** Before diving in, I’d like to acknowledge the perspective from which this introduction is written. It reflects what I have learned through extensive reading, attending lectures, and spending time as a guest within Black dance communities.

While I am not Black, I have been welcomed into these spaces, and I recognize that there are gaps in my understanding that I continue to learn from with humility.

This brief introduction is intended as a starting point and cannot fully capture the rich histories, cultural contexts, and nuances that shape the origins and evolution of these dances and communities. I hope you find it useful in getting started in familiarizing yourself, and that this is not where your learning ends.

Check out Obsidian Tea – A Blackness and Blues Blog by Grey Armstrong
Check out Swungover – Jazz dance historian Bobby White has published thoughts and essays on swing-era dances, and the modern scene that loves them.

Both of these resources are created by dancers, educators, and researchers who have provided deeper dives into the histories, the peoples, the perspectives, and the dances with care.

A Brief Intro to Lindy Hop / Swing Dancing

   Swing dancing developed alongside jazz music within African American communities, particularly in Harlem, New York, during the late 1920s and 1930s. Lindy Hop—the original swing dance—emerged from earlier African American vernacular dances and became a defining social dance of the Swing Era. The earliest surviving form of swing dance is called the Lindy Hop.

How Lindy Hop Got It’s Name

Legend has it that in 1928, Snowden was was asked the name of what he was dancing and saw a paper describing a historic flight and said “the Lindy hop”. As fun and as easily digestible as this story is, scholars remain divided on its validity. Later interviews with Snowden shed a different light on the origins, and in an article entitled Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake (2009), Karen Hubbard and Terry Monagha voice that the legend obscurs the true identity of the dance by presenting it as a borrowed, novelty response relating to Lindbergh, rather than a deeper expression of the African American experience and consciousness at the time.

Where It Was Danced

The Savoy Ballroom was one of the few major integrated ballrooms in the United States during segregation. Dancers of different racial backgrounds could share the floor, although Lindy Hop itself was created and continually innovated by African American dancers. The ballroom became an international center for social dancing, live jazz, and friendly dance competitions that helped shape Lindy Hop’s development.

You can read more about this in the earliest academic  Marshall and Jean Stearns Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance

The Music & Foundations

Lindy Hop evolved in conversation with the energetic rhythms of swing jazz performed by musicians such as Chick Webb, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and many others. Lindy Hop grew out of earlier African American vernacular dances—including the Charleston, Breakaway, jazz dancing, tap, and partner dances of the era—while continuously evolving through improvisation and musical interpretation.

Early Artists

Among the influential early dancers were George “Shorty” Snowden, Mattie Pernell, Big Bea, Little Bea, Leroy Stretch Jones, and many other innovators whose creativity shaped the dance’s vocabulary and spirit. Frankie Manning became one of Lindy Hop’s most influential dancers, choreographers, teachers, and ambassadors. In 1935, he helped popularize the first widely recognized air step after drawing inspiration from moves performed by Big Bea and George “Shorty” Snowden.

Swing, Jazz, & The Lindy Hop’s Influence

   As swing music spread across the United States, regional communities developed their own social dances while adapting existing forms. Some styles that remain popular today include Charleston, Balboa, Collegiate Shag, St. Louis Shag, and others. Lindy Hop also influenced numerous later partner dances, including ballroom jive, rock & roll, boogie woogie, acrobatic rock & roll, modern jive, and West Coast Swing.

Preservation & Resurgence

Lindy Hop experienced a worldwide revival during the 1980s and 1990s, fueled by dancers, historians, surviving original swing dancers, and organizations working to preserve the dance’s history. The revival reached mainstream audiences in 1998 when Gap featured Louis Prima’s recording of “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” in its popular “Khakis Swing” commercial. While the advertisement introduced many people to swing dancing, historians generally note that the revival itself had already been underway for more than a decade.

The Dancing Continued

Although Lindy Hop faded from mainstream popular culture after the Swing Era, many Black communities continued dancing by adapting to changing music and developing new regional styles. Examples include D.C. Hand Dance, Philly Bop, Chicago Steppin’, DFW Swingout, and Houston Two-Step, each reflecting the musical traditions and cultural communities from which they developed.

Resources for Deeper Dives

A Brief Intro to Blues Dances

Blues dances are a family of African American vernacular dances that developed alongside blues music in Black communities across the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century. Rather than being a single dance, blues dance encompasses many regional styles that share common aesthetics, movement principles, and cultural traditions rooted in African American history.

Regional Dances

As blues music evolved differently across regions, local dance traditions also developed their own distinctive styles, each reflecting the musical traditions, social spaces, and cultural practices of its community. Blues dancing includes many regional traditions and aesthetics. Well-documented examples include Jukin’, Ballroomin’ blues, Slow Drag, and Struttin’, while countless local communities developed their own ways of dancing to blues music.

Jukin’ Blues

  Jukin’ developed in the American South and takes its name from the juke joints where people gathered to socialize, dance, and hear live blues music. Because these venues were often crowded, many jukin’ styles emphasized less traveling, grounded movement, rhythmic improvisation, and expressive use of the hips and torso.

Ballroomin’ Blues

  Ballroomin’ blues refers to a family of historical blues dance traditions associated with African American ballroom culture, particularly in Northeastern cities during the Swing Era. Larger dance floors encouraged traveling movement, elegant lines, momentum, and close partner connection while maintaining the grounded qualities of blues dance.

Improvisational & Deeply Personal

Like jazz music, blues dance emphasizes improvisation, personal expression, and musical interpretation. No two dancers—or even two dances—look exactly alike, making creativity and conversation central to the tradition

Because blues dance developed socially rather than through formal instruction, there is no single “correct” way to dance blues. Different regions, communities, and generations cultivated distinct styles while sharing common movement values rooted in African American cultural traditions

Blues Dance Aeshtetics

Shared characteristics found across blues dance traditions include:

  • Grounded movement with an athletic yet relaxed posture (grounding, posture & ephebism).
  • A visible pulse that reflects the rhythm and phrasing of the music (pulse).
  • The ability to express multiple rhythms simultaneously (polyrhythms).
  • Intentional rhythmic play, including the use of “lag” or delayed timing to create musical tension.
  • Asymmetrical body shapes and movement initiated from different parts of the body (polycentrism).
  • High levels of improvisation and conversation between partners and the music (call & response).
  • Individual expression while maintaining connection with both the music and one’s partner (when the music changes, the dancing changes).

Preservation and Resurgence

Beginning in the late 20th century, dancers and historians sought to preserve and share African American blues dance traditions through workshops, exchanges, and festivals. This movement helped introduce blues dancing to new audiences and gave rise to today’s international blues dance scene. While this community has played an important role in researching and teaching historical dances, it represents one contemporary subculture within the broader history of blues dancing. Throughout this time, Black communities continued to develop and sustain their own social dance traditions as music, culture, and local styles evolved.

Blues Dance Clarification

Throughout this site, “blues dance” refers both to the historical family of African American vernacular dances and to the contemporary social dance community that studies, practices, and celebrates those traditions. While there is significant overlap between these communities, they are not the same, and recognizing that distinction helps honor the dance’s cultural roots and ongoing evolution.

Resources for Deeper Dives

I’ve also included recommended books and primary historical materials for those interested in learning more:

  • Jacqui Malone — Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance
  • Robert Farris Thompson — Flash of the Spirit
  • Katrina Hazzard-Gordon — Jookin’: The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture
  • Thomas F. DeFrantz — Black Performance Theory
  • Marshall & Jean Stearns — Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance

These are frequently cited in scholarly work on African American vernacular dance and provide valuable context for understanding blues dance traditions.