Isadora Duncan once said, "If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it." Throughout the 1900s, there have been many youth movements that parallel this thought. The Flapper movement in the roaring twenties is the first obvious movement, followed by the Chicano movement around the 1930s and 40s, closely followed by the introduction of rock & roll. Rock rolled into the 80s where hip hop dance became popular. Now we've made it through the millennium, with the likes of Britney Spears and other pop royalty making more advances in dance. All of these different styles of dance were instigated by the youth of the times. There is an overlapping theme in these eras, one of the youth wanting to take their bodies back from a society they felt they had no control over. They use their dancing as a way of expressing themselves and their sexuality, and over time the factor of sexuality has been singled out as the main reason for dancing. This expression may stem from the fact that most of these children were raised in societies that did not approve of open sexuality. The youth has been rebelling against society, using the one thing they own- their body.
Although it does not seem so obvious to us now, the 20s to the 50s were full of dance innovation. The "Gibson Girl" look was the popular feminine style before the flappers. They wore their hair "loosely on top of her head and wore a long straight skirt and a shirt with a high collar" (Rosenburg). The women of the 20s needed clothes that they could dance in. The girls took their bodies back from a society that insisted on women being feminine: they shortened their skirts, cut their hair, wore make up and perfume, smoked, drank, attended "petting parties" and danced. They were said to be "characterized by stark truthfulness, fast living, and sexual behavior. Flappers seemed to cling to youth as if it were to leave them at any moment" (Rosenberg).