Benny Goodman

S w i n g ...

is an american dance, Swing-dancing a favorite american past time referring to a family of dances that evolved from the 1920's Charleston into the Lindy Hop, also known as "Jitterbug" and its progeny. The historical development of particular swing dance styles was often in response to trends in pop music. Charleston, was and is usually danced to ragtime music, Lindy Hop was danced to swing music which is a kind of swinging jazz. West Coast Swing is usually danced to blues or rock and roll or to virtually any 4/4 music that is not too fast while Country Swing is often danced to country and western music.

Hip-Hop Lindy is danced to hip-hop music, and blues dancing either to historical blues music forms, or to slower music from a range of genres (though most frequently to Jazz or Blues).

"It Don't Mean a Thing, If it Ain't Got that Swing!"
- Glenn Miller -
In the Mood Play

Various Swing Styles

Savoy Swing: a style of Swing popular in the New York Savoy Ballroom in the 1930's and 40's originally danced to Swing music. The savoy style of swing is a very fast, jumpy, casual-looking style of dancing.

Lindy Hop: After Charles "Lindy" Lindbergh "hopped" over the Atlantic in one dramatic "hop", one newspaper's headline read 'Lindy hops Atlantic' the day after Lindbergh completed the historical transatlantic flight. Lindy Hop got its name one fateful evening when a dancer was asked what the name of the 'cool new dance' he was doing was, and as the dance didn't have a name as such yet, on a whim he called it 'Lindy Hop'. The name stuck and within a few years by the end of 1936, the Lindy was sweeping the United States and people all over the country were doing the Lindy Hop, the original of what is now widely referred to as the 'Swing Dances'.

Jitterbug: came about from an offhand remark by someone watching some people swing dance, saying they moved "like Jitterbugs". Jitterbug seems to be a term like Swing -- that is, it is not one specific dance, but rather has been applied to several of the dances over the years.

West Coast Swing: can be traced back to the late 1930's to clubs in Harlem, New York. Its roots are Lindy Hop and Jitterbug. West Coast Swing is a style of Swing emphasizing nimble feet popular in California night clubs in the 1930's and 40's and was voted the "California State Dance" in 1989.

Country Western Swing: a Jitterbug style popularized during the 1980's and danced to Country and Western music.

East Coast Swing: East Coast Swing is a dance, derived from the Lindy Hop by literally removing a couple of steps. The basic is triple step, triple step and a rock step and is danced to big band swing music, however, it is smooth and grounded, as opposed to the more upward feeling of Rock 'n Roll.

J i v e: the international style version of the dance is called 'Jive' and is danced competitively in the United States and all over the world.

This page is especially dedicated to:
My dear swing dancin', lindyhoppin' friends Tim and Allison