1. Consuela Harris

Consuela Harris was an outstanding African-American dancer and was heralded as “the sensational and best of the shake, hot, swinging dancers in the 1930s”. She was the leading performer at the famous Cotton Club, run by Frank Sebastian, in California and various major night clubs in New York. She performed in various films, such as Swing (1938) and Harlem on the Prairie (1937).

2. Snake Hips

“Snake Hips” is a dance style or dance move popularized by the dancer Earl Tucker (1906-37) in Harlem in the 1920s. Its origin can be traced back to Southern plantations before the Civil War, where “dance was an integral part of slave plantation culture. Some of the more popular dances involved types of animal mimicry.” (Ondra Krouse Dismukes) Earl Tucker built his reputation by exhibiting his unusual style of dance at the legendary Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. In particular due to his astonishing flexibility and his rotating hips, he acquired the nickname Earl “Snakehips” Tucker. After becoming famous and popular, he regularly performed at the New York dance clubs Connie's Inn and Cotton Club. He also performed in movies such as the short Crazy House (1930) and Symphony in Black: A Rhapsody of Negro Life (1935), next to Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday.

3. Black Bottom

“Black Bottom”, a dance combining shoulder and hip movements, was danced by African-Americans in the U.S. South as early as 1907. In a modified version, it gained popularity in Broadway theaters and became a national craze in the 1920s. The “Black Bottom” showed a number of features derived from the aesthetics of African dance. 

4. Jang Woo-Hyuk

Jang Woo-Hyuk is a South Korean singer, actor, dancer and composer. He debuted on September 7, 1996 as a member of the K-pop boy band H.O.T. The group was extremely popular across Asia in the 1990s, with an estimated eight million fans in China alone. Their dances, as well as their hairstyles and dresses, were eagerly imitated by young people at that time.

5. Al Minns

Al Minns (1920-85) was a prominent Lindy Hop and jazz dancer and one of the most notable members of the renowned swing performance group Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in the 1930s and 1940s. With Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers he also performed in numerous movies, including Hellzapoppin (1941) and Hot Chocolate (1941). He also participated in Spirit Moves, a documentary film by Mura Dehn chronicling the evolution of African-American social dance. During the 1950s and '60s, he partnered with his Whitey’s colleague Leon James to promote the dances they helped to pioneer. Years later in the 1980s, Minns contributed to an international revival of Lindy Hop.

6. Air Steps

Air Steps are one of the characteristics of Lindy Hop. In 1935, during a dance contest at the Savoy Ballroom, Frankie Manning (1914-2009), a legend in the history of Lindy Hop, introduced the first “Air Step” and defeated legendary ‘Shorty’ George Snowden. From that moment on, Lindy Hop has “flown in the air”. The Broadway musical adaptation movie Hellzapoppin (1941) includes a today iconic, very fast and athletic dance scene of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, choreographed by Manning, that incorporates many air steps. Rhythm, beat and energy are at the core of air steps, contributing to their acrobatic appearance.

7. Belly-tightening with Steel Wire 

Belly-tightening with steel wire, also called “Breaking steel wire with chi (vital energy)”, is a form of street performance popular in China similar to that of “Breaking Stone on Chest” or “Sword-swallowing”. The performer would tighten his body from belly to chest with a steel wire, then break it off in one go using his chi. This street performance is common in Shandong, an eastern Chinese province, and in the southeastern province Guizhou. It was later included in stage performances in performing bars, where dining and drinking is combined with singing, dancing and comedy - and lots of interaction with the audience. These bars where influenced by American Las Vegas style entertainment bars and Hong Kong night clubs as we know them from 1980s and '90s Hong Kong movies.

8. Xi Bu Jiu Cheng (Western Wine City) and After Seben

Male dancer’s move: “Xi Bu Jiu Cheng” (西部酒城, Western Wine City) in the Chinese city Shenyang is a typical performing bar of the Northeast of China, which stands for a type of performance program that for example included the local folk dance Errenzhuan. The Northeastern performance culture later spread to other parts of China.
Female Dancer’s move: After Seben is an early sound (short) film from 1928, set in a nightclub in Harlem. In the film, James Barton, a white vaudeville comic and dancer, performs numerous scenes in black-face. The film also includes Lindy Hop performances by ‘Shorty’ George Snowdon and his group who dominated the Savoy Ballroom at that time.

9. Socialist Choir

Choral art can be claimed as the youngest member in the family of Chinese music. It was started by leftist artists in the 1930s and 40s during the China Japan war and was closely related to patriotism. It continued to develop after 1949 as one of the major performance forms in Socialist China. It was also once an important casual activity of workers, which was organized by unions to bring people together. The cantata Chang Hen Ge written by composer Huang Zi in 1933 was China’s first large-scale choral work. The Yellow River Cantata by composer Xian Xinghai, after its premier in the city of Yan’an in 1935, quickly spread throughout China. His Production Cantata, the 18 of September Cantata and the Sacrifice League Cantata were all choral works, each with its own characteristics. The choral art has developed significantly after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with the creation of many professional choral groups, as well as a dynamic amateur choral scene.

10. Paozi Head Rubbing

Paozi (炮子), an expression in Chinese Northeast dialect, refers to gangster or a low-ranking gang member. They are typically described as having a stocky body with broad shoulders, or as skinny like a skeleton. Their hairstyle is called “Paozi Head” – half-inch, round-inch, undercut, bald. According to the cliché, they usually wear casual clothing or slim suits and accessories around the neck, such as thick and large gold chains, Buddhist beads, jade pendants etc. They may wear gold rings or have severe scars or tattoos, e.g. scorpions, tigers, black tortoises or skeletons. They are said to be mostly nouveaux riches or their offspring, rich dandies, loafers, or gangsters and goons employed to maintain order in entertainment venues. They hang out at all sorts of entertainment venues, such as nightclubs, bars, hotels, internet cafés and so on.