Historical Source
The Big Apple — The Latest Modern Dance (Norma Goldman, 1938)
Publisher: Norma Goldman, copyright 1938, World Rights Reserved / Dancers Art Guild, 875 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey. Rules-booklet pamphlet for the 1937-1938 Big Apple circle-dance craze. Characterized by Goldman as 'the old-time square dance brought up to date by modern youth' — i.e. a swing-era leader-called circle novelty combining all of the then-current popular solo-jazz steps: Truckin', Suzi-Q, the Shag, Swing High / Swing Low, Peckin', Shine, Posin'. Danced in a large circle with one dancer acting as leader who calls each step in rhyming prompter verse (e.g., 'Truck to the right, truck on down, everybody truck, go to town'). The Big Apple originated in South Carolina ca. 1936 (Big Apple Night Club, Columbia) and spread nationally via Life magazine coverage and the 1937-1938 dance craze. From the Richard Powers collection (The_Big_Apple.txt, 72 lines). Bridges the Johnson Smith 1935 novelty-dance pedagogy (Carlo, Manhattan, Continental) and the immediate pre-WWII Swing-era solo-jazz vocabulary that would be codified in the Lindy Hop / Balboa / Collegiate Shag community tradition.Year: 1938Family: big-appleCatalog: local
Dance manual/reference by Norma Goldman, copyright 1938, World Rights Reserved / Dancers Art Guild, 875 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey. Rules-booklet pamphlet for the 1937-1938 Big Apple circle-dance craze. Characterized by Goldman as 'the old-time square dance brought up to date by modern youth' — i.e. a swing-era leader-called circle novelty combining all of the then-current popular solo-jazz steps: Truckin', Suzi-Q, the Shag, Swing High / Swing Low, Peckin', Shine, Posin'. Danced in a large circle with one dancer acting as leader who calls each step in rhyming prompter verse (e.g., 'Truck to the right, truck on down, everybody truck, go to town'). The Big Apple originated in South Carolina ca. 1936 (Big Apple Night Club, Columbia) and spread nationally via Life magazine coverage and the 1937-1938 dance craze. From the Richard Powers collection (The_Big_Apple.txt, 72 lines). Bridges the Johnson Smith 1935 novelty-dance pedagogy (Carlo, Manhattan, Continental) and the immediate pre-WWII Swing-era solo-jazz vocabulary that would be codified in the Lindy Hop / Balboa / Collegiate Shag community tradition. (1938). Imported from local collection.