Line Dances

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Shim Sham

Whitey's Lindy Hopper

Whitey’s Lindy Hopper

Imagine you’re in a ballrom, watch the band, the dancers, then suddenly: ‘T ain’t what you do, you know that song, whistle, all dancers gather in front of the band stand and begin dancing simultaneously. You asked a dancer, “Shim Sham” – this is Shim Sham – the Line-Dance which had its origin in tap dance, was created by Leonard Reed as ‘goofus’. Lindy Hoppers adapted it 1930 as the “Shim Sham Shimmy”.

Jitterbug Stroll

Another line-Dance is the Jitterbug Stroll, invented by famous jazz dancer Ryan François. Key song is the woodchoppers’ ball or the Yahoodi Hoodi song by musician and dancer Steven Mitchell. Key moves are the Suzie Q and Shorty George.

Charleston Stroll

Another modern Line-Dance is the Charleston Stroll created by Sing Lim.

Toulouse Stomp

Stomps are dances with African tradition. You best learn stomps as for example the Toulouse Stomp from Cookie Angela Andrews. You learn a series of steps and figures and repeat it all over again and again and again…

Big Apple

Big Apple

Big Apple

Though the name seem to suggest it, Big Apple is not originated in New York, but in Columbia, South Carolina, in a night club called ” Big Apple Night Club”. There, dancers would form a circle, one person in the middle would call out typical crazy jazzy moves such as ” Rusty Dusty”, ” London Bridge”, “Break a leg” or “Scarescrow”. Swingdancers nowadays possibly know the Big Apple version choreographed by Frankie Manning for the movie “Keep Punching” (Harlem, 7.Dec.1939). So, boogie all down and spank the baby!

Jazzroutines

Linedances suitable for performance or for the beginnig of a lesson.

Swing Rueda

A mixture of Casino Rueda, Square Dance and Swing moves, kind of swalsa-esque, invented by Jeff & Elaine from Texas.

Tranky Doo

There are two main theories about the origin of the Tranky Doo. The first, which seems to be more likely, is that it was a popular linedance in Harlem in the 40s, choreographed by Pepsi Bethel. The dance would appear in the Savoy Ballroom and was danced to the tune Tuxedo Junction.
The second theory is that Vaudeville actress Trankie Doo used to end her appearance at her shows with a special crazy dance move. Much later swingdancers collected these moves from movie snippets and put them together to this funny line dance.

Music

We have put together a list of popular line dance tunes. Have a look at this category.

(Author: Sabine Schroetter from it-must-schwing.de)