A Brief History of
Balboa Swing Dance
Balboa is a close embrace swing dance popularized in Southern California in the 1930's. As the era of Jazz swept across the United States, young dancers found themselves captivated by the swung rhythm of the music and adapted their dance accordingly.
In Harlem NY the Savoy ballroom played host to the rise of Lindy Hop, the Black American dance that most people think of when they think of swing dance.
At the same time and across the continent, young adults in Southern California were listening to Benny Goodman on the radio and developing a dance of their own. A swing dance we now call Balboa.
PURE BAL
Balboa as we know it today is a combination of two dances that were developed in the 30's in SoCal. One of which is referred to as "Pure Bal" nowadays.
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On the Balboa Peninsula, south of LA, dance floors were packed shoulder to shoulder with dancers. Some ballrooms were so packed that there were rules preventing dancers from breaking away from their partner. As such, the dance that was formed was very close embrace -- focusing on connection to your partner and to the floor instead of flashy moves and break-aways.
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BAL SWING
Less crowded dance halls would attract dancers from the Balboa Peninsula as well as dancers who did a more open form of swing dance modernly referred to as LA Swing (or SoCal Swing).
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These dancers intermingled, learned both dances and took inspiration from each to create a new type of swing dance; opening up the close embrace of Pure Bal to create what we now call Bal Swing.
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The history of Swing dance and Jazz is rich and diverse, far too much for me to do justice in this short post!
I recommend checking out professional dance instructor and Jazz dance historian Bobby White's blog to get more information about the history of swing dance.
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And if you are interested in a deeper dive into the history of balboa, I would recommend his article "Swing History 101: SoCal Swings (1935-1939-ish)."
St Louis plays an important role in the history of swing dance including (but not limited to) the up-tempo partner dance; St Louis Shag!
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Check out the St. Louis Shag site for more information on this city's place in swing dance history.