Ragtime theme for this years Brighton Fringe

The MyCharleston Speakeasy has been part of Brighton Fringe for three years, so this year we decided on a new theme, The Ragtime. We choose the title ‘Ragtime Razzle Dazzle’ and the creative planning began.

It was important for us that it remained an event for people who love to dress-up, party and dance. We thought rather than acts and performances we would create a series of happenings that draw people into a procession of dance and music.

Happy Flapper letting loose on the dance floor MyCharleston Speakeasy 2018

Elena and I are big fans of New Orleans marching bands, it’s such infectious music you can’t help moving to it. This early jazz style was a development from ragtime, so we thought we would start with some simple stride piano and then get the party started with a New Orleans inspired walkabout.

As we continued to dig into the archives we discovered a tradition called “Dance Taxis” which dates back to 1906. At socials you could hire these dancers to show you the latest dance moves. The MyCharleston Troupe will be on hand at to show you the latest moves and any tips will be donated to the charity Mind.

The Dance Taxi’s service will be hosted by the MyCharleston Troupe

If you’ve never been to the Spiegeltent it’s a truly magical venue - a circular tent with colored glass windows, seated booths and a dance floor at its centre. Being in the round makes it a very welcoming space to have a boogie with friends. As in previous year Elena and I will invite everyone onto the floor to learn the Charleston and a short fun routine.

The band will be keeping the dance floor stomping with our lively team of Charleston dancers. These cheeky ladies have a few surprises planned to keep everyone on their toes! I don't what’s going to happen but when it happens we’ll know it.

Re-inventing a successful event like the MyCharleston Speakeasy means taking risks. For Elena and I, the old saying “if ain’t broke don’t fix it” was in our minds as we decided what to keep and what to lose.

The Ragtime Razzle Dazzle definitely shifts the emphasis from performance to participation. Our biggest hope is that we create a space where people can just let go and dance.

See highlights from last years Speakeasy, Brighton Fringe 2018 and book now for next weeks event

Cheeky Charleston dancers go on protest in Portsmouth

Five cheeky Charleston dancers slipped into Knight & Lee and sneakily filmed a hat swapping dance sequence on the escalators. They then tried their luck dancing on the staircase before making a hasty retreat. Many people wished them well and said how much they would missed the store when it closes in July 2019.

Bouyed up by the support the dancers then stopped traffic with a chorus line number on the zebra crossing. This small but quirky demo against the closure of John Lewis was good humoured and entertaining. The organisers at MyCharleston said they wanted to capture the store's charm before it closed. The video they have made is a tribute to all the staff at Knight & Lee, Southsea.

Fiona, co-founder of MyCharleston said ‘we wanted to capture the store's charm before it closes. We are hoping the footage from Knight & Lee can be part of a bigger project called I Charleston the World.’

MyCharleston began five years ago by making a film called 'I Charleston Brighton' film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqaJcW7Redo

MyCharleston have been running dance classes in Portsmouth for over a year,they have been really successful with courses often selling out. The Portsmouth group are very lively and always up for fun projects. The 'I Charleston Portsmouth' film will be set to a tune called 'Are You All Reet' by Cab Calloway. it's perfect for Pompey as it sums up the catch phrase 'All Reet'

Learn Itches: Charleston Move of the Week

In this move, you are creating the illusion that a strange itch is travelling around your body. As you reach to scratch your body make contorted shapes, with lots of bent elbows, turned in knees and cross body movements.

You can make really big shapes or understated but your face must show that something has 'taken over' your body. So you're going need to act your little socks off for this move!

The movements are quite sharp and staccato and the feet can stay on the spot or you can travel slightly with this move. Ultimately it's an improv mood so it's not codified what shapes you make or how you style them.

My main tip is you need to be fully committed, if you hold back a bit then you can end up looking odd!

Sneak Preview: Litte Bird Charleston Course

Each term we make each course as unique as possible with new moves and music to match. This spring, we taken inspiration from Rose Murphy’s song ‘A Little Bird Told Me’ originally recorded in 1947. The theme is inspired by ‘bird like movement’ which provides much of the character for the dance. The song itself is very soft and lyrical, with Rose Murphy distinctive voice which is both quirky and beguiling.

For a glimpse of what’s coming up Elena and I went to the studio to show you the steps…

As you can see in the video, there are a number of classic ‘bird’ moves in Charleston that we explore in this terms dance including: Pecking step, Chicken Walks and the Birdie Flap, a move made famous by Charleston dancing superstar Josephine Baker in the 1920s. 

The course also provides you with the opportunity to perform on a large stage at this years Take Part in Preston Park Brighton on the 23 June. I have already been asked if we will be dressing like birds and I think it’s safe to say that might be taking the theme a bit too far, hopefully the moves will speak for themselves.

Take Part 2018

The other theme we are exploring in this routine is circles, which I have to say are surprisingly challenging! I tested out the Ceilidh inspired weave around the circle exercise at my sister St Patrick’s Day party and they soon had it down.  It was great to see it working and I think we will have a lot of fun mastering the circle. 

As always, we have also pulled out some great tracks inspired by birds and flying for this course from classic tunes like Flying Home to Bird of Prey Blues by Coleman Hawkin. 

Fiona x



Learn Happy Feet: Charleston Move of the Week

Happy Feet is a quirky move, in which the feet seem to be moving as if by magic. This is definitely a ‘practice at home’ move and it may take a while to get the knack. 

Happy Feet is a quirky move, in which the feet seem to be moving as if by magic. This is definitely a ‘practice at home’ move and it may take a while to get the knack. 

Start with the feet in parallel and by practice rolling your weight between the heel and the ball of the foot, then try this in opposition.

Now bring the heels together and turn the toes out, as if your impersonating Mary Poppins. You can begin with what we call 'Happy Foot' so just rotate the toes of one foot out and then repeat on the other side.

Now try it by alternating between the ball and heel of the foot. There is nothing natural about this movement but, just like when you learn to play something like Bach on the piano, you have to piece it together slowly and eventually it will start to flow.

Happy Feet is a fabulous move and it feels so nice once you've mastered it. Once you do it will be one of you go to moves when your free styling - mainly because it's not as exhausting as many other moves.

Good luck and let us know how you got on - if you do master it please send us your videos!

Learn Shoe Shine: Charleston Move of the Week

This move does what it says on the tin, you are pretending to shine your shoes, so it's as much mime as it is dance and has a strong historical context.

You begin by presenting the foot, lean back and wipe the hand across as if polishing your shoe. You can the hop jump to switch sides to clean the other shoe (cause you'd look odd with just one shinny shoe!) and again flick the hands 4 times as if cleaning your shoes. This is a great move to master, so try it around the house or next time you shoes need cleaning!

Everything you need to know - Great Gatsby’s Silent Disco

I went to my first Silent Disco 3 years ago, I was a bit skeptical and really couldn’t see what wearing headphones would add to the party experience. I was pleasantly surprised, the having music played to you directly through headphones was amazing.

The first thing I noticed was it was much easier loose my inhibitions, it was like dancing round my own living room. At the same time seeing other people getting down to the same tune gave me a direct connection with them on the dancefloor. The final bonus was when a tune didn’t rock my world, I could switch channels until I found something which did move me to dance.

Silent Disco in the street

Last year Elena and I went on a walkabout silent disco through the streets of Brighton, everyone sang their hearts out as they danced around town much to the entertainment of onlookers.

It was after this experience Elena and I started to think about running our own vintage event. The beauty of this is that we are not stuck in one decade of music and as much as we adore 1920’s jazz it’s hard to find quality recordings and dancing the Charleston for 3 hours would be truly exhausting!

The opportunity of having 3 channels meant we could have one offering music pics from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. Another channel with a mix of electro-swing and modern jazz fusion. Finally we decided the third channel would be music which of black origin, early jazz has been the foundation for many styles of music such as funk, soul and hip-hop. This meant we could offer something modern without deviating entirely from the theme.

Great Gatsby’s Silent Disco is happening at the One Church, a venue we love and where they often run Ceilidhs. It is a great space for a dance event as it has loads of room to dance and yet the lighting is ambient and atmospheric. It will definitely be a dress-up and dance event and we are hoping people will customize their headsets to add to the glam.

We have some strolls and short dance sequences that people can easily pick-up so the plan is for flashmob style dances to emerge on the dancefloor encouraging people to join the channel for that tune. So get your dance shoes ready and join us for the first ever vintage silent disco.

Fall on the Log: Move of the Week

This week we are looking at a move called Fall on the Log as the name implies there is a falling action. As you fall onto the standing leg, the other leg tucks behind to reveal the sole of the foot.

There are four transitions of weight, so if you begin on jumping onto your right leg, then turn sideways as you hop onto the left leg, then switch right, left.

The head should stay level and there is a sense of disconnection between the upper and lower body. From the hips down something fancy is happening but from the waste upwards you are hardly moving and looking relaxed.

The challenge in this move is practising it slowly but familiarise yourself with the weight changes and you can soon speed up and start to think about the style.

The initial jump or 'fall' should involve a twisting of the hips in mid air. It is this lock movement and the head not bobbing up and down which makes this move distinct from it's very close relative in the Hip Hop world which has exactly the same foot work but is called the top rock.

It's a really fun and fancy move and well worth taking the time to master.

MOVE IT 2019

MOVE IT is the world’s biggest dance event, celebrating all forms of dance and the performing arts across three amazing days. Big names in the dance world grace the stage at the Excel London every year and 2019 was no exception. This years headliners included Strictly Come Dancing power couple Neil and Katya Jones, JLS frontman Aston Merrygold and Greatest Dancer winner Ellie Ferguson. Needless to say that once we had been accepted to perform on the Main Stage and teach at this years show I felt excited, nervous, honoured and a bit sick…

Move it 2019 - Main Stage

When you are dancing and sharing a stage alongside the hottest artists and talent in the UK we had to pull out all the stops. Planning started back in December with Fiona and our dance captain Rachel on what our show stopping performance was going to be. After hours of brain storming we chose the song ‘Hold that Tiger’ by the California Feetwarmers and put together a circus themed routine: The Ringmaster and her Tigers. 

Over the next 9 weeks the team worked endlessly on every little detail on the performance. Rachel put together a fantastic routine and our 12 piece troupe worked extra hours in bringing it together. Alongside of this everyone chipped in on the finer details. One afternoon Elena and dance troupe member Mila spent 6 hours preparing the dresses and making 22 tiger ears! Another dancer, Serafine, was awake until 1.30am the night before sewing the ringmasters costume whilst Rachel spent the day painting a barrel to turn into a podium. These may seem like small things to worry about but all the small details bring the performance together. Alongside of music, there is also the logistics, the extra studio bookings, the music that needs cutting, the transport to get there and the hair and make-up which needs to uniformed.

Fiona Ring and Elena Collins at MOVE IT 2019

The energy on the day was electric however the team were controlled, prepared and pulled out what we consider one of our best performances to date. Our number was between the Greatest Dancer finalists and we delighted by the crowds energy and enthusiasm for us on stage. We were the only Charleston act there, nearly everything else was contemporary or street so we felt we brought something totally different to the stage. We were properly also the oldest dancers there, most performers where bendy 16 year olds auditioning for stage school but we felt proud to show that dance is for everyone regardless of age… and how unbendy you are!

After the performance I felt quite emotional. I am so proud of our dancers and of how far our team have come together. Fiona, Rachel and I started working together 5 years ago and I never dreamed that MyCharleston would be on the Main Stage of MOVE IT. It really was a dream come true… and to top it off we even got a snap with Neil and Katya from Strictly!

Rachel teaching at Move it 2019

Rachel and Elena with the Strictly Come Dancing Pros.

After the performance we taught a sold out workshop which was a master class in Charleston where Portsmouth and Ryde teacher Mel joined us. It was great fun and a privilege to be the only people teaching Charleston over the whole weekend. 

Our video from the performance will be released soon so keep an eye our for the final video! 

Elena

The Ring Master and her Tigers. MyCharleston dance troupe at Move It 2019.

How dance helped women’s liberation

The early decades of the 20th century were a battleground for women,  in terms of political and legal reform. But women were also testing out another arena of emancipation: their bodies. As fashions grew simpler and skirts rose higher, reaching knee-length by the late 1920s, women found new physical freedom.

Josephine Baker dancing the Charleston at the Folies-Bergère, Paris

On the dancefloor, too, women were displaying an alarming lack of modesty, with the social dances that began spreading through the west just before the first world war. Driven by the rhythms of American ragtime, the Bunny Hug, the Turkey Trot and the Grizzly Bear.

These encouraged dancers to kick up their feet, rock crazily from side to side and lock their swaying pelvises together. To the young these ragtime dances were part of a new "budding freedom", a sign that "Victorianism" had finally lost its grip.

Nightclubs had begun to appear in London in 1912, these dark and crowded basements promised a cocktail of illicit thrills: smoking cigarettes, wearing lipstick, drinking Pink Ladies – and dancing. 

In the 1920s, ragtime was superseded by the wayward jangle and bounce of the Charleston and by the pert, buttock-flourishing naughtiness of the Black Bottom. Zelda Fitzgerald, famously the inspiration for her husband F Scott's fictional flapper heroines, was also a wicked exponent of the decade's jazz dances. 

If dances were getting wilder, so too were morals. Between 1914 and 1929, the divorce rate doubled in the US and surveys reported that premarital sex was rising even faster. The promiscuity of young women caused alarm, particularly in Britain. The Daily Mail warned that the number of "superfluous" females could be a "disaster to the human race" (clearly the Daily Mail’s attitudes haven’t advanced much, as they are still spouting the same sexist bullsh*t in 2019!)

Young flappers may have thrown off the tyranny of the corset, but they discovered the new tyranny of dieting! Which still lives on in the year 2019!

The flapper represented a new spirit of emancipation. If women were to follow their "inner compulsion to be individuals", they had to throw off their shackling inheritance of obedience, whether to the puritanical tenets of old-school feminism or to the sentimentalised duties of marriage and motherhood. It wasn't hardcore politics but, on the dancefloor at least, these women of the 1920s embodied Bromley's views. As they shimmied their shoulders and swivelled their hips, they were released into a brief but deeply subversive world – a world of freedom.

This blog was put together from extracts of Judith Mackrell’s article on the Guardian. Read Full article here