A partner dance created by famous dance couple Vernon and Irene Castle. It was created around the turn of the 20th century and was a precursor to the Peabody, a very popular partner dance of the 1920's.

Vernon and Irene Castle became extremely famous during the early 20th century. They influenced fashion immensely at the time. When Irene Castle cut her hair short, every woman in America and most of Europe went out and got the Castle Bob.

They also influenced ballroom dancing greatly. They brought their own version of the Tango to America and in American Style, it is what is basically still taught today.

The Castle Walk itself consists of a basic pattern consisting of eight counts of mostly walking with a hop-step pattern between 6 and 7 or occasionally between 7 and 8. A reasonable facsimile of the Castle Walk (with obvious embellisments for film) was recreated by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the film The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. The ending of the dance consists of a long section of pivot turns around the dance floor that was indeed a signature style of The Castles.

I happen to own a VERY old film of the Castles performing the Castle Walk and it is very close to what Astaire and Rogers did in the film. In Astaire's biography "Steps in Time" he talks about the painstaking recreation that was done in putting the Castle Walk back together.

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