Lindy Hop - Hellzapoppin (1941)

Developed in Harlem ballrooms in the mid-1920's, the Lindy Hop was named after Charles Lindbergh's celebrated "hop" across the Atlantic in 1927. At the Savoy Ballroom, an especially important location for this dance, Lindy Hoppers created a flowing, athletic style that perfectly suited the swing music of the 1930s. They developed two impressive virtuosic elements: the so-called breakaway, in which dancers would drop hands and improvise solo steps (often during improvised solos in the band); and aerials, high-flying movements in which the boy would toss the girl into the air. Soon hordes of young white kids began learning the Lindy Hop. To facilitate dancing, girls wore bobby socks and saddle shoes; to accentuate their flowing movements, they sported billowing skirts. In white circles, the Lindy Hop was typically called the Jitterbug.