29 October: The Charleston

On this date in 1923 the musical Runnin' Wild, which introduced the Charleston, opened on Broadway. 10 things you might not know about the Charleston.

1. The first people to dance the Charleston were African American people living on an island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina (hence the name) around 1903. The dances they did were based on dances people used to perform in Africa.
2. The dance came to the stage ten years before Runnin' Wild, in Harlem, New York, but at that time it didn't get much attention.
3. In Runnin' Wild, it was danced to a song called The Charleston by Jimmy Johnson and Cecil Mack.
4. It was different from most popular dances in that it started in the theatre and became popular, whereas most others were popular at social occasions first and were later adapted for stage performances.
5. The Charleston is a dance characterised by a series of kicks and up and down movements executed by knee bends.
6. The best music to dance it to is ragtime jazz in 4/4 time. It can be danced solo, with a partner or in a group.
7. Since 2009, the Charleston has featured on the TV show Strictly Come Dancing. That year, the show was won by Chris Hollins, who used the dance to his advantage, as a means of showing off his personality. He went on to win the contest.
8. One theory as to why a hedonistic dance like the Charleston became popular when it did is because it was a reaction against the grief and loss caused by the first world war the previous decade. People had had enough of mourning and wanted to enjoy themselves.
9. Needless to say, the church and the older generation hated it. One vicar in Bristol commented 'It stinks! Phew, open the windows', possibly because people worked up a sweat when dancing. There was even health scaremongering attached to it. The Charleston, they said, could give you twisted ligaments, water on the knee and even an overstrained heart.
10. The Charleston was even blamed for the collapse of a building in Boston in 1925. The building happened to contain a nightclub, and newspapers of the time reported that hundreds of people dancing the Charleston had been the direct cause of the collapse.

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