It's Electric!

Depending on the generation of the audience, Ric Silver is either best known for creating the dance “The Electric (Slide)” or defending its integrity. 

Mr. Silver was born in 1948 in Rhode Island – his most famous piece of choreography was born in 1976 for the opening of VAMPS - an exclusive dance club in New York City.

Since ’76, the dance that started as “The Electric” a complicated intertwining line dance choreographed for professional dancers, evolved into a simplified popular version known as “The Electric Slide”.  With time, however, the choreography got confused, and the version being taught and performed got further and further from the original vision.

However, Ric Silver’s story starts long before that of his famous dance.

He claims he started dancing “in the crib”, but started his dance career in New York City in 1970 as a Go Go dancer.  When a Broadway Producer told him that with some training he could cast Ric in a show.  So, it was back to Connecticut to train at Connecticut College with Martha Meyers and the National Theatre Institute with Larry Arrick

The list of people he’s worked with sounds like a who’s who of modern dance.  Ric was trained by Walter Nicks and got to study with Jose Limon, Lar Lubavitch, Rael Lamb,  Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Rudy Perez, Arthur Mitchell, Alvin Ailey and many more. 

After winning a scholarship to the American Dance Festival, it seemed like he was on the fast-track to success – something every dancer dreams about.  But during his first rehearsal with the Larry Richardson Company, he slipped and tore a ligament, and tore cartilage a week later.

What followed was a long list of disappointments, and ‘right place wrong time’.  However, although success as a dancer continued to elude him, the found a niche as a choreographer.

He had landed a job at a new dance club owned by Steak & Brew. They wanted to open a club strictly for dancers called Vamps on the Upper West Side. They hired Ric to give the opening night ‘invitation-only’ party.

“Because I was a dancer and knew a lot of people and they hired me to work the door to ensure that it was a semi private club for dancers only.  Then, after the club got going, they asked me to give another party and create a dance to premiere as well. The Bus Stop was the big rage then and they wanted me to choreograph something that would be associated with this new club. I created "The Electric" which later became know as The Electric Slide and presented copies of the choreography to the guests at a second invitation-only party and continued to stay on and teach the steps for a couple of months while working at the door as bouncer/cashier.”

The dance took off, and Silver has since invested a lot of time and money into protecting and preserving his intellectual property.  He cites the creation of “The Electric” as his greatest dance achievement to date.
 
After a long struggle, he finally got his work protected under copyright, and has entered into legal contracts with those using his choreography – including Harpo productions.

 He also recently appeared on the game show “Amne$ia” to judge a contestant who had to get 15 of the 22 steps correct to win $20,000.

Watch a clip of the show below.