What is it? Jumpswing
dates
to the late 1990's swing revival in southern California: Long
Beach and Redondo Beach. Originally termed Retro
or Jump or Neo Swing, it
followed the regional post-punk, post-rockabilly enthusiasm,
as many punk bands and mosh pit dancers converted to swing.
The original music featured an up-tempo amalgamation
of rock, jump blues, and big band swing - a strong backbeat
is characteristic. The original dance style
was hyper-intense, with hopping, skipping, kicking and aerials
being its main features.
Here in Ithaca NY, I felt a need
for an easy-access portal for energetic beginners - something
more suitable than the local triple-step paradigm. And I wanted
a dance style that felt really right to fast rock‘n'roll,
with its strong snare drum backbeat. After experimenting
a lot, I settled on a modified version of Retro, evolving the
dance into a subset of the easy Lindy Hop / Charleston ideas.
Following the lead of Skippy Blair and Sonny Watson, we smoothed
out the rough edges, and introduced the swing-out much later
in the syllabus. With all the changes, including a taste for
fast pop music 60s-00s, a name change also seemed appropriate
- note an interesting story about this on the "history"
page.
A primary feature of Ithaca Jumpswing
is that it rocks. The jumpy kick 6
& 8-count patterns segues nicely into charleston, and feels
very satisfying to rockin' music in any genre, especially tunes
with a strong backbeat. A quick overview: uptempo pop/rock:
Footloose, Part Time Lover, Heat Wave, Walking On Sunshine,
jump blues: Rock This Town, Shake
Rattle & Roll, neo swing: Jump
Jive & Wail, If You Can't Rock Me, and classic
swing: Sing Sing Sing, Shout And Feel It,
Moten Swing, One O'Clock Jump. Turn off your
brain and groove, or dance fancy. Jump borrows plenty from Lindy,
St. Louis Shag, Collegiate Shag, and Balboa, with a growing
repertoire. Here is what the students
have to say about it.
Then
& Now: Retro/Neo Swing originated with a
bunch of ex-mosh pit dancers and punk bands, so in its early
phase, the dance & music had a reputation of being kind
of coarse. But there has been major evolution! Jumpswing is
NOT synonymous with crazed sloppiness. Funny, that's what
the establishment was saying about WALTZ at first, and LINDY
HOP, too! As a dance, Ithaca Jumpswing incorporates modern
sophisticated lead-follow techniques, demands solid rhythm,
lyrical movement, and musicality. Jumpswing has dynamics: from
a relaxing tight groove, to the exhilaration of skipping and
hopping, when it really rocks out.
Why not the classics? I
dance Balboa & I love Balboa. Balboa, with
its delayed weight shift basic, segues nicely into Jump, but
Bal is a tough place to start for those with no dance experience.
Also, the embrace is too bold for shy beginners. Fast
Lindy? A groove, but also for virtuosos. It comes into
Jumpswing at a more advanced level). East Coast Swing
triple-step? Triple steps are sweet at 120 bpm for
some beginners. and we teach it late in our Level I class. Although
do-able at fast tempi, triple-step swing is pretty darn busy
at fast speeds, and certainly out of a beginner's range at 170+
and above – the music they prefer. Single-step or
Tap-step ECS, like in the 1950s? OK, lots of
people danced this way to Elvis, Little Richard, etc., but we
like Jumpswing better – it hits the backbeat harder, and has
more bounce.
Where? Jumpswing is taught and danced
in Long Beach CA, Redondo Beach CA, Charleston SC, Philadelphia
PA, Watertown CT, Jensen Beach FL, Bangor ME, and Ithaca NY,
to name a few places.
|