A Brief History of the Jitterbug

The Jitterbug as a dance really has more to do with thematic coherence rather than specific steps and moves. Unlike many other fad dances, the Jitterbug also represents a kind of natural progression that involves the evolution of previous popular dances, including the Charleston and the Lindy from the 1920s. The Jitterbug actually began to come into its own during the years of the Great Depression, though it would not achieve its peak of popularity until after those damn Japs snuck up on us (?) in the skies over Pearl Harbor. The Jitterbug of the war years were really differentiated with the inclusion of two innovations known respectively as the air step and the breakaway.

The name Jitterbug comes from the jerky body movements associated with the dancing, however. Back during the era of the Charleston and the Lindy, during the 1920s, the tremors that came with the consumption of a little too much bootlegged hooch were known in slang terms as the jitters. Jitterbugging was a particularly feverish kind of dancing that, although difficult to actually perform while as under the influence as Escambia County School Superintendent Jim Paul was while arrested for DUI on the dime of the county taxpayers as he attended an "educator's" conference, many times did give the appearance of being done by people who had imbibed freely. Take, for instance, the breakaway.