d nice
08-13-2003, 03:41 AM
There was a set of name changes as the music and dance evolved... The Lindy Hop, the eight count Charleston/Texas Tommy evolved dance of the 20's was eight counts done in four steps, evolved in the 30's to an eight count basic with 10 steps (the two sets of triples) as the music Hot Jazz went from 2/4 time to Swing in 4/4 time. Less hop more variance in the connection between leveraged tension and compression.
As the dance caught on with "mainstream America" it changed mixing with the various regional styles of "swing" dancing. In the black neighborhoods it varied little in over all dynamic/style more of different flavors of the Lindy Hop rather than styles. Swing became the popular music of it's day.
The biggest change in dance styles was what happened when it was danced by white dancers with little connection to blacks. Ernie Smith actually goes into a bit of detail about this in "Call of the Jitterbug", an excellent documentry BTW. The African rooted aesthetic was replaced with a European one. Moves and movements altered, evolved, and in some cases sanitized. It was still recognizably the same dance, but black dancers in Oakland, CA were more likely to look like those in Harlem than the white dancers who danced across the river in Jersey.
Popular music changed going from 4/4 Swing, in the early to mid 40's to Jump Blues in many parts of the country and the dance of course changed to reflect that. The simpler rhythms and harder hitting drums caused the dance to simplify the footwork, this is where we start to see more and more of the eight count basic being replaced with the truncated footwork in six, believed by some to be based on the Foxtrot, but a decent amount of evidence in fact shows the source to be more likely another jazz dance called the "Jig Walk" which was popular amongst the black communities from Mobile, Alabama to Chicago, Illinois and all along the Eastern Seaboard. This newer form was starting to be consistantly refered to as Jitterbug or Swing rather than Lindy Hop, though New Yorkers refered to it by the name Lindy (the Hop was pretty much dropped from the name at this point).
In the 50's popular music switched again, Rock and Roll and Rhythm & Blues were the order of the day. The dance began to not just evolve but split into two directions. Rock and Roll had a harder driving beat with simple syncopation and almost no swing, and Rhythm & Blues had a softer beat with simple syncopations but with more swing. The result was one dance to R&R music that was very energetic, lots of tricks but little in the way of improvised rhythmic footwork, and another dance to R&B that was was "smoother" with few tricks but more complicated footwork.
This is where the style of swing known as East Coast Swing (danced to R&R) started to gain real popularity and at the same time what are generally thought of as the "smooth" swing styles started in the late 50's (West Coast Swing, Carolina Shag, Hand Dancing, Stepping, Bop, Push, Whip, Imperial, etc.).
The 60's and 70's swing dancing pretty much died in main stream America, going under ground in various locals and regional styles flourished in the nightclubs and bars, while Disco music with the Hustle and solo dancing became the big draws.
The 80's saw a slight upsurge in Swing Dancing, The smooth styles dominated by West Coast Swing gained in popularity, and Lindy Hop started peeking it's head out from the black dominated clubs were younger dancers in the mid twenties were mixing with those in their seventies.
In the early 90's what is most often refered to as Neo-Swing or Retro Swing (a mix of Jump Blues, Swing, with some Bop stylings) spurred a sudden interest in swing dancing. The new style of swing dancing was heavily influenced from the Jitterbug/R&R dancing of the fifties, but with less refinement for the most part, as dancers stole moves off of old video movies, and TV Shows, but the force of the new movement (if a single source can be credited) was inspired by the Thomas Carter movie "Swing Kids". By the time Jon Favreau's "Swingers" came out in 1996 Swing dancing was a counter-culture movement and on its way to being an over exploited media sensation. Dancers were becoming more adept at the various forms of Swing dancing, regular lessons were being offered at clubs, ballrooms, churches, and in living rooms and garages in every major city. Old timers in their eighties were being sought out and revered by Gen X'ers regailing them with tales of life "back in the day" and sharing with them their home movies and favorite steps.
It is important to note that Lindy Hop had not died out. There were still numerous places where the dance structurally remained the same though the aesthetic altered a little as the Jazz music changed from Hot Jazz of the 20's, Swing of the 30's early 40's, Bebop in the mid 40's to mid 50's, and Main Stream and Cool Jazz of the late 50's. In the 60's through 70's various forms of earlier jazz were being revisted as well as the growth of Soul Jazz and the 80's saw the birth of Post Bop. The 90's saw a renewed viability in big swing bands to support themselves and Lindy Hoppers were once again dancing to the sounds of classic Swing. The roots were still strong.
As the dance caught on with "mainstream America" it changed mixing with the various regional styles of "swing" dancing. In the black neighborhoods it varied little in over all dynamic/style more of different flavors of the Lindy Hop rather than styles. Swing became the popular music of it's day.
The biggest change in dance styles was what happened when it was danced by white dancers with little connection to blacks. Ernie Smith actually goes into a bit of detail about this in "Call of the Jitterbug", an excellent documentry BTW. The African rooted aesthetic was replaced with a European one. Moves and movements altered, evolved, and in some cases sanitized. It was still recognizably the same dance, but black dancers in Oakland, CA were more likely to look like those in Harlem than the white dancers who danced across the river in Jersey.
Popular music changed going from 4/4 Swing, in the early to mid 40's to Jump Blues in many parts of the country and the dance of course changed to reflect that. The simpler rhythms and harder hitting drums caused the dance to simplify the footwork, this is where we start to see more and more of the eight count basic being replaced with the truncated footwork in six, believed by some to be based on the Foxtrot, but a decent amount of evidence in fact shows the source to be more likely another jazz dance called the "Jig Walk" which was popular amongst the black communities from Mobile, Alabama to Chicago, Illinois and all along the Eastern Seaboard. This newer form was starting to be consistantly refered to as Jitterbug or Swing rather than Lindy Hop, though New Yorkers refered to it by the name Lindy (the Hop was pretty much dropped from the name at this point).
In the 50's popular music switched again, Rock and Roll and Rhythm & Blues were the order of the day. The dance began to not just evolve but split into two directions. Rock and Roll had a harder driving beat with simple syncopation and almost no swing, and Rhythm & Blues had a softer beat with simple syncopations but with more swing. The result was one dance to R&R music that was very energetic, lots of tricks but little in the way of improvised rhythmic footwork, and another dance to R&B that was was "smoother" with few tricks but more complicated footwork.
This is where the style of swing known as East Coast Swing (danced to R&R) started to gain real popularity and at the same time what are generally thought of as the "smooth" swing styles started in the late 50's (West Coast Swing, Carolina Shag, Hand Dancing, Stepping, Bop, Push, Whip, Imperial, etc.).
The 60's and 70's swing dancing pretty much died in main stream America, going under ground in various locals and regional styles flourished in the nightclubs and bars, while Disco music with the Hustle and solo dancing became the big draws.
The 80's saw a slight upsurge in Swing Dancing, The smooth styles dominated by West Coast Swing gained in popularity, and Lindy Hop started peeking it's head out from the black dominated clubs were younger dancers in the mid twenties were mixing with those in their seventies.
In the early 90's what is most often refered to as Neo-Swing or Retro Swing (a mix of Jump Blues, Swing, with some Bop stylings) spurred a sudden interest in swing dancing. The new style of swing dancing was heavily influenced from the Jitterbug/R&R dancing of the fifties, but with less refinement for the most part, as dancers stole moves off of old video movies, and TV Shows, but the force of the new movement (if a single source can be credited) was inspired by the Thomas Carter movie "Swing Kids". By the time Jon Favreau's "Swingers" came out in 1996 Swing dancing was a counter-culture movement and on its way to being an over exploited media sensation. Dancers were becoming more adept at the various forms of Swing dancing, regular lessons were being offered at clubs, ballrooms, churches, and in living rooms and garages in every major city. Old timers in their eighties were being sought out and revered by Gen X'ers regailing them with tales of life "back in the day" and sharing with them their home movies and favorite steps.
It is important to note that Lindy Hop had not died out. There were still numerous places where the dance structurally remained the same though the aesthetic altered a little as the Jazz music changed from Hot Jazz of the 20's, Swing of the 30's early 40's, Bebop in the mid 40's to mid 50's, and Main Stream and Cool Jazz of the late 50's. In the 60's through 70's various forms of earlier jazz were being revisted as well as the growth of Soul Jazz and the 80's saw the birth of Post Bop. The 90's saw a renewed viability in big swing bands to support themselves and Lindy Hoppers were once again dancing to the sounds of classic Swing. The roots were still strong.