Doing the Lambeth Walk

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I know most of you won’t have heard about the dance called the Lambeth Walk, but my mom and dad danced to this during WWII and when they first arrived in New York in the early 1950s, and later on I had to take my mom to a Broadway show in New York City that featured the Lambeth Walk. The name of this dance comes from a favorite historic street located in England called the Lambeth Walk. The location had changes to its name twice before – one time it was known as the “Three Coney Walk” and afterwards as Lambeth Wells. The dance Lambeth Walk was set forth as England’s dance to challenge the Big Apple in the U.S.A. Yes, at one time there was even a dance called The Big Apple. So you see from one dance discussion we could create a whole series. Soon the Lambeth Walk became the third great dance craze of interwar Europe in London, England. There is some dispute over who actually created this dance, and some of the candidates are Miss England, who supposedly started this dance in 1938, and others say it was London comedian Lupino Lane, who did it in the stage production of the musical “For Me and My Gal.” Incidentally, the Broadway show that I took my mom to when she heard it included the Lambeth Walk was “For Me and My Gal,” so I tend to think that it was this production that actually started this dance craze. Eventually the Lambeth Walk also made it to the U.S., and that was where my parents could continue to enjoy it. Basically this dance could be compared to a line type of dance where couples dance side by side, forming a line. The dance can also be done as a solo, and it involves lots of jaunty swaggering, strutting, and slapping of the knees. The photo is of historical London's Lambeth Walk You can take a look at the video and tell me what you think. Shall we dance?