The origins of Lindy Hop were created in an atmosphere of repression and sadness. Slaves and forced laborers from different parts of Africa and the Caribbean gathered in the public squares, and danced to the music and rhythms brought from their homeland. It brought them joy. 

 

The melting pot of cultures in the United States created an evolution of jazz music, swing, dance, blues and tap. White America has often tried to appropriate vernacular dances and music as their own invention, separate from their native origins. Yet the original, authentic versions still remain. 

 

Music and dance bonds people together to nurture, grow and evolve. Even during the hardest economic and racist times in America, people danced to create happiness in their lives. Musicians took their clues from dancers, what songs “swung,” what dancers liked to dance to and what created the energy to get people to move and dance. Dancers took cues from the music to improvise, create new moves, when to hit the breaks, pauses and do fancy footwork and aerials. Swing music and dance swept the nation as a beacon of freedom, expression and travelled throughout the globe during World War II. It created opportunities for some black entertainers and artists in America: their talents were so valued and respected it helped break through some of the worst racist stereotypes of its day.

 

Jazz music and dance has the ability to absorb and influence other forms of dance and music: Latin, blues, country, classic, German, Irish, Japanese, Italian, Jewish, and many more. With time music and dance evolves or devolves depending on your perspective. Lindy Hop has many styles, from Smooth aka Dean Collins and Hollywood style to West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Jive, Shag, to DC Hand Dancing, etc. Classic Lindy Hop jazz dance moves are still seen in similar forms, from the 1950’s to today.

 

What Lindy Hop means to me

 

For me, Lindy Hop is a total immersion into the dance, dance history, community and joyfulness. A TV documentary peaked my interest in Lindy Hop and living treasure Frankie Manning. Learning dance movement was a progression of love. I had heard the music before when my Dad played 1940’s Big Band music and jazz, I must say I wasn’t very impressed. I thought the music was slow. I just didn’t understand it. It wasn’t until I started dancing that I could appreciate Jazz music. First learning steps and movement using the music for its rhythm and timing. Later, as I improved my dance skills, I started to hear more and understand the richness and subtleties in jazz music and how it applied to my expression of Lindy Hop. The benefits of Lindy Hop goes way beyond just the dance. It is a shared community of friendship and connections that exist for a lifetime. From the originators of Lindy Hop—and all its forms—we all experience the joy of dancing with each other to the music.

 

People ask why do I have to know about the history of Lindy Hop? Would you ask the same question about American history? Lindy Hop is a crucial part of American history. It is an evolution, from all the contributions of cultures and ethnicities that creates the richness of American art. Lindy Hop is a purely American and created in the U.S.. It is a mixture of African and European partner dancing. Jazz and Lindy Hop are synonymous–as with tap dancing and blues. It is also important to give due credit to the originators of this form of dancing and music. It is showing as much respect to them as the founding fathers of our country. Lindy Hop and Jazz music born out of repression and rising to the status of a treasured All-American art form.

 

As a Japanese-American I identify with the oppression by the American government in World War II on my family. They had their rights, property and privileges unjustly stripped away. They had to deny their identity just to get by. Forced into concentration camps, the onus was put on them to prove they were as ‘American’ as their white counterparts. But they proved it, time and again, in blood, courage and and sacrifice. 

 

My father Shoji Kubo and family was interred at Tule Lake and later moved to Heart Mountain, Wyoming Interment Camp. By listening to Big Band music and learning to dance swing, my father found emotional solace in a depressed place of incarceration. He enlisted in the Army and played in a big band, where he eventually met my mother while dancing. 

 

Late in life when he contracted Parkinson’s diseased, his escape from the pain was listening to swing music. 

 

Four years of incarceration does not equate to the generations of oppression of African-Americans in this country. However, because of the pioneers of Lindy Hop and Jazz musicians contributions to America culture, many people survived the mental anguish of The Depression and World War.

 

I am grateful for the joy of music and dance has given me, as well as my family. Thank You!