FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What has the Savoy got to do with swing dance or lindy hop?
Whilst it's probably not true that the Lindy Hop was created at the Savoy, nor that all of the many kinds of American Lindy Hop/Jitterbug style swing dance can be traced back directly to the Savoy, it was the place where this style of dancing and its related musical forms were taken to their greatest height. No other ballroom in the USA had quite the international reputation of Harlem's Savoy Ballroom for both the quality of its dancing and the quality of its music.

Why call it Savoy?
Apparently they were looking for a classy name, and decided that the Savoy Hotel, in The Strand, London was the one to imitate. There's no copyright on the name as the London Hotel's name refers back to the Savoy Palace that stood on the same site until rebellious peasants burnt it down in the 14th century. Even that name was brought over to England by royal relatives of Henry III who had some kind of claim on the province of Savoy in Italy that was then an independent state! So really it is Italian!

Was it a huge place?
Not really. Exaggerated claims are made that it could hold 5,000 people but that was total passing trade on any one evening. People came in as others went out. The Rockland Palace another 15 blocks north of the Savoy was much larger as was the rival Golden Gate ballroom that opened one street away in 1939.

Could anyone go there?
Yes, it was one of the few genuinely integrated ballrooms/clubs in the USA at the time. There were times when it was specifically promoted for the local largely neighbouring black community in Harlem. But in practise many white people went there, although not on every night of the week.

Did they dance "Savoy Style Lindy Hop" there?
They danced every style of Lindy Hop there, that is, there were many different individual ways of dancing the Lindy and the dance itself changed as time rolled on. There is no one specific style that anyone can identify as being more typical of Savoy dancing than any other. There are one or two styles that are called Savoy Style Lindy Hop these days, but none of them appear to be that similar to examples shown on the surviving film clips of the Savoy.

Did the floor really bounce to the music?
Yes, it really did. Many visitors and the regular dancers commented on this, some were even afraid, as it was one story up and people feared the floor giving way. Dizzy Gillespie alleges it did collapse on one occasion in his book "To Be Or Not to Bop" but this was hotly denied by the former manager Charles Buchanan and no evidence has come to light to support his claim.

How does it live on, how can I relate to it?
See the relevant page on this site which lists many different aspects of the Savoy's legacy.Fortunately the hard core of Savoy dancers were not prepared to see the Lindy Hop die, in particular the sophisticated and complex form it achieved as an inter-relation of social, competition and performance modes of the dance. They kept all three alive, especially the last two, and that survived until a renewed interest in the Lindy Hop took a hold in the early 1980's which is still flourishing. Ask around, find out who learnt from who. Experiment with the different styles. Beware of people who claim to be "authentic". Above all dance to enjoy yourself, and if you do this you will learn an incredible amount.