"It's aggressive lindy-hopping, and I do think it comes from a group of kids who have been around the punk scene," Megenity comments. "But I think the dance teachers, the dancers and the bands will keep it from becoming a problem. It's a little skirmish, that's all. I think slam dancing evolved out of the fact that when we were partner dancing, it was considered slightly impolite to bump into someone. If you were constantly doing it, you were a rude dancer. Slam dancing sort of came out of that affront--'Yeah, I am a rude dancer.' Bump! And it was a little bit affectionate and peaceful when it started and women did it. Then it got into something completely different."
Nonetheless, Cope sees the influx of under-thirties as essentially positive--something that's given the big-band scene a not-unwelcome shot in the arm. "The younger dancers want their music to really swing hard, and they're not shy about asking for tempos that are faster than normal," he relates. "It gives us a chance to present the music more like it was originally performed in places like the Apollo Theatre, the Savoy Ballroom and the Roseland Ballroom in New York. These were the places where the best lindy-hoppers and swing dancers used to hang out and it was all one big party.
"There's a vibrancy in the music that comes from not only playing for these people who like to hear it, but also because it's a mutual thing coming back at you as you play," Cope adds. "The hotter you play it, the better they dance. For younger dancers, specifically, the music is as enthusiastic as they are. The sound of the music is a vibrant, pulsating sound, and these younger people have a tendency to portray that just by their presence. Sometimes they don't even ask; you can just see them dancing, and you know exactly what it is they want to hear. So you give them plenty of it."
In Cope's opinion, live music is a key part of this formula. After all, a club DJ can only hope to approximate the kind of symbiosis that links a big band in the throes of dueling horn solos on "Take the 'A' Train" to the dancers flailing like a single organism at the foot of the stage. "I like that swing music brings back acoustic instruments. The interaction is a neat thing," Cope says. "That's why I don't like to be too far from the dance floor. It's great to feel them dancing by."
The electricity generated by a big band playing directly to an audience of dancers is palpable, as are the sparks that fly between people who might never have met were it not for the opportunity to hold hands and swing till midnight. It may be old-fashioned, but as Megenity says, "I want my own life to be lovely and nice and romantic and quality--and not some piece of corporate garbage trash that's been sold to me.
