Telling a riveting true story of the emergence and development of an American icon, this book traces swing dancing from its origins to its status as a modern-day art form.

From its unlikely origins in the African slave trade, one of the saddest chapters of American history, swing dance emerged as a celebration of the soul. Swing is now recognized around the globe as a joyous partnered dance, uniquely Afro-American in origin and an American treasure.

This book examines how the original swing style of the 1920s, the Lindy Hop, branched out and evolved with the changing dynamics of popular culture, paralleling the development of the nation. Swing Dancing covers the dance through the years of minstrelsy, the jazz age, the big band era, bebop, and the decline of partnered dancing in the 1960s. Swing experts and instructors Tamara and Erin Stevens have combined a compelling historic examination of swing dance with an assortment of riveting personal interviews and photographic documentation to create a comprehensive reference book on this important art form.

• Contains insights from personal interviews with a variety of prominent dancers, scholars, and historians
• Presents a chronology of the emergence of vernacular American dancing and the development of swing, from colonial times to the present day
• Includes numerous illustrations and photographs depicting the diverse influences on the genre, from legendary musicians to iconic swing dancers and more
• Contains a select bibliography of diverse source material, such as books, films, and magazine and newspaper articles
• Provides a helpful index offering access to names, places, people, and all important subjects