This Is How Your Grandparents' Generation Got Down

Partygoers at the Stork Club in New York City dance the night away in Oct. 1961.

London teenagers show off their latest dance moves at a party in Sept. 25.

Left: Nightclub entertainer Don Hornsby wears a megaphone over his head while providing the tunes at a party in April 1950. Right: A London couple demonstrates "new" dance moves at the Twist and Beat Championships of Great Britain in Dec. 1965.

A couple dances for a crowd at a party, circa 1960.

A young woman does the Limbo dance at a Los Angeles nightclub, circa 1964.

Shoes are left at the edge of the dance floor at the Los Angeles Palladium in June 1954.

Left: Saxophonist James Moody and singer Babs Gonzales perform on stage in a nightclub, circa 1950. Right: A young couple dancing to Humphrey Lyttelton's band at London's Jazz Club in May 1954.

A group of partygoers cheer on the band and dancers at San Francisco's Condor Club in 1955.

Tired clubgoers in London rest during a rave in Aug. 1960.

Partygoers practice a new dance called "The Twist" in 1961.

Japanese teens dance to a group known as the "Tokyo Beatles" in 1964.

Teenagers kiss and dance the night away during the Carnival of Jazz event at London's Royal Albert Hall in 1959.

Three women perched on the bar at the Cabaret Kursal nightclub in Havana, circa 1950.

A young couple dances at a Los Angeles dance hall, circa 1964.

A drummer provides the beat to a dance party in New York City's Greenwich Village, circa 1956.

Two young women watch a jazz band at Newcastle's Club Martinique in April 1955.

Students of Horace Greeley High School dance the night away to a live band at their prom in 1956.

A new dance called the "Apple Twist" is demonstrated by a couple at a London party in 1962.

A young couple get close to each other on a London dance floor in Dec. 1966.