Sannidhi Bosamia

10R
What would the world be like without swing?
Where did swing originate?
The word swing was originally used to describe jazz music. Later on, the dances performed to
the music became known as swing. The origins of swing dancing leads back to the AfricanAmericans of late 1800s particularly the southeast. It consisted of exaggerated body
movements in contrast to the upper-class whites. The dance featured in Ziegfield Follies, an
elaborate theatre production, in 1923. The black dockworkers in the port of Charleston started
the dance which soon became popular worldwide. Although the Charleston is a line dance, it is
thought to be the direct ancestor of swing dancing. During the Swing Era, Lindy Hop was born
in Harlem, a neighbourhood in New York City, in the 1920s and 1930s. The driving force was a
big band jazz which performed at the Savoy Ballroom. The better dancers gathered in the cats
corner which was where Lindy Hop was born. The name, however, was coined in 1927.
How has swing developed?
Firstly, there were many name changes as the music and dance evolved. The Lindy Hop,
Charleston, Texas Tommy was the dance of the 20s which was done eight counts done in four
steps.
In the 30s it evolved to an eight count basic with 10 steps (the two steps of triples). While the
Hot Jazz went from 2/4 time to Swing 4/4 time. Another difference was the whites had changed
the style of dance and therefore it looked different compared to the swing dance done by the
black people of America.
In the 40s the music also changed from 4/4 Swing to Jump Blues which in turn reflected the
dance. The simpler rhythms and harder hitting drums caused this dance to simplify its footwork
whereby the eight count basic footwork was replaced with the truncated footwork in six. It is
similar to another jazz dance called the Jig Walk which was popular among the black
communities. This Swing was referred to as Jitterbug or Swing rather than Lindy Hop, although
New Yorkers preferred to call it Lindy (the Hop was dropped from the name at this point).
In the 50s the music changed again to Rock and Roll and Rhythm & Blues (R&B). From here on,
the dance split into two directions; the rock and roll swing dance had a harder driving bear with
simple syncopation and almost no swing, R&B had a softer beat with simple syncopations but
with more swing. The result of this was that the dance to Rock and Roll was very energetic with
a lot of tricks but little in the way of improvised rhythmic footwork. The dance to R&B was
smoother with a few tricks but had more complicated footwork. This when all the different
styles of Swing were born East Coast Swing was danced to Rock and Roll music and started to
gain real popularity whereas the smoother dances such as the West Coast Swing, Carolina
Shag, Hand Dancing, etc. were danced to R&B music.
During the 60s and 70s Swing Dancing pretty much died in main stream America.
In the 80s, there was a slight upsurge in Swing Dancing: the smooth styles dominated by West
Coast Swing gained in popularity and Lindy Hop started to come back again in black dominated
clubs where young dancers in their mid-twenties were mixing with those in their seventies.

Sannidhi Bosamia
10R
The early 90s where referred to as Neo-Swing or Retro-Swing, which is a mix of Jump Blues,
Swing and some Bop styling. It spurred a sudden interest in swing dancing. This new style of
swing dancing was heavily influenced by the Jitterbug and Rock and Roll dancing of the fifties.
Soon, the appearances of Swing Dancing in movies and TV shows sparked interest in people and
was taught in clubs, ballrooms and churches.
From this, it can be concluded that Swing Dance never died but it just evolved and was
manipulated to form the various Swing Dance styles we have today. Due to the fact that the
popular music today is hip hop and dub step, there are a very few swing dances. Nonetheless,
these moves can be danced to with any kind of music by making them faster or slower and
adding tricks.
Should we preserve swing?
Yes. Swing has come along a long way and it is a very different form of couple dancing. Couple
dances such as Tango and Salsa are Latin and in my opinion, very sophisticated. On the other
hand, Swing Dancing was formed by a black community in USA and is very informal. Swing
Dance can be performed with anyone as it isnt stereotyped to particular age group as can be
seen during the 80s.
Give two examples of how swing has persevered.
Swing dancing isnt easy because there is a lot of footwork. Furthermore, making it appear that
you are in a relationship with your partner isnt very easy either. At times, your partner is
someone youve never talked to before but you have to dance with them. During these times,
you have to persevere and keep on trying and practicing until you can do your best. I believe
you should be proud of what you have performed and be confident during the whole
performance because that is what Swing Dancing is about.
How are dynamics included in this kind of dance?
In my opinion, quite a lot of effort has to be put into this dance especially showing a relationship
between you and your partner to the audience. Without this relationship the dance doesnt
look as good as it should. Additionally, the footwork is extremely important when dancing the
Swing because the hardest part of this dance is the footwork. Another thing which has to be
taken into consideration is the beat. Hence, if the beat is slow, you would use the West Coast
Swing whereas if the beat was harder and faster you would dance the East Coast Swing or Lindy
Hop and so on. Therefore, the type of music you are dancing plays a huge role on dancing.