Black Bottom (dance)

The black bottom is a dance which became popular in the 1920s—the Roaring Twenties, also known as the Jazz Age, and the era of the flapper. It was danced solo or by couples.

Originating among African Americans in the rural South, the black bottom eventually was adopted by mainstream American culture and became a national craze in the 1920s. The dance was most famously performed by Ann Pennington, a star of the Ziegfeld Follies, who performed it in a Broadway revue staged by Ziegfeld's rival George White in 1926.

The dance originated in New Orleans in the first decade of the 20th century. The jazz pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, wrote the tune "Black Bottom Stomp", its title referring to the Black Bottom area of Detroit.

"The Original Black Bottom Dance" was printed in 1919. It came from an earlier dance called "Jacksonville Rounders' Dance", printed in 1907. The word rounder was a synonym for pimp. Both "dance-songs" were written by the black pianist, composer and dancer Perry Bradford and were based on a dance done in Jacksonville, Florida, "way back." One professional dancer stated, "That dance is as old as the hills."

Sheet music from the mid-20s identifies the composers as Gus Horsley and Bradford and claims the dance was introduced by the African-American dancer and choreographer Billy Pierce. The sheet music's cover photograph features dancer Stella Doyle, who performed primarily in cabarets.

The black bottom was well known among semirural blacks across the South. A similar dance with many variations was commonly performed in tent shows, and "Bradford and Jeanette" had used it as a finale.

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