the.com/lindy hop
the dance that survived prohibition, segregation, and disco — then came roaring back from the dead.
means An energetic, partnered swing dance that emerged from Harlem in the late 1920s and '30s, blending breakaway footwork with athletic aerial moves done to upbeat jazz.
from Named, the story goes, for Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic — his 'hop' over the ocean splashed across every headline. As the tale has it, a dancer at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, asked what he was doing, riffed on the news of the day and called it the 'Lindy Hop.' The Lindbergh connection is well attested, though the exact moment of christening blurs into dance-floor legend. 'Hop' itself is old slang for an informal dance, going back centuries in English.
- named after
- Lindbergh's 1927 hop across the Atlantic
- birthplace
- Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, packed nightly with thousands
- the aerials
- dancers literally flipped partners overhead
- near extinction
- nearly vanished before 1980s swing revival
- improvised core
- the swingout breaks apart, then snaps back together
savoy ballroom — harlem dance hall where lindy hop originated in the 1920s, hosted the savoy lindy hoppers
whitey's lindy hoppers — legendary performance group founded by whitey's lindy hoppers in 1935, featured in films and on broadway
hollywood premiere 1941 — lindy hoppers performed at the 'hellzapoppin' premiere in 1941, introducing the dance to mainstream audiences