The Killer Dillers

The term “swing dancing” is an umbrella term for any dance done to swinging jazz music, from the 1920s, 30s and 40s. The most popular (and spectacular) of these dances was the Lindy Hop.

Lindy Hop is a partnered swing dance, that evolved out of the Charleston in the late 1920s, in the ballrooms and on the streets of the African-American district of Harlem in New York City. The dance evolved alongside swing music itself, emerging in the late 1920s when hot jazz (born in New Orleans) was transforming into swinging jazz, and died out (as we know it) in the late 1940s as the swing era gave way to bebop and rock ‘n roll. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, as swing music spread across the USA and the world, Lindy Hop spread with it.

Legend has it that Lindy Hop earned its name in 1927 when one of its original dancers, George “Shorty” Snowden, was asked its name by a reporter, and dubbed it Lindy Hop after aviator Charles Lindbergh and his famous solo flight across the Atlantic that year (newspaper headlines read “Lindy Hops The Atlantic”). It is sometimes simply called The Lindy, and some parts of the world knew it as The Jitterbug.

While the acrobatic aspect of Lindy Hop is perhaps most familiar to many people, Lindy Hop has many characters. Though it can indeed be danced wild and fast, with spectacular airsteps, it can also be slow and smooth, elegant or sexy.

Lindy Hop is the mother of a variety of other dances, that evolved out of Lindy from the 1950s onwards, including Rock ‘n Roll, Boogie Woogie, Jive, Ceroc and West Coast Swing. Lindy Hop is the original swing dance!

The Charleston was the dance that captured the spirit of the 1920s. It was danced with wild abandon by a new generation of independent young Americans, to the new hot jazz that was flooding the country.

The dance began in Charleston, South Carolina, the city from which it takes its name. In 1923, The Charleston was featured in the Broadway show Runnin’ Wild, one of the biggest hits of the decade. The song from the show - James P. Johnson’s tune ‘The Charleston’ - spread the fad across the nation and onwards to the rest of the world.  Josephine Baker became famous for performing the Charleston in Paris (clad in nothing but a skirt made of bananas) in the 1920s.

The Charleston is both a solo and partnered dance, both wildly exuberant and exciting to watch. As the hot jazz of the 1920s gave way to the swingin’ jazz of the 1930s and 40s, the partnered version of Charleston evolved into Lindy Hop.

Many members of the Killer Dillers are international Charleston champions, representing some of the finest Charleston dancers in the world today. The Killer Dillers are also expert in a number of related solo dance styles, including Black Bottom and The Big Apple.

Some of the greatest dance acts of the jazz age were what we call “flash acts”. These performers were not only masters of their dance, but also incorporated astonishing acrobatics and crowd-pleasing physical feats into their acts. The most famous flash acts were featured in nightclubs, ballrooms and theatres, on Broadway and in Hollywood films.

There were Lindy Hop troupes, like the legendary Shorty Snowden Dancers, Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, and The Congaroos, plus tap-dancing flash acts like The Berry Brothers, The Nicholas Brothers, The Three Chefs and The Four Hot Shots.

In their spectacular homage to the flash acts of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, the Killer Dillers will impress you with their high-flying aerials, astonishing splits, and never-ending energy.

Burlesque is a feminine and sensual kind of performance, reserved for the lady Killer Dillers! It brings together a sizzling dance style with elaborate vintage costumes, cool retro tunes, and a whole lot of sex appeal. Today, burlesque (or neo-burlesque) is one of the hottest trends in town, but just like jazz and swing dancing, it’s original heyday was in the first half of the 20th century.

Burlesque as an entertainment artform evolved from the late 1800’s through to the “bump and grind” era of the 1940s and 50s. In burlesque’s heyday (those golden days before television, when people had to go out to be entertained) burlesque was a grand affair! A burlesque show combined live music, comedians, variety acts, a chorus line and of course, glamorous burlesque headliners, in an elegant theatre with a full orchestra, grand sets and elaborate costumes.  A burlesque queen in this golden era would enchant with her beauty, delight with her dance, and captivate her audience with the art of the tease!

As a dance form, burlesque brings together the glamorous and sensual elements of a myriad of dance styles: vintage jazz dances, showgirls and chorus line dancing, European cabaret, sensual blues dance, and even exotic Middle Eastern, Oriental, African and Latin styles. Add to this the fine art of the Tease, as these burlesque glamazons slither out of their satin gloves and silk gowns, with grace and finesse. But don’t worry, there’s plenty of tease, but definitely no sleaze!

The Killer Diller brand of burlesque brings you a glittering spectacle of vintage glamour, sophistication and fantasy. Don’t miss their graceful feather fan dances and sparkling showgirl numbers, all a whirlwind of ostrich feathers, Swarovski crystals, tightlaced corsetry, silk stockings and high heels.

Like Lindy Hop and Charleston, tap dancing is another jazz-era dance style that came into its own in the early 20th century.  Vaudeville, showboat and minstrel shows had been displaying early African-American tap dancers since the mid-1800’s,  and helped to spread the popularity of the dance style across the nation.  Early tap styles included “buck and wing” (performed in wooden clogs) and “soft shoe” (performed with hard leather soles), evolving into the percussive style familiar today, enhanced by the addition of metal plates to leather soled shoes.

By the 1920s, 30s and 40s, tap dancing had permeated the entire entertainment industry, with famous tap dancers the stars of stage and the silver screen. Some of the famous tap dancers of this period that inspire The Killer Dillers are: Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, John Bubbles, The Nicholas Brothers, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, The Berry Brothers, Dixie Dunbar, Chuck Green, Teddy Hale, Hal Leroy, Eleanor Powell, Bill Bailey, Sammy Davis Jnr, The Four Flash Devils, Cora La Redd, The Clark Brothers, Daniel L. Haynes, The Three Chefs, Patterson & Jackson, Tip Tap & Toe, The Condos Brothers, Cholly Atkins & Honi Coles, James Barton, The Four Step Brothers, The Three Sparks of Rhythm, Jimmy Slyde, Donald O’Connor, The Four Hot Shots, Ann Miller, Stump & Stumpy, Vera Ellen and Leonard Reed…. just to name a few!

A great inspiration to The Killer Diller gents, are the famous flash act trio, The Berry Brothers, who incorporated both acrobatics and cane juggling into their soft shoe tap numbers. Don’t miss the Killer Dillers performing ‘Fascinating Rhythm’, a tribute to this legendary trio.

Vaudeville was the heart of American show business from the late 1800s through to the 1930s. A vaudevillian show was essentially a variety show, with any number of different types of entertainment, including musicians and dancers, but also a chorusline, comedians, magicians, acrobats, short plays or skits, minstrels and other specialty acts. By 1900 there were chains or “circuits” of vaudeville theatres around the country, such as Martin Beck’s Orpheum Circuit, of which New York’s Palace Theatre was the most famous (1913 – 32).

Vaudeville flourished as America’s variety theater from the 1880s to the late 1930s, when it finally succumbed to competing forms of popular entertainment, particularly “talking” pictures.
When vaudeville’s popularity began to fade, many of its stars carried vaudeville forms into the new media of radio, nightclub entertainment, films, and later, television. Entertainers you may know of, who began in vaudeville, include Mae West, W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Jack Benny, Sarah Bernhardt, Eubie Blake, Sammy Davis Jr., W. C. Fields, Cary Grant, Phil Silvers, Ethel Waters and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson.

The Killer Dillers will entertain you, not only with their dance steps, but with specialty and flash acts, amusing characters and theatrical antics, in the true spirit of authentic vaudeville!

Blues dance is the slow and sultry counterpart to swing dancing - just as blues music was to swing music, during the jazz age.

Blues dance, like Lindy Hop, originated and evolved from African rhythms and movements in the United States, alongside the music from which it takes its name, the Blues. Blues dancing was an intimate, after-hours dance style that thrived in juke joints, honky tonks and house parties from the early 1900’s onwards. Blues dance is strongly tied to blues music, with its elements of call and response, tension and release, and emotional intensity. Danced slowly and with your partner held very close, blues dancing is sensual and dramatic.