Shorty George Snowden - King of the ballroom
- Swing City
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
4th July 1904 – May 1982
George Snowden was born on 4th July 1904 and died in May 1982. He is widely credited with giving the Lindy Hop its name while competing in a dance marathon with his first partner, Mattie Purnell, in Harlem in 1928.
Norma Miller, in her memoir, said the dance started evolving in spring 1927: "The new dance, at first called simply the Hop, was pioneered by dancers like Shorty Snowden.... and George 'Twist Mouth' Ganaway."
Snowden was well known for dancing with Big Bea, his second partner. The pair made the most of their difference in height, and Bea would carry George off the dance floor on her back as he wriggled, to comic effect.
The Shorty George move is named after Snowden.
King of the ballroom
Frankie Manning wrote of his early days dancing at The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, picking up moves: "We were stealing from all the cats in the Corner, but mostly from Shorty Snowden. At that point, I still didn't know the names of any of those guys except for him. Shorty won most of the Saturday night contests, and everyone knew he was king of the ballroom."
The birth of Lindy Hop on film
George Snowden appears in the 1929 film After Seben which shows the early transitional stage of Lindy Hop coming out of the partner Charleston and the Breakaway. Check it out below - Shorty George and Mattie Purnell are the third couple to appear. Bobby White introduces the clip and links to a longer article on his Swungover website.
Note: You'll see that the emcee in the film, played by James Barton, appears in blackface, an offensive and racist vaudeville staple of the era.
