"Twist," a fun documentary opening at the Music Box Theatertoday, digs up historic footage of this early '60s dance fad,intertwining reminiscences by golden oldsters like choreographerCholly Atkins, songwriter Hank Ballard and singer Gladys Horton.
In his earlier movies, Canadian director Ron Mann covered jazzmusicians, performance poets and comic book creators. This time hetraces the black roots of a white rock 'n' roll craze.
Mann aims for chuckles - not searing social insight - withtrivia like the speed of the fringe twirling on a go-go dancer'sfanny while she's twisting (It was clocked at 80 m.p.h.). One nerdynewsreel shows a chemistry prof in Georgia introducingMolecule-a-Go-Go. Your hands represent two hydrogen atoms and yourhead is supposed to be the oxygen atom. Gyrate as specified by thechemical bonds.
One overexcited preacher damned the twist as "synthetic sexturned into a sick spectator sport." Mann suggests the fad, whichfirst took off in 1960 when Chubby Checker recorded the song, wasundone by a marketing frenzy that quickly enveloped the phenomenon.By 1965, youths rebelled against society's formulas - on and off thedance floor. Freestyle dancing - not to mention free love and freespeech - kicked aside lockstep styles on American Bandstand.
"Twist" continues through Sept. 2.
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