Who made up the shim sham shimmy?

Leonard Reed
Evolution of the Shim Sham Leonard Reed, a tap dancer who performed in the 1920s and ’30s, claimed to have created the Shim Sham.

When was the shim sham created?

1927
In 1927, two song and dance men, Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant, took four popular steps of the 1920’s, strung them together with a break and created the now legendary “Shim Sham Shimmy.” At the time, Reed & Bryant were touring in the South with The Whitman Sisters show, and the dance was originally called “Gofus.” The …

What was the original name for the Shim Sham?

In early years, the Shim Sham was sometimes known as the Goofus, because a dance routine similar to the Shim Sham was performed by the Goofus Dance Trio at Connie’s Inn, a New York whites-only, African-American performers night club hosted by Connie Immerman.

What is unique about the Shim Sham Shimmy?

Frankie Manning remembers that Shim Sham was done as a group line dance without taps. It was different than today’s swing dancers do. They did only two choruses into usually 32 bar chorus songs. It was not also organized thing or a big deal in the Savoy Ballroom.

What count does the Shim Sham start on?

eight
The Shim Sham goes best with swing songs whose melody lines start on beat eight, as does the choreography. An obvious choice is The Shim Sham Song (Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra), which was written specifically for this dance and has musical effects (e.g., breaks) in all the right places.

Where did the Shim Sham come from?

They called the dance “Goofus” to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. In the 1930s, legend has it that one of the show dancers was fired, went to New York and started to perform the routine at a club called the Shim Sham. The dance was renamed the Shim Sham Shimmy.

What steps make up the BS chorus?

B.S. Chorus / Old Soft Shoe Chorus (1) A traditional chorus that includes the Bill Robinson Time Step, “Cross” and “Wing” Steps, “Over the Tops”, and “Trenches”.

Who choreographed the BS chorus?

The Specifics Andrew Nemr, an NYC-based teacher and choreographer who directs the company Cats Paying Dues, says the routine has four parts: an introductory time step, a cross-moving step, a flash step, and a big finish.