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Swing

The history of Swing dates back to the 1920's when the New York City black community, dancing to contemporary Jazz music, created dances that would later be called the Charleston, Lindy Hop and numerous other variants. On March 26, 1926, the Savoy Ballroom opened its doors in New York and was an immediate success with its block-long dance floor and raised double bandstand. Nightly dancing attracted the best dancers in the New York area. Stimulated by the presence of both great dancers and the best bands, musicians at the Savoy played Swinging Jazz almost exclusively.

    One evening in 1926, following Lindbergh's flight to Paris, a local dance enthusiast named "Shorty George" Snowden was watching some of the dancing couples. A reporter asked him what dance the couple was doing. A newspaper headlined with "Lindy Hops the Atlantic" was sitting on the bench beside them. George, scratching his head, glanced down, and then said with a smile, "The Lindy Hop." The name stuck.
In the 1934, the noted band leader Cab Calloway introduced a tune called "Jitterbug," a bouncy six-beat variant, and he named a new dance. Dancers also soon incorporated tap and jazz steps into numerous new Swing styles.

In the late 1930's, though the Lindy had become quite popular in the United States, it received a cold reception from most dance instructors. For instance, in 1936 Philip Nutl, president of the American Society of Teachers of Dancing, expressed the opinion that swing "would not last beyond the winter, " and in 1938 Donald Grant, president of the Dance Teachers' Business Association, said that "swing music devotees are the unfortunate victims of economic instability." By 1942, however, it seems the New York Society of Teachers of Dancing felt The Jitterbug could no longer be ignored.

In 1938, the most famous dance contest in the world, Madison Square Garden's Harvest Moon Ball, included both Lindy Hop and Jitterbug competitions for the first time. Swing was also captured on film and presented in movie newsreels between 1938 and 1951.

As music evolved and changed in the Twentieth Century, (Jazz to Rock, Rhythm & Blues to Disco and Country), the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, and Swing also evolved, developing regional styles. These styles became so distinct that, in the early 1940's, Arthur Murray studios directed their teachers to teach the unique dance forms being danced in their respective cities, thus spawning many undocumented (and largely lost) Swing styles. Finally, in 1951, Lauré Haile published her dance notes as a syllabus for her students at the Santa Monica Arthur Murray Studio. It included something she called Western Swing, and since then, many original regional styles have been documented.

In the late 1950's, television brought "American Bandstand", "The Buddy Dean Show" and other programs to teenage audiences, increasing Swing's popularity. In 1959, the California-born Western Swing's name was officially changed to West Coast Swing, to avoid being confused with Country and Western dancing.

Today, dancers of all ages are kicking, boppin', and Lindy Hoppin.' Swing has returned to social dancing preeminence.

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