H/T to my friend Spoonman. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
Jeffrey Daniel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daniel was the first person to perform "the backslide", physically complicated dance technique, now known as the "moonwalk" on television, during a performance of Shalamar's "A Night to Remember" on, the British music show, Top of the Pops. The song was a hit in 1982, almost a year before Michael Jackson moonwalked for the second time on the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television broadcast. Jackson was a big fan in the 1970s of Soul Train. He soon met, learned from, and later hired dancer/choreographers from the Soul Train TV show.[citation needed] Dance partners Geron "Casper" Candidate and Cooley Jackson taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk.
But Micheal Jackson surely brought it to perfection. Compare:
Having seen the performance you posted that night in real time, i too was enthralled in a popish way. But i also knew of the entire history leading to Mr. Bojangles, and as the video i posted shows, you can trace every one of MJ's moves way back in time.
he may well have brought it to perfection for modern audiences with modern beats, but the moves were copied from great performances from previous times and previous beats.
if you're not allowed to have instruments in your slavery, you can always use your feet and leather soles on the hard wood table. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
