| Swing is not a single dance, but rather a family of related dances. Swing dance originated in Harlem during the 1920's. In the beginning it was danced primarily by black dancers. The dance developed alongside jazz music of the day. In Swing music, the musicians play (or sing) some of the notes late, and then catch up in the next beat or two. They refered to this as "swinging the beat" and hence the name was born.
For a long time, the dance itself had no special name. Then, in 1927, Charles Lindbergh crossed ("hopped") the Atlantic. A dancer, when asked what the dance was called, remembered the headline and replied impishly, "the Lindy hop". For whatever reason, the name stuck. When Rock & Roll came out, swing, adapted. Jive became the dance of the 50's. When R&B music came out, swing adapted again, turning itself into a variant called initially western swing, later West Coast Swing. Through the intervening years, swing has moved around the continent and changed. Versions of swing have sprung up in a variety of different places - Carolina Shag, St. Louis Shag, D.C. Hand Dancing, Chicago Stepping, Houston Whip, Texas Push, Balboa, Smooth Style Lindy (midwest), and Western or West Coast Swing (California). As swing travelled around the continent, it took on distintive regional traits. Lindy (New York) can be slow and cool or hot and heavy, West Coast (California) is slow, sexy and laid-back, Smooth Style Lindy (middle of the continent) is somewhere in between in styling. Carolina Shag is done on the beach with a beer in one hand. Long-time Toronto dancers have their own distinct style, a cross between shag and smooth Lindy. Swing is the ideal social dance - easy enough that you can be having fun the day you start, rich enough to interest and captivate for a lifetime! |
