It's the Shim Shammiest!

"And you push it and you push it and you… cross over…"

The Shim Sham!  If you've been around the lindy hop scene for a while, chances are you've had this happen to you at a dance: a medium-tempo swing song comes on, but by the time you've picked out your target partner in the crowd, they and half the dance floor have lined up haphazardly in the middle of the room and are doing crazy dance moves you can't even hope to replicate.  Then you go home and watch a YouTube tutorial on repeat until you've got your crazy dance moves perfectly in time, and hope that that great song comes on again at the next dance!

But that's just the moves; what about the heart?  What makes the Shim Sham the shim-shammiest?

It turns out, the Shim Sham got its start as the Goofus, a choreographed tap dance routine invented in

the late 1920s.  It has remained a staple in tap dance, with a few variations created by different dancers.  Lindy-hoppers at the Savoy Ballroom picked up the dance, without the tap shoes, and created some of their own variations, but the dance didn't become hugely popular until Frankie Manning created his version in the 1980s.

The Frankie Manning Shim Sham takes the original Goofus Shim Sham's moves -- double shuffles, crossovers, Tacky Annies, and half breaks -- and adds to them boogie forwards, boogie backs, and Shorty Georges.  After the choreography ends, the dancers grab a partner to finish out the song, sometimes with "Freeze!"s called out in the music.

Today, the Shim Sham is often danced to "Tain't What You Do" by Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra or "The Shim Sham Song" by The Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra.  A version of "Stompin' at the Savoy" with the George Gee Band features Manning himself calling out the moves.

If you want to learn the Shim Sham, there are plenty of YouTube tutorials available, or you can come out to the Monarch Ballroom on October 1st and learn it before the First Coast Blues and Lindy Society's monthly dance!

-Alison

And as always we'd love to see you this Sunday night at the Volstead! First time on the swing dance floor? The Dance shack will be teaching a free beginner East Coast Swing Lesson starting at 7PM sharp. There's always plenty of street parking available.

The Dance floor opens up right around 8:00 PM!
As always, there is no cover to enter! Swing Dance Sunday is 21+.

Address:
The Volstead
115 W Adams St, Jacksonville, Florida 32202

Frankie Manning YouTube tutorial:

Chaz Young and Frankie Manning Messing Around Shim Sham

T'aint what you do its the way you do it!

A funny modern spoof of the Goofus Dance

References:
The Short Story of The Shim Sham.
The Shim Sham.
History of Shim Sham.
Shim Sham.