Part four: The 1930's & Big Apple

Fred  & Ginger in Swingtime (1936)

The newly constructed and delightfully Art Deco Empire State and Chrysler Buildings lit up the New York City skyline just as The Great Depression was about to take hold. It was the 1930s and many were beginning to ask ‘brother, can you spare a dime?’ 

Thanks to AllPosters.com

As before, when hard times arrived, people hit the dancefloor to forget their troubles. Silver screen dance icons Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers popularised Tap dancing and Ballroom amongst cinema goers worldwide, their enduring finesse delighting audiences. Their last film of the decade celebrated ballroom superstars of the Edwardian era: Vernon & Irene Castle.

courtesy of  memorylane.org.uk

In the UK, Ballroom dancers were being treated to sumptuous live music. Numerous London hotels held regular dance band nights. Notable bandleaders to search out and listen for include Bert Ambrose, Jack Hylton and Ray Noble. Al Bowlly’s recordings of songs such as Love is the Sweetest Thing and The Very Thought Of You also epitomised the British sound. Al Bowlly delivered the lines in a new approach; rather than vocal gymnastics sometimes employed by jazz vocalists, he was known for singing in a soft, low voice. This style of soothing, sentimental singing would heighten in popularity during wartime. We know this is as ‘crooning’.

Hear the words ‘The Big Apple’ and you’ll probably soon think of New York City. But did you know The Big Apple was also the name of a dance craze that swept the USA in the 1930s? The Big Apple was the name of an African American nightclub in Columbia, South Carolina. The story goes that three young white teenagers attended the club and saw group of dancers, in the centre of the dancefloor, doing jazz steps in sync.

Picture a barn dance but people dancing solo, in a circle, ‘hokey cokey’ style, and cross it with fast, live big band swing music. What have you got? The Big Apple! These teenagers told their friends, who told their friends, and soon, the dance now known as The Big Apple had crossed over into popular white culture. African Americans had known how cool this was for years but it was in 1937 that the dance was featured in Life Magazine and President Roosevelt himself saw it being danced by his family. It would also feature in many Hollywood movies. 

The routine immortalised in the 1939 film Keep Punchin (footage above) is the one reprised by swing dancers today. Back then the steps would continually change, improvisation being an inherent feature of dances of the jazz age and swing era. Another essential group activity in swing scenes globally is the ‘jam circle’. The dancers form a circle and clap (on the 2 and the 4) and those brave enough go into the middle and strut their stuff. Best practice when starting at this is: spend 1 or 2 bars of music to establish your place in the centre, 2 to 4 bars to showcase your killer move(s) and then begin your awesome exit!When the big bands slowed things down, the dancers reacted accordingly, and used their Ballroom dance skills to create a style called ‘Ballroomin’. According to livinghistorydance.com, Ballroomin’ Blues was ‘characterised by traveling (across the dancefloor)...(doing) large moves and fancy turns’. Imagine dancing a fast Charleston to a slow piece of music… Doesn’t quite work, does it? Ballroomin’ suited slow jazz, and is still alive and well at Swing and Traditional Blues events when the bands play slower numbers.

These days the term ‘Swing Dancing’ tends to be an umbrella term for dances done to swing music. However, back in the 1930s, Swing was actually a form of dance that teenagers on the west coast did. They did the Charleston steps they knew but added syncopation and flexibility to match the more ‘swung’ rhythms as increasingly played by the dance bands. It developed at the same time in history to practically the same soundtrack, but was distinct from Lindy Hop that we featured last month. 

The adult Bal dancers tended to keep together in a closer, chest to chest connection - not least because the crowded ballrooms effectively restricted dancers to on the spot shuffle steps. The Balboa Rendezvous Ballroom packed in 5000 dancers! 

Courtesy of balboarendezvous.com

Dancers would get dressed in their finest suits and dresses - the ladies showing off shapely calves with fancy frocks and high heels. Dance-off style cash prize competitions sprang up across the entire LA & Orange County areas. In addition to the dances mentioned so far, Collegiate Shag would also make appearances during this decade. 

As the 1930s drew to a close, economic woes were being compounded by the impending world war. The sumptuous outfits and excesses of the Jazz Age would go out of favour and it would soon be time to ‘make do and mend’.

Next month: The 1940s


Velody uses her extensive knowledge about dance to help you maximise your comfort and fun on the dancefloor. Find out more and listen to her swingin’ album at www.velody.co.uk