“The Charleston dance” form, specifically partner Charleston had a direct influence on lindy hops’ formation, transitioning from the big campy movements associated with early twenties music and carried over into the swing era with a slightly different rhythmical emphasis.ġ920’s Charleston breakaway eventually morphed into a flattened out and ‘swung’ movement precipitated from the musical changes of swing pioneers such as Louis Armstrong in the late 20’s and early 30’s. Traditionally, lindy hop was danced to swing music, which is a style of jazz rooted in the blues and syncopated like ragtime. Most of the early sources credit “Shorty” George Snowden as one of lindy hops’ early influencers, who exposed the dance first to non-brown skinned audiences. Although in the original era, terms for this movement varied throughout regions of the USA and is still debatable today. This signature lindy hop move distinguishes lindy hop from later evolving American social dances such as East Coast Swing, Shag, Balboa and West Coast Swing. Although popularized in Harlem, Lindy Hop expanded well past the borders of New York into the heartland of the country, eventually making its way into southern California where it took on a new name of “West Coast Swing.” Popular dance forms of the era such as The Charleston, Black Bottom, Tap, and the Texas Tommy influenced the development of lindy hop in its early stages. Two eight-count Lindy steps matched up with one four measure jazz phrase, both involved the repetition of basic patterns that were never executed the same way twice allowing Lindy hop the ability to evolve with the music. The Lindy was far more exciting than any of the other dances floating around Harlem and suited the spirit of jazz perfectly. This fundamental difference in dance structure and rhythmic freedom set lindy hop apart as an authentically American art form. Unlike many other traditional partner dances from Europe, lindy hop’s fundamental identity is rooted in improvisational rhythms as opposed to choreographed move patterns. The Lindy Hop dance developed rapidly at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.

It was later called the Lindy Hop named after Charles Lindbergh’s famous flight over the Atlantic. It was first called the “Hop” and was pioneered by dancers like Shorty Snowden, a small man of five feet, two inches who danced a comedy act with his partner, Big Bea who was a towering six feet, and George “Twist Mouth” Ganaway. It had soul, and it had swing, which is what made it popular everywhere it was introduced. It is a jazz social dance created by black American’s in Harlem N.Y. Most of the dances in America during the late 20’s had their roots in foreign countries, but Lindy Hop is the rare exception.

Swing dance moves