Dance Music History
The ONE American Pop Song of:
Intro - Some 8-bar phrases - Exit
Goes WAY Back
The earliest roots are in Negro Spirituals.
"Mary Don't You Weep", as just one example, has been dated back to the Civil War and beyond.
Dances to the ONE American Pop Song date back
just as far. Plantation / CakeWalk dances go back
to slave days. There was strong element of black servants and slaves making fun of the fancy dress balls they were serving at the plantations (think Gone With The Wind and other similar scenes).
Cake Walk moves remained powerful in black culture well into the 1920s. Moves from those continued into modern dances, including Hip Hop.
American Pop Music and Dance were self-referencing
and self-reinforcing. Musicians learned that our bodies LOVE the ONE American Pop Song. Dancers soon started playing with it. The Musicians in turn added effects and relishes to empahsize what the dancers were doing.
In one of the richest, most ironic circles of American Pop Dancing, vaudeville Black Face dancers of the early 20th century often did Cake Walk moves to make fun of black people.
I am completely unclear about whether they knew the Cake Walk / Plantation dancers were making fun of the pretentious ballroom dancing of their White masters?
Scott Joplin, in the 1899, was the first mass expression of the ONE American Pop Song - in the form of Ragtime. He was the 1st mega Black star, changing all American culture, while becoming popular around the world.
The Charleston dance, like Ragtime, was the first true American dance that changed the world.
It was first performed to The Charleston song, in the all black cast Broadway musical, The Charleston, in 1924. It had heaping doses of Cake Walk moves and Ragtime syncopation... and people's feet were bouncing!
Swing dancing was a purely Black American invention, starting with a group of young Harlem kids
in the late 20s / early 30s, dancing at the Cotton Club and the Savoy.
Minstrel Show /Black Face History
Warning: the "comedy" in these is gross. The dancing: amazing!
Glenn Turnbull, dancing at 1:00
..... is there early Moon Walk there?
This documntary is a super clear explanation of the early evolution of the ONE American Pop Song.
Joplin was largely forgotten by the 1970s, when Joshua Rifkin resurrected his songs, and the Sting movie made them mega hits again. Ihas the good fortune to meet Rifkin when he was touring in 1973, just before the movie came out.