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The Swing, also called the lindy, jitterbug, and jive, is believed to have originated in the Savoy Ballroom which opened on March 12, 1926. The first act at the Savoy was Fletcher Herderson's band, a leading African-American group of the day. The long dance floor and double stage attracted many of New York's best dancers, including many African-American dancers. The Savoy played mostly swinging jazz to accommodate the great dancers. Initially, the popluarity of the Lindy was pretty much limited to Harlem and the Savoy Ballroom, but by the end of 1936, the Lindy was sweeping the United States. In 1939, Duke Ellington and Paul Whiteman were at the first annual convention and jam session of the "National Swing Club of America," which was held at the New York Hippodrome and was attended by over 3,000 swing fans. The dance teachers originally gave the Lindy a chilly response, but in 1942 members of the New York Society of Teachers of Dancing were told that the jitterbug could no longer be ignored. The swing was tremendously popular from 1936 through the war years. Almost every soda shoppe had a jukebox and floor space for high school students to jitterbug after school. Its popularity began to fade after the war and has only recently made a strong comeback as an entirely new generation discover this fun dance. The swing is characterized by a hand hold that differs from the other ballroom dances, and also by extremely small steps. (Excerpt taken from 2leftfeet.com)
Some popular Swing Dance songs from Swingorama:
Take the A Train - Duke Ellington
Sixty Minute Man - Billy Ward and the Dominoes
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - Andrew Sisters
Jive at Five - Count Basie
Oo Poppa Doo - Lavay Smith
Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop- Lionel Hampton
Route 66 - Nat King Cole
Hamp's Boogie Woogie - Lionel Hampton
It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't got that swing - Many versions
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