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BEST DANCERS OF CALIFORNIA COUNTRY

In California dance the history of swing dates back to the 1920's, where the black community, while dancing to contemporary Jazz music, discovered the Charleston and the Lindy Hop. In early 1938, Dean Collins arrived in Hollywood. He learned to dance the Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy and Swing in New York City and spent a lot of time in Harlem and the Savoy Ballroom. Between 1941 and 1960, Collins danced in, or helped choreograph over 100 movies which provided at least a 30 second clip of some of the best California white dancers performing Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, Lindy and Swing.

In the early 1940's, Laure Haile, as a swing dancer and competitor, documented what she saw being danced by the white community. At that time, Dean Collins was leading the action with Lenny Smith and Lou Southern in the night clubs and competitions in Southern California. In 1959, some of the California dance organizations, with Skippy Blair setting the pace, changed the name of Western Swing to West Coast Swing so it would not be confused with country and western dancing.

Long before the arrival of transatlantic explorers, dance was an important part of the ritual, religious and social life of Canada's aboriginal peoples. The earliest written record of dancing in Canada is found in the diaries of Jacques Cartier. He wrote in 1534 of being approached, along the shore of Chalem Bayx, by 7 canoes bearing "wild men ... dancing and making many signs of joy and mirth." In their journals, those who came after Cartier made frequent reference to Native dance.

A style of Swing emphasizing nimble feet popular in California night clubs in the < h4>'s and </h4>'s and voted the </h3> State Dance in 1989.A style of swing popular in the ballroom dance school organizations and different from the style performed in the California night clubs and Swing dance clubs.

Best California Dancers