Jive, Calypso, Swing Dancers

Submitted by MyFunCloset March 4th, 2010

Yard sale find! Vibrant 8 x 10 lithos of island & city black dancers, 40s -50s era. Love the graphics, the colors, the movement. I wish I knew all the name of the dances of the 40’s and 50’s. Calypso, Jive, Swing and ??


One Response to “Jive, Calypso, Swing Dancers”

  1. Allee Willis

    Beautiful graphics and colors painted with a great sense of rhythm and flow. The guy in the top litho gets a little too ministral-y for my comfort level but otherwise I think they’re great.

    I know the names of 40’s dances well after all the research I had to do on Black dances to write The Color Purple musical. Just a few: Big Apple, Foxtrot, Lindy Hop, Swing, Waltz, Tap, Jitterbug, Bop,Carolina Shag, East Coast Swing, Boogie-woogie, Tango

    Here’s some great Lindy Hop footage in Harlem. Video description says late 1930s but I’d say early 40s. http://www.youtube.com/watch#!videos=2Iua8Xg2cBU&v=VQJGantR2DA (Copy the whole link into your browser as for some reason it’s only hyperlining park of the link).