The most popular swing dance is Lindy Hop
Lindy Hop is a Black American dance that originated in Harlem, New York City, in the late 1920s.
The dance developed from a combination of earlier dances like the Breakaway, the Charleston, the Texas Tommy, and the hop. The dance evolved alongside the popular jazz music of the time, played by black Big bands.
But how did lindy hop evolve?
Music came first... as always
In the world of street dances, the music always comes first. People hear a new music form start to arise, and it's only a matter of time before they begin to move to it. In the 1900s, new American musical forms began to emerge from the Black and Creole communities of New Orleans in popular culture - first ragtime, and then early "hot" jazz - were no exception. Many regional, and soon nationwide, dances began to evolve to this music.
1895-1918 The Ragtime
Ragtime - also spelled rag-time or rag time - is a musical style that enjoyed its peak popularity between 1895 and 1919. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm.
Ragtime composer Scott Joplin achieved fame for his ragtime compositions and was dubbed the "King of Ragtime" by contemporaries.
1915 - First Jazz Arrangement
Jelly Roll Morton (1890-1941) was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated.
His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre.
Morton also wrote "King Porter Stomp", "Wolverine Blues", "Black Bottom Stomp", and "I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say", the last being a tribute to New Orleans musicians from the turn of the 20th century.
1917 "Jazz" Word Appears
The first jazz record is published by the Original Dixieland 'Jass' Band from New Orleans.
Dance joined later
The 1910s
Several earlier dance styles already existed around the 1910s which were danced to ragtime music. These styles were Black Bottom, Turkey Trot, Peabody, the Texas Tommy among others.
1923 - Charleston Craze
That was in 1923, when it was danced on the stage to a song in the popular all-Black Broadway show Runnin' Wild.
Once it hit Broadway, the Charleston step swept across the nation and came to define the jazz age. The Charleston soon came in both a solo form and a partnered form.
The song is the one that comes into your head when you hear the word "Charleston." It was composed by James P. Johnson, an African-American and one of early-20th-century's greatest masters of composition.
1929 - Dance Clip in a Film "After Seben"
The first video is recorded about the direct predecessor of Lindy hop: the Breakaway. Shorty George Snowden and Mettie Powell are the third and final couple in the "contest."
1935-1945 The Golden Age of Swing
Swing music turns to be the most popular style after the successful radio broadcasts and concert tour of Benny Goodman. From here we count the Golden age.
Lindy Hop in Hollywood
Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, a troupe formed at the Savoy, performed in films like A Day at the Races (1937) and Hellzapoppin (1941). The dancers were often filmed apart from the rest of the film, in the event that Southern audiences ask that scenes with the black dancers be cut.
The 1940s
The black musicians moved to a new music style: bebop. The dance evolved with it, but as this style of music does not fit that much for the dancers, soon the lindy hop almost disappeared.
The mid-1980s
Only a few dancers were left from the 30s - 40s who still knew what swing dance means. But a few young people fell in love with the old videos, found some of the original dancers and from them learned the dance again. The swing revival has started!
Since 2010
We are in a new golden age. You can find swing clubs and events in every corner of the world. More and more jazz bands are being formed to play classical jazz music.
Where does "Lindy Hop" come from?
There is some mythology about the origin of the name Lindy Hop that has been upgraded to fact too often. But it is a great story.
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic on his famous flight. (That part is not a myth.)
It's very important for newspapers to have short, poppy headlines; not only are they trying to catch the reader's eye, they're also trying to use the shortest words possible so that they fit on the page. (Note, for instance, that "Lindbergh" is a long name.) So, one headline of the time read "Lindy Hops for St. Louis!", among other variations.
It just so happens that around this time, the partnered jazz dances of the predominantly African-American New York neighborhood of Harlem had evolved one step further. The reason I mention the newspaper headlines is because the catchy phrasing of those headlines probably explains the name attached to several dances across the country that were being called New Yorkers were calling the "Lindbergh hop" and "Lindy hop." But we don't know for sure.
The reason we don't know is because Lindy Hop was a dance invented and evolved by many people over multiple years, and not rigorously historically documented at the time of its birth. What we do have are stories, and not a lot proof to confirm or deny them. For instance, here's one:
One of the greatest Breakaway and partnered Charleston dancers of Harlem was a man named "Shorty" George Snowden.
The story goes that, in 1928, Shorty and his partner Mattie Purnell were in a Manhattan dance marathon, which were popular at the time. As the hours dragged on, they continued to bust out their energetic style of partnered Charleston and Breakaway. A reporter called out to Shorty, "What are you doing with your feet?"
"Why, it's the Lindy!" he said.
And thus, according to some historical sources, the Lindy Hop was born and/or named.
The Savoy Ballroom
The home of happy feet
1926-1958
The Savoy Ballroom opened in 1926 and became the home of the Lindy Hop.
The ballroom, which was 10,000 square feet in size, was on the second floor and a block long. It could hold up to 4,000 people.
The Savoy Ballroom was Lindy Hop's most famous home. Bands headed by Chick Webb, who was the resident band leader, as well as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman performed there.
Every night two big bands played without break! Lindy hop kept on getting better and better. The popular Saturday night competitions pushed good dancers to greatness. New steps were born every day.
World-class dancers like "Shorty" George Snowden, "Big Bea," and second-generation dancers such as Frankie Manning and Norma Miller would throw down at the Savoy till the early morning hours.
1) FIRST INTEGRATED (BLACK AND WHITE) BALLROOM FOR DANCERS
2) FIRST INTEGRATED BANDS
3) FAMOUS SINGERS STARTED AT SAVOY (AS BILLIE HOLLIDAY, ELLA FITZGERALD, LENA HORN...)
4) LINDY HOP WAS CREATED AND EVOLVED HERE
BOOKS
DANCE
Marshall and Jean Stearns: Jazz Dance (1994)
Norma Miller: Swingin' at the Savoy (2001)
Norma Miller and Alan Govenar : Stomping at the Savoy (2006)
Frankie Manning and Cynthia Millman: Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop (2008) -it's published in italian, french and japan as well
Christi Jay Wells: Between Beats: The Jazz Tradition and Black Vernacular Dance (2021)
Susie Trenka: Jumping the Color Line : Vernacular Jazz Dance in American Film, 1929-1945 (2021)
MUSIC
Gunther Schuller: Its Roots and Musical Development (1986)
Gunther Schuller: The Swing Era : The Development of Jazz, 1930-1945 (2005)
Rex Stewart: Jazz Masters Of The 30s (1982)
Count Basie, Albert Murray: Good Morning Blues : The Autobiography of Count Basie (2016)
Laura Freeman: Stompin' at the Savoy: How Chick Webb Became the King of Drums (2021)