The Evolution of Lindy Hop
How does it all fit together? I am no car expert, but every time that I open the hood to my car I sit there and ask myself how it works. That’s my analytical mind working, I tend to find relationships and try to connect things, to see the bigger picture. As a jazz and lindy hop nut, I have tried to find the relationships between the dances predecessors, and how it is today.
First, it shouldn’t be too surprising to most where lindy
hop or jazz came from. Primarily popular among black cultures in the late 19th
century, blues was sung by African Americans in the difficult transition from
slavery to freedom. As they came together, they would sing songs that incorporated
the rhythms and sounds of their ancestors, and combined them with the music and
styles of the day, such as ragtime and would later evolve into the basic roots
of swing jazz.
Insert lindy hop here. As music evolved, the dances evolved
along with them, the trends and norms changed, and they became more upbeat,
livelier, and more rebellious. By 1920 the war had just ended, the United
States was deepening into the prohibition, and to have fun, people would go to
clubs such as the Savoy Ballroom that was located in Harlem, New York. Many
dances became wildly popular here including foxtrot, flying lindy, mambo, the
jitterbug, and others. Among all of these, the biggest hit was the lindy hop, a
fast upbeat, but smooth dance named after Charles Lindbergh. Frankie Manning,
one of the many dancers from that era in an interview described it being like a
swing, smooth and slow, unlike its predecessor, the Charleston, which was fast
and jumpy, and that “it just started to evolve with that music”. He explained
about the Savoy Ballroom that [their] “only ambition was to go to the savoy,
and I remember there was six of us, and we [were] walking up these steps, …I
could hear this music coming down this stairway” saying to one another, “wow,
do you hear that music?”, and as you came around the stairwell he observed “the
floor was full with people, and it looked like everyone on the floor was doing
the lindy hop”. (Manning)
In the time, the dance started out at a lower class
setting, being a very social atmosphere where primarily African-Americans would
unite. As time went on, racial differences disappeared, and bands and dancers
alike started allowing the mixing of cultures as this dance grew in popularity.
This mixing, allowed the dance to not only expand from just a African-American
dance, but to all Americans, and during the war also spread to Europe with the invention
and popularity of vinyl records.
Unfortunately the dance didn't last long. As the people
grew up, and grew older, new generations came, and the older ones tired,
started families and limiting the time for dancing. Jazz evolved once again,
and the savoy closed in the 1950’s with the evolving of the dance. “From
the time the dance was named after Charles Lindberg to the year that the Savoy
Ballroom closed spans about 30 years. In that time Lindy Hop came into its own,
grew into a dance that helped define a generation, and then faded away. In the
intervening 26 years, the dance became a part of history, and not even the few
faithful practitioners ever expected any kind of resurgence. Yet here we are,
around 30 years into the modern revival. It is now possible to go a Lindy event
on almost any continent and dance with a crowd whose average age is probably
around 30.” (Almonte)
How
did it just stop for that time span? What changed? It’s hard to judge what it
was like in that time period, as we have limited videos from that time, and the
ones we have were the very best of the best. It was also one of these few
videos that helped to bring about the “revival”. Kristen Seaman, a dancer and
personal friend of mine explained that upon seeing a video of Whiteys lindy
hoppers, called Hellzapoppin, “and found Frankie (who at the time was a post
office worker) and flew him out to Sweden back in the 90's. She's responsible
for the revival. That's how it started up again.” (Seaman) Ever since then, the
swing scene has flourished and continues to grow in communities around the
world.
Heres the video of Whitey Lindy Hoppers in Hellzapoppin
While there are new dancers and new styles, the dancers try to stay true to the original form. The few videos we have, and from the help of several older dancers, we have been able to bring this dance back to life. For Frankie’s birthday several years ago, the Hellzapoppin dance was recreated by professionals from all over the world. In this video, you can see the similarities of the dances, and what today has in common from 70 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZsjDZlQKIM
Not a thing has changed. While it is an evolving dance, one that is constantly being added to, the basics are still essential in becoming a good dancer. This is why after 30 years, the same stuff is being taught as it was when it came back to life, this is why we teach the same steps that the original dancers taught us. What it teaches us is to step correctly, to hear and listen to the music. It is only after one knows how to do this correctly that one can do it his own way.
So
yes the dance has changed. Just as jazz is no longer just ragtime, just as
lindy hop evolved from Charleston, today’s lindy hop is a constantly growing
and mutating dance, one that stays true to its roots, and at the end of the
day, matures into something constantly more interesting.
But
why is this all important? Why would knowing the history of lindy hop help me
to improve in my dancing style? I am no professional dancer, but I know that it
has affected me personally in the way that I am able to help other people to
learn the dance as well. I like to think if we could go back in the day and
learn the dance in the time of Frankie, we wouldn't have teachers like we do
today, we would learn it solely from seeing, and trying. Today, we have
teachers and lessons, but the way that I got better at dancing, wasn't through
the lessons, but from seeing and trying. Imitation is sometimes known as the
greatest form of flattery, and if we imitate others, use what worked for them,
our own style begins to develop, and we ultimately end up being an example for
others to imitate as well.
As
a dj, I also find it important to understand the dances history, and the
history of jazz. The connection between these two is pivotal in knowing what
people want to dance to. As I mentioned before, jazz evolved from ragtime, to
blues, and continued branching out from there. If we look at lindy hop, it wasn’t
till the 1920’s that it began to emerge, and really picked up in the 1930’s and
40’s. This is the time of the Big Bands, bands such as those of Chick Webb,
Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman. If this is when the dance
became popular, then today we should be playing music of the same style, or
rhythm and pace. Today, we also have to imagine what people are used to, what they
like today, and what they respond to best. As I understand better the music
from yesterday, the more I know what to look for in music today, and I can find
a healthy balance that will not only help the dance to grow, but also to
preserve the original style of the dance.
And
that’s what I want to do, I want the dance to grow, I want others to find the
enjoyment that so many over the years have experienced. I want to help them to
learn the dance, feel the groove. I’m no expert by any means, but the more that
I understand about this, the more that I can help them, and the more I can get
better myself. As it grows, we connect, we expand, and the relationships we build
increase upon the values of the dance. The relationship that the past holds to
the present and future is crazy, and I will never forget the things that they
have taught us.
Works Cited
Almonte, Jerry. "The
State of the Hop: Looking Back, Moving Forward, and Swinging Out."
Wandering and Pondering. N.p., 17 May 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
<https://jsalmonte.squarespace.com/wanderingandpondering/2014/5/16/the-state-of-the-hop>.
Almonte’s article discusses the evolution
of the dance of lindy hop, how the past affects the present, and focuses on the
where we are now, what differences are there between communities, and discusses
the implications of allowing new styles of the dance to enter into the
community as a whole.
Manning, Frankie.
"Chick Webb, Frankie Manning and the Birth of Lindy Hop." YouTube.
YouTube, 2 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKHEtm-ezms>.
In this interview, Manning discusses
what dancing was like as he was growing up in New York. He talks about the excitement
of the lindy hop, the way the bands performed, and described the feel of it,
and how it affected him in his dancing career.
Seaman, Kristen. Personal
interview. 17 Mar. 2015.
Speaking with Kristen, the interview
covered how lindy hop has evolved and grown in the state of Utah, and as a
whole, as well as other topics such as how to develop personal style, and how
to help a swing community grow.
