Susie-Q
(ˈsuːzɪ kjuː)
Also Suzie-Q, Suzi-Q, and without hyphen.
[Origin unknown.]
A modern dance of Negro origin; the step characteristic of this dance (see quots.).
| 1936 Davis & Coots (song-title) Doin' the Suzi-Q. Ibid. 4 A new dance hit the town, It's really gettin' 'round, It's lots of fun, I found, Doin' the Suzi-Q. 1937 L. Shomer How to Dance 37 The Suzi-Q is the latest and most intricate of Fox Trot Steps. To begin with, it combines the features of the tap-dance with the nimble Off-Beat Syncopated Running Steps and Turns. 1938 A. Murray How to become Good Dancer 188 Neither truckin' nor the Suzie-Q is a complete dance in itself. Both are skylarking steps that add variety. Ibid. 190 The Susie-Q is a solo dance. It is not danced with a partner. 1946 Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues xiii. 235 And from the old folks' shuffle to the Suzie Q and Sand, wasn't none of them steps new to grandpa—just the names were different. 1956 G. P. Kurath in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 106/2 The Susie-Q and Truckin' are said to have developed in New York's Negro quarter, Harlem. 1963 N.Y. Times Mag. 27 Oct. 104/2 [The Negroes'] body rhythm and frank sensuality turned the formal European waltz into the closely clutched two-step and one-step,..the Susie Q. and the big Apple. |