What is the difference between Lindy Hop and Ballroom Dancing?
Although there are obvious similarities (because you dance with a partner in both ballroom and Lindy Hop), Lindy Hop developed as a sort of revolution from the Waltz and Foxtrot European Ballroom tradition back in the 1930s. Like Hip Hop dancing in modern America, and like Salsa and Meringue in Latin cultures, Lindy Hop is more of a “street” dance than a ballroom dance. It simply evolved as Swing music became popular as a way to manifest the intangible music into physical form. People could not help but dance to the music, and there was no other dance around that could hack it. Moreover, just like Hip Hop and Salsa are derided today by pundits claiming that they manifest and encourage the degeneration of civilized society, pundits of the era sneered at Lindy Hop originally as a “devil’s dance” because it evoked such enthusiasm that would be “undignified” of a person of “proper upbringing and comportment.” Ballroom dance has never drawn such fire from stodgy-minded critics, but instead
