SWING STYLES
At Swingtopia Dance there are many different styles of swing dancing you can enjoy learning. The phrase 'swing dance' is actually an umbrella term that encompasses a family of dances that originated in the 1920's and 1930's. In the swing dance world the three most popular dances are the Lindy Hop, Balboa and Authentic Jazz, while Boogie Woogie is very popular in Europe. You can learn all four dances in Perth at Swingtopia!
Lindy Hop
The
The most popular form of swing dancing the Lindy Hop, is a fun, exciting partner dance that can be found all across the world and is growing bigger every day!
The Lindy Hop has been around since the late 1920’s where it started in New York.
It reached it's peak of popularity during World War 2 as the sailors danced it around all the world's ports. As it travelled it gained many nicknames, from Jitterbug to Jive to East Coast Swing.
These nicknames eventually developed into styles all of their own, like Jive which was taken up by Ballroom and taught as a competition dance. But despite the divergences, these styles still feature many similarities to Lindy Hop.
​
Since the 1980's there has been a revival of this vintage dance, and it has slowly become more popular than ever before.
​
ABOVE: Watch Hellzapoppin' above, the most famous Lindy Hop clip of all time recorded in 1941.
BELOW: But Lindy Hop's not all fast and acrobatic, to see some real social dancing, see Kevin and Jo below swing it up in Vienna!
These nicknames eventually developed into styles all of their own, like Jive which was taken up by Ballroom and taught as a competition dance. But despite the divergences, these styles still feature many similarities to Lindy Hop.
​
Since the 1980's there has been a revival of this vintage dance, and it has slowly become more popular than ever before. This was helped in part because one of the vintage swing dancers, Frankie Manning, came out of retirement ...
​
ABOVE: Watch Hellzapoppin' above, the most famous Lindy Hop clip of all time recorded in 1941.
LEFT: But Lindy Hop's not all fast and acrobatic, to see some real social dancing, see Jo and Remy swing it up!
LA Style Swing
The dance floor of LA has always been an exciting place to be, packed with dancers not afraid to be themselves and bring their own individuality to their dancing!
LA Style Swing, also known as "Hollywood Style" or "Smooth Style," made a name for itself in the 30's when two young dancers partnered up. Dean Collins, with his Lindy Hop, and Jewel McGowan, with her LA Swing, teamed up and took their dancing to the silver screen. The world was inspired, and this new "Hollywood Style" became a major branch of Lindy Hop that would change swing forever.
Today, dancers in LA still combine their own style with the great richness of swing dancing.
Balboa
Balboa is known as the sweetheart of the dances. It is danced in a close embrace with subtle footwork, and when it really gets going each partner swirls around the other.
​
Balboa (affectionately nicknamed 'Bal') started in the 1920's and was named after the Balboa Peninsula in southern California, where it was invented.
​
Today, you can find Balboa sharing the dance floor with the other swing dances. For those who dance it, they are passionate about that smooth feeling and subtle connection.
Charleston and
Authentic Jazz
You know that hip hop move, the 'running man'? Well, vernacular jazz is all those popular solo dance moves that were around in the 20's, 30's, 40's, and have long since been forgotten. That is, until swing dancers brought them all back!
​
Solo jazz includes moves with names like Suzie Q, Shortie George, and Spank the Baby! But by far the most popular step that is still well-known today is the Charleston!
Swing dancers love to dance solo using vernacular jazz, but they'll also use those steps to make their partner dancing look and feel even better.
Boogie
Woogie
From the dance floors of bars and pubs to the competition stages across Europe, Boogie Woogie is its own distinctive swing style.
​
Danced with a partner, there's fast footwork and exciting choreography that works up a mighty sweat! This is one dance that will keep you fit.
​
This dance gets it's name from the Boogie Woogie music style. With it's driving energy, the musician would play this music to get toes tapping and get people up and dancing!
​
Though one of Azza's personal favourites, it wasn't taught in Perth. So he decided it was time Perth learnt it too, and first taught it as a weekly lessons in 2014 at the Fremantle Leisure Club, with the amazing band Zydecats playing right after! Though the Leisure Club is no more, you can still catch Boogie Woogie in the occasional Speciality Class at Swingtopia, so watch out for the news!