Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Not into the dance side of things myself but have often seen dancers at different pubs and places around town. I saw in a few posts about teaching how to dance rockabilly. It all looks the same to me, just some folks do heaps more than others. So whats the difference between dancing rockabilly and dancing rock and roll and how do I tell what it is Im watching? I have seen guys standing in front of a band dancing by themselves and was told that it was rockabilly but that does look different.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Bloody interesting question this one. I wouldn't dare to try answering it for fear of crucifixion. I look forward to a 'definition' as much as you do, rroger. We just dance the same whether it's rock and roll, rockabilly, jive or whatever. If the music fits, so do we.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
I'm surprised no one more qualified has answered this but heres my 2 bobs worth. My understanding is there is no back step in rockabilly dancing but how I explain that to a non dancer so you can see which is being danced is beyond me. There should be plenty of dance teachers around that can answer this. As for the guys dancing by themselves - dont know what thats called so cant help you there.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
The older generation being my mum and friends who grew up through the era referred to the way i was taught to dance as being pub rock .. while dancing at barham last year my girl and i were told by a few different dancers that they loved our rockabilly dancing ?
Mum also referred to jazzers and rockers growing up, anyway thats my 2c worth
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Yep, there were the hay seeds(,country music fans) .Then the dude from Memphis hit the scene and us youngins wanted to be like him.Bodgies and widgies,Jazzers and stylists,sharpies and stompers and how could we forget the surfers.Rock n roll and rockabilly is just music to me and what ever the style of music that can get me on the dance floor is dance music.We were at camperdown last year and there was a couple there dancing.The guy seemed to dance without a back step where the girl did a kick ball change to stay in step.I made comment to how cool they looked and was told it was Rockabilly.Still not sure but it looked good as do rock n roll/swing dancers. We will dance rock n roll to a rockabilly tune and I know guys that love rockabilly music and we see then on the floor rockin it to a shakin steven green door so go figure I,m none the wiser too and if you let it get to you it can do your head in.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
The subject of Rock and roll dancing compared to Rockabilly dancing seems to surface from time to time. There is a difference. In answer to rroger, not that I`m a know all on the subject and some may disagree with my interpretation, but I hope this helps with your understanding, or maybe it may confuse you even further -ha. Most of the swingy rock and roll styles done today are either 4 step, which is one-two -backstep, one-two back step / or a 6 step which is tap step- tap step -back step, tap step-tap step-back step. Some dancers also do a triple step, which is triple step - triple step -back step. In Rockabilly dancing it is a two step which is one step-two step, one step - two step. There are different variants on the rockabilly style but because you arn`t putting as many steps in and leaving out a back step it allows you to dance more easily to fast music, and Rockabilly music is usually medium to fast pace. It is also usually danced on the down beat. There is often more hand movement and if you listen to some of the rockabilly music it has more of a definate beat and this more definate beat is more accentuated with rockabilly dancing. The dancers usually stay more in a square where as with the swingy style of rock and roll they open up a lot more. A lot of the moves are the same eg: cuddle, top spin, he- she etc. But like with Rockabilly music, rockabilly dancing has a little more attitude. Hell I think I`ve confused my self now...Lol ..
Also the guys dancing by themselves is called Bopping. It is taken from the British teddy boys who do the Teddy Boy Bop, and may have also come from the Hillbilly clogging style of the deep south USA.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Thanks for the information. Your right after what you folks have said im none the wiser in fact more confused. I guess you need to be a dancer to know whats what.
Rob, dance competitions in England are usually rockabilly style. And if you look at dance competitions at Viva Las Vegas rockabilly festival you will see the rockabilly style dance being done. In the 90`s a `Strutters Ball` held in Melbourne had dance comps including a rockabilly category which was great. Also Crown Casino rock and roll comps in the late 90`s had a rockabilly category. The VRRDA comps used to have a Traditional section which had a more rockabilly style, with no back step allowed.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
If my memory serves me correctly, that's exactly the type of rock and Roll jive that we were taught at dance school in Melbourne as a seventeen year old in 1956, Jiver. Wouldn't surprise me if I try to slip into it occaisionally now when we're dancing to fast music. Could explain my state of exhaustion most weekends.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Jiver J is pretty spot one from what I know as a beginner Rockabilly dancer :
*Rocakbilly is a 2 step dance without a back step, and the footwork is different to Rock'n'Roll;
*it is generally faster;
*you use a 2 handed 'monkey grip' hand grip, rather than a 'waltz' type arm around waist & shoulders position. (personally I prefer the hand grip - it's less up close & personal - I don't really like touching strangers too much!)
Rockabilly is also perceived to have more 'attitude'
There is a big Rockabilly scene in Brisbane, and since moving to Melbourne have been very disappointed to not be able to find Rockabilly dance lessons, as I prefer it to Rock'n'Roll.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Everyone overthinks this one. Long before the days of swing being taught and the distinctions in style that was discussed at the formation of the VRRDA....rockabilly was rock'n'roll but faster and with attitude. Steps weren't seen to be any different and the idea of 'teaching' rockabilly was laughed at. There was no discussion of...no backstep in rockabilly. It was not that prescriptive. I think the confusion comes in the fact that we try to prescribe all dance types now and that was never really how it was in the good ol' days.
Rockabilly was quite basic with exaggerated hand or head movements, men often put their left hand in the top of their belt and only used their right hand. There wasn't a whole lot of turns done, or needed, because it was all about the music and not about the dancing.
Rockabilly people were a breed apart from the general rock'n'roll crowd. It was about the music, the bands and the cars rather than the dancing. Many men just stood at the bar or at the front of the stage watching the band or bopping. A lot of women danced together, many more than you see now.
It was cool without trying to be cool.......if that makes any sense. Maybe you had to live it to understand, it's too hard to quantify into what steps are rockabilly and what aren't. And Rockabilly is so much more than just how you dance.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
You said it well Longgonebaby.
I recall my first visits to dances in Queensland years ago being told by locals I danced with that I was mixing various styles when dancing. They could discriminate between rockabilly, four-step, swing, rock and roll, latin etc. And they seemed to separate each style when on the floor, taking care to not vary from a style during a single dance.
I had seen dancers here in Melbourne dancing what I was told was 'pub rock', but it was some time before I started to get a bit of an understanding of what the rockabilly scene is all about. And the rockabilly dance style is just one part, and as Longgonebaby said, rockabilly is so much more than how you dance.
I think anyone who is attracted to the rockabilly scene should just get into it without worrying about whether they know how to dance in the rockabilly style. I don't dance rockabilly, but I get by ok when the fast songs come on. And it is very acceptable to hold up the bar and just enjoy the music at rockabilly gigs
Dance like nobody's watching. Love like you've never been hurt
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
One of the good things about being in old bugger is that it that a lot of stuff just doesn't matter. We old sods are beyond worrying what others think about our way of dancing and we don't give a damn if we're perceived as cool or not, cos all we want to do is have fun in our twilight years.
Reminds me of an old kombi we had, with a sign on the back saying, "We're in no hurry, we're already there."
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
the original query from rroger was..whats the difference?between rockabilly and rock n roll dancing?shaun phantom,jiver j,lone gone baby,steve gave some definitions?or thoughts on that query,but,one definition that stood out was...
its not about the dancing ,or how you dance with rockabilly..so,i guess the same principle applies to rock n roll..
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Interesting Tezza....my answer to that would be yes....and no.
Remembering that my history is in the Melbourne rock'n'roll/rockabilly scene going way back....rock'n'roll was about the dancing first and music second. Or that's how it seemed to be. People went to rock'n'roll dances to dance. Rockabilly lovers went to dances to see the bands and hang out, check out each other's cars, prop up the bar, etc.
Rock'n'roll was always the clean-cut commercial variety of music and yes, of people too. Rockabilly was always a sub-culture long before the word 'Kulture' was ever used! But that's the start of the new 'Kustom Kulture' stuff.....rockabilly and the people who inhabited that kind of world.
They were always more out of the mainstream, a little more edgy, clothes were sharper, hair was higher, dresses were tighter, shoes were pointier. You get my drift???
Now before I'm castigated by those that disagree, I say again....this was how it was back in the day. Everything grows and evolves, as it should or it would die. The Kustom Kulture scene, low-brow art, pin-up looks and even burlesque has sprung up from the humble beginnings of rockabilly. Which was the music and the lifestyle, not the dance.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
That's kind of how I remember it too, LGB. I think it was also a surburb thing as well, almost tribal. The northern and western surburbs were probably more into rockabilly bands and the other suburbs were the dancers. We boys were very into the right hairstyle and clothing had to be twelve inch 'pegged' trousers and contrasting jacket or charcoal tone suits usually with a pink shirt. Red jumpers seem to ring a bell. Pointed toe shoes were mandatary.
I used to love the girls rope petticoats. I can't say I remember the tuille petticoats of today. They must have come later when I was a married man with a family. We married young in those days <shaking head> and divorce was a last resort, mainly because of the silly laws.
Now this could be a huge generalisation I will admit, but that's how I seem to remember it. Sure, there were pockets of each in all suburbs, but I lived at Eltham in the early fifties and it was then a very small and very conservative village (apart from the Montsalvat folk who were far from conservative, bless their cotton picking hearts) and we were more into dancing. I don't remember any bands at bars at all, or many cars either for that matter, but I still just glance at the cars.
But I digress into reminiscence..., basically I think it was a tribal/suburb thing just like the football was.
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
That's an interesting observation, Cirrus. Tribal/suburban.
My sister grew up in the 50s and said they used to lay their 50s tulle petticoats out in the sun and spray them with a mixture made of sugar and water and leave them there to dry...STIFFEN! I think the tulle was different than now and yes, she had roped petticoats as well.
My start was in the late 80s and I lived in the bush, but came down for the dances. Bands would play in pubs like The Royal Derby, The Prince Mark, The Moomba, and also the Ray Morton Hall in Caulfield for the VRRAS dances. They also held them at Burwood. Then there was The Savoy in the city. The dirty old Savoy which has been closed for ages. That was a real hang-out.
There were many different bands around then, very few of which have remained, however most of the musicians are still around and in other bands. The Australian Rockabilly Association was formed in 1991 to put on dances that had two rockabilly bands each time. It had never been done before and many said it wouldn't work. Some thought there wasn't enough of 'us' to bring in the numbers needed to support the dance. Boy, were they wrong!
The Association went for about 8 years and petered out like most things do with the same few people doing all the work, halls getting dearer to hire, public liability insurance, etc. ARA was also the first to bring down interstate rockabilly bands. And booked the Runaway Boys (pre Living End).
People came from far and wide and to be honest, although we saw each other everywhere that rockabilly played, we didn't know too much about each other's business and many didn't even know what suburb each other came from. We just all travelled to hear rockabilly music whenever and wherever we could. It was like 'family' and everyone was kind to each other because we were the 'under-dogs', the 'subculture' sharing a love of music that wasn't widely accepted then.
Much like the 50s, it was a time of innocence and shared enjoyment without the separation and politics which seems to exist in the Melbourne music scene today. The only egos were onstage and personalities didn't come into it. We just saw each other as a brother or a sister, drawn together by the love of this wild thing called rockabilly.
Do I sound wistful and nostalgic??? HELL YEAH!!!!!
Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
Re: Rockabilly and Rock and Roll dancing whats the difference?
I have never seen a Rockabilly comp only social dancing.
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