What Is Swing?

Swing dance is actually a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s through 1940. Historically, “swing” referred to the style of jazz music that inspired the dance. During that time, hundreds of styles of swing dancing developed. The ones that have survived through the decades since are the Lindy Hop, Collegiate Shag, and the Charleston. The most popular, and the one that is most widely known, is the Lindy Hop, which originated in Harlem in the early 1930s. The category of “swing dance” was not commonly used to identify a group of dances until the latter half of the 20th century.

The term “swing dancing” includes other dances that don’t have certain characteristics shared in traditional swing dances such as the Carolina Shag, East Coast Swing, Jive, and Rock and Roll. These as well as other related dances were developed during the 1940s and later.