In 1938, the Harvest Moon Ball included Lindy Hop
and Jitterbug competition for the first time.
It was captured on film and presented for everyone
to see in the Paramount, Pathe, and Universal
movie newsreels between 1938 and 1951.
In the late 1930's through the 1940's, the terms
Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing were
used interchangeably by the news media to describe
the same style of dancing taking place on the
streets, in the night clubs, in contests, and
in the movies.
The dance schools such as The New York Society of
Teachers and Arthur Murray, did not formally
begin documenting or teaching the Lindy Hop,
Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing until the early 1940's
The ballroom dance community was more interested
in teaching the foreign dances
In the early 1940's the Arthur Murray studios
looked at what was being done on the dancce floors
in each city and directed their teachers to teach
what was being danced in their respective cities.
As a result, the Arthur Murray Studios taught
different styles of undocumented Swing
in each city.
From the mid 1940's to today, the Lindy Hop,
Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing, were stripped down
and distilled by the ballroom dance teachers
in order to adapt what they were teaching to less
nimble-footed general public who paid for dance
lessons. As a result, the ballroom dance studios
bred and developed a ballroom East Coast Swing
and ballroom West Coast Swing.
