The rolling element of a train is called the boogie. The junction between 2 rails of a railway is never perfect so when the train runs it makes a rhythm (the "ta-da...ta-da…" that one can still hear nowadays).
In the 1920’s, the black loggers regularly crossed Louisiana and Texas by train and played the piano to divert themselves. Their music was scrambled by this noise the train was making. Instead of being annoyed by it, the jazzmen decided to play WITH it (Playing with the music is part of the Jazz Spirit). They then had to find a name for their music. Boogie Woogie was born to refer to the rhythmic noise of the trains. Once again, the dance came from a music style.
Boogie-woogie leaves a great space to musical interpretation. This interpretation is a capital element of the dance. It distinguishes the best dancers from the others. It is inspired by acrobatics, leg movement coming from Jumped Rock'n'roll (Rock sauté), Swing routines (Lindy Hop, the Shim sham) and more recently Breakdance (the effects of waves and the floating feet movement). This dance leaves a great amount of room to improvisation, originality and humor. It is by far one of the most dynamic and clownish dance styles one can find.
Since 2005, the French couple, William Mauvais and Maeva Truntzer really dominates international Boogie. This couple is indeed titled the most since the creation of this discipline in international competitions.