The Practical Politics of Step-Stealing and Textual Poaching

Abstract

Since their revival in the 1980s, lindy hop and other swing dances have become increasingly popular with middle-class youth. There are hundreds of vibrant local swing-dance communities throughout the developed world, and in each, dancing is the most important form of social interaction. Yet despite this emphasis on embodied cultural practice, swing dancers make great use of digital online technology, from YouTube and the exchange of digital audio-visual clips to discussion boards, instant messaging and email. Despite the transgressive and subversive history of swing dances in African American communities, the extent to which these legacies are taken up by contemporary swing dancers is a matter of debate. This article considers the uses of online audio-visual media by contemporary swing dancers and the extents to which they might realize their resistant history.