The Twist

The twist is a 1950's dance to a song of the same name covered by Chubby Checker. The Twist went on to become the most popular dance in its day, and the choreography was simple. Since the Twist was born right around the time of the popular beach movie fad, the dance fit right in on movie sets. Traditional dance styles, especially partner dancing that require glides and turns, were not performable in the sand. 

The twist is danced by standing with the feet approximately shoulder width apart. The torso may be squared to the knees and hips, or turned at an angle so one foot is farther forward than the other. The arms are held out from the body, bent at the elbow. The hips, torso, and legs rotate on the balls of the feet as a single unit, with the arms staying more or less stationary. The feet grind back and forth on the floor, and the dance can be varied in speed, intensity, and vertical height as necessary. Occasionally one leg is lifted off the floor for styling, but generally the dance posture is low and with the feet in contact with the floor with very little vertical motion.

The Twist was created during a carefree time in American history when young people revolutionized the dance world and replaced stuffiness with sexy, fun moves. This dance reigned in popularity with dancing teens and people in their 20s starting out as a song and becoming quite possibly the biggest dance craze of the 1950s and 1960s.

It was especially appealing to the young, because of its controversy and sexy/edgy connotations.
But, of course, now the Twist is just one more outdated, innocent dance that's part of rock n roll history.

Information from: Wikipedia.org, Dance.LoveToKnow.com, History1900s.About.com

Pictures from: Google Images

Video from: Youtube.com (user: 64downtown)