Lindy Hop is the preeminent, swing-jazz, partnered dance. In the late 1920s, movement elements, including those of The Charleston, The Collegiate, and The Texas Tommy, were swirling together in African-American communities to form a new style, and they coalesced around a musical groove called “swing.” Dance champion George Snowden supplied the name “Lindy Hop” in reference to Charles Lindberg—whose recent transatlantic flight was the phenomenon of the moment. The name stuck, and the dance was popularized by early masters at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.

Frankie Manning and other exponents of the 1930s and 1940s incorporated choreography and high-flying “air steps.” Frequently presented by Savoy bouncer Herbert White as “Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers,” these champions dominated clubs, contests, stages, and film. Manning had a phasic career, retiring after the swing era, but reengaging with the dance industry in the 1980s. In the intervening years, visionaries such as Norma Miller and Mama Lu Parks sustained Lindy Hop and even adapted to new music genres.

At the end of the 20th century, a surge of popularity sowed modern swing-dance scenes all around the world. There are now plenty of non-US hotspots, like Stockholm and Seoul, with robust dance communities. Lindy Hop also continues to thrive in the US and in Harlem, where the dance never stopped.