Ultimate Strictly

CHARLESTON

The Dance

Synonymous with the 1920s, the Charleston became a popular dance craze, made famous by Josephine Baker who performed it as a solo at the Folies Bergère, Paris, in 1926, and is associated with flappers - the most daring of young women who cut their hair into bobs, cut the skirts short and listened to jazz music! Horrifying the establishment with its daring move and exuberance, it was even banned in some dance halls.

The dance should be full of bounce, and expect lots of flicks, kicks and shaking of hips! It requires the dancers to show bags of character, with a rebellious nature and unexpected steps. Expect to see lots of crossing motions, scissor steps with the legs and swivels in the ankles.

The girls will be in 1920s inspired flapper dresses, with plenty of fringing and possibly drop waisted, while the boys will probably be wearing spats on their feet and either a sharp suit or a shirt and waistcoat.

The best of Strictly

The Charleston was introduced to Strictly in series seven, and the first two performances of the dance were the best so far. Chris & Ola gave us a hugely entertaining routine, full of fun, which Bruno said was a concoction of slapstick and dancing, while Ali & Brian gave us a fantastic period routine, with Craig thinking it worthy of challenging Josephine Baker, and Alesha awarding it the first ever 10 for a Charleston.

The worst of Strictly

With only three competitive Charleston routines danced so far, and all scoring over 30 points, it's difficult to call the lowest scoring performance the worst. However, Laila & Anton received only 6 points for their dance from Craig, who said the dance was heavy, lacked swivel and was laboured, so for the moment, they are, unfortunately, the worst of Strictly for this dance.

Scores for all Charleston performances: