Dancing is a lot like singing. You can just tell those who can do it well and those who can’t. However, there are individual dances that folks may not be too familiar with because they’ve become forgotten by newer generations.
It’s always fun watching young people react to dancing from those olden days, as many are blown away by the incredible skill and rhythm of folks who now are in their golden years. One such dance was the Charleston, performed during the 1920s this dance with perhaps the signature dance of the "swing” era of music. And at the time, this dance was considered quite risque.
While the U.S had a prohibition on alcohol during those days, Denmark actually tried to ban certain types of dancing, such as the Charleston. The local religious and political leaders knew they couldn’t halt a specific form of dancing, so they prohibited men from asking women to dance. Seriously, police had to patrol clubs to catch any man asking a woman to dance!
Fortunately, the folks eventually saw the light and lifted the ban. But now it’s rare to see dances like the Charleston practice in modern-day dance clubs. However, one young lady named Ksenia Parkhatskaya decided to bring back the Charleston in a big way when she became a contestant on the Ukraine version of "So You Think You Can Dance.” She started out by singing the song "They All Laughed,” with some the judges snapping along to her smooth jazzy voice.
But soon, she broke into a full Charleston dance and really cut loose! Some of her moves would put modern-day dancers to shame.
You can watch the full video of her performance below.
