The US Swing Dance Server [home][new][events][styles][technique][steps][literature][terms][music][videos][clubs][links] The US Swing Dance Server [home][new][events][styles][technique][steps][literature][terms][music][videos][clubs][links]Originally done by whites in the 30s/40s imitating blacks doing Lindy Hop. Popular music was speeding up, and the triple-step became a single step. Essentially, single step, (mainly, but not completely) 6 count East Coast Swing, SSQQ. Buddy Schwimmer says: It's not the same as single swing. A simplified 4 step is sometimes taught and improperly called Jitterbug.
When I was in high school, in the mid- to late '50's, we called what we danced "Jitterbug", in the Washington, D.C. area. When I went to college, my girlfriend from New York did exactly the same dance, but called it "Lindy". Both seem to me to be just what people today call the "East Coast Swing". In those days, it was all 6 count (in my dance class, anyway.)
Around these parts, Jitterbug == single swing, and current classes are offered by several teachers. The basic is six counts, like Buddy's description of single swing, just replace "touch step" with "step touch". There is really no speed advantage in doing single vs. double swing -- you can do "hold, step" in double as easily as you can do "step, hold" in single. Advanced dancers use all three ECS timings, sometimes in the same basic -- my favorite instructor uses step, touch, triple step, hitch step a lot, it gives a good "look" and fits the feel of the dance well.
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