It's Madison time, hit it!
Below you will find links to videos and texts that will reinforce what you already know and help continue your Madison education.
Big STRONG LINE
This clip from the 1988 film Hairspray is the reason The Madison retains its popularity among vintage dance enthusiasts today. The Madison dance as seen above was choreographed by Edward M. Love, Jr. Love was a former member the famed Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, and danced professionally on Broadway. He was 9 years old when the Madison began to take it to the left in his home state of Ohio.
Two Up & Two back
The Madison dance was most likely born in Columbus, Ohio in 1957. Read a short history of The Madison, including an article from June 1960, on this ColumbusMusicHistory page.
The Big Strong Cleveland box
Here is a very ugly PDF breakdown of The Madison performed to "The Madison Time - Part 1" by the Ray Bryant Combo. It will one day be made pretty and this text will be changed to reflect its magnificence.
| The Madison Time Choreo Breakdown.pdf |
Here is a link to an archived web page of a breakdown created by a UK dance group that helped create enthusiasm for the vintage Swing revival in the 1980s: Madison - The Figures.
This particular document is referenced in footnote 32 of "Rocking Around the Clock: Teenage Dance Fads from 1955 to 1965" by Tim Wall, published in "Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake" edited by Julie Malnig (2009).
This particular document is referenced in footnote 32 of "Rocking Around the Clock: Teenage Dance Fads from 1955 to 1965" by Tim Wall, published in "Ballroom, Boogie, Shimmy Sham, Shake" edited by Julie Malnig (2009).
hit it time!
There are surprisingly few full breakdowns of The Madison available on YouTube. Here is a demo of the best of the bunch. You can break it down from here, or purchase "The Definitive Madison Instructional" video here.
and back to The Madison
Matthews, Bob. "Newest Dance Craze: The Madison." The Baltimore Afro-American. March 26, 1960.
Originally, The Madison dance was a "called" dance, where the "caller" would yell out various steps to be done in between the basic - "like a square dance with a beat," as the March 26, 1960 article posted above described it. The sequence of movements was not choreographed and the steps took on a regional flair as the dance migrated throughout the country. The dance was done to a variety of R&B music of the time and became popular enough that multiple groups released a "Madison" song. Al Brown's Tunetopper's (with calls by Cookie Brown) had their "The Madison" peak at #23 on Billboard's chart. There were competing versions by other groups, like "The Big M" by Dickie Doo & the Don'ts. Even DJ legend Alan Freed got into The Madison spirit, albeit a little late, releasing his rendition in 1962.
However, if you are doing The Madison today, there is good chance that you are dancing to "The Madison Time" by the Ray Bryant Combo (1959) and choreography by Edward M. Love, Jr (1988).
In late 1959, a Baltimore DJ named Eddie Morrison recorded his calls over a number by the Ray Bryant Combo. While this version was popular in its time, the competition for songs in the novelty dance market tempered the initial popularity. By 1961, the Twist had taken over. However, in his 1988 ode to his hometown of Baltimore, MD, filmmaker John Waters reacquainted the world with The Madison, using "The Madison Time" to showcase the dance. In the era before YouTube, the movie Hairspray was the best source to learn the choreography. Thus, most Swing dancers who dance The Madison do that particular choreography!
However, if you are doing The Madison today, there is good chance that you are dancing to "The Madison Time" by the Ray Bryant Combo (1959) and choreography by Edward M. Love, Jr (1988).
In late 1959, a Baltimore DJ named Eddie Morrison recorded his calls over a number by the Ray Bryant Combo. While this version was popular in its time, the competition for songs in the novelty dance market tempered the initial popularity. By 1961, the Twist had taken over. However, in his 1988 ode to his hometown of Baltimore, MD, filmmaker John Waters reacquainted the world with The Madison, using "The Madison Time" to showcase the dance. In the era before YouTube, the movie Hairspray was the best source to learn the choreography. Thus, most Swing dancers who dance The Madison do that particular choreography!
double cross
By all accounts, The Madison was created and popularized by African-American teens in the late 1950s. Unfortunately - and this is a theme that repeats throughout American social dance history - there are virtually no recordings of contemporary African-American dancing the steps. The Madison is a textbook example of how the bounties of African-American culture were appropriated for a mainstream Caucasian audience.
Hank Ballard (of Hank Ballard and the Midnighters) is the voice you'll hear at the end of this video. Coincidentally, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters were the group to create the fad dance that overtook The Madison: The Twist (1959)!
Hank Ballard (of Hank Ballard and the Midnighters) is the voice you'll hear at the end of this video. Coincidentally, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters were the group to create the fad dance that overtook The Madison: The Twist (1959)!
Crazy!
The couple in the video above are Joan Darby & Joe Cash. The two were featured dancers on the "Buddy Deane Show," a popular dance television show in Baltimore, that was the basis for the "Corny Collins Show" in John Water's "Hairspray".
Darby & Cash were hired by the Columbia Record company to help market their Eddie Morrison/Ray Bryant Combo version, by touring these steps around the northeastern United States. The video below was filmed during that time.
Here's the CRAZY! part: This clip was in the Tela-Records vault for 60 years and was just uploaded to YouTube in 2020! Almost all the choreography taught about the Madison since the Swing revival has been based on Edward M. Love Jr.'s choreography for Hairspray, and we finally have definitive proof of what was danced on the Buddy Deane Show in 1959!
CRAZY!
Darby & Cash were hired by the Columbia Record company to help market their Eddie Morrison/Ray Bryant Combo version, by touring these steps around the northeastern United States. The video below was filmed during that time.
Here's the CRAZY! part: This clip was in the Tela-Records vault for 60 years and was just uploaded to YouTube in 2020! Almost all the choreography taught about the Madison since the Swing revival has been based on Edward M. Love Jr.'s choreography for Hairspray, and we finally have definitive proof of what was danced on the Buddy Deane Show in 1959!
CRAZY!
Wilt Chamberlin Hook
Major hat-tip & respect to Paolo "Lindy" Lanna of Lindyland.com. "Lindy" Lanna is a historian of the Madison dance and I discovered most of the information on the video above on his Madison website. In the late 90s, Lanna was able to track down a former producer on the Buddy Deane Show who had access to this clip on VHS. He broke everything down and along with partner Jennifer Cormar released a Madison instructional, which you can purchase here. This version is the only definitive breakdown of the Madison as danced on the Buddy Deane show in Baltimore to the Eddie Morrison/Ray Bryant Combo version of "The Madison Time."
It's T Time
The video below is an example of what The Madison looked like when danced to "The Madison Time - Part 1" without Eddie Morrison's calls.
two points!
Having not grown up with Annette Funicello, I did not always see the appeal. After watching her do The Madison, I certainly see it now!
now when i say hit it
Here are links to a few other Madison songs:
Al Brown's Tunetoppers (featuring Cookie Brown) - "The Madison" b/w "Mo Madison"
Dicky Doo & the Don'ts - "Big M, Part 1 & 2"
Wild Bill Davis - "The Madison Time, Part 1" *
*Wild Bill Davis recorded this Ray Bryant Combo cover just a few months after the original itself.
Al Brown's Tunetoppers (featuring Cookie Brown) - "The Madison" b/w "Mo Madison"
Dicky Doo & the Don'ts - "Big M, Part 1 & 2"
Wild Bill Davis - "The Madison Time, Part 1" *
*Wild Bill Davis recorded this Ray Bryant Combo cover just a few months after the original itself.
And Away we go!
Before we take it to the left and leave The Madison behind, we have one last oddity to deal with. In the famously influential French New Wave film, Bande à part (1964), the three protagonists perform a choreographed number they call "The Madison." That scene has been replicated in quite a few movies, and inspired the dance contest scene in Pulp Fiction (1995) - in fact, Tarantino's original production company was called "A Band Apart." (The great irony of the Pulp Fiction homage is that when the music begins, both Mia Wallace & Vincent Vega start doing the Twist...the "fad" dance that pushed the Madison aside in 1961.)
Strangely, this version of The Madison is hugely popular in Cambodia! It is a staple of wedding receptions and in 2015 an official Guinness Book of World Records was set, with over 2000 people dancing The Madison! And if you need further proof, and I hope you don't, click this link.
Though Wikipedia combines these two versions into one entry, it is clear by the movements (and admitted in an interview by the actress involved) that this Madison has no relation to that which started on dance floors in spaces filled by African-Americans.
Strangely, this version of The Madison is hugely popular in Cambodia! It is a staple of wedding receptions and in 2015 an official Guinness Book of World Records was set, with over 2000 people dancing The Madison! And if you need further proof, and I hope you don't, click this link.
Though Wikipedia combines these two versions into one entry, it is clear by the movements (and admitted in an interview by the actress involved) that this Madison has no relation to that which started on dance floors in spaces filled by African-Americans.
Here's Emma Stone & others replicating the dance in the Netflix series Maniac (2018). Note her 1940s attire and style and the song's big band jazz arrangement...to pay homage to a mid-60s dance.
Do you want to see another dance sequence inspired by this French Madison? Then just take (a jump) to the left.
Say! Do any of you guys know how to madison?
Now hold it right there!
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