Fun Holidays - World Lindy Hop Day

The peak of popularity in the United States of swing, one of the trends of jazz, occurred in the 1930-40s. The new style of playing using 4 equal beats per bar was called four beat. To swing music performed by large orchestras, the legs themselves began to dance. African Americans performed Charleston, Balboa, college shag and Lindy hop, which were based on improvisation, an excellent sense of rhythm and an inexhaustible thirst for life. Frankie Manning, one of the most famous popularizers of the lindy hop, was born in Florida on May 26, 1914. The black dancer and choreographer was a member of the famous Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, a show group through which music lovers living far beyond the United States learned about swing. Frankie Manning was the first to perform aerial during the dance with throwing his partner over himself and other acrobatic numbers. Swing fans made the choreographer's birthday a holiday - World Lindy Hop Day. Black performers from Harlem and Kansas City participated in the 1930s and 1940s. in dance marathons held in New York clubs Savoy Ballroom, Rockland Palace and others. According to legend, the world learned about the Lindy Hop in June 1928 thanks to African Americans George Shoti (“Shorty”) Snowden and Mattie Purnell. At one of the competitions at the Manhattan Casino in New York, the couple performed a dance in an unusual style with an element that later became known as the “swingout.” Shoti George and Matty Purnell were the marathon winners. When asked by reporters what kind of dance it was, Snowden allegedly replied: “Just a Lindy Hop.” This is how, according to one version, its name appeared. The paired solo dance, which absorbed the features of step, Charleston and breakaway, was distinguished by a rhythmic basis of 8 bars and a large share of improvisation. It was performed during performances by the orchestras of Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb and other lesser-known jazzmen. Lindy hop quickly penetrated the nightclubs and ballrooms of New York and became part of Broadway productions. According to another version, the dance was named after Charles Lindbergh. An American pilot nicknamed “Lindy” crossed the Atlantic alone on a monoplane on May 20 and 21, 1927, flying from New York to Paris. Songs, musical compositions and various events were dedicated to this event, incl. - dance marathons. The newspapers were full of headlines “Lindbergh hops Atlantic” (“Lindbergh jumps over the Atlantic”). Therefore, a new dance genre, which was presented at one of the competitions by black performers, was called lindy hop. Choreographer Frankie Manning died at the age of 94 in April 2009. The Lindy Hop popularizer said: "I'm not interested in fame and glory. I just want others to know what a wonderful dance it is." In memory of this significant figure, grateful fans established World Lindy Hop Day, which has been celebrated on May 26 on both sides of the Atlantic since 2004.