Questions and photos by Jiro Hatano
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Dancing to the music of Corey Ledet, Festival International
(Click images to get larger versions)
JH: What is the difference between zydeco dance and other dance?
ZJ: The steps are different, the characteristic is the body movement combined with the steps.
JH: How did you learn zydeco dance?
ZJ: Watching my mother and father at the La La dances in the 1930's and 1940's.When my father was not playing music.
I taught myself by watching them and my cousins, who were older than me on the dance floor.
JH: Whose live performance was/is best to dance to?
ZJ: (A) Clifton Chenier (B) Boozoo Chavis (C) John Delafose (D) Marcel
Doga. All of whom are dead and gone.
JH: What is the best performance you have ever seen? Did you see Amédé Ardoin?
ZJ: Clifton Chenier, John Delafose and Boozoo Chavis. I was too young to see
Amédé Ardoin. I have seen Bois Sec Ardoin.
JH: What is your dance style?
ZJ: My style of dancing is the style from 1915 to 1925. Bar-room style of my mother, father, aunts and uncles. They were born in the 1870's to 1900's. They said that they learned from their father AND mother. From the neighborhood of Point-Noir. Near Church Point,
Louisiana.
I dance according to the beat of the drum and bass of whomever is playing or whatever record is being played in the old old style music. The reason why I can't dance on all the so called
zydeco bands of today is because very few of the new zydeco Bands of today plays the old style
zydeco of the 1900 up to the 1950's. We in the 1900 to 1960 would say in the old days "If you can't speak Creole French and understand what you are saying, how can you play
zydeco music?" Plus they have too many instruments in
today's bands. They didn't have all that in the olden days bands. It dilutes the old national Zydeco sound, especially if you can't play it too well. It makes the sound so different. People who don't know too much of the old
zydeco sound
and don't know how to speak the old country neighborhood Creole language; they can't dance the old style like I do. I have been dancing in house dances with my father and mother, aunts and uncles, and cousins older than me since the 1940's. I can't and will not change my style, because I don't know how. I am too old to learn anything different. So I will just retire dancing completely
and move over for the new generation. 62 years on the dance floor dancing is long enough. It's time to go.
All the dancing partners (about ten of them in all), that I enjoy dancing with and know the old style that I put out on the floor are the ladies that I trained myself. They all do what I do. When I do it
and at the same time that I do it. When the band changes its beat, we change our step with the beat. We never do the same thing all through the record. Our steps change with the band and stop right when the band stops on its beat. I am not bragging, just giving the facts. My dancing partners are all good. They are all over
40 years old. One or two are about 65. I have been dancing with some of them for about
6-7 years. We are a group that follows each other.
©2004 Joe Citizen