Essay on Lindy Hop Dance
This
report covers the history, importance and the influences of Lindy hop dance. It
details the circumstances in which it was started. Dance is a very interesting
topic as it is the universal physical language understood by all the rational
human beings. A dance can be described as patterned and rhythmic bodily
movements, usually performed to music that serves as a form of communication or
expression. These movements are natural to human beings. Dance is the
transformation of ordinary functional and expressive movement into extraordinary
movement for extraordinary purposes; even a common movement such as walking is
performed in dance in a patterned way, perhaps in circles or to a special
rhythm, and it occurs in a special context. Lindy dance is all about such
movements essentially referring to a very romantic environment.
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Lindy Hop is a jazzy, couple dance that jives, jitters and jumps. It originates
from the jazz age and was first given its name in 1927. Lindbergh's pioneering
aeroplane flight across the Atlantic was reported worldwide in the newspapers.
It was at this time that at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, the dancers were creating a
new dance they called the Lindy Hop. The word Lindy has been described in the
literature as: lin•dy\'lin-de\n[prob. fr. Lindy, nickname of Charles A.
Lindbergh](1931) : a jitterbug dance originating in Harlem and later developing
many local variants. The dance was made popular in the Britain during the Second
World War, by American GI's stationed in the UK, subsequently adopting the name
'Jitterbug'.
Jitterbug was a popular American couple dance in the 1930s and '40s. Lindy hop
dance gave birth to many other dances like Jitterbug. In this dance, the couple
danced to big-band swing or similar syncopated music in 44 times. Lindy hop has
a variety of steps and sometimes acrobatic swings as well. It is usually
executed while holding one or both of the partner's hands. The Lindy hop dance
was spread around the world during World War II by the U.S. armed forces. Lindy
dance started through the integration of the movements of Latin-American dances
like cha cha cha and tango into popular social dance. The term Lindy Hop grew up
in the Savoy ballroom in uptown Harlem and was popularized at Dance Marathons in
America. It was commonly associated with black dancers, white American GIs from
the 40s often called the same dance Jitterbug. 'Jitterbugging' was an expression
first widely used in 1937 after Benny Goodman's stunning performance at the
Paramount Theater in New York City.
Importance Of Lindy Hop Dance
The importance of the Lindy hop dance emerges from the fact that it resulted
from the interrelations in the U.S. among the various immigrant groups. It
increased the social interactions of these groups essentially producing a new
form of a social dance of a couple. Miller and Jensen (1996) have witnessed the
birth and life of Lindy Hop as member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. She discusses
that there are this dance really shaped lives, neighborhoods, and communities as
it mixed all the immigrants and other community members.
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It was a very popular entertainment like other dances such as square dancing and
tap dancing. It was the feelings of shedding away the influences of the Great
Depression that eventually gave way to now dance styles. The importance of Lindy
hop dance also increases when we see the soothing effects; it gave to the
depression trodden people of the 1930s. Americans eagerly watched movie
extravaganzas by the dance director Busby Berkeley as well as the movies of the
dancers Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Teenagers danced the jitterbug to swing
music, an outgrowth of the 1927 Lindy. The fox trot, a fast, trotting dance from
about 1913, came back in a slower, smoother version during the 30s.
Stowe (1994) states that, "Ralph Ellison once described American culture as
'Jazz-shaped… the sudden turns, the shocks, the swift changes of pace that serve
to remind us that the world is ever unexplored, and that while a complete
mastery of life is mere illusion, the real secret of the game is to make life
swing." He states that it was the height of the Swing Era in America in early
20th century. He explores that what made Lindy popular was a nationwide medium:
radio, a nationwide dance craze: swing, and a nationwide music: big band swing.
Jim (1977) has points out that the originating place of Lindy Hop dance, Cotton
Club, Harlem's infamous nightclub was a black-only entertainers club, which
performed for the white-only audiences.
The Influences And The Influenced Of The Dance
The Lindy hop dance was introduced by the US armed forces around the world. It
takes a definite turn from its predecessors. The waltz and polka of the peasants
were the dances of the earlier eras that transformed into social dances. These
were then danced in the social gatherings. Lindy hop dance is one of the new
ballroom dances, popularized by the American dancers Irene and Vernon Castle
before World War I. It was in this era that other dances of the fox trot and
Latin American origin such as the tango, rumba, and cha-cha came into
prominence. Lindy dance started through the integration of the movements of the
Latin-American dance into popular social dance. It is takes its turn from the
features from the cakewalk of the 1900 and the Charleston in the 1920s and black
bottom. It was introduced in the 1930s and '40s along with the big apple and
eventually faded away giving way to the rock-and-roll dances of the 1950s and
their successors in the following decades.
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It was in the 1930s that the Lindy hop couple-swing dance emerged as the new
musical dance. This dance was played on the sounds by big bands led by musicians
such as Benny Goodman and others. Its Latin American forms and sensual hip
movements became popular at a time when women were gaining increased freedom,
working in factories and managing homes and businesses while men were away at
war during the 1940s. The swing movements of the Lindy hop dance changed into
the lower body with gyrating hips in the 1960s introduced by the rock musician
Chubby Checker in the 1960.
Lindy hop was also followed by the dances in the large masses. In this both
sexes dance with long hair, all dancing by them and inventing as they went
along. Couple dancing of Lindy hop style returned in the 1970s with the hustle
and other elaborately choreographed dances performed to disco music. Lindy hop
is essentially a couple-dance of the 1930s influencing other dances later on in
the 1960s and later. It was the origin of the twisting dance without touching
one's partner. Break dancing was the norm of the day during the mid-1980s. It
was at this time that at the same time that the big-band sound was revived with
foxtrots, waltzes, and jitterbugs.
Today in England there are variations of Lindy Hop done to modern pop music,
known under many different names, including Modern Jive, Le Roc, Ceroc etc. In
Sweden they have Bugg, in Switzerland they have Disco Fox; in America, West
Coast Swing is danced primarily to modern R'n'B. Each of these dances has their
own styles. The original styling and footwork have changed to fit the music, but
in essence, all come from the original Lindy Hop that was so popular in Harlem's
Savoy Ballroom and all over America in the 30s and 40s.
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