alain’s dance blog

If you’ve ever been to our Friday night dance, you’ve probably seen dancers do a line dance at some point in the evening. This line dance is called the Shim Sham, and Lindy Hoppers dance it the world over.

Originally a tap routine created by Leonard Reed in 1927, the Lindy Hop Shim Sham is danced to any 32 bar tune. At Cat’s, we usually play T’aint What You Do (It’s the way that you do it) by Jimmie Lunceford, or Tuxedo Junction by either Erskine Hawkins or Ken Hips Johnson.

Shim Sham (for Lindy Hoppers)

Shim Sham right
Shim Sham left
Shim Sham right
Shim Sham break “Break time”

Pushes and crossovers x 3
Double crossover

Tacky Annie’s x 3
Break Time

Half Break x 2
Shim Sham break (Break time)
Half Break x 2
Shim Sham Break (Break time)

(Repeat and replace the Shim Sham break with a freeze)

Boogie Back
Boogie Forward
Boogie Back
Boogie Forward

Boogie Back
Shorty George
Boogie Back
Shorty George

See a full transcription of the Lindy and Tap Shim Sham routines.

Videos: the original tap routine by Leonard Reed (near the end of the clip); Frankie Manning leading the Lindy Hop Shim Sham at LindyFest; Mike and Nina doing the Al & Leon Shim Sham.

Other jazz routines: The Big Apple.

A lot of students have asked me about the different dances, so I’ll let the videos speak for themselves. Here are some solo jazz dances: Black Bottom, Charleston, Blues.

Josephine Baker

Jojo Jackson dancing the Black Bottom at Rocky Mountain Girl Jam 2007 Sharon Davies and Max Pitruzzella battling in a solo Charleston dance-off at Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2006 Mike Faltesek performing solo Blues at SoCal Blues 2006

I don’t think so. Sure, dancing can have sensuality attached to it, but it can also be respectful and artistic at the same time. And it can be dirty or classy.

When we refer to “blues dancing” in Montreal, we most likely mean “dancing to slow music”. Sometimes it is to Blues music, and sometimes not.

This year we had our first Blues exchange in Montreal. And since the three swing dance schools in Montreal have given “blues” classes recently, I thought it would be useful to list some references on what blues dancing is.

The best description I’ve found is on Blues-Dance:

Blues dance is strongly tied to Blues music, and many aspects of Blues dancing (for example, call and response, emotional intensity, and tension and release) are directly related to the music to which it is danced. There are many types of Blues music (rural, urban, up-tempo, slow, electric, delta, modern), and also many types of Blues dance, all with very different nuances and emotions.

Early Blues dances often contained very simple one-step or two-step patterns; some examples of such early Blues dances are the “Cake Walk” and the “Black Bottom.” Other Blues dances such as the “Slow Drag” and the “Mooche” have also been passed down to us relatively unchanged from the original forms. In its modern context, Blues dance incorporates many aspects of these original dances as well as incorporating ideas from modern concepts of partner connection, improvisation, and natural body movement.

From the discussion forums: what is blues dancing? Lucy and Jojo’s opinion, the X-rated connotations of blues dancing, Blues and Sexuality.

Here’s a post by Ogden Sawyer, a respected blues dance instructor in Boston, denouncing the association to sex:

Man, I hate that Blues has come to this. I teach blues, I love to dance Blues, but it truly sucks that people really equate Blues Dance with some sort of chocolate covered sex-fest.

I’ll be the first to admit that blues can be sexy and bawdy, and downright suggestive, but the music most often speaks in innuendo and never quite crosses that line. The dance should reflect that. If all you do is sit in closed position and do various body rolls, you just ain’t blues dancing.

Finally, a thread on the intensity of Blues dancing. Let me know what blues dancing means to you.