Is the Philly Bop a lost dance?
Not if Audrey and June Donaldson have anything to say about it.
The Philly couple have been teaching the Philly Bop and other partner-style dances across the country for over 20 years. But they wrote the book on the Philly Bop, literally.
As the name implies, “How to Dance: Philly Bop—A Six-Count Dance” teaches the dance, but it also offers history of the culture behind it, and what music is “bop-able,” according to some Philly locals.
It’s not exactly a modern dance, per se, June Donaldson admits.
“The younger crowd parties differently than we do. It’s like they do their things — bounce. In our era, you have to ask someone, and you’re actually physically connecting and touching your hands,” he said.
The Philly Bop originated from the Lindy Hop back in the 1920s. It became a dancing sensation that consists of both 8 and 6-count steps. After being created in Harlem, the Lindy Hop traveled across the country with people learning the dance and making small changes to it.
Some of those changes including slower, smoother movements influenced by the Motown sound led to the birth of the Philly Bop. The Philly version then spread around the country thanks to American Bandstand, which taped in Philly starting in 1952.
During COVID, Audrey and June saw lots of the people who used to come dance with them stop participating. Many of them did not return.
June and Audrey saw their parents and elders dancing to the Bop and learned it from them. But with fewer people taking part, that doesn’t happen anymore.
“So that’s less opportunity for younger people to see it, the way we saw it with our elders and our families,” Audrey said.
Their goal is to fill that void and teach everyone who wants to learn the Philly Bop.
The couple is going to be a part of a dance series at Ursinus College where they will offer free Bop lessons for the college students and the general community.
Days that the couple are unable to teach, they have other dancers who will teach. This this is where they start the chain link of where they teach it and then someone else can teach it too.
They also offer free YouTube videos where anyone can learn the real Philly Bop.
“Most people call us and we’ll come to you. The furthest we have been being Vegas, and we used to go annually to the Steady Steppers Vegas Jam,” Audrey said. “On a Friday morning in Vegas, at 9 o’clock, we would have a hundred people or so in the room from across the country.”
At the conference in Vegas, they were told that there wouldn’t be any Philly dancers in Vegas, so to keep the Philly Bop alive, they did the event for free to get more dancers to learn the Bop.
The couple’s motto of “walk in, dance out” encourages even people who have two left feet, the Philly Bop is something everyone can learn and dance to.
Even though it is not their full-time job, the couple teaches dance three times a week. In addition to teaching the Philly Bop, they also teach the cha-cha, smooth-style ballroom, Chicago step-in, and Philly Stand, which is a slow line dance.
These instructors host annual showcases where they show off the Philly Bop with instructors teaching different dance styles and students who show off what they have learned.
The Donaldsons are currently working on their next book which will be in a more serious tone and show the dances.
“I view the Philly Bop as something that can be central to a multi-generational, intergenerational approach to family in terms of activity, like we get invited to people’s family reunion. Some families invite us every year, every other year to teach them Bop again,” Audrey Donaldson said.
It’s a Philly Bop thing.
