Editing Jitterbug

{{Short description|Dance style associated with swing dance}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}}
{{Infobox dance
| name             = Jitterbug
| image            = Jitterbug Wolcott FSA.jpg
| caption          = Jitterbugging at a [[juke joint]], 1939. Photo by [[Marion Post Wolcott]]
| genre            = [[Swing (dance)|Swing]]
}}
'''Jitterbug''' is a generalized term used to describe [[Swing (dance)|swing dancing]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bellaballroom.com/dance-lessons/swing-dance/jitterbug/|title=Jitterbug}}</ref> It is often synonymous with the [[lindy hop]] dance<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.greenroom-productions.com/the-call-of-the-jitterbug|title = The Call of the Jitterbug}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last = Manning
| first = Frankie
| author-link = Frankie Manning
| author2 = Cynthia R. Millman
| title = Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop
| year = 2007
| publisher = Temple University Press
| location = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| isbn = 978-1-59213-563-9
| page = 238
}}</ref> but might include elements of the [[Jive (dance)|jive]], [[east coast swing]], [[collegiate shag]], [[Charleston (dance)|charleston]], [[Balboa (dance)|balboa]] and other swing dances.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bellaballroom.com/dance-lessons/swing-dance/jitterbug/|title=Jitterbug}}</ref>

Swing dancing originated in the [[African-American]] communities of [[New York City]] in the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bellaballroom.com/dance-lessons/swing-dance/jitterbug/|title=Jitterbug}}</ref> Many nightclubs had a whites-only or blacks-only policy due to [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]], however the [[Savoy Ballroom]] in [[Harlem]] had a no-discrimination policy which allowed whites and blacks to dance together<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bellaballroom.com/dance-lessons/swing-dance/jitterbug/|title=Jitterbug}}</ref> and it was there that the [[Lindy Hop]] dance flourished,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.greenroom-productions.com/the-call-of-the-jitterbug|title = The Call of the Jitterbug}}</ref> started by dancers such as [[George Snowden]] and [[Frank Manning]]. The term jitterbug was originally a ridicule used by black patrons to describe whites who started to dance the Lindy Hop, as they were dancing faster and jumpier than was intended, like "jittering bugs",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dancefans.cultu.be/jitterbug-and-lindy-hop|title = Jitterbug and Lindy Hop}}</ref> although it quickly lost its negative connotation as the more erratic version caught on. Both the Lindy Hop and the "jitterbug" became popular outside Harlem when the dance was featured in Hollywood films and [[Broadway theatre]], starring the performance group [[Whitey's Lindy Hoppers]].

== Etymology ==
[[File:Dancing the jitterbug.jpg|thumb|Dancing the jitterbug, [[Los Angeles]], 1939]]
According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED'') the word "jitterbug" is a combination of the words "jitter" and "bug";<ref name=jitterbugn /><ref name=jitterbugv /> both words are of unknown origin.<ref name=jittern /><ref name=jitterv /><ref name=bug2 />

The first use of the word "jitters" quoted by the ''OED'' is from 1929, Act II of the play ''[[Strictly Dishonorable (play)|Strictly Dishonorable]]'' by [[Preston Sturges]] where the character Isabelle says: "Willie's got the jitters" is answered by a judge "Jitters?" to which Isabelle answers "You know, he makes faces all the time."<ref name=jittern /><ref name=Wentworth /> The second quote in the ''OED'' is from the N.Y. Press from 2 April 1930: "The game is played only after the mugs and wenches have taken on too much gin and they arrive at the state of jitters, a disease known among the common herd as heebie jeebies."<ref name=jittern /><ref name=heebiejeebie /> 

The first quote containing the term “jitter bug” recorded by the ''OED'' is from the 1934 [[Cab Calloway]] song “Jitter Bug”. The magazine ''Song Hits'', in the 19 November 1939 issue, published the lyrics, including: “They’re four little jitter bugs. He has the jitters ev’ry morn; that’s why jitter sauce was born.”<ref name="jitterbugn" />

According to H. W. Fry in his review of ''Dictionary of Word Origins'' by [[Joseph Twadell Shipley]] in 1945 the word "jitters" "is from a [[spoonerism]] ['bin and jitters' for 'gin and bitters']...and originally referred to one under the influence of gin and bitters".<ref name=Wentworth />

Wentworth and Flexner explains "jitterbug" as "[o]ne who, though not a musician, enthusiastically likes or understands swing music; a swing fan" or "[o]ne who dances frequently to swing music" or "[a] devotee of jitterbug music and dancing; one who follows the fashions and fads of the jitterbug devotee... To dance, esp[ecially] to jazz or swing music and usu[ally] in an extremely vigorous and athletic manner".<ref name=Wentworth />

==Early history==
[[File:Jitterbug dancers NYWTS.jpg|thumb|Jitterbug dancers in 1938]]

Jitterbugging developed from dances performed by African-Americans at [[Juke joint|juke joints]] and [[Dance hall|dance halls]].<ref name=":0">Stearns, Marshall and Jean (1968). ''Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance''. New York: Macmillan. page 331. {{ISBN|0-02-872510-7}}</ref> The [[Carolina shag]] and single [[Lindy Hop]] dances formed the basis of the jitterbug, which gave way to the double Lindy Hop when rock and roll became popular.<ref>''Dance a While: Handbook of Folk, Square, and Social Dancing''. Fourth Edition. Harris, Pittman, Waller. 1950, 1955, 1964, 1968. Burgess Publishing Company. No ISBN or catalog number. page 284.</ref>

White dancers picked up the energetic jitterbug from dancers at black venues. Venues in the [[Hill District (Pittsburgh)|Hill District]] of Pittsburgh were popular places for whites to learn the jitterbug.<ref name="Stearns">Stearns, Marshall and Jean (1968). ''Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance''. New York: Macmillan. page 330. {{ISBN|0-02-872510-7}}</ref> The [[Savoy Ballroom]], a dance hall in [[Harlem]], was a famous cross-cultural venue, frequented by both black locals and white tourists.<ref name=":0" /> [[Norma Miller]], a former Lindy Hop dancer who regularly performed at the Savoy, noted that the dances performed there were choreographed in advance, which was not always understood by the tourists, who sometimes believed the performers were just dancing socially.<ref>''Swinging at the Savoy''. Norma Miller. page 63.</ref> 

A musical number called "[[The Jitterbug]]" was written for the 1939 film ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. The "jitterbug" was a [[Hemiptera|bug]] sent by the [[Wicked Witch of the West]] to waylay the heroes by forcing them to do a jitterbug-style dance.{{cn|date=July 2023}} Although the sequence was not included in the final version of the film, the witch is later heard to tell the flying monkey leader, "I've sent a little insect on ahead to take the fight out of them." The song as sung by [[Judy Garland]] as Dorothy and some of the establishing dialogue survived from the soundtrack as the B-side of the disc release of "Over the Rainbow".{{cn|date=July 2023}}

==Popularity==
[[File:Jitterbug dancing SLNSW FL9435363.jpg|thumb|Jitterbug dancing competition, Trocadero, Sydney, 1948]]
[[File:Jitterbug dancers SLNSW FL9435364.jpg|thumb|Jitterbug dancers, Trocadero, Sydney, 1948]]
In 1944, with the United States' continuing involvement in [[World War II]], a 30% [[Excise tax in the United States|federal excise tax]] was levied against night clubs that featured dancing. Although the tax was later reduced to 20%, "No Dancing Allowed" signs went up all over the country. It has been argued that this tax had a significant role in the decline of public dancing as a recreational activity in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Felten|first=Eric|date=2013-03-17|title=How the Taxman Cleared the Dance Floor|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323628804578348050712410108.html|access-date=2021-05-30|issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=COPELAND|first=JOHN|title=Some Effects of the Changes in the Federal Cabaret Tax in 1944|date=1945|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23404801|journal=Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Taxation Under the Auspices of the National Tax Association|volume=38|pages=321–339|jstor=23404801|issn=2329-9045}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hill|first=Constance Valis|url=https://archive.org/details/tapdancingameric0000hill|title=Tap dancing America : a cultural history|date=2010|publisher=New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-19-539082-7}}</ref>

World War II facilitated the spread of jitterbug across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. Across the Atlantic in preparation for [[D-Day]], there were nearly 1,6  million American troops stationed throughout Britain in May 1944. Numbers dwindled thereafter, but as late as April 30, 1945  there were still over 224,000 airmen, 109,000 communications zone troops, and 100,000 in hospitals or preparing to serve as individual replacements.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

Dancing was not a popular pastime in Britain before the war, and many ballrooms had been closed for lack of business. In the wake of the arrival of American troops, many of these re-opened, installing [[Jukebox|jukeboxes]] rather than hiring live bands. [[Working class]] women who had never danced recreationally before made up a large part of the attendees, along with American soldiers and sailors.<ref name=":1" /> [[British Samoa|British Samoans]] were doing a "Seabee version" of the jitterbug by January 1944.<ref>''[[Popular Science]]'', January 1944. "The Seabees Can Do It". page 57.</ref>  By November 1945 after the departure of the American troops following D-Day, English couples were being warned not to continue doing energetic "rude American dancing," as it was disapproved of by the [[Upper class|upper classes]].<ref name=":1">''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', 24 November 1945. "Britons Drive to End Jiving as Yanks Go Home". page 88</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' reported that American troops stationed in France in 1945 jitterbugged,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775896,00.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103195946/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,775896,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=3 November 2007 | work=Time | title=U.S. At War: G.I. Heaven | date=18 June 1945}}</ref> and by 1946, jitterbug had become a craze in England.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Clarke|first1=Mary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=COATAQAAIAAJ&q=jitterbug|title=The History of Dance|last2=Crisp|first2=Clement|date=1981|publisher=Orbis|isbn=978-0-85613-270-4|language=en}}</ref> It was already a competition dance in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2009/01/08/1231004167858.html|title=Muscle beach party|website=Smh.com.au|date=8 January 2009}}</ref>

A [[United Press]] item datelined Hollywood on 9 June 1945 stated that dancer Florida Edwards was awarded a $7,870 judgement by the district court of appeals for injuries she sustained while jitterbugging at the [[Hollywood Canteen]] the previous year.<ref>United Press, no headline, ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Sunday 10 June 1945, Volume 51, page 6.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2d/27/802.html|title=Edwards v. Hollywood Canteen|website=Justia Law|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref>

In 1957, the [[Philadelphia]]-based television show ''[[American Bandstand]]'' was picked up by the [[American Broadcasting Company]] and shown across the United States. ''American Bandstand'' featured popular songs of the day, live appearances by musicians, and dancing in the studio. At this time, the most popular fast dance was jitterbug, which was described as "a frenetic leftover of the swing era ballroom days that was only slightly less acrobatic than Lindy".<ref>{{cite book|last=Shore|first=Michael|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofamerica00shor/page/54/mode/2up?q=frenetic|title=The History of American Bandstand|author2=Dick Clark|publisher=[[Ballantine Books]]|year=1985|isbn=0-345-31722-X|location=New York|pages=54|author2-link=Dick Clark}}</ref>

In a 1962 article in the ''[[Memphis Commercial Appeal]]'', bassist [[Bill Black]], who had backed [[Elvis Presley]] from 1954 to 1957, listed "jitterbug" along with the [[Twist (dance)|twist]] and [[Cha-cha-cha (dance)|cha-cha]] as "the only dance numbers you can play".<ref>''The Blue Moon Boys: The Story of Elvis Presley's Band''. Ken Burke and Dan Griffin. 2006. Chicago Review Press. page 146. {{ISBN|1-55652-614-8}}.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Balboa (dance)|Balboa]]
* [[Lindy Hop]]
* [[Collegiate shag|Shag]]
* [[Big Apple (dance)|Big Apple]]
* [[Charleston (dance)]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=bug2>{{cite web|title=bug, n.2 in Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com/|website=Subscription service.|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=7 November 2014|quote=Etymology unknown. Usually supposed to be a transferred sense of BUG n.1; but this is merely a conjecture, without actual evidence, and it has not been shown how a word meaning 'object of terror, bogle', became a generic name for beetles, grubs, etc. Sense 1 shows either connection or confusion with the earlier budde; in quot. 1783 at sense 1 shorn bug appears for Middle English scearn-budde (-bude) < Old English scearn-budda dung beetle, and in Kent the 'stag-beetle' is still called shawn-bug. Compare Cheshire 'buggin, a louse' (Holland).}}</ref>
<ref name=jittern>{{cite web|title=jitter, n. in Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com/|website=Subscription service.|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=jitterv>{{cite web|title=jitter, v.. in Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com/|website=Subscription service.|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=jitterbugn>{{cite web|title=jitterbug, n. in Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com/|website=Subscription service.|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=jitterbugv>{{cite web|title=jitterbug, v. in Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com/|website=Subscription service.|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=7 November 2014}}</ref>
<ref name=Wentworth>{{cite book|editor1-last=Wentworth|editor1-first=Harold and Stuart Berg Flexner|title=Dictionary of American Slang|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofame00went|url-access=registration|date=1975|publisher=Thomas Y. Crowell Company|location=New York|isbn=0690006705|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofame00went/page/293 293]|edition=2nd|quote=1945: "[The term] is from a [[Spoonerism]] ['bin and jitters' for 'gin and bitters'] ... and originally referred to one under the influence of gin and bitters" H. W. Fry, rev. of J. T. Shipley's ''Dict. of Word Origins'', Phila. ''Bulletin'', Oct. 16. B22.}}</ref>
<ref name=heebiejeebie>According to The Oxford English Dictionary ''heebie-jeebie'' means "A feeling of discomfort, apprehension, or depression; the 'jitters'; delirium tremens; also, formerly, a type of dance."</ref>
}}

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[[Category:Swing dances]]
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