The Lindy Hop is an American dance that evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and 1930s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston. It is frequently described as a jazz dance and is a member of the swing dance family.
Lindy Hop, also known as Jitterbug, is the authentic Afro-Euro-American Swing dance. It is an unabashedly joyful dance, with a solid, flowing style that closely reflects its music. Lindy Hop is a social dance. Partners are connected smoothly and gently to each other, while relating closely to the music, in feeling, improvisation and phrasing.
In its development, the Lindy Hop combined elements of both partnered and solo dancing by using the movements and improvisation of black dances along with the formal eight-count structure of European partner dances. This is most clearly illustrated in the Lindy’s basic step – the swingout. In this step’s open position, each dancer is generally connected hand-to-hand; in its closed position, men and women are connected as though in an embrace.
Lindy Hop has been featured in popular media since its inception. Variants include the Double Lindy and Triple Lindy.
Lindy Hop was so named after Charles Lindbergh‘s flight to Paris in 1927, when the newspaper headline read: “LINDY HOPS THE ATLANTIC”. The dance has no “hop” in it. On the contrary, it is smooth and solid, and while there is a constant rhythmic 8-count “pulse” that you feel in your bones, there is no hopping, bopping, or prancing in the dance.
Photo of Leon James and Willa Mae Ricker demonstrating steps (Life Magazine).
Source: Wikipedia.org, Dancing.org
