When did the Lindy Hop become popular or when was it invented?

Question

I need to know when it was invented or when it became popular.

Answer 1

Lindy Hop was developed out of Partner Charleston in the late 1920's.  During this period the best dancers in New York would congregate at the Savoy Ballroom, where in the corner, some of the best dancers would "jam" to jazz music.  Of all the dancers, the best dancer of the time was "Shorty" George Snowden.  

Rumor has it that Snowden was doing the first lindy hop (a circular charleston with a break-away) and caught the eye of a newspaper reporter who asked what dance he was doing.  Snowden didn't know what to say and glanced at a newspaper that read:  "Charles Lindberg Hops the Atlantic", and Showden replied, "Man, we're doing the Lindy Hop."

(Charles Lindberg crossed the atlantic on May 21, 1927.)

And so the name has stuck ever since.  (You can see Shorty George doing this charleston breakaway in the movie "After Seben").

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In the 1930's, dancers continued coming to the Savoy (which was known as the Home of Happy Feet) to see the best Lindy Hoppers.  A young dancer to the scene was Frankie Manning, who would change the face of Lindy Hop like no other dancer.

When Shorty George would jam, he would dance with a very tall girl named Big Bea, and then they finished their Jam, Big Bea would pick up Shorty George on her back (back to bacK) and carry him off the floor as he kicked his legs.  After seeing this move, Frankie got the idea of doing this same move, but with him picking the girl up, and flipping her over his back and landing on the floor and continue dancing.  He called this an "air-step" because it involved the girl flying in the are in "step" with the music.

During a dance contest at the Savoy, Frankie got the opportunity to go last in the contest with his partner, and for the first time they did this Air-Step, the crowd went wild.  Frankie and his parner beat Shorty George and Big Bea, and created a new craze for "air-steps" in Lindy Hop.

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Because of the popularity and excitement surrounding lindy hop, Herburt White, a bouncer at the Savoy Ballroom, got the idea of forming a lindy hop dance troupe to perform at various fairs, clubs, and events.  He called the troupe, "Whitey's Lindy Hoppers", and ofcourse asked Frankie to come a join and teach all of the dancers his air-step.  During the 1930's Frankie created a majority of the swing air-steps that are done today, and taught them all to his dance troupe.

Eventually, Hollywood Studios came looking for "Whitey's Lindy Hoppers" and hired them to perform in several movies in the late 30's and early 40's that helped spread Lindy Hop around the country.  The most famous of these films was "Hellzapoppin'" which features what's considered to be "The Greatest Swing Dance Routine Ever Captured on Film".

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At the same time, in the late 30's, big bands such as Count Basie and Benny Goodman began broadcasting their concerts live on the radio, which spread the sound of swinging jazz music around the country.

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Another dancer, named Dean Collins (a white boy from new jersey) learned how to dance at the savoy ballroom in the mid 30's.  Dean approached Lindy Hop differently, by having a smooth fluid movement to his dancing.  At the ripe old age of 17, he moved out to Los Angeles to attempt to break into show business.  Bringing Lindy Hop with him, he was featured in several "soundies" and eventually feature films, while he also taught studio dancers and people interested how to dance Lindy Hop.  As a result many of his students learned is upright and smooth style (which eventually lead to the offshoot dance called "West Coast Swing").  

Dean Collins was first featured in a soundie for "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra" at the age of 17, and was a featured dancer in many films all the way up through the end of the 1950's.

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The popularity of "swing music" grew, reaching a hight point in the early/mid 1940's.  It was at this point that Ballroom Instructors took notice of the trend, and decided it was time to "cash in" on the popularity of this new dance craze.  Rather than learn Lindy Hop themselves, the Ballroom Associations created their own version of swing dancing out of a foxtrot box step.  This dance came to be known as "East Coast Swing".  (The dance step was also relabled in many different ways, such as Jitterbug, Rock n' Roll, The Swing, and Rockabilly).

The dance became more popular than Lindy Hop quickly, not because it was a "better" dance, but because it was much easier of a dance step to Teach and to Learn.  This marked the begining of the decline of the popularity of Lindy Hop.

Many Lindy Hop enthusiasts continued meeting on a weekly basis and continuing the dance, but after the introduction of Rock n' Roll music, Lindy Hop began to fade from pop culture.

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In the 1980's, a couple of dance history majors from Southern California (Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell) came accross a copy of Hellzapoppin' and decided the had to hunt down the dancers in the video and learn the dance they were doing.

After some research, they learned the piece was choreographed by Frankie Manning.  The only way they could find him was to fly to New York, open a phone book and call evey "F Manning" in the phone book until they found him.  When they finally called the right number Erin asked Frankie, "Is this Frankie Manning the swing dancer?", his response was "Well, this is Frankie Manning the Postal Worker . . . but I done a little swing dancing in my day."

Together, Erin and Steven convinced Frankie to come out of retirement and start teaching again.  As a result more dancers started coming to hear Frankie's stories and learn Lindy Hop.  Erin and Steven took what they had learned and returned to Southern California and teach the dance to a whole new generation.

This eventually lead to the reoccurance of swing music and swing dancing in films in the 1990's, with such films as:  Malcom X, Swing Kids, Swingers, and the famous "GAP Swing" commercial.

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Today, Lindy Hop isn't part of pop culture, but it has been featured several times on popular dancing programs (such as Dancing With The Stars, and So You Think You Can Dance?).  The dance also continues to be found in most large cities, and has it's own sub-culture of die-hard enthuthiasts.  This includes regular dance venues, regular weekly lessons, special dance workshops, Lindy Exchanges, swing dance camps, and national competions.

If you want to see how far Lindy Hop has come, check out this video from a professional Lindy Hop Competition (this was recorded in 2006):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myJj0mNNe...

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FAMOUS DANCERS:

Shorty George Snowden

Frankie Manning

Dean Collins

FAMOUS MOVIES (look these up on YouTube):

After Seben

Ask Uncle Sol

A Day at the Races

Hellzapoppin'

Goovie Movie

Buck Privates

Don't Knock the Rock

GOOD RESORCES:

http://poy.no/vintage

http://www.thelindyhop.com

http://www.frankiemanning.com

http://www.yehoodi.com

http://www.streetswing.com/

http://www.savoyballroom.com

Anyways, that's probably more info than you need, but I hope that helps!

If you have any more questions, message me!

Answer 2

I think it was popular in the 50's cause when I

see ppl dance it, they are wearing 50's clothes.

Answer 3

in the late 1920's in Harlem, NY

:o)