The Lipsi was a new dance in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was officially promoted by East German leaders. The socialist dance creation was the East’s answer to Elvis Presley’s Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Rock ‘n’ Roll-inspired dance, the Twist. Party officials saw in Elvis’ sexually provocative performance style an undesirable capitalist influence on their socialist youth and were looking for a more wholesome alternative.
The birth of the Lipsi
East German leaders regarded both dancing too closely together as well as dancing apart as indecent, decadent and offensive. Both dance modes were frowned upon and sometimes strictly forbidden. To eclipse the emerging Rock ‘n’ Roll music and dance modes, party officials had to come up with an alternative, a politically correct dance. And in 1959 they introduced the Lipsi.
Composer René Dubianski and dance instructor-couple Christa and Helmut Seifert concocted the dance. Since all three came from the East German city of Leipzig, they named their creation the “Lipsi” by adapting the name from lipsiens, the Latin name for Leipzig. Officials hoped that the “i’ on the end of Lipsi would make the dance sound modern and American and, therefore, appeal to young people. All aspects of the dance were government- supervised and approved. Officials even prepared for the possibility that the new East German dance might become a worldwide hit and applied for a patent.
Let’s do the Lipsi
The Lipsi is a dance in 6/4 time. Think of a double-time waltz, done to fast, upbeat music. Its basic steps and patterns are simple and easily learned so that beginners can master them in short order. The Lipsi is a couples’ dance. The man leads; the woman follows. It looks similar to the Latin Rumba without hip involvement, of course. While partners gently hold hands, they rarely dance apart nor do they get very close to each other. For a few beats of the Lipsi, watch Christa and Helmut Seifert on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbc9VUBy_8/
What happened to the Lipsi?
Although the Lipsi was actually a rather nice dance addition, it had limited appeal. Its major downfall was that it was promoted as a politically correct dance to counter Rock ‘n’ Roll. Despite enormous propaganda efforts on the part of the East German government, the Lipsi was only briefly in vogue. The dance was too conventional to captivate the East German youth, which hungered for the rousing rhythms of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Within a few years the Lipsi disappeared again. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the Lipsi has celebrated a come-back, especially in Leipzig.
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