Jazz Swing Theory

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The swing style was greatly influenced by jazz and also a multitude of popular dances from before it’s time, for example the Black Bottom, Big Apple and the Turkey Trot. The style of Swing dancing is named after the type of jazz music that swing dancing is traditionally danced too. Swing dancing is said to have been created at a club called the Savoy Ballroom. The Savoy Ballroom was a block-long dancehall in New York City and was so popular that it was frequented by many of the greatest dancers of the 1920’s and 30’s such as “Shorty George” Snowden. The Savoy was so large that it had 2 bands playing Jazz at all times, one on either end of the dance floor. Another thing that made the Savoy Ballroom so unique is it was one of the few places at that time that were desegregated, so the black and whites were dancing in the same room. A typical night at the Savoy ballroom would entail the patrons starting the evening doing line dances then pairing up according to ability and continuing to dance the night away in pairs. Usually the better dancers would gather, dance together, and try new moves in one corner of the dance floor known as the “cat’s corner.”
In the simplest terms swing dancing is characterized by high-spirited, fast paced dancing, involving exaggerated movements and is largely consists of improvised steps. Because Swing dance entails so much improv, when it spread across the United States it evolved and changed so nearly every region of the US developed its own unique style of swing dancing. Some of the best known types of swing dances are Jive, Lindy, Shag, Whip, Imperial, East coast swing, West coast swing, Push, and Bop. Swing is normally danced with a partner but the general style could also be danced alone. Swing dan...

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... its fair share of problems, hospitals started receiving patients claiming to have “Charleston knee”. In the mid-1920’s people were dancing the Charleston in the Pickwick Club so vigorously that they caused it to collapse killing over 40 people. After this incident Boston’s mayor banned the Charleston from being danced in all public dance halls because he believed it was too dangerous. Following Boston’s Charleston ban, several other cities in New England followed suit. But the more that people tried to stop the Charleston the more its popularity grew. Over time many dance halls realized they were fighting a losing battle and gave up trying to stop their patrons from dancing the Charleston. Instead they attempted to get them to dance it more calmly, as to not hurt themselves or others. The Charleston went on to become one of the greatest American dances of all time.

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