The term ‘swing dance’ covers an array of styles including the charleston, shag, balboa and jitterbug. But the granddaddy of these partner dances is the addictive lindy hop, which evolved from the charleston in the late Twenties at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York City. Legend has it that the term was coined after comparing the aviator Charles ‘Lindy’ Lindbergh’s flight that hopped the Atlantic to the syncopated feet of the dancers, which seemed to be flying.
Since its inception, lindy hop has been a darling of the mass media appearing in newsreels, Hollywood films, such as the Marx Brothers’ hilarious Day at the Races (1937) and Hellzapoppin (1941), and classic TV programmes such as I Love Lucy (1953). Despite a few dormant decades, a swing revival, starting in the bars and dancehalls of California in the early Nineties, swept east engulfing New York, London, Paris, and eventually landing in Barcelona in 1998.
“When we started here in the civic centres, it was very difficult, no one knew what we were doing,” said Lluis Vila, 44, the Catalan who is generally acknowledged to be responsible for introducing swing dancing to Spain. “People didn’t even know the words ‘swing’, ‘lindy hop’, ‘jive’. We were in the desert.”
Vila, a dapper, charming man, began folk dancing as a child in the village festivals around Olot. When he moved to Barcelona to study Information Technology, he discovered salsa and ballroom. Upon graduation, he won a fellowship to the University of California, where he discovered big band music and swing dancing. “It was love at first sight. I was in an Italian restaurant, and this big band kicked off, everyone started dancing. I jumped up and never stopped.”
Vila balanced his study of the sliding steps and hopping moves with his academic work for the next three years, and when he returned to Barcelona he brought his love of swing with him. “We started with four devoted couples, now we have over 500 regular dancers with at least 11 certified teachers. You can find a class or a jam every night of the week.”
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