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Dance In Depth
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There is much more to swing dancing than the history of the era. This page will attempt to give you the feel of swing dance. Of course, actually dancing is better than reading. Click here for a list of swing servers in your area.
In swing music there are four beats in a measure and in swing dance the movement fills all these beats.
There are three basic types of swing dancing: Triple, Double, Single.
Triple Swing is done to slower music, inserting three steps into one beat. Double swing is done to moderate music, but is rarely taught or danced today. Single swing, the most popular, taught and fun form is reserved for fast music that really swings!
There are countless varieties of swing music, but nearly all can be done these three general counts.
A General Description of Swing Dance:
"Turning moves are essential to swing, and the basic swing pattern may be done turning to the left or the right. Another essential is the Arch, or underarm turn, in which the man turns his partner under his upraised arm. Generally though, the woman is doing a mirror image of what the man is doing -- when he steps back with his left foot, she steps back with her right and so forth."
"As they dance, swing partners move toward and away from each other to the beat, swinging their upper bodies back and forth and from side to side."
- Peck, Abe. Dancing Madness. Rolling Stone Press, Anchor Books. Garden City NJ, 1976.
Turning to the Lindy Hop, arguably the most famous version of swing dance, many authors have attempted to articulate its essence.
"It is characterized by torso leans and a jazzy, syncopated style."
-Judy Patterson, Ph.D.
"The Lindy Hop consists in a certain dislocation of the rhythm of the foxtrot, followed by leaps and quivers, hops and jumps, eccentric flinging about of arms and legs and contortions of the torso fittingly described as epileptic." - Carl Van Vechten
Parties: Scenes From Contemporary New York Life
"Limbs are more extended, their motion is more flamboyant than in previous popular social dances. Hip motion is more pronounced and relatively explicit, and the bouncing of the dancers is more conspicuous."
-Howard Spring
Swing and The Lindy Hop, American Music, Volume 15 Summer 1997.
AERIALS!
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The nature of swing dance, particularly the Lindy Hop, soon lifted dancers from the floor.
The energy the music created would not be held down by laws of gravity! The first aerial lifts and jumps are attributed to the Lindyhoppers of the Savoy Ballroom, particularly to one Frankie Manning. He explains that the first times he threw his partner into the air it was in the excitement of a competition in 1935 to grab the attention of the judges. And it did! From then the lifts, jumps, and throws continued to outdo one another to the delight and amazement of the dancers and the fans.
Aerials became standard swing maneuvers for the young and able. There are many standard aerial maneuvers:
a jump throw,
in which the man turns as the woman jumps straight up, letting the woman fly away from her partner - illustrated
in the two side photos just below the "Aerials" heading
Sidecars, in
which the woman is swung to each side of the man's body, to stradle him, and is then between the legs and back
high into the air - illustrated above
Overarm flips,
in which the man flips his partner over one arm or shoulder
There are many, many more but these are some of the most common. Aerials lend an excitement and athleticism to
swing dance that set it vastly apart from other forms of social dance.
A special thanks to Jump Site,
which granted permission for the use of the photos of most of the dancers on these pages.
