Energetic couples,
Arthur Miller Dance Studios
Crows Nest Sydney
In the post-war era and till 1960, my late parents went square-dancing every week. I, on the other hand, learned ballet from 1952-1965 twice weekly. But I knew nothing about ballroom dancing.
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The first time I thought about ballroom dancing was when Strictly Come Dancing (2004) and Dancing with the Stars (2005) appeared on tv and I wondered about this dance’s history, especially in Australia. Reading Ballroom: A People’s History of Dancing (2022) by Hilary French became a pleasant surprise. Her book was well recommended for anyone intrigued by the social history of dancing. This book also explored the vibrant history of the individual elements: dancers, lavish venues, competitions and instructors. It also traced the waning of competitive dancing and its resurgence recently with the hugely popular TV shows.
Where did Hilary French start? American ragtime and the Parisian Tango spun off a dancing trend in Britain post-WW1. Public ballrooms were built from scratch across the country, providing a glamorous setting for couples to dance. This was how the book provided a cultural history of social space, the “palaces” created to meet the huge demand for dancing. The new styles of dance were even more enthusiastically taught in the 1930s when the Astaire-Rogers dancing films like Flying Down to Rio (1933), Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936) and all the way to The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) boomed. This famous Hollywood duo excited the cinemas and starred together in 10 films. They ensured that ballroom dancing continued to be a popular pastime until the 1950s.
Many academic historians wouldn’t recognise ballroom dancers if they ran into them, fully dressed up in their costumes. But Hilary French had been a ballroom dancer herself for a long time, and was still a competitor. And her historical perspective totally appealed to me, another historian. But let me be honest here. I gave the book to my beloved who read 2 pages and handed it back. He was bored.
Where did Hilary French start? American ragtime and the Parisian Tango spun off a dancing trend in Britain post-WW1. Public ballrooms were built from scratch across the country, providing a glamorous setting for couples to dance. This was how the book provided a cultural history of social space, the “palaces” created to meet the huge demand for dancing. The new styles of dance were even more enthusiastically taught in the 1930s when the Astaire-Rogers dancing films like Flying Down to Rio (1933), Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936) and all the way to The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) boomed. This famous Hollywood duo excited the cinemas and starred together in 10 films. They ensured that ballroom dancing continued to be a popular pastime until the 1950s.
Many academic historians wouldn’t recognise ballroom dancers if they ran into them, fully dressed up in their costumes. But Hilary French had been a ballroom dancer herself for a long time, and was still a competitor. And her historical perspective totally appealed to me, another historian. But let me be honest here. I gave the book to my beloved who read 2 pages and handed it back. He was bored.
Hilary French's book
2022
I had not heard of Vicki Harman’s book on dancing, so here was the review of The Sexual Politics of Ballroom Dancing (2018) by Amazon. This book presented another interesting sociological investigation into how gender was negotiated and performed in ballroom and Latin dancing. It explored the key influences underpinning the popularity of dancing and highlighted what it revealed about the nature of gender roles in modern times. The author began with an overview of its rich social history and shifting class status, establishing the context within which contemporary masculinities and femininities in this community were explored. Real and imagined gendered traditions were examined across a range of dancer experiences that followed the path of a typical learner: from finding a partner, attending lessons and forming networks.
The analysis created a nuanced picture of a dance culture that was empowering, yet also very image-conscious; ritualised practices that both reinstated and transgressed gender roles. This innovative contribution to the feminist leisure literature appealed to students and scholars of anthropology, dance, sport, gender, cultural and media studies. It was a unique insight into the sociological issue of ballroom dancing, as gender, culture and leisure.
The analysis created a nuanced picture of a dance culture that was empowering, yet also very image-conscious; ritualised practices that both reinstated and transgressed gender roles. This innovative contribution to the feminist leisure literature appealed to students and scholars of anthropology, dance, sport, gender, cultural and media studies. It was a unique insight into the sociological issue of ballroom dancing, as gender, culture and leisure.
Latin dancing at MIT ballroom competition, 2006
Judge watches from the foreground.
Wiki
Thus Vicki Harman made an important contribution to the sociology of culture, leisure studies and gender studies. In the post-Strictly Come Dancing (started 2004) world, this book made a most valuable contribution to the leisure studies literature and to feminist work more widely. Ballroom dancing was a cultural phenomenon. This Uni of Surrey academic really got inside the field and demonstrated how social and gender relations played out on the dance floor.