![]() ![]() Dancers from around 40 different countries attend this camp. The small village of Herrang in Northern Sweden has unofficially become the international mecca of Lindy Hop because of their annual Herrang Dance Camp. Lindy Hop dancing is also hosted at dance camps and dance competitions around the world. Joe’s Bar, the Culver Hotel, Rusty’s Rhythm Club, the Santa Monica Pier and Viva Cantina are a few venues in Southern California that host Lindy Hop music and dancing. Expensive hotels, fancy bars, and restaurants are also known to host Lindy Hop and swing dancing. The Disney resort in Anaheim hosts swing dancing at Downtown Disney and often hosts live bands playing danceable music inside the park as well. ![]() Many of these venues have no cover charge. ![]() In Orange County and Los Angeles, there are many mainstream venues that host Lindy Hop dancing. There are thriving Lindy Hop communities throughout the world and Lindy Hop can be found in nearly every large Westernized city. Lindy Hoppers are known for their fun energy, down-to-earth sprit, and ability to have a great time. Lindy Hop dancing is very much alive and celebrated today. The Lindy Hop is considered to be the “first” swing dance and has inspired many of the other swing dance styles that came after it. He answered with a quick-witted response saying it was the “Lindy Hop.” The name stuck and is still called as such today. He was at the end of a long dance marathon when a reporter watching asked what the crazy dance he was doing was called. At the time there was a great swing dancer by the name of George “Shorty” Snowden. People were fascinated with Lindbergh’s “hop” across the Atlantic. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh was going to take the first solo flight from New York to Paris. Dancers happily compared moves, participated in weekly friendly competitions, and invented new creative moves, including Aerials and lifts.Īs Lindy Hop boomed, dance marathons became very popular and it’s because of one of them that Lindy Hop got its name. The musicians and the dancers would feed off of each other’s energy and improvisations making for a magical, spontaneous, and fun time. A night out dancing was affordable and Jazz fans were happy to go out to hear live music by big names such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Count Basie especially since recorded music was not yet readily assessable. Lindy Hop social dancing became extremely popular. A bandstand at each end of the ballroom allowed for two live bands to play every night, 7 days a week! The Savoy hosted 70,000 dancers a year and became known as the “home of happy feet.” The ballroom had an elongated shape with sprung floors that needed to be replaced every three years. The Ballroom was very inspiring for dancers and was one of the few ballrooms at the time that allowed racial integration. It took up an entire block at 141 st Street and Lenox Ave. It was here that the “Savoy style” of Lindy Hop evolved. The Savoy Ballroom became the place where Lindy Hop was fine-tuned, given a home base, and able to evolve. Remnants of older dances such as the Black Bottom, Cakewalk, Texas Tommy, and animal dances such as the Turkey Trot and Buzzard Lope influenced the Lindy Hop structure and movements.īallrooms dominated Harlem in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s, but there was only one that became famous for hosting swing dancing. Lindy hop also grew from the blending of African rhythms and movements with European structured dance partnering. The early stages of the Foxtrot were also included in Lindy Hop’s original styling. The Charleston and Tap were two of the popular jazz dances that heavily influenced Lindy Hop. ![]() Like most developed dances, Lindy Hop was born from the influences of a variety of dance styles. Jazz music had become extremely popular in the United States during this time, and dance fads emerged as a result. Lindy Hop swing dancing began in the 1920s and 30s in Harlem New York. The Lindy Hop is the most iconic style of swing dancing and some consider it to be as popular today as it was in the 1930s. It is characterized by fast rotations, swing outs and high-energy footwork. Referred to as the “original” swing dance, the Lindy Hop has been enjoyed by many generations of dancers. ![]()
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