Young Boomers danced a lot. We danced in the gym at lunch hour and again on Friday nights at dance hops after football games. We danced at private gatherings of our friends in basements and garages and we danced at the swimming pool, community centers and country clubs. Until August 6, 1960, we did one of three dances – the jitterbug, the stroll or a slow dance.
But on that fateful afternoon, live on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, an artist names Chubby Checker sang and did The Twist and America was taken by storm.
The song, The Twist, was written by Hank Ballard in 1958. Ballard saw some dancers at one of his concerts really wiggling their hips and that inspired him to write the song. It was the B-side of Ballard’s single – “Teardrops on Your Letter”. Unfortunately, Ballard had a less-than-stellar reputation and was unable to generate any interest in the song. It was Dick Clark who encouraged Cameo-Parkway records to find a new singer and to re-release the song. Chubby Checker was selected as the vocalist, he added his own steps and interpretation and within weeks, all of America was doing the twist.
The Twist was extremely popular because, unlike the jitterbug, there were no fancy steps. All you had to do is stand in one spot, wiggle your hips and try to stay in rhythm with the music.
Someone once described the twist as pretending you were stamping out a cigarette with one foot while swiveling your hips to the music.
The Twist had an extraordinarily long run. But The Twist soon gave way to new and ever changing dances. So many that it became really impossible to keep up.
There was the Mashed Potato, The Watusi, The Swim, The Funky Chicken, The Bird, The Fly, The Monkey, The Dog, The Frug, The Pony and countless others. At the end, no one knew what anyone else was doing. Nor did they seem to care. It was controlled chaos on the dance floor.
Then, in the late sixties, along came Soul Music with a beat so smooth, even white boys could dance, and it made no difference what the steps you did. It was impossible not be able to dance to Soul Music. And that, my friends, was the official end of the Twist and all the silly offshoots.
Still, every now and then, you’ll see some Boomers out on the dance floor wiggling their hips to “Let’s Twist again, like we did last year.”