Dance in the USA

As you have seen, we have told about a lot of things of the music in the US, but... how about dance?

In this publication I am going to talk about different types of dance which have left their mark in worldwide music and dance.

Origins: African-American dance

Stick dance was a dance style that African-Americans developed on American plantations during the slavery era, where dancing was used to practise "secret military drills" among the slaves, where the stick used in the dance was in fact a disguised weapon.

African Stick Dance & Drum Buxton Spring Arts 2014

pre-19th century: Harlem Renaissance

Black culture had a real influence on dance and other art forms in the 20th century. After the American

civil war a surge of people from the Caribbean and Deep South migrated into North American cities. In New York the district of Harlem became home to black people from different cultural traditions with their own dances and music.

Harlem became the ‘in place’ to be amongst both black and white New Yorkers – its clubs brought together dance and music that was alive and exciting. Dances such as the Charleston, Lindyhop and Jitterbug sprang from these clubs as did Jazz music. The influence of this Harlem Renaissance on music and dance in New York in the early 1920s spread into Europe.

19th Century: Cakewalk

Its origins in slavery and the plantation south, the Cakewalk was the sole organized and even condoned forum for servants to mock their masters. A send-up of the rich folks in the "Big House," the cakewalk mocked the aristocratic and grandiose mannerisms of southern high-society. Much bowing and bending were characteristic of the dance, which was more a performance than anything else. Couples lined up to form an aisle, down which each pair would take a turn at a high-stepping promenade through the others. In many instances the Cakewalk was performance, and even competition. The dance would be held at the master’s house on the plantation and he would serve as judge. The dance’s name comes from the cake that would be awarded to the winning couple.

Cakewalk - The Harlem Hot Shots

Swing

The Swing era began in the 1920s and 30s America, when Big Bands took over pop culture. Swing music

has lived on ever since, influencing each new generation of music. Swing dance is a broad term to describe a variety of partner dances evolving from the 20s to the present day. An exciting evolution in jazz music broke out of New York’s Harlem district in the late 1920s. With this new sound, a new dance was created.


Vintage swing dance : Jean Phelps Veloz 1943

Charleston

The Charleston Dance was the most popular terpsichorean craze of the Roaring Twenties. The dance originated as early as 1903 in the African American community of a small island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Enthusiastically taken up by blacks in Charleston, the dance was named after the city. By 1913, the Charleston Dance was being staged in Harlem, New York nightclub shows.

Quick 'Charleston' Moves - Gatsby Style

Pasha Kovalev & Chelsee Healey - Charleston (dance only)

Rock and roll was everything the suburban 1950s were not. While parents of the decade were listening to

Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, and Big Bands, their children were moving to a new beat.
In fact, to the horror of the older generation, their children were twisting, thrusting, bumping, and grinding to the sounds of rock and roll.
The roots of rock and oll lay in African American blues and gospel. As the Great Migration brought many African Americans to the cities of the north, the sounds of rhythm and blues attracted suburban teens.

Rock and roll sent shockwaves across America. A generation of young teenagers collectively rebelled against the music their parents loved. In general, the older generation loathed rock and roll. Appalled by the new styles of dance the movement evoked, churches proclaimed it Satan's music.

Because rock and roll originated among the lower classes and a segregated ethnic group, many middle-class whites thought it was tasteless. Rock and roll records were banned from many radio stations and hundreds of schools.

The Best Ever Rock and Roll Dancing (1950s)

Rock and roll is the most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression — lewd, sly, in plain fact, dirty — a rancid-smelling aphrodisiac and the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth.

– Frank Sinatra (1957)

The Twist, a dance done by swiveling the hips, became a worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s.

No one is quite sure who actually started swiveling their hips in this manner; some say it might have been part of an African dance brought to the United States during the slavery era.

How to do the twist

The Twist dance was easy to do, which helped make it so popular. It was usually done with a partner,

although no touching was involved.

Basically it's a simple twisting of the hips. Some describe it as if you are pretending to stamp out a fallen cigarette or drying your back with a towel.

Let's Twist Again - Chubby Checker

Rarely does a dance movement fit so precisely within a decade. Seventies Disco was born on Valentine's

Day 1970, when David Manusco opened The Loft in New York City, and it rapidly faded in 1980. When the Disco movement peaked in 1978-79, the demographic was predominantly white, heterosexual, urban and suburban middle class. But it didn't begin that way. For the first eight years, Disco was an underground movement. Then the film Saturday Night Fever (December 1977) helped turn the simmering subculture into a mainstream fad, resulting is a 30-fold increase in disco clubs.


Who went to discos, and why?

There wasn't one definitive disco demographic. The seventies saw the emergence of today's pluralism, where individual variety of interests and tastes surpasses mass trends and fads. Thus several different populations were attracted to the disco scene.

So one could say that the original disco subculture was a fusion of the gay urban party scene, partnered dancing kept alive by Latinos, and African American music. Then once the ball was rolling, many other populations of Americans were also attracted to Discos, for a wide variety of reasons. From there, Disco quickly spread to Europe and parts of Asia.

HOW TO DANCE PROPERLY ON GET LUCKY

Funk styles refers to a group of street dance styles that originated in California in the 1970s during the funk era. These mainly include locking, popping, and electric boogaloo. Though many of these dance styles have been incorporated into hip hop culture and are often seen danced to hip hop music, they were originally (and are still) danced to funk music. One of the reasons that the term funk styles first appeared was to give these dances their own identity and avoid them being primarily associated with B-boying which is from New York City.

Earth Wind and Fire Mighty Mighty Funk Funky Dancing

Breakdance is a dynamic dance style that is a major component of the hip-hop culture. Breakdancing developed in the South Bronx of New York City during the late 20th century, coinciding with the disco era.

Breakdancing was born in response to James Brown's dance moves on television program Soul Train to his song "Get on the Good Foot." People tried to mimick Brown's moves alone in their living rooms and together at parties.

Soul Train is an American musical variety television program, which aired in syndication from 1971 until

2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists, although funk, jazz, disco, and gospel artists have also appeared.

Original breakdancing moves consisted mainly of fancy footwork and body freezes, with less intricate tricks such as head spinning. Dancers started adding smoother steps and body movements, forming a true dance style. Breakdancing soon gained popularity in disco and dance clubs.

80s breakdancing on us tv

Breakdancing today

As breakdancing further evolved, dancers began placing more emphasis on groundwork with stylized leg movements, commonly known as "downrock." Soon, breakdancers were adding spectacular moves such as handgliding, backspinning, windmilling, and headspinning: ground moves that comprise breakdancing as we know it today.

Breakdance gained worldwide popularity during the 1980's and 1990's. Breakdancers began to be incorporated into movies and theater productions. Today, breakdancing and hip-hop classes are taught in dance studios around the country.

Compared to many other dance forms, hip hop has a relatively short history. The beginnings of this dance form date back to the 1960s and 70s, but of course the movements and the music have roots dating back much further in time. Hip hop dancing is thought to have officially begun in New York City during the late 1960s and early 70s.




During this time, individuals without professional dance training but with a natural instinct for movement brought dancing to the streets. A dance form meant to be popular in the original sense of the word, meaning that it was for the people and not for the academy, hip hop moves were inspired by complex rhythms and the down-to-earth movement style of African dancing. Music and movement came together to form a new art. While vestiges of modern, tap, swing, and African dancing can all be found in hip hop, this dance style is really in a class of its own when it comes to improvisation and an edge of competition.

1980s Evolution of Hip Hop

When hip hop first started it was a performative, but informal, dance culture. B-boys and b-girls (terms introduced by DJ Herc) would be invited to show off their moves by other people on the street, on the basketball court, or wherever the group happened to be. As the moves became more institutionalized (for example, breaking, popping, and locking), and more and more dancers got caught up in the rhythms of the music, more formal dance venues arose. While these performances were more formal, the competitive nature of hip hop remained, as well as the circular nature of the audience surrounding the dancers.

"Evolution of Hip-Hop Dancing" (w/ Jimmy Fallon & Will Smith)

Professionally known as Les Twins, identical twin brothers Laurent and Larry Bourgeois (born December 6, 1988) are French dancers, choreographers, and models. Often referred to by their respective nicknames, "Lil Beast" and "Ca Blaze", they are recognized internationally for their talents in new style hip-hop dancing.

LES TWINS World of Dance San Diego 2010 WOD | YAK FILMS

Vogue is a form of modern dance characterized by photo model like poses taken from Vogue (magazine) integrated with angular, linear and rigid arm, leg and body movements. The style of dance arose from the Harlem ballrooms back in the early 1930s, which was then called "performance" and evolved into the more intricate and illusory form that is now called "vogue".

AYA VOGUE DANCE PT.2

Search YouTube for the Harlem Shake and more than 200,000 results pop up: a group of sky divers thrust their pelvises and pump their fists in a wild dance move while falling amid the clouds; members of the University of Georgia men’s swim-and-dive team do similar moves in their trunks underwater; Norwegian Army officers stand stoically in camouflage and berets before breaking into their version of the dance, all set to an electronic groove.

The real Harlem Shake, a much more raw, technical, fluid, frenetic dance, was born in New York City more than 30 years ago. During halftime at streetball games held in Rucker Park, a skinny man known in the neighborhood as Al. B. would entertain the crowd with his own brand of moves, a dance that around Harlem became known as “The Al. B.”

The Real Harlem Shake (Dance)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/history-of-black-dance-20th-century-black-american-dance/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_dance#New_York_City_and_the_Harlem_Renaissance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stick_dance_%28African-American%29

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug03/lucas/cake.html

http://theswingdancecompany.co.uk/history/

http://www.vintageperiods.com/charleston.php

http://www.ushistory.org/us/53d.asp

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1960s/qt/Twist.htm

https://socialdance.stanford.edu/Syllabi/disco_lifestyle.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_styles

http://dance.about.com/od/typesofdance/a/Break_History.htm

http://dance.lovetoknow.com/History_of_Hip_Hop_Dance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Twins

https://vk.com/topic-11844183_22613725

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/nyregion/behind-harlem-shake-craze-a-dance-thats-over-a-decade-old.html?_r=0