How to Sock Hop
Dating from the 1950s and the birth of rock and roll, a sock hop is an informal dance. The dances started in school cafeterias. Students were required to dance in their socks to prevent scuffing the floor, which is where the custom of dancing in your socks originated. The sock hop helped to shape the fashion, music and culture of the 1950s. Though historical in their roots, sock hops can still be a blast today.
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Things You'll Need
- 50s music
- A stereo
- A room with a floor space that will function as a dance floor
- 50s clothes
Instructions
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Create a playlist for the sock hop. Select upbeat songs that were popular during the 1950s. Look up the Billboard chart toppers from the years 1950 to 1959. Ask people you know who went to high school at that time what their favorite songs to dance to were. Aim for about forty songs per two hours of music.
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Find a space to hold the sock hop. A gymnasium or a basement is the most accurate for traditional sock hops, but a living room or any area with enough space to dance in will work.
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Invite people to the sock hop. Invite friends that love to dance or like old-fashioned entertainment. If you don't have enough guests, ask your friends to invite people they know who would be interested. Make retro invitations with a classic type of font and mail them to your invitees for extra formality.
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Learn fifties dances. Dances that were popular at fifties sock hops include the bop, the stroll and the swing. Other dances were the hand jive, the Madison and the cha-cha. These dances have basic steps and leave lots of room for improvisation. If you have never learned a formal dance before, fifties dances may be very different from the way you typically dance. Allow yourself plenty of time to learn the dances and gain proficiency before the hop. Invite your friends to learn the dances with you, so that they will be ready for the hop too.
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Plan your costume. Sock hops are almost as memorable for the fashions that they showcased as their dances. Watch fifties or fifties-inspired movies (like Grease) for fashion ideas. Choose a nifty fifties hairstyle. Women can wear an A-line skirt, a swing skirt or a poodle skirt. Men can dress like James Dean in a tight crew-necked T-shirt and dark, rolled-up jeans.
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References
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