Harvest Moon Ball
Hey all you swing dancers!
Time for some more fun swing history: Let’s talk about the Harvest Moon Ball!
The Harvest Moon Ball competition officially began at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1935. It immediately became a great display case for the remarkable Savoy Ballroom dancers. Lasting for many years, the Harvest Moon Ball was most famous dance contest in the world.
The Harvest Moon Ball was supposedly for “Amateurs” only. The Ball was held usually in August or September and was sponsored by the Daily Newsin New York and Los Angeles (News Welfare Association, Inc.)
The first unofficial contest was held at the Central Park Mall in 1927, but to the surprise of the organizers over 75,000 people showed up to watch the contest, all contests in the future were to be postponed in the name of public safety until Madison Square Garden could be obtained. They tried again in 1934 and this time the contest was officially shut down. The first official start date was in 1935 at Madison Square Garden in New York and would last untill 1980, from 1980 it was sponsored by individuals who were past HMB Winners with the last HMB in 1984.
Leon James and Edith Matthews - winners of the first Harvest Moon Ball (1935)
Starting in August, prelims would be run in many different clubs and ballrooms through-out the city such as the Savoy Ballroom and the famous Roseland Ballroom in New York. The prelims had a total of three judges, while the finals had five.
There were six divisions one could enter, some years would offer different dance divisions such as Lindy Hop, Rumba, Jitterbug, Jitterbug-Jive, Jive, Foxtrot, Rock and Roll, Polka, Tango, Collegiate Shag, Serviceman’s Division, Viennese Waltz and even the Hustle. Plus at the end of the contest the judges would pick an “All ‘Round Champion” to award additional prizes to, this was usually the couple who won the Foxtrot division.
Here is a video with some great vintage Harvest Moon Ball Lindy Hop clips:
source: streetswing
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The Houston Swing Dance Society is an organization of dedicated individuals who have a common appreciation and love of swing dancing and the Swing Dance Era. We are proud to be a part of the local arts community that makes Houston a richer place to live and visiSince its inception HSDS has been governed by a board of directors whose members are actively involved in all aspects of the organization. All day-to-day operations of HSDS are under the supervision of a seven member Board of Directors who have been elected in the past two years.If you are a current HSDS member who would like to contribute to the future of HSDS please contact us to be added to the ballot. There are four open Board Member seats that we are looking to fill this year! Once enough nominations are received elections will be held late February/early March!
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Posted by flemming.flemming on 01/20 at 03:34 AM
Thank you for your article! your post is really nice. I love dancing a lot and reading your post gives more information about dancing. I have heard of Harvest Moon Ball competition with my friend but never she did explain to me the whole thing. Thank you for sharing this.
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