# Flash dance

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{{Short description|Form of tap dance}}
{{for multi|the film|Flashdance||Flashdance (disambiguation)}}

'''Flash dancing''' was a form of [tap dance](/source/tap_dance) (tap was also called [jazz dance](/source/jazz_dance) at the time) that evolved in the 1920s–1930s, which combined dance with [acrobatics](/source/acrobatics).<ref>''Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=yWJXUnPDFk0C&pg=PA94&dq=%22flash+dancing%22&sig=ACfU3U3o4FMI0s6eU16xCx_1cG-VOFTQvg p. 94]</ref><ref>''Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacular Dance'', by Marshall Winslow Stearns, Jean Stearns, 1994, {{ISBN|0-306-80553-7}}</ref> Prominent flash dance acts of the time include the [Nicholas Brothers](/source/Nicholas_Brothers), [The Four Step Brothers](/source/The_Four_Step_Brothers) and the [Berry Brothers](/source/Berry_Brothers).<ref name=joint/> 

Examples of such dance appeared in film predominantly between the 1920s and 1940s.<ref name=joint>''That's the Joint!: The Hip-hop Studies Reader'', by Murray Forman, Mark Anthony Neal, 2004, {{ISBN|0-415-96919-0}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=K4yDAOL07ugC&pg=PA35&dq=%22flash+dancing%22&lr=&sig=ACfU3U3IYyvyHryM3eHN-v18gqcm49EdiA#PPA34,M1 pp. 34, 35]</ref>  The Nicholas Brothers' spectacular leap-frogging performance in the musical number "[Jumpin' Jive](/source/Jumpin'_Jive)" (with [Cab Calloway](/source/Cab_Calloway) and his orchestra) featured in the 1943 movie ''[Stormy Weather](/source/Stormy_Weather_(1943_film))'' has been praised as one of the greatest dance routines ever captured on film.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

Category:Tap dance
Category:Jazz dance

{{dance-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Flash dance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_dance) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_dance?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.