The characteristic Charleston beat, which Johnson said he first heard from Charleston dockworkers, incorporates the clave rhythm and was considered by composer and critic Gunther Schuller to be synonymous with the Habanera, and the Spanish Tinge. Johnson actually recorded several “Charlestons,” and in later years derided most of them as being of “that same damn beat.” Several of these were recorded on player piano rolls, several of which have survived to this day.
The Charleston and similar dances such as the Black Bottom which involved “Kicking up your heels” were very popular in the later part of the 1920s. They became less popular after 1930, possibly because after seven years of being fashionable people simply became less interested. The new fashion for floor level sheath evening dresses was also probably a factor. The new dresses constricted the leg movements essential for the Charleston. There is an Instructional Short from 1933 in which a new variation – The “Crawl Charleston” – is demonstrated by Santos Casini and Jean Mence. This shows a very sedate version of dance similar to a Tango or Waltz. It wasn’t until dress hem lines rose toward the end of the thirties that the Charleston is again seen in film.
The Charleston was one of the dances from which Lindy Hop and Jazz Roots developed in the late 1930s. A slightly different form of Charleston became popular in the 1930s and ’40s, and is associated with Lindy Hop. In this later Charleston form, the hot jazz timing of the 1920s Charleston was adapted to suit the swing jazz music of the ’30s and ’40s. This style of Charleston has many common names, though the most common are Lindy Charleston, Savoy Charleston, ’30s or ’40s Charleston and Swing(ing) Charleston. In both ’20s Charleston and Swinging Charleston, the basic step takes eight counts and is danced either alone or with a partner.
Frankie Manning and other Savoy dancers saw themselves as doing Charleston steps within the Lindy rather than to be dancing Charleston.