Happy Moving Feet

by Lorena Solari 

After the World War I, people started to practice a new dancing style. Their feet started to move faster, following a cheerful music. They started to wear exotic and short dresses, full of fringes and feathers; and high heels, in the case of women. Men wore suits, hats, sticks, and were really elegant. After the horrible World War I, people were happy because of the “peace” after this terrible situation, and this happiness was manifested in dancing. It represented an era of disregard: this joyful style was the Charleston.

This dancing style was originated in 1903, by the African Americans of South Carolina, as a folkloric African dance. That is why it has some similarities with the dances of Nigeria, and Ghana. The name “Charleston” comes from a city named like that, in South Carolina. At first Charleston dance was forbidden for considering it immoral and provocative. Its popularity grew due to the presentation in the Negro musical “Running Wild” in New York, presentation that spread al among the country. It achieved its popularity when Elizabeth Welch sung a song named Charleston (composed in 1923 by the pianist James P. Johnson) in this production. The dance itself was introduced in Irving C. Miller Liza (Broadway musical) in 1923. People started to like this joyful dance and it spread fast among the United States.  

In the year 1926 a group of Americans presented Charleston in the Metropole Hotel of London. Rapidly, this dance started to spread among Europe, and imposed as the most popular dance in the time. Because of this spreading, the original forms of Charleston changed because of the expansion in the European country. It was the most “in” dance, always presented in shows and cabarets. In 1927, the Charleston style started to decay, because of the appearance of the Black Bottom, and later of the Quickstep.

The Charleston dance is rhythmically syncopated (a change in rhythm) in 4 beats from 4. In this style, people dance in couples. Some dance steps are for example the Susy Q and the twirl in one foot touching one heel and another, return, and back, clapping in an alternated way. Another dancing ways are walking one step to the front touching the floor, retuning, and making a step back, while the arms move just like a pendulum. People use to jump and smile, because they want to show this feeling of happiness after a World War.

The Charleston dance is a way of manifesting the happiness of the people. It was a really happy style, where people enjoyed and passed great times. The dancing was usually really fast and people used to jump and smile, and show that they had no worries. Art is the way of expressing feelings, and in this time, people expressed their feelings with music and body, and when watching the Charleston one can realize that the people enjoyed their life. It is not only a dance, it is the way of proving that the war has ended, life is beautiful, and one can be happy despite anything one has lived.