When Ernest Evans did The Twist, little did he realise he was creating a dance revolution, because it was the beginning of a cultural shift away from embracing a partner that ballroom dancing entailed.The Twist, dated from 1958, was written and actually recorded by a Hank Ballard. It was a B-side that got to the A-side just because a bar owner banned youngsters from touching one another during dancing.
The fad picked up, the dance became a sensation and Ernest Evans or Chubby Checker (stage name), a chicken-plucker became such a huge success that he recorded, Mr Twister, Let's Twist Again and Twist Train on Columbia Records (image).
Other songs followed with strange titles like, Twistin USA, The Ooh Poo Pah Doo, The *'CC Rider' Stroll, The Chicken, The Hucklebuck, The 'Love Is Strange' Calypso, The Slop, Your Feet's Too Big and The Pony. Even The Arthur Murray School of Dancing - well-known with 60s dance students - offered dance instructions of the Twist on Chubby Checker's vinyls.
In case Singapore Seniors have forgotten, it's holding an outstretched bath towel and getting it going back and forth - the hip motion for The Twist. The rest is up to you, so if you have the groove you would have the move!
*Look for it, sung by Elvis Presley - YouTube video.
Bibliography: 1. Music/Bruce Eder/Cassell Book - 2007. 2. King of the Twist/Columbia Records.
Image/Original Article: Andy Lim Collection.
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