Dancing with Gatsby

Our event was titled "Dancing with Gatsby" and took place on Saturday, April 18th at Ripley Free Library. "Dancing with Gatsby" focused on the dancing aspect of the 1920s in order to spark community discussion of The Great Gatsby by engaging the audience in a fun and interactive activity. We started our event with an informal discussion of our research, which included the historical and cultural context related to the novel. Next, we watched instructional videos that taught us how to Charleston, which was followed with an opportunity for open dancing and time to enjoy refreshments while listening to jazz.

We also created a Twitter account for our event: @dancing_gatsby, which we encouraged high school students attending our event to tweet pictures and comments to. This was a good idea that should be expanded upon for future Big Read events. 

The big success we saw in this endeavor was when the official Big Read Twitter account favorited one of our retweets from a high school participant.

Dancing in the 1920s was considered a powerful tool for expression during a time period where it was very clear as to what was expected from members in society. The jerky, fast-paced movement of the Charleston was symbolic of dancers breaking free from the restrictive limits placed upon them by dominant society. In this way, dancing of the 1920s was in direct response to societal expectations for Americans. The dancing, characteristic of the infamous flappers of the Roaring Twenties, was an act of rebellion and expressed a refusal to conform. 

We discussed anti-dance literature published around the 1920s that we found during the research process on the American Memory database. It is easy when thinking of the Roaring Twenties to glamorize the era and assume that everyone acted as the flappers did, but that is not the case. The dancing existed as its own counter-culture and there were many who vocalized concerns against dancing. We brought up the specific anti-dance publications, The Lure of the Dance by Thomas A. Faulkner and The Social Dance by R.A. Adams, which focused on the effects dancing had on women. Both publications seemed to present women as needing protection from dancing while simultaneously presenting them as a complementary threat to dancing.

Our discussion examined why dances such as the Charleston became popular within the time period. As a result of World War I, America's younger generation became disillusioned with society and what they had been taught by their elders. This led the younger generation to question morality and values that society placed particular emphasis on. Dancing was the medium by which individuals experimented with individual expression and challenged accepted societal norms and moral values. The conversation soon expanded to connect how what we saw in the 20s was seen in other decades as well such as the 60s with rock-n-roll and Elvis. We then used the discussion of dancing as a bridge to initiate conversation concerning how the rebellious attitude of dancing is seen within The Great Gatsby characters and how this informs the characters’ actions in the novel.

Our event had a very successful and lively discussion. Those in attendance felt free to participate and offered their own insights into the novel's characters. It was enlightening to hear what each person had to say. One of the best moments of our Big Read event was when one woman who attended our event -- despite never having read Gatsby -- said our discussion made the novel sound so interesting she "just had to read it." She left our event after checking out the library's copy of the novel.

Knowing that our event sparked at least one person's interest in the novel and potentially renewed interest in reading for others was the most rewarding part of our Big Read experience. It was this part of our program that reminded us what the Big Read is all about. As English majors, we thoroughly enjoyed being able to share our love of literature with the community. We were also very grateful for the support of our library director and the library's entire staff in ensuring our event was a success.

 We quickly realized that the Charleston is not as easy as the flappers made it look. 

It is A LOT of footwork!

We had a lot of fun dancing and the onlookers found our attempts at dancing very entertaining.

The high school students who attended our event informed us of their recent involvement in a high school musical that was set in the 1920s. For one of the musical's dance numbers, parts of the Charleston were worked into the choreography. The students expressed surprise at how complicated the Charleston is in its full form.

"Dancing with Gatsby" was the premier Big Read event held at Ripley Free Library and we know it won't be the last. Based off of the event's success considering its first year, we are confident that Ripley's involvement in the Big Read will continue to grow.