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The term "swing dance" is commonly used to refer either to a group of dances developing in response to swing (genre) music in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, or to lindy hop, a popular partner dance today. While the majority of swing dances began in African American communities as vernacular African American dances, there were a number of forms which developed within Anglo-American or other ethnic group communities. Balboa is one of the most commonly cited examples.

Though they technically preceded the rise of swing music, and are commonly associated with Dixieland jazz which developed in New Orleans in the south of the United States, dances such as the black bottom, charleston and tap dance are still considered members of the swing dance family. These sorts of dances travelled north with jazz to cities like New York, Kansas City, and Chicago in the Great Migration of the 1920s, where rural blacks travelled north to escape persecution, Jim Crow laws, lynching and unemployment in the South during the Great Depression.

Swinging jazz music features the syncopated timing associated with African American and West African music and dance - a combination of crotchets and quavers which many swing dancers interpret as 'triple steps' and 'steps' - yet also introduces changes in the way these rhythms were played - a distinct delay or 'relaxed' approach to timing. Swinging jazz developed from Dixieland jazz, and travelled north with black dancers during the Great Migration.

Today there are swing dance scenes in many developed Western and Asian countries throughout the world, and though each city and country varies in their preferences for particular dances, lindy hop is often the most popular. It is important to note, though, that west coast swing dance attracts more dancers, particularly in the United States. Each local swing dance community has a distinct local culture and defines "swing dance" and "appropriate" dance music in different ways.

In many scenes outside the United States the term "Swing dancing" is used to refer generically to one or all of the following swing era dances: Lindy Hop, Charleston, Shag, Balboa and Blues. This group is often extended to include Jive, Rock and Roll, Western Swing, Ceroc, and other dances developing in the 1940s and later. Within the United States, the swing dance family is often expanded to include many other social dances, including West Coast Swing, East Coast Swing, Hand Dancing, and so on. A strong tradition of social and competitive boogie woogie and acrobatic rock and roll in Europe add these dances to their local swing dance cultures. In Singapore and other scenes, Latin dances such as salsa and Tango are often taught and danced within the "Swing scene", and for many scenes tap dancing and a range of other jazz dances are considered key, as are hip hop and other contemporary African American street dances. The variations continue, dictated by local dance community interests.

Many swing dancers today argue that it is important to dance many styles of partner dance to improve technique, but also to reflect the historical relationship between these dances in the swing era of the 1920s and 1930s. In the Savoy Ballroom, for example, bands would often play waltzes, Latin songs and so on, as well as swinging jazz. Dancers were often familiar with a wide range of popular and traditional dances. There are a number of hybrid forms which combine swing dances with other styles, including Swango, a combination of Argentinian Tango and Swing.

It should be noted that the earliest forms of the dance (from 1890 to 1910), which would later come to be known as swing, was primarily danced through out the South. However, with the upsurge in racial tensions known as Jim Crow laws, several talented African Americans fled north. More importantly, many who fled merged their home syles with those already done on the dance floor in cities like Chicago, Cleveland, New York City, Detroit, St Louis, and many more. This saw an era of creativity, and several new forms of dancing emerged as a result in which each city had its own style.