Jitterbug

Jitterbug can be used as a noun to refer to a swing dancer or various types of swing dances, e.g., lindy hop, jive and East Coast Swing. This has led to confusion within the dance community since jitterbug can refer to different swing dances. It can also be used as a verb to mean someone dancing to swing music. For example, "People were top-notch jitterbugging, jumping around, cutting loose and going crazy".

The term "jitterbug" comes from an early 20th century slang used to describe alcoholics who suffered from the "jitters" (delirium tremens). During the early 1900s, the term became associated with swing dancers who danced without any control or knowledge of the dance. This term was famously associated with swing era dancers by band leader Cab Calloway because, as he put it, "They look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor” due to their fast often bouncy movements on the dance floor. In popular culture it became generalized to mean a swing dancer (e.g., you were a jitterbug), a type of swing dance (e.g., you danced the jitterbug), or the act of swing dancing (e.g., you were jitterbugging).

Calloway’s 1935 recording of “Call of the Jitter Bug (Jitterbug) and the film “Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party” popularized use of the word “jitterbug”, and created a strong association between Calloway and jitterbug.

Jitterbug was also done to early rock n roll. In 1957 the Philadelphia, PA based American BandStand was picked up by the American Broadcasting Company and shown across the United States. Bandstand featured then currently popular songs, live appearances by musicians, and dancing in the studio. At this time the most popular fast dance was Jitterbug, which is described as “a frantic leftover of the swing era ballroom days that was only slightly less acrobatic than Lindy”.