Question: What were the origins of rock and roll dancing?
Answer: Contrary to popular opinion, the dance steps associated with rock and roll did not originate with white teens in the Fifties -- most of them were holdovers from the swing dances made popular by African-American audiences in the pre-war years of the late Thirties and early Forties (and in some cases all the way back to World War I!).
The basic rock and roll step, for example, was derived from two simple steps known as the Single Step Swing and Triple Step Swing, mixed with a dance known as the West Coast Swing. All of these were descendants of the Jitterbug, created in 1936 at the Savoy Ballroom in New York City (Lenox Avenue and 140th Street). It was a variation of the Lindy Hop, popularized in 1928 as a freestyle mix of African solo dances and Eurocentric dances like the Charleston and the Texas Tommy.
