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1900
The first decade saw little change from the 19th century forms of dance in England, with two new exceptions. The Two Step, the American equivalent of the chassé popular in the 1890’s and danced to John Philip Sousa’s Washington Post March became more popular. Secondly, the Boston, a new style of waltz, emerged in the 1890’s and became popular in England by 1910-11. -
The 1920’s
The post-war version, called the
French Tango was more standardised and gained popularity when Rudolph Valentino dance it in the 1921 film, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It is, of course, still danced today. -
The 1930’s
Trying to dance the Depression away helped support a waning social dance scene. 1930's swing dances included the Lindy hop, also called the hop, the jitterbug, and the jive. Film musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, plus the influx of Latin rhythms, helped keep people on the dance floor. -
The 1940’s
During the 40’s the Jitterbug, with its “can’t sit still” movements, was spread throughout Europe by American GI’s. It was characterised by the movement from close hold to dancing at arm’s length from the partner. It was followed by the Boogie Woogie and later the Jive. Swing was king of all the 1940's dances. Morphing from the Jitterbug into the European Jive and the American triple time swing, Swing was the dance of the decade. -
The 1950’s
The release of Rock Around the Clock in 1955 created tremendous public interest, especially among teenagers. This was called jitterbug, or swing, Lindy, the rock'n'roll, boogie-woogie or Bop. The word Bop was new then, so almost everything was called the Bop. The generations drifted apart, with teen culture embracing Rock, Jive and eventually the Twist (thanks partly to Elvis Presley). -
The 1960’s and 70’s – Back to the Modern Social Dance Scene
Both Rock and Latin (including the Cuban Bossa Nova) continued into the 60’s, but the most important dance was the American-born Twist craze, which made solo dancing the rage. This dance is unique among famous dances in the sixties in being a line dance. Dancers take instruction from the song, performing hip swings and jumps, among other steps. The teens loved it for its simplicity and individuality and “over 40’s” loved it too. It was even danced by the Royals.