Jazz dance and jazz music took the world by storm during the first half of the 20th century, filling ballrooms and clubs with live music, youngsters dancing, and Vaudeville shows, turning the corner from a previously stiff, Anglican culture to a vivacious, robust, and energetic world that reflected the industrial boom of the time.
The jazz dance is a derivative of African tribal dance, borrowing its rhythmic, improvisational nature, and European partner dancing, which provided the structured way in which partners connected and stepped in time with one another. Seeing its first incarnations as early as the turn of the 20th century, jazz dancing bloomed into what would later be dubbed the original American folk dance and one of the most important and historical dances in American history.
The videos here were not only footage of influential events, like rare footage of African-Americans dancing the Cakewalk and displaying some of the first times improvisation was used in such a structured dance, but they're also some of the most referenced snippets of film today that swing dancers use for inspiration and education, such as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers' most famous dance piece from Hellzapoppin'. They feature some of the most celebrated jazz dancers in history, such as Frankie Manning, Josephine Baker, and the Nicholas Brothers, as well as a variety of dances that fall under the jazz and swing dance umbrella: Lindy Hop, Charleston, Balboa, and vernacular jazz dancing.
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Banana Dance
Perhaps better known as the Banana Dance, this performance came at the height of the Charleston craze, featuring one of the most iconic female singers and dancers of all time: Josephine Baker. At the height of her career, she was the most famous entertainer in France, to which she immigrated in order to further her career. Her fabulous banana dance has been referenced and replicated in pop culture ever since she performed this piece in Paris in 1927.
After Seben (1929)
This clip stars the famous George "Shorty" Snowden, one of the pioneers of swing dancing in the 1920s and 1930s, who coined the name Lindy Hop, after Charles Lindbergh, who had just "hopped" over the Atlantic.
Released in 1929, this clip shows the earliest forms of partner jazz dancing. Unlike the other videos on this list in which many of the dancers were bent in a more athletic position, Shorty George and his partner dance in a much more upright and ballroom-like position, a recent descendant of the Cakewalk.
Shorty, the third dancer to come out, demonstrates the Breakaway, a move that later transformed into Lindy Hop, circa 1934.
The Cakewalk (1903)
Perhaps the oldest clip on the list, this small, soundless snippet features the Cakewalk, a proper, upright dance created on Southern plantations in the 1870s and was originally danced only by men. At the turn of the century, however, women were incorporated, and soon more "grotesque," improvisational movements were added into the dance, birthing the first ideas of jazz dance in its most modern state. The grotesque movements in this clip are most obvious when one dancer wiggles his knees.
Keep Punching (1939)
Keep Punching features The Big Apple, a line dance created in The Big Apple night club in Columbia, South Carolina during the 1930s. Originally a call-and-response dance, much like square dancing, The Big Apple's roots can be found in ring shouts from the 1860s, a religious dance done by slaves on Southern plantations in which dancers move in a circular formation while shouting and clapping.
This particular version was choreographed by the legendary Frankie Manning, who although he had never actually seen The Big Apple, choreographed based on only what he had heard about the dance. Though it was supposed to be used for Judy Garland's 1937 Everybody Sings, it was later cut due to a dispute involving proper payment for the dancers.
The Big Apple became such a sensation around the country that Time magazine called 1937 the year of The Big Apple. Manning's iteration of the dance sensation is still regularly performed around the world today.
Maharaja (1943)
While Lindy Hop was the prevailing swing dance in New York City amongst the black community, Balboa was taking shape in SoCal and was danced primarily by the white community.
Created on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, California, jazz clubs playing hot numbers would be so tightly packed that the dancers were forced to dance chest to chest.
Though similar to Lindy Hop, an untrained eye can see that Balboa dancers spend much more time dancing close together, whereas Lindy Hop dancers spend more time moving away from each other.
This short features Hal and Betty Takier, some of the best Balboa dancers in history.
Ask Uncle Sol (1937)
Another clip featuring Shorty George and his dance partner, Big Bea, this clip is best known for its end move, a then-genderbent sequence in which Big Bea pulls Shorty onto her back and walks offstage with him kicking his legs. Shorty's height was often used for comic effect, helping the couple out-dance others in competitions. They were also founders of the dance troupe, Shorty Snowden Dancers, which is known to be the first Lindy Hop troupe ever.
A Groovie Movie (1944)
A funny instructional movie, this lengthier clip features cool Jitterbug moves meant for the heppest of cats. The narrator, whose commentary is full of popular slang of the time and can't keep up with what the dancers are going, tries to explain what the dancers are demonstrating. The most interesting thing to note in this clip is how these Southern California dancers lean back so much more than those dancing in Harlem at this time, particularly the follower.
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
Though the movie has absolutely nothing to do with dancing, this is the most iconic and popular Lindy Hop clip of all time, featuring Whitey's Lindy Hoppers from Harlem, the most prestigious jazz and swing dance troupe of all time. Frankie Manning, the ambassador of Lindy Hop (in the coveralls) dances with his partner, Frida Washington, in the last shine before the final ensemble sequence.
The final sequence, known as the California routine (aptly named after the state in which it was choreographed by Manning) is now one of the most popular and well-known routines in swing dancing.
Stormy Weather (1943)
The Nicholas Brothers, featured in this clip of Stormy Weather (as well as the illustrious Cab Calloway and his orchestra) were some of the most rhythmically attuned dancers of the 20th century. They were the pioneers of tap dancing, paving the way for generations to come. Fred Astaire told the two brothers that it was, "the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen."
Plus, look at all of those splits. Hot damn!
One Girl, Two Boys (1944)
From the 1944 film Swing Fever, this clip features Jeanne Phelps Veloz, Don Gallagher, and Lenny Smith, all dancers from Southern California. Fun fact: Veloz, the icon of "Hollywood" style Lindy Hop, still regularly attends Pasadena's weekly Lindy Groove. Take the beginning drop-in lesson and ask her for a dance!