The Charleston’s history is a long and tangled one, with touch points including the possibility of a Renaissance-era predecessor in the Branle and its later development amidst the birth of jazz.
In style terms, Charleston is one of those dances that’s strictly bound to its time despite remaining familiar to later audiences (anomalies like Dancing With the Stars‘ “modern” Charlestons notwithstanding). It’s danced on the vintage-loving swing and blues scene, and, in that 1920s-styled form, has also made its way to other dance competition shows like Britain’s Strictly Come Dancing.
So to ice dance, a best first place to turn might be the 2008-09 season. With an original dance featuring the designated theme of “Rhythms and Dances of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s,” the 1920s vernacular proved a popular pick for many teams, including training mates Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and Meryl Davis and Charlie White…
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