Origins
Imagine the scene: a new club opens up in downtown Harlem, New York
City.
The club is so huge it takes up an entire block. There are two
stages at the venue, one at the north end, the other at the south end.
That’s how big the dance floor is - huge enough to hold 5,000 dancers.
The best bands come and play to a packed audience all night long. If
the bands fail to please the crowd, they don’t get a second gig.
The audience are a bunch of kids who dance wildly and energetically to all
the latest tunes. They improvise their own dances and inspire one another
to create ever more wild moves.
There is panic in some quarters - fear that the youth of today is being corrupted - that the moral fabric of
society is being eroded, and that the kids are out of control. The year
is 1926, the age of the Roaring Twenties and all that jazz.
The Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, had opened and soon became a magnet for the young,
mainly black, Americans.
Frankie Manning recalls how the outrageous Charleston was being banned, as in other dance clubs. To get around
this setback, the dancers developed a partner dance, a running Charleston.
This evolved into a breathtaking dance which was to be christened the
Lindy Hop (after press headlines about Charles Lindbergh hopping across
the Atlantic). New steps evolved each night and the dance style refined,
although never losing its immediacy and excitement.
Almost a decade later, the swing era and the Lindy Hop literally soared to new heights.
Dance competitions had remained popular since the 1920’s. In 1935 there
was a legendary contest - almost a showdown, between Frankie Manning
partnered by Freda Washington and the hugely popular Shorty George Snowden
partnered by Big Bea. The astonished crowd of 2,000 witnessed the first
Lindy air step ever done. Freda Washington soared over Frankie’s back
and landed safely continuing their routine. The atmosphere was electric
and the crowd applauded like never before. Needless to say Manning and
his partner won the competition. The Lindy Hop had literally been catapulted
into a new era.
Herbert “Whitey” White, an African American with a distinctive
white streak in his hair, organised a group of dancers into a professional
performance troupe. Known as Herbert “Whitey” White Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers and choreographed
by Frankie Manning, they toured the U.S. and the globe for the next
five years, popularising Lindy Hop worldwide until the outbreak of war.
Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers disbanded after World War II but the Lindy Hop
dance continued in the form of Manning’s Congaroo Dancers. They enjoyed
continuing success appearing with their swing contemporaries like Ella
Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Sammy Davis Jr, and Dean Martin.
By 1954 the mass popularity of the swing era was coming to a close. A new youth
culture was emerging and would provoke a similar outcry to that of 1926.
Lindy Hop had survived from 1926 to 1954, continually re-inventing itself.
A phenomenon that spanned almost 30 years, capturing generations of
young people from the roaring twenties to the big band swing era, was
destined not to die.
Since the mid 1980’s the Lindy Hop has been re-emerging
across the globe once more. Amazingly Frankie Manning has had a second
incarnation, celebrating his 90th birthday in 2004, and continuing to
teach and inspire a new generation to Lindy Hop. [Afternote - Frankie Manning died 27th April, 2009]
If you feel that it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it, the Lindy Hop could
be the dance for you.
We can’t promise you the Savoy Ballroom, but every
Thursday, at the Far Cotton Working Mens' Club, Main Road, Far Cotton,
Northampton, NN4 8EN we learn original Lindy Hop steps.
Come and learn this invigorating partner dance in a friendly atmosphere. Our class
attracts people from all backgrounds and our beginners' class is designed
for those with no Lindy Hop experience.
Each week our charismatic teacher,
Geof Connolly, inspires us to tackle new moves in a fun way. Come alone
or with a partner. A dance partner is not essential as we all rotate.
By the end of the lesson you will have danced with everyone in the class.
Remember, it don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing!
Anna
Richardson
January, 2005