Below, you'll find a description of most of the various swing dances that Swing Dance Nashville teaches. You can find videos of these dances in the Videos section.
Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is based on the popular Charleston. It evolved in New York City in the 1920s and '30s and originally evolved with the jazz music of the era. Lindy Hop was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based on jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston. It is frequently described as a jazz dance is a predominant member of the swing dance genre.
Lindy Hop is characterized by an 8-count step known as the swingout, and by its improvisational nature (which evolved to fit the improvisation of swinging jazz music). Aerials and other lifts or tricks, such as those pioneered by the late Frankie Manning, are also a part of lindy hop, and are often seen in high-tempo performances.
Charleston
The Charleston is a dance named for the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm is a traditional one from West Africa, popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States of America by a 1923 tune called The Charleston by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one of the most popular hits of the decade. While it developed in Afro-American communities in the USA, the Charleston became a popular dance craze in the wider international community in the 1920s. Despite its black history, Charleston is most frequently associated with flappers and the speakeasy. Here, these young women would dance alone or together as a way of mocking the "drys," or citizens who supported the Prohibition amendment, as Charleston was then considered quite immoral and provocative. Modern charleston dancing is an integral part of lindy hop, and exists in many permutations, including solo dance and a tandem partnered position.
Balboa/Bal-Swing
Balboa today is commonly used as a general term for dances that come from southern California during the 1920s and 1930s, which makes the history very obscure. Most of the original Balboa dancers have passed and many of the swing dancers that followed continued to use their steps and sometimes styles to integrate into their "swing" dancing which some people today call "Bal-Swing".
Balboa is a form of swing dance that started as early as 1915 and gained in popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. It is danced primarily in close embrace, and is led with a full body connection. The art of Balboa is the subtle communication between the lead and follow, like weight shifts, that most viewers cannot see. As a result, Balboa is considered more of a "dancer's dance" than a "spectator's dance".
Balboa is danced to a wide variety of tempos. Because the basic step takes up such a small space, Balboa can be danced to fast music (over 300 beats per minute). Balboa is also danced to slow music (under 100 beats per minute), which allows more time for intricate footwork and variations.
Designed to take up only a small space, Balboa involves chaining two-step movements together while shuffling the feet on the floor. The leader typically wears smooth-soled or leather-soled dress shoes, whereas the follow often dances in high heels. The dance was originally a response to overcrowded ballrooms where the swingout was often difficult, if not actually banned by the venue. Balboa is often perceived as a restrained or introverted dance, with most movement below the knees; however, part of its appeal is its variations on turns and twirls that allow the lead to show off his partner's legs — an effect that is heightened when the follow is wearing a swirly skirt and high heels.
Blues
Blues dancing is a modern term used to describe a family of historical dances that developed alongside and are danced to blues music, or the contemporary dances that are danced in that aesthetic. Blues dancing is very widely defined, and as such, encompasses a wide variety of movement styles, from ballroomin' blues, to slow drag, to fish tails, to jukin', to slow/stylized lindy hop (among others).
East Coast Swing
East Coast Swing is a swing dance that evolved from Lindy Hop, courtesy of Arthur Murray and his swing dance studios. The dance is often considered a simplified, stripped-down version of Lindy Hop, based on 6-count patterns of steps, which were developed to match the rock and roll music becoming more popular at the time. East Coast Swing can be found in both the ballroom and swing-era dance communities; often the ballroom version of this dance is more codified and strictly taught.