Big Band Dance Moves

Big Band Dance Moves

This week in the class we have been covering swing music. The lectures have been extremely inciteful when it comes to studying more about this field. I had no idea just how big swing music was in the United States during its hay day. According to Dr. Cochran everything back then was swing. If you went to the store and bought a record chances were that it was swing. If you kicked on the radio chances were you were listening to swing.There was one major reason that swing had such a huge following during its high times, it was easy to dance to.

Today I plan to cover some of the common dance moves for swing music. I will be getting aid from http://swingdancemoves.net/ as well as Wikipedia, and youtube. First, I will mention up front that I am not an expert on dancing but will use the information at hand to attempt to describe what I have learned correctly. The Lindy Hop is one of the most famous of all big band dance styles and is still danced today. It was developed in the African Ameican society as part of the Harlem Renaissance and is a 8-step move that incorporated the Charleston as well as a strong emphasis on improvisation. Here is a great example of what the lindy hop can be http://youtu.be/mBdAuXr4ssQ this of course is much more elaborate that your average living room dance, but is much more intertaining to watch. The second major type of dancing to swing is the balboa. This was developed in the white communities, emphasizes close partner connection which stemmed from the often overcrowded dance floors of the time. It was a way to cut loose without hitting the people around you. Here is a phenomenal example of Balboa http://youtu.be/6_qwVwuIitg . The third most common style of swing dancing was the shag. It had two forms, colligate and St. Louis which had some minor differences but both emphasized the same major idea. A two step beat, hop skip, slow then a fast rhythm. Here are the winners of the 2004 shag dance competition winners http://youtu.be/xKzrQ1RedxY . After researching the dancing for Big Band music a little more I fell like becoming a jitterbug myself and cutting a rug.

Critical Listening

In the Mood by: Glen Miller

Format: Intro AABAACAADAA outro

We covered this song in class this week but I just had to bring it here to my analysis. I love this song and it can be argued to be the most famous and well known piece of Swing Jazz to come out of the era. Whenever a movie is set in the30’s or 40’s and there is a killer band supposed to be playing in the back this is almost always the song that you hear. It is instantly recognizable, easy to dance to, and just an all around great piece of music. To me this is the Swing version of the Maple Leaf Rag. Tied to an era and played for instant time recognition by the audience.