Jazz and Swing

This weekend I had the chance to compete in Dance Sport, a dance competition held every semester. One of the types of dances that I competed in was the Triple Step, which is a type of swing dance. Dancing is kind of a new thing for me, so everyone that I tell back at home has a hard time believing that I actually compete. It seems the older I get, the more open I am to new things.

One thing that I've learned about swing dancing is that it differs greatly from former, conventional dances. Basic dance form is broken several times throughout any one dance and movement is completely different from any traditional type of dance. Like swing dancing, swing music is modernist in several ways. It seems to have a sense of ordered chaos. During any one song, a trumpet or clarinet will break out from the band and seem to play it's own song while the rest of the band keeps beat and supports the soloist.

Big band music, which is also associated with swing music, was a type of jazz through which many jazz artists became famous. Benny Goodman was a clarinet player that led a popular band during the big band era. His concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 initiated the acceptance of jazz music into mainstream audiences across the nation. The music during the big band era had the power to make people move. It almost seems to encourage the listener to get off of their seat and dance. The improvisation of the music demands improvisation of the listener. Swing dancing has that same effect. It is so easy to become one with the song when dancing to swing music.

The swing era was a defining age for jazz and American culture. It is appreciated and admired to this day because it doesn't take an appreciation of music to like this type of genre. It reaches deep within everyone and forces them to move to the beat.

Here's just a small clip of swing music and swing dancing and how they work together.