We didn’t get much chance to dance to rock’n’roll in the 1950s, despite being dressed for the part.
First because it wasn’t considered decent or proper (especially for grammar school girls), all that swinging around in a full skirt, & secondly because, trained as we were to dance to the strict ballroom tempo of Victor Sylvester meant the rhythm did not come that easy. Only a few brave boys would dare to risk it, & then they would ask only the most confident extrovert girls.
Or we might be exposed to the music only in the cinema – we weren’t teddy boys, dancing in the aisle & ripping up seats to make space. But you had to do something with all that rhythm.
You could always stay decorously seated & do the hand jive, even with just a group of girl friends.
Another quote from the OED:
The fossilised remains of juke boxes and female frolic skeletons in paper-nylon slips.
Link
Hand jive!
Related post
The power of music
Hand jive!
Related post
The power of music
