#dancep

DANCEP 2017

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The 1920’s were a time of change and freedom.People began taking on a new mindset, America had just one a war, technology was progressing and women were gaining new rights and new roles in society, Women went from having long, elaborate hair and wearing conservative floor length dresses to cutting their hair and adopting short loose garments.  Dances during the 1920’s were very different from the years prior also. Dance’s such as the Charleston required these short, loose dresses to allow the dancer to kick their legs and move around quickly. A new pop culture was in effect, one that was seen as provocative and scandalous by the older generations, and the new dance crazes of the era were playing a huge part.

Precision dances were popular in Broadway and Hollywood with the most famous dancers being the Russell Markert Girls, later known as the Radio City Rockettes. In this type of dancing an, often large, group of people would assemble and produce an organized and synchronized dance routine. They were similar to flash mobs, in the respect that the individual didn’t need to be good dancer but be able to follow direction well. They weren't very popular on the dance floor because of the amount of organization, precision and choreography that was needed to be put into it to achieve success.

In 1923 when pianist James Johnson composed the song “The Charleston” for the Broadway show Running Wild, the biggest dance craze of the 20’s was started. Named after the city of Charleston, South Carolina, where the African American community had been performing the dance since the late 1890’s, the dance was wild and provocative compared to others of it’s time. The basics of the dance are easy to learn and allowed the performer a huge amount of freedom and artistic creativity. Because of this, it soon became a hit with the young people of the 20’s, especially the flappers.

The Lindy Hop originated during the late 1920’s in Harlem, New York. This partner dance included footwork borrowed from The Charleston and tap dancing and was started from blending African rhythms and movements with European structured ballroom dance.

The most popular version of this dance was performed by Ann Pennington in the 1929 film Happy Days. It blended The Shimmey and bellydancing to create an odd and new type of dance.