As it was told to me:
First there was Blues music, from some time around the 20s. Maybe earlier.
Then there were people who danced to Blues music.
Then blues dance was killed off, along with the rest of partner dancing, by "The Twist" in the 60s.
Then there was a Lindy revival in the US in the early 80s. Lindy dancers danced to blues music from time to time.
Then some Modern Jive dancers went to Herrang, saw the Lindy crowd dancing to blues, and created a style of Modern Jive that was suitable for blues music.
From there it morphed into dancing to various genres of slow music, of which blues is a small part.
Meanwhile, in the USA blues dancing continued to develop, with some instructors researching authentic pre-war forms of blues dancing. There now seems to be a separate scene with strong links to the Lindy scene. For example, there are weekend events dedicated to blues dance. I don't know to what extent this developing US scene has influenced "blues" dance in a Modern Jive context.
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