Big Apple (dance)
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The Big Apple is both partner dance and line dance originated in the Afro-American community of the United States of the beginning of the 20th century.
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Origins of the Big Apple
Despite its name the Big Apple did not actually originate in New York. It evolved and first became recognized as a dance form in Columbia, South Carolina. Putting an exact date to the creation of a dance is always difficult. It seems most likely to have formed in the early 1930's with the dance slowly gaining popularity and spreading into other areas of South Carolina through to the mid 1930's. At that time of racial segregation the dance evolved solely in the African American community. However, as with many dances of the era it was soon picked up by the whites and quicky gained popularity and became more widespread as a result.
Betty Wood, an original white Big Apple dancer said "It all began at an abandoned synagogue that had been turned into a Juke Joint". In 1930 she was aged sixteen and heard music coming from a juke joint when out driving with friends. They went in and were allowed onto a mezzanine reserved exclusively for whites. The racial segregation of the time meant there was no mixing of races (particularly in the deep South). The main floor and dance area were only for African-Americans with the whites confined to watching from a mezzanine above. They were inspired by watching the dancers doing lots of different Jazz steps and improvisations on the floor below them. They recognized some of the steps as coming from other dances they already knew such as the Charleston, Black Bottom, and the original 8-count Collegiate Shag.
They came away with the idea of a dance made up of individual jazz steps, performed in a circle, as called by a leader. The dance was an instantaneous hit in the white community with people coming to South Carolina from all over the country to see the new Big Apple dance they'd heard about. There are also accounts that after a while a new variation developed called the "Little Apple". This form involved fewer dancers and people would take it in turns to grab a partner and move to the center of the circle and dance for a while in styles similar to Lindy Hop, Shag, or other dances of the era.
Moves
The moves are frequently used in Lindy Hop. This is also used as a warm up before Lindy Hop classes. Note that the moves are very 8-count centered, like tap dance. That is, they almost all start on count 8.
Apple Jacks:
Break a Leg:
Break Step:
London Bridge:
Shout: Open arms wide.
Swivels: Swivels while walking.
Spank the Baby:
Tick Tock:
Truckin: Step left, twist left, step right, twist right, and continue. Usually the index finger of the right hand points up, over the shoulder.
Pose and Peck: Put hands on hips, and do pecking with head.
Scarecrow: First 4 counts are Charleston basic. Second 4 counts, put upper arms straight out to side, and let forarms dangle loosely, and tilt head to side. Often the feet are slightly apart, with the knees drooping together.
Shorty George: Named for George Snowden.
Little Apple:
Little Peach:
Hitch Hike:
Boogie Back:
Boogie Forward:
Suzy Q: Walk sideways with bent knees, swivelling the forward foot on the heel.
Praise Allah: ?
Rusty Dusty: Hold pant legs up and shake the dust out of them.
Charleston: See solo Charleston moves.
Fall Off the Log:
Related Dances
The Big Apple could be broadly considered to be a line dance. However it has much more in common with the afro-american vernacular partner dances of the early part of the century through to the 1930's and 40s. Such dances as the Cakewalk, Black Bottom, Charleston, Lindy Hop, share both similar elements and also a common underlying improvisational spirit.
Examples
Frankie Manning (and Herbert "Whitey" White) choreographed a version of this dance for the movie Keep Punchin, which featured Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. See the external links for the video of the movie.
See also Big apple (dance move)
References
- The "Origins of the Big Apple" section uses the material from the Big Apple history (http://www.lindycircle.com/history/big_apple/), with the author's permission.
External links
- streetswing.com dance history archises (http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3bigapl.htm)
- Keep Punchin video (http://www.brotherswing.com/IMG/avi/joe2-n.avi)