- Jazz music contained an energy never felt in music before and it quickly swept the nation. Some jazz evolved from blues and contained the deeper, more grinding sounds of the blues that had begun in the southern slave states. Other jazz songs had the fast, bouncing rhythm of ragtime influences. Composer Irving Berlin had a worldwide hit with the song "Alexander's Ragtime Band," which blended ragtime with new jazz sounds. Another revelation for music in the '20s was the phonograph record. People bought records of their favorite songs by the millions and could listen and dance at home.
- Peppy new music styles inspired peppy dances to go along with them. The Charleston was the dance sensation of the decade and is synonymous with the flapper era. Ladies wore knee-length dresses with swinging embellishments such as fringe for better movement during the dance. The basic Charleston step consisted of pivoting on one foot while kicking forward, then stepping back with the other. Couples held one hand while dancing and faced each other for steps such as crossing their hands over their knees. The Lindy Hop was another version of the dance, which included an added hop step and was named for aviator Charles Lindbergh. The fox-trot was a fast-paced dance, which consisted of the couple trotting quickly in time to the music.
- Not every dance was fast in the '20s. Couples also went wild for dramatic slow dances, some of which were rather scandalous for the time. The waltz, which was a graceful dance with its origins in Vienna and the courts of Europe, was considered daring in the early 1900s because couples held each other so closely. Couples pushed the boundaries of taste even further when they began dancing the rather steamy Latin tango. By the time the dances became trendy in the "anything goes" era of 1920s America, though, the dances were considered more mainstream.
- Dance marathons were a huge trend in the '20s. Social clubs everywhere hosted the events, which went on for days, even weeks, and offered the winning couples prizes and money. The contests of endurance consisted of a floor filled with couples wearing numbers on their back. They had to keep moving and could not stop, according to the rules. The couples were given breaks to nap and were even fed while on their feet dancing. Dance marathons cost an average of around 25 cents for spectators, and a well-attended, well-sponsored marathon could yield hundreds of dollars in prize money, a princely sum for the time.
- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -