Preview

Charleston Dance

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1889 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Charleston Dance
The period of the 1920s has a complex social and cultural history. From this history, derived the popularity of the upbeat Charleston Dance. Most people will associate this dance with the flappers and the speakeasy, despite its origins, because many young women used it as a way to mock the people who supported the Prohibition. As a result, the Charleston was considered to be a provocative and immoral dance during its time. In this paper, I want to briefly explore the dance’s history, its characteristics, how it reached popularity, how the social implications of the time affected the dance, and ultimately how the Charleston defined women and helped them change the social normative. The actual origins of the Charleston are long and obscure. First off, the Branle of 1520 is said to be quite similar to the Charleston. It is a French Renaissance dance that was generally performed outside. It is described to have a “winging step and anterior kick and swing, the lifting of the leg, the twisting of the feet and the side fling of the foot” (Watson). These movements are close to the characteristics of the Charleston. On the other hand, for an African American influential approach, many dance historians hold the Ash-Ante peoples of Africa as the originators. The walking movements, combined with the feet pointing in and out, are characteristics used in the Charleston (Asheante). Yet, it is further said that the series of steps have originated from the African Americans living on a small island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina, while others say its from the Cape Verde Islands in western Africa. As a result, leading to the obscurity of the dances origins. (Watson) The characteristic Charleston beat incorporates the clave rhythm that is synonymous with the habanera and the Spanish tinge, and can be danced solo, with a partner, or in a group (Watson). It contains a simple, flexible base step that makes it easy to concentrate on styling, improvisation, and


Cited: 1920’s the Charleston [video]. (2007) Retrieved 23 February 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJC21zzkwoE Ashante Dancers @ the Unitarian Universalist Church.[video]. (2008). Retrieved 2 May 2010, fromhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NUWCHjZRrY&feature=related. Boland, J. (2010). Flapper culture and the real American woman. 1920s fashion and music Charleston dance [video]. (2007). Retrieved 21 February 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5kCrXsBQo4&NR=1 Charleston dance 1920’s. (2007). Blogspot. Retrieved 22 February 2010, from http://charleston-dance.blogspot.com/2007/10/charleston-dance-1920s.html Ginger Rogers – Charleston scene from Roxie Hart [video]. (1942). Retrieved 23 February 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myq6hg2gcWw&feature=related. Giordano, V. (2008). Speakeasies, flappers, and red hot jazz. Riverwalk Jazz. Retrieved 1 May 2010, from http://www.riverwalkjazz.org/jazznotes/speakeasies. How to Dance the Charleston – and the destruction of the Pickwick Club 1925. (2005). Koritz, A. (2009). Culture Makers: Urban performance and literature in the 1920’s. Rosenberg, J. (2010). Flappers in the Roaring Twenties. About.com. Retrieved 22 February 2010, from http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers.htm Watson, S. (1999). Charleston. In StreetSwng.com. Retrieved 21 February 2010, from http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3chrlst.htm

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Other dances that were performed are the ‘Fallen Feather’ dance, the Two-Step dance and the ‘Social Dance’. Out of all these dances,…

    • 697 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay On Zumba

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Latin Dance originated around the early 16th century, when European settlers and conquistadors such as Hernando Cortes began to colonize regions of South America, and absorbed the local dance traditions into a new version of the local culture. European folk dance and African tribal dances were mixed to indigenous the roots to create modern Latin dance. Latin dance is popularity known in dance floors and some movies. The term “Latin dance” may be used in two different ways: to denote dances that originated in Latin America and to name a category of International style ballroom dances. This dance is known for its sensual hip action and sexy…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    To answer the question two sources were evaluated, Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s and The History of the Flapper, Part 1: A Call for Freedom. The two sources provide information about the social changes of women, but portray two differing perspectives regarding the depth of involvement in the work force and society, one viewing women as a major and constant part of the workforce where the other regards working as the man’s role and the woman’s to be at the home.…

    • 2220 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    jazz dance

    • 2758 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The origins of jazz music and dance are found in the rhythms and movements brought to America by African slaves. The style of African dance is earthy; low, knees bent, pulsating body movements emphasized by body isolations and hand-clapping. As slaves forced into America, starting during the 1600’s, Africans from many cultures were cut off from their families, languages and tribal traditions. The result was an intermingling of African cultures that created a new culture with both African and European elements. The Slave Act of 1740 prohibited slaves from playing African drums or performing African dances, but that did not suppress their desire to cling to those parts of their cultural identity. The rhythms and movements of African dance: the foot stamping and tapping, hand-clapping and rhythmic vocal sounds were woven into what we now call jazz dance.…

    • 2758 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “Clean Up the Dance Halls” Elisabeth Perry examines the age of the Progressive Era and the efforts by the reformers to get rid of unregulated dance halls. Perry adds how dance halls that provided “stylish drinks” and guaranteed popularity influenced many innocent girls to leave their households to embrace a life of alcohol, unmoral dancing, and eventually sexually relations with strangers. Perry also adds how the girls could not resist a man's love despite it meaning that they would loose their “girlhood.” One of the prominent reformers during this time was Belle Israels who sought to protect girls from being “played with” and sought to put an end to dance halls. As a result, the Progressive Era stirred together different social issues which usually led to controversy and tension as seen in the dance hall reform.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The book, Chicago Jazz, a Cultural History 1904-1930, was written by William Howland Kenny and published in 1993. This book is a secondary source which explains many of the cultural elements and emotions – such as liveliness – and how they were infused into jazz. The purpose of this text is to analyze jazz music and its culture from its origins up to the great depression. It was written as a scholarly text and as a means of exploring the past of jazz. This source demonstrates value as…

    • 1921 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Jazz Ken Burns

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the first episode of “JAZZ,” Ken Burns demonstrates how the creation of jazz was made possible by the social and political circumstances in New Orleans during the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth century. By combining the historical explanations of narrator Keith David and the emotional commentaries of African American artists, he retells history in an unconventional way that gives a more meaningful description than textbooks and encyclopedias. As Keith David explains, New Orleans was the home to two different social circumstances: it was the most “cosmopolitan city in America” as well as the center of the slave trade. New Orleans was a place filled with “people from all nationalities living side by side” who brought upon a musical “gumbo” of Caribbean rhythms, classical music, minstrel music, the blues, ragtime and more. These diverse musical styles were taken advantage of by the African American people, in a period of time where they were deprived of the freedom that America promised to all of her inhabitants. African Americans found the liberty they sought for in music and dancing. Ken Burns supports this idea by explaining how blacks were allowed to sing, dance and play the drums in the Congo Square as he demonstrates it in a series of…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prior to what we believe to be the “Golden Era” of American Musical Theatre, one must first delve into the dark past modern musical theatre tries to bury beneath today’s jazz hands and glitter covered performers. The era of the Virginia Minstrel shows not only is derogatory towards African American slaves and recently freed slaves with the use of stock characters, but it uses exaggerated stereotypes and costuming to create the illusion that the African American race is inferior to Caucasians.…

    • 623 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Women’s Fancy Shawl dance is the most modern of the women’s dance. According to some Native American people it was called the blanket dance in the 1960s. The dance steps are close to the ground and smaller than what is performed now. This extremely athletic and strenuous dance involves kicks, twirls, and very fast motions. They say that the Men’s Fancy Bustle dance parallels in speed and style. The legacy of the Fancy Shawl dance color, rebellion, and energy often is mistakenly thought to be a dance that is a fairly recent innovation. One of the most prepared for competitions at powwows is the Women’s Fancy Shawl dance. Earlier generations and now have been controlled, imposing, and dignified but when men in the 1920s created what we now…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Savion Glover Bio

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    From a young child, Savion Glover had an amazing sense of rhythm. He was born November 19, 1973 in Newark, New Jersey and just four years later, began drumming. He excelled and quickly out grew his drumming classes. Savion became the youngest person in the history of the school to receive a scholarship for Newark Community School of the Arts. In an interview with Charlie Rose in 1996, he recalled his introduction into tap. During a drumming performance, Glover saw Chuck Green and became fascinated with how his feet dramatically hit the ground. He told his mom to sign him up and from there began taking lessons. Other tap legends including Harold Nicholas, Fred Astaire, Gregory Hines, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson went from playing the drums to tap dancing. There has always been a connection with drums and tap dancing because of the beat. During the pre-civil war South, slaves were not allowed to have drums and therefore many turned to tap dancing as a way to create rhythm. From the start of Savion’s tapping career, he would become iconic in the world of dance.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern is a book that was written by author Joshua Zeitz and can best describe how women in the 20th century were becoming these flashy, glamorous, flamboyant party girls that were unbeknownst to modern society during this time period in American society. This book also goes on to describe the socialites that were being more known throughout this time period, which acts as the root for what American socialites are described as today. This book speaks about a time period and a group of women, whom without there would be no Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian, to be relevant for the way they party and carry themselves with this flashy lifestyle that they choose to live.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Timba Sasa Style

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages

    When Africans arrived to Cuba during the 1770’s they didn’t forget their traditional music. They brought their instrument and style of music and dance with them. Because Africans came from different region of Africa to Cuba they could mixed their different style to create the beginning of salsa. “African drums from far off places like Nigeria, Dahomey, and Ghana married the Spanish guitar to bring us clave. The seeds were planted in the Caribbean and now…

    • 1581 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Hill, Constance. Tap Dancing America A Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lindy Hop

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    4. Hazzard-Gordon, Katrina. Jookin ': The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Charleston was originally developed by Kathryn Wilson. The Charleston is most frequently associated with flappers and the speakeasy. Here, these young women would dance alone or together as a way of mocking the citizens who supported the Prohibition amendment, as the Charleston was then considered immoral and provocative. “A fast fox-trot named after Charleston, S. Carolina, popularized in NY, 1922, in a song by Cecil Mack and Jimmy Johnson” (Michael Kennedy and Joyce Bourne). “The Charleston is characterized by outward heel kicks combined with an up-and-down movement achieved by bending and straightening the knees in time to the syncopated 4/4 rhythm of ragtime jazz” (Charleston). The Charleston is significant in this time because, women didn’t have any rights in the 1920s and weren’t respected; so for Kathryn…

    • 1470 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics