This old-time dancing is called flat-footing or buck dancing. I was inspired to learn more about it after laughing at this video on Kottke.org and I love it. Watch this great clip from Talking Feet, a full-length documentary on the subject.
Here’s the whole film. I’m home now and got to I watch it with my mom this morning over coffees. It’s worth seeing for the characters who love this kind of dancing and the very strange style of interviewing a person with their family distracting you from the background. I don’t think filmmakers intend to mock the subjects of the film, but some of them are so enjoyably strange it’s hard not to smirk as you admire their smirk inducing dancing.