Rhythms of Lindy Hop

Early into our Jazz With A Beat class at Stormy Weather Jazz Festival we asked students to work less hard and strip out their triple steps to which a student behind us said to their partner - "Let's do east coast swing." After we had danced to the complete song, we addressed the topic of cultural appropriation because it's important to discuss this topic and to confront other misconceptions about what rhythms Lindy Hop is comprised of (answer: it’s a lot!).

In the brief amount of time we gave ourselves, we named east coast swing in this context Cultural Appropriation while laying the foundation for this choice with Jacqui Malone's definition of vernacular dance being dance that makes African-American rhythms visible on the dance floor. While triple steps are important for capturing swing music's core rhythms on the dance floor, they aren't the sole rhythm to be employed alongside the vernacular dance and social hallmarks were aiming to employ as teachers and dancers. The possible rhythms are infinite though the most common rhythms seen across 2 beats or a half-measure would be:

• triple step

• step hold (such a fundamental bounce too)

• hold step

• step step

• hold ball change

Any swing school labeling patterns that are 6-count or containing Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick rhythms as East Coast Swing and/or Jitterbug is doing their students a disservice while engaging in Cultural Appropriation. Disservicing students and patrons comes in because we lose cultural context, stratification between community occurs and we're placing barriers of entry when exchanging rhythms during a dance or growing as a dancer.

It might also be worth directly quoting from Olly Wilson’s paper titled “The Heterogeneous Sound Ideal in African-American Music”:
”As such, the essence of their Africanness is not a static body of something which can be depleted but rather a conceptual approach, the manifestations of which are infinite. the common core of this Africanness consists of the way of doing something, not simply something that is done.”

as we reflect on the fact that a good portion of this class focused on individuality, bringing in the experiences that have shaped us, and setting aside notions of “this is the way this thing (swingout, a rhythm, a tuck turn) is done.

Undergirding the Enthusiasm

“Enthusiasm is the place that you start, but you got to like undergird that with information” - from PillowTalk: History of Jazz Dance hosted by Melanie George featuring LaTasha Barnes. Marie N’Diaye also comments “If you want to create, you need to educate yourself first.” in the Part 1.5 - Ethnocide with Barrett Holmes Pitner talk hosted by CVFC. As a great portion of us swing dancers like myself were raised in spaces devoid of Black vernacular dance and social values, we’ve lacked the language to be tradition bearers or cultural surrogates. We let enthusiasm rule us and, at times, lack the thoughtful care these dances deserve before jumping into the fray.

It’s also problematic that we live in a country steeped in ethnocide, where our ancestors deliberately destroyed ethnic groups’ culture but left the people behind. The applies to both Indigenous tribes and enslaved Africans. We are used to taking without permission, propagating appropriated culture and avoiding uncomfortable truths because of what they might say about us. As Barrett Holmes Pitner said in a talk for CVFC, “Within the American framework we are encouraged to view existence as static” but it isn’t. We can change, better ourselves and help improve the lives around us.

Here are some anti-racist steps people can take to help create a more inclusive welcoming environment and to help undo the harm previous generations have done and continue to do:

• Center these dances as being from Black culture starting with the first point of contact - online. Instead of stating nothing, America’s swing dance, or originating in Harlem, consider sharing marketing copy akin to “Lindy Hop is a Black dance created in the 1920’s during the Harlem Renaissance” and sharing complimentary visuals when possible.

• Place these Black vernacular dances within the jazz continuum. For example, we like Rachel Pitner’s viewpoints expressed in this article: “These are dance forms that were created by African Americans during the 20s, 30s, and 40s, and they are rooted in African culture. They are dynamic partner dances that defy and manipulate physics, and they are fun!

  The other day someone asked me to describe in three words why I love this dance, and I said, ‘It is fun. It is true, and it lives. It lives because this dance is a historical art form, but it wants you to invest yourself and not just replicate the past.”

• Since what we do and say is culturally coded and the default in America is whiteness, we must take a critical eye at our communications. I’m personally critical of how the word vintage gets used because it can speak to how white people culturally preserve things. Without providing context, vintage could be likened to a wine label attributing Lindy Hop to a particular harvest, freezing it in a particular time and allowing it to be plucked from history without its cultural attributes or Black social dance names. This Denver Arts and Venues hosted 1930s Dance event is an example where everything they allude to is steeped in whiteness and white comfortability.

• Use Black social dances, promote others that do and consider calling people in that use appropriative names. Black dances with their dance and social hallmarks promote freedom. I want that in my life and others.

And, if you need resources, Swingin’ Denver has been amassing resources since 2017. We’re ready to help you build back better.

Let's talk (briefly) about "Modern Swing"

This is a response I wrote in this r/WestCoastSwing thread where someone asked about the term “modern swing” that westies have been using over the past 3-4 years thanks to a movement initiated by Benji Schwimmer. I also can’t wait to dive into this book he’s supposedly publishing sometime this year.

What about saying the term "modern swing" is rooted in white supremacy?

I've been test-driving this idea in my mind for a while. The thing is, all swing dances are modern swing. It's done by modern people wearing modern clothing to modern music. And yes, nearly all swing dances, those coming from fertile Black American dances will call back to their originating musical roots.

When these dancers like Benji Schwimmer say "modern swing," they're dismissing most Black swing dances which include though not limited to hand dancing, KC Two Step, Philly Bop, Detroit Ballroom, DFW Swingout, etc. These are all modern swing dances. And when Benji get called in to answer when people pose questions about these other modern dances or actions he might take to honor Black dance cultural heritage and he doesn’t answer, that's a problem.

Once again, West Coast Swing either has a marketing problem or one where they are ignoring Black cultural dances and invisibilizing Blackness. The latter would be an issue of white supremacy and this would make this Benji post reek of insensitivity.

Airstep Spreadsheet with Public Accessibility

Years ago, I created an Airstep Spreadsheet to help me recall what airsteps I knew while also being a resource for others. It was built with a limitation - youtube links in the comments that a person could only see with Editor privileges. After our St Louis Get Down airstep workshops and questions that arose by practitioners, I decided to see if I could extract the comments easily so I could share this publicly with Viewer access. Thanks to an Excel macro I could!

Enjoy!

Be Cautious How You Use Clenched Fists

Someone recently started a Facebook thread commenting on the diminishment of their scene post-Covid and asking what others are doing to revitalize their own. Inevitably (inevitably??) some people attributed a decline to people being politically correct or woke. From our own experience listening to members in our scene, the sense of diminishment might come from thinking nothing’s going to change and wanting change to happen.

This leads me to the movements that sprung up within the swing dance community during the pandemic and after George Floyd’s murder such as CVFC and MOVE Together (now defunct) where they created a shared Anti-Racism resource. Before that, there was Lindy Focus hosting talks with Breai Mason-Campbell where my group (organizers & traveling instructors) left LF one year with the mission “Speak up, Model, Post.” Some people have effected change while others continue to maintain the status quo.

A 2024 example of maintaining the status quo would be a swing dance organization using a clenched fist symbol in a promotion reminding their online audience how soon a dance competition was happening. While a Google Image search attributes that particularly designed fist to a Civil Rights Fist and #OccupyNigeria and can be found in Canva, this usage is likely problematic being a white fist, knowing the convoluted history of raised fists, and with this symbol being stripped of its context. At best it’s cultural appropriation and, at it’s worst, it could be perceived as a white supremacist symbol.

Symbols have power and it’s especially important for white-led organizations occupying space within Black cultural art forms to be aware and curious of symbols when the organizers likely lack cultural context. We’re supposed to be making space for tradition bearers to reclaim their heritage rather than placing barriers. It’s why using these tools and resources others have provided is so important so as to create more welcoming and inclusive spaces. But… these resources are only a stepping stone in which we’re often asked to Do Your Own Research.

Make Your Audience Feel Like Insiders

As a company that prides itself in making swing events accessible for all, it’s noticeable when we and perhaps others feel like outsiders due to information not being made readily available. Some recent examples:

• Contacting an event organizer to ask who their DJs are for a dance night and them ultimately not sharing that information.

• Being ignored multiple times when asking another organization who was DJing their night and ultimately emailing the owner.

• Seeing an older woman asking a bandleader’ mom if her son was playing because event calendars she was looking at still had the incorrect information on it

• Colorado dancers from another city not being in the know of a Colorado meetup happening at an out-of-state event

• An event site requires hopeful competitors to purchase a Competitors Pass but offers no pass with this label leading to confusion for a new competitor

In the first three cases, we all had access to insiders with the information we sought but what if you didn’t have that access? Where would you go? In this information age, there are so many online places to check for information which means these organizations would ideally communicate relevant information on each platform they maintain. That typically includes the Facebook event, web calendar, Facebook page, Facebook group, the booking venue calendar and Instagram to name a few options.

One of the reasons why our website’s homepage looks how it does is thanks to a woman sharing direct feedback with us based on what she heard about our site’s usability. An older person was having trouble finding information about our next event and, even though this info was available on our site, we needed to improve. We did this by linking text within that opening sentence and then linking menu items directly below to improve access on desktop and mobile. And we continually make sure we provide up-to-date information covering most everyone’s frequently asked questions.

To address the opening four examples, here are some thoughts:

1. If you’re empowering DJs to do their own promotion work instead of the organization, equip them with where to post and verify they are posting. And if you’re getting away from marketing on social media or being actively present, please consider becoming active.

2. Make sure your Facebook page is actively monitoring page’s content and answering questions on your FB events and pages. If users are directly coming to ownership via phone or email because they’re being neglected online, you messed up.

3. Keep your web calendars updated. More and more people are moving away from social media which means it’s even more important to keep your website calendar updated along if you’re part of a group collective calendar (Turnverein, Avalon Ballroom) where people look.

4. Oftentimes when Colorado travels to an event, people tend to focus on Denver and Boulder as they’re rarely aware of dancers from Colorado Springs, Fort Collins or the Western Slopes. It takes little effort take to say “hey, there’s a Colorado group photo happening Saturday night. Do you know about it?” or “do you know about the Colorado Goes to Camp Hollywood group? Let me share it with you since you’re going.”

5. Step into a new person’s shoes and evaluate your website with their eyes or ask a friend that doesn’t do “that thing” to look for discrepancies and ask probing questions. Consistent messaging matters because doubt and questions can be barriers to entry.

It’s worthwhile increasing inclusivity.

On Watering Down Steps

This came across my Instagram feed today and instantly sparked memories, flashbacks if you will. I often talk about this, but I used to teach the Shim Sham on the “1” instead of the “8” in order to make things “easier” for the people that came through the Overland Park, KS swing dance night. I knew it wasn’t right, but didn’t know enough to know why nor bold enough to push back.

Watch the dissonance between people I taught and the people that respected the culture and came up within the culture (Frankie Manning) on the studio’s dance floor. I pushed Play and stayed off the dance floor anticipating the resultant mess.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last time I would water down steps to make things easier in the moment for people. The thing about taking the “easy” road is that you’re ultimately setting students’ up for greater difficulty later on. Difficulty might come in the form of paying for more lessons because the teachers need to unpack more layers in a particular step, injuring themselves or another person since the easy technique doesn’t scale well to the social floor, or needing to unlearn things because they’re about to teach classes and must represent the culture better than you initially did.

It is always worth the time teaching the actual step. If it takes people more time to learn, so be it. If you need to call people in do avoid appropriating steps, it’s worth it. If you need to hire someone else to teach the step, hire them. It’s about doing the right thing and the right thing is doing the steps right and representing the Black culture these steps came from well.

Paving The Way

I started a book recently called Dying of Whiteness that encouraged further reflection on how some people make things harder on subsequent generations rather than easier. In the dance world which encompasses teaching, learning, dancing and socializing, this materializes in different forms such as:

• the instructor teaching methods deemed out-dated or not aligned with Lindy Hop (groove walks anyone?)

• organizers not updating their Code of Conducts or having any because they never had this when they started dancing

• people not talking openly online or in-person about our social dances originating from Black communities because they think this would exclude or alienate white audiences instead of attracting the world majority

While it can be tough looking at newer generations of dancers or future ones while looking back at your experiences (learning from VHS tapes, reconciling your background appropriating Black dances, seeing that your peers were competing at ALHC while you were muddling in KC), it should be celebrated that you can make someone’s learning journey easier by bringing your meandering messy learning path but fixing the potholes, building bridges to avoid pitfalls and paving the way.

Swinging on a Continuum

I was struck yesterday by a promotional piece from a local organization that pinpointed 1999 within the “swing revival era.” Come to find out this was missed during the editing process done by more knowledgeable dancers. We’re happy this was edited out but it’s noticeable that relatively newer dancers were pushing a revival narrative, a myth I thought was being addressed by local organizations thanks to calls in by Moving History Together, Collective Voices for Change and Move Together. .

We’d like to ask that Colorado swing dance organizations like CMDance and others that promote revival narratives refrain from doing so. Instead, I’d encourage my fellow organizations to share stories about Mama Lu Parks, LaTasha Barnes learning Lindy Hop from her grandma, what Mura Dehn and Margaret Batiuchok gleaned from their record-collecting of Savoy dancers, etc. Lindy Hop and other Black social dances have existed and continued on into this present day. What changed, and this is important, is that white people ignored these dances or diminished them through whitewashing, reduction and sometimes systemic racist policies to reduce safe gathering spaces and to control bodies only to “rediscover” them.

When we (and I mean “we” since I’ve done this too) talk about “ourselves enveloped in the cultural revival of American swing music and dance” we are becoming the colonizer and not the colleague. Let’s be better guests within Black cultural art forms.

Why "Other" African-American Dance Contributions?

Kizomba, Salsa, Zouk, Jitterbug read the dance list. Here was a school that respected the names of Black dances created outside of America but chose Jitterbug to represent Lindy Hop, a Black dance created in America. We asked why and are still awaiting a response.

Frankie Manning, a second-generation Black Lindy Hopper, once said in an interview: "Nowadays if you say Lindy Hop there are very few people who know the word. You know you say Lindy Hop and they just look at you you know. What is that? And then you say uh jitterbug and their face light up because they have heard Jitterbug for so long till they think that's what it is."

There’s a local jazz festival celebrating Jazz Age dances and listing Charleston, Lindy Hop and Jitter Bug in what is being billed as a “celebration of America’s unique performing art.” Once again, a Black creation is subsumed for a white audience with the Jitter Bug inclusion and no mention of Black creators related to these dance and music forms.

Related to this, using words like "vintage" can fix Lindy Hop into a particular time and place while ignoring it's cultural transmission (separating creators from their creation) through generations perhaps minimizing its present impact. My notes from Marie N'Diaye from hers and Felix’s workshop - “European cultures tend to preserve. That was their environment. If they didn't preserve food, they'd die, whereas food was often abundantly available in the African continent.” If environment begets culture then we ought to look at the language we use to enhance inclusivity.

Oftentimes, organizers are resistant to changing their language because they’re afraid of distancing their majority-white customer base. When an organizer asked us for co-promotion assistance, we asked them to take several anti-racist steps such as calling what they were teaching by their Black social dance names, talking about the roots of these dances both on their website and social media. Months later, we still haven’t heard back.

But what if we fully embraced and acknowledged Black ownership? As Dr. Thomas DeFrantz discussed in a CVFC talk - “Dance is technology transforming dehumanization into joy but Black people can’t hold the patent.” We keep taking their fertile creations and:

• renaming their creations

• transforming their creations through European-American lens (lead/follow concepts, angularity or lack thereof)

• sharing a history where these creations are vintage, ending in a certain era, and thereby ignoring the living community that fostered them

It’s sad to hear “That's just the way he is; he isn't going to change.” when people talk about organizers that will continue teaching East Coast Swing alongside their Lindy Hop. Instead of preserving white ownership appropriating Black culture, we should dismantle it through our words, actions and dollars.