Lindy Hop
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Lindy Hop is an African American vernacular dance which evolved in Harlem, New York, United States in the late 1920s and early 1930s. It is frequently described as either a jazz dance (in reference to its close relationship with the development of jazz music, particularly Swing) or as a street dance, a term which means much the same as vernacular dance. It is a member of the swing dance family.
Originally an Afro-American dance, Lindy Hop combines the movements and improvisation of African dances with the formal 8-count structure of European dances. Lindy hop combines elements of solo dancing with partner dancing in its foundational step the swingout, where the European partner dancing format was adapted to allow men and women to dance together in closed position (a practice usually forbidden in African dances), and yet also to improvise 'alone' in open position without disturbing the structure and flow of the dance.
Lindy Hop is an organic fusion of many of the dances which preceded it and were popular during its development, but is predominantly based on jazz, tap, Breakaway and the Charleston.
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Lindy Hop History
Born in African American communities in Harlem, New York in the United States in the 1920s as the breakaway, the development of breakaway into lindy hop is popularly associated with dancers such as "Shorty" George Snowden, though perhaps the most famous surviving lindy hopper today is Frankie Manning. Al Minns and Leon James, as well as surviving dancer Norma Miller also feature prominently in contemporary histories of lindy hop.
Lindy hop entered mainstream American culture in the 1930s, popularised by touring dance troupes (including the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, which was also known as the Harlem Congaroos), dance sequences in films (such as Hellzapoppin' and A Day at the Races (film) and other features with white dancer Dean Collins) and dance studios (such as those of Arthur Murray and Irene and Vernon Castle).
Lindy Hop moved off-shore in the 1930s and 40s, again in films and news reels, but also with American troops stationed overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and other allied nations. Despite their banned status in countries such as Germany, lindy hop and jazz were also popular in other European countries during this period.
Lindy hop was revived in the 1980s by American and European dancers (such as Sylvia Sykes and the The Rhythm Hot Shots respectively), and is now popular in many countries around the world.
Lindy Hop Today (2000 to Present)
Lindy Hop Scenes around the world
While the United States is home to the largest number of lindy hoppers in the world, there are thriving communities throughout Europe (Including Russia, the Ukraine, Hungary and other Eastern European countries, England, Ireland, Spain, France, Nederlands, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Lithuania), in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The small village of Herräng in Sweden (north of Stockholm) has unofficially become the international Mecca of Lindy Hop due to the annual Herräng Dance Camp.
Lindy Hop tends to be concentrated in small local scenes in different cities in each of these countries, although regional, national, and international dance events bring dancers from many of these scenes together. It is worth noting that the local swing dance communities in each city and country (for whom lindy hop is almost always the most important dance) feature different local cultures, though they do share common general traditions and practices.
Many Internet forums have emerged in these dance scenes. These message boards serve to provide information to dancers about Lindy Hop and dance events in the geographic area. Yehoodi has become the largest of these and now caters to an international audience, although many smaller local forums (such as Swingmonkey) also exist. Local swing dance related internet forums often reflect the local variations in scenes' cultures and dancing. Because swing dancers travel to dance quite regularly, internet forums are an important medium for communication between local scenes, and for dancers visiting a particular city or country. Today, some Lindy Hop dancers continue evolving the dance with influences from hip hop (styling and music), West Coast Swing and Salsa while others explore Jazz, Tap. Blues and other Traditional Jazz and Afro-American dances as resources to expand and enrich Lindy Hop.
Lindy Hop dancing today
Lindy Hop today is a living art form and difficult to describe with a single sweeping definition. In general, however, it is possible to say that Lindy Hop continues to develop through the study of historic Jazz dance and the elegance and fluidity of motion as well as relentless energy demonstrated by the original Lindy Hop dancers. It is also the product of contemporary dance and musical influences.
Lindy Hop as it is danced today varies not only between local scenes through the influence of local cultures and teachers, but more widely as dancers model their movements on the styles of influential dancers of both contemporary and past eras. These dancers may include the African American lindy hoppers of the Savoy Ballroom (including Frankie Manning and the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers), white dancers from the west coast (including Dean Collins and Jewll McGowan), or dancer from even more specific periods in history. The 'style wars' of the 1990s and early 200s (where lindy hoppers debated the relative merits of different eras and dancers) resulted in terms such as Savoy-Style Lindy Hop (generally associated with original New York City African American dancers) and Hollywood-Style Lindy Hop (based on the Lindy Hop of white dancers in Hollywood films). The current international lindy hopping community recognises a far greater diversity not only in lindy hop styles than is accounted for by these two terms, but also in swing dances more generally. Lindy hop today is not only influenced by historic dance forms, but also by popular contemporary dances and music such as Soul, Groove, Funk and occasionally hip hop.
Social, performance and competition dancing
Practitioners congregate to dance socially, in performances, or in competitions.
While Lindy Hop is mainly practiced a partnered dance, it does contain many elements of jazz dance and early African-American dance forms such as jazz dance, tap, minstrel dancing, cakewalk, Black Bottom, Rumba and recently hip hop. Certain dancers would choose to include many elements of jazz dance in their partnered dancing sequences.
Lindy Hop can also be danced without a partner, and many Lindy Hop routines are in fact concert dance choreographies, such as the following jazz era originals: Shim Sham, Big Apple, Tranky Doo, and the more recent Jitterbug Stroll. Other forms of solo Lindy Hop usually take the form of improvisation based on Charleston moves, Traditional Jazz moves (such as boogie steps, shorty george, Suzie Q, etc.) and contemporary jazz and modern dance movement. Solo Lindy Hop is sometimes executed as part of a partner dance when one or both of the partner initiates a "breakaway" causing the partners to separate their connection and dance solo with each other using (if at all) visual lead and follow cues.
See links to various lindy hop jazz routines at the bottom of the article.
Social dancing
The purpose of social dancing is to have fun, socialize, and celebrate a shared love of movement and music. It is traditional for the man to ask the woman to dance, but at contemporary swing dances, both men and women ask each other. As with other partnered dances, most partnerships are with a male lead and a female follower, but other combinations do occur.
More important than moves is connection (in simple form, any point of body contact between partners is connection), which allows both partners to communicate. Social dancers are generally concerned about connection, whether their partner "feels good," rather than whether their partner is capable of doing a number of moves in succession. This connection also allows both partners to style with each other and the music, resulting in a totally improvised, musical dance.
Dancers at social events usually have a wide range of skill levels, so cooperating with one's partner matters as much as dancing skill. Dancing with a new partner is a study in flexibility and calibration. What can the new partner do? What are his or her limitations? What does he or she like to do? Dancing with a regular partner is an opportunity to play and practice difficult moves, such as aerials (which are dangerous without regular practice).
Most social lindy hoppers dress casually, preferring loose pants and breathable materials. However, some dancers do dress in vintage clothing from the 1920s, 1930s, or 1940s, and some dancers dress in their best formal clothing (though that is a rarity among younger crowds).
Lindy Hop is typically done at social events, bars, clubs, dance studios, college student organizations, or private parties. Many venues also provide lessons, either as a drop-in before the scheduled dance, private instruction, or class or progressive lessons. And occasionally, one will find workshops.
Sometimes clubs and events have jam circles, where one person or a small group of people dance, alternating partners. Others join by "stealing" in. Jam circles often recognize birthdays and special occasions. When an especially fast-tempo song is played a jam circle will occasionally form in which various couples take turns showing off their skills.
Social events have DJs or live jazz or blues bands. It is possible to dance Lindy Hop to even rock music, so DJs play a spectrum of music from the 1920s to today, tending to concentrate on big band music from the 1930s and 1940s. Bands can play a wide variety of music from big band standards to blues to original compositions.
Performance dancing
Lindy Hop is fun to watch. Choreographed routines are performed at clubs, at private parties, on stage, and in movies. Performances are opportunities for dancers to show off their best moves and aerials.
Performance groups that had an impact on the development of Lindy Hop include the following:
- Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, New York City, founded in 1935
- Big Apple Lindy Hoppers, New York City
- The Rhythm Hot Shots, from Sweden, founded in 1985, now called the Harlem Hot Shots. The Hot Shots have been a major driving force in the worldwide revival of Lindy Hop from the 1980s onward.
- Minnie's Moochers, Ithaca, New York
- Loose Change, San Francisco, California. Blends Lindy Hop with hip hop and African-modern dance. Their influence on the future of Lindy Hop and its ties with hip hop remains to be seen.
A professional Lindy Hop performance group is not different from other dance companies from different genres (Such as a jazz dance company). Some differences do exist due the nature of Lindy Hop as a social dance, its roots as a self-learned street dance, and the comparative lack of experts, schools, resources, and public demand that other genres may have (such as ballet or modern dance). Other dance forms also enjoy the advantage of having a tradition of starting a dance training at an early age.
Essentially the main reason to be in a performance group is the love of dancing. The more a dancer loves to dance, the more they want to push on and achieve greater things.
Reasons to form or be in such a company vary, but usually belong to one or more of the following categories:
- Artistic reasons (pursuing the art of dancing, and the continuous artistic expression through jazz dance and Lindy Hop),
- Commercial reasons (to perform at paid "gigs" - essentially continuing the tradition of Vaudeville and supplying entertainment for those who pay for it),
- Competition (to compete with a selected team, set choreographies and test one's skills versus other dance teams)
- Practice (to enhance the dancers of the participating dancers, work on new materials or engage in dance movement that is not possible on the social dance floor - such as aerials or other moves that require pre-arranged agreement between the dancers/partners)
Competition dancing
The two main forms of competition are Jack and Jill competitions and Showcase competitions.
Jack and Jill: Jack and Jill competitions imitate social dancing. Dancers perform up to five different songs. The songs are often one to two minute clips with different speeds and textures. The songs are usually not announced ahead of time. Sometimes, dancers will have the same partner for all songs, and other times, dancers have a different partner for each dance. Sometimes dancers choose their partners, and other times, dancers are paired randomly. Some clubs hold Jack and Jill competitions about once a month.
Showcase: Showcase competitions are for choreographed performance routines. Showcase competitions are usually done at regional and national events. Showcases can be for pairs or groups.
Some of the major Lindy Hop competitions, many of which have both Jack and Jill and Showcase divisions, include the following:
- Hellzapoppin' Lindy Competition
- Ultimate Lindy Hop Show Down
- American Lindy Hop Championship
- Canadian Swing Championships
- Harvest Moon Ball
- National Jitterbug Championship
- World Jitterbug Championship
Dance movement, moves and patterns
See Lindy Hop moves for a list of Lindy Hop dance moves.
Partnering technique
Partnering technique is the element of Lindy Hop which controls the communication of the dancers engaged in the dance - the dance partners. Partnering technique allows both dancers to lead and follow dance movement, move together, and/or communicate dance ideas to each other either in an open conversation or a call and response structure.
See also: Connection
Musicality
Musicality is the skill allowing the dancer to create and execute choreography (either prepared in advance or improvised on the spot on the dance floor) to match - and, more significately, represent the music - including the melody and the rhythm.
A perfect musicality would mean that the dances create pure dance movements that contains the entire elements of the music, or those elements that the dancers choose to accentuate in order to create their dance or artistic statement. In a perfect world, a viewer should be able to "see" the song in the dancers' movements, so even without music, the song would still be recongnizable through the dance itself. In jazz music, there are many elements in a song that could trigger musicality. It can be the melody, or the counter-melody, the phrases and breaks in the melody, the beat, the back beat, the drums, the bass, the keys of the piano or any other musical or rhythmic element of the song.
The development of musicality progresses from new dancers who focus on moves independent of the music to advanced dancers focusing on musicality which fits the moves to the music. Musicality requires knowing the moves and knowing the structure of the music.
Music to dance to
Lindy Hop, as a Jazz dance, is most suited to the music from which it originated - Jazz with a swinging rhythm - including swing jazz, Dixieland, traditional jazz, Hot Jazz and most rhytmic forms of jazz from the jazz era (1920s to 1940s). After the end of the jazz era, Lindy Hop continued to be danced to the various musical forms that evolved, as long as they had a clear swinging rhythm. Such forms include blues, rhythm and blues, jump blues, jazz, groove, and soul.
Today Lindy Hop is danced to a variety of music, and most times, the choice of musical style depends on the venue and dance scene. While some clubs prefer dancing to swing jazz music, some clubs play other types of music, or modern music.
The topic of which music is Lindy Hop's music is hotly debated in the swing community, and it is the cause of much artistic discussion as to the definition of the dance.
In an interview at a Northern California Lindy Society workshop, Frankie Manning has said the following: "Lindy is most interesting when danced to live bands. Traditionally, Lindy Hop is danced to swing jazz, but dancers also enjoy ragtime jazz, bebop, blues, rhythm and blues, rockabilly, and rock and roll, and rap, that has a moderate speed. With live bands, dancers cannot predict the songs so easily, so they must pay closer attention which helps them improvize. Originally, musicians would imitate the dancers." (Reference: Frankie Manning, Northern California Lindy Society workshop interview, 2002)
Musical styling
The artistic Development of the dance is well connected and shaped to the type of music used for the pursuit of dancing. While there is no definite "black and white" division between various schools of Lindy Hop and their music, we can define three main groups of Lindy Hop music and musical styling:
- Schools of Lindy Hop which pursue swing jazz and authentic jazz music generally display a style of dancing borrowing and expanding the original Lindy Hop of the 1930s, complete with high energy, bouncey steps, aerial steps, Charleston steps, tap steps, complex rhythmic patterns, and jazz movement.
- Schools of Lindy Hop which pursue more bluesy or modern jazz music display a style which is slower, smoother, "groovier", borrows movement from hip hop or Blues, fluid and relaxed body movements and isolations, and usage of simpler rhythmic patterns.
- Lindy Hop styles based on other types of music such as rock and roll, rockabilly or jump blues are generally a minority niche and less of an influence on the development of the dance form.
See also
Choreographed Lindy Hop/jazz routines
These routines are part of the Lindy Hop jazz dance vocabulary:
- Shim sham (dance)
- Jitterbug Stroll
- Lindy Chorus
- Madison (dance)
- Big Apple (dance)
- Tranky Doo
- California Routine
- First Stops
Related swing dances
Lindy hop is commonly placed in the swing dance family. For more information about other swing dances see the swing dance article.
Lindy Hop culture
External links
- Savoystyle Archives of early lindy hop - the most useful resource for lindy hop history, sanctioned by Frankie Manningcs:Lindy Hop
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