Learning the Charleston

Today we had an open rehearsal at our studios for Second Saturday.  Along with watching a rehearsal of one of the scenes of The Great Gatsby, people could go in our second studio and take a short lesson in learning the Charleston!  I was one of the dancers who got to learn this classic 1920's dance, and it wasn't easy.  Although dancers are trained to turn out their legs, in the Charleston the turn-out is used in quite a different way.  It was hard to coordinate the timing of turning in and out the legs while stepping forward and backward.  Also we were told to keep our legs and arms fairly loose, a hard thing to adjust to when we ballerinas work all day to achieve very specific positions of our limbs.  Although it was sometimes tricky, it was a lot of fun and what I liked is that the Charleston is really about making the steps your own--nothing is really "set" and you're free to try lots of different things (as long as you stay on the music!).

Here's a fun clip of a Charleston dance/lesson (and if you pay attention, you'll hear some of the music in our very own Gatsby!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJC21zzkwoE


--Ava