Swing (dance)

With Swing, a whole family of dances is called, which arose in the late 1920s in the United States. As heyday, the 1930s and 1940s can be seen. Mostly these dances are danced to swing music, some of these dances are created but only from the swing to a different music.

History

Swing is a rhythm ( Yoruba and Bantu brought by the abducted from Africa slaves in the USA) from black African rhythms and white marching music ( by European immigrants ) was formed, and prevails in all older forms of jazz music. The dance originated in the 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.

The energy of the dance, the typical jazz improvisation and openness to other musical and dance influences has led to a wide range of typical elements of movement, which to this day continues to develop and expand.

The original version of the dance comes from the temple of dance at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem (New York) and was called the Lindy Hop or Savoy style swing. In the further dissemination influences from other dances such as shag were taken.

The most common variant is the Hollywood - style swing. He was dancing, especially for the film industry in Hollywood and is called after its first representative also ' Dean Collins Style'. In order originated the turn of 1940er/50er years, he was the white equivalent of the "black" Savoy style. It was important to draw as much attention to itself, that is, there have been increasingly used show elements, the dance was extroverted and lost much of its original character.

As the popular music of Swing went to R & B and the beginnings of rock ' n ' roll and originated in the United States the beginnings of a media -based pop culture that increasingly discovered teen dance, adapted it to the new styles of music.

Above all, the media and the white population called the Swing Dance also " Jitterbug ". The GIs brought him in and after the second world war to Europe. Here, this developed under the influence of something other sounds of European dance bands and dance skills of European girls boogie-woogie, for the Hollywood style was probably the most important role model. There are newer variations of the swing dances.

With rock 'n ' roll, disco culture and the decline of the big bands of the Swing lost popularity. Remains held in the East or West Coast Swing in the USA, Ceroc / LeRoc / Roc in France and the UK and Bugg in Sweden. Also in Jive, one of the five Latin American dances of the world dance program, some of the basic elements of swing for the European competition dance were normalized.

Since about 1985, there are ( in parallel to the Argentine tango and Cuban Salsa ) a Lindy Hop revival emanating in Europe of Sweden. There is also one of the annual international Swing highlights, a 5 -week Swing workshop in the Swedish Herräng instead.

Music and rhythm

The basic steps of swing dances usually consist of eight ( "eight - count", especially Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa, Cakewalk, Big Apple, etc.), or six ( "six - count", especially East Coast Swing, Collegiate Shag, Jive, Boogie Woogie ) beats. In most Swing dances but are also characters with more or less shock.

There are numerous well-known Swing choreography, some from the 30s and 40s, such as the Shim Sham, the California routine, the tranky Doo or the Big Apple choreography. While these choreographies are partly no couple dances - and thus atypical for the swing - as they contain important roots of swing dance, jazz and tap dance steps, rhythms and elements. Some of these choreographies fit only to certain songs, others can be danced to almost every song in the 32 -cycle scheme of jazz often used.

Dance forms

The Swing dances include the Lindy Hop, Charleston, Shag, Balboa, West Coast Swing, Boogie Woogie, Cakewalk and Big Apple.

In a broader sense it is also the Jive, Ceroc / LeRoc / Roc, Bugg and rock ' n ' roll are among the swing dances. Also the discofox uses in elements from the swing.