Popular 1920s Dances

The Baltimore Buzz was popularised in 1921 by Florence Mills who danced and sang in a popular Revue. It is a ragtime dance, danced on one foot, sliding the other foot up to it, then swapping feet to repeat.

(There is a different line-dance known as the Baltimore Strut (or New Jersey Strut) which starts with two steps to the right, two to the left; one forwards with the right foot, then one with the left. The forward steps are then repeated with knees raised.)

The Black Bottom is a close relative of the better known 1920s Charleston. It was born in the New Orleans jazz tradition at the start of the 20th Century, but is much older in basic form as a folk dance. The Black Bottom was brought to New York in the middle of the 1920s and over the course of a couple of years became immensely popular.

This video shows how the 1920s Black Bottom dance developed during the decade.

The Cake Walk was a well established dance by the 1920s with it's roots in the Black music of the Deep South. It's set in ragtime and even well kown composers like Debussey wrote cake walks. Franky though, in my personal opinion, the dance itself looks pretty ridiculous! Scott Joplin, the undisputed king of ragtime music, mentionted it in lyrics:-

The Charleston is the sound of the Roaring Twenties with a driving jazz beat based on a 3-2 clave:-

Although the basic steps are simple, it's usual to add flourishes and embellishments. One of the most common involves hands on knees as shown in the photograph of Josephine Baker above. In fact the term "Flapper", so strongly associated with 1920s women, is a reference to the Charlestone and the way that women would "flap" their arms and legs like a bird. It helped both Joan Crawford and Ginger Rogers to rise to fame as renowned and popular dancers. The Charleston can be danced solo or with a partner.

The modern Charleston has developed from it's 1920s dance roots and is an established part of Lindy Hop dancing. The modern version often incorporates steps and moves from other 1920s dances such as the Black Bottom or the Cake Walk. The orginal 1920s Charleston was also a frenetically fast dance with up to 350 beats per minute. Modern dancing tends to have a somewhat slower pace.

The Foxtrot can be traced back to 1914 and was a popular fast jazz dance (slow, slow, quick, quick) and is a derivation of the older Two-step. The 1920s version is closer to the modern Quickstep than to the modern Foxtro - the dance style has split with the Foxtrot becoming slower while the Quickstep retains the original pace.

The Tango Canyengue, the great dance of Latin America flourished until the Great Crash of 1929 and has the measure that everybody remembers: slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. Jalousie of 1925, was one of the most popular Tangos of the 1920s. The postcard above from 1919 carries a reference to the popular Hesitation Tango:

The waltz significantly pre-dates the 1920s and to modern eyes seems an especially gentile dance; however in the late 19th century the waltz was somewhat risqué because the partners held each other. Not surprisingly dances like the Charleston were seen by some as dangerously corrupt.