Another influence to rock and roll was the dance the Charleston and the Lindy Hop which is believed to have been created by the African Americans in the 1920’s. The girls who did the Charleston were known as Flapper as they used to flap their hands around when dancing.
How things changed when rock and roll came
In the last year of Elvis’s life in 1977 over 80,000 fans turned up in Chicago to see him perform, a fair amount of them being teenagers. The way he produced his music and the songs and dances inspired not millions but trillions of teenagers. His music was played in coffee bars on juke boxes where teenagers hung out in those days.
Dance halls were opened and dances were taught to the rhythm of his music.
Other artists wanted to follow in his footsteps and and also produced rock and roll music that allowed teenagers to let them selves go to the beat.
Fashion for both men and woman changed a lot in the time of rock and roll they had a sort of contest to see who could dress the wackiest but wacky was the fashion.
Dance Styles and their Characterists
Rock and roll produced many different dance moves such as the hand jive which is a rhythm that is made by tapping different parts of your body. Also a twist which is where you shuffle your feet from side to side to the beat of the music.
Some rock and roll dances were performed in groups or with a partner e.g. Macarena. Other pieces of rock and roll were just performed on your own at coffee bars and night clubs.
There were many expressive actions used in the dances such as: intricate footwork and bouncy movement.
The movements to the rock and roll piece are very bouncy, fast and controlled because that is the way the music was structured. The movement was side to side up and down and basically moving your body in every direction at some part of the dance.
Also partner work was often used as you could use your partner in many ways and you could use them for many moves such as: the lifts, the Charleston, the jive and many more. Also you can dance solo using moves such as the hand jive and the twist and the gallop
