|
|
|
East Coast Swing
East Coast Swing is a very energetic and fun dance. Also known as triple time swing the dance is generally done in a closed hold using a very different frame from ballroom. In swing we hold the lady in a position similar to the promenade of tango. The shape is that of a V and the dance starts by stepping backwards in promenade on the rock step. East Coast tends to be danced to a variety of music and works especially well with rock N' roll music due to the 4/4 timing and the swing on the end of each bar. The basic pattern for east coast swing can best be described as rock step triple step triple step.
We can trace the origins of swing back to the early 1920's, where the black community, while dancing to contemporary jazz, discovered the Lindy Hop and the Charleston.
In March of 1926 the Savoy Ballroom opened in New York. The ballroom became an immediate success due to its block long dance floor and the raised double bandstand. Every night there was a dance and this attracted the best dancers in New York and the surrounding areas. Stimulated by the awe inspiring presence of these great dancers and the best black bands, the music in the Savoy Ballroom was mostly Swinging Jazz.
One late night in 1927, following the flight to Paris by Lindberg, a local dancer named "Shorty George" Snowden was watching some couples dancing. A reporter asked him what dance they were doing, and it just so happened that there was a newspaper with an article on Lindberg's flight sitting on the bench beside them. The title of the article happened to be "Lindy Hops The Atlantic," and George just read it and said "Lindy Hop" and the name stuck.
Around the mid 1930's, a bouncy 6 beat variant named the Jitterbug was introduced when a band leader named Cab Calloway played a tune in 1934 entitled "Jitterbug".
With the wonderful discovery of Lindy and the Jitterbug, almost everyone in the dance community began to dance to swing and jazz music as it was being evolved at the time, with Benny Goodman leading the pack. Dancers were soon incorporating jazz and tap steps into their dancing.
Again in the 1930's, a man named Herbert White the head bouncer in New York City's Savoy Ballroom, formed a lindy dance troupe called "Whitney's Lindy Hoppers". One of the most foundational members of the group was a man by the name of Fankie Manning. The "Hoppers" were showcased in many films including: "A Day At The Races" (1937), "Hellzapoppin" (1941), "Sugar Hill Masquerade" (1942), and "Killer Diller" (1948).
About 1938, the Harvest Moon Ball included a Lindy and Jitterbug competition for the very first time. It was filmed and shown to everyone at the Paramount, Pathe, and Universal movie newsreels around 1938-1951.
About 1938, Dean Collins went to Hollywood. He decided to learn how to dance the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy and Swing while he was in New York and he spent a lot of time in Harlem and the Savoy Ballroom. Between 1941 and 1960, Collins either danced in or helped choreograph over 100 movies which provided at least a 30 second clip of the best California white dancers performing Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy and Swing.
Around 1938 and through the 1940's the terms Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing were all used to describe the dances interchangeably by the media to describe the dances that were seen in the streets, nightclubs, in contests, and movies.
By the end of 1936, the Lindy was sweeping the United States. As might be expected, the first reaction of most dance instructors to the Lindy was negative and cold. Around 1936 Philip Nutl, president of the American Society of Teachers of Dancing, expressed the opinion that swing would not last beyond the winter. About 1938 Donald Grant, president of the Dance Teachers' Business Association, said that swing music "is a degenerated form of jazz, whose devotees are the unfortunate victims of economic instability." Around 1942 members of New York's Society of Teachers of Dancing were told that the jitterbug (a direct descendant of the Lindy Hop), could no longer be ignored. The dances "cavortings" could be refined to suite a crowded dance floor.
Many dance schools such as the New York Society of Teachers and Arthur Murray, did not formally begin documenting or teaching the Lindy Hop, Lindy, Jitterbug, and Swing until around 1940-1944. The ballroom community was more interested in teaching the foreign dances such as Spanish Paso Double, Brazilian Samba, Cuban Mambo and Cha-Cha, Argentine Tango, English Quickstep, and the Austrian Waltz, with an occasional Peabody and American Foxtrot.
About 1940-1943 the Arthur Murray studios looked at what was being done on the dance floors in the different cities and directed their instructors to teach what was being danced in their respective region. As a result Arthur Murray studios taught many different styles of undocumented swing in every city.
In the early 1940's a women by the name of Laure Haile and her partner, documented what she saw being danced by the white community. At the same time, Dean Collins was leading the action with Lenny Smith and Lou Southern at the nightclubs and competitions throughout southern California. Laure Haile gave the dancing the name of "Western Swing". She began to teach for Arthur Murray around 1945. Dean Collins taught Arthur Murray teachers throughout San Fran and Hollywood during the late 40's and 50's.
At the end of the 1940's, the soldiers and sailors were returning from overseas and they continued to dance in and around their military bases. The Jitterbug was being danced to Country-Western music in Country bars, and was popularize around 1980.
As the music continued to change between the 1920's and the 1990's, (Swing, Bop, Rock, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, disco, country), the Lindy, Jitterbug, Lindy Hop, and Swing evolved all across the U.S. with a lot of different regional styles. Around the end of the 1940's many dances were evolving out of the Rhythm and Blues music: the imperial swing (St. Louis), the Houston push and Dallas whip (Texas), the D.C. Hand Dancing (Washington), and the Carolina Shag (Carolinas and Norfolk) to name a few.
About 1951 Laure Haile published her first dance notes as a syllabus, which included the Western Swing for the Santa Monica Arthur Murray Studio. Around 1952 she presented her syllabus to dancers in workshops across the U.S. for Arthur Murray. The original Syllabus has been taught by Arthur Murray for over 44 years with only a few minor revisions being made.
From around the mid 40's to present day, the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug Lindy, and Swing, were stripped down and diluted by ballroom teachers across the country in order to adapt what they were teaching to the less nimble public who were paying for their instruction. As a result ballroom studios all over developed a basic East Coast and West Coast Swing.
Swing Styles
Savoy Swing: a style of swing most popular at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City n the 30's and 40's danced originally to swing music. The style is very fast and jumpy a casual style of dance.
Lindy: this style is a smoother looking dance.
West Coast: A style of swing developed in California, putting the emphasis on nimble feet and voted California's state dance in 1989. This dance originated in 30's
Whip: a style of swing popular in Houston, Texas. This dance puts the emphasis on the spinning of the follower in between dance positions with a wave break rhythm
Push: a style popular in Dallas, Texas this dance puts the emphasis on spinning the follower between dance positions, but on the rock rhythm break.
Supreme Swing: a style popular in Tulsa Oklahoma.
Imperial Swing: a style popular in St. Louis, Missouri.
Carolina Shag: a style of swing popular with those in the Carolinas. This dance puts emphasis on the leaders nimble feet.
Jive: the International Style versions of the dance is called Jive, and it is danced competitively in the U.S. and all over the World.
DC Hand Dancing: a Washington, DC synthesis of Lindy and Swing.
Ballroom West Coast Swing: although not typically danced in this style it was very popular in the dance schools and dance organizations but it is very different from the style of the California nightclubs and Swing dance clubs.
East Coast Swing: a six count variation of the Lindy. This dance is very popular in Ballrooms and other dance organizations.
Country Western Swing: a style variation of the Jitterbug made popular mostly during the 1980's and danced to country western music.
Cajun Swing: a Louisiana Bayou style of lindy that developed by dancing to Cajun music.
Pony Swing: a country style of Cajun Swing.