Jitterbug (dance)
The Jitterbug is a lively and improvisational dance that emerged in the 1930s, rooted in early jazz and swing dance styles like the Lindy Hop and jive. Characterized by its energetic movements, including free-hip swings, bold twirls, and dynamic footwork, the Jitterbug allows couples to express themselves in sync with the music's syncopated beats. The term "jitterbug" is believed to have originated from the convulsive movements associated with delirium tremens, popularized by bandleader Cab Calloway's 1935 song "Call of the Jitterbug."
This dance, demanding athleticism and creativity, was particularly popular among younger dancers, who embraced its spontaneous nature and fluidity. The Jitterbug rose to prominence in dance clubs, notably the Savoy Club in Harlem, which welcomed diverse audiences. During World War II, American soldiers adopted the dance, finding in its carefree style a reprieve from military life. Although dance trends shifted in the late 1940s, the Jitterbug's improvisational spirit influenced early rock-and-roll dance movements and shaped the landscape of popular dance on television.
Jitterbug (dance)
Flamboyant two-step swing dance
As the defining dance craze of the war years, the jitterbug, with its near-acrobatic improvisational feel, represented a singular cultural expression in that it defied America’s traditional racial and economic boundaries, bringing together black people and white people, rich and poor. With the exportation of the dance to continental Europe by millions of American troops, the jitterbug in turn became a significant element of the American postwar international cultural signature.
The jitterbug, with its free-hip swings and bold twirls, its spinning gyrations and improvised footwork, had its roots in the defiantly unconventional dance moves of the early jazz years, specifically the swing dances such as the Lindy Hop and jive that developed in the high-voltage environment of the speakeasy. Jitterbug dancers abandoned conventional step patterns of more traditional ballroom dancing; couples moved to the syncopated beat of the band. The term “jitterbug” itself evolved during the 1930’s, a reference to the “jitters,” the convulsive movements of an alcoholic during delirium tremens. According to popular legend, Cab Calloway, the bandleader and scat singer whose 1935 recording “Call of the Jitterbug” introduced the term to a national audience, said the dancers on the floor looked like crazy bugs.
The dance itself required a high degree of athleticism and creative ad-libbing (it was largely a dance for the young and fit): The dancers engaged fluid hand gestures, sweeping arm gyrations, deep shoulder dips, carefree hip swings, and even exaggerated facial expressions. The characteristic spin-and-twirl execution demanded couples stay in tight synchronization. The best jitterbuggers claimed the dance was unteachable, that it was an expression of spontaneity, that the dance was never quite the same song to song. In the years leading up to World War II, the jitterbug became a standard at dance clubs, most notably the legendary Savoy Club in Harlem. Unlike the Cotton Club, the Savoy welcomed white patrons and white-dominated bands (most notably Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller), and hence the jitterbug initially became associated with white audiences.
Impact
World War II created the international buzz over the dance. American troops stationed initially in Britain but later in France found in the crazy rhythms a welcome antidote to the rigidity and discipline of military life. The perception of the dance as obscene and its frank mimicry of the gyrations of sex made the dance even more popular with the soldiers. In addition, it was the kind of dancing that did not require instruction and worked well with the consumption of excessive alcohol—all of which made it a standard dance among troops on leave. After the war, the dance was frequently the subject of hugely popular ballroom competitions in which determined couples would be pushed to their creative and physical limits.
Even as during the late 1940’s popular music moved away from hard-driving rhythms of big band music to the softer sounds of crooners (indeed, cultural historians point to a controversial late-war federal tax on public dance halls as the beginning of the end of dance hall fever), the jitterbug with its improvised movements, its engaging and teasing sexuality, and its raw athleticism would feed into the earliest rock-and-roll dance tunes. Indeed, the 1940’s ballrooms and dance clubs jammed with dancers, spinning and swirling in unchoreographed energy, became the basic model for a variety of rock-and-roll dance shows that would debut in 1950’s television, most notably American Bandstand.
Bibliography
Erenberg, Lewis. Swingin’ the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.
Miller, Norma, and Evette Jensen. Swingin’ at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
Szwed, John. Crossovers: Essays on Race, Music, and American Culture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005.