Matthew Lybanon wrote:
Does anyone know why the ballroom dance figure
(Waltz, Foxtrot) known as "Twinkle" has that name?
My take is that the term has drifted over the years,
but it started from a dance called The Twinkle,
described here in a 1914 dance book.
This change of feet is called the Twinkle, because it
is done in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak.
The apparent speed is only relative, since the previous steps
take 3 beats, and then 2 beats.
That is not the modern figure, but later in the same dance there
is a figure where the man and woman change relative positions.
The change is not the same as the modern ballroom basic twinkle,
but it is a change and has the characteristic swing around
on one foot at the end. The rest is history.
Step Three: Lady takes position by the side of
the gentleman, her right arm akimbo, right hand
clasping gentleman's right, and her left arm extended
to clasp gentleman's left.
Both start with left foot and balance forward and back
three times. On the third balance backward, twinkle as
described before, which brings the right foot forward.
One step forward on the right foot, a second on the left,
and a third on the right foot. Then swing half way
around on right toe, which brings the gentleman with
the right foot forward and the lady on the left side
of the gentleman.
The book is at the American Ballroom Collection at the
Library of Congress:
The tango and other up-to-date dances; a practical
guide to all the latest dances, tango, one step,
innovation, hesitation, etc., described step by step
by J. S. Hopkins 1914
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Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.
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