Marie Stawasz, our intern in the Media & Film Relations department, recently learned a few ragtime dance steps to prepare you for this weekend’s big event in Greenfield Village, the Ragtime Street Fair, and Marketing intern Jacquelyn Piechotte compiled a fun video to show you, too! This dynamic event celebrates the food and fun of the era that defined ragtime music, a precursor to the jazz era. Whether the music sweeps you onto the dance floor, or the scent of freshly baked cherry crisp whisks you to the food tent, there are plenty of exciting things to enjoy this weekend at the Ragtime Street Fair!

“People can say what they like about rag-time. The Waltz is beautiful, the Tango is graceful, the Brazilian Maxixe is unique. One can sit quietly and listen with pleasure to them all; but when a good orchestra plays a ‘rag’ one has simply got to move.” – from Modern Dancing by Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Castle, 1914

As I walked up the main stairway of Lovett Hall into the Grand Ballroom, I could feel the pulse of dancing feet above. Nearly 50 members of The Henry Ford’s staff joined Nira Pullin, movement coach and musical theater choreographer at Wayne State University, for an evening of ragtime dance lessons in preparation for the fourth annual Ragtime Street Fair, held this weekend, July 24-25 in Greenfield Village.

Pullin taught them the basics of the most popular dance of ragtime – the One Step – so that they can teach our visitors as well during the event. This simple and popular dance requires each participant to take only one step to each count of the music, making it easy to stay in time with the tune.

Deemed as America’s original popular music, ragtime music can be described as having an uneven or ragged rhythm. Musicians such as Scott Joplin and Charles L. Johnson integrated European music with syncopated African and Latin American rhythms to create a unique sound that became popular in the 1890s and paved the way for music of the swing and rock & roll eras.

Now that you know your history, click on the link here to watch a video teaching the One Step – then join us this weekend at Ragtime Street Fair and show off your fancy footwork!