Have you seen that viral video with a crazy girl in a black and white stripy shirt and black skirt, smoking an imaginary cigarette and doing those crazy fast feet moves? Have you wondered what is this dance: jitterbug, shuffle, loose leg, lindy hop? It’s 20s Charleston and Ksenia Parkhatskaya with the undone belt and imaginary cigarette at the front of it.
In this blog you will find out the 5 awesome move Ksenia does in this viral video and learn how to do them yourself.
TikTok viral fast feed video
When 20s Charleston took over the world in 1930s it was a dance craze. In 2021 Charleston 20s takes over the world again, though this time its through social media and no one knows the name of the dance.
Charleston dance jam at Paris Jazz Roots
Here is a little extract that went viral all over the internet and became popular on Tik Tok and other social media. On the video it’s myself, Ksenia Parkhatskaya, and my talented colleagues jamming at the Paris Jazz Roots swing dance event in 2015.
Original full video was filmed and published by Eric Esquivel.
Among others you can as well see these wonderful international dancers and teachers of the swing dance styles:
Evita Arche
Remy Kouakou Kouame
Nathan Bugh
Juan Villafane
Rikard Ekstrand and many others.
You might wonder what this dance is? We are at a swing dance event in Paris and we are doing authentic jazz dance: jazz, Charleston, black bottom, soft shoe, tap and so on.
Fast feet viral moves: 20s Charleston is back in fashion
Many people wondered what are the moves that I am doing. On this video specifically you can see dance steps such as:
Happy Feet
Charleston 20s basic step
Fall Off The Log
Over the Tops
Triple Step
All that with my signature imaginary smoking!
And now get your socks ready to learn those moves with me. I am going to share some free dance tutorials from my online dance school Secrets of Solo.
Happy Feet dance move
You have probably wondered or even tried to imitate that viral fast feet move what I am doing while smoking. Well, I’ll tell you the secrets of my solo…the first movement I am doing is the 1920’s Charleston the Happy Feet!
Some people call this move Heel Toe. The original name of this authentic jazz dance move is Happy Feet.
This name can be as well found in reference to the famous Savoy ballroom in New Your. Savoy Ballroom was known as the “Home of Happy Feet” during the Harlem Renaissance. It became known for its interracial dancing and entertainment, “where downtown whites and uptown black people came to “trip the light fantastic,” clap hands to the Charleston..” (from The Harlem Renaissance, p. 57 Stuart A. Kallen · 2009)
Happy Feet is as well a name of a popular jazz tune by Bing Crosby & Gutchrlein Paul Whiteman Orchestra from the 1930’s film “The King Of Jazz”
Charleston Basic Step & Twist
The dance that we associate with The Great Gatsby, gangsters and prohibition era is 20s Charleston. This dance was immensely popular during the period of 1920’s Prohibition as well as 1930’s Great Depression. When the US stock market crashed and part of the society was left in complete poverty, dancing for many was an anti – depression pill, it swept the worries away.
20s Charleston is a dance step, a dance style and a style of music. A style that is defined by music, clothing style, manner and expression. 20s Charleston was a craze during the Jazz Age. It is danced to ragtime, hot jazz and Charleston.
Charleston has a very interesting story, if you are curious enough to dive into it, I wrote a blog called “The History of Charleston dance”.
As for now I will leave you to wiggle around the room with the instructional videos:
First video is to do with the Charleston 20s Twist & Character that is at the basis of it all.
In this next video you can learn about 5 different ways to do the Charleston. To try my way in the viral video, straight away hop to the 20s style with the twist!
Fall Off the Log dance move
Another irresistible viral fast feet move I am going for in this video is Fall off the log (falling-off-the-log / falling off a log)- twisting movement consisting of shuffles and the alternate crossing and recrossing of one foot over the other, the body leaning sideways – “Brotherhood in Rhythm”.
Modern Flapper
“Jazz Age dance maestro”
LA Magazine
For the first 5 years I was completely in love with the 20s style, I dedicated loads of time to investigate the essence of it. At some point I became the most viewed 20s Charleston dancer gathering almost a million views on my dance videos.
If you’d like to know my story of how I lived and breathed as a 21 century flapper, check out my blog 5 best Charleston dance videos by Ksenia Parkhatskaya.
Other Jazz and Charleston dance moves
Triple Step and Over The Top as well as plenty of other equally viral moves you can find inside my Online Dance School Secrets of Solo where I feature 14 separate courses, and 40+ hours of teaching material.
Two courses might of special interest: Secrets of Charleston 20s & Solo Jazz 101
Secrets of Charleston 20s
The first one is all about the “King of the Dance” 20s Charleston. By taking this course you will learn over 30 classic Charleston moves and their variations. You’ll discover all about the styling and try out some eccentric flash steps.
Solo Jazz 101
Solo Jazz 101 is for absolute beginners! You’ll discover the fundamentals of swing: feeling the beat, walking with groove and bounce. Ksenia will then guide you through major solo jazz dance steps and help you create your first dance routines. Advanced dancers can also benefit by firming up their basic solo jazz dance steps.
Hong Kong Dance Magazine’s marked Secrets of Solo as Top 5 Favourite Online Dance Schools. To date, there have been over 3,500 dance students who have joined Secrets of Solo! You can read their testimonials here, we have 4.9 rating in Trustpilot.
Even if after watching all these classes you are still in doubt whether online tutorials are your thing or not, we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. So there is absolutely no risk at all for you. Sign up now & give it a go.
