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Writer's pictureBebe Bardeaux

Popular Shake Dancers in History, Part 1

Updated: Jun 5, 2023

Hi everyone! I'm still hard at work finishing Shake Queens. If you're interested in what I've found while digging around in online archives, libraries, museums, and everywhere in between over the past couple of years, make sure to join my Patreon -- now that I'm almost done with research and talking with publishers (!!!), I'm revamping the site to include all the Black burlesque and shake dancing pics, photos, fun facts I've found over the past couple of years while I've been in a research hole.


In addition to research and writing, this almost-40-year-old learned how to seriously use TikTok (which honestly was not easy for me and involved giving up for months at a time). I hate TikTok because it takes up a ton of space and has an overwhelming amount of features and functions, but I *love* TikTok because it is so easy to share informative, edited content. If you're on there, follow me @bebebardeaux -- I'll be sharing a lot more videos like the one below!

This video features:

  • Eunice Wilson

  • Marie Bryant

  • Consuela "Connie" Harris

  • Ann Pennington

  • Louise "Jota" Cook

It was hard to figure out who I wanted to start with because there are so many shake dancers throughout history, but I think these five dancers offer a view of who and what was popular in the 1930s, when shake dancing was arguably more mainstream than it is today.


Check it out, and join the Patreon if you want even more Black burlesque and shake dancing history! I'm excited to info-dump about shake dancing on the whole world :-) -- stay tuned.


Until next time,

Bebe Bardeaux

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