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By examining film and print media, along with influences of the Great Depression and WWII on public culture, this essay explores the evolution and appropriation of the Lindy Hop as it transformed from a black, working-class dance in the early twentieth century to a white, middle-class dance by the swing revival in the 1990s. During the revival, young people were drawn to the Lindy Hop because its heteronormative structure seemed to celebrate a simpler time when gender roles were more defined. While rejecting contemporary mainstream culture's apparent dilution of those gender roles, swing revivalists also asserted themselves as the owners of the movement. However, Lindy Hop legend Frankie Manning's death has catalyzed a new awareness of its African American history and engagement to the community, even as the joy inherent in the dance's practice continues to exert a shaping force on its contested cultural place in American society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stepping is one important strategy to restore balance against external perturbations. Although current literature have proposed models to predict the recovery foot placement, swing leg actuation is rarely taken into account. In this paper, we combine the capturability-based analysis with swing leg dynamics and seek to contribute to the following problem: for a biped system recovering balance from external perturbations, how to choose a step position and duration in minimizing swing actuation cost? We expand the linear inverted pendulum model with an actuated linear pendulum mounted on the pelvis, the addition of which is proposed to describe the swing leg dynamics. The closed-form expression of swing actuation with constraints is derived from the explicit formulations of the pelvis and swing foot motion. We calculate the optimal step position and duration to minimize swing cost under various perturbations. Results show that the optimal step duration keeps constant, while the optimal step position is linearly proportional to the magnitude of perturbations. Such findings match well with experimental data from ten subjects delivered with waist-perturbations. These current results demonstrate that our proposed model with swing dynamics suggests an effective alternative to predict recovery foot placement of biped systems following unexpected perturbations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CERTAIN RECORDED DRUM BREAKS, I.E., DRUM patterns played without other instrumentation, have achieved iconic status, largely as a result of being frequently "sampled" in other recordings. Although these highly influential drum breaks (sometimes called breakbeats) have been integral to much of the hip-hop and other music produced in recent decades, there has been little scholarly investigation of their rhythmic features. To that end, this study examined 30 classic drum breaks from the "breakbeat canon," focusing primarily on sixteenth-note swing (a systematic delay of even-numbered sixteenth-note divisions of the pulse). Such swing was common among the examined drum breaks, though the magnitude of swing was often fairly subtle (median swing ratio = 1.2:1). In contrast to some findings regarding jazz drumming, the magnitude of swing was uncorrelated with tempo, though the ranges of both variables were somewhat constrained. Backbeat delay (a systematic delay of snare drum at even-numbered beats) was found to be frequently present at beat 2, but not at beat 4. Additionally, this study introduces a quantity called "swing density," defined as the proportion of even-numbered divisions (at the swing level) that contain events. The importance of this quantity to the perceptual effect of swing is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Comprehensive measures of arm swing during gait are lacking. [•] The Arm Posture Score (APS) has been proposed, but not evaluated regarding speed. [•] APS was quantified in non-disabled adults walking at self-selected and slow speed. [•] Speed condition (whether self-selected or slow) had an impact on the APS. [•] Consider gait speed when APS measures are used for assessing arm swing during gait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frame Matching is a codified theory of partner-dance connection. It establishes a framework for breaking down and teaching Swing and Blues dance connection. It is the act of creating, maintaining, or changing tension between partners with posture and tone, in order to lead and follow energy and direction. Frame Matching is explained in terms of changes in posture, tone, tension, energy, and the direction of energy (∆PTED). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An indvidual's a priori talent can affect movement performance during learning. Also, task requirements and motor-perceptual factors are critical to the learning process. This study describes changes in high bar swing performance after a 2-month practice period. Twenty-five novice participants were divided by a priori talent level (spontaneous-talented [ST] and nonspontaneous-talented [NST]) and compared to experienced gymnasts. Additionally, we assessed their perception of their performance level before and after practice. We defined three events independently for hip (H) and shoulder (S) angle joints and for the lag between consecutive events (phases [P]). the smallest angle during downswing (P1H, P1S), tile largest angle after P1 (P2H, P2S), and the smaller angle during upswing (P3H, P3S). Movement performance variables were the maximum elevation, on the downswing (Pi) and the upswing (Pf), and the total path between, both (swing amplitude). Data were collected during pre- and postpractice sessions by two video cameras. At the end of both sessions, participants drew a sketch to represent their perception of their performance level relative to the Pi, Pf and the hip events. Results showed a similar practice effect in the swing amplitude in both novice groups. However, the ST group's performance and perception variables on the downswing improved more than the NST group due to practice. This study suggests that (a) downswing improvements were easier than, in the upswing, possibly due to familiarity of the visual reference in combination with proprioceptive feedback; and (b) being ST may involve a better or faster gain in perception of self-action compared to NST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their revival in the 1980s, lindy hop and other swing dances have become increasingly popular with middle-class youth. There are hundreds of vibrant local swing-dance communities throughout the developed world, and in each, dancing is the most important form of social interaction. Yet despite this emphasis on embodied cultural practice, swing dancers make great use of digital online technology, from YouTube and the exchange of digital audio-visual clips to discussion boards, instant messaging and email. Despite the transgressive and subversive history of swing dances in African American communities, the extent to which these legacies are taken up by contemporary swing dancers is a matter of debate. This article considers the uses of online audio-visual media by contemporary swing dancers and the extents to which they might realize their resistant history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes that Louis Armstrong's interaction with dancers may have stimulated some of his most consequential innovations. It argues that these achievements were later turned to other purposes, such as ushering jazz into the concert hall, but in no way diminish either those achievements or the significance of the night club culture that made them possible. Armstrong's participation in a hitherto unacknowledged practice, in which trumpet soloists collaborated with dancers onstage is described.

The article shares the author's insights regarding the social and cultural roles played by Lindy Exchanges in contemporary swing dance culture. The author said that she is interested in the significance of Lindy Exchanges as opportunities for members from different places to participate in embodied discourse. The contemporary Lindy Hop swing dance communities is also emphasized in the article.

This article uses Bourdieu's cultural framework to analyze the social determinants and internal logic of a swing dance field in New York City. Using habitus, field, hexis, and cultural capital, the author offers an ethnographic analysis of how former members of punk subcultures transposed their durable, familial-based dispositions into the swing dance field. Likewise, this article explores the homologies between the fields of punk and swing and examines the influence of the agents' class backgrounds. To conclude, the author considers possible extensions of Bourdieu for future studies of American leisure and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the microrhythmic phenomena in Bahian percussion rhythms and how they relate to the production of a suingue baiano or "Bahian swing." Microrhythmic nuances can play an important role in generating groove as shown by the musical computer programs aimed at stimulating or generating a so-called human or feel factor. The research suggests the importance of microrhythmic phenomena in all aspects of rythmic performances in Bahian samba percussion.