Jumping and jiving into the Swing craze

by Lisa NicoleFinegan

Texas Tommy, which was a kick and a hop three times on each staff writer foot, followed by a slide and then a breakaway where partners separate and could do what they wanted before returning to-

Swing is an old dance craze that is being brought back to life. gether. Others say it's a combination of the Charleston and the In popular music, young adults go to concerts to hear music two-step, which both have a basic eight beat pattern count, but and enjoy friends but it is not very often that they are dancing. interchange rock steps and kicks at various times. Also, having The whole concept of Swing music and Swing dance draw a an influence were fad "animal dances" such as the Turkey Trot, large crowd. Maybe it is because the art of dancing to music Buzzard Lope, Possum Trot and Grizzly Bear. has been lost in the past decade, but this looks like a craze that As dance changed and evolutionized, so did music. Jazz will last. music began to evolve into swing, which attracted many musiSwing has grown in popularity in the last few years partly to cians to large swing bands and later acrobatic dancers. These the work of the U.S. Open Swing Dance Championships and dancers soon acquired names such as Jitterbugs,_Lindy-hopthe now-defunct United States Swing Dance Council. There pers and Swingers. As swing began to grow it took on unique are swing clubs-mostly West Coast Swing-in over half the styles of each geographical area. The diversity in the evolution states. of swing is reflected in the names of the dances: Jive, Jitterbug, For our generation swing dancing is something bigger. Not Lindy, Push, Whip, Shag, East Coast Swing, West Coast only are young people eager to learn the dancers but they are Swing, Imperial, Jamaican and Bop. also into dressing up and going out for a night of swing danc- Just as the dances were individual to each region so was the ing. New swing bands are hitting the scene with a sound of I music. Shag dancers danced to "Beach" music, the Boppers swing and a flare of rock. Groups like Squirrel Nut Zippers, danced to rhythm and blues, Push dances liked blues and clasCherry Poppin' Daddies and Big Bad Voo Doo Daddies have sic disco music and Lindy-hoppers like faster big band swing added to this swing frenzy. Even the Gap Company wants music. everyone to swing in their khakis.

The Lindy is a great improvisational dance that arose in ''When you go swing dancing it is really easy to let yourself Harlem during the 1920s. It was so popular because a couple get caught up in the music and the mood of the 1930s," first- could be dancing with deceptive sobriety, embracing each year student Matt Holmes said. "You just let your body go other ballroom style. Then, whenever he pleased, the man along with the music and start swinging." could suddenly fling his partner away and improvise.

Many of the major cities in the US have societies based on The Jitterbug is called the ''white man's version" of the dance and, specifically, swing dancing. Here in Philadelphia, Lindy Hop, since rock 'n' roll is the ''white version" of rhythm young people gather on Friday nights to go to swing parties at and blues. It's bouncier and faster and does not necessarily the University of the Arts. Also, the Sugar Push Cafe at the contain aerials. West Coast Swing consists of a six beat and Trocadero Dance Studio has group dances on Friday nights eight beat pattern executed in a slot area on the dance floor and with free group lessons prior to the dance.. can be danced to a variety of styles of music.

Where did it all begin? It is said that swing and closed part- 1 During the 1940s and 1950s, another form of swing dancing ner dancing began in the 1920s when young adults came to the I appeared on the scene: East Coast Swing. It is almost imposcities from the suburbs and were looking for a place to get to- I sible to find anything written on this dance, probably because gether and have fun. it was not really a new dance. East Coast swing is nothing

Some people believe that swing dancing originated with the more than the Lindy Hop. It appears that as the slotted version of swing became more popular, the major dance studio chains decided to call what the dancers on the East Coast were doing East Coast Swing, and what the dancers were doing on the West Coast was to be called the West Coast Swing.

The band Squirrel Nut Zippers is at the forefront of the resurgence of swing.

"It's the best kind of dancing I've ever done," senior Kellie O'Neill, a dancer, said. "Even if you don't know what you're doing, you make it up and it looks like you know what you're doing."