Origins of the Moonwalk

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AbejaMariposaJr
June 02, 2008

ORIGINS OF THE MOONWALK Dancers (in alphabetical order): Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson ...

ORIGINS OF THE MOONWALK
Dancers (in alphabetical order):
Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson and Jackson, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Three Chefs (only the feet), Tip Tap and Toe (feat. Ray Winfield), Earl Snakehips Tucker
Video edited by CFJ

My second Michael Jackson related video. Since the first one "Fred Astaire in Smooth Criminal" seems quite well-received, I decided to make another one. This time the theme is "who devised the moonwalk?".

As some people already know, a dance move called the moonwalk (a.k.a. backslide) had been existed before it became the "moonwalk". The video features the ancient moonwalkers and other greats who possibly influenced MJ's style of dancing.

The most well-known dancer as the "orignal moonwalker" should be Bill Bailey who performed it in the film Showtime At The Apollo (1955), which was also featured in the movie Tap (1989). But actually Bill Bailey, pupil of Bill Robinson, performed the very same step as early as 1943 in the movie Cabin In The Sky, which you can see here as well as the 1955 film.

The various scenes used in the video are from 1929 to 1955 (except Sammy Davis Jr. from '65 and '67). The oldest one is from Hallelujah, featuring Daniel L. Haynes as a minister pantomiming a train at a prayer meeting. I was totally amazed by his movement when I first saw that movie.

The most influential dancer on MJ's dancing is no doubt James Brown, but you can also trace the roots and origins of his style to those greats in the first half of the 20th century.

So, the question - "who devised the moonwalk?".
My answer is "nobody". Or all the great imaginative dancers, including MJ, who made great efforts to move foward (should I say "backward" in this case?). I think the moonwalk is not a thing someone suddenly came up with one day. There must have been so many great unknown dancers other than the ones who were lucky to be recorded... In other words, Rome was not built in a day.

Amazed by the dancers in the video?
But there were many other greats. You must see The Nicholas Brothers, The Berry Brothers, The Four Step Brothers, Pops & Louis...etc, etc. If you like this vid, you better check out The Nicholas Bros in Down Argentine Way (1940) on my channel. Then, watch Stormy Weather (1943). YOU HAVEN'T SEEN NOTHIN' YET.

More about the featured films and dancers in this video:
http://strongerthanparadise.blog122.f...

The other two of my MJ trilogy videos:
Fred Astaire in Smooth Criminal (HQ)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKanPs...
Fred Astaire in Smooth Criminal (LQ)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gB0UN...
West Side Story (Somebody Call Michael mix)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWTrF...

Category: Entertainment

Tags:

Michael Jackson Moonwalk Moonwalker Billie Jean Smooth Criminal Fred Astaire Bill Bailey Buck John Bubbles Cab Calloway Sammy Davis Jr Eleanor Powell Robinson Bojangles Tip Tap Toe Nicholas Brothers Fayard Harold Berry Four Step hoofer Jimmy Slyde Savion Glover Gregory Hines Bob Fosse Jeffrey Daniel Geron Casper Canidate Derek Cooley Jaxson Taco Electric Boogaloos Shrimp

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BiancavDam (26 minutes ago) Show Hide

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Whoa love it! Great video!

mrgears (16 hours ago) Show Hide

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Lots of superb dancers but the only real "moonwalk" I saw was between 0:41 and 0:47. Who was that?

Tratsini (1 day ago) Show Hide

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The guy at 2:45 was amazing!!! Really great! the best from them all!!

mrQ12343 (1 day ago) Show Hide

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Great video man :D

ricksamuell (3 days ago) Show Hide

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in my best Elvis..."Thank ya Thank ya. Thank ya verrrry much."

really. Thanks. I want to watch all these movies.

genepeeco (3 days ago) Show Hide

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THE BEST IS THE CHEF ON THE TABLE @ 2:45

b0rat07 (4 days ago) Show Hide

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neil armstrong was the first to do the moonwalk

SvendBosanvovski (3 days ago) Show Hide

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Nice one b0rat07. I give you a vote for that,

almanacofsleep (4 days ago) Show Hide

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Nice to see a you included Snakehips Tucker, wish there were more vids of him on youtube.

houseofjrk (4 days ago) Show Hide

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also the origins or the electric boogaloo if you look at 1 ;55

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Origins of the Moonwalk

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