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may call out "Freeze!" or "Slow!" instructing the dancers to either stop where they are or dance slowly, then call out "Dance!" to tell everyone to resume normal dancing. The
Frankie Manning version repeats the basic choreography (replacing each of the break steps with an 8-beat hold), then adds two
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At the Savoy
Ballroom, some lindy hoppers did the shim sham as a group line dance, without the taps. A bunch of dancers would just jump up and start doing the shim sham on the side of the ballroom, over in the corner. Although a few people might join in, most everybody else kept on dancing without
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At the end of many performances, all of the musicians, singers, and dancers would get together on stage and do one last routine: the Shim Sham Shimmy. Tap dancers would perform technical variations, while singers and musicians would shuffle along as they were able. For example, in 1931 flash dance
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act The Three Little Words would close their show at Connie's Inn with the Shim Sham, and invite everyone to join in, "and the whole club would join us, including the waiters. For awhile people were doing the Shim Sham up and down
Seventh Avenue all night long," according to Joe Jones.
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The Shim Sham is 10 phrases of choreography (each phrase lasting four 8-counts), so it does not usually take up an entire song. After the Shim Sham was over, the dancers then would exit either stage left or right, depending on what was agreed upon for that show.
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The Shim Sham goes best with swing songs whose melody lines start on beat eight, as does the choreography. An obvious choice is The Shim Sham Song (Bill Elliot Swing
Orchestra), which was written specifically for this dance and has musical effects (e.g.,
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introduced the shim sham at New York Swing Dance
Society dances, and he also created a special version of the shim sham for swing dancers. Frankie Manning's version of the shim sham caught on, and it's now done at swing dances worldwide.
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Boogie Back/Boogie
Forward phrases and two Boogie Back/Shorty George phrases to the end of the second repetition of the basic choreography. Only after the final Shorty George is completed do the dancers break into freestyle Lindy Hop.
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The
Revenge of the Shim Sham, 2002, a 32-bar chorus dance, Leonard Reed’s final Shim Sham, which builds upon his original four (the name was suggested by Maxwell DeMille at a performance at the
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202:. There is the choreography used by Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant, as well as a number of variations by Leonard Reed and others. Other "shim sham" choreographies include ones by
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In early 1930s, the Shim Sham was performed on stage in Harlem at places like Connie's Inn, Dickie Wells's Shim Sham Club, the 101 Ranch, the LaFayette
Theatre, and the
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292:. In fact, it is typical now at a Lindy dance party for dancers to start up a Shim Sham whenever "'Tain't What You Do" is played. There is also a recording "
94:. The routine consisted of standard steps: eight bars each of the Double Shuffle, the Cross Over, Tack Annie (an up-and-back shuffle), and Falling Off a Log.
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The Joe Louis
Shuffle Shim Sham, 1948, a tap-swing dance 32-bar chorus number that Leonard Reed performed with the World Heavyweight Boxing champ Joe Louis
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the word "Shim" was a contraction of the term "she-him", a reference to the fact that the female chorus line dancers at the 101 Ranch were played by men.
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Today in the Lindy Hop scene, once the Shim Sham choreography is over, dancers typically grab a partner and break into
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Ccnturies of African American history told by those who lived it
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version — is danced more often to "'Tain't What You Do (It's The Way That Cha Do It)" by
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circuit in Chicago, they created a tap dance routine they called "Goofus" to the tune
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The original Shim Sham from 1927, a 32-bar chorus composed of four steps and a break
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for the remainder of the song. During this portion of the song, the band or a
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The Shim Sham II, 1994, a 32-bar chorus dance based on the original Shim Sham
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276:) in all the right places. However, today the Shim Sham — particularly the
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The Freeze Chorus, circa 1930s, the original Shim Sham without the breaks
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routine and is regarded as tap dance's national anthem. For today's
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948:"Leonard Reed Interview: The Origins of the Shim Sham"
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These are the steps of the original 32-bar Shim Sham:
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Tap! the greatest tap dance stars and their stories
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505:
1091:. Doubleday, a division of Random House. pp.
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1051:Jazz Dance: the story of American vernacular dance
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547:step heel step (crossing in front of right foot)
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300:band where Manning himself calls out the moves.
43:The Shim Sham being danced in Montreal in 2022
925:. Temple University Press. pp. 70, 226.
1021:. Princeton Book Company. pp. 105–106.
198:There are several variations of "shim sham"
86:were with the Whitman Sisters troupe on the
166:. Unsourced material may be challenged and
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214:(also called the "Savoy Shim Sham"), and
186:Learn how and when to remove this message
923:Frankie Manning, Ambassador of Lindy Hop
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888:Tap Dancing America: A Cultural History
748:Step 4: Half breaks/Falling-off-the-log
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1164:The Shim Sham Steps For Swing Dancers
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1142:"Shim Sham Dance Move by Rod Howell"
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946:Reed, Leonard (September 25, 2018).
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891:. Oxford University Press. pp.
687:stamp spank touch (crossing behind)
673:stamp spank touch (crossing behind)
312:Step 1: The shim sham/double shuffle
164:adding citations to reliable sources
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1047:Stearns, Marshall and Jean (1994).
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700:stamp spank step (crossing behind)
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624:repeat bar 15 with sides reversed
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633:Step 3: Tacky Annies/Tack Annies
506:Step 2: Push and cross/Crossover
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958:from the original on 2021-12-11
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885:Valis Hill, Constance (2010).
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221:The Leonard Reed Shim Shams:
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1055:. Da Capo Press. pp.
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598:step heel step (crossing)
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921:Manning, Frankie (2007).
366:stomp spank ball change
110:Howard “Stretch” Johnson
108:According to tap dancer
78:In the late 1920s, when
1017:Feldman, Anita (1996).
284:and His Orchestra, or "
533:stamp step stamp step
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977:Frank, Rusty (1994).
294:Stompin' at the Savoy
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788:shuffle ball change
160:improve this section
1083:Boyd, Herb (2000).
92:Turkey in the Straw
851:jump out, jump in
417:stomp spank touch
119:In the mid-1980s,
99:Harlem Opera House
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932:978-1-59213-563-9
902:978-0-19-539082-7
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1124:. Retrieved
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962:February 18,
960:. Retrieved
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216:Dean Collins
200:choreography
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158:Please help
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80:Leonard Reed
77:
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1184:Line dances
775:stamp step
764:Left/Right
649:Left/Right
522:Left/Right
445:Left/Right
328:Left/Right
296:" with the
176:August 2018
1178:Categories
1019:Inside Tap
861:References
611:heel step
560:heel step
496:step step
456:stamp toe
298:George Gee
212:Leon James
128:Variations
68:line dance
1194:Lindy Hop
1189:Tap dance
1159:Shim Sham
838:hop step
483:hop step
466:2 3&
429:The break
304:The steps
267:The music
256:lindy hop
246:The dance
147:does not
60:tap dance
52:Shim Sham
18:Shim sham
956:Archived
208:Al Minns
88:T.O.B.A.
54:or just
1057:195–196
952:YouTube
801:repeat
168:removed
153:sources
74:History
1126:22 May
1099:
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991:
929:
899:
835:(4)e1
820:29-32
808:27+28
761:Steps
734:23+24
708:19-22
646:Steps
608:(2)e3
580:13+14
568:11+12
557:(2)e3
519:Steps
480:(4)a5
442:Steps
325:Steps
274:breaks
985:43–44
791:RRRL
785:e2e3
758:Time
663:RLRR
657:e4e1
643:Time
595:4 1e
544:4 1e
536:RLRL
530:8123
516:Time
439:Time
369:RRRL
363:4e1e
322:Time
288:" by
64:swing
1128:2018
1097:ISBN
1061:ISBN
1023:ISBN
989:ISBN
964:2021
927:ISBN
897:ISBN
848:2 3
772:8 1
755:Bar
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703:RLL
697:2e3
690:LRR
684:4e1
676:RLL
670:2e3
640:Bar
601:LLR
550:RRL
513:Bar
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472:LLR
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436:Bar
420:RRR
414:2e3
399:5+6
387:3+4
382:RRR
376:2e3
355:LLL
349:2e3
342:RRR
336:8e1
319:Bar
210:and
151:any
149:cite
82:and
56:Sham
47:The
1168:PDF
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