Lindy Hop is by far the most popular of the swing dance, and, in our opinion, the most flexible and enjoyable. However, it is more complex and therefore longer, to learn. This is best leaned by those who want to get serious about dancing. It is also danced throughout the world and Lindy Hop dancers from around the world tend to band toghether. more...

ECS is an easy, fun and energetic dance better enjoyed on high tempo music. Because it is easier to learn, it is quite popular with begginers and casual dancers. more...

For a comparative sheet of all the different styles of swing, see the section "Styles of swing dancing".

About Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop was so named after Charles Lindbergh's flight to Paris in 1927, when the newspaper headline read: "LINDY HOPS THE ATLANTIC". The dance has no "hop" in it. On the contrary, it is smooth and solid, and while there is a constant rhythmic 8-count "pulse" that you feel in your bones, there is no hopping, bopping, or prancing in the dance.

Lindy Hop, also known as Jitterbug, is the authentic Afro-Euro-American Swing dance. It is an unabashedly joyful dance, with a solid, flowing style that closely reflects its music -- from the late 20's hot Jazz to the early 40's Big Bands. Just as Jazz combines European and African musical origins, Lindy Hop draws on African and European dance traditions. The embracing hold, and the turns from Europe, the breakaway and solid, earthy body posture from Africa. The dance evolved along with the new swing music, based on earlier dances such as the Charleston and the Black Bottom, by black people in Harlem.

Lindy Hop is a social dance. Partners are connected smoothly and gently to each other, while relating closely to the music, in feeling, improvisation and phrasing. The core tempo range is 120-180 beats per minute.

Films such as Hellzapoppin and Day at the Races, as well as Malcolm X and Swingkids show seemingly reckless airsteps (aerials), often done at very fast musical tempos. Far from being just acrobatic antics, airsteps are in fact smooth, extremely precise, and perfectly in synch with the music. They require a superb degree of expertise and are not danced socially, but only for performance, if only inside a protective ring of spectators, as in the Cats' Corner jams at the Savoy Ballroom. Airsteps are impressive and spectacular, so that's what you see in the movies!

Savoy style Lindy Hop, as taught by Frankie Manning and Steven Mitchell, has the lightest, gentlest, and smoothest connection of all the common Swing dances! It is solid, low, relaxed and energetic.

Just as Swinging Jazz music feels very different from, say, Rockabilly music, Lindy Hop feels very different from other dances, such as WCS, ECS, Jive, and Rock'N'Roll-Jitterbug, especially in posture, partner connection, and musical connection.

Lindy Hop is a Jazz dance. Jazz is dancing music. Swing is Jazz music.

More on Lindy Hop on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Hop

About East Coast Swing

When the Lindy hop became popular in 1927, the "American Society of Teachers of Dancing" (A.S.T.D.) and the Dance Teachers Business Association (D.T.B.A.) denounced the Lindy as: "a fad and would not last out the winter, and its devotees were victims of economic instability".

These two main dance associations kept up this way of thinking (mainly racial) and ignored the Lindy, refusing to add the dance to their curriculum for many years, (even today still not wanting to recognize it) with Lindy Hop later becoming known as the Jitterbug.

Finally in 1942, realizing they were loosing a lot of money to the street teachers and independent dance studios teaching the Jitterbug/Lindy, the Associations got together (as they did every year) and announced the new dances and curriculum for that year. Stating (in writing) that: "The Jitterbug, a direct descendant from the Lindy hop, could no longer be ignored - it's cavorting could be refined to suit a crowded dance floor".

This, "quote - refinement" above, is what gave birth to what we call the East Coast Swing today. The Association's refined the Lindy/Jitterbug. They took out all the laborious parts such as the 8 count steps and made it more racially permissible for "white America," and used a Foxtrot basis for the dance, so you could shift from one to the other. This left the dance much easier to teach and master, but the real gut of swing was eliminated, making it spiritless compared with its older brothers.

East Coast Swing, also known as triple step swing, triple timing swing, and jitterbug, has a basic count of 1&2, 3&4, 5,6. Some folks describe the basic as "triple step, triple step, rock, step." It was the standard swing dance of 50's-era "sock hops." The music speed is 140-175 beats per minute. This dance has lilt (bounce) and energy. It is generally danced without strict regard to any particular orientation or geometry. It's easy to learn.

Michel & Laurence
at AusCham Ball (Saigon, Vietnam)

Singapore dancers
in Singapore