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Learn The Shim Sham Workshop 9/11/2024Saturday 9th November 2024 from 2:30pm until 4:30pm
The Cherwell School South Site, Marston Ferry Road, Oxford, OX2 6UX.
Members £6 – Non-Members £10
Our Learn The Shim Sham Workshop is taking place in a few weeks time. The workshop will be taught and led by Lucy.
Learn The Shim Sham Workshop
Leading the Workshop will be our own Lucy Taylor who is highly experienced at dancing and teaching The Shim Sham. She is especially adept at teaching it to those who are new to the dance.
You can expect to be led gently through all the figures, steps and shapes. These will build to make up each Bar of 8 Beats. Consequently, you will learn through repetition that very gradually builds the dance up.
The workshop will take place over two hours on a Saturday afternoon. Just wear the normal shoes you would wear for class and something that is easy to move in. If you do that, you will be all set.
There are no special jumps or lifts in the Shim Sham. It really is a dance that anyone can learn. It is also a great way to spend an afternoon and we think you are going to love it. It is for anyone who hasn’t yet learned the dance. You will also want to attend if you have done it a few times and want a refresher to learn the steps again. It will finish with a huge Shim Sham in the Gym.
The refreshments including tea, coffee and squash will all be laid out. It is also highly likely that chocolate biscuits will be on offer. These are all included with your entry price.
You can book in advance at any of our classes or you can turn up and pay on the door, on the day. We accept cash and contactless payments. The workshop price is the standard class rate, £6 for Members and £10 For Non Members. This helps us cover the cost of hire for the Gym.
About The Shim Sham
The original Shim Sham was created in the late 1920s. Tap dancer Leonard Reed and self styled Mayor of Harlem, Willie Bryant together devised a tap dance routine. They called Goofus but it was also called The Shim Sham Shimmy. The dance caught on and was often performed on-stage in Harlem by the 1930s. It was danced at places like Connie’s Inn, Dickie Wells’s Shim Sham Club, the 101 Ranch, the LaFayette Theatre, and the Harlem Opera House.
The dance was a combination of standard Jazz steps with each step performed as a series of 8 beats to the bar moves. Original performances saw recognised Jazz moves such as the Double Shuffle, the Cross Over, Tack Annie, and Falling Off a Log.
As time wore on it became a tradition for all of the musicians, singers, and dancers to get together onstage for a final routine at the end of the night. The Shim Sham Shimmy became the final performance of choice. Singers and musicians would shuffle along with the basic steps whilst Tap dancers would perform technical variations, whilst the crowd applauded.
Again, as time moved on this tradition began to extend beyond the stage with waiters, and finally the audience all joining in together.
The Shim Sham At The Savoy Ballroom
The Savoy Ballroom was a mecca for dancers, and the Shim Sham started to appear there. Lindy Hoppers performed the shim sham as a group in a line dance, and removed the tap steps.
Among the many Lindy Hoppers present at The Savoy, was a dancer called Frankie Manning.
Frankie came out of dancing retirement in the mid 1980s. He taught an eager new generation of dancers all about Swing Dance. One of the routines he developed was a version of the Shim sham which incorporated the steps we now recognise and see across the world when the Shim Sham is danced.
It is part of the Swing Dance culture’s DNA and inextricably linked to anywhere Swing is played.
We associate certain songs that with The Shim Sham, such as Taint What You Do, It’s The Way That You Do it by Jimmie Lunceford. There are other songs which The Shim Sham is also danced to. Tracks such as Erskine Hawkins Version of Tuxedo Junction. There are many others including The Shim Sham Song by The Bill Elliot Swing Orchestra. It is a feature of their performance.
We are in Gym 1 (Not Gym 2)
Our normal teaching space on a Wednesday night, is known as Gym 2 by the school. On this occasion, Gym 2 is not available and so the Shim Sham Workshop will be in Gym 1. Gym 1 is at the opposite end of the corridor to Gym 2. If you find yourself in Gym 2, turn around, walk back along the corridor as far as it will go. Then walk through the double doors, past reception and at that point you should hear the music. There will be people around to help you if you get lost but it is very easy to find.
More details are on our website : https://swingdancesummertown.co.uk/event/learn-the-shim-sham-workshop-9-11-2024/
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Cherwell School - South Site, Marston Ferry Road,, OX2 7EE, Cherwell School, Marston Ferry Road, Oxford, OX2 7, United Kingdom,Oxford, Oxfordshire
