(fast percussive jazz tune) - [Tyedric] When I first started dancing the Lindy Hop, my first dance, it was all white, but culturally, historically, Black people socialized and built communities around this dance style.

And I think that's worth preserving.

- [Shannon] I think it would have evolved differently had the tradition bearers had this dance the entire time.

As white people, we have not been good stewards of this dance so far.

And now we need to change that.

- [LaTasha] Tradition bearing is heavy work.

That's why it's called bearing.

But in order for us to move forward in it we have to be looking back -- to really bring that through with us.

- My name is Tyedric Hill and I'm here in Columbus, Ohio with "If The Cities Could Dance" and share my love of Lindy Hop and authentic jazz culture.

And we're gonna be visiting Harlem, New York.

Where the soul of this dance really burst forth to the world.

(Fast big band, swing jazz music) (light jazz music) Columbus, being a smaller Midwestern city, doesn't have the cultural clout that a city like New York might have.

I'm really a believer that what makes the place special is how you fill it and the people that are there.

So this is a place really that people make it into what they want it to be.

If I pulse, that's where I'm grooving, that's how I show the rhythm in my body.

Every month, the Central Ohio Hot Jazz Society, they organize a jam and they invite us to dance.

It's a space where people can just learn and really be in community and create together.

Some of the core moves of Lindy Hop are the swing out and the circle.

In a lot of partner dances, you stay really close to your partner.

You often don't send them out with this reckless abandon.

So there's this moment of disconnection.

And then you pull them back in.

It's really beautiful, when I'm dancing, I feel free.

(upbeat swing jazz music) I have a huge love for this dance form and the history and the culture.

A lot of our ideas about Lindy Hop come from the Savoy Ballroom.

So it's Harlem.

The great migration is happening.

There's a Black middle class and the music of the time was swing jazz - - Count Basie, Chick Webb, Duke Ellington, just a whole bunch of greats.

And with this new kind of swing music, the ballroom dances at the time had to adapt.

The Lincoln Bronzeville area, the historically Black neighborhood in Columbus in many ways was like Columbus' Harlem, where jazz was really enjoyed, and we had a culture.

A lot of the greats when they were transitioning between New York and Chicago, they got around by railroad a lot and the railroads actually run right through this city.

And so they've been here.

(light jazz music) I first started dancing when I was nine years old.

I come from a pretty big family.

So we would sing and we would dance at church.

I discovered Lindy Hop, that the dance had Black roots, watching old clips on YouTube an old film by the Marx brothers called, "A Day At The Races".

Through their song and their dance, I felt proud.

There's also Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, this legendary troop of dancers.

And they're just going hard.

Frankie Manning is one of the more notable members and he was also working with his partner, Freda Washington, to develop a step.

He just got this idea to have Freda do a flip over him.

This became a component of the dance.

There's this wow factor of acrobatic discipline.

- [Shannon] I was extremely lucky to be in New York in the 90s.

I was able to take classes from him.

He came in and was like, you know, you guys are doing it wrong.

(upbeat jazz music) From New York, I went to DC, and from DC, I went to Chicago, and then from Chicago to here.

So all of those scenes have very different styles of Lindy Hop.

So my style is very much informed of all of these.

- [Tyedric] Shannon, she was someone who when I first started dancing, she gave me a lot of her time and energy.

She's been a huge support emotionally as a friend.

- [Shannon] I danced predominantly as a follow.

I feel like I try to match whatever my lead is doing.

Tyedric, he's just like, I'm gonna go for it.

I'm gonna try it.

I have this idea.

Let's see how it works.

And I think that energy is what embodies this dance.

- [Tyedric] I feel called to learn more about these traditions.

There's a concept that I learned from an artist that's very venerated here in Columbus, Dr. Amina Robinson.

Sankofa.

This idea that there are pearls in our past that can help us develop our future.

So I really feel the responsibility to pass that on.

(light jazz music) It's very interesting that now Lindy Hop, primarily it's represented by white people.

It's really popular in Europe.

- [Shannon] White folks sort of encroached on it, finding that joy I think without fully understanding the true history of it.

Just like so many things, it becomes a commodity to be sold.

And I don't think we've acknowledged that in the past.

(upbeat jazz music) - [Tyedric] To honor the history by being present where the dance began, it's like going home.

- Next up we have Tyedric and Ramona.

- The International Lindy Hop Championships, I love it because you get to see Lindy Hop excellence.

It's like the best of the best, you know.

Don't be afraid to be full, be yourself, be out there.

Take some time.

These little movements, you gotta let them happen.

People come trying to grow their artistic voice.

And that's really, really, really inspiring (Class cheers) - Jazz, jazz goes which way?

- [Woman] Down and up.

- [Tyedric] My friend Latasha Barnes, she's my mentor.

She coined the term tradition bearer.

It's our responsibility to carry the traditions on.

There is a lineage.

And I want to be a part of that.

- [LaTasha] To recognize that this art form has persisted even when it's been erased, homogenized, repackaged, and to have people who otherwise might be implicated in the homogenization of it actually recognize that they need to do something different.

And there's a greater responsibility to care for this culture and the vestiges of it's pretty amazing.

Pretty dope.

- Thanks for watching everyone.

Be sure to check out more episodes of "If Cities Could Dance" and let us know when the comments down below what cities you think we should visit next.

(upbeat jazz music)