Although I'm happy to identify as a burlesque performer, I prefer to call myself a shake dancer. I can't remember the first time I heard the term "shake dancing," but I have very vivid memories of my grandmother describing the "dirty-leg hoochie-coochie girls" that would "shake dance" late into the night at a dank blues and zydeco bar called the Cozy Corner, located literally right on our street corner. I was never allowed to go, of course, but I remember seeing older family and their friends drinking and partying at the house before heading to the club. I watched the way they moved, the way the women allowed their bodies to dip, roll, wind, and shimmy. My cousins and I grew up listening to the loud live music blaring from that nondescript, windowless club, and even though we were little we would try our best impersonations of the dancing we saw. I definitely didn't call it twerking, which I associated with my cousins in New Orleans. I can still hear my grandma mumbling, "They doin' that old nasty shake dancin' again," while watching my folks dance. But I could tell she enjoyed seeing people be happy and free.
I always associated shake dancing with my own black culture. I was raised by my grandmother, and the risque connotation she placed on the phrase "shake dancing" was not lost on me. However, it wasn't until I saw my first Brown Girls Burlesque show that I also began to associate it with black burlesque. And it wouldn't be until after I debuted in 2017 that I began to think deeply about its origins and history, and just why I was so proud to call myself a "shake dancer".
According to author/historian Jacqui Malone (1996), the origins of shake dancing can be traced back to the year 1880, when black banjo player Ike Hines owned a basement club in NYC that featured drinking, music, dancing, and entertainment (p. 83-84). Blues pioneer Perry Bradford described it as a "new" and "informal" style of entertainment:
"The girls would dance from table to table, shaking like jelly on a plate while the men did some comical steps. Some smart promoters copped Ike's style of shows and introduced it at Chicago's World Fair in 1893. Ike's show has gone down the corridor of time to be attempted today as the Shake Dance, but it ain't nothing but what the oldtimers used to call the "Hootchie Kootchie," which Ike had started way back in 1880."
Interestingly enough, if you do a cursory search for ' "shake dance" burlesque ' in Google, the first result from StreetSwing.com attributes the start of shake dancing to Little Egypt at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. Not sure why this happens, but scholar and performer Sydney F. Lewis noted in her article "Women of Color in Burlesque: The Not-So-Hidden History" that the omission of shake dancers of color from burlesque history can be partly, if not fully, blamed on "willed ignorance" and "lazy scholarship". And I definitely don't disagree!
Regardless of when it actually started, shake dancing became a way to describe a wild and free style of dancing that evoked feelings of abandon and unbridled sexuality. It's always been intrinsically connected to the African-American community, but others have definitely used it, subtly or not, to make their mark. Mae West was not-so-secretly in love with black culture, and incorporated the "shimmying" element of shake dance into her signature walk (among other black cultural signifiers, such as the riff of jazz and the "trickster's language" of the blues), according to historian Heather O' Donnell (2001, p. 502). Shake dancing was somehow controversial and mainstream, all at once.
During the Golden Age of Burlesque (1900-1930), shake dancing was done by chorus girls and solo dancers set to the tunes of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and others. Author Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. described this era's shake dancers as "contortionist" and "lego-maniac," naming Snake Hips Tucker, Princess Aurelia, Ola Jones, and Rubberlegs Williams as forerunners of the genre. In the book "Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans," historian Jennifer Atkins described in great detail the "Black Bottom," a series of moves under the umbrella of shake dancing that began with "rapid shoulder vibrations that emanate out to the entire body, have roots in West Africa (then Trinidad), but in America the shake dances picked up exaggerated grinds and quivers" (p. 101).
Shake dancing may have looked different according to geographic regions, but it seems like it was always done with excitement and sexual freedom in mind. Madeline (Sahji) Jackson started as a shake dancer at the infamous Cotton Club before moving on to sing at Bowman's Cafe on Sugar Hill:
By the time the 50s, 60s, and 70s rolled around, shake dancing was also used to describe black dancers that "shook" but "didn't strip," according to an interview Sarah Klein (aka the OG Burly Journalist Sparkly Devil, RIP) did with Lottie the Body and Toni Elling in 2005. In this interview, it was noted that both Lottie and Toni were considered in a league of their own. Klein spoke with a local historian named Beatrice Buck, who recalled how Lottie transcended both the terms "shake dancer" and "stripper". “Some of them just took their clothes off, and Lottie was not that," Bucks told Klein. "Lottie was a dancer, and therein lies the difference.”
This notion of shake dancers being on a lower tier than bonafide burlesque performers (or "exotic dancers," as Lottie preferred to be called back then) is also reinforced in the old article "Where Are Our Black Stripteasers?," transcribed by Brown Girls Burlesque head/historian Chicava HoneyChild. In this 1950 article, author Cecil C. Craigne lamented the reality that black shake dancers were often not in demand in popular striptease venues, but not because of a lack of talent or beauty:
In almost any night club there are girls — shake dancers, singers and others — who nightly display more square inches of epidermis than the average stripteuse, yet who have made no bit to disrobe on the stages of Minsky’s or the burlesque boats that hover off the shore at some of the nation’s summer resorts.
But the sociopolitical obstacles didn't mean black shake dancers couldn't find ways to make themselves known. Ethel Waters, the first black woman to star in her own t.v. show and win an Emmy nod, and the second Black woman to be nominated for an Oscar, started off as a shake dancer. According to a 1950 profile of Waters, her shake dancing was described as the "hottest" of her day:
"She used to hold her arms far out from her body, to give the freest movement to all parts of her anatomy; she wore tassels on her hips sometimes, and a large buckle on her belt, to accentuate the movements of her body. She could squirm, twist, shake and vibrate in a way which was absolutely uncanny. And yet - who ever felt the slightest sense of vulgarity? One had the impression she could bathe in mud and still remain clean."
According to a 1953 Jet Magazine article, shake dancing jobs were plentiful for women of color back then, and the pay could be very lucrative. The article, titled "Why Girls Become Shake Dancers," featured Gloria "La Bommie" Howard, Ethelyn Butler, Tina Ridgeway, Elizabeth "China Doll" Dickerson, Bettie Brisbane, and the Spence Twins (Jean + Joyce). It offers a glimpse into the world of shake dancing in the 1950s.
The dichotomy of being both a person of color and a burlesque artist is explored in detail in Chocolat The Extraordinaire's excellent article "Race and Burlesque: The Curious Case of the Performer of Colour". The term "shake dancer" was sometimes used as a catch-all for any Black, Asian, or Hispanic burlesque performer, and they embraced the phrase and stayed resourceful about getting gigs and performing. Chocolat explores the possible reasons why there are not nearly as many shake dancers in burlesque as there used to be (not including the obvious overlap between shake dancing and modern strip club dancers).
With all of this history in mind (and more to explore), I proudly use the term "shake dancer" to describe my performance style because it links me to black burlesque stars that came before me. It's my way of paying respect to so many men and women that shook before me, and honestly I feel it's the most accurate description of what I look like shimmying and shaking onstage! It's in my blood, it's in my culture, and it's ingrained in classic burlesque in the way we all bump and grind. Calling myself a shake dancer is a way of telling people I'm proud of my roots!
I will continue to explore the history (and modern history!) of shake dancing, and I'll be sure to share on the blog. And I'll be doing some in-real-life shake dancing tonight at a charity burlesque show. I'll be dancing to Zeppelin - not quite old school jazz, but trust me when I say I'll get my shakes in either way!
If you are interested in keeping the old-school tradition of shake dancing alive in Washington, D.C. and beyond, please consider donating to local burlesque superstar Gigi Holliday's Chocolate Lounge and/or to Jeez Loueez's Jeezy's Juke Joint. Both Gigi and Jeez are pioneers of modern black burlesque in their respective regions, and they are working hard to keep black burlesque history alive and shaking. Don't let this history be buried any more than it already is!!
Until next time,
xoxo Bebe
Sources
Cecil A. Craigne by way of Chicava Honeychild. Where Are Our Black Stripteasers? (1950)
Words by Cecil, transcribed by Chicava.
Chocolat the Extraordinaire. Race and Burlesque: The Curious Case of the Performer of Colour. (2013)
Written by a black burlesque performer for 21st Century Burlesque Magazine
Heather O' Donnell. Review: Signifying Sex: Mae West: An Icon in Black and White by Jill Watts. (2002)
Jacqui Malone. Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. (1996)
Preview available through Google, including the whole "Cabarets and Nightclubs" section.
Jennifer Atkins. Improvisation, Agency, and African American Dancing in New Orleans in Walking Raddy: The Baby Dolls of New Orleans. (2018).
Jet Magazine. Why Girls Become Shake Dancers. (Oct. 29, 1953)
Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. African American Dance and Music in African American Jazz and Rap: Social and Philosophical Examinations of Black Expressive Behavior. (2001).
Sarah Klein. Paradise Regained. Metro Times. (2005)
Written by beloved burlesque historian and journalist Sparkly Devil. Best interview I've ever read featuring Lottie the Body and Toni Elling.
Sonny Watson's StreetSwing. The Shake Dance. (2013).
Includes related books, dancers, dances, and abridged history.
Sydney F. Lewis. Women of Color in Burlesque: The Not-So-Hidden History. (2011)
Written by burlesque historian and academic Dr. Ginger Snapz, who is also a performer, and reprinted in BabyCenter of all places - the origin site for the article seems to be shut down. Best overview of shake dancers I've found, with names and photos from Jet archives.
William Gardner Smith. Phylon Profile, XXI: Ethel Waters. (1950).
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