Broncos learn to dance the Charleston as part of school’s centennial celebration
Bradfield students cut a rug learning the Charleston in their school’s gymnasium the week of Nov. 10.
With its bouncy steps, kicks, and poses, this 1920s favorite wasn’t simple to master. But novice dancers said that the experience of trying its fancy footwork for the first time was the bee’s knees.
“It was fun, exciting, and it was just really fast,” fourth-grader Penelope Portacci said. “I really liked it.”
“It was the best time ever. It was so fun,” said fourth-grader Bowen Aboussie, who added that learning the dance was more challenging than playing sports such as football. Bowen, along with many of his classmates, seemed out of breath by the end of the lesson.
Bradfield’s Broncos tackled the Charleston as part of their school’s yearlong centennial celebration. The activity was inspired by photos documenting how Bradfield marked its 50th birthday in 1976, when an earlier generation of grade schoolers mastered the roaring 20s favorite.
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Learning the Charleston added another dimension to students’ festivities, one that literally jumped off the page, explained centennial committee member Rachel Reed.
“It’s fun to think of what the school might have been like when it opened 100 years ago,” she said. “They see pictures, and maybe hear stories, but this is their chance to actually move their bodies in a physical way and feel it firsthand.”
Students learned their moves from Traci Drescher, a dance instructor at The Dallas Conservatory. Although she’d performed the Charleston before, the lessons at Bradfield were Drescher’s first time teaching its steps.
The Charleston doesn’t require the precision of ballet or jazz, said Drescher, who called the high tempo dance the 1920s version of hip-hop.
“It resonates really well, I think, because it’s very jumpy, and fun, and engaging,” she remarked. “And not something super slow, or very technically difficult.”
Drescher began most lessons by showing students a clip of dancers from the 1956 musical film Don’t Knock the Rock.
Students learned their first steps slowly, without music, but with plenty of laughter and smiles. Next, Drescher added kicks — which didn’t require straight legs —twists, knee slaps, snake legs, and a scarecrow pose. Students then tried performing the new moves to the beat of a jazz melody.
When students became confident with the basics, Drescher challenged them to try it in double time.
“It’s OK if it’s not perfect, or if it feels really weird. This is not something you guys do every day,” she told one group of fourth graders. “Just try to have fun with it. Jump around.”
Second-grader Robert Franklin had never danced the Charleston before Nov. 10. Its poses, though, weren’t completely new to him.
The dance, he said, was similar to those he’s seen from one of the 20th Century’s groundbreaking entertainers — “It’s like something Michael Jackson would do.”
