Dance and Popular Culture in the United States: Lesson: The Charleston to The Juke Joint
Overview
This is a Module on The Charleston and Juke Joints from a course on Dance and Popular Culture in the United States. This module includes videos about The Harlem Renaissance as well as clips of the dances. The second section is a study guide the includes reading suggestions.
The Charleston to the Juke Joint
Dance and Popular Culture in the United States:
Lesson: The Charleston to The Juke Joint
The Charleston
In the 1920's The Charleston took over both the stage as well as the social space. The Charleston is yet another dance that was invented by African Americans. It is thought to have roots in the dances of Black slaves from Charleston, N.C., hence the name. Once it made its way to New York, the world was never the same. The dance caused an uproar wherever it went - done in short dresses - with legs kicking into space, shoulders shrugging at a fast pace, and knees moving from side to side - the youth of the U.S. and even abroad, could not get enough.
The 1920's
This era was a time when upwardly mobile whites were enjoying an economic boom and white women were enjoying more freedom due to the 19th Amendment and the invention of birth control.
This was the era of The Harlem Renaissance - an era in which African Americans in New York were creating art, music, literature, and dance that would be celebrated for decades to come, and that would influence all of the art, music, literature, and dance that we see today.
Harlem was one of the only places in the country where people of all races could come together and dance and listen to Jazz music. The most popular spaces being: The Cotton Club and The Savoy.
About the Harlem Renaissance:
Josephine Baker
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Josephine Baker was a dancer, actor, and Civil Rights activist. She made The Charleston Famous throughout the world.
Dancing the Charleston:
Various Clips of the Charleston:
Juke Joints
Juke Joints were spaces for African Americans in the rural south to make music and dance that was their own. This is where The Blues was born, and hence a new style of dancing - free flowing, musical, and based on the sensuality of the couple.
Dancing at the Juke Joint:
Blues music and Jazz music begat the dances that we know and love today: The Lindy Hop and Swing Dancing.
Blues Dancing (1940's - 1950's):
Who was Al Minns?:
The Charleston to the Juke Joint Study Guide
The Charleston to the Juke Joint (1920’s - 1950’s)
The Harlem Renaissance
Why were music and dance venues like the Cotton Club important at this time?
Name two things that you saw in the video footage of the Cotton Club that could be of significance in the context of U.S.history:
Define what you think the phrase “ purveyors of cool” means:
Name 5 reasons the Harlem Renaissance was an important time and place in U.S. history:
The Charleston
Describe three qualities of the Charleston as danced by Josephine Baker(aesthetic, costuming, movement quality):
Describe three qualities of the Charleston as danced in the proceeding video (clips of the Charleston):
Compare and contrast the Charleston with 2 popular dances of the past decade:
The Juke Joint
Why is the Delta Blues important in the history of music and dance in the U.S.?
Describe the dancing that you see in the Juke Joint in the footage of this film from the 1940’s:
Compare what you see in these videos of Blues and Swing/Lindy Hop dancing in three different styles of dancing the we do today:
Read: "Strereotype Reinforcement or Empowerment: Dancing Black Bodies in the Harlem Ranaissance" by: Asiam From The Princeston University Commons. January 24, 2017.
Discuss the complexity of Black entertainers’ performances during the Harlem Renaissance in terms of Blackface and Minstrelsy.
Read: "The Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, Ney York, 1930" by: Harlem World Magazine. October 27. 2014.
Name three reasons why The Savoy Ballroom was significant to both dance and human history: