Research, Analyse and Describe your dance style: Lindy Hop (I think) or Dance Hall or Reggaeton

What the dance form is in terms of its stylistic elements, for example the use of timing and tempo, spacing, energy, weight, flow, emotion and quality.

The dance has no "hop" in it. On the contrary, it is smooth and solid, and while there is a constant rhythmic 8-count "pulse" that you feel in your bones, there is no hopping, bopping, or prancing in the dance. Lindy Hop, also known as Jitterbug, is the authentic Afro-Euro-American Swing dance. It is an unabashedly joyful dance, with a solid, flowing style that closely reflects its music -- from the late 20's hot Jazz to the early 40's Big Bands. Just as Jazz combines European and African musical origins, Lindy Hop draws on African and European dance traditions. The embracing hold, and the turns from Europe, the breakaway and solid, earthy body posture from Africa. The dance evolved along with the new swing music, based on earlier dances such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom, by black people in Harlem. Lindy Hop is a social dance. Partners are connected smoothly and gently to each other, while relating closely to the music, in feeling, improvisation and phrasing. The core tempo range is 120-180 beats per minute.

Lindy Hop, the original Swing Dance...

The history of the Lindy Hop is told in the pages of this Archive, through the biographies of the dancers and information on old filmclips. (You might try starting with Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. ) \

AFRICAN ROOTS OF LINDY HOP:

Introduction: During the days of slavery in the United States, the

African slaves entertained themselves, and others, with musical and dance forms that contained elements they brought with them from Africa. Some of the dances the slaves created went on to become national dance crazes for all Americans, such as the Cakewalk, and later the Black Bottom and the Charleston. When the Lindy Hop emerged in Harlem in the late 1920's it contained many of these African characteristics.

However, it was danced in a rigid, upright manner (as you can see on the Shorty George Snowden filmclip, After Seben). In the mid-thirties, Frank Manning introduced the angular posture that soon swept the Savoy Ballroom. Manning had no idea that he was bringing the dance closer to its African roots-- he says, "I thought it looked better that way, that's all." What follows are a list of characteristics of African dance that are found in African-American dance forms. Many of these characteristics are still very much a part of swing dancing. Some of these characteristics are seen primarily in Savoy style Lindy Hop, and less in some of the other swing forms. This list is reprinted with permission from a book called "When the Spirit Moves" which accompanied a traveling exhibition of African-American dance art.

It all started at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, 1926. It all started at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, 1926.

http://www.savoystyle.com/ http://www.savoystyle.com/african.html

Who the dance form was created by and/or who contributed to its popularity. This may be an individual or a group of people defined by their shared interests, ethnicity, sexuality, culture or economic situation.
Shorty George Snowden and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, originators of the Lindy Hop at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem

A History of the Lindy Hop

It turns out that the Lindy Hop is named after one character Charles Lindbergh who cross the Atlantic in a single flight in 1927 - this trend started in Harlem, New York and fused many dance styles prevalent at that time. That was in the 1920s, the Swing Era.

Lindy Hop went through a resurgence in the 1980s, started appearing in movies and commercials, and continues till today. Theres even an international competition in Sweden that brings together the worlds best Lindy hoppers.

http://mochachilo.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/lindy-hop-that-crazy-energetic-dance/

Lindy Hop was so named after Charles Lindbergh's flight to Paris in 1927, when the newspaper headline read: "LINDY HOPS THE ATLANTIC".

Films such as Hellzapoppin and Day at the Races, as well as Malcolm X and Swingkids show seemingly reckless airsteps (aerials), often done at very fast musical tempos. Far from being just acrobatic antics, airsteps are in fact smooth, extremely precise, and perfectly in synch with the music. They require a superb degree of expertise and are not danced socially, but only for performance, if only inside a protective ring of spectators, as in the Cats' Corner jams at the Savoy Ballroom. Airsteps are impressive and spectacular, so that's what you see in the movies! Savoy style Lindy Hop, as taught by Frankie Manning and Steven Mitchell, has the lightest, gentlest, and smoothest connection of all the common Swing dances! It is solid, low, relaxed and energetic. Just as Swinging Jazz music feels very different from, say, Rockabilly music, Lindy Hop feels very different from other dances, such as WCS, ECS, Jive, and Rock'N'Roll-Jitterbug, especially in posture, partner connection, and musical connection.

http://dancing.org/lindy-what-is.html

Lindy Hop is a Jazz dance. Jazz is dancing music. Swing is Jazz music

Where the dance form is from and how this location/environment may have helped to shape the style of this dance?

Harlem Renaissance - Instead of using more direct political means to achieve their goals, African-American
civil rights activists employed the artists and writers of their culture to work for the goals of civil rights and equality. Jazz music, African-American fine art, and black literature were all absorbed into mainstream culture, bringing attention to a previously disenfranchised segment of the American population. This blossoming of African-American culture in European-American society, particularly in the worlds of art and music, became known as The Harlem Renaissance.

http://www.biography.com/tv/classroom/harlem-renaissance
HARLEM: THE BLACK MECCA

Housing executives planned to create neighborhoods in Harlem designed specifically for white workers who wanted to commute into the city. Developers grew overambitious, however, and housing grew more rapidly than the transportation necessary to bring residents into the downtown area. The once exclusive district was abandoned by the white middle-class, and frustrated developers were forced to cope with lower purchase prices than they first anticipated. White Harlem landlords started selling their properties to black real estate agents such as Philip A. Payton, John E. Nail, and Henry C. Parker. They also began renting directly to black tenants. Meanwhile, the re-development and gentrification of midtown pushed many blacks out of the Metropolitan area. As a result, African-Americans began moving to Harlem en masse; between 1900 and 1920 the number of blacks in the New York City neighborhood doubled. By the time the planned subway system and roadways reached Harlem, many of the country's best and brightest black advocates, artists, entrepreneurs, and intellectuals had situated themselves in Harlem. They brought with them not only the institutions and businesses necessary to support themselves, but a vast array of talents and ambitions. The area soon became known as the Black Mecca and the capital of black America.

When it began and/or when it became popular. What else was happening at that time socially, culturally and politically?

It all started at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, 1926 In the late 1920's in Harlem Lindy Hop was breaking out wherever people were partying... But it wasn't until after the
opening of the Savoy Ballroom that Lindy Hop got its name and a home. At the Savoy the Lindy Hop got hotter and hotter, as people danced to the top Big Bands in the land. And it got better and better,

as the popular Saturday night competitions pushed good dancers to greatness. New steps were born every day. The styling got refined and was executed so well that the dance was a joy to watch as well as do. When it looked like it couldn't get any better, a young dancer named Frankie "Musclehead" Manning created the first airsteps in 1935, and the Lindy Hop soared. Lindy Hop became a dance craze worldwide, known as Jitterbug. It evolved into many forms, such as West Coast Swing, Rock'n'Roll, and Boogie Woogie. But the authentic style, the original style, will always be the Savoy Ballroom style from Harlem, USA.

How did the dance form function? What purpose did it serve? Was it simply to entertain or did it serve its particular community some how? It was an escape for people of that time. Finding our where it came from gives insight into that it is more than just entertainment, however it still entertained. It also gave them something to do since there wasnt a lot of activities. Gave them an opportunity to express what they were going through at that time.

http://www.kclindyhop.org/history_a.htm#aadance

Whats the angle options?

So begins Tamara Stevens new book Swing Dancing (2011, Greenwood Press)

global lindy hop movement

A poem written by a slave:

Well may I say my life has been One scene of sorrow and pain; From early days I grief's have known, And as I grew my grief's have grown. Dangers were always in my path, And fear of wrath and sometimes death; While pale dejection in me reign'd I often wept, my grief constrain'd. When taken from my native land, By an unjust and cruel band, How did uncommon dread prevail! My sighs no more I could conceal. - Olaudah Equiano

http://www.uni.edu/schneidj/webquests/adayinthelife/slaves.html

When Africans were forcibly sold out of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean into foreign lands they were often totally detached from their own language communities. One of the cultural forms which helped people to survive and communicate with one another was music. Music could communicate across the language barrier that divided different enslaved Africans. All Africans could take part in music and dancing so it provided a tool for survival. Dances had particular meanings and could convey specific ideas. The way in which music and dance were used can be traced back to the slave ships themselves. Africans were forced to dance on deck for exercise. Many took advantage of this to bond and communicate with their shipmates by dancing steps remembered from their past in Africa. This was to continue in the Americas in dances, religious ceremonies and other musical forms that used cultural traditions from Africa. One such dance was the limbo in the Caribbean. The limbo spoke directly of the limited space in the slaving ships and the African ability to escape it. Another dance that arose was the cakewalk in the southern states of America. This dance poked fun at the plantation owners. In this way, African resistance to slavery was expressed culturally.

http://www.revealinghistories.org.uk/legacies-stereotypes-racism-and-the-civil-rightsmovement/articles/legacies-of-slavery-dance.html

To take an empty space An empty mind An empty body And fill it with life Explosions of energy Poetry of movement To give mind over to body In a glorious moment Of spontaneous self To dance ...

ESSAY: QUOTE OR POEM

'(In the dances on the slave ships)....Haunted by memories of Africa, beset by the slave trade whose laws and economic proscriptions violate their inner beings, the dancers perform an epic drama that announces the emergence of the New World Negro.' Genevieve Fabre

What Lindy Hop Provided? How it provided a place of safety, entertainment and friendship and escape? Fellowship? Community? Was dance an escape from slavery?

INTRODUCTION: Paint a picture of the time, scene of slavery, what happened, how people were stripped of their humanity and how dance gave them an escape and means to express themselves.

The year is 1802, Africans are rounded up and their human rights ripped from their very being, gathered as cattle and forced onto ships bound for the Americas. They would be sent across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas where they would be sold to the plantation owners who needed them to work on the plantations there. Life on board the slave ships was harsh.The captains were often cruel. The enslaved Africans and the crew suffered from the poor conditions and treatment. Disease was common and many could die on the journey. Slaves often threw themselves over board to avoid being stuck in the slavery regime. Many of them refused to eat preferring death and so escaping the life set before them. It was common for slave woman who were often raped to kill their babies so that their sons and daughters would not endure the life that was ensured for them.[http://homepage.ntlworld.com/matt_kane/slave%20facts.htm] The year is 1856, slavery is abolished but there is a uprising of the oppressors who try to ensure that former slaves are not given equal rights. This spawns the birth of the KKK. The year is 1920 we have come to the era of the Harlem Renaissance, the african american people are slowly gaining equal rights. Through many different means such as music, art and dance. In this I

will be exploring how dance and the Lindy Hop was escape from all the trials that black people faced during these times of ____________________________

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It turns out that the Lindy Hop is named after one character Charles Lindbergh who cross the Atlantic in a single flight in 1927 - this trend started in Harlem, New York and fused many dance styles prevalent at that time. That was in the 1920s, the Swing Era. This dance style was created by the african american people and its was made popular by Shorty George Snowden and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Lindy Hop, also known as Jitterbug, is the authentic Afro-Euro-American Swing dance. It is an unabashedly joyful dance, with a solid, flowing style that closely reflects its music -- from the late 20's hot Jazz to the early 40's Big Bands. Just as Jazz combines European and African musical origins, Lindy Hop draws on African and European dance traditions. The embracing hold, and the turns from Europe, the breakaway and solid, earthy body posture from Africa. The dance evolved along with the new swing music, based on earlier dances such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom, by black people in Harlem.

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Sick From Freedom Jim Downs

Donald, Henderson H. The Negro Freedman. New York: Henry Schuman Inc. 1952.

The style of dance exhibited by African slaves was of a natural form. Drawing from the book titled When The Spirit Moves, a few of the characteristics of African dance included:

Movement of the entire body. Angular bending of the arms, legs, and torso. Shoulder and hip movement, scuffing, stamping, and hopping. Asymmetrical fluid movement. An orientation into the earth [as opposed to on top of a dance floor]. A free spirit of improvisation. Pantomime.

http://www.socialistalternative.org/literature/panther/ch3.html