Throwback Thursday's- Bust a Move

The style of dancing is always changing as a new era or new wave of music takes over. While working on a Jazz project for WBGO I've talked to many older people around during the Swing Era telling me about that era and boy was I born in the wrong time!

In the 30's and 40's it was all about swinging your dance partner in the air. The Lindy Hop was one popular dance move, also the Jitter Bug and The Charleston Dance. 

This acrobatic dance, the Lindy Hop got a lot of people involved. Dancers would dance on ballroom floors that were like glass or hard wood floors and the men would grab the women and throw them out which became known as the Lindy Hop Formal. 

The Queen of Swing, Norma Miller and legendary Lindy Hopper "Twistmouth George" took the dance to another level at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem.

During the Swing Era is when dancing seemed like the most fun and ballroom dancing was popular. The ladies would wear floral dresses and have their hair pinned up and the gentlemen would always wear suits. People were dressed and ready to impress so they can really dance and show off. 

This is nothing like the dancing nowadays with the bumping, grinding and shaking of the booty.

In the 60's there was The Twist. Some people around my time may have heard of this dance. I actually know how to do it. It's not that hard because you just twist your body. Some 50's and 60's dances can be found in Grease and the original Hairspray. There was also a dance called the Mash Potato. Sounds kind of funny to be named a dance move right? But hey we have that Chicken Noodle Soup dance nowadays that originated in Harlem.

The 70's was disco mania. The style of clothing drastically changed and it was all about getting your "funk on" and that term is not used in a stinky way. Dances like the The Hustle, the Bus stop, the Bump, the Robot (which I still break out in a club today) and break dancing also started to form during this time.

Stepping into the late 70's and the 80's we see more of the hip hop era coming out and a transformation of the dance moves. Who could forget Michael Jackson's moonwalk that everyone was trying to do ever so smoothly. Pop-locking started becoming popular, people did the Worm (something I could never seem to do), the running man and the cabbage patch. Some of these morphed into the early 90's and some people actually still do these moves.

Now in the new millennium we have dances like the Superman which dominated the dance scene and had all ages and people doing it. There are also popular dances like the Dougie, Jerking, the Harlem Shake, Aunt Jackie and many club dance moves that seem to come out like every month. 

There are so many more dance moves that I know I missed from the old times. I only put the most popular one's that I could remember and what people were telling me. But don't forget we always have the Electric Slide to do at parties, reunions or wherever and what some do now called the Cha Cha Slide.