Local Influences
Lindy hop as it is danced today varies not only between local scenes through the influence of local cultures and teachers, but as individual dancers model their movements on the styles of influential dancers of both contemporary and past eras. These historical influences may include the African American lindy hoppers of the Savoy Ballroom (including Frankie Manning and the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers), white dancers from the west coast (including Dean Collins and Jewel McGowan), or dancers from even more specific periods in history. The 'style wars' of the 1990s and early 2000s (where lindy hoppers debated the relative merits of different eras and dancers) resulted in terms such as Savoy-Style Lindy Hop (generally associated with original New York City African American dancers) and Hollywood-Style Lindy Hop (based on the Lindy Hop of white dancers in Hollywood films). The current international lindy hop community recognises a far greater diversity not only in lindy hop styles than is accounted for by these two terms, but also in swing dances more generally.
Lindy hop today is not only influenced by historic dance forms, but also by popular contemporary dances and music such as soul, groove, funk, hip hop, West Coast Swing and salsa while others explore jazz, tap, blues and other traditional jazz and African American dances as resources to expand and enrich lindy hop.
Read more about this topic: Lindy Hop Today
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