The unknown force in swing dance during the 1950s and 60s was Arthur Murray Dance Studios.  The leading factor which brought AM's dominace to the swing dance scene was two fold:

 

One:  It was the Vietnam War in which several young emerging dance personalities went, mostly to join up in the various military branches-essentailly to stand up for America.  Dick Clark, American Bandstand, leter lament this fact, as he became the first to  acknowledged this. Moreover, as the war got more of this group of American youth, it left a vacume on the social dance floor, and as result ushered in the era of disco-following the new dance craze of Lindy Hopper ( yes he is a " Lindy Hopper " ) Chubby Checkers Twist .

 

Two.  Freddie James appearance and emergance with  " his " Lindy Hop styles started to electrified the whole studio system of Arthur Murray Dance Studios, Inc.  Then came the money.

 

The interesting fascet about his styles, is that power and froce of his dance styles, from time to time he would split his pants. Everyone knew of this.  So during every given performance, his wife would bring aleast two more pants.  He almost earned the name " Splits " as a result.  The energy he employed and the movements he threw in were all dynamic and awsome, and kept alive some of the stuff which could have disappeared if it was not for his dedications to this American Folk Dance.

 

What may surprise the present " Lindy World " is that he was also responsiable for encouraging the Artisit and personal rescue of Frankie Manning, the behind the scene scoop of the present dance Lindy World. That perponents of Arthur Murray, and then later Fred Astaire Dance Studios in New Yrok City region had the availabe student base which further triggered and then supported this urgent artistic rescue-ever wonder were his first core of students came from, and those who supplied the initial capital..

 

The black community, while dancing to contemporary New Orleans inspired Jazz music, and thus created the Charleston and other Lindy Hops.

On March 26, 1926, the Savoy Ballroom opened its doors in New York. The Savoy was an immediate success with its block-long dance floor and a raised double bandstand. Nightly dancing attracted most of the best dancers in the New York area. Stimulated by the presence of great dancers and the best black bands, music at the Savoy was largely Swinging Jazz. One evening in 1927, following Lindbergh's flight to Paris, a local dance enthusiast named "Shorty George" Snowden was watching some of the dancing couples. A newspaper reporter asked him what dance they were doing, and it just so happened that there was a newspaper with an article about Lindbergh's flight sitting on the bench next to them. The title of the article read, "Lindy Hops The Atlantic," and George just sort of read that and said, "Lindy Hop" and the name stuck.

In the mid 1930's, a bouncy six beat variant was named the Jitterbug by the band leader Cab Calloway when he introduced a tune in 1934 entitled "Jitterbug".

With the discovery of the Lindy Hop and the Jitterbug, the communities began dancing to the contemporary Jazz and Swing music as it was evolving at the time, with Benny Goodman leading the action. Dancers soon incorporated tap and jazz steps into their dancing.

In the mid 1930's, Herbert White, head bouncer in the New York City Savoy Ballroom, formed a Lindy Hop dance troupe called Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. One of the most important members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was Frankie Manning. The "Hoppers" were showcased in the following films: "A Day at the Races" (1937), "Hellzapoppin" (1941), "Sugar Hill Masquerade" (1942), and "Killer Diller" (1948).

Mickey Rooney / Judy Garland

Babes in Arms (1939)

Directed by Busby Berkeley Writing credits Jack McGowan and Kay Van Riper ...  (more) This is where the fame and moves of what was already labed the LIndy became more and more the popular dance of white America - leaving many black dancers fustrated, and to a degree anger.  This was to no fault of either Mickey or Judy, as they did their entertaining best, and in this they succeeded. "Babes in Arms", proved to be a favorite film that made a lot of money for the studio. The young stars of this film proved to be the main attraction for watching it more than sixty years after it was done. "Babes in Arms" was a Broadway musical by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers. Like most of those movies of that time, the creative people in the studio took liberties, incorporating material that was not in the original theater work. Busby Berkeley, the genius of those musical films, was at the helm. It's easy to see his imprint all over the movie in the way he stages the big musical numbers and move his players to get a maximum result out of them. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were two young actors at the time that were good in whatever they did together. The pair showed an amazing amount of charisma in their musical numbers as well as in the over all chemistry in all their scenes together. Mickey Rooney plays the earnest Mickey Moran, the son of vaudevillians, who wants to make a name for himself. Judy Garland is Patsy Barton, a girl-next-door type that is sweet, wise and patient, even when Mickey is dazzled by the film star that wants to back their show in order to have the lead in it. The other players are excellent, which is not saying much, as MGM and the other studios were blessed with solid talent that went from film to film doing amazing work in whatever picture they appeared. Charles Winninger, Guy Kibee, Betty Jaynes, Douglas McPhail, and the wonderful Margaret Hamilton appear in supporting roles. Enjoy the infectious actors of this movie and the Rodgers and Hart music, as well as the other songs that were added to it. Busby Berkeley did a marvelous job with the film that shows a less stressful time in the country.

In 1938, the Harvest Moon Ball included Lindy Hop and Jitterbug competition for the first time. It was captured on film and presented for everyone to see in the Paramount, Pathe, and Universal movie newsreels between 1938 and 1951.

In early 1938, Dean Collins arrived in Hollywood. He learned to dance the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy and Swing in New York City and spent a lot of time in Harlem and the Savoy Ballroom. Between 1941 and 1960, Collins danced in, or helped choreograph over 100 movies which provided at least a 30 second clip of some of the best California white dancers performing Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy and Swing.

In the late 1930's and through the 1940's, the terms Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing were used interchangeably by the news media to describe the same style of dancing taking place on the streets, in the night clubs, in contests, and in the movies.

By the end of 1936, the Lindy was sweeping the United States. As might be expected, the first reaction of most dancing teachers to the Lindy was a chilly negative. In 1936 Philip Nutl, president of the American Society of Teachers of Dancing, expressed the opinion that swing would not last beyond the winter. In 1938 Donald Grant, president of the Dance Teachers' Business Association, said that swing music "is a degenerated form of jazz, whose devotees are the unfortunate victims of economic instability." In 1942 members of the New York Society of Teachers of Dancing were told that the jitterbug (a direct descendent of the Lindy Hop), could no longer be ignored. Its "cavortings" could be refined to suit a crowded dance floor.

The dance schools such as The New York Society of Teachers and Arthur Murray, did not formally begin documenting or teaching the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing until the early 1940's. The ballroom dance community was more interested in teaching the foreign dances such as the Argentine Tango, Spanish Paso DoblИ, Brazilian Samba, Puerto Rican Merengue, Cuban Mambo and Cha Cha, English Quickstep, Austrian Waltz, with an occasional American Fox-trot and Peabody.

In the early 1940's the Arthur Murray studios looked at what was being done on the dance floors in each city and directed their teachers to teach what was being danced in their respective cities. As a result, the Arthur Murray Studios taught different styles of undocumented Swing in each city.

Then African American abandone in droves the dance of their making:

In the early 1940's, LaurИ Haile, as a swing dancer and competitor, documented what she saw being danced by the white community. At that time, Dean Collins was leading the action with Lenny Smith and Lou Southern in the night clubs and competitions in Southern California. LaurИ Haile gave it the name of "Western Swing". She began teaching for Arthur Murray in 1945. Dean Collins taught Arthur Murray teachers in Hollywood and San Francisco in the late 1940's and early 1950's.

After the late 1940's, the soldiers and sailors returned from overseas and continued to dance in and around their military bases. Jitterbug was danced to Country-Western music in Country-Western bars, and popularized in the 1980's.

As the music changed between the 1920's and 1990's, (Jazz, Swing, Bop, Rock 'n' Roll, Rhythm & Blues, Disco, Country), the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing evolved across the U.S. with many regional styles. The late 1940's brought forth many dances that evolved from Rhythm & Blues music: the Houston Push and Dallas whip (Texas), the Imperial Swing (St. Louis), the D.C. Hand Dancing (Washington), and the Carolina Shag (Carolinas and Norfolk) were just a few.

In 1951 LaurИ Haile first published her dance notes as a syllabus, which included Western Swing for the Santa Monica Arthur Murray Dance Studio. In the 50's she presented her syllabus in workshops across the U.S. for the Arthur Murray Studios. The original LaurИ Haile Arthur Murray Western Swing Syllabus has been taught by Arthur Murray studios with only minor revisions for the past 44 years.

From the mid 1940's to today, the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy, and Swing, were stripped down and distilled by the ballroom dance studio teachers in order to adapt what they were teaching to the less nimble-footed general public who paid for dance lessons. As a result, the ballroom dance studios bred and developed a ballroom East Coast Swing and ballroom West Coast Swing.

It was the Korean War which caused the slow down in Swing Dance Circles all over the country.  Never - the - less, and just prior to Elvis's Army induction,  his time of Army service, and then afterwards, explosion on the dance floors all over the country - Swing Dance Circles came alive again with the rapture and orchistrations, and soft melodies.  It was his sence of wildness, sideburns, and that cutting edge appeal, thewild hip action, as if to challenge authority - but held to traditonal family values at the same time which made his public personality. 

In the late 1950's, television brought "American Bandstand", "The Buddy Dean Show" and other programs to the teenage audiences. The teenagers were rocking with Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry leading the fray. In 1959, some of the California dance organizations, with Skippy Blair setting the pace, changed the name of Western Swing to West Coast Swing so it would not be confused with country and western dancing.

In the 1990's, dancers over 60 years of age still moving their Lindy Hoppin', Jitterbuggin', Swingin', and Shaggin' feet.

SWING STYLES

 

April 14th, 2004