1960s - The Twist
The Twist
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The twist is a classic social dance that people still have fun with today at weddings and special occasions with dancing involved. The song “The Twist” was written by Hank Ballard in 1955, but first played in 1959 after he saw teens dancing the twisting movements. This dance move was already discovered by teens before the move became famous. This social dance move became popular in the 1960’s because of the famous television show American Band Stand. One of the main characters in American Band Stand, Chubby Checker was hired to demonstrate the social dance “the Twist” to the song “The Twist.” After Chubby Checker performed the Twist on American Bandstand the social dance became an American favourite.
Maybe you’re wondering why this dance move created a phenomenon while other dancing styles did not. This social dance move traveled all over the world, but had a great impact on Americans because the Twist originated in the United States. The twist dance broke the gap between multiple generations of people dancing together. During the 1950’s dancing was seen as rebellious. Parents of children did not like or understand their “rock and roll” music, dancing, and change of hair and clothing. Once the twist was demonstrated older generations saw the effortlessness and innocence of the dance move. Everyone watched and learned how to dance the twist on American Band Stand so the dance move became trendy. The history before the Twist had a major impact on the popularity of the dance, but the simplicity of the dance move was also a factor.
