Dancing shoes – Part Three(Jive to Disco)

Cameron Kippentoeslayer2000@yahoo.com.au

War played a major role increating the cult of theteenager.

For the first time teenagershad disposable income

Saturday nights, crowds ofteenage kids converged ontheir local dancehalls.

Bobby Sox and Loafers

An absent father andworking mother attributedto the alienated workingclass teenagers whoroamed the streets atnight creating havoc.

American teens started wearing motor cycle jacketsT-shirts, jeans and boots orpenny loafers.

Juvenile Delinquents

American Bandstand (1952-1989)

Dick Clark

The show featuredteenagers dancing to Top 40 music. Camera shotsIncluded dancers‘ feet soviewers could learn thedances.

By 1959 the show had aNorth American audienceof 20 million.

Post war youth had thrownoff the old image ofDancing locked together.

They no longer needed thedress as their forebearsbut instead wanted to befree to move.

Saddle shoes or sneakersbecame popular .

The Jive

Jive was the frankest portrayal of sex yet performed in public.

This was a hand dance associated with

rhythm and blues.

It resembled a highly elaborate version

of Pat-a-cake and involved aComplicated pattern of hand moves

and claps on various parts of the body,including thigh slapping, cross-wristslapping, fist pounding, hand

clapping,and hitch hike moves.

It became popular in intimate clubswhere there was no room for

dancing.

The Hand Jive

Sneakers

Canvas topped, rubber soled shoes became the fashion icon of rebellious youth.

Originally were to be called Peds(Latin for foot), but a problemarose when the name was

alreadya trademark.

Keds were worn by cheerleadersbut quickly were adapted to fastdancing.

Keds were worn with ankle socks,tight sweaters and short dirndlskirts called poodle skirts. Ponytails were popular among youngteenagers.

Keds

Sock Hops

The Bunny Hop was a

conga type dance.Participants held thehip of the person infront of them andmoved left fromright with their feet,as they hopped tothe beat.

Bunny Hob

The Bop consisted of couples facingeach other and jumping up and down. Asthey landed they ground their heels

loudlyinto the floor.

A laid back version was known as theSloppy and bopping while skipping in

placewas called the pony.

Doing the bop to other animal mimicrybecame the chicken, monkey, the dog andthe alligator. These were often banned

fromdance halls because they were consideredtoo risqué.

Bop, Slop and Stroll

The Wild One

Released in 1953, the movie wasiconic. Based on those disenfranchised ex-servicemen unable to adjust to

societyafter the Second World War their

waywardways held allure to would be

delinquents.

Brando's sartoria became popular withrebellious youths. His haircut inspired

acraze for sideburns and bikers’ bootsbecame popular.

The film was banned in the United Kingdom

for fourteen years.

Rock ‘n Roll

Alan Freed popularized the term Rock ‘n’ Roll in 1951

An acrobatic combination of the Lindy Hop and Jive

Blue Suede Shoes

The most famous shoes of the rock and roll era were Carl Perkin's Blue Suede Shoes. Although Elvis Presley had the big hit the credit was always given to Perkins for composing the song.

Shoes with attitudeThe shoes united the world’s youth inrebellion but the shoe styles werequite different in the US and the UK. InAmerican they were quality ‘pennyloafers as worn by preppies, whereasThe UK Teddy boys; German Halbstark;and French Blousans noirs wore thick crepe soled suede shoes, called Brothel Creepers.

Brothel Creepers were cheap andcrude shoes made specifically for the emerging youth market with soles more like platforms.

The Duck Walk

The famous Duck Walk was included on stage because the artist had a wrinkled suite. So popular it instantly became Berry’s trademark for live performances.

Chuck Berry

Teddyboys -unsubtle masculinity

Fingertip Jacket

Drain Pipes

Bootlace Tie

Brothel CreepersThe style favoured white rockabilly combined with Edwardian tailored jackets.

When the French designer Roger Viviercreated the Stiletto heel (4" in height) itbecame a fashion phenomena.  

The advent of seamless stockingswithout heel reinforcement brought thesling back into fashion.

Rising hemlines ensured legs were at aPremium.

High heels were considered symbols ofPlayful defiance, and heightened sexuality,and the shoes became the trademark of

thenaughty girl.

The Stiletto

Despite their bad reputation by the end of the 50's stilettos were the only shoes a fashionable woman wore.

Skiffle & the Beat Generation

UK Skiffle did not contribute significantly to popular music per se, but did give prominence to the guitar. Beatniks were unconventional and followed the beat generation as typified by Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kourack.

Modern dance put stress on torso using contact-release, floor work, fall and recovery, and improvisation. It was usually performed in bare feet, often with non-traditional costuming.

The popularity oftransistor radiossparked a change inpopular musiclistening habits,allowing people tolisten to musicanywhere they

went.

Transister Radios

Cha Cha Cha

The Cha Cha Cha originated in Cuba and was danced withelbows bent at right angles,chest puffed, feet shufflingsnugly side by side. The 'cha‘embodied the dance's extrastep rhythm.

The dance was popular withold and young because itallowed youngsters to displayindividualism and older peopleWere already familiar with thedance steps of the mambo andrumba.

Come Dancing

The burst of newly invented dances andimproved sound systems meant there was a upsurge in ballroom dancing which had enormous appeal to the over 25 age

group.

Professionals like Lionel Blair analyzed,codified, published and taught a number

ofstandard dances.

In the UK Come Dancing (BBC) ran on and off from 1949 to 1998, becoming one of television's longest-running shows. Theformat of the newer show has beensuccessfully exported to other countriesunder the name Dancing with the Stars.

Lionel Blair dances with Cilla Black and Joe Loss

The twist required thedancer to move the shoes in a left and rightfashion as if stubbingout a cigarette, then tocombine this withswinging the arms andhips as if an imaginarytowel was drying theback.

Clothes became moretailored and suits were theorder of the day.

The Twist

Winkle Pickers and Slingbacks

Wrinkle pickers or needlepoint shoes replaced cumbersome crepe soled shoes. They were lightweight streamlined shoes with dandy looks yet menacingly dangerous.

The heel of the female foot was considered particularly erotic in the 60s and backless mules were all the rage.

The advent of seamless stockings without heel reinforcement brought the sling back into fashion.

Beat Music Between the years 1960-63 Tin Pan Alley moguls kept cash registers filled by adhering to the tried and tested systems of previous decades. Stifling originality a return to tailored suits and patent leather shoes was the stage fashion as the beat generation metamorphosed into the new Mersey Beat.

Brian Epstein had the original Beatle Boots custom made by stage clothiers.

Beatle Styles

In the early days of theBeatles wore Cuban heeledboots.

Needless to say the fashionbecame ubiquitous beforethe toes began to widen andthe Chelsea boot or chisel toebecame vogue.

The boots often incorporateda French seam or centralstitch running from ankle totoe on the upper.

Mini Skirts and Pantyhose

Dave Clark Five Beatles

Tights and mini skirts meant legs became the focus of attention and the longer the better.

Court style shoes took on in the sixties when Jacky Kennedy made them the shoe.

Women's hemlines became shorter matching the length of men's jackets. Tight fitting bolero suits (or bum freezers) for men and two piece outfits for women were accompanied with trendy slip-ons.

The Stones Bad Boys of Pop

If the Beatles were the conventional side of pop thenthe Stones were definitely not.

Anarchy ruled, or at least so itwas portrayed, and the scruffylads expressed theirindividualism on stage bywearing clothes that suited theirpersonality.

Perhaps the only physical link thatunited the five piece band was thesneakers they wore.

Mashed Potato and the Shake

The Shake The Mashed Potato

Mods and Rockers

In the mid-sixties exuberant youths divided into two rival factions: thenouveaux moderns or mods thatdanced to black music and woredesigner clothes; and Rockers,or neo Teddy boys.

Needless to say they did not enjoyeach other's company or theirfavourite music and took everyopportunity to rumble.

In England, Mods and RockersTerrorized coastal towns on BankHolidays with enormous runningfights on the beaches.

Shoes versus Boots

Mods wore designer shoesor light dessert boots toprotect their ankles fromthe hot exhausts of theirItalian scooters.

Rockers sported swashbuckling engineer boots. Their music was distinctly Rock & Roll and they listened to it on jukeboxes, drinking coke orexpresso, in coffee bars.

The Stomp

A form of Opvnkv Haco (a traditionaldance of the Indigenous American tribes),dancers went barefoot but was bannedfrom many clubs because of the noise.

The dance emphasized movements of thefeet and postures for the head but thearms were not considered important.

The dance was popular among beatniks,ton up boys (pre-rockers) and Australian

surfies.

Summer of Love By the late 60s most youngIdealists followed the road toEnlightenment and selfdiscovery. Many rejectedmaterialism displaying thissymbolically by goingbarefoot.

The sandal or foot thongBecame part of the acceptedoutfit along with kaftans,bells, loons and Afghancoats.

Bovver Boots

A counter unisex culture grew among working class youths who shaved their heads, wore tailored shirts, half mast Levi jeans and Dr Marten Boots.

Skinheads danced to Jamaican and Black American Soul.

By the 70s dancing took place within the confines of high tech disco's with light shows and glamorous settings.

Statuesque dancers needed to stand out and the fashion for elevated or platform shoes came to pass.

Disco

How about a pair of pink side windersAnd a bright orange pair of pants

You could really be a Beau Brummel, babyIf you just gave it half a chance

Don’t waste your money on a new set of speakersYou get more milage from a cheap pair of sneakers

Next phase new wave, dance craze, alwaysIts still rock and roll to me.

Billy Joel

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