Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop was born in Harlem, New York, in the late 1920s, and the Savoy Ballroom, which opened in 1926 at Lenox Avenue and 140th Street, became its home. It draws on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston, joining African American improvisation with European partner-dance structure. Frankie Manning (1914-2009) is credited with the first air step and with synchronised ensemble routines that carried the dance to stage and screen.

Its signature figure is the swingout, danced in open or closed position on an eight-count frame, with improvisation at the centre. After decades of obscurity the dance was revived from the 1980s, with Manning as a leading figure. Communities now exist in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Herräng Dance Camp in Sweden, held since 1982, is a major gathering point.

Sources

• Frankie Manning Foundation: Frankie Manning biography
• Wikipedia: Lindy Hop
• Herräng Dance Camp (official site)
• International Lindy Hop Championships (official site)

Organisations connected with this dance

• Frankie Manning Foundation
• Herräng Dance Camp
• International Lindy Hop Championships (ILHC)

Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.

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