Jazz, blues and nostalgia. ‘The world is a dance party’, part 2.
During the last century the world has seen many dance crazes. Driven by hood and haunting, or slow sensual music. Charleston, jitterbug, racoon, heebie jeebies, piccolino, twist, creep, bossa nova, flat foot floozie – one dance had not been learned or the next was already taking its place. We take an hour-long look at these crazes and what they can trigger. From explosive dances from the ‘Roaring Twenties’ till Francisco Lomuto with a tango dripping with melancholy, the athletic Nicholas Brothers, elegant music from the dance movies of Fred Astaire & Ginger Rodgers, the tragic story behind the ‘Tennessee Waltz’, the witty duo Slim & Slam, comedian Tom Lehrer with ‘The Masochisme Tango’, June Christy about her dancing upstairs neighbour, Vic Damone, Doris Day, a swinging Artie Shaw, Blossom Dearie who won’t dance and the legendary Mr. Bojangles. In short, love and sorrow on the dance floor.
Producer and presenter:
