7. SWING DANCES

On the evening of May 21, 1927, word reached New York that Charles Augustus Lindbergh had successfully completed his epoch-making non-stop flight from New York to Paris. On that same evening, in a fashionable hotel ballroom in New York City crowded with dancers, the announcement came that Lindbergh had landed safely in Paris. The couples released all inhibitions and danced in a wild, joyous, carefree manner. Thus a new dance was inspired, and it became known as the Lindy Hop.

The dance now known as the Jitterbug is an outgrowth of the Lindy Hop. The Lindy Hop is still danced in some sections of the country under the name of the Jitterbug, though the dance most commonly known as the Jitterbug is slightly different in that it employs inter-measure phrasing whereas the Lindy Hop is perfectly phrased.

BASIC JITTERBUG TIME STEP BOY'S PART:

 

 

Other dances closely related are the Shag, the Bop, and the Rock and Roll. All of these dances are now classified as Swing Dances, the word "swing" aptly describing the carefree swaying of the partners back and forth, close-in and away from each other in an elastic manner. There are slight variations in these dances in different sections of the country. However, the Jitterbug, due to the combined efforts of dancing
teachers everywhere, is now fairly well standardized.

Forward—L	Touch—R	Side—R	Touch—L	Back—L	In place—R
1	2	3	4	5	6

The Jitterbug Time Step employs inter-measure phrasing. There are six basic counts, each having one-quarter note value. Thus to do the time step one complete time requires one and one half measures of music.

The "TOUCH" movement as designated over No. 2 above, is in reality an exaggerated form of follow-through. You merely touch one foot to the other. In No. 2 the right foot touches the left foot, and in No. 4 the left foot touches the right foot.

The girl does exactly the same movements with a reversal of feet, thus on Count 5, she steps back on her right foot as he steps back on his left foot. This causes their body positions to sway away from each other. He holds her right hand in his left hand during this count and they pull each other back into place for the In place step which follows. This produces a rocking-back motion, as their bodies swing away from each other, and then rock back again into close position.

SYNCOPATING THE TIME STEP

The first four beats of the basic time step can be syncopated in the following manner. This does not change Counts 5 and 6—syncopation is used only in the first four counts.

Forward—L	In place—R	In place—L	Side—R	In place—L	In place—R
1	and	2	3	and	4

This is commonly referred to as "Triple-Time Jitterbug"—ACTUALLY it is not in triple-time.

You may note that since the movements described on Counts 5 and 6 in the top line have no syncopation, it is possible for one partner to do the straight version, while the other does the syncopated version. The last two movements, Counts 5 and 6, always bring the partners together in perfect step with each other.

BASIC JITTERBUG TIME STEP
Showing both Boy's and Girl's Parts

1. Boy steps forward left on left foot as girl steps forward right on right foot.

2. Boy touches R foot to L foot as girl touches L foot to R.

3. Boy steps to side with right foot while girl steps to side on left foot.

4. Boy touches L foot to R foot and girl touches R foot to L foot.

5. Boy steps back on left foot away from girl who steps back on right foot.

6. Boy steps In place on right foot as girl steps In place on left foot.

COLLEGIATE SHAG
All Shag steps are similar in nature to the Jitterbug Time Step, and in a sense may be considered a variation of the Jitterbug. This particular step, which is one of the most popular of the Shag steps, employs perfect measure phrasing. This step reaches a count of eight, requiring two measures of music, and then is repeated.

 

Heel—R	Back—R	In place—L	Heel—R	Back—R	In place—L
1	and	2	3	and	4
Cross Front—R	Pivot Turn—R	Forward—L	In place—R	In place—L
5	6	7	and	8

Count 1 does not take the body weight. The toe should point upward toward the ceiling. On Count 6, the right foot pivot turns to the right making a complete half turn. The left foot, during this, swings outward in an arc.

Both partners do this EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. They dance apart from each other EACH HOLDING THE OTHER'S RIGHT HAND.

COLLEGIATE SHAG
Both Boy's and Girl's Parts

1. Right heel of each part­ner touches floor with no body weight as toe points upward. (This is Count 1.) 2. Quickly, each partner steps back on right foot followed by In place step on left foot. (This is Count "and 2".)

REPEAT THE ABOVE MOVEMENTS FOR COUNTS 3 and 4

3. Each partner steps right foot Cross Front and starts turning to right. (This is Count 5.)		4. Each partner swings left foot in arc while turn­ing to right. (Count 6.)		5. Coming out of turn, each partner steps for­ward on left foot. (This is Count 7.) Then each partner steps back on right foot followed by In place on left foot. (For Counts "and 8".)

All swing dances have this in common:

1. They employ the ball and change in some manner.
2. They are executed primarily in open position.
3. In all of them the boy rocks away from the girl as the girl rocks away from the boy.
4. There is a constant turning of the partners, that is, the girl breaks away from her partner with a turn, then turns in toward him again.

POINTS TO HELP YOU WITH THE JITTERBUG

When doing the Jitterbug Time Step, partners may drift about the floor, turn­ing slightly in either di­rection.		When the girl turns out, the boy should push slightly with his right hand, as he lifts girl's arm, but care should be taken not to push too hard or he may throw his part­ner off balance.		Girl always starts left turn in a position away from her partner.

Since left turns are usu­ally more difficult for a girl, the boy needs to bal­ance her while she is learning to  turn.		If a girl does not turn in a straight line of direc­tion when turning to left, back in to partner, boy should be prepared to move out of her way to avoid collision.		When executing the back­ward step the partners should not be too far apart lest they pull each other off balance.

THE LINDY HOP

The Lindy Hop employs perfect-measure phrasing, the basic step having a count of eight, requiring two measures of music. The Jitterbug uses inter-measure phrasing, having a basic count of six requiring one and a half measure of music.

BOY'S PART:

Forward—L	In place—R	In place—L	Pivot—R	Pivot—L
1	and	2	3	4
Side—R	In place—L	In place—R	Back—L	In place—R
5	and	6	7	8

On Counts 3 and 4, in the first line, the pivot turn is to the right and should be executed with your partner in closed position. On Count 7 both partners step back away from each other, the boy stepping back on left foot, girl stepping back on right foot.

If you study closely the line on the following page describing syncopated Jitterbug you will see that the only difference between it and the Lindy Hop is the omission of the two pivot steps on Counts 3 and 4. Leaving off these two counts reduces the basic rhythm to a count of six.

Those of you who may have studied Tap Dancing as a child can see that the In place step on one foot, followed quickly by the In place step on the other foot, is in reality a Ball Change. This ball-change movement (meaning to change the weight quickly from the ball of one foot to the ball of the other foot) is constantly used in tap dancing, and it is constantly used by the skilled dancer in all types of swing dances. Since it is so vitally important, it should be practiced apart from the rest of the Jitterbug so that when you are ready to syncopate the Jitterbug the movement will be natural and easy for you.

Practice it, moving forward and backward, and from side to side, as described in the following line:

Forward—L    In place—R    In place—L               Forward—R    In place—L    In place—R
1                and                 2                                        3                and                 4

Notice in the above line that Counts 1 and 3 are the traveling steps. The In place steps are quick shifts of weight from one foot to the other. Practice them enough and you will observe that you merely push backward on the floor for the "and" count, just enough to shift your weight to the other foot. The number two count and the number four count are executed by suddenly bending the knee very slightly and allowing the body weight to drop forward, but the foot taking the body weight does not travel.

Now practice the same movement traveling backward. Thus:

Back-—R	In place—L	In place—R	Back—L	In place—R	In place—L
1	and	2	3	and	4

Practice this step over again for at least twenty or thirty minutes at a time. You will find it requires more skill to do this in a backward direction than in a forward direction. The importance of learning it backward is that you may wish to drift away from your partner at times and you will then need to let your side step take on a slightly backward direction. To master this step in all directions will enable you to move freely about the floor while doing the syncopated Jitterbug at the same time. Also, when you do the passing left turn as described in pictures on the follow­ing pages, you will need to do the movement while traveling forward on the left foot, then backward on the right foot, traveling backward on the right foot on the last half of the turn.

Now practice this same ball-change movement from side to side:

Side—L	In place—R	In place—L	Side—R	In place—L	In place—R
Toe Out	Toe In	Toe Out	Toe Out	Toe In	Toe Out
1	and	2	3	and	4

Notice in this, the direction of the toe. After the step to the left with toe turning out, the following In place step on the right foot points toe toward the left foot. The next step, In place on the left foot, continues with the toe still pointing out. Now, when the following side step to the right begins, on Count 3, the left foot which still has the body weight must pivot to the right, as the right foot moves to the side with toe out away from the body. Then, after the two In place steps which follow quickly, the left foot takes its step to the left side with toe turning out and while the left foot is in the process of stepping to the left side with toe out, the right foot which is supporting the body weight must pivot toward the left.

JITTERBUG WITH PIVOT TURN IN UNISON

This step in the Jitterbug should be executed without syncopation. The accom­panying music should be from slow to medium tempoed.

BOY'S PART:

Forward—L	Touch—R	In place—R	Touch—L	Back—L	In place—R
(While pivot-ing to Right)	(coming out of Pivot Turn)
1	2	3	4	5	6

On Count 1, the boy steps forward toward the girl and lets his foot take a place slightly on the outside of her right foot. Next he pivot turns to the right on the left foot. He holds his partner firmly with his right hand on the left side of her waist. While turning, he touches his right foot to his left foot, as seen in Count 2 above. Girl does the opposite, touching her left foot to her right foot. (There is no change of body weight on this.)

Bringing the free foot in and touching it to the foot that supports the body weight during this pivot turn is very important. Momentum generated by the turn will tend to force the free foot out in a wide arc unless you make a definite effort to bring it in to the other foot.

This step should be practiced with only a quarter pivot turn until your balance improves. After a while you may gradually increase your turn until you are making a half turn and finally a complete turn. More than one complete turn is not recom­mended.

FREEZING JITTERBUG TIME STEP

This is the same as the basic Jitterbug Time Step without the touches. Though it is easy to do, from a physical standpoint, it requires mental concentration to learn it.

BOY'S PART:

Forward—L	Don't Move	Side—R	Don't Move	Back—L	In place—R
1	2	3	4	5	6

For this step to be effective you must freeze your action entirely on Count 2 and on Count 4. Since there is no syncopation and no follow-through, the knee of the leg which takes the body weight should be bent, while the knee of the free leg should be completely straight or nearly completely straight.

To suddenly employ this time step after dancing the syncopated time step will give a fascinating variety.

ITTERBUG (Girl turns out—then turns back in)

After boy steps back on his left foot in the Jitterbug time step, as shown in Figure 1, he lifts his partner's right hand and pushes her into a right turn, as shown in Figure 2. Girl continues to do her time step while turning. She completes her time step, and faces her partner as she steps back on her right foot, and then in place on her left foot. Boy does Jitterbug time step in one spot, while girl executes her turn. He may have to drift his body angle in order to face her at the end of their turn.

After doing the last two beats of the Jitterbug Time Step in Apart Position, as shown in Figure 4, below, boy lifts girl's hand and pulls her into a left turn. She moves toward him as she continues to do her time step while turning to the left, as shown in Figure 5. She then joins her partner, in Open Position, on last two beats of Jitterbug Time Step. Boy remains practically in one spot during this entire sequence.

JITTERBUG WRAPAROUND

While doing the Jitterbug Time Step in an open position, the partners hold hands. His RIGHT PALM IS UP and LEFT PALM DOWN. Her hands are placed in his, in the same manner, RIGHT PALM UP—LEFT PALM DOWN. His right thumb is on the back of her left hand, and his left thumb is on the back of her right hand.         As the girl steps forward on her right foot, while doing the time step, boy lifts her right arm across in front of her caus­ing her to turn in a direction toward his right side. She actually turns to the left, but travels toward his right side.       Boy wraps girl's right arm around her body, while she turns. At the end of the turn she is completely on his right side. Now both partners are ready to do the back step of the Jitterbug Time Step. Then, at the end of the In place step, boy lifts girl's right arm, and she reverses her direction, and turns back to her starting point.

JITTERBUG  Crossover  Break

1. Boy steps to left with left foot as girl steps to right with right foot.		4. Boy   side   right;   girl side left.

2. Boy "Cross Front" right, as girl "Cross Front" left.		5. Boy    back    left;    girl back right.

3. Boy   In place  left,   girl In place right.		6. Boy In place right; girl In place left.

JITTERBUG Illustrating Passing Left Turn

From Apart Position as shown in Figure 1, boy pulls girl toward his right shoulder. This starts her into a left turn as she steps forward on her right foot. Then boy re­leases her hand and starts to execute a left turn, as he steps forward on his left foot.         They pass each other in a back to back position without holding hands. Both are turning to the left. Girl completes her turn slightly ahead of boy, and since his back is still to her, she must take his left hand in her right hand as they pass. (Figure 2.)         Then, at completion of turn, they are facing each other again, but have reversed their positions.  (Figure 3.) Note that partners pass each other on the right side.

BASIC JITTERBUG TIME  STEP Commonly called "Flea Hop"

This step gives an eccentric touch to the Basic Jitterbug Time Step. The basic rhythm does not change. On Count 2 of the Time Step, you do a hopping slide toward the right without changing your body weight. You do this sliding motion instead of the touch—Count 3 follows with a Side-R, then on Count 4 you hop or slide on your right foot, inward toward the left. You do this instead of the touch. This sliding movement on the right foot does not have a change in body weight.

On Count 2—Slide to Right

You may have observed by now, after studying the variations used in the first four counts of the Jitterbug, that improvisation here comes easily. One partner may safely break away from the original pattern into a spontaneous movement on the first four counts, knowing that Counts 5 and 6 always employ the same movements and thus bring the partners back into step again.

Count 4—Slide to Left

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