Why White Dancers Need to Honor the Black Roots of Lindy Hop
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It’s troublesome how much this has to be restated, but we can’t help but applaud amazing lindy hopper Laura Glaess for producing this heartfelt and informative video, “Lindy Hop is a Black American Dance.” She shares a lot of the Black history of lindy hop and jazz, and some of the main reasons why that history was buried. We’ve related a lot of those same things here on Yehoodi, as you probably know.
We particularly appreciated how Laura breaks down why it’s important for non-Black lindy hoppers to continue to honor this legacy and ongoing contributions of Black dancers. Specifically, it enriches your experience of the dance to know it’s true history. And we need to express gratitude to the original community of people for creating lindy hop, that has brought to much into our lives.
Laura gets into some interesting territory talking about how to react if you say or do something that someone else finds offensive:
“If you are on a crowded dance floor and you step on someone’s foot, you are going to apologize. Even if you didn’t see them there. If someone tells you that you stepped on their foot, don’t get offended. They are bringing to your attention an important blind spot that you are going to learn from and become a better person because of.”
Well put! And so relevant to lots of social dancer’s experiences.
Check out the whole thing below.
Want to learn more about the Black roots of lindy hop? Here are some other great events you can participate in led by Black scholars and dancers:
Blues and lindy hop instructor Odysseus Bailer is leading an online class called “The More You Know” on Saturday June 20th. Subtitled “Overcoming our Fears About Including and Respectfully Discussing African American Cultural History and Social Context in your Dance Class.”
Dance scholar Moncell Durden is facilitating an online course over July on “Intangible Roots: Exploring the heritage Of Black Dance, Culture and People”. We love Moncell’s Instagram Live talks that he is archiving on Vimeo. Check out this one with Latasha Barnes.
Hoofer Karida Griffith is facilitating a online talk on “Racism and the Dance World” tomorrow, Saturday June 20th, at 12pm PT. Sign up here.
