Paleo Retiree writes:

A brilliant routine, filmed in 1930, from Earl “Snakehips” Tucker, a regular at Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom and Cotton Club:

So much to enjoy here in addition to Tucker’s legendary hyperflexible spine and exaggerated hip circles: The way he’s able to convey near-weightlessness; the impression he can give of being tugged about by invisible strings; the shrewdly chosen costume; the contrasts between slow-mo and normal-mo effects; the proto-Elvis, proto-moonwalking and proto-popping moves; the (mostly) poker face that still manages to convey happiness, serenity, wickedness and surprise … I often marvel at at how much aesthetic content and pleasure a dance routine can pack in and deliver.

Is it too pretentious of me to venture that Tucker’s routine makes a sweet/sinister, and maybe even deep, statement about life’s vicissisitudes? And about keeping one’s balance in the midst of them? Important not to overlook the intense, even predatory, sexiness of the routine too, of course.

Related

• Sad that there’s so little about Tucker, who only lived to be 35 years old, on the web. Here’s some smart stuff, mostly about his dancing.
• I learned from the great Albert Murray that, in African-American art, funkiness is philosophy. You don’t think that the power to get people up on their feet and start smiling and dancing is an insignificant thing, do you? As far as I’m concerned, it’s like having access to the source of the life force itself.