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ABSTRACT
By examining film and print media, along with influences of the Great Depression and WWII on public culture, this essay explores the evolution and appropriation of the Lindy Hop as it transformed from a black, working-class dance in the early twentieth century to a white, middle-class dance by the swing revival in the 1990s. During the revival, young people were drawn to the Lindy Hop because its heteronormative structure seemed to celebrate a simpler time when gender roles were more defined. While rejecting contemporary mainstream culture’s apparent dilution of those gender roles, swing revivalists also asserted themselves as the owners of the movement. However, Lindy Hop legend Frankie Manning’s death has catalyzed a new awareness of its African American history and engagement to the community, even as the joy inherent in the dance’s practice continues to exert a shaping force on its contested cultural place in American society.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the friends, reviewers, and editors who guided me in my revisions. I am especially grateful to Ursula Hicks and Michaela Null for talking through ideas with me in the brainstorming stage.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Dr. Kendra Unruh is a full-time English faculty member at Richland College in Dallas, Texas, where she has worked since graduating with her PhD in American Studies from Purdue University. Kendra’s previous work about the Lindy Hop has been published in the Journal of Pan African Studies. Her current research project takes a pedagogical approach to the theme of exclusion and belonging and focuses on the experiences of marginalized students. In addition to her scholarly interest in the Lindy Hop, Kendra is an active participant in the swing dance community in Dallas.
Notes
1 The Gap Khaki’s commercial can be viewed at many places on the internet including the following link: https://vimeo.com/77010660.
2 Rose, Black Noise, 4–5.
3 Kabir, “Music, Dance, and Diaspora,” 73.
4 Lott, Love and Theft, 8.
5 Hancock, American Allegory, 15.
6 For a visual example of the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, see the following videos. Hellzapoppin’ (1941): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSAOV6XEjXA. A Day at the Races (1937): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKbflI0rEhE.
7 Manning and Millman, Frankie Manning, 79.
8 Quoted in Stearns and Stearns, Jazz Dance, 316.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid., 323.
11 Monaghan, “Why Study,” 125–126.
12 Ibid.
13 Hubbard and Monaghan, “Negotiating Compromise,” 131.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid., 133.
16 Manning and Millman, Frankie Manning, 45.
17 Ibid., 49.
18 Ibid.
19 Hubbard and Monahan, “Negotiating Compromise,” 133.
20 Stearns and Stearns, Jazz Dance, 324.
21 Emery, Black Dance, 235.
22 Ibid.
23 Glass, When the Spirit Moves, 28.
24 Ibid., 8.
25 Manning and Millman, Frankie Manning, 81.
26 Glass, When the Spirit Moves, 8.
27 Dinerstein, Swingin the Machine, 7–8.
28 Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues, 23–24.
29 Fisher, “The Lindy Hop,” 296.
30 Miller, Swingin’ at the Savoy, 57.
31 Engelbrecht, “Swinging at the Savoy,” 6.
32 Ibid., 8.
33 Giordano, Social Dancing in America, 86.
34 Caponi-Tabery, Jump for Joy, 53.
35 Giordano, Social Dancing in America, 87.
36 Ibid., 88.
37 Erenberg, Swingin’ the Dream, 3–4.
38 Ibid., 26.
39 Hall, “African-American Music,” 40.
40 Erenberg, Swingin’ the Dream, 6. Subsequent references to this text will be cited parenthetically.
41 Caponi-Tabery, Jump for Joy, 59.
42 Ibid., 64.
43 Ibid., 58.
44 Giordano, Social Dancing in America, 93.
45 Crease, “Divine Frivolity,” 225.
46 McMains and Robinson, “Swingin’ Out,” 88.
47 Monaghan, “Why Study,” 126.
48 Giordano, Social Dancing in America, 93.
49 “Life Goes to a Party,” 64.
50 Ibid., 67.
51 Dinerstein, Swingin the Machine, 259.
52 “Lindy Hoppers,” 30.
53 Ibid.
54 “The Lindy Hop,” 96.
55 Ibid., 95.
56 Ibid., 96.
57 Giordano, Social Dancing in America, 94.
58 Ibid., 114.
59 Ibid., 116.
60 Ibid.
61 Manning and Millman, Frankie Manning, 203.
62 Hancock, American Allegory, 163–164.
63 Manning and Millman, Frankie Manning, 225.
64 Pener, The Swing Book, 37.
65 Ibid., 39.
66 Ibid., 40.
67 Stevens, Swing Dancing, 162–164.
68 Quoted in Pener, The Swing Book, 50.
69 Stevens, Swing Dancing, 163.
70 Quoted in Pener, The Swing Book, 50.
71 Pener, The Swing Book, 51.
72 Ibid., 62–64.
73 Hancock, “‘Put a Little Color’,” 786.
74 Vale, Swing, 5.
75 Ibid.
76 McMains and Robinson, “Swingin’ Out,” 89.
77 Pener, The Swing Book, 63.
78 See Cook, “Watching Our Step,” 191 and McMains and Robinson, “Swingin’ Out,” 89.
79 Stevens, Swing Dancing, 174.
80 Hancock, American Allegory, 101.
81 Quoted in Hancock, American Allegory, 101.
82 Ibid., 101.
83 Hancock, American Allegory, 100.
84 See Lott’s Love and Theft.
85 Renshaw, “Postmodern Swing Dance,” 69.
86 Parish, “The Lindy Hop,” 50.
87 Vale, Swing, 4.
88 Usner, “Dancing in the Past,” 98.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid., 90.
91 Robinson, Modern Moves, 80.
92 Usner, “Dancing in the Past,” 99.
93 Robinson, Modern Moves, 153.
94 Renshaw, “Postmodern Swing Dance,” 78.
95 Quoted in Vale, Swing, 15.
96 Ibid., 9.
97 Judge, If It Ain’t, 65.
98 Ibid., 61.
99 Ibid., 117.
100 Ibid., 104.
101 Ibid., 113.
102 Hancock, “Put a Little Color,” 797.
103 Quoted in Hancock, “Put a Little Color,” 798.
104 See Lott’s Love and Theft.
105 Ibid.
106 Gottschild, Waltzing in the Dark, 205.
107 Ibid., 206.
108 Ibid.
109 See the following video for an interview with Frankie Manning about his “formal training” at the Savoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um0VleA8jRE.
110 “FMF History.” Frankie Manning Foundation.
111 “Ambassador Program.” Frankie Manning Foundation. As an illustration of Frankie Manning’s impact on the global level, see the following video of dancers from around the world honoring Manning on his 95th birthday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmMg5uoxyr8.
112 “Youth Initiative.” Frankie Manning Foundation.
113 See note 103.
114 “Norma Miller 100th Birthday.” International Lindy Hop Championships.
115 White, “What’s It Like.”
116 Swift, interview with LaTasha Barnes.
117 White, “What’s It Like.”
118 Ibid.
119 Hancock, American Allegory, 108.
120 Ibid.
121 International Lindy Hop Championships, “ILHC 2017 LED Talk.”
122 Swift, interview with LaTasha Barnes.
123 Ibid.
124 Ibid.
125 White, “What’s It Like.”
126 Pritchett, “How Would You Answer?”
127 Hancock, “Put a Little Color,” 793.
128 See note 103.
129 White, “What’s It Like.”
130 Millman, “Frankie Manning.”