Lindy Hop is a dance that emerged in 1928 when Black dancers, "Shorty" George Snowden and Mattie Purnell, lost their grip and briefly broke away only to return to each other again. Lindy Hop is first and foremost a Black dance having been created during the Harlem Renaiisance and took flight at the legendary Savoy Ballroom as an expression of Black kinetic values such as call-and-response, improvisation and making African-American rhythms visible on the dance floor.

What is East Coast Swing, Jitterbug and Swing?

When swing dance schools or related festivals and events refer to east coast swing, jitterbug or swing, they're often referring to Lindy Hop, albeit a specific rhythm pattern featuring Slows and Quicks. These names indicate these organizations are engaging in cultural appropriation rather honoring the Black heritage or creators by using the names they gave their dances. Much like jazz, swing dances contain a multitude of rhythms and call on dancers to express themselves individually even while in partnership. East Coast Swing or Jitterbug was created to reduce the rhythms, limit individual expression and create a hierarchy where the leader, typically male, is the role dominant over the follower, typically female. Black social dances, rather, encourage mutual assertiveness. Lindy Hop and other Black social dances were dances of liberation, joy and freedom and made people fear upheaval of the status quo.

Where can I find social swing dancing in Denver?

Swingin' Denver offers a multitude of options through the year with our partnerships and collaborations across metro Denver and beyond often featuring live music. Here in Denver, you can also find options at The Pearl, Denver Turnverein, Avalon Ballroom in Boulder and other spots around town. When you find a favorite band, we encourage you to follow them so you can discover other venues where you can dance!

How can I stay informed about classes and events?

We encourage you to check out our website calendar and follow us on Facebook.

What should I wear to a dance class?

Lindy Hop is a casual dance and can be as athletic as you'd like it with a variety of rhythms, kicks, hops and bouncing. We suggest comfortable clothes that you can move around in, and non-marking flat shoes that will stay on your feet (open backed shoes or flip flops don’t work well.) Followers don’t generally wear heels in Lindy. If you have leather soled shoes, maybe bring a backup option in case you think the floor is a bit too slick.

Do you offer private lessons?

Some of our instructors do offer private lessons. Please email info@swingindenver.com. We offer private lessons for those seeking choreography, wedding dance help, improvement and other reasons.

What are the dance roles called?

The two dance roles are called leader and follower. Either gender can dance either role and switch during a dance if consent is there. Since we teach Black social dances, it's important to emphasize these roles are mutually assertive and both partners can be dancing different rhythms at the same. Much like how these dances encourage you to create bent lines and revel in asymmetry so is that asymmetry found between partners as we're constantly listening to the other partner and responding in time.

finances — Thoughts on all things swing

Have you ever wondered about the financials of running an event? Max S, Von B and I (Kenny N) would like to share the details of running Lindy Bop, an event we co-organized together February, 2025.

Why Lindy Bop?

Lindy Bop was conceived to be a safe space for those that value Black history, solidarity with workers, internationalism, accessibility, liberation and joy. Three distinct elements brought these aspects forward:

The event copy - “Come dance and celebrate Black History, Black Ourstory, and Black Futures!”
An accessibility guide
Max’s welcoming speech centering the night on freedom with each other, liberation and joy

Financial Breakdown

We hope that providing this event’s financial transparency might also inspire others to run their swing events centering Black American social dances. Please note that we collectively decided to donate profits to The Abolition Garden and the instructors chose to donate their time.

For payment convenience, we provided three in-person payment methods - credit card, venmo and cash along with a pre-purchase option via Humanitix instead of Eventbrite since we value their mission-forward platform. Although we set the ticket prices low to increase financial accessibility, if we were to repeat this event in the future, we would consider the practicality of sliding scale ticket prices so that anyone who wants to attend can.

The Labor Involved

Additional labor included designing social media posts using Canva, creating marketing copy, sending out at least one email newsletter, sharing the event with friends and acquaintances, recruiting volunteers, prepping class material, bringing PA equipment and planning safe space contingency plans.

In summary

Another note is that our event ended up running during a heavy snowfall which led to reduced attendance. In the end, we felt fulfilled and gladdened about our collaborative event.