In the
early twentieth century, American ragtime and the Parisian tango fuelled a
dancing craze in Britain. Public ballrooms were built throughout the country,
providing a glamorous setting for dancing. The new English style, defined in
the 1920s and followed by the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the
1930s, ensured that ballroom dancing continued to be the most popular British
pastime until the 1960s, rivalled only by cinema.
This book explores the vibrant history of ballroom and Latin dancing: the
dances, lavish venues, competitions and influential instructors. It also
traces the decline of couple dancing and its resurgence in recent years with
the hugely popular TV shows Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars.
Introduction
One
'A Flood of Splendour': Blackpool's New Ballrooms
Two
Jazz, Ragtime and Tangoitis
Three
The Democratization of Dancing
Four
Basic Technique Takes Shape
Five
Dancing in Public
Six
Nightlife and Private Clubs
Seven
Hollywood Glamour
Eight
Everyday Glamour
Nine
Togetherness: Holiday Camps and Sequence Dancing
Ten
Jitterbug, Rock'n'Roll and Jive
Eleven
Latin, the 1960s and Change
Twelve
Television, Come Dancing and Peggy Spencer
Thirteen
The End of an Era
Fourteen
Twenty-First-Century Ballroom
Appendix: the ten International style
Ballroom and Latin dances
References
Select Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Illustration Acknowledgements
Index
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