History of the Shim Sham

In 1926 Leonard Reed met Willie Bryant in one of Whitman Sister’s shows. The Whitman Sisters were an exceptionally famous troupe of four African-American sisters who were stars of Black Vaudeville. They had one of the longest running shows in the States – 1900 to 1943. They needed a finale, which Leonard and Willie whipped up! It was a tap routine, but everyone would come on stage – the dancers, tappers, singers etc and have a go!

Eventually, one of the dancers was fired and went to New York. There are a few different versions of this story, but Leonard Reed claims this dancer formed a new troupe who performed it at a club called Shim Sham, where they started calling the dance the “Shim Sham Shimmy”.

Soon enough, the dance spread into the Savoy Ballroom and towards the end of the 1940s/early 1950s, we saw Al Minns & Leon James’ version of the Shim Sham. There is another version that Dean Collins created as well, a bit later on.

The version we perform today was something that Frankie Manning (King of Swing, fondly known as the Father of Lindy Hop) revamped towards the end of 80s! Here’s a video of him performing it! The Shim Sham is, without a doubt, the most well known solo jazz routine. It is performed all over the world, wherever you go!

*There are other versions of the Shim Sham - Frankie & Chaz (his son) did another version, the Tap version, the DC Shim Sham and Al Minns and Leon James’ version.

Music:

For something slower, try the Andrew Sister’s Tuxedo Junction. Otherwise, it’s usually danced to T’ain’t What’cha Do, It’s The Way How’cha Do It by Jimmy Lunceford & His Orchestra!