Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop is a dance style from the 1930s in the U.S., is considered the precursor of the dances jive, boogie -woogie and acrobatic rock 'n ' roll. He is considered the original swing dance.

History of style

The roots of Lindy Hop are in the Charleston, break-away and tap dance, as well as other jazz, traditional West African, and European dances. As ballroom dancing it is danced mainly in pairs, with the joy of harmony, the exchange of ideas during the dance and movement to interpret the music in the foreground.

The dance originated in the late 1920s in the grand ballrooms of New York to the music of the big bands, the more developed the jazz music to orchestral swing music. Particular importance is attached to the then largest ballroom, the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to. He was open to all classes and skin colors, a melting pot of different cultures dance, in which the developed Lindy Hop to a special attraction. He drew celebrities and high society to the Savoy, which gave him attention about Harlem addition.

The dance became known. Including through dance formations like the Lindy Hoppers Whitey's that brought the dance style in the 1930s and 1940s on stages and cinema screens Frankie Manning was a long time head of this dance troupe. His creations include the first " Aerials " ( synchronized with the music seamlessly into the dance interspersed pair acrobatics and lifting figures). An example of staging the film contains in hell is the hell is going on! ( Hellzapoppin ') from 1941, which are referred to as " Harlem Congeroo Dancers" in the credits of the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Also in this movie is Dean Collins, who is a key figure for the so-called Hollywood -style Lindy Hop, the adaptation of the Lindy Hop to the taste of white embossed Hollywood.

Revival

Since the early 1980s Lindy Hop wins in Europe again increasingly friends. In 2005 there were in London and New York already has a several thousand dancers comprehensive insider group, but also in other major cities mainly in the Western-oriented world and elsewhere (eg Beijing, Tokyo ) train fans of dance and regularly organize public parties. The best-known annual Lindy Hop Festival takes now five weeks in which pilgrimage total of well over a thousand dancers in the small Swedish village Herräng: the " Harlem Hot Shots " (formerly Rhythm Hot Shots ), devote there since 1992, the authentic African American dance ( and prominently the Lindy Hop ) a dance camp. Targeted be witnesses of the 30s to the 50s, like Frankie Manning († 2009) and Dawn Hampton, merged with current protagonists of the dance form.

Since 1998, in many cities regularly Lindy Exchanges place to get to know each other and the typical style of dance another city.

Naming

About the name " Lindy Hop " different stories circulating that refer predominantly to the New York dancer " Shorty George " George Snowden. Lindy Hop is, the dance reportedly after Charles Lindbergh, the first crossers of the Atlantic with a non-stop flight from New York to Paris. According to the legend and lore of Frankie Manning celebrated mayors and journalists that night, at which headlines the newspapers: 'Lucky Lindy Hops the Atlantic ' at the Savoy Ballroom, and asked one of the dancers, what he was doing here, after which he is said to have replied: "I'm doin ' the Hop ... the Lindy Hop! " According to Frankie Manning the exhausted Shorty George just grabbed back to the current newspaper headline.

Another version says, Lindy Hop had originally been called just "hop". The name " Lindy " was added in 1927 at New York's Savoy Ballroom the " Hop " - supposedly to commemorate Lindbergh's famous flight across the Atlantic in 1927.