The Nitty Gritty Dancer -- Bobby Banas

The girl just kind of flops around. He's like "outta my way girl" and just cuts loose, ignoring her feeble attempts to keep up.

I've seen this before, and I always think he's overdoing it somewhat. He ends up looking messy because he's going so far beyond what the others are doing.

Nobody pays attention to the guy in the back (on the right) who's dancing just as good if not better than Bobby.

This is what happens when you teach white teenagers how to dance Devil Negro music!

[quote]This is what happens when you teach white teenagers how to dance Devil Negro music!

Ooh, Papa Tooney -- we got us a looney!

OP's clip cuts off the best part: after Peter Lawford introduces the number, the podium he, Judy Garland, and Ethel Merman(?) are on starts to move off the stage, nearly toppling the I'm sure already-tipsy stars onto their asses:

Martha Raye, not Ethel Merman.

Are they dancing or having grand mal seizures?

What most people miss is that he was the *choreographer* of the dance. Like it or not, he was dancing as the choreographer intended.

He is straight and rather homophobic, though not surprising. He is very small in stature and probably got sexually harassed a lot as a kid and in Hollywood.

[quote]Martha Raye, not Ethel Merman.

Thanks.

It surprises me that after the 60s no one has ever covered that song. It's sexy. The tune is catchy. It would haven perfect for a young Madonna.

Isn't he the one who choreographed Travolta in Saturday Night Fever?

I've seen this clip many, many times and have started enjoying the woman up front as well. That's she doing all this in heels and, I don't know, the way she holds her gloved hands back by the sides of her head - I think she's really cool. Bobby is perfection.

"Isn't he the one who choreographed Travolta in Saturday Night Fever?"

That would be ,the sexually harassed by Merv, Deney Terrio.

the dancers are each doing their own moves, none are sync'd

Those male dancers have a lot of GAY energy

This guy fucks.

"Working with Marilyn Monroe was a dream. But to be choreographed to kiss her, at the end of the dance number…oh, I thought my heart would explode. What was so funny was, during the end of the dance number, she grabbed me and Alex by the hair before she was to swing around one of the poles. Well, I had a lot of pomade in my hair, and after grabbing it she flew around the pole and lost her balance. She turned to the director and said, “I think someone has too much grease in his hair.” OOPS! So they sent me to makeup to wash my hair. I returned, and the number began again. Now the end was approaching, and I was supposed to kiss her, so I hit her lips with mine but slid across her face. So I turned to the director and said in a low voice, “I think someone has too much grease on her face.” To which they both laughed. Of course it was sad to learn of her death. I felt the same when I learned about Natalie Wood. Both had unusual circumstances and questionable facts about the truth."

I love this video.

I was watching sixteen candles yesterday and the scene at the school dance with all the kids in background sucked. None of them could dance worth a squat but it's the same in Pretty in Pink. Even in the 70s people could still dance.

I agree the guy on the far right in the back is far more elegant (and is also much better looking). Whether this is what Bobby Banas wanted or not, I enjoy the performance of the other guy more.

Sorry.

This clip always puts me in a good mood. Had no idea of his other appearances. Thanks!

Bobby's okay. But this fine-ass brah named Stephen, kinda ups the game. [Adele just gave Stephen a cameo in her new video, too.]

That jerky platform that held Lawford and Garland was like the physical representation of the zeitgeist pulling them straight back into the past where they belonged.

1964 was the year the youthquake really got started, and things would never be the same after that.

A vastly unappreciated gem from the ‘60s.

Then there's Jessica Lange's take on the Nitty Gritty in AHS: Asylum.

[quote]Nobody pays attention to the guy in the back (on the right) who's dancing just as good if not better than Bobby.

r3, not me, I was immediately drawn to his smooth moves and good looks. He also has this adorable double hop at the very end of the number, you can see it on the video at r6. The song is damn catchy too.

Who is that guy at R22. Where can I find out more about him. i think I just fell in love.

Reminds me of this scene from "Hairspray."

I was just thinking about this, always makes me happy. Thanks for posting OP!

Bobby's dancing has to give the impression of looseness and lack of discipline to live up to his scandalously floppy hair.

Do you think people in the 1920s talked about Virginia Reels that were danced during the early days of the Civil War?

You're easily impressed. A cute boy shaking his head around does not constitute great dancing.

The guy dancing at R22 is Stephen Sayer and he teaches at the L.A. Jitterbug Swing Dance Academy.

That was fun!

Men who can dance are so sexy! Schwingg!

R31 No, but starting in the 1930s there was the beginnings of a square dance revival(including reels) that by 1948 had reached the status of a fad.

I wish I had grown up in the 50s, 60s, or 70s when people actually danced. Now guys don't really dance.

You want to see gay boys dancing? Most of the males on AB were gay and the stories have been told about how they were using the show as a hookup opportunity and were fucking each other when not on the show.

From newnownext.com:

Sullivan, 74, wrote Diaries with Ray Smith, another dancer who was closeted during his Bandstand years.

“The one thing that really shocked me was that those boys who were 14 and 15 and 16 were sleeping with each other,” Smith told the New York Post.

[quote]the dancers are each doing their own moves, none are sync'd

They're all doing the same basic Nitty Gritty dance moves but they do them in their own way. This thing you see now where all the dancers have to be absolutely synced is something recent and I think it's a little boring to look at.

It's interesting when you think about it, since everyone talks about how the 1950s and early 60s were so conformist, but they didn't make everybody dance in lockstep like now.

John Waters would be SO PROUD!!!

I always thought those program go-go dancers were so dorky in the middle 1960s. Although the ones here, especially the young lady dancing in the foreground, reminds me as possible inspiration for the bratty Amber character in John Waters's 1988 "Hairspray." ;)

R37 - how interesting! I'm glad those guys found each other.

A lot of the male dancers on Soul Train were gay, too

Thanks, OP. I somehow missed this whenever it first went viral sometime in the 2010s. For those complaining about his frantic dancing in the original post (a bit silly to complain about that when it was very clearly what he was going for,) you might appreciate this more. He moves beautifully here. Did he also choreograph this one?

R37, that pre-JFK assassination Bandstand was one of the last Bandstand shows that originated in Philadelphia. The show moved to LA in January 1964.

[quote]Then there's Jessica Lange's take on the Nitty Gritty in AHS: Asylum.

She sang The Name Game".

All I can see is a bunch of people doing the "Elaine"

Banas is overdoing it. But he gets points for daring to be a punk in '64.

The guy on the right is technically better and more pleasing to watch—as one commenter on the YouTube video said, "He does more with less."

R14 Lester Wilson taught John Travolta all he knows about dancing.

R45, Lange pulls that off well.

if "the guy on the right" had been in front, the clip would. never have been remembered.

Just read a recent interview with Bobby Banas, and he said his Nitty Gritty dance partner is Gina Trikonis, who played Riff's girlfriend Graziella in the West Side Story movie.

And straight.

Amazing.

This a a fun contemporary version.

Hitler youth doing the Nitty Gritty?

I've watched R22's video about 20 times now. Can't get enough of that guy's moves. And his smile.

If you get tired of Prancercise ( who could get tired of its brilliance?), then try this: