It seems anachronistic, sure: dancing to the hottest hits of the 1940s. But this vintage dance never went completely out of style.
Lindy Hop is still alive and well – though obviously the scene is much smaller than its heyday in the 1930s, when jazz was pop music.
Jae Sinnett is a jazz DJ for WHRO, and says swing had its origins in New York. "Coming out of the the 20s, like [Duke] Ellington at the Cotton Club in Harlem, you know, was really starting to get into that Harlem Renaissance period.”
1920s jazz was still evolving from ragtime, but it began to swing in the 1930s. And audiences were ravenous for it. Dancers took that rhythm and put it in their bodies - they do triple steps - three steps in two beats - to that swung rhythm. And like jazz, they improvise and they move together and apart: Lindy hop is defined by moments of tension, either from stretching away or compressing together to create momentum and movement.
"By the time the early '30s hit, then you had the big bands, the larger ensembles, like Ellington had, and things were really, really focused on dancing," Sinnett said.
Black audiences at the time weren’t allowed in a lot of venues. But the Savoy Ballroom in New York was a venue for the black community. Dancers from that era talk about the music spilling out into the street, underage kids dancing on the sidewalks in Harlem to big band music echoing off the buildings nearby.
Michael Quisao is a lindy hop DJ, bringing sets of jazz to dancers around the country. He says Lindy Hop and Jazz are black art forms. "They were coming out of a place that is not the most joyful. that was coming out of the migration after the Civil War. So one of the things that people were doing to continue living at that time is trying to find joy in things like music, and in dancing, and community, and togetherness," he said.
You can hear those values in a song like "Jump for Joy" by Duke Ellington: It’s about escaping the South during the great migration.
The lyrics say, “Fare thee well, land of cotton, cotton lisle is out of style, honey child, jump for joy!/Don't you grieve, little Eve, all the hounds I do believe, have been killed, ain't you thrilled, jump for joy.”
Those values still speak to modern lindy hoppers, like those at Harbor City Swing in Norfolk. When you come to the dance floor, you can take a moment to step out of your troubles and enjoy a connection with another person. And they invite newcomers to try it out, too.
Lizzy Corey leads Harbor City Swing, which has beginner and intermediate dance classes every Wednesday at Coalescence Coffee in Ghent.
"We love new dancers and new attendees. We always try to create a welcoming atmosphere, and part of that is knowing that maybe on your first night you don't get everything right," she said. "So we try really to foster a welcoming community where people want to come back a second time because they're going to meet really really cool people and have people who are encouraging to learn."
That welcoming community spirit is even built into the social dance hour that comes after class: each lesson ends with a "snowball" dance, meaning one couple starts in the middle, then they split off as an organizer calls "snowball" and finds a new partner, until the whole floor is dancing.
Lizzy Corey’s sister, Jeanette Corey, is also a dancer – and a vocalist for the local swing band Good Shot Judy. She said Harbor City Swing gives her a chance to feel like she’s living in her body, in a way that’s hard to find in modern society.
"How can I live out my humanity? I know that my humanity is not sitting at a desk typing," she said. "It's like so cool to have a human connection that is particular and that is real and that is personal, but that is not about what you think.”
Harbor City Swing meets at Coalescence Coffee every Wednesday at 7pm for an intermediate lesson, with a beginner lesson at 7:30. Social dancing starts at 8pm.
