The Swing Book

by Degen Pener

  3. Grunge. “People were killing themselves over that music,” says singer Ann Hampton Callaway of grunge. “People don’t kill themselves over swing.”

  4. The Blurring of Gender Roles. Since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, gender roles have become increasingly ill defined. Women were told they should ask men on dates, pay their own way, and be the sexual aggressors. Men, meanwhile, worried they could be threatened with a sexual harassment suit if they so much as looked twice at a woman. The swing movement reembraces certain established conventions: men hold doors, buy drinks, and ask women to dance. In the dance, they tend to be the leaders, the women the followers. No one wants to go back to the days of ingrained sexism, but everyone is clearly searching for a new and better balance in the relationship between guys and dolls.

  5. The Gap-ification of America. In fashion, androgyny is the norm. Clothing is unisex and drab—both boys and girls wear jeans or khakis, baggy sweatshirts, and baseball caps—and people have lost all sense of style. The swing scene marks a return to glamour. The women wear elaborate hairdos, full makeup, and feminine frocks, whereas the men are clean-cut, sporting tailor-made suits and such “manly” accessories as fedoras, suspenders, and ties.

  6. The Internet. The Internet has helped support swing in two ways. On the one hand, the Net has allowed music and dance lovers to find one another and spread the good news of swing across the globe. Yet at the same time, people are searching for a release from their cyberlives. Now more than ever, they want to get out and touch each other, to meet face-to-face after interacting all day through their computer screens. Swing provides a safe forum in which to meet, mingle, and have fun.

  7. America’s Retro Obsession. The renaissance of swing comes on the heels of the neolounge movement, which was all about clothes and style, drinks and cigars, and bachelor pad music by the likes of Esquivel, Bennett, and Sinatra. Swing adds the element of dance and expands the musical repertoire back in time to include big band and jump blues. Moreover, both the swing and lounge movements reflect modern society’s wholesale turn-of-the-millenium obsession with all things retro, including the revival of seventies and eighties music and fashions.

  8. CDs and VCRs. CD and VCR technology has made the great music and movies of a bygone era available to the masses. Many dancers learned their first moves watching classic films such as Buck Privates or Hellzapoppin’ on late-night television. Now they can not only buy these films for relatively little money but also purchase instructional videos from some of the top dancers in the world. Similarly, whereas swing lovers once had to rely on their grandparents’ old vinyl records, now major labels have released collector’s series on CD. Featuring the greatest hits of Jordan, Prima, Dorsey, Ellington, and dozens of others, these new compilations have helped to further the swing movement.

  9. Gym Burn-Out. After twenty years of step aerobics and pumping iron, many fitness fanatics have grown tired of the routine. Swing offers a way to stay in shape while also having fun. “You are killing two birds with one stone,” says Tammy Finoc-chiaro of the Flyin’ Lindy Hoppers. “You are being social, you are dressing up, and you are exercising.”

  10. Seinfeld. There is simply too much jadedness in our lives. People are open once again to sweetness, romanticism, and sentimentality. There’s even a new term for it: postironic sincerity. Says San Francisco entertainer Mr. Lucky, “I think we have to give ‘corny’ a little more breathing room in order to preserve that little germ of naïveté that I have inside of me.”

  King of the aerials Frankie Manning sends partner Ann Johnson through the air at the Savoy. (w. EUGENE SMITH/BLACK STAR)

  CHAPTER 3

  What makes the Lindy Really Hop

  Swing dancing. Jitterbugging. The Lindy Hop. They’re all pretty much the same words for one of the most exciting, playful, and joyous dances ever invented. At its best, swing dancing is an electric communication between two partners, an unspoken dialogue of individual impulses moving into harmony. It’s a world of difference from the dancing that most of us now do in nightclubs. You know, the formless booty-shaking freestyle dancing that can sometimes feel like you’re in your own lonely bubble. In the Lindy, you’re going to have fun relating to another person instead of just to the music. You’ll find a certain comfort in the fact that everyone does several of the same basic patterns. On top of all that, you get to touch another person. “People want to get back together again, they’re tired of being apart,” says Lindy legend Frankie Manning, explaining the resurgence of swing dancing. Adds Teddy Kern, cofounder of New York’s Dance Manhattan studio, “My whole theory is to touch a stranger. You can touch somebody you’ve never met before and dance with them. That’s what’s magic about partner dancing.”

  Don’t worry, however, that swing dancing is going to feel rigid because it has a few set rules. Unlike some ballroom dances, the Lindy Hop offers lots of space for improvisation. Because of its signature swingout, or breakaway, move, in which the two partners can briefly separate and do their own steps, the dance allows for inspired moments of spontaneous creativity. “It’s like visual jazz,” says San Francisco teacher and American Lindy Hop champion Paul Overton. “There are a thousand things you can do. There’s no end to it. The Lindy Hop just has a very loose base to it and people make up new moves all the time.” Just like in any good relationship, the aim is for the dancing couple to achieve the perfect balance between structure and freedom. As Savoy veteran Norma Miller puts it, “The Lindy is the complete coordination of two bodies.”

  Classic Lindy Hop is known as Savoy style. Rooted in African movements and danced very low to the ground with a bend in the torso, it’s based on the Lindy as it was popularized and refined at the Savoy Ballroom in the late twenties and early thirties. It’s exuberant and sometimes very wild, with its Charleston kicks, gravity-defying aerials, rhythmic finesse, and a swinging bounce in the knees. The weight is forward on the balls of your feet. The hands are up, waving and expressive. Most important, the knees are kept bent and elastic, letting your body swing down and up again along with the music. That swing you feel when you hear Count Basie? That’s the swing you want to let your body give in to.

  Of course, Savoy style isn’t the only form of swing dancing. The Lindy’s close cousin is the jitterbug, a less Afro-centric version of the dance that became popular once swing crossed over to the white mainstream in the late 1930s. There are also more smooth and upright styles of the Lindy called Dean Collins and Hollywood style that are gaining in popularity in recent years. (For more information on different styles see page 88.)

  While each type of swing dance has its own distinct look, they are all basically variations of the Lindy, one of the most interesting-to-watch social dances in the world. Check out an experienced couple Lindy Hopping. Together, they are a whirl of kicks and turns. Changing positions and stances, their hands connect and reconnect, trailing around each other with stunning precision. To the outside observer, they look as though they’ve been rehearsing their dance for days beforehand. In fact, it’s something the pair is improvising right before your eyes on the dance floor.

  Watching skilled Lindy Hoppers can be both thrilling and intimidating. Sure, it looks great, you’re thinking, but how will I ever be able to do all that stuff? Well, don’t be fooled by all the tricks and variations. The complicated moves, of course, are what attracts new dancers to the Lindy. Everybody wants to look as good as those dancers in the Gap TV commercial. Indeed, today’s most accomplished dancers and teachers first got into it to learn the Lindy’s bells and whistles. Recalls Erin Stevens of the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association of her first meetings with Frankie Manning, “We were like, ‘Give us the tricks. Give us the show items.’ It was always about what new moves did you get.” Swing dancing’s resurgence was initially fueled by new dancers trying to match the unbelievably wild moves that Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers pulled in old movies like Hellzapoppin’. “The kids saw A Day at the Races and they thought that all those kicks and air
steps is swing dancing,” says veteran New York dancer and former swing band member Dawn Hampton.

  In the last few years, however, there’s come a realization that most of those showy moves are just that—they were choreographed for professional dancers to be done in performance. “We were really creating a spectator sport,” says Norma Miller. One secret of the famous Savoy dancers, however, wasn’t caught on film. In addition to appearing on Broadway and in films, they always remained social dancers also. Interacting with regular dancers in ballrooms kept their dancing authentic.

  Today’s swingers didn’t catch on to this at first. Manning, the mentor of the Lindy Hop movement, wasn’t interested in passing along all the tricks it turns out. “From the start, he was trying to give us the heart and soul of the dance. It took a while for us to listen,” says Stevens. Recently there’s been a new emphasis on the basics. “It was a real backward process for everyone the world over,” adds Stevens. “The Lindy is getting away from the choreographed tricks. There’s this big push away from aerials and tricks toward working with your partner, listening to the music, creating some connection, adding more jazz.”

  That’s great news for beginners. Even hard-core veteran swing dancers are now focusing more on the basics, which are easy to get a grip on quickly but take years and years to perfect. Lindy Hoppers are realizing that in many cases less is more. “You can really lose yourself much more easily if you are doing four variations and not forty. You’re less worried about what you’re doing next. You can go out and see eighty-year-old couples who are happy doing five or six variations all night,” says New York dancer and teacher Fredda Seidenbaum.

  So what is the heart and soul of the Lindy? It’s having a great sense of play, a desire to explore what your body can do, and the ability to share that with a partner. “Jumping around is fun. You get into it because it’s fun. You don’t get into it because it’s a science project,” says Debra Sternberg, a Washington, D.C., teacher. While learning the dance requires a lot of time and energy, the Lindy Hop also asks that you not take it too-too seriously. So keep that in mind. In the movie Swing Time, Ginger Rogers asks Fred Astaire, “Are you as scared as I am?” Astaire replies: “Don’t be nervous. It’s only a dance we have to do. It’s nothing to worry about.”

  LEARNING TO DANCE

  To become a righteous Lindy Hopper, you’ll want to take a series of classes with an experienced teacher. Getting hep to the Lindy requires patience and a certain amount of—let it be said—commitment. That can be frustrating at first for dancers who are accustomed to just going to a club and doing whatever they like. Lindy isn’t do your own thing. “This is a skill. This is like a sport. If I gave you a tennis racket would you believe me if I said you could go play Chris Evert after one class?” asks Seidenbaum. Although you can be assured that your first class will be instantly gratifying—you’ll be smiling and swinging before you know it— you’ll want to keep coming back and learning more.

  To get even better, you’ll also want to watch out for workshops that studios hold with celebrated visiting dancers such as Manning; Ryan Francois, the choreographer of Swing Kids and his partner, Jenny Thomas, both of whom are appearing in the Broadway musical Swing; Charleston expert Louise Thwaite; the hip-hop-influenced Steven Mitchell; Singapore’s Sing Lim; and Sweden’s spectacular performance troupe the Rhythm Hot Shots. Many nightclubs offer free lessons in the evenings before the nightclub starts really hopping. You’ll also want to watch great old movies like Hellzapoppin’ and Buck Privates for inspiration. Also, there are on-line instructions (see the Web guide in the appendix) and tons of teaching videotapes (see page 93 for a list of the best ones) available.

  Watching any video or reading a book, however, is no substitute for actually doing the Lindy with a partner. So think of the information here as a briefing, a way to familiarize yourself with what you’ll hear and do in class, so that your body starts spinning and not your head.

  THE BASICS

  Perfecting your basics, rather than knowing 150 tricky moves, is the most crucial part of being a great Lindy Hopper. “The basic is like your golf swing. You work on it your whole life,” says Paul Overton. And once you learn the basics, adds Frankie Manning, “all the other steps will come easily for you.”

  What exactly is a basic? There are two types, the six-count and the eight-count. Each is simply a rhythm pattern you make with your feet. You can do them in place, while moving forward or backward, and while turning in a circle. They are the foundation upon which you base everything else, from styling to specific movements. Once you can do the basics consistently, you are freed to do countless other things with the rest of your body and simply enjoy yourself. “When your feet can do the steps without even having to think about it,” say Sylvia Skylar, “then you can spend all the time in the world thinking about and concentrating on your partner.”

  To do the basics, you’ll need to get a grip on the following:

  Counts: When you first start dancing you may need to count the beats of the rhythm. In swing music, the beats are syncopated. This means that there are stresses on beats that are generally unstressed. Think a-one-and-a-two. To do the Lindy you want to put emphasis on what is called the downbeat. For example, downbeats are the first beat and the third beat of a phrase, not the second and fourth. Of course, “once you get the numbers, lose the numbers,” says Erin Stevens of the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association. “And feel it.”

  Lead and Follow: The Lindy Hop is referred to as a lead-and-follow dance, meaning that one person, generally but not always the man, leads the movements, while the partner, generally the woman, follows them. In this chapter the leader is referred to as he; the follower as she. But this is purely for the sake of convenience. Many men dance with other men, and women dance with women. Some same-sex couples are gay; some are not. In the Seattle swing scene, for example, lead and follow is a strictly gender-neutral affair. You can also get a better appreciation for the dance by learning the “other half” of it. “A lot of girls because they’re such fast learners will eventually learn how to lead too,” says Debra Sternberg. “It’s fun to know both.”

  Arm Positions: When you hold your partner’s hand, you want to feel a light tension between both of you. If the follower’s arms are too rigid, she isn’t responding to being led. If the follower’s arms are too limp, often referred to as “spaghetti arms,” she won’t be able to feel and respond to her partner. The right connection will enable you to be sensitive to the slightest pull and the lightest push from your partner. Also, neither partner should ever hyperextend his or her arms; you want to keep a slight bend in the arm, a gentle spring at the elbow.

  Step to It: Don’t plod or stomp around the dance floor. You want to keep a light, swinging feeling in your feet. No heavy shuffling, this isn’t work. Also, your steps don’t have to be as big as you imagine. You want to learn how to take small steps too, especially for when you’re on a crowded dance floor (see etiquette rule no. 3, page 93).

  Body Positions: There are two basic positions for the couple to be in: either open or closed. Open position is when you are facing and at arms’ length from each other, holding either one of your partner’s hands or both. For closed position, the leader puts his right arm behind his partner, his hand in the middle of her back. She rests her left hand on his right shoulder. He lightly holds her right hand in his left hand at waist height, keeping an easy tension in the arms with the elbows bent. Also, the pair should position their bodies in a slight V. You can also be very close together, with your torsos and legs touching. Think of closed and open positions as your home bases. If you’re stuck for what to do next, you can hang out there for a measure or so until you figure out a new move.

  Open Position

  Closed Position

  Tempos: It’s great when a dance band plays a mix of songs of different speeds throughout the night. If every number is at warp 10, you’ll be bushed halfway into the evening, while too many slow songs is boring
. That’s why many Lindy Hoppers prefer bands—such as Bill Elliott or Indigo Swing—that play a lot of songs at midtempo. “The Lindy Hop is really about expressing yourself, and when the tempo isn’t as fast, you have more time to play with the music and put more movement into it,” says Steve Conrad, of the Arizona Lindy Hop Society. Some experienced dancers will even get quite technical, wanting to know how many beats per minute a song has, and a few Web sites go so far as to list the BPM of popular swing songs. So what are the best tempos? For a nice easy swing, anywhere from 140 to 180 beats per minute. For faster numbers, they can go up to 220 beats per minute, though you may have to dance single or double time, instead of triple, to keep up.

  The Six-Count Basic in Triple Time

  The six-count basic is one of the most important building blocks of swing dancing. It’s one of the two rhythm patterns that make up the Lindy, the other being the more challenging eight-count basic. It’s also the move that most people associate with jitter-bugging or East Coast swing. The basic can be done in many variations; this is an example done in closed position:

  Starting in closed, do what are called triple steps on counts 1 and 2. These are syncopated movements that require three steps in two beats. If it’s helpful, think to yourself as you move TRI-ple-STEP, STEP-three-TIMES, or ONE-and-TWO to get the counting right. (For speedier numbers, you may want to dance in either double-time or single-time rhythm to go faster.) For triple time however, the leader steps on his left foot, then right foot, then left again, changing his weight three times. He’s not crossing his feet over each other. In fact, it should feel like you are doing the steps almost entirely in place, even though you’ll move slightly forward with your partner. The follower is doing the same steps, mirroring her partner but on the opposite feet, beginning with her right foot.