Dance in Film · 1929
After Seben (1929)
Three Savoy Ballroom couples answer Chick Webb’s orchestra with explosive partner Charleston, breakaways, cakewalk accents, and a climactic lift—one of the earliest surviving screen records of Harlem’s emerging Lindy Hop.
After Seben is a 1929 dance film centred on Swing & Jazz. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 3 indexed dance sequences ↓
Dance styles featured
Where to watch: Full 15-minute film hosted by swing-dance history channel Swungover on YouTube; verified 2026-08-05.
Watch it in full
The complete work, on the rights holder's official channel.
The dance sequences in After Seben
3 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
First Savoy couple: transitional partnered Charleston
CharlestonA Savoy couple snapping out of partnered hold into hot-jazz footwork under the nightclub spotlights.
The opening couple turns compact Charleston into elastic partner play, using low posture and quick directional changes to answer Chick Webb’s pulse. Their breakaways reveal vocabulary in transition toward Lindy Hop.
Second Savoy couple: partnered Charleston variation
CharlestonA second pair taking the same hot rhythm into a sharply different breakaway pattern.
The second couple reshapes the same Charleston base through different spacing, attack, and breakaway timing. The contrast makes the contest read as dancer-authored variation rather than repeated choreography.
Shorty George Snowden and Mattie Purnell: breakaway climax
Lindy HopDanced by George “Shorty” Snowden; Mattie Purnell (probable)
Shorty George and Mattie Purnell folding a daring lift into the breakaway before strutting out in a cakewalk.
Snowden and Purnell stretch the breakaway into showmanship: partnered rhythm, an early lift/drop, and a cakewalk exit build a clear climax. The phrasing shows Charleston material becoming recognizable Lindy Hop.
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