Dances - Jitterbug

In the mid 1930's The Jitterbug emerged as the latest dance craze to sweep across America. Although derived from the Lindyhop, the Jitterbug's more upright stance, cleaner lines and touches of zany humour made it a great attraction for white college teenagers of the swing era.

Arguably named by the popular Cab Calloway song "Call Of The Jitterbug" In a heavily prejudiced era, where the aggressive athleticism of the black dance "The Lindyhop" was considered taboo, white dancers adopted the dance to rebel against the strictures of their parents. These young rebels became known as "The Jitterbugs" and were the Punk Rockers of their generation.

Benny Goodman, a white Jewish Clarinettist and Band Leader who dared to play forbidden Swing music was the Jitterbugs' idol. Almost single handedly he made the music finally acceptable to listen to for white audiences, after his famous concert at Carnegie Hall, but the Jitterbug's transition to acceptable dance took longer. It's popularity with the white kids was huge, and very soon dancehalls couldn't accommodate all the wild kicks and arm movements. The answer was to make the Jitterbug a slotted dance.

This meant that the dance could be performed in a smaller area. It no longer travelled around the room. More people were able to pack onto dance floors, and less of them got kicked in the shin.

Another advantage of the new slotted style of Jitterbug was it's suitability for cameras. Unlike the Lindyhop, the Jitterbug could now be danced in a line with the couple continually facing the camera.

It was this tamer, more gentile dance that made its way over the Atlantic with the American GI's during the Second World War, and consequently left us with images of American GI's and British land girls boogying to Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman.