O.K.
Everyone knows about the very Famous August 23, 1943 issue of Life Magazine which featured Lindy Hop as "America's Folk Dance" (If you are not familiar with this, click here!) This issue marked a clear change of attitude, since only a few years before, Life regularly took the position that Swing was not really music and that Jitterbugs were almost subhuman. Of course, the fact that Swing had broken out of Harlem and had become part of mainstream White America might have had something to do with this change. The cover featured "All American" White teenagers doing all the simple steps. They did show African-Americans doing aerials...

What very few people know --- and what we are sharing with you --- is that (for some reason) Life chose to consult Arthur Murray for a "rationalization" of Lindy. In the September 6, 1943 issue, Life published this Diagram of the "Lindy Basic Step" in response to a reader comment.

  

Arthur Murray Advertisement and Robot Dancer
(left) From the November 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics
(right) From the June 1932 issue of Popular Mechanics Click to Enlarge

Can you make any sense at all of this? I can't! Lately, we seem to have had an influx of persons with Ballroom Dance training. Maybe they can help me read these "Foot Diagrams." If all else fails, maybe someone cap program them into the Robot Dancer.

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