Swing’O’Rama — swing dance, and the music it was built on

300BPM

▲ Nobody social-dances up here. Bands end the night this fast on purpose — it clears the floor.

240BPM

Chest to chest, feet doing the talking. Owns everything above 220.

THE PINNED LEAD · AT ≈240 BPMBALBOA EXISTS BECAUSE THE FLOOR WAS FULL

The peninsula ballrooms banned the breakaway, and the dancers answered with a dance held chest to chest — the calmest thing on the floor at the fastest songs of the night.

210BPM

COLLEGIATE SHAG≈180–250 BPM

Hop-heavy, vertical, gloriously undignified. The stamina dance.

CHARLESTON≈200–250 BPM

Older than the Savoy. Folds back into Lindy the moment the band speeds up.

FROM THE MUSIC

Up here the chart thins out to riffs. Kansas City built a whole language out of them. →

A swing band on a bandstand seen from the side, horn section and upright bass, stage lights working — WHAT ≈220 LOOKS LIKE FROM THE STAND

180BPM

READ · PINNED AT ≈190Tempo Is a Decision, Not a Setting READ · PINNED AT ≈185The Savoy Ballroom READ · PINNED AT ≈175Harlem Made the Dance FROM THE FLOOR

At 180 a crowded floor is a traffic problem — and collisions are a skill issue, not an accident. →

160BPM

LINDY HOP≈120–190 BPM

The trunk of the tree. Everything else on this ruler descends from it.

EAST COAST SWING≈130–170 BPM

Lindy simplified for the syllabus. An honest first dance.

FROM THE MUSIC

The social sweet spot. This is where a rhythm section earns its keep. →

READ · PINNED AT ≈165Records That Still Fill Floors READ · PINNED AT ≈155The Room Changes the Dance

140BPM

READ · PINNED AT ≈145Kansas City and the Riff READ · PINNED AT ≈142Leading and Following Are Both Skills READ · PINNED AT ≈140The Rhythm Section's Actual Job READ · PINNED AT ≈135The Economics That Built the Ballrooms READ · PINNED AT ≈130Why a Floor Is Sprung READ · PINNED AT ≈128Your First Six Weeks

A social dance floor photographed from a balcony, couples distributed across the space — THE FLOOR SORTING ITSELF, SOMEWHERE AROUND 140

120BPM

READ · PINNED AT ≈125Shoes, and What They Actually Do READ · PINNED AT ≈120Counting a Song in Fifteen Seconds READ · PINNED AT ≈118What a Beginner Class Is Really Teaching READ · PINNED AT ≈115The Revival, and What It Got Wrong READ · PINNED AT ≈110What the Floor Expects of You

100BPM

WEST COAST SWING≈80–115 BPM

The slow cousin: fixed slot, elastic connection, modern songbook.

READ · PINNED AT ≈105Practising Without a Partner FROM THE FLOOR

Below here the floor drains — or the night turns into blues. →

TWENTY-FIVE PIECES, SIX DANCES, ONE RULER — DESCENDING FROM 300 TO 100 BPM.

THE RHYTHM SECTION