Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party

NOTE: This article was originally published in the American Dancer magazine May-July 2016 edition. I have included the article as it originally appeared below. If you have any questions, ideas, thoughts, or would like more of a certain type of source, please leave me a comment. If you would like to share part or all of this article on the web I only ask that you provide a link back to my cite DanceHistorian.com and USADance.org. For anyone wishing to quote or cite this work in an academic article I have provided APA Citation to make your job easier.

Citation: Outman, F. (2016, May-July). Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party. American Dancer, 2016 (60), 36. https://dancehistorian.com/mixing-it-up-the…cial-dance-party/
Citation: Outman, F. (2016, May-July). Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party. American Dancer, 2016 (60), 36. https://dancehistorian.com/mixing-it-up-the…cial-dance-party/
Citation: Outman, F. (2016, May-July). Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party. American Dancer, 2016 (60), 37. https://dancehistorian.com/mixing-it-up-the…cial-dance-party/
Citation: Outman, F. (2016, May-July). Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party. American Dancer, 2016 (60), 37. https://dancehistorian.com/mixing-it-up-the…cial-dance-party/

Citation: Outman, F. (2016, May-July). Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party. American Dancer, 2016 (60), 38. https://dancehistorian.com/mixing-it-up-the…cial-dance-party/Citation: Outman, F. (2016, May-July). Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party. American Dancer, 2016 (60), 38. https://dancehistorian.com/mixing-it-up-the…cial-dance-party/

5 Replies to “Mixing It Up! The Forgotten Art Of The Social Dance Party”

  1. Linda Restivo says:

    Thank you SO MUCH for this informative article. My mother and father were born in the mid 1920’s and were familar with all that was written here. I have only witnessed the “Paul Jones” in the movie “The Great Ziegfeld” and wished we could do so at our USA dance. The same with the Dance Cards in “Meet Me in St. Louis”. I have experienced the Grand March at my Victorian Dance Club. But at both my Social Dance (USA) and Victorian I feel something missing. I was the DJ for USA Buffalo for the past 4 years and most dancers themselves preferred NOT to participate in the MIXERS. We CAN get them up to dance for Line dances however. I even removed my playlists, if the floor empties on a specific dance, I quickly change the music to keep the floor full. Buffalo New York is a very active Dance town…with limited and sort of segregated dance groups. I am having a heck of a time trying to integrate new dances to attract new members without abandoning our core Ballroom Dancers….Now, we shall have 3 different DJ’s of course with all different styles and followings. I pray this increases interest in BALLROOM and does NOT segregate our group more. But we MUST do something to attempt to increase attendance. Thank you for the fantastic article….

    • So great to hear from a Buffalo dancer! Your city has always been dance mad, my maternal grandmother and great grandmother were both dancers in Buffalo. I’ve spend a good deal of time researching your area and it’s rich dance history. Crystal Beach was a mecca in it’s day for dancers. In fact there is a dance that was created there and one of the most athletic and impressive of the swing era, the Jeep. It’s lost now, but I plan to travel up there to document it…hopefully soon, as not many of the dancers of that era are still with us.
      I’ve done three DJ’s at events and would be happy to provide some suggestions for your dances.

      • Thank you! I have been doing the Dj-ing for USA for the past 4 or 5 seasons not sure, because it has gone so quickly and I LOVE volunteering for it, almost as much as finding music and creating the playlists! HOWEVER, I personally did away with the playlist. My background was working in Nightclubs (not many) and the goal was to keep the dance floor hopping. If a song is not filling the floor, then I must choose to fade it out quickly and find a better song. It always has worked! Thank you for the background regarding the Jeep. Too bad, you may be a bit late. My parents were BIG Dancers and would tell grand stories about the fantastic dances upon the Crystal Beach Boat with live bands and dance competetions. She passed probably 4 years ago now. Most of my relatives danced or were great Piano players. My mother came from 9 children and 1 out of 9 did not play! One Uncle learned by pumping the player piano very slowly and learning to follow the keys with his fingers!I digress, thank you for the excellent information and research regarding the Paul Jones!

      • Aaron Romano says:

        Forrest were you ever able to find more information about the Jeep or speak to some of the oldtimers who may have danced it in the Buffalo Area?

        • Yes I have learned more, but I haven’t documented it properly yet and plan to take a research trip there by years end. I was able to contact and interview a few jeep dancers via phone, turns out my great grandmother was a jeep dancer….too bad I never new while she was alive (I feel like such an idiot! I had no idea she danced, but my grandmother was a pro dancer and told me some memories from her childhood of those dances.)

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