Count:
-
Wall:
-
Level:
-
Choreo:
Choreographer:
Unknown
Music:
Lindy
PART A
APPLE JACKS
With feet close together take tiny steps in place. When stepping with the right foot, let the right knee cross in front of the left knee, twisting hips to the left. With upper body bend down, with fingers pointed at the floor, twisting shoulders opposite hips. On the next step reverse the direction of knees, hips, shoulders. Each step is one count
BREAK A LEG
BREAK STEP
LONDON BRIDGE
SHOUT: OPEN ARMS WIDE
SWIVELS: SWIVELS WHILE WALKING
SPANK THE BABY
Step out with left foot, bring right foot together, meanwhile raising the left arm in the air and making a spanking motion toward one's own behind with the right hand
TICK TOCK
TRUCKIN
Step left, twist left, step right, twist right, and continue. Usually the index finger of the right hand points up, over the shoulder
POSE AND PECK
Put hands on hips, and do pecking with head
SCARECROW
First 4 counts are Charleston basic. Second 4 counts, put upper arms straight out to side, and let forearms dangle loosely, and tilt head to side. Often the feet are slightly apart, with the knees drooping together
SHORTY GEORGE
Named for George Snowden. Walk a straight line using very small steps. Keep upper body upright while dramatically bending knees. With each step, let the opposite knee push toward the back of the knee of the leading foot, causing both knees to shift right when stepping with right foot and shift left when stepping with left foot. Shoulders alternate, pushing down toward the leading foot, so that when the knees are pushed to the right, the right shoulder sinks downward and the left shoulder becomes raised. Each step is one count
LITTLE APPLE
LITTLE PEACH
HITCH HIKE
BOOGIE BACK
Lean forward and bend knees. Clap hands on the first count and hop backwards on the second count
BOOGIE FORWARD
Straighten up and throw hands in the air. Each step starts from forward roll the hip, which them moves to the side and settles back as the step with the other foot begins. Each step is two counts
SUZY Q
Walk sideways with bent knees, swiveling the forward foot on the heel
PRAISE ALLAH
Also known as "the Rock." Lunge forward onto left foot and throw both arms up and back over head (first two counts), then sit back into the right foot letting arms sweep downwards towards your right side (second two counts)
RUSTY DUSTY
Hold pant legs up and shake the dust out of them
CHARLESTON
See solo Charleston moves
FALL OFF THE LOG
Kick right leg to the side, then step behind with your right foot, out with your left foot, and in place with your right foot. Repeat this on the left side
The Big Apple is both partner dance and line dance originated in the Afro-American community of the United States of the beginning of the 20th century.
Despite its name the Big Apple did not actually originate in New York. It evolved and first became recognized as a dance form in Columbia, South Carolina. Putting an exact date to the creation of a dance is always difficult. It seems most likely to have formed in the early 1930s with the dance slowly gaining popularity and spreading into other areas of South Carolina through to the mid 1930s. At that time of racial segregation the dance evolved solely in the African American community. However, as with many dances of the era it was soon picked up by the whites and quickly gained popularity and became more widespread as a result.
Betty Wood, an original white Big Apple dancer said "It all began at an abandoned synagogue that had been turned into a Juke Joint". In 1930 she was aged sixteen and heard music coming from a juke joint when out driving with friends. They went in and were allowed onto a mezzanine reserved exclusively for whites. The racial segregation of the time meant there was no mixing of races (particularly in the deep South). The main floor and dance area were only for African-Americans with the whites confined to watching from a mezzanine above. They were inspired by watching the dancers doing lots of different Jazz steps and improvisations on the floor below them. They recognized some of the steps as coming from other dances they already knew such as the Charleston, Black Bottom, and the original 8-count Collegiate Shag.
They came away with the idea of a dance made up of individual jazz steps, performed in a circle, as called by a leader. The dance was an instantaneous hit in the white community with people coming to South Carolina from all over the country to see the new Big Apple dance they'd heard about. There are also accounts that after a while a new variation developed called the "Little Apple". This form involved fewer dancers and people would take it in turns to grab a partner and move to the center of the circle and dance for a while in styles similar to Lindy Hop, Shag, or other dances of the era.
The moves are frequently used in Lindy Hop. This is also used as a warm up before Lindy Hop classes. Note that the moves are very 8-count centered, like tap dance. That is, they almost all start on count 8
APPLE JACKS
With feet close together take tiny steps in place. When stepping with the right foot, let the right knee cross in front of the left knee, twisting hips to the left. With upper body bend down, with fingers pointed at the floor, twisting shoulders opposite hips. On the next step reverse the direction of knees, hips, shoulders. Each step is one count
BREAK A LEG
BREAK STEP
LONDON BRIDGE
SHOUT: OPEN ARMS WIDE
SWIVELS: SWIVELS WHILE WALKING
SPANK THE BABY
Step out with left foot, bring right foot together, meanwhile raising the left arm in the air and making a spanking motion toward one's own behind with the right hand
TICK TOCK
TRUCKIN
Step left, twist left, step right, twist right, and continue. Usually the index finger of the right hand points up, over the shoulder
POSE AND PECK
Put hands on hips, and do pecking with head
SCARECROW
First 4 counts are Charleston basic. Second 4 counts, put upper arms straight out to side, and let forearms dangle loosely, and tilt head to side. Often the feet are slightly apart, with the knees drooping together
SHORTY GEORGE
Named for George Snowden. Walk a straight line using very small steps. Keep upper body upright while dramatically bending knees. With each step, let the opposite knee push toward the back of the knee of the leading foot, causing both knees to shift right when stepping with right foot and shift left when stepping with left foot. Shoulders alternate, pushing down toward the leading foot, so that when the knees are pushed to the right, the right shoulder sinks downward and the left shoulder becomes raised. Each step is one count
LITTLE APPLE
LITTLE PEACH
HITCH HIKE
BOOGIE BACK
Lean forward and bend knees. Clap hands on the first count and hop backwards on the second count
BOOGIE FORWARD
Straighten up and throw hands in the air. Each step starts from forward roll the hip, which them moves to the side and settles back as the step with the other foot begins. Each step is two counts
SUZY Q
Walk sideways with bent knees, swiveling the forward foot on the heel
PRAISE ALLAH
Also known as "the Rock." Lunge forward onto left foot and throw both arms up and back over head (first two counts), then sit back into the right foot letting arms sweep downwards towards your right side (second two counts)
RUSTY DUSTY
Hold pant legs up and shake the dust out of them
CHARLESTON
See solo Charleston moves
FALL OFF THE LOG
Kick right leg to the side, then step behind with your right foot, out with your left foot, and in place with your right foot. Repeat this on the left side
The Big Apple is both partner dance and line dance originated in the Afro-American community of the United States of the beginning of the 20th century.
Despite its name the Big Apple did not actually originate in New York. It evolved and first became recognized as a dance form in Columbia, South Carolina. Putting an exact date to the creation of a dance is always difficult. It seems most likely to have formed in the early 1930s with the dance slowly gaining popularity and spreading into other areas of South Carolina through to the mid 1930s. At that time of racial segregation the dance evolved solely in the African American community. However, as with many dances of the era it was soon picked up by the whites and quickly gained popularity and became more widespread as a result.
Betty Wood, an original white Big Apple dancer said "It all began at an abandoned synagogue that had been turned into a Juke Joint". In 1930 she was aged sixteen and heard music coming from a juke joint when out driving with friends. They went in and were allowed onto a mezzanine reserved exclusively for whites. The racial segregation of the time meant there was no mixing of races (particularly in the deep South). The main floor and dance area were only for African-Americans with the whites confined to watching from a mezzanine above. They were inspired by watching the dancers doing lots of different Jazz steps and improvisations on the floor below them. They recognized some of the steps as coming from other dances they already knew such as the Charleston, Black Bottom, and the original 8-count Collegiate Shag.
They came away with the idea of a dance made up of individual jazz steps, performed in a circle, as called by a leader. The dance was an instantaneous hit in the white community with people coming to South Carolina from all over the country to see the new Big Apple dance they'd heard about. There are also accounts that after a while a new variation developed called the "Little Apple". This form involved fewer dancers and people would take it in turns to grab a partner and move to the center of the circle and dance for a while in styles similar to Lindy Hop, Shag, or other dances of the era.
The moves are frequently used in Lindy Hop. This is also used as a warm up before Lindy Hop classes. Note that the moves are very 8-count centered, like tap dance. That is, they almost all start on count 8
