The Origins of American Swing Dancing

Without question, for anybody looking to be footloose and fancy free, American swing dancing is the way to go.

Swing dancing may be seen as a great way of unwinding and having fun, but its origins are shrouded in history, with a very deep and meaningful purpose behind them. Swing dancing is a dance steeped in tradition and culture, yet it is also one of the lesser-understood dances currently being performed.

Renowned for its high energy kicks and ‘air steps’ swing and jazz go hand in hand together. What’s even more remarkable, is that American swing as we know it today, is not even a century old. Compare that to some of the country’s other more popular dances and it’s quite remarkable.

Swing dancing, like many other forms of dance, is a hybrid of several styles and dance crazes of its era. As is often the case, the dance gradually began to evolve and took on a life of its own. For those looking to learn more about swing, the following should prove especially useful.

Here’s a look at the origins of American Swing Dancing.

The Lindy Hop

In order to understand more about the rich heritage of swing dancing, we need to travel back to America’s Deep South during the 1920s, to learn about a very unique type of dance known as the Lindy Hop.

Swing dancing has African American origins, as a very early form of what we now know as the Lindy Hop, was commonly danced in African American communities as an act of defiance and freedom against racism in the South.

As the years passed by, the dance began to grow in popularity, and more and more African American communities across the States began getting involved. It wasn’t until the craze reached Harlem, New York, in the late 1920s/early 1930s, that the dance would really catch on.

Following the First World War, Jazz music was extremely popular in the USA. Around 1928 however, in New York’s Harlem District, a new form of jazz dance broke out, which was dubbed the ‘Lindy Hop. It is believed that the dance got its unusual name from aviator Charles Lindbergh, who had hopped the Atlantic in 1927. The story goes, that one of the dancers performing it had been inspired by Lindbergh hopping the Atlantic.

The dance was a mixture of other popular forms of dance, including jazz, tap, the Foxtrot, and the Charleston. It became very popular during the 1930s and was even danced in the iconic Savoy Ballroom. This was particularly groundbreaking because the Savoy was one of only a select few ballrooms in America that were open to both black and white people. The venue didn’t discriminate, and instead let the dancing do the talking.

Becoming America’s National Dance

Throughout the 1930s, Lindy Hopping was now hugely popular amongst a wide variety of different peoples and cultures, from all backgrounds. One of the most famous performance groups of the era were known as ‘Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers’ who would tour the country performing Lindy Hop routines. They would even perform in front of the camera.

Gradually, the craze began to spread globally, and soon made its way to Europe, thanks to American troops during the Second World War.

Initially, Lindy Hop dancing was carried out to jazz music performed by Big Bands across the states. As the years progressed, however, preferences changed, and the bands grew smaller and smaller. As a result, the music they performed changed, meaning that swing dancing also changed.

Over the years, the dance itself was rebranded several times, often being referred to as the ‘jitterbug’ as well as ‘boogie-woogie’ and even ‘jive’, though originally jive was a derogatory term used by African American dancers to describe white dancers performing the Lindy Hop badly.

In 1943, TIME Magazine would refer to the Lindy Hop as America’s ‘True National Folk Dance’ with many simply calling it America’s National Dance.

Modern Swing Dance

By now, this very unique style of dancing was called swing dancing, due to the fact that it was performed to a unique swing rhythm of jazz music called a ‘swung triplet’. This was basically where each beat was divided into three, with the first two notes bound together. It became synonymous with jazz and blues music.

Swing dancing was a high energy, rhythmic, improvised dance where dancers could really let loose and express themselves. It was also typically a partner dance, though by the 1960s, partner dancing was not as popular, so swing dancing fell out of favor.

During the 1980s, the Lindy Hop made one of the most epic comebacks in dance history. Performers across the USA and Europe began dancing the Lindy Hop, drawing inspiration from dancing stars of the original era.

Audiences loved these performances and by the 1990s, America in particular, had fallen back in love with the original swing dance. In 1993, the musical drama movie ‘Swing Kids’ burst onto the scene and proved hugely successful.

This renewed success sparked a revival of swing dancing with a modern twist, with dance schools and classes all over the globe offering swing dancing classes. Today, swing is still hugely popular.