Dancing to Duke Ellington's music: The Cotton Club in 1933

At the historic Cotton Club, the Duke Ellington Orchestra would often play for floor shows, which included expert dancers like these two women, Florence Miller (white costume) and Bessie Dudley (black costume). This classic clip is from the 1933 Paramount Pictures short, "Bundle of Blues".

As you can see below, one of the dancers, Florence Miller, is doing an expert shimmy while the Ellington Orchestra riffs. The shimmy was a popular dance from the 1930s.

Here the two dancers do a choreographed shuffle and buck-and-wing. Dudley and Miller were both chorus girls for the Cotton Club in Harlem, where the Ellington Orchestra was featured in the 1930s.

Dudley returns and does a series of 360 degree turns, while the orchestra continues to wail.

                                                  This is Bessie Dudley doing a split.

Here are Williams and Dudley below, doing a series of high kicks while they dance to the music. Both dancers were prominent performers in 1930s Harlem.

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