United States to ensure that couples dance at the appropriate level of experience. Competitors should keep track of their own points and register accordingly at competitions. Once you earn 7 points in a level, you can no longer dance at that level.^[1]

Judging Criteria

Swing dancing falls under the American Rhythm category. There are several different categories at competitions depending on what type of dance you do.^[2] Each form of Swing Dance, and each organization within those forms, will have various rules, but those most often used are pulled and adapted from Ballroom usage.

Judging for competition is based on the three "T's" (below) as well as showmanship^[3] (unless the contest in question designates the audience as the deciding factor). The three "T's" consist of:

1. Timing - Related to tempo & rhythm of the music.
2. Teamwork - How well a leader and follower dance together and lead/follow dance variations.
3. Technique - How clean and precise the cooperative dancing is executed.

Showmanship consists of presentation, creativity, costumes, and difficulty.

It should be noted that Lindy Hop's most prestigious events have never used these criteria, usually having the simple judging value as who was the best/most-impressive Lindy Hop couple. The Harvest Moon Ball competition in New York City, The American Vernacular Jazz Institute's Hellzapoppin' Competition, and the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown all fall into this category.

Heats

Most competition dance floors can only hold about 12 couples dancing at a time. If the number of participants is larger then what the floor can hold, the competition will hold qualifying rounds. Once they get to 24 couples there will then be the quarterfinal round (2 separate rounds of about 12 each), then the semifinal (1 round of about 12), and finally the final round (1 round, usually 6 or 7 couples).^[2]

Team Formations

Additionally a "Team Formation" division may also be specified at a competition. Under this category, a minimum of 3 to 5 couples (depending on individual competition rules) perform a pre-choreographed routine to a song of their choosing, where the group dances in synchronization and into different formations. This division is also judged using the three "T's" and showmanship; however the criteria now apply to the team as a whole.

Social swing dancing

Many, if not most, of the swing dances listed above are popular as social dances, with vibrant local communities that hold dances with DJs and live bands that play music most appropriate for the preferred dance style. There are frequently active local clubs and associations, classes with independent or studio-/school-affiliated teachers and workshops with visiting or local teachers. Most of these dance styles — as with many other styles — also feature special events, such as camps or Lindy exchanges.

Music

The historical development of particular swing dance styles was often in response to trends in popular music. For example, 1920s and solo Charleston was - and is - usually danced to 2/4 ragtime music or traditional jazz, Lindy Hop was danced to swing music (a kind of swinging jazz), and Lindy Charleston to either traditional or swing jazz. West Coast Swing is usually danced to Pop, R&B, Blues, or Funk. Western Swing and Push/Whip are usually danced to country and western or Blues music. There are local variations on these musical associations in each dance scene, often informed by local DJs, dance teachers and bands.

Modern swing dance bands active in the U.S. during the 1990s and 2000s include many contemporary jazz big bands, swing revival bands with a national presence such as Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers (based in San Francisco), and local/regional jazz bands that specialize in 1930s-1940s swing/Lindy dance music, such as The Swingout Big Band, White Heat Swing Orchestra, and Beantown Swing Orchestra (Boston), The Boilermaker Jazz Band (Pittsburgh), the Southside Aces (Minneapolis), Gordon Webster Septet (New York), Jonathan Stout and His Campus Five (Los Angeles) and The Jonathan Stout Orchestra featuring Hilary Alexander (Los Angeles), The Flat Cats (Chicago), Glenn Crytzer and his Syncopators (Seattle), the Solomon Douglas Swingtet (Seattle), The Gina Knight Orchestra (Chicago and Joliet, IL), the Solomon Douglas Swingtet and the Tom Cunningham Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Sonoran Swing (Arizona), and The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra (Los Angeles).

See also

• Frankie Manning
• Lindy Hop today
• Hollywood-style Lindy Hop
• Savoy-style Lindy Hop
• Lindy Exchange
• Yehoodi
• Charleston
• Balboa (dance)
• Swing Rueda
• West Coast Swing
• Herräng Dance Camp

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Swing dance.

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Swing Dancing

• DanceCal.com - DanceCal, a list of Swing camps and weekend events
• NASDE.com - National Association of Swing Dance Events
• SwingDanceCouncil.com - World Swing Dance Council WSDC

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