0:00:06 > 0:00:09This is the story of how millions of Britons
0:00:09 > 0:00:11lost themselves in the world of ballroom
0:00:11 > 0:00:13and found their dancing feet.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20It's 1932, at the Cafe De Paris, London, and the joint is jumping!
0:00:20 > 0:00:23# Happy Feet I've got those Happy Feet!
0:00:23 > 0:00:25# Give them a low-down beat
0:00:25 > 0:00:30# And they begin dancing... #
0:00:30 > 0:00:32It's the golden era of dancing,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36the time between the two World Wars, when Britain went ballroom barmy.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45Millions went dancing, where graceful movement was everything.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48But it was also edgy and radical,
0:00:48 > 0:00:52a world of real sexual tension,
0:00:52 > 0:00:55as we grappled with the Waltz, the Tango,
0:00:55 > 0:00:56and each other.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Ballroom dancing was the country's favourite pastime,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09when we learnt the steps and polished the moves.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15What was it about ballroom that we all enjoyed so much?
0:01:15 > 0:01:18And why did we turn our backs on what I consider to be
0:01:18 > 0:01:20the greatest dance form of them all?
0:01:39 > 0:01:41'This is the Tower Ballroom, in Blackpool,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43'a sacred place for any dancer.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47'It's the grandest and most beautiful ballroom in Britain.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49'I've judged Strictly Come Dancing here
0:01:49 > 0:01:53'and I've also glided across its hallowed floor many, many times.'
0:01:53 > 0:01:56You know, as soon as you walk into this place,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59there's somehow a fantastic atmosphere about it.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02And, standing here on this floor,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04you know, you can't help but think as a dancer,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07how many people have danced here?
0:02:07 > 0:02:10How many great dances, how many love affairs have begun,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13when boy meets girl, on this dance floor?
0:02:13 > 0:02:18It is just the most iconic dance hall of all.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20It is just fantastic.
0:02:26 > 0:02:27When I started in ballroom,
0:02:27 > 0:02:30a night of Foxtrot or Tango was still the biggest thrill
0:02:30 > 0:02:32you could get for five bob.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36It was an amazing time - dancing was even on the telly.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39But the old hands said I'd missed its greatest era,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42when ballroom was truly magical.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49At the Tower Ballroom these days,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52it's a much more sedate affair.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57'For me, ballroom was an escape route,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00'from manual labour to a world of glamour.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02'But I do have a confession.'
0:03:02 > 0:03:04Now, I've always loved ballroom,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08but when I first started, it wasn't just for the dancing.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12'Dance teachers used to tell me
0:03:12 > 0:03:15'that ballroom would be great for my posture and my self confidence.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17'Well, I don't know about that,'
0:03:17 > 0:03:21but I tell you, my strike rate with the girls went right up.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'And I wasn't alone - the dance hall was a chance to hold someone close,
0:03:26 > 0:03:29'in a perfectly innocent setting.'
0:03:29 > 0:03:30I love all this.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33But, you know, my favourite was the "Excuse Me".
0:03:33 > 0:03:37When you could go up to some chap, tap him on the shoulder
0:03:37 > 0:03:38and dance with his partner.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Now, if your luck was in,
0:03:40 > 0:03:43when the music finished, you got a kiss on the cheek.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Oh, when I was a young man...
0:03:45 > 0:03:47Oh, joy of joys!
0:03:48 > 0:03:51What I would imagine is, when you were growing up as a teenager,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55there wasn't that many opportunities to meet boys as there is now.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58So, I suppose the ballroom was the place to do it.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01- It was, it was. And lots of "Excuse Me's".- Yeah.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03- And we used to have fun doing that. - Yeah.
0:04:03 > 0:04:04SHE LAUGHS
0:04:04 > 0:04:08You know, if we got our eye on somebody... Right! "Excuse me!"
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Because we used to turn it round to a Ladies' Excuse Me
0:04:11 > 0:04:14- as well as a Man's Excuse Me. - Of course, yes.- So it was brill.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17So if there was some young chap you fancied having a dance with,
0:04:17 > 0:04:19- you'd be out there.- Absolutely! Go for it, girl!
0:04:19 > 0:04:20THEY LAUGH
0:04:20 > 0:04:21It was brill!
0:04:22 > 0:04:25The music was very romantic.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30The lighting, the atmosphere, all lent itself to romance.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32It's hard to appreciate
0:04:32 > 0:04:34the emotional appeal
0:04:34 > 0:04:37of a dance orchestra
0:04:37 > 0:04:39playing romantic tunes
0:04:39 > 0:04:42whilst you're holding somebody
0:04:42 > 0:04:44in your arms and dancing together.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48It was a great meeting place,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52because, I think, the happiness,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55the music and the open space,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58the bright lights and the open space
0:04:58 > 0:05:03were conducive to people meeting under happy circumstances
0:05:03 > 0:05:07and I call it escapism and I think that's what it was.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'One of my oldest dancing pals is Lyndon Wainwright
0:05:11 > 0:05:16'and when ballroom was booming, he was in the thick of it.'
0:05:16 > 0:05:18There you are, it's Saturday night.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22- You've got your best gear on.- Yes. - Right? Out you go, it's lovely.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26What was the feeling like as you walked into those ballrooms?
0:05:26 > 0:05:29- Oh, they were opulent...- Yeah.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31..by comparison with your home surroundings.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37There was the gilt paint and the subdued lighting, and...
0:05:37 > 0:05:41- tables like this with fancy cloths on.- Right, yeah.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47No expense was spared in making this place look and feel fantastic.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50That's right. And they were all the same.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Looks all innocent now,
0:05:58 > 0:06:03but, once upon a time, dancing was a hotbed of hormones and romance.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07And don't forget - most of our parents met in a ballroom.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16SCREAMING
0:06:18 > 0:06:22# Hello, everybody There's music in the air
0:06:22 > 0:06:26# Hello, everybody You'll find it everywhere
0:06:26 > 0:06:28# So just dance away your troubles
0:06:28 > 0:06:30# And your cares Will fade like bubbles
0:06:30 > 0:06:33# Hello! Hello, everybody! #
0:06:36 > 0:06:39We might get our thrills in other ways now,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41but there was a time when ballroom was imbued
0:06:41 > 0:06:44with more than a whiff of revolution,
0:06:44 > 0:06:46helping to collapse social boundaries
0:06:46 > 0:06:50and giving people like me a chance to dance.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53There's much more to the story of British ballroom
0:06:53 > 0:06:56than gentle tea dances, or even Strictly.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00It's about cracks in the class system, sexual intrigue
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and about a time when Britain found its feet on the dance floor.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16Modern ballroom's story begins at end of the 19th century.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18In those days, it was the privileged few,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21the aristocrats, the rich and royalty,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24who were tripping the light fantastic in grand locations.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Frankly, the working classes didn't get much of a look-in.
0:07:29 > 0:07:34You've got private dances, county balls, society balls
0:07:34 > 0:07:37by property-owning aristocrats in the country,
0:07:37 > 0:07:42but also in London, the Portman Rooms, the Savoy and Ritz Hotels.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45They were the centres for the season,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49the fashionable upper classes and their balls.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52There were a wide range of venues
0:07:52 > 0:07:56that the upper classes could dance in before the First World War.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59'It may have been the preserve of the well-to-do,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03'but ballroom was in the grip of its first craze.'
0:08:03 > 0:08:05And one dance ruled.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07It was the simplest one of the lot -
0:08:07 > 0:08:10and it remains the most popular dance of all -
0:08:10 > 0:08:12the Waltz.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28The Waltz is the bedrock of so many of the dances that we do today,
0:08:28 > 0:08:31but when the first European version of the Waltz
0:08:31 > 0:08:35arrived in Regency Britain, there was a moral backlash.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38A cutting from The Times shows
0:08:38 > 0:08:42just how much the Waltz got pulses racing.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45It's hard to believe, but one of their correspondents called it
0:08:45 > 0:08:47"an obscene display".
0:08:52 > 0:08:56And with that kind of press, the Viennese Waltz could only catch on!
0:08:56 > 0:08:58But why was everyone getting so flustered?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01And how did we end up with the slow Waltz
0:09:01 > 0:09:02that we're so familiar with now?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05'Well, that's something professional dancer Erin Boag
0:09:05 > 0:09:08'is going to help me demonstrate,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10'along with musicologist Derek Scott.'
0:09:22 > 0:09:25You know, the thing I found when I danced the Viennese Waltz,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27it's the most exhausting of all of them.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30- Very exhausting.- Isn't it? - Yeah, very fast, that's why.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32People think the Quickstep is the one that we all got tired with,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35not for me, it was always the Viennese Waltz,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39- because it was so, so repetitive. - Round and round and round.- Yeah.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43So, how long would people have danced that for in one go,
0:09:43 > 0:09:44back in the day?
0:09:45 > 0:09:49At first, these waltzes lasted around six minutes
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and then, they grew to be about nine minutes long.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55And then, there were warnings if they were ten minutes long,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58people would collapse with dizziness and exhaustion.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02So, really, the longest ones are nine minutes.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05But you got a complete rest once you'd done that.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07I think you'd need one after nine minutes.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10And, I guess, the Viennese Waltz, originally,
0:10:10 > 0:10:13was in Austria and southern Germany.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16And was it more for the sort of aristocrats and the country houses,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18or was it a dance that everyone did?
0:10:18 > 0:10:20That fast one really developed
0:10:20 > 0:10:22because of the aristocratic ballrooms,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26and then the big, expensive ballrooms
0:10:26 > 0:10:28for the wealthy merchants of Vienna.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33It developed out of folk dances, the Dreyer, the Laendler.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37These were much slower - an example of Laendler rhythm would be this.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Yeah.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46- And it went one-two-hop! One-two...- Yeah.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50- This was danced outside on the grass, people wore boots.- Right.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54The ballrooms called for something more refined, you see.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58For the aristocracy, parquet flooring was introduced
0:10:58 > 0:11:00so that you could do these gliding steps,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02which you couldn't do on grass.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- And when you listen to it, it does glide along, doesn't it?- Yes.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08I think that's one of the keys to the Viennese Waltz
0:11:08 > 0:11:10is you get that lovely gliding movement.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13OK, let me just show you something, Derek, it might surprise you.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16There are five points of contact in the hold.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20This is one - gentleman's left hand in lady's right.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Now, I'm going to use a handkerchief to go onto the lady's back,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27because that's what they used to do back in the day.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Cos the guys all had dirty hands, working-class people.
0:11:29 > 0:11:30Oh, no, we can't do that.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33So there's contact two.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Now, the lady's upper arm goes on the gentleman's lower, that's three.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Here's four. And all of this was quite fine,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43but because of the circling motion of the Viennese Waltz,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46if you were too far apart, you couldn't rotate enough.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51So, you had to get up close and personal.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53And THAT was when the shock horror came in.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Hmmm.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58So here we go, we're going to have a little go, a little bit of Viennese Waltz.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01We'll do lovely natural turns and see what happens.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20- Beautiful.- What a team.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23You, me
0:12:23 > 0:12:25and the music.
0:12:25 > 0:12:26'Ladies and Gentlemen,'
0:12:26 > 0:12:29now, I will show you the dance of the season -
0:12:29 > 0:12:33the Waltz, step by step.
0:12:33 > 0:12:34Just watch my feet.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38The Waltz was simplicity itself,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41but the Viennese version was still too fast
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and a slower Waltz was developed for British tastes
0:12:44 > 0:12:47that allowed everyone to have a go.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51People, particularly in working-class dance halls,
0:12:51 > 0:12:53were drinking as well as doing the fast Waltz
0:12:53 > 0:12:56and this was adding to the problems of giddiness
0:12:56 > 0:12:59and falling over on the ballroom floor.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03So, there was a necessity to try and slow it down,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06but the other thing that happens in the 1890s
0:13:06 > 0:13:10is that you have the birth of this really big popular song industry -
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Tin Pan Alley, in New York.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15And, of course, they want to write Waltz songs.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Well, you can't get many words into a Viennese Waltz, it's so fast.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23So they slow it down for songs like My Wild Irish Rose,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26- After the Ball is Over, that sort of thing.- Right.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29So, shall we give it a go at the English Waltz, or the slow Waltz.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30OK.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45'The slow Waltz lent itself to old-fashioned qualities,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49'where a man lead, but offered deference to his partner.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51'But with its close physical contact,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55'there was still a little hint of danger.'
0:14:05 > 0:14:06HE CHUCKLES
0:14:08 > 0:14:10The slow Waltz was catching on.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15Soon, everyone would have the opportunity to join in.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20Shopkeepers, librarians, even welders like me could do it.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22By the end of the Edwardian era,
0:14:22 > 0:14:24the Waltz was slowly working its way
0:14:24 > 0:14:27through the social strata of Britain.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31'But heads were being turned by new dances from America.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34'And leading the charge was a Norfolk man
0:14:34 > 0:14:37'who'd originally trained to be an engineer.'
0:14:37 > 0:14:41He was one half of the most vibrant dance duo on the planet.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Along with his American wife, Irene,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Vernon Castle turned the world of dance on its head.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Everyone wanted a piece of what the Castles could offer.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55They were international trend-setters,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57exotic and flamboyant.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Irene was a fashion icon -
0:14:59 > 0:15:02with her trademarked bobbed hair and short skirts.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06The couple worked with an orchestra of black musicians.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Vernon and Irene had met in the States in 1910
0:15:10 > 0:15:12and found success in Paris and London,
0:15:12 > 0:15:17wowing audiences with the latest American dance crazes.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21By 1914, they were a Broadway sensation in New York,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24becoming ballroom's first superstars.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29And here's what made the Castles so exciting.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34They were completely blurring social and racial boundaries.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39They took the best of Afro-American music, jazz, ragtime,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41and turned it into new dances.
0:15:41 > 0:15:46And one spread across the globe like a virus.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53The Foxtrot was all elegance and sophistication
0:15:53 > 0:15:57with long gliding movement across the dance floor.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Its inventor was an American dancer, Harry Fox, hence its name.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04But the Castles claimed they'd seen the moves
0:16:04 > 0:16:08being danced by black Americans long before it caught on elsewhere.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Syncopated dance music coming from America,
0:16:11 > 0:16:15this is where America takes over from Europe.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Now, there had been these syncopated ragtime tunes around for a while.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23A well-known one is The Entertainer, Scott Joplin.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33You know, that de-de-de-dah, you just are ahead of the beat there.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36But this had very little effect on Britain.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41In fact, it was only when there was a big revue in London in late 1912,
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Hullo, Ragtime!, that people responded to these dances
0:16:45 > 0:16:49and just as with the Waltz, there was moral outrage.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52People wanted to ban the song Itchycoo
0:16:52 > 0:16:55because they didn't understand what this might mean, you know.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57Yeah, I understand it.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59Well, I've had an itchycoo on occasions, I must say.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01But I do understand that.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05But as much as I can appreciate that that Scott Joplin number
0:17:05 > 0:17:07could be translated into a Foxtrot,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11the dance is actually very smooth now, it's much more flowing.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15They smoothed it out, Irene and Vernon Castle.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Interestingly, you know, of course, one is English and one is American.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23They premier the Foxtrot in 1914, in New York,
0:17:23 > 0:17:29and, by the time the War is over, this dance becomes THE dance,
0:17:29 > 0:17:32as you say, that everyone wants to be able to do.
0:17:35 > 0:17:41The slow Foxtrot is undoubtedly the backbone to all ballroom dancing
0:17:41 > 0:17:45and it makes a very pleasant change to the Quickstep.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48Quick, quick
0:17:48 > 0:17:52and slow, slow, slow.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54In the Foxtrot that we dance today,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58- you do get moments when you get six quicks on the spin.- You do, yeah.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02I'll give you an example of a step called The Weave
0:18:02 > 0:18:03and we get six quicks.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06One, two, three, four, five, six
0:18:06 > 0:18:08and then we go back into the slows
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and the gliding.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13And I think that's what's part of the charm of the Foxtrot
0:18:13 > 0:18:17is that you do get these moments where it's just gliding along
0:18:17 > 0:18:20and then, you break into these faster moments.
0:18:20 > 0:18:21It's lovely.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26The tragedy is that Vernon Castle would never see
0:18:26 > 0:18:28just how popular the Foxtrot would become.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31During World War One he joined the Royal Flying Corps,
0:18:31 > 0:18:33serving over the western front
0:18:33 > 0:18:36and winning the Croix de Guerre for bravery.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39But in 1918, whilst training American pilots,
0:18:39 > 0:18:42his plane crash-landed in Texas.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Within days, Vernon Castle was dead.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47He was just 30 years old.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56After four years of war,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59there was no way that Britain was going to stay the same.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05There was a relaxation in the class system and more social mobility.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Empowered by their wartime work,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12women were loath to return to menial domestic duties.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15With more time on their hands and paid holidays,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19the workers wanted to dance in grand places too.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21There was a gap in the market
0:19:21 > 0:19:25and, before long, every town had a Palais De Danse.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Entrepreneurs moved in, building many of the ballrooms
0:19:29 > 0:19:32that would later dominate the high street.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34And soon, there were plenty of locations
0:19:34 > 0:19:39ready to give the pub a run for its money.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Ballroom was changing and, for the working classes,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45it was an immersion into a glitzy new world.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52The great attraction of the dance hall was the atmosphere,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56which was, in many senses, incredibly glamorous.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00# 'Twas in a cafe When the lights were low... #
0:20:00 > 0:20:03And many of the dance halls did their best
0:20:03 > 0:20:05to compete with one another
0:20:05 > 0:20:10in terms of lavishness and provide all sorts of facilities.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13# Oh, it was many, many years ago
0:20:13 > 0:20:16# But still the memory sets My heart aglow... #
0:20:16 > 0:20:20At the Palais De Danse, Nottingham, in the centre of the dance floor
0:20:20 > 0:20:23was a fountain that could rise to 20 feet
0:20:23 > 0:20:27and was illuminated by constantly changing coloured lights.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Some of the dance halls were also themed,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34so at Tony's Ballroom, in Birmingham, for example,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36there was a Middle Eastern theme.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40The dance hall was made out to be a Mosque with prayer mats hanging
0:20:40 > 0:20:43and the lounges were given equally exotic names.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45The Baghdad and The Alcazar Lounge.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49So this atmosphere of glamour was really important
0:20:49 > 0:20:52to the appeal of the dance halls.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57The ballrooms may have looked the part,
0:20:57 > 0:21:01but with almost three quarters of a million men dead in the Great War,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04would there be enough people to fill them?
0:21:04 > 0:21:09After the War, the political establishment and the press
0:21:09 > 0:21:14were almost panicking about the loss of young British men.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20And many of them thought, "These women, we've now got a surplus."
0:21:20 > 0:21:23The Daily Mail called them "our surplus girls".
0:21:23 > 0:21:26And they said, "Where are the husbands going to be?"
0:21:26 > 0:21:28Well, in the event, there wasn't a problem,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32because, actually, the marriage rate picked up quite sharply
0:21:32 > 0:21:35in the '20s and '30s.
0:21:35 > 0:21:41Dancing, dance halls, fitted brilliantly into this,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44what was seen initially as a problem of marriage,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47because we now know from later surveys
0:21:47 > 0:21:52that a high proportion of the people who married in the inter-war period
0:21:52 > 0:21:56- first met their eventual partners at a dance hall.- Right.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59So, in that sense, in the long run,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02dances served what respectable society
0:22:02 > 0:22:04thought was an admirable purpose.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07# Smile, darn ya, smile!
0:22:07 > 0:22:12# You know this old world Is a great world, after all... #
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Britain started to enjoy itself.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17And in the seaside resorts,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21holiday-makers poured in with their best clothes in their suitcases
0:22:21 > 0:22:25and pounds in their pockets and headed off to the ballroom.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29# ..Time for you and joy To get acquainted... #
0:22:29 > 0:22:31There's been dancing in Blackpool
0:22:31 > 0:22:34for almost as long as there's been sand on the beach.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38And since day one, the Tower Ballroom has attracted dancers
0:22:38 > 0:22:41like iron filings to a magnet.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44'Blackpool's famous Tower, all five hundred feet of it,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47'is the high-spot of Lancashire's favourite pleasure ground.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50'Let's get a new slant on the holiday scene.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05'Yes, you feel you're really on top of the world.
0:23:05 > 0:23:06'How can you be down in the dumps
0:23:06 > 0:23:08'when your heart's up in the clouds
0:23:08 > 0:23:11'and you can throw away cares to the four winds?'
0:23:15 > 0:23:17HE CHUCKLES
0:23:17 > 0:23:20"Nice to see you - to see you...nice!"
0:23:20 > 0:23:21HE CHUCKLES
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Do you know, what gets me is the thought of people,
0:23:27 > 0:23:31you know, Lancashire lasses and lads coming here for their week's holiday
0:23:31 > 0:23:34and coming up here and seeing this.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39I just can't imagine it, it is truly fabulous.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Right from the start, Blackpool's known how to party.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Back then, the resort had huge ballrooms
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and thousands of people used to come dancing.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52It's no wonder this place became the spiritual home of ballroom.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56# They're all coming From near and far
0:23:56 > 0:23:59# To learn the steps And here they are
0:23:59 > 0:24:01# Eee by Gum, it's champion!
0:24:01 > 0:24:04# Here's the Blackpool Walk. #
0:24:10 > 0:24:12HE CHUCKLES
0:24:21 > 0:24:23It was a new and exciting time -
0:24:23 > 0:24:27the 1920s was the equivalent of punk and new wave.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30And after the horrors of war and the Western Front,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32people wanted to get out and let their hair down.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35And dancing became completely radical.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37# We're all alone
0:24:37 > 0:24:39# No chaperone can get our number
0:24:39 > 0:24:42# The world's in slumber
0:24:42 > 0:24:44# Let's misbehave! #
0:24:44 > 0:24:46As millions were swept off their feet,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49moral panic once again hit the nation.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54# ..Let's be outrageous Let's misbehave! #
0:24:54 > 0:24:57By comparison with the Edwardian dances,
0:24:57 > 0:25:021920s dances seemed a bit less, well, less sedate,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05less disciplined, less orderly.
0:25:05 > 0:25:10A bit more suggestive, a bit more erotic, frankly, to many people.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12# ..Let's misbehave! #
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Stories abounded of flappers and bright young things
0:25:20 > 0:25:23hooked on cocaine, so they could dance all night.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Nightclubs sprang up all over London,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29it seemed that the very social foundations of Britain
0:25:29 > 0:25:31were being undermined.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35The dance halls were swinging to the sound of the latest music
0:25:35 > 0:25:38brought here by touring dance bands from the States.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42To some ears, the sound of jazz just wasn't very British.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44# ..Let's misbehave! #
0:25:44 > 0:25:48There's a moral reaction against the nightclub scene
0:25:48 > 0:25:51with which jazz is so inextricably linked.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53# ..Let's misbehave! #
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Nightclubs were particularly keen on employing
0:25:57 > 0:26:02a handful of black musicians to add a sense of exoticism
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and authenticity to their music.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09And these nightclubs were considered to be incredibly seedy.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13They were an indication of a new declining moral standard in Britain
0:26:13 > 0:26:15after the First World War.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23You've got battalions of bishops and clergymen
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and newspaper editors who are lining up to condemn the new dances,
0:26:27 > 0:26:33because they viewed it as part of a general moral decline.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Even the politicians were having a go.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41The Home Secretary of the time decided swift action was needed.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45In the mid 1920s, police raids on nightclubs began.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49It was all fertile ground for the headline-writers.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51And the dance that was getting all the editorial columns
0:26:51 > 0:26:53hot and bothered -
0:26:53 > 0:26:54it was the Charleston.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57# Charleston! Charleston!
0:26:57 > 0:26:59# Made in Carolina
0:26:59 > 0:27:00# Some dance, some prance... #
0:27:00 > 0:27:05The dance burnt like a bright flame in London in the early 1920s,
0:27:05 > 0:27:11but, for some provincial tastes, the Charleston was simply too much.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13From Bridlington to Nuneaton,
0:27:13 > 0:27:16the good burghers of Britain were saying enough is enough.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19# But the Charleston The new Charleston
0:27:19 > 0:27:21# That dance is surely a comer!
0:27:21 > 0:27:24# Sometime, you'll dance it One time... #
0:27:24 > 0:27:26But there'd be no stopping the Charleston.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30Nightclub-owner and Dance Teacher Santos Casani's daring routine
0:27:30 > 0:27:33on top of a London taxi showed
0:27:33 > 0:27:37that this dance wasn't going to respect traditional boundaries.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47One of the things that I find fascinating
0:27:47 > 0:27:52is whichever new dance came along, there was a sense of outrage
0:27:52 > 0:27:56from certain areas of the society that this was a scandal.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58It is absolutely true.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03A new dance is always viewed with the highest suspicion.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05It doesn't matter what it is.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09We've seen that the Waltz was viewed as morally suspect.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13But as soon as we move onto the syncopated dances,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16they, too, come under the scrutiny.
0:28:18 > 0:28:24The combination of new music and dances gave journalists a field day.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30For some, jazz was a low-type of primitive music
0:28:30 > 0:28:32that was the essence of vulgarity,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36while others complained of crude gyrations.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38For a small minority of critics,
0:28:38 > 0:28:44the black American origins of the new dances was of major concern.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48And what you find is a lot of the early jazz and dance critics
0:28:48 > 0:28:52seem to be obsessed with tracing back the origins of the new dances
0:28:52 > 0:28:55and the new music to the jungle, as they put it.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01In the Daily Mail, the Charleston was condemned
0:29:01 > 0:29:05as being "reminiscent only of negro orgies".
0:29:05 > 0:29:08- Really?- Yes, to some extent, this is the old story
0:29:08 > 0:29:11that moral standards are always defined
0:29:11 > 0:29:14by middle-aged, middle-class men
0:29:14 > 0:29:19who get worried about what young people or women are actually doing.
0:29:21 > 0:29:22Despite the scandal,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25ballroom continued to find a growing audience.
0:29:25 > 0:29:30For most people, it was harmless fun in places that became a second home.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33# Love is good for anything That ails you
0:29:35 > 0:29:38# Baby, there is nothing Love can't do... #
0:29:38 > 0:29:43When I was growing up, I loved the freedom that dancing gave me,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45and I let it all hang out here,
0:29:45 > 0:29:47at The Rivoli, in South London.
0:29:52 > 0:29:53HE CHUCKLES
0:29:55 > 0:29:57Oh, yes. Thank you.
0:29:57 > 0:29:58HE CHUCKLES
0:29:58 > 0:30:00This is the place, I tell you.
0:30:00 > 0:30:05I've been coming here since I was 16,
0:30:05 > 0:30:07so we're talking over 50 years ago.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12I used to first come doing a bit of jive - it was like a jiving place.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Used to try and get hold of a nice bit of crumpet
0:30:15 > 0:30:18and go through there and have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23But latterly, it was one of my regular places for ballroom dancing.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27There used to be a little circuit that we used to do -
0:30:27 > 0:30:29one night it'd be the Hammersmith Palais,
0:30:29 > 0:30:35then, the Tottenham Royal, Orchid Purley, the Lyceum in The Strand
0:30:35 > 0:30:36and the Rivoli Ballroom.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42So, it was just every night we used go out dancing, and it was great.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45And this place, when you look at it, it's not changed.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48Nothing has changed.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50It's still the same,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53and I used to just love the look of the whole place.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57It made you want to dance, because it's from an era, somehow,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00where you feel you want to do ballroom dancing.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02It's just fabulous.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05Oh, I can see me now...
0:31:05 > 0:31:08young, fit,
0:31:08 > 0:31:10hair dark as a raven's wing.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Walk in. "Oh, good evening."
0:31:15 > 0:31:20# The echo of a song You used to sing... #
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Oh, you're taller than I thought.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Oh, yes, you move so well...
0:31:26 > 0:31:28HE CHUCKLES
0:31:28 > 0:31:31# ..Was one long summer's day While you were there... #
0:31:31 > 0:31:33But the more I got into ballroom,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36the more I realised it was driven by a set of rules.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40And much of this was down to one man.
0:31:40 > 0:31:41Look what we've got here.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45It's the doyen of strict tempo dancing.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Victor Silvester And His Orchestra. Here we go.
0:31:48 > 0:31:49Oh!
0:31:56 > 0:31:58MUSIC: "You're Dancing On My Heart"
0:31:58 > 0:32:01This was Victor Silvester's theme song
0:32:01 > 0:32:06and prior to it just starting, he would say his iconic words.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08And here they are -
0:32:08 > 0:32:11"Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow."
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Victor Silvester was a World Ballroom Champion
0:32:19 > 0:32:22for whom the rules meant everything.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25And what he was witnessing on the dance floor appalled him.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29It seemed that everyone was doing their own thing
0:32:29 > 0:32:33and that dancing was going to the dogs.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37And, in 1920, 200 dance teachers gathered in London
0:32:37 > 0:32:40to work out what their next step would be.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43It was now a time for action.
0:32:43 > 0:32:49The dance profession decided that there needed to be some kind of order
0:32:49 > 0:32:53in response to this new seeming chaos or "artistic bolshevism",
0:32:53 > 0:32:55as one dance teacher put it.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01Over several years, strict rules governing ballroom were introduced.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04There'd be a musical solution, too.
0:33:04 > 0:33:05Later, as a bandleader,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08Victor brought in the discipline of strict tempo -
0:33:08 > 0:33:11clear criteria which even dictated
0:33:11 > 0:33:14how many bars per minute there should be.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Victor Silvester came along and he was the man
0:33:18 > 0:33:21that tamed it all and brought in strict tempo.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24And it was consistent.
0:33:24 > 0:33:26If it was consistent,
0:33:26 > 0:33:30then the dancer could dance to it.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33Victor Silvester grooms the music
0:33:33 > 0:33:36to be able to be used
0:33:36 > 0:33:42and I mean used - used to dance by everybody that felt like dancing.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45He had to bring regularity into it
0:33:45 > 0:33:49because your dancing today would not exist
0:33:49 > 0:33:51if it weren't for Victor Silvester.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53'And now for a demonstration of dancing,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56'arranged by those famous exponents from the Empress Rooms, Kensington,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59'Phyllis Haylor, former World Champion, and Charles Scrimshaw.'
0:33:59 > 0:34:02With the music and dance now sorted,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04there'd be a syllabus for dance teachers.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08The English style of ballroom was born.
0:34:08 > 0:34:09'But for your special benefit,
0:34:09 > 0:34:11'they're pretending they're just ordinary folk,
0:34:11 > 0:34:15'making just ordinary mistakes like this wrong position of the arm.'
0:34:15 > 0:34:20There was an emphasis on gracefulness and a decorum,
0:34:20 > 0:34:25so the wild, jerking movements of the new dances were tamed.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28You must use your heels when you go forward, Teddy.
0:34:28 > 0:34:29Slide your foot forward on the heel.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33And Freda, don't turn your toes like that, keep them in.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35Keep your feet quite straight.
0:34:35 > 0:34:36Will you try that now?
0:34:36 > 0:34:38This was an attempt clearly
0:34:38 > 0:34:41to remove all suggestions of impropriety
0:34:41 > 0:34:44and sort of uncontrolled primitiveness.
0:34:44 > 0:34:46'Two of the party have just come back from America,
0:34:46 > 0:34:48'so here's a swing step, hot from Harlem.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51'But it's rather too hot for English ballroom,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53'so let's try a swing step that's a little quieter.
0:34:53 > 0:34:54'Good.'
0:34:56 > 0:34:58That looks rather nice, shall we all try it?
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Strict tempo was hugely popular,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08but some musicians felt it made the sound clinical and predictable.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10Others, such as singer Barbara Jay,
0:35:10 > 0:35:13who performed in the dance halls of the '50s,
0:35:13 > 0:35:15welcomed the discipline.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17It made me sing in time.
0:35:17 > 0:35:23It was very good and we used to sing what we call 'on the beat'.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26We never used to pull a song around like people do now.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31Used to sing accordingly to the arrangement and in tempo,
0:35:31 > 0:35:33because that was the tempo for the dancers.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36And if the tempo wasn't right,
0:35:36 > 0:35:38I assure you the dancers used to come up
0:35:38 > 0:35:40and complain bitterly to the bandleader.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45"That Foxtrot was too fast..." and "That Waltz was too slow."
0:35:45 > 0:35:47So he used to get that.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51I find it rather dull, really, you know,
0:35:51 > 0:35:53I think, in the main, it's pretty dull,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55because the priority is not the music any more.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57The priority is the tempo.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00It's not played badly, it's played beautifully, often,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02and, indeed, sung sometimes.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04But often the vocalists are,
0:36:04 > 0:36:07in fact, abandoned on strict tempo dance music, often instrumental.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09And when we've played for dances
0:36:09 > 0:36:12with sort of very dyed-in-the-wool dancers,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15they sometimes say, "Oh, we wish you didn't have any vocals."
0:36:15 > 0:36:17They don't like the vocals,
0:36:17 > 0:36:19they just want the music to be played
0:36:19 > 0:36:21at exactly the right tempo, so that they can whoosh around
0:36:21 > 0:36:25doing the slow Foxtrot or the Quickstep at the right tempo.
0:36:31 > 0:36:3575 million records, Victor Silvester sold.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37- Really?- You know.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40As you say, all in strict dance tempo,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42and immediately recognisable.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45You hear them on the radio, you know that's Victor Silvester.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48But, you know, you wouldn't want to listen to that now, would you?
0:36:48 > 0:36:53You know, it served its purpose and he was clearly,
0:36:53 > 0:36:56you know, he was the man, but to musicians, it's a terrible sound.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10The English style had restrained some of the excesses
0:37:10 > 0:37:12that had crept into ballroom,
0:37:12 > 0:37:16but could it cope with the most sensual dance of the lot?
0:37:16 > 0:37:18The Tango.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22It was hot, it was spicy, it was passionate.
0:37:22 > 0:37:27The big question was, could European sensibility adjust itself
0:37:27 > 0:37:31to this Gaucho-driven dance of passion?
0:37:31 > 0:37:33Oh, I've gone all hot under the collar.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38# One starry night
0:37:38 > 0:37:40# In an old southern town... #
0:37:40 > 0:37:45The Tango had its roots in the street music of Argentina.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47# ..Though with the dawn... #
0:37:47 > 0:37:50A more sedate version swept across Europe,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53but it still incurred the wrath of the Catholic church.
0:37:53 > 0:37:57Later, in the '30s, a little zest was added,
0:37:57 > 0:37:59giving the dance a new flavour.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01# ..Whispering I'll come back some day. #
0:38:01 > 0:38:06When the dance first became popular it was quite a smooth dance,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09it didn't have all this staccato and sharpness about it.
0:38:09 > 0:38:15Just before the War, a German came along, called Freddie Camp,
0:38:15 > 0:38:17who danced here in Blackpool
0:38:17 > 0:38:21and brought this sharp, staccato flavour to it
0:38:21 > 0:38:24and the place went mad.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27I can understand why, because, you know,
0:38:27 > 0:38:31if you think of a famous Tango like La Cumpanista, you know.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37Those spiky chords.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39So, you get a step like The Link,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43which is only two steps, but it shows now...
0:38:43 > 0:38:47Now, prior to Freddie Camp, you'd get a sort of smoothness about it.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51Suddenly, here comes Freddie, full of vim and vigour, and he'll go...
0:38:51 > 0:38:56Whoopa! And the whole thing became much sharper and crisper.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58And... Shumba!
0:38:58 > 0:39:00HE HUMS
0:39:11 > 0:39:15'Freddie Camp changed the Tango for ever.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19'After decades of toning dances down for British tastes,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23'here were the Brits, with a bit help from a German,
0:39:23 > 0:39:25'putting the oomph back into ballroom.'
0:39:25 > 0:39:27Whoopa!
0:39:27 > 0:39:30# Adios muchachos Companeros de mi vida... #
0:39:30 > 0:39:32The other characteristic of the Tango
0:39:32 > 0:39:34is that we dance it with slightly flexed knees,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36there's no rise and fall whatsoever.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40And the story goes that they used to wear these leather chaps
0:39:40 > 0:39:43and when they were on the horse all day, this leather used to get stiff.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45And when they got off their horse,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49their legs were slightly bent because of these leather chaps.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52They used to smell, you know, and deodorant wasn't around.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54So the ladies then put a rose in their mouth
0:39:54 > 0:39:56and turned their head to the left.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Which, of course, would have been slightly perfumed
0:39:59 > 0:40:01away from the bad smell.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06# Everybody dance!
0:40:06 > 0:40:11# Why don't you try to Foxtrot Your troubles away? #
0:40:11 > 0:40:15With the core dances now making up the English style,
0:40:15 > 0:40:17the Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep and Tango,
0:40:17 > 0:40:23Britain was ready to export its take on dancing all over the globe.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25And with the rules now in place,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29everyone wanted to learn how to dance properly.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33# ..But if you're bashful Let the music say it for you
0:40:33 > 0:40:35# Dance... #
0:40:35 > 0:40:38But how to spread the message became a major challenge
0:40:38 > 0:40:41for Britain's new ballroom establishment.
0:40:41 > 0:40:42# ..Up on your toes... #
0:40:42 > 0:40:44By the 1930s,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47ballroom competitions were all the rage for the committed dancer.
0:40:47 > 0:40:52But keeping the rest of the population in line was no easy task.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54# ..Dance, dance, dance, dance! #
0:40:54 > 0:40:56If you were struggling,
0:40:56 > 0:40:59there was always an army of attendants on hand to help out.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03They would be penned off in a corner of the dance hall
0:41:03 > 0:41:06and you could hire them for one or two dances
0:41:06 > 0:41:10or often for the whole evening.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13These dancing partners inevitably attracted suspicion
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and the rumours were rife
0:41:15 > 0:41:21that they were offering more than just a dancing partnership.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25'Teaching people to dance has always been a challenge
0:41:25 > 0:41:27'and, back in ballroom's heyday,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30'dance schools were in the front-line of the battle
0:41:30 > 0:41:32'to get people to move properly.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36'The rules were in place, they just needed to be enforced.'
0:41:36 > 0:41:38Cha-cha-cha...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41'And in every dance class across the country,
0:41:41 > 0:41:46'no step was spared in making sure they were performed correctly.'
0:41:46 > 0:41:49Last one...
0:41:49 > 0:41:52'So, it's time to set a 1930s challenge
0:41:52 > 0:41:57'for these youngsters in a dance school near Garstang, in Lancashire.'
0:41:57 > 0:41:58Excellent, well done.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00That's not a seven, I'll tell you.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02That's a ten from Len, well done!
0:42:02 > 0:42:03THEY LAUGH
0:42:03 > 0:42:04Thank you.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Right foot, everybody, ready, go.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11One, two, three, cha-cha-cha.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14Now, this may seem comical to us now,
0:42:14 > 0:42:16but back in the '20s and '30s,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19this instruction manual was cutting edge.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24And it was produced by the Maestro himself - Victor Silvester.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26He showed the steps for every dance,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29from The Charleston right through to the slow Foxtrot,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31and everything in between.
0:42:31 > 0:42:32Now, the question is -
0:42:32 > 0:42:36can these young people follow the master's footsteps?
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Thank you very much.
0:42:41 > 0:42:42- Who's the boy ?- Me.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44The reverse turn.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46Left, right, left.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49No, no.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52One, two, three.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54Thank God I wasn't born in the '20s or '30s,
0:42:54 > 0:42:56because I'd have a terrible job with this.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Cutting edge? I'd cut me throat.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04One, two, three, four, five.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07A little bit big in the step, wasn't it?
0:43:07 > 0:43:10Arrampah! Yump-bum-bum!
0:43:10 > 0:43:14Step three is step forward and across,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17slightly to right with left foot.
0:43:17 > 0:43:18I've got to work this out.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21Step forward with the left foot, turning to the left.
0:43:21 > 0:43:22I've done that.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27One, two, three, four, five.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31I always like a man with epaulettes.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34All of you now, I want you all to try it.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38Come up here, we're all going to do it. Six steps.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Tango! Ready.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43And a-ra-tah-tah!
0:43:43 > 0:43:45A-ra-tah!
0:43:49 > 0:43:52What Victor Silvester had done is created order.
0:43:52 > 0:43:57He's given precise steps and a technique that people could follow.
0:43:57 > 0:44:03But, in doing so, I think the common man had lost the feel for dancing.
0:44:03 > 0:44:07It was almost as though you had to learn a regimented routine
0:44:07 > 0:44:10which, for me, isn't what dancing's all about.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21Britain may have been bitten by the dance bug,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24but ballroom was in a state of flux.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27It's summed up by this place, the fabulous Cafe De Paris,
0:44:27 > 0:44:29in London's West End.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39'By the mid '30s, ballroom,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41'the dance that the masses had taken to their hearts,
0:44:41 > 0:44:43'appeared to be divided.'
0:44:43 > 0:44:46While the working classes packed out huge dance halls,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49and had a right old knees-up,
0:44:49 > 0:44:54the well-to-do tucked into their lobster in surroundings like this
0:44:54 > 0:44:56and danced the night away.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05Smart hotels and restaurants latched on to the idea
0:45:05 > 0:45:09that diners would pay a premium for high-end surroundings
0:45:09 > 0:45:12and quality music from the nation's best dance bands.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Geraldo, Henry Hall, Bert Ambrose.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21They all became household names.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25But there were hundreds more belting out the tunes.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27They seemed to create a sort of magic atmosphere,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30the records from the '30s, of elegance,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34and it's something different. It's got a very particular style to it.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37The marvellous atmosphere that it creates straight away
0:45:37 > 0:45:39and, of course, it had to create an atmosphere straight away.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41People needed to hear a few bars of music
0:45:41 > 0:45:44and they needed to be whisked onto the dance floor.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48# Shall we dance Or keep on moping
0:45:48 > 0:45:52# Shall we dance and walk on air? #
0:45:52 > 0:45:55But it very quickly became so much more than that.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57It became clever music, with wonderful arrangements
0:45:57 > 0:46:00and the very best musicians playing in the bands at the time.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02The most fantastic jazz solos,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05the most fantastic smooth, elegant sounds all mixed together
0:46:05 > 0:46:08into a sort of British dance band sound.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11Every hotel, every restaurant,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14as well as the ballrooms, needed musicians.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17It was a field day for musicians.
0:46:17 > 0:46:22# ..Dance whenever you can! #
0:46:22 > 0:46:25That would have been the time to be a musician.
0:46:25 > 0:46:27Because, apart from anything else, it was fun.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30They were well paid, well looked after,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33and they were playing music that was fun to play.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38And, in a way, the music is sort of leading the dance, isn't it?
0:46:38 > 0:46:43There's something being generated on the band stand
0:46:43 > 0:46:45that people want to dance to.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Live music is absolutely brilliant!
0:46:57 > 0:47:02I mean, once an orchestra plays, it just gets in your blood.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04'The National Programme from London.'
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Now, you're going to hear the first performance
0:47:06 > 0:47:09of the new BBC Dance Orchestra, directed by Henry Hall.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13# It's just the time For dancing... #
0:47:13 > 0:47:17Soon, every living room was echoing to the sound of ballroom.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20The bands had huge followings.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Jack Hilton, for example, in 1929,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26he travelled over 63,000 miles on tour,
0:47:26 > 0:47:29he gave over 700 performances
0:47:29 > 0:47:33and his records sold at the rate of about seven per minute,
0:47:33 > 0:47:35so he's hugely successful.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Roy Fox led one of the most popular bands of the '30s.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45Mary Lee was just out of school when she won a competition
0:47:45 > 0:47:47and joined them as a singer.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51There was about 20, 25 musicians and Roy Fox,
0:47:51 > 0:47:56immaculately dressed in beautiful tails,
0:47:56 > 0:47:58all playing gorgeous music, you know.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01I thought to myself, "I've died and gone to heaven."
0:48:01 > 0:48:05# Cos it's been so long
0:48:05 > 0:48:07# Since I held you tight
0:48:07 > 0:48:09# When we said goodnight
0:48:09 > 0:48:11# It's been so long
0:48:11 > 0:48:15# Honey, can't you see What you've done to me... #
0:48:15 > 0:48:18It was really brilliant. And these boys knew what they were doing.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21You went on and you knew you were working
0:48:21 > 0:48:24for the best musicians in the world.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26And you couldn't else but be good.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28It was a happy, happy time.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31# ..It was so nice... #
0:48:31 > 0:48:35For three golden years, Mary fitted right in with the boys in the band.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40They were lovely, but then, I think I was terribly lucky,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44because the band boys could be, you know, rough and ready
0:48:44 > 0:48:47and, you know, I won't go any further.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50But I remember Roy Fox telling them,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52he said, "Now, she's just turned 14.
0:48:52 > 0:48:53"I don't want any swearing,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57"I don't want any untoward gags or what have you.
0:48:57 > 0:48:58"Leave her be.
0:48:58 > 0:49:03"Let her grow up alongside you and don't tell her any mucky jokes.
0:49:03 > 0:49:04"Please don't."
0:49:04 > 0:49:06And that's the way we went along.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10Mary was paid the princely sum of £5 a week
0:49:10 > 0:49:13and with the boys, she played the dance halls
0:49:13 > 0:49:15and the swanky West End restaurants,
0:49:15 > 0:49:18rubbing shoulders with society's smart set.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20It was nice people.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24People who had what we would say roughly, a bob or two.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27And the ladies were nicely dressed.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30We used to sit on the band stand and the boys would pick out
0:49:30 > 0:49:33who were the nicest-looking lasses, and all that.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Who had the nicest legs and all that.
0:49:35 > 0:49:36We had all that kind of fun.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40But, oh, I used to, I used to, oh, die to get down and dance with them
0:49:40 > 0:49:43but I couldn't, I wasn't allowed to.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52While the dinner dance scene thrived, over in the dance halls,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55people were tiring of the rules -
0:49:55 > 0:49:56they wanted to experiment.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59'And now, we're taking you over to The Locarno, Streatham,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01'to learn something of the latest dances.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04'Here's one you can all dance and it's sweeping the country.
0:50:04 > 0:50:06'The Palais Glide.'
0:50:06 > 0:50:09Having a partner was no longer as important
0:50:09 > 0:50:12and novelty dances became popular.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15'What better than the Palais Glide for making everyone pally?
0:50:15 > 0:50:18'Where The Palais Glide originated, we don't know.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21'Some say the Midlands, but its popularity is tremendous.'
0:50:21 > 0:50:26It wasn't so much revolution as a curious form of evolution.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28It was ballroom,
0:50:28 > 0:50:31but for those who'd worked hard to establish the rules,
0:50:31 > 0:50:33well, it just didn't feel right.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35# It's your blooming birthday
0:50:35 > 0:50:37# Let's wake up all the town
0:50:37 > 0:50:39# So knees-up, knees-up Don't get the breeze-up
0:50:39 > 0:50:41# Knees-up, Mother Brown. #
0:50:41 > 0:50:45And just when it seemed that the masses were becoming frustrated
0:50:45 > 0:50:47with traditional ballroom,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50the darkest of times gave it a new lease of life.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54During the Second World War, dancing was incredibly popular.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57# Dance hall doll Dancing around the floor... #
0:50:57 > 0:51:01And it performed a very important function on the home front.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03The Government soon realised
0:51:03 > 0:51:06just how important dancing was for morale.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08'Carry your gas mask, because you'll never know
0:51:08 > 0:51:09'where you'll need it.
0:51:09 > 0:51:11'Now, at the dance hall in Streatham,
0:51:11 > 0:51:13'they grab their partners for the preliminary race,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16'and it's on with the gas mask and the dance.'
0:51:16 > 0:51:21With the Luftwaffe doing their best to bomb Britain into submission,
0:51:21 > 0:51:24people turned to ballroom, in all its forms
0:51:24 > 0:51:27and lived every moment as though it were their last.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32Home Intelligence reports of the blitzed areas, for example,
0:51:32 > 0:51:38found that, in those cities where dancing and dance halls remained open
0:51:38 > 0:51:40and continued going during the Blitz,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43such as Liverpool and Portsmouth,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46morale was much higher than in those areas
0:51:46 > 0:51:49where nightlife ground to a halt.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54And so, it recommended that dance halls were made repair priorities
0:51:54 > 0:51:57and were kept open in the aftermath of the Blitz.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03As American GIs hit our shores,
0:52:03 > 0:52:08dancing once again became a passport to a meeting with the opposite sex.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10'Fraternisation was the order of the day
0:52:10 > 0:52:12'and it certainly looks as if everything was going
0:52:12 > 0:52:13'according to plan.'
0:52:15 > 0:52:18And along with their nylon stockings and fat wallets,
0:52:18 > 0:52:22the Yanks brought new music and dances like the jive.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26Once again, American influence took ballroom in a whole new direction.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32The feel-good factor continued after the War,
0:52:32 > 0:52:35but, within a decade, attitudes were changing.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Ballroom was no longer cutting edge.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41A new generation voted with their feet.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Dance band music of the '30s, however much we love it,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46we have to admit it evokes
0:52:46 > 0:52:49the upper crust of society and high society.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52It evokes money, wealth, a richness.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55And after the War, this just wasn't what people wanted any more,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57they wanted a more democratic world.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01As a teenager during the war,
0:53:01 > 0:53:06Tommy Whittle played saxophone in Lew Stone's Band.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10It was style of music soon to go out of fashion.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13I think it was skiffle came in, first of all.
0:53:13 > 0:53:18You know, a ridiculous sort of music, in my opinion.
0:53:18 > 0:53:20And yet, it became terribly popular.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23What can you do?
0:53:27 > 0:53:29# I dim all the lights
0:53:29 > 0:53:31# And I sink in my chair... #
0:53:31 > 0:53:33Tommy's wife, Barbara Jay,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36played with some of the big bands of the '50s
0:53:36 > 0:53:40and saw the golden age of ballroom slowly slipping away.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42# ..Fade away in the blue
0:53:42 > 0:53:48# And I'm deep in a dream of you. #
0:53:48 > 0:53:52They were looking at the new generation coming up, you see.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56And they didn't want the dancing that their mothers and fathers went to.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59They wanted to have their own kind of music
0:53:59 > 0:54:01and this is where the music changed.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05There were not so many big bands, there were small groups.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08That kind of dancing faded away.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15The simplicity of the close hold in the Waltz
0:54:15 > 0:54:16and the passion of the Tango
0:54:16 > 0:54:20were lost on a new generation who didn't have to be coy any more.
0:54:20 > 0:54:25The sexuality of dancing was now there for everyone to see.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33With its long list of rules, ballroom appeared to be out of step.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36It gained a reputation as being old-fashioned.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38Something that old people did.
0:54:38 > 0:54:39It was for fuddy-duddies.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46In those days, the rock and roll appealed to a different generation,
0:54:46 > 0:54:51a more gentle generation at that time liked ballroom dancing.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53Dancing went underground a bit.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56And it went into the dancing schools,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59instead of being in the public halls,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01it went into the dancing schools.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08Then, television arrived, and that completely changed everything.
0:55:08 > 0:55:10People were not going out to dance halls any more,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13they were sitting at home watching 'the new box', they called it.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15The television.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18'This is BBC Television.'
0:55:18 > 0:55:22And Victor Silvester, the man who'd brought strict tempo to ballroom,
0:55:22 > 0:55:26also appeared out of step with the new dances and crazes.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31Well, I don't think that anybody could call the Twist an elegant dance.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34What, then, is its attraction?
0:55:34 > 0:55:36The answer is rhythm.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41Feet six to eight inches apart and twist to the left,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44to the right, to the left, to the right, to the left,
0:55:44 > 0:55:48to the right, to the left, to the right.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Right! Twist, two, three, four...
0:56:05 > 0:56:09I first fell into ballroom almost by accident.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13If it hadn't had been for an ex-girlfriend who invited me along,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16I might never have stepped into a world which has captivated me
0:56:16 > 0:56:19for the best part of 50 years.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21When I first put on my dancing shoes,
0:56:21 > 0:56:25ballroom was still popular, but the peak had passed.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29It seemed good to me then, so the golden age must have been brilliant.
0:56:33 > 0:56:38There was something innocent and warm about ballroom dancing.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41That sense of belonging that it gave you,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44as well as a degree of self-expression.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48It's a loss of something more than just ballroom dancing.
0:56:48 > 0:56:49They're packed onto the floor,
0:56:49 > 0:56:52because they've all got a common interest.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54They all want to listen to the music,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58they all want to dance with the best-looking girl in the room.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03But the very heart of dancing years ago was to go out and meet people.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07It was lovely.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10It was lovely. You were hearing good music and, with a wee bit of luck,
0:57:10 > 0:57:12you got a wee cuddle and a kiss on the way home.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14You know, it was nice.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23Ballroom's decline was a slow drift away.
0:57:23 > 0:57:29# The sweetest music This side of heaven... #
0:57:29 > 0:57:33No-one really noticed as each year the dance halls closed,
0:57:33 > 0:57:37only to re-open as bingo halls or nightclubs.
0:57:42 > 0:57:48It's hard to imagine that ballroom dancing could ever have been thought of as scandalous,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52especially when you see the sort of dancing that's done today.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54And yet, it was.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58But, for me, there was a romance about ballroom dancing.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00There was an innocence.
0:58:00 > 0:58:04Boy meets girl, a little bit of flirtation on the ballroom.
0:58:04 > 0:58:08And people who still do it, that's what they're tapping into -
0:58:08 > 0:58:10this feeling of a romance.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13And for me, there's nothing like it
0:58:13 > 0:58:16and, if you've not tried it, you don't know what you're missing.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19Erin, come on!
0:58:19 > 0:58:26# I'm saving the last Waltz for you
0:58:26 > 0:58:33# In your arms I'm just longing to be
0:58:33 > 0:58:35# Please don't forsake me
0:58:35 > 0:58:39# Just let your arms take me
0:58:39 > 0:58:45# I'm saving the last Waltz For you. #
0:58:57 > 0:59:00Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd