Origins of the Shim Sham

The first few bars of the music begins, the whole room starts clapping and assembling into a mass group then POOF, they all magically know the synchronised moves to the same song!

You’re wondering to yourself- what wizardry is this?!- well- not quite magic, but it does seem like the people are under the same spell. 

You have just witnessed the #1 routine to learn when you join the Swing Dance Community!

Wanna Know More?

In 1926 Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant met while performing in the Whitman Sister’s shows. The Whitman sisters were a troupe of four Black American sisters who were stars of Black Vaudeville. Their show was quite popular running from 1900 to 1943.

One of the shows needed a finale so Leonard and Willie came up with a Tap routine for everyone to come onstage and perform together. We are talking about the tap dancers, singers and other performers. Their dance was made up from shuffles, cross-overs, tacky Annies and a fall off the log. They called the dance “Goofus” to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. 

In the 1930s, legend has it that one of the show dancers was fired, went to New York and started to perform the routine at a club called the Shim Sham. The dance was renamed the Shim Sham Shimmy. The routine spread all over Harlem and was danced onstage as an ‘all in’ finale to bring the performers together to close a show. The tap dancers would perform with the tap moves and everyone else would shuffle through. One dance act called ‘The Three Little Words’ in 1931, performed at Connie’s Inn, would invite the whole club to join in and dance the Shim Sham. 

At the Savoy Ballroom, Frankie Manning and his friends learnt the steps and danced it on the edges of the ballroom while the main social swing dancing was happening. They performed it as a line dance without the taps. 

Al Minns was one of the dancers who performed in Hellzapoppin’ (see our Origins of Swing Dancing page). Like Frankie Manning, Al and Leon were members of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers and danced at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York. Both Al and Leon continued to perform and teach Jazz dance in the 1950s and 1960s including filming clips for television specials. Sadly Leon James passed away in 1970. Al Minns kept on dancing and like Frankie Manning, was an important part of sustaining the culture and celebration of Black dance. Al Minns passed away in 1985.

Frankie Manning revamped the Shim Sham at the end of the 1980s and it caught on! 

Here are a series of videos of Frankie Manning performing the Shim Sham.

Frankie Manning and his son Chazz Young performing the Shim Sham with a solo ending

Another clip of Frankie Manning and Chazz Young performing the Shim Sham

Frankie Manning leading the Shim Sham, Herrang 2007

Global Shim Sham for Frankie’s 95th Birthday 2009

Today the Shim Sham is performed globally at major events, small dance gatherings or just whenever the song is played!

To keep the Shim Sham fresh, many variations have been added to enable dancers to express their own dance styles while keeping to the origins of the Frankie version.  

The Shim Sham can be performed to a variety of songs.

Here are a few:

• Tain't What You Do (It’s The Way That You Do It): Jimmie Lunceford

• ‘Tain’t What You Do: Billy May

• Tain’t What You Do: THE SCHWINGS BAND

• Tuxedo Junction- 1989 Remastered: Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra 

• The Shim Sham Song: Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra

And just to spark your interest!

• Turkey in the Straw: Banjo Troubadours 

It’s a good idea to practice the Shim Sham to lots of different songs.

So… Sign Me Up!

Where do I learn?

Sugarfoot Stomp holds dance workshops throughout the year that teach the Shim Sham to the dance community. Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for the workshop events or click the link below to our Classes Page to see if there is one on offer.

Here’s the Shim Sham being performed at

Sugarfoot Stomp’s

New Years Eve Dance Exchange Summer Hop 2018!

Click on the video to view on youtube