Presenting Earl “Snake-hips” Tucker. He created this style of dancing sometime in the 1920s and became famous for it. Well, it is not exactly a dance per se, as it is movements based on the looseness of hips, gyrations and undulations. When I first saw it, I was like no-way, the guy has NO BONES! The clip says it all -
This is a lesser known clip of him dancing, in Duke Ellington’s “Symphony in Black”, doing the Lindy Hop (from about 2:40 when Duke starts swingin it, with the dancing at 2:50), and finally at [8:15] where he does his Snake-hips dance.
*The singer at [4:40] is non other than the First Lady of Blues Billie Holliday, who’s personal life reflected much of the blues she sings. This clip also shows the virtuosity of the Duke as a composer and arranger – he wasn’t just a swing band, and he never really called his music jazz, it was just music to him.
