American Dances Lindy Hop and Charleston By Adrian Freeman Juba (Hambone) • This dance comes from African slaves who didn’t have drums. • Their “masters” didn’t let them have drums because they could be used to communicate long distances. • Without drums, the slaves stomped their feet and slapped their arms, legs and faces to create rhythms. • After slavery was abolished, people (especially in the South) continued to do this dance. The Irish • The Irish were another important group that influenced traditional American music and dance. Black dancers imitated Irish dancers and vice versa . Eventually, the two styles mix ed and made a new dance Tap Dance • This dance comes from the African Juba dance and Irish Step-dancing. • Tap dancers create rhythms by tapping metal plates on their heels and toes. The Charleston • The Charleston is a dance-move based on African rhythms. • It is inspired by the dance-moves seen in Juba dances. Jazz Music / Jazz Dance Jazz comes from the mixture of African rhythms and European instruments. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz#Cool_jazz African American Step Dancing (“Stepping”) • Stepping is a dance form that comes directly from Juba dancing. • It can be influenced by break dance, military marching and tap dance. • It is common to see step dancing performed by fraternities on University campuses. JUBA Charleston Tap Jazz Music Stepping Lindy Hop Lindy Hop (Swing) • This dance comes from New York City, specifically the Harlem neighborhood. • It is a mixture of Jazz dance, Charleston , Tap dance, and other dances. • Nowadays, people dance Lindy Hop (or “Swing”) all over the world, even in Barcelona! • Every 1 st and 3 rd Sunday at 12pm in Parc de la Ciutadella: “Lindy Al Parc” – L’Associació de Swing de Barcelona www.bcnswing.org.