In New York, from 1919-1927, Harlems African American dancers devised a new dance – the Breakaway -- a popular swing dance developed from a combination of elements drawn from the Texas Tommy and Charleston. **The Breakaway was danced to jazz. While it often began in closed position, the leader would occasionally swing the follower out into an open position, hence Breaking away. Like Jazz, when in open position the dancers would improvise with fancy moves. Some variations included both dancers completely breaking away from each other to dance alone. ( the new dance kept the essential concept of the Texas Tommy – a turning Two-Step with swing outs releasing the woman to a single handhold – and simplified the footwork from three different steps to just one.) Video: popularized by Hollywood, as in this 1929 film: youtube/watch?v=BqSN-PVwiL8
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 05:59:47 +0000
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