Books

Despite its importance to the development of dance forms in the twentieth century, there are surprisingly few books that discuss the Lindy Hop. This section collects written material that discusses the Lindy Hop and related dances.

Practical

  • Simon Selmon, "Let's Lindy", Dance Books (1993), ISBN 1852730390
  • Simon Selmon, "Swing Dancing", Connections Book Publishing (2002), ISBN 1859060935

    Two practical books that include descriptions and photographs of Lindy Hop moves.

  • Skippy Blair, "Contemporary Social Dance: Disco to Tango and Back", Golden State Dance Teachers Association (1978), ISBN 0932980015

    Moving further afield than Lindy Hop itself, this book describes a system for analysing dances and breaking them down into their rhythmic components (two-beat 'Universal Units'). Although not a direct influence on this book, the ideas from this book are visible in the discussions of the rhythm structure of Lindy Hop.

  • Craig Hutchinson, "Swing Dancer v1.12", Potomac Swing Dance Club (1988,1993), ISBN 0962061700

    Although this book is primarily aimed at West Coast Swing, it includes a comprehensive notation system for annotating dance moves that can also be used for Lindy Hop. The original dance notes of the author (from which this book is derived) were kept using an adaptation of this notation system.

  • Derek Young, "Rock'n'Roll Dancing: A step by step guide - volume 1", Capri Publications (1983) ISBN 0950847011

    This book describes a dance form that evolved from the original Lindy Hop, and also includes move descriptions and illustrations for a number of airsteps.

  • Roy Castle, "Roy Castle On Tap", David & Charles Newton Abbot (1986) ISBN 071538869X

    This book is a clear introduction to the basics of tap dancing, another jazz-derived dance form that shares a lot of its heritage with Lindy Hop.

Historical

  • Marshall & Jean Stearns, "Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance", Da Capo Press (1968,1994), ISBN 0306805537

    This book is the standard historical reference describing the evolution of Jazz Dance in the twentieth century, including three chapters covering Lindy Hop and Jitterbug.

  • Margaret Batiuchok, "The Lindy", New York University M.A. Thesis (1988)

    This master's thesis investigates both the form and the history of the dance, drawing on extensive interviews with dancers who were present at the time of the Savoy ballroom's heyday.

  • Norma Miller & Evette Jensen, "Swingin' at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer", Temple University Press (2001), ISBN 1566398495
  • Frankie Manning & Cynthia Millman, "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop", Temple University Press (2007), ISBN 1592135633

    These memoirs describe the evolution and development of the Lindy Hop in the Savoy ballroom of Harlem, from the perspective of two dancers who were there at the time.

  • Christian Batchelor, "This Thing Called Swing" (1997), ISBN 0953063100

    An illustrated history of the development of swing music and dance.

Inspirations

The following books are unrelated to Lindy Hop, but nevertheless have served as an inspiration for this work.

  • Marc Tedeschi, "Hapkido", Wetherhill (2000), ISBN 0834804441

    This book shows what is possible in documenting a physical discipline. The book is comprehensive, well-structured and nicely designed. Its contents are clear because they are described both in words and in extensive numbers of photographs. This magnum opus was a major inspiration for this book.

  • Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki & Terence Donovan, "Fighting Judo", Pelham Books (1985), ISBN 0720715946

    Unlike most martial arts instruction books, the individual photographs in this book are a model of clarity, and are independently beautiful images. This collaboration between a giant of judo and a celebrated photographer is the pinnacle of sporting imagery.

  • Edward Tufte, "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", Graphics Press (1983), ISBN 096139210X
  • Edward Tufte, "Envisioning Information", Graphics Press (1990), ISBN 0961392118
  • Edward Tufte, "Visual Explanations", Graphics Press (1997), ISBN 0961392126
  • Edward Tufte, "Beautiful Evidence", Graphics Press (2006), ISBN 0961392177

    Edward Tufte's works are aspirational for anyone who wishes to present information in a graphical form. The advice and analysis in "Envisioning Information" was particularly relevant.
 
 

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