It’s the new sensation:Dancing can be for fun or exercise, or it can be a spectator sport. Long before the hit reality television show Dancing with the Stars, 8,500 people gathered to watch 800 dancers at Jermain Park, the site of the Toledo Recreation Festival square dance competition. In addition to square dancing, there was modern dancing and some ”chicken” dancing to the music of Little Richard and His Plainsmen. In this August 26, 1955, photo by Toledo Blade photographer Don Flory, a chain of women and girls are showing the audience how to do the “Bunny Hop,” one of the newer dances performed during the festival. The line dance was created at Balboa High School in San Francisco in 1952. Orchestra leader Ray Anthony saw the dance and he, along with composer Leonard Auletti, wrote the original song “Bunny Hop.” Ray Anthony & His Orchestra recorded the song and released the record in April, 1953. The flip side of that 45 RPM single? The “Hokey Pokey.”
THE BLADE/DON FLORY
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