Swing Jazz-Jamila Jenkins

                             Jazz & Swing

Jazz dance can be traced back to Africa before slavery. However, swing dance does not have as much detail about whom or where it originated. What we do know is that it originated in the early 1900s in Southeast America by the African American communities. The name was coined from swing music, a specialized jazz music that gave people the ability to be more open with their body movement. Swing dance differed from other dances in America because it was about more than just the beauty of the point toe and all the straight leg work. The dancers weren’t known as swing dancers but instead terms like jitterbugs rang a ball when swing dance started.

There are many types of swing dances like East Coast Swing and West Coast Swing. Out of all the different styles of swing dancing, Lindy Hop is very popular and originated in Harlem, New York. As the name might hint, it is a very energetic style of dance that is not hard to learn once some practicing is done. It is done in 6 and 8 counts and is of course a partner dance like most swing dances. Popular swing dancers include Frankie Manning during the Harlem Renaissance and Benji Schwimmer now in the 21^st century.

Swing Jazz Dancing 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxPgplMujzQ   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcbU0qY1VT0