What is Swing?
The musical era known as swing was born in the turbulent social, economic and political environment that existed before World War II.

Its roots were in the jazz music of the 1920s and early 1930s; a time when big bands began to play music with a distinctive, swinging beat. Unlike earlier jazz, swing was tailor made for partner dancing, a fact that promoted swing to its position as the first and only form of jazz to be embraced by a mass audience.

By the late 1930s, swing had taken the United States by storm and some of the most famous swing tunes of all time – Count Basie’s One O’Clock Jump, Duke Ellington’s Take the ‘A’ Train and Benny Goodman’s Sing, Sing, Sing – were penned.

New dance styles emerged during the swing era including the Lindy Hop, Balboa and Collegiate Shag. These were influenced by the 1920s Charleston and African dance styles.

Lindy Hop
Sometimes referred to as the Jitterbug, this energetic, groovy and sometimes goofy dance was one of the first popular partner dance styles of the swing era.

It was born in the late 1920s in the Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, New York and has strong Afro-American and jazz influences. It was apparently named by George "Shorty" Snowden who said, when asked, that the dance he was doing was the Lindy Hop because “we're flying just like Lindy did”. He was referring to the famous pilot, Charles Lindbergh, who had just ‘hopped’ across the Atlantic in his aircraft.

Many famous Lindy Hop dancers learned their craft at the Savoy Ballroom and spread the word across the world. One such dance is the master, Frankie Manning. Frankie is one of the last surviving members of the original Lindy Hop dance troupe, Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, and even in his 90s Frankie still travels the world to share his passion for swing.

Charleston

Many people recognise ‘The Charleston’ as being that crazy dance from the early 1920’s that was distinguished by its big flapping arm and leg movements – hence the name flappers for those who danced it.  Charleston has developed into many forms and like many dance styles of the day –has changed over the years.  The Lindy Hop was born directly out of 1920’s couples Charleston and the birth of Lindy Hop is known in Charleston circles as ‘the breakaway’. 

Today most people separate their Charleston styles.  You either dance the 1920’s way (bouncy, twisty feet, wild arms and legs), or adopt the smoother style of the 1930’s Charleston.

Balboa
In the mid 1930s, while kids on the east coast of the United States were energetically doing the Lindy Hop, in Southern California they were dancing tight and small. The dance was Balboa.

There are many stories about how Balboa became popular. One is that during the 1930s, ballrooms were so crowded that there were signs posted saying "no breakaways" (moving away from your partner). This made Balboa the perfect dance for such situations.

Of all swing dance styles, Balboa is considered the dancers’ dance. This is because it relies on feel and close interaction with your partner, and is characterised by a (mostly) closed dancing position and fast footwork. It is ideally suited to fast tempos, however at slower tempos, Balboa has an almost bluesy, relaxed feel.

Collegiate Shag
Collegiate Shag and its many variations were danced around America during the swing era.

Shag was essentially the punk dance of its day and very popular with the college set. Like Balboa, it is primarily danced to fast tempos, and has a cartoon-like appearance with slick, fast footwork and sometimes goofy styling.

It was popularized by Arthur Murray in his 1936 short film, Arthur Murray and his Shag Dancers.

Jazz and Freestyle

Jazz plays a huge part in all swing styles of dancing.  Where would we be without the Pimp Walk, Black bottom, or the Trankey Doo?  Even Tap plays a big part in our dance.  After all, what we do is a street dance and many of the fad dances of the day were borne out of solo style movement.   Line dances (or Jam dances) such as the Shim Sham, Big Apple & The Jitterbug Stroll – were born out of Jazz freestyle dancing new and old.  Some of these dances came out of the 20’s and 30’s while others are far newer creations.

One thing we can say is that Jazz dancing is an important part of any swing dancers education.