What Is Swing Dance? |
The term Swing Dance commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s, '30s and '40s, although the earliest of these dance forms predate swing jazz music.
Some of the forms of swing dance include (more to come later): |
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The Lindy Hop is an African American Dance, based on the Charleston and named for Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic crossing in 1927. It was a fusion of many dances, but it was mainly based on jazz, and Charleston. It has an eight count structure that allows for many variations, with room for styling and improvisation. |
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Balboa is a form of swing dance that started as early as 1915 and gained in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. It is danced primarily in a close embrace, and is led with a full body connection.
The art of Balboa is the subtle communication between the lead and follow, with weight shifts, that most viewers cannot see. Balboa is danced to a wide variety of tempos. Because the basic step takes up such a small space, Balboa can be danced to fast music (over 300 beats per minute). Balboa is also danced to slow music (under 100 beats per minute), which allows more time for intricate footwork and variations. |
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East Coast Swing (ECS) is a form of social partner dance that evolved from the Lindy Hop in the 1940s. East Coast Swing can be referred to by many different names such as Jitterbug, American Swing, East Coast Lindy,and Triple Swing. The six count step of East Coast Swing has variation as a Single Swing, Triple Swing, or Double Swing. A versatile dance step that can be done to many styles of music from Big Band to Rock in Roll to Rockabilly. |