If you’ve been thinking that there just aren’t enough reasons to cavort around a dance floor to the boisterous sounds of 1920s jazz, then you will no doubt become a fan of Lindy Hop Day. After a decline in popularity in the 1950s, this form of swing music is back and infecting more and more followers with its undeniable vitality.
It’s an energetic dance that originated in black communities in Harlem, in New York City. If you want a true experience, try to seek out a venue with live big-band jazz. It’s fun, frenetic, occasionally frenzied, and is likely to leave you exhausted, but don’t worry: you only need to do it once every year. Some say the name commemorates Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 ‘hop’ across the Atlantic in a plane – the first time that feat was accomplished alone – but let’s hope he wasn’t doing this dance when he was at the controls!
