Voices of the Jazz Era Ballroom

Voices of the Jazz Era Ballroom is a grassroots, web-based oral history project devoted to preserving and passing on the memory of dance in the Jazz era through the lives and words of everyday people. This is your story—please contribute by talking with a parent or grandparent, neighbor, or friend and explore the archive to see how others have shared their stories.

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Lottie and Dottie Talk Dance, Burlesque, and Radio

From the Dorothy Porter Collection

Interviewee

Dorothy Porter

Interviewer

Kelly Porter

Decades

1920s, 1930s, 1940s

Locations

Detroit Michigan United States, Hamtramck Michigan United States, Grand Rapids Michigan United States

Dance

box step, two step, foxtrot, swing, waltz, tap, toe tap, burlesque, fan dance, adagio dance, ballet

Music

Jazz, Big Band, Swing, Ballads

Bands, Performers, and Artists

Jimmy Lunceford, Gene Autry, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Horace Heidt, Patti Page, Sally Rand, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

Other People

Jack Porter, Chester Brady

Tags

1934 World's Fair, big band, Boblo Island, dance at home, dance marathons, early radio, fashion, floor shows, Great Depression, Greystone Ballroom, guitar, jazz, learning to dance, nightclubs

Contributed by Kelly Porter

This and all contributions to Voices of the Jazz Era Ballroom are protected by a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license. To inquire further about rights to this resource, please contact the project at kelly@jazzeravoices.org