The jitterbug was a dance which became popular with young people in Scotland (and all over the UK) during the war years.

It was brought over by American soldiers, who had learned the fast-paced dance at home in the USA.

The dance originated from dances performed by black Americans and was thought to be very rude and a bit outrageous by some people, because it involved a lot of hip swinging and jumping about. It is a freestyle dance and some couples became very good at it and performed all sorts of fancy moves.

The name comes from two sources. A jitterbug is an American term for an alcoholic; it is also a little bug or insect which flitters and jitters about. People thought the fast, jerky moves of the dance were odd and said the dancers looked like jitterbugs and the name stuck.

There were jitterbug contests in some dance halls – but other dance halls in Scotland banned jitterbugging and you would get thrown out if you did it. But many young people did it anyway!

Big band music like Glenn Miller’s was the type of music they danced to and the dance could be done at different speeds – sometimes very fast indeed!

E Scott