What is the difference between lindy hop and swing

Therefore, Lindy Hop describes just one dance that existed during that period. It was during this contest that they executed a break-away step, whereby Snowden sent his partner into the open position to improvise before bringing her back into closed position.

Today, some instructors differentiate Lindy Hop from other other styles by stating that is has an 8-count basic, whereas East Coast Swing or Jitterbug comprises 6-count patterns. In the early 20th century, Arthur Murray and other dance studio owners who were looking to capitalize on the popularity of social dance laid the groundwork for this paradigm of learning through counts and patterns.

Murray was known for selling dance to the world by way of cut-outs of feet that one would place on the floor to indicate the steps to be taken.

Ultimately, having a little bit of context for the most commonly used terms will help you understand what a teacher is talking about. I will provide some resources below, should you be interested in learning more about the history of Swing dance, music and culture. If something clicked for you when you heard it described a certain way, please let us know in the comments section below. It was during this contest that they executed a break-away step, whereby Purnell moved out into the open position to improvise before coming back into closed position.

If you spout off the wall nonsense like that regularly, people probably find you as insufferable as your comment is stupid.

Hey, Sam, thanks. I get tired of being invisible. So great point, appreciated. Thank you. You really have a wonderful appreciation of the history of the dance. Great article. Thank you for the very lovely compliment. Take care and thanks again. East coast swing is a term that was adapted from Eastern Swing just as West coast was from Western Swing.

The terms where used to describe perceived regional differences in Lindy Hop. All East Coast Swing syllabi teach Lindy 8 count timing and movements as well. Those heavily trained movements then bleed into their swing. Thanks for this very informative post! I like to think of swing similarly.

In essence, one informed the other, but the retention of that feel is possible to a wider set of music than the name implies. Thanks for the write up. Well done! Everyone wanted to learn Lindy Hop and essentially the studio created a dance that would be easier for them to teach. They took the most basic Lindy Hop steps and simplified them in a standardized way so that they could instruct the masses.

East Coast swing is strictly based on six-count patterns while Lindy Hop, which evolved organically as a street dance, is a mix of six-count, eight-count, Charleston, jig and other patterns. He influenced the popular music of the time, and the music inspired changes to the dancing. However, depending on where you are geographically, or what kind of community you dance with, you might call almost the same dance steps Boogie Woogie or Jive.

Some communities would even still hang on to the earlier white name for Lindy Hop and call it Jitterbug. Essentially, these are all dances based on Lindy Hop, but they started to bounce more and become less horizontally stretchy than Lindy Hop; instead the dances of the 50s and early 60s tend to be more contained and while they still have some elastic, they connection is tighter and shorter and the posture is more vertical.

That is not our focus in St. Rather, our dancing is based on a fun, care free and not overly complicated approach to social dancing. Ultimately though, most of these dances fizzled out once the Twist came along in the early 60s which put an end to partnered dancing as part of popular culture.

Folks I know who've worked with some of the original Savoy dancers are consistent in stating that there were a variety of "Savoy styles". My impression has been that the Rhythm Hotshots, when they did their archaeology, constructed a particular style based on what they saw in those old films and got from Frankie Manning, and that, more or less, is what gets labelled "Savoy style" today. Kurt Lichtmann is really not someone you should quote to prove your point. Not quite as bad as refering to Sonny Watson but close.

The Savoy was the home of Lindy Hop. It was danced at all the Ballrooms in Harlem, but just about everyone acknowledged that the Savoy was the place to be. You could tell where someone danced by their style. Even today you can get a pretty good idea of what city someone is from or what club is there main place by how they dance.

The same was not only true of the Savoy, but since it was one of the earliest pioneers, a case could be made to say its style was the first. I'm not sure I'd say the original since that implies that teh other styles derived from it rather spontaneously developing though.

For me, swing is swing. Lindy is looked upon as the granddaddy, from which other vintage swing dances derived from. Then again, we have people call it swing only if you dance to music that swings, thus eliminating the stereotypical definition of west coast swing, that it's danced to non-swing music.

However, like I said above, for me, swing is swing. Flat Shoes said:. Was talking about the dance, yes. In my opinion, swing music is swinging. It's in the rythm and the feel of the music. It's literally a periodic swing in the music.

If you dance to swing music, but don't move your body to the swing in the music, then you're not swinging. Nothing wrong with that though, it's just a different way of dancing. To me, the swing in the music translates to the bounce in the dance. Not necessarily a lot of bounce, but a relaxed bounce that answers to the swinging rhythm.

Since WCS doesn't have bounce, I consider it a non-swinging swing dance. But I don't do WCS took a couple of lessons, watched a few videos, read about it here and there, that's it , and if Skippy, who I presume are a skilled westie, tells you otherwise, forget about me, and listen to him.

How many commas can you cram into one sentence? Or make up your own opinion! Is it necessary to translate the feel of the music into a bounce? Purr Forum Master. What exactly is the peabody? I've seen a few dancers, mainly older, perform it in competition. The dance itself didn't look anymore difficult than the rest of the smooth dances.

The music also interests me, one peabody song I recognized is the cantina theme from the original Star Wars movie. Look I'll say it.