Jazz Dance Class | Big Apple Choreography

Learn the famous Big Apple routine choreographed by Frankie Manning and danced by Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers in the film Keep Punching (1939). It has become a classic in the jazz dance archives, showcasing a vast vocabulary of jazz steps that we’ll have fun dissecting down to the last detail.

Big Apple’s concept was inspired by “ring shout”, a traditional circular African dance in which a caller spontaneously calls out movements to be imitated, always in relation to the music and the dancers on hand. This type of ritual has continued over time in various communities. By way of example, it can be considered the predecessor of the cypher, which lies at the heart of contemporary street dance practice.