Description:
This classic photograph features Leon James and Willa Mae Ricker demonstrating a step of The Lindy Hop. Born in African American communities in Harlem, New York in the 1920s, the Lindy Hop’s unabashedly joyful and flowing style closely reflected its music: from the late 20s hot Jazz to the early 40s Big Bands. With his constantly moving legs and hands and his flashing eyes, Leon James had one of the greatest on-stage personalities of the era. This photograph of James and his partner Willa Mae Ricker, both exuberantly jumping in mid-air against a black background, was printed as a full page in a 1943 LIFE magazine spread on the Lindy Hop and on the cover of the European edition of the magazine.