Novelty dances

The Duck in 1965- Jackie Lee....

1960-The Twist,Chuby Checker

The Pony-1961-Chuby Checker

The Bird-1963-Dee Dee Sharp,I think.

How about 1962-The Mash Potato-Dee Dee Sharp.

There was the Watusi, the Ska, and the Monkey. All performed by Jay,Bob &

the Hawks-1964,I'm not sure if they originated these tunes.

1962-The Locomotion-Little Eva

1960-The Twist-Chubby Checker, dance-The Twist

1961-Its Pony Time-Chubby Checker, Dance-The Pony

1962-The LocoMotion-Little Eva, Dance-The Locomotion

1963-Hitch Hike-Marvin Gaye, Dance-The Hitch Hike

1964-Where Did our Love Go-Supremes, Dance-The Baby Baby(from the repeated

chorus that goes "baby, baby")

1965-Do the Freddie-Freddie and the Dreamers, dance-the Freddie

1966-Hanky Panky-Tommy James and the Shondells, dance-the Hanky Panky

1967-The Camel Walk-James Brown, Dance-the Camel Walk

1968-Tighten Up-Archie Bell and the Drells, Dance-The Tighten Up

1969-The Popcorn-James Brown, dance-The popcorn

The movie Hairspray,it had all those dances in it.Were they all made up? Or was there really that many dances going on at the same time.Example-The Roach,The Bug?

Yes, they were real - somewhere I have an interview with John Waters in which he discusses all the work that went into choreographing them.

You can see a few more dances from that era - even though the movie is actually set in 1980 - in the "dancing in the street" scene (Ray Charles' performance of "Shake A Tail Feather") in the first Blues Brothers movie. I also recommend the "Chicago Black Dance" chapter in Robert Pruter's _Chicago Soul_.

And don't forget, if you watch the old reruns of "The Addams Family" on Nick at Nite, once in a while Gomez does his favorite, "The Freddie".

1960 Twist "The Twist", Chubby Checker

Madison "The Madison Time", Ray Bryant Combo

1961 Pony "Pony Time", Chubby Checker

1962 * Twist "The Twist", Chubby Checker; "Peppermint

Twist", Joey Dee; "Twist And Shout",

Isley Brothers

Watusi "The Wah-Watusi", Orlons

Mashed Potatoes "Mashed Potato Time", Dee Dee Sharp

1963 Monkey "Monkey Time", Major Lance **

Dog "Walking The Dog", Rufus Thomas

1964 Swim "C'mon And Swim", Bobby Freeman

1965 Jerk "The Jerk", the Larks

Twine "Twine Time", Alvin Cash & the Crawlers

1966 Philly Dog "Philly Dog", Mar-Keys

1967 Boogaloo "Boogaloo Down Broadway", Fantastic Johnny C

1968 ***

1969 Popcorn "The Popcorn", "Mother Popcorn", et. al.,

James Brown

1970 Funky Chicken "Do The Funky Chicken", Rufus Thomas

I read thru the posts and nobody mentioned "The Skate". The hit song to go with it in NY was called Skate Now by Lou Courtney, reached # 11 on WMCA and for a few months there everybody was doing it in the clubs in NY. (remember you only had to be 18 to drink back then in NY!) ---Ken

: *** Archie Bell and the Drells' "Tighten Up" and Cliff Nobles and Co.'s
: "The Horse" were both major hits in 1968, but I'm not sure whether or
: not the eponymous dances ever caught on

There was a dance called the Tighten Up and the Horse. The Horse was a take off on the Camel walk. It was very difficult to tell the difference between these two dances. There were hunders, if not thousands, of dances in the '60's. Not all of them caught on nationally. The post didn't say very popular dances nationwide, it just said dances from the '60's associated with a song. The Shotgun by Junior Walker is another good example. People in my town did that dance all the time.

During the early and mid '60's there were new dances every week. As new songs came out so did a dance to go along with it. Only a few dances lasted more than just a few weeks. Usually when the song faded so did the dance. The was the Hully Gully, The Box, Sissy Strut, the James Brown, and many others that were not very popular and faded with the songs. I don't know where the dances went but they slowed down in the '70's and almost came to a halt in the '80's.

Resources

This file is part of the FAQ list for the newsgroup rec.arts.dance. The FAQ list is being maintained by Victor Eijkhout (victor at eijkhout dot net, talk about vanity), who appreciates being sent additions or corrections on the material in this collection. Copyright 1994-2001 lies with the maintainer and the contributors of various parts.

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Last modified on: 2001, Tuesday February 6.

URL: http://www.eijkhout.net/rad/dance_specific/novelty.html