astro
August 24, 2016, 12:05am
1
Saw this local news item below then after a “Hand Dancing”? WTH? googled it up and it’s a thing! I was utterly oblivious to this this trend and dance style.
Delmarva Hand Dancing Club made a donation to Rebuilding Warriors
Hand Dancing
The History of Hand Dance
Culture can be defined as all the behaviors, arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture has been called “the way of life for an entire society.”
DC Hand Dance is an improvisational form of swing style partner dancing developed in the Washington, DC area in the early 1950s by African Americans as a form of recreation and entertainment. The dance evolved from the early Lindy Hop and Jitterbug dance styles of the 1930s and 1940s created by George “Shorty” Snowden. Hand Dance is rooted in the floor version of swing as opposed to the acrobatics and aerials of the Lindy and Jitterbug. Individual style and interpretation is key in defining and understanding this dance style.
In the 1950s, the dance was called “Jitterbug” and the dance halls and arenas in the DC area where the best dancers honed their dance skills were Turner’s Arena, Lincoln Colonnade and the U-Line Arena. The tempo of the dance was upbeat and big bands such as Louis Jordan and Big Joe Turner fueled the dance. In the 1960s, the tempo slowed down to a “cool” rhythm as the dance became known as “Fast Dancing” and the music was Motown, Chicago Soul and the Stax Records sound. Teens danced in recreation centers, school gymnasiums, basement parties, in dance halls such as WUST (9th& V Streets, NW), and on the television show “The Teenarama Dance Party” on WOOK-TV Ch. 14. Later in the decade, as free style dancing swept the nation, small numbers of people continued to “fast dance” in and around the area, thereby creating a dance sub-culture. These dancers continued to keep oldies but goodies music and “fast dancing” alive.
Lindy Hop was huge here a couple of years back. I kept meaning to go but never quite made it. Looks like amazing fun!
Am I the only one who saw the thread title and was thinking more along the lines of: * Are you hand dancing in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?*
Well, my first thought was that hand dancing leads to hand shaking…
Something about this reminds me of the “future dancing” seen in the occasional sf film.
You have to do something with your hands when you dance, right?
What do you think made Michael Jackson yell “WOOOOOOO!” ?
…unwanted children and the evils of adoption…
Folly
August 24, 2016, 2:18pm
10
I was picturing something like this .
When I was growing up we just called it “dancing”. It was modified jitterbug and bop and all the teen movies of the day featured it until the twist and other novelty dances came along.
We’re not going to do this in this thread. There’s a perfectly good pit thread if you want to take shots at that poster.
Yeah, me too. Or maybe jazz hands.
My first thought was Napoleon Dynamite and the Happy Hands Club.
I thought I knew what hand dancing was. Turns out I was thinking of is finger tutting .