Ballrooms and Ballerinas: Dance at the BBC

Hello there, everyone.

Good evening and welcome to another of our programmes from the Television Dancing Club.

You didn't think Strictly was a new idea, did you?

The outfits,

the passion,

the turns and lifts

and the fun,

Strictly Come Dancing is television entertainment that reaches across the generations

and the culmination of the BBC's longstanding love affair with dance.

And I suppose we could do worse than get on with the dancing.

From its very earliest broadcasts,

the BBC placed dance centre stage in its mission

to educate, inform and entertain.

In this programme we'll uncover an obsession that ran from the loftiest

cultural institutions

to the humble dance floor,

through iconic performances

and nights out on the town.

You're just dancing. The music's so great, it's so loud.

We'll be exploring how the BBC did it all,

whether it was ballet,

or ballroom...

We were magnificent.

..dancing like Travolta

or doing the twist...

Degrading and disgusting.

..and along the way helped the nation

perfect its moves.

A one-two, a two-two, a three-two, a four...

We'll get a glimpse into a world filled with glamour

and cool,

alongside routines that were sexy

or a little bit naff.

As part dancing queen,

part dad dancer,

the BBC has shimmied its way through 60 years of life on the dance floor,

keeping up with the changing trends

and sometimes falling out of step.

From ballerinas

to break-dancers,

the cameras were there to witness them all dance at the BBC.

In the 1930s and '40s,

the BBC quickly identified dance as perfect

for the new medium of television.

Filming dancers, erm,

dancing was an effective way to demonstrate

what the new technology could offer.

Televisions were expensive and people needed persuading,

so the BBC brought in popular dancers

from both variety and theatre.

This was entertainment that everyone could relate to.

By the time TV was taking hold in the '50s,

one particular form of dance helped the BBC send forth a message

that it was OK to be highbrow -

ballet.

As both high art and entertainment,

it was the embodiment of Reithian values,

much to the delight of the Men from Auntie.

Relatively few people got to see live ballet -

a pity, because British ballet was amongst the best in the world.

In 1953, the BBC staged an extract of the ballet

Les Sylphides.

At the centre of the performance was Alicia Markova.

Acclaimed as one of the best ballerinas of all time

and the first international star of British ballet,

she was pretty nifty on her pins.

Les Sylphides was based on music by Chopin,

but was a ballet without a story.

At least this meant it was OK to have no idea what was going on.

All the same,

Markova brought an ethereal and delicate quality to the performance.

She changed her name whilst training in Russia,

after her employers realised that no-one was going to come

and see the very British-sounding Lily Marks.

A hint of Russian mystery worked wonders.

At the forefront of British ballet

was the formidable Dame Ninette de Valois.

Known to dancers of all ages as Madam,

she was the founder of what became the Royal Ballet.

Teaming up with the BBC,

every aspect of ballet was opened up for adoration on camera.

And what fascinated programme-makers most of all

was the gruelling life of a ballerina.

It was high art with a no-holds-barred approach to honesty.

We take the children for a year on trial.

That gives them an opportunity - us rather, us an opportunity to find

if they are the right sort of temperament for the life.

Now, turn your feet out.

Separate your heels a little if your knees are already together.

I'm afraid those thighs are too heavy for that amount of knock-knee,

-even despite the good foot she showed. What do you think?

-I agree.

Number four, I'm afraid, is too tall for her age and too solidly built.

-Yes, I agree.

-So, really, number three is the only one, isn't it?

-Yes.

And if the children themselves are really very interested.

Because, you know, sometimes

its mother's far more interested than the child.

Even a ballerina's shoes came

under close scrutiny.

Here I have a pair of shoes that came from Russia.

These are the shoes worn by the great Ulanova

when she danced here in London

and here a pair of shoes by another great English ballerina, Anita Lander.

And I thought you would like to see the difference between the weight

of the shoes worn by a Russian ballerina

and those worn by an English one.

And so there are Madame Lander's shoes

and these are Ulonova.

As you see, they bring the scale down very quickly.

In this era, ballet on the BBC could reach an audience of millions

through Markova's performances.

As she approached the end of her dancing career,

she was honoured by This Is Your Life.

Alicia Markova, first ever British ballerina absoluta

and ambassadress of the ballet,

this is your life.

But by the '50s,

the baton had been passed on to another ballet sensation.

And now we have one last surprise for you.

Come in, Margot Fonteyn.

The first time I saw you dance was tremendous.

I was about 13 years old.

You became at once both my inspiration and my despair,

because I could see equally clearly

my vision of the ideal ballerina

and the absolute impossibility that I myself

could ever resemble this tiny ethereal being.

Thank you, Dame Margot Fonteyn.

Fonteyn had appeared for the BBC way back in the '30s, at the age of 18,

in a showreel for the fledgling service.

At the Vic-Wells ballet school,

she had been Ninette de Valois's greatest discovery.

Well, it's very easy to recall certain great personalities

when they first come into your life.

I can remember going up into the rehearsal room in those days

to see the children's class one morning,

and I could tell you exactly now where she was standing in the room

and what she was doing.

And I remember crossing the room and saying to the teacher,

"Who is that little girl on the left?"

Quite a clear picture to me.

By the '50s, Margot Fonteyn was a superstar treated like royalty.

But she was also bringing a world of high culture to the public.

In this decade, Fonteyn unwrapped her Christmas present

to the British public.

Like mulled wine or Slade,

The Nutcracker would become a regular seasonal favourite.

On TV, ballerinas seemed even more mythical.

With Tchaikovsky's magical score underpinning some

of classical ballet's most technically demanding choreography,

The Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy is pure fantasy.

Fonteyn's delicate 1958 performance

was the first time The Nutcracker had been adapted in full for British TV.

But Fonteyn was no mere fairy-tale creature.

Married to Panamanian diplomat Roberto Arias,

in 1959 she was accused of being involved in her husband's

attempted coup in his home country.

She managed to avoid jail and escape Panama,

but not the press.

In newspapers and cartoons you've been dubbed almost a sort of

gun-toting revolutionary.

I can't help what newspapers and cartoons do.

No, that would be completely unfair to think that you've even got

any knowledge of anything about this revolution at all.

What are you trying to get me to say, exactly?

Why don't you tell me what it is you want me to say?

And I'll tell you if I'll say it or not.

Whatever the events overseas,

her reputation in Britain seemed undiminished.

The same year as the coup attempt,

Fonteyn starred in the BBC's Sleeping Beauty.

To the public, Fonteyn remained a princess.

Broadcast live,

she had a unique ability to tell the story through graceful skill

and in the detail of her movement.

You couldn't take your eyes off her.

The '60s dawned, and ballet was stronger than ever on the BBC.

The Royal Ballet signed up to create more television performances,

and Dame Ninette was on hand to show exactly how it should be done.

You only want to establish that one coming across and you can cut it.

All right. Cue music.

Ballets like The Rake's Progress satisfied the BBC's appetite for highbrow dance,

despite the odd scene of apparent debauchery.

But for pure entertainment, it drew on a different dancing tradition...

..ballroom dancing.

Programmes like Television Dancing Club

and Come Dancing were early popular hits.

They were formal and rule-based,

treating dance like a competitive spectator sport -

just the sort of thing the BBC was comfortable with.

The two series were shown on alternating weeks.

Come Dancing was filmed at different ballrooms around the country.

Rated by a panel of judges, dancers from regional teams slugged it out,

all hoping to make it through to the grand final.

The host of Television Dancing Club, from its first episodes in 1948,

was one of the leading figures in ballroom - Victor Silvester.

Hello there, everyone.

Good evening and welcome to another of our programmes

from the Television Dancing Club.

During the next half hour,

we shall endeavour to bring the glamour and the elegance

of good ballroom dancing into your homes.

Victor began his career in an era when ballroom ruled supreme

in the dancehalls.

In the 1970s, he recalled his first steps.

You started off, all those years ago, as a kind of gigolo,

didn't you, in fact, hiring yourself out for a quid a night.

Yes, I had my first job at Harrods' Georgian restaurant

to dance with anyone there who hadn't got a partner

and I was paid £1 a week.

There's a picture of you just dancing, if you can have a look at that.

Do you remember her name?

-That? That's Dorothy, my wife.

-Oh, I see.

-One of the lucky ones who's got a wonderful wife in every way.

-Yeah.

What made Television Dancing Club so compulsive

was a combination of glamour and competition.

The public could actively participate by voting

for the best dancing couple,

although it took a while by post.

Most of the dancers were amateurs.

Plucked from everyday life,

they represented the viewing public on the dance floor,

many of whom would be familiar with the moves of the ballroom.

And it wasn't just the performances under scrutiny.

Beryl's dress is in a bright green nylon knit

with purple satin edging the bodice and trimming the skirt.

The dress is also covered with purple sequins

and her shoes are green satin, to match her dress.

Of course, the BBC wasn't about mere entertainment.

It wished to educate and inform.

Without rules and order,

a dance floor might degenerate into mindless anarchy,

so Victor did his best to set the audience straight.

Anyway, before I begin, I'd like to introduce the girl

who usually dances with me, here she is, attractive Christine Norton.

AUDIENCE APPLAUDS

One, two, cha-cha-cha. One, two, cha-cha-cha.

So now we will give you a short demonstration of the Cha-cha-cha.

We will start off with the New York and also introduce one or two

of the other variations which I have shown you previously.

BAND PLAYS CHA-CHA-CHA MUSIC

One of the main reasons learning to dance was so important

was that the ballroom was a major place to find romance.

-REPORTER:

-All over the country,

there are 10,000 teachers sacrificing their feet to the cause

of ballroom dancing, and 50 million people a year take lessons.

The dancing may lure them into the ballroom,

but when the moment comes to choose your partner,

there's more to be considered than how well he or she dances.

The partner you take may turn out to be yours for life,

for just think - of all the couples who get married in Britain,

75% of them meet in places like this.

Governed by polite, if slightly daunting, rules of social conduct,

success was by no means assured.

-Have you ever been refused?

-Many a time, many a time.

What do you feel like then?

At first I was a bit downhearted, but now I'm very hard-skinned.

-It doesn't soak in that far.

-What do you mean, you often get refused?

No, not very often.

Supposing, when you get up to dance,

the man tries to dance cheek-to-cheek with you.

How do you cope with this situation?

Well, if he's nice, I might like it.

But...

Sometimes I...

..military style, stand there like a sergeant major

or something like that, you know? It puts them off, rather.

Supposing it was the done thing for the girl to ask the boy to dance -

-what then?

-We've hit on it! I only wish we could.

You see, if we went up to a fellow and said,

"Please, may we have the dance?"

They'd say, "Oh, she thinks I'm good," or...

You know, they're so big-headed about things!

Although huge numbers of people still danced in ballrooms

across the country, like the big band sound that accompanied it,

ballroom dancing was essentially a pre-war type of entertainment.

It was growing increasingly middle-aged by the late '50s and,

whilst still popular, producers had to make valiant efforts

to keep it relevant.

Outside of the television studios and opera houses, there was

a whole world of popular dance culture the BBC just didn't get.

ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC PLAYS

Rock and roll had given teenagers new forms of music and dance,

none of which was in the Beeb's comfort zone.

When producers did try to keep up, they simply missed the point.

# The Six-Five Special steaming down the line

# Six-Five Special right on time! #

In 1957, the BBC launched the Six-Five Special,

their first series aimed at teenagers.

# Everybody do the rock

# Everybody do the roll... #

The teen dancers in the studio looked right, but the producers

were using old-fashioned big bands for the music...

# ..was a merry old soul and a merry old soul was he... #

..and even some of the guest dancers

looked like they were from the wrong generation.

In the end, it didn't really matter.

Just as the BBC was catching on to rock and roll,

teenagers were getting bored of it.

They'd moved on to a new dance craze that would change everything...

the twist.

# Well, you know what I mean

# Well, you can't get over a thing like this

# Cos girls are natural twisters

# You know what I mean? #

It would be two years after it arrived before the BBC caught up,

but when they did, they went for it big time.

# Come on, everybody, let's twist Hey, hey!

# Come on, everybody, let's twist Well, oh, well!

# Everybody, everybody, everybody Everybody's doing the twist... #

Previously, dancing, even rock and roll, had largely been

something done whilst holding your partner.

But the twist was a solo dance that liberated teens

from the tyranny of asking members of the opposite sex to dance.

# Come on, everybody, let's twist Hey, hey!

# Well, there's a crazy little place in this big town

# Where everybody, everybody comes around

# And they jam the door... #

Requiring little floor space, the twist could be done anywhere,

making it ideal for parties - no-one was marking your performance here.

Once the twist took hold, there was no stopping it

and it soon became popular across the generations.

Even the venerable Victor Silvester was lured in.

Well, I don't think that anybody could call the twist

an elegant dance.

What, then, is its attraction?

The answer is rhythm.

Now, the name of the variation,

it's sort of universally known now as "The Back Scratcher."

And that's the one we're going to teach you right away.

And, as its name rather implies, we dance it back-to-back.

Doing it like this.

Twist to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right.

Up straight again.

To the left, to the right, to the left, to the right.

Right, that is "The Back Scratcher."

The dance became such a phenomenon that the BBC dedicated

an entire series to it in 1962, imaginatively named "Twist!"

In the now sadly - or not so sadly - lost competition programme,

celebrity teams were pitted against each other in a dance-off.

But not everyone approved.

The programme was announced in the Radio Times as "having everything."

This claim was soon proved right

as far as the viewers' abuse was concerned.

"Degrading" and "disgusting" were the two hardest worked

of the many words which jammed the telephone exchange

while the twisters were still at it!

'In all my born days, I've never seen such appalling rubbish,

'dross and tripe!'

'When it's as bad as the Twist! programme was,

'I'm hypnotised by it and can't move.'

'Think what could have been done with the money spent

'on the Twist! programme. It doesn't make you angry

'so much as sad and dejected.'

Well, personally, I like the twist's individuality.

At least you don't have to hold a partner you can't stand the sight of

in a hot and sticky embrace!

As the twist was taking over popular dance...

..on the BBC, ballet was going as strong as ever.

In 1962, a Soviet defector arrived in Britain.

Rudolf Nureyev was a rising star of the Kirov Ballet,

and here he would become a revelation.

For Nureyev to stay behind when the Kirov Ballet flew away

from Paris was sensation enough.

The second and greater sensation was that this young dancer,

who'd only been a relatively junior member of the Russian company,

was suddenly hailed in France and here as a second Nijinsky -

a ballet star of the very first magnitude.

Do you think that you have changed in your style

-since you've been in the West?

-No, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I can't change my style, it's me.

I dance what I think, how I think and how I feel.

It was proposed that the 23-year-old dance with Margot Fonteyn,

who was 42 - retirement age for most dancers.

She recalled their first meeting some years later on Parkinson.

Yes, Ninette de Valois told me that he was going to dance Giselle

at Covent Garden and did I want to do it?

And my first reaction was that I was much too old to dance with

-such a young dancer.

-You say in the book...

-And I said, well...

..a nice phrase, "Mutton dancing with lamb."

"Mutton dancing with lamb," that was my first reaction

and I thought, "That's going to be a mistake!"

Their first dance together, now considered a classic performance,

was in Giselle.

Fonteyn had first performed Giselle way back in 1937

and Nureyev had his own ideas about how it should be done.

But the chemistry between them worked wonders.

The reservation that you had when you first danced with Nureyev

from before, that you didn't want to dance with him because

of the age difference - was it ever brought home to you by an outsider?

There was a lady in the Russian Tea Room who bore down upon him

with great enthusiasm and she talked and talked and talked at him

in Russian for a long time and I was sitting there

and suddenly she turned and looked at me

and said, "Who's that, your mother?"

It was a partnership that fascinated the world

and also rejuvenated Fonteyn's career.

They quickly went down in dancing history.

Nureyev might have become a huge star,

but male ballet dancers didn't have it easy.

In this era, there were plenty of unflattering ideas about what

it meant for men to dance in ballet.

In 1966, the BBC made a documentary with the Royal Ballet School

that attempted to set things straight.

Next, come on, out of the way! Next!

-REPORTER:

-There are 40 boys at the school, aged between 11 and 16.

Though competition to enter is very fierce and part of the timetable

is unusual, in most ways, the school is just a school.

CHILDREN SING

What do you think the boys of your own age are going to think

when they see this programme and see you come up on the screen?

I should think...

Mainly, I think the majority of them will think it's rather

a silly sort of thing to do, you know.

It's rather effeminate and poufy, I suppose you could call it.

So, if I gave you the choice of being a professional footballer

-or a professional dancer, what's your answer now?

-Now?

Definitely, no doubt, a dancer.

Why?

Well, I mean, I've been trained in dance and I understand dance

better than I do football. I get...

When I dance, I get a better feeling from dancing.

What do you think one of the Arsenal team would think of this programme?

I think they must respect the dancer,

cos a dancer must respect a footballer, in a way.

I think they're very close to each other.

A scissor kick, you know,

shooting for a goal where they kick over the heads,

they fall back on their back.

I mean, they must get their legs fairly high to start with

to be able to do it. It's the same as the dancer's grand battement,

just kick the leg up as far as you can in front and down.

SHE PLAYS BALLET MUSIC

So, if we accept that the boys enjoy the hard work of the ballet,

what should be the pleasure for us in watching the finished results?

You are, in a sense, drawing a picture.

If you draw a picture, you have lines, circles,

which balance each other up on the canvas, so on the piece of paper.

And if the stage, if the space around you, is your canvas

and your body is the pencil or the paint

and your limbs are the lines, and your head...

It's all part of the picture and you can put each piece of it

in a position which relates to the other position

and you create a picture, that's all.

-So the boys are drawing pictures?

-They're drawing pictures in space.

The BBC's approach to ballet was to explain its culture

and to challenge the preconceptions of what ballet is,

even using the persuasive powers of children's TV.

In the BBC's eyes, ballet was for everyone.

Well, almost everyone.

My main trouble was my basic stance.

Tight, tail in, flat stomach, shoulders down, head up.

Demi plie, plie, plie, out, out!

Stretch, stretch, stretch!

Thighs, good. And rest.

Any boy who thinks ballet dancing is for sissies should try it!

With music, with music. And...

One, plie, two, forward, up!

Straight, up, again.

Up, up, up! Plie.

And turn. Wait! Stay.

And rest.

At the high-art end of dance, the BBC had it covered.

But when it came to teen culture, it was on much shakier ground.

At the end of the '60s, the old expectations of romance

and marriage were fading away from the dance floor.

Fleet Street columnist Marjorie Proops was curious

about where all this was leading.

I think I'm a romantic,

which might sound funny coming from a journalist.

We are alleged to be pretty tough and a very unromantic species.

But I like to read books with happy endings, I like boy to get girl

and I'm the sort who could very easily weep at weddings.

Romance stopped being romantic when they all started calling it sex.

Today's couples present a very sharp contrast to the hero and heroine

of that scolding romantic novel The Chic.

Close hot embraces were the big thing of that era.

You don't think of the partner, necessarily, I don't think.

You're just dancing, the music is so great, it's so loud.

In today's permissive society,

contemporary young lovers dance without touching.

Sometimes they don't even look.

When their parents danced, it meant romantic togetherness.

They clung cheek-to-cheek, enfolded and close.

What dances did you used to do together?

Oh, the Veleta and the Waltz

and all kinds of old-fashioned dancing.

-Dances where you hold each other tight?

-Yes. Yes, exactly.

But not too tight if you've got a good partner...

-if he's a gentlemen.

-Otherwise you'd be told about it!

Marjorie was fighting a losing battle.

Even at the BBC, sex appeared to be taking priority over romance.

From teen music programmes like Top Of The Pops and the Beat Room

emerged the Dance troupe.

# Come on over, baby Whole lotta shakin' goin' on... #

Dance troupes had been a staple of British entertainment for years,

but now the BBC were going to put them centre stage.

From The Beat Room came The Beat Girls.

The Beat Girls approach, in various guises, would last for decades.

# Whole lotta shakin' goin' on. #

In 1964, one Beat Girl went on to form The Gojos

for the newly launched Top Of The Pops.

Originally, acts like The Gojos were a way of playing records without

needing the musicians in the studio, in an age before music videos.

# Reflections of the way life used to be... #

But dance troupes soon became an attraction of their own.

In the late '60s, a member of The Gojos broke away to

found their replacement act called Pan's People.

# You're a bad dog, baby But I still want you around... #

Originally an occasional feature on Top Of The Pops,

they eventually became an act with a dedicated segment all of their own.

# Oh, baby, give me one more chance... #

The choreography wasn't exactly complicated, but it was effective.

Teens everywhere could join in and feel part of the gang.

Over time, the outfits got skimpier

and '70s camerawork wasn't focused on the dancing.

# Oh, I do, now

# Ooo, ooo, baby

# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... #

The fortunes of formation dancing appeared to be heading

in the opposite direction.

By the late '60s, ballroom on TV looked a bit tired.

By the '70s, it was seen as stuffy and almost eccentric.

The same old cliches had been trotted out for 30 years.

The obsession with marriage...

They hoped to get married in October,

which I imagine will mean a little less travelling for Peter,

because at the moment he has to travel from Tipton

in Staffordshire all the way down to Bristol.

..bored-looking judges...

And your next set of marks for Midlands and West, please?

Military two-step mark.

..and, of course, the sequined dresses.

The dress is a joint effort.

Lynn's mother made it, it's candy pink, by the way.

And Lynn decorated it with the white flowers

and turquoise and that white boa.

Ballroom TV was considered ripe for parody.

Goodies! Goodies!

The Goodies took the conventions of ballroom dancing

and mercilessly teased them.

But behind the madcap humour, it was a carefully observed critique.

Say hello, girls.

-TOGETHER:

-How do you do?

-TOGETHER:

-Hello.

We are Norma. We are a hair artiste.

We are Cyril. We are a bank clerk.

How interesting!

Yes, well, now you've all got to know each other,

you'd better run along.

Our ambition is to own our own hair-dressing salon.

How interesting. Our ambition is to own our own bank.

Jolly good. Off you go, girls.

Each sequin was sewn on by hand.

We tied our own bowties by hand.

All right, girls.

And our dresses were specially made for us by good old mum.

-Oh, all right, girls, run along, get out!

-All right.

We'll be waiting for you on the floor - whoops, to dance, we mean!

That was a funny joke!

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

I'm afraid they are extremely stupid

but, in this business, that is an advantage.

It wasn't just comedy that was turning against the genre.

Ballroom dancing competitors were gently condescended to

in a documentary that followed a ballroom cruise in 1973.

Number 21 is Bob and Barbara Grove, presented tonight with a pale green

plastic trophy, non-returnable, and a £25 voucher for household goods.

But as a thoroughly modern couple, don't they find the rather dated

appearance expected of dancers embarrassing?

Yes, the ballroom-dancing side is old-fashioned.

If they changed the dresses, you know, somehow it would lose so much.

You know, it is old-fashioned and tail-suits are, you know.

This being the '70s, the questioning inevitably turned salacious.

Husbands and wives don't always make a lovely couple on the floor.

Michelle Gandalf is married, but dances with David Bateman,

a gas salesman. Her husband stays at home.

-Doesn't he'd mind?

-Not at all.

He knows I enjoy it, he knows...

It's really...something I've always wanted to do and, well,

as long as everything else goes all right at home, he's quite happy.

Would you mind if he went off on a cruise with a girl to dance?

Not at all. I'm trying to make him go away!

The insinuation was obvious.

Isn't it true that dancing is designed to be erotic

and therefore tends to bring people together when they dance?

Oh...

That's a very difficult question, really.

I wouldn't say dancing is erotic.

I think it appeals to your senses, rather than use erotic.

I mean, you haven't got time for anything.

Anything in the way of sex.

You know, there's absolutely no time at all.

By the early '70s, ballroom was being portrayed as something quaint,

but its lack of relevance to the younger generations

didn't keep it from the airwaves.

If anything, it now seemed a quirky enough idea to get involved in.

-So, are we ready for music?

-Si.

Jolly good! Let's have a go.

One, two, three, four.

Slow. Slow!

A quick step. Get ready...

Drop, drop. Quick, quick.

Quick, quick, slow.

Quick, quick, slow...

We were magnificent!

I think I'm almost ready for the championships!

The BBC knew where it was with a good old bit of tango, but usually turned

into an embarrassing dad-dancer where popular styles were concerned.

# Well, there used to be rain... #

But in a surprising turn of events as the '70s went on,

producers actually caught a style of dance as it was emerging.

Focusing on a group of young dancers,

one documentary picked up on the early rumblings of a new movement

in popular dance, coming out of soul music.

There were skilful steps and even partnered dances -

just the sort of thing he BBC liked best.

But in the hustle, which is growing in popularity and complexity, there

are signs that the boy is prepared to dance with the girl once more.

Then in 1977, a film was released that took this style of dancing

and launched it into the stratosphere.

With Saturday Night Fever,

John Travolta made Britain go crazy for disco.

# Here I am, praying for this moment to last

# Living on the music, so fine

# Born on the wind

# Making it mine... #

Disco heralded the return of dance moves with a focus on style

and techniques, rather than just expression and doing your own thing.

But the stylised and choreographed steps of Travolta's dancing

weren't easy to pick up from watching the film.

They needed to be learned.

This is the Castle at Richmond.

It's a ballroom and it's here that a curious phenomenon

is manifesting itself.

For the young people who queue to get in six nights a week

have all caught a mysterious new disease - disco fever.

Five, six, seven and...

MUSIC: Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees

For the first time since the arrival of the twist,

young people went back to dancing lessons in their thousands.

Oh, you scaredy-cats! Two, three...

For instance, people go to see Saturday Night Fever, the film,

and they pick up bits of the dance routines,

but not the whole routine,

whereas we've come along here to dance and learn the dance routines properly

and then we can go to the disco and show everybody

what we've learned. Other people are just kind of scraping little bits

together and making their own dance routines up,

and we can do the right thing straight off.

Disco was everywhere.

Across all ages, the idea of learning dance was back.

MUSIC: Contact by Edwin Starr

I think we owe a lot to John Travolta for the great

upsurge in disco dancing, because, certainly in Saturday Night Fever,

the stars of the film went along to a dance studio

to practise their steps

and I think this is something that the children didn't realise before -

that you went to a dance studio to learn disco dancing.

They thought you only learned the old-fashioned sort of dancing.

With a sigh of relief,

the BBC happily embraced a dance movement that it understood.

Order and discipline returned to the dance floor.

Now, figure two are the four hip bumps,

so we step on to the left foot,

bumping the left hip four times and presenting their hands outwards.

Ready, and... a one and two and three and four.

Step on to the right foot, bumping the right hip

and presenting the hands upwards, turning to the left.

Ready, and, one and two and three and four.

Now let's rehearse that.

And one and two and three and four and two and two and three and four

and three and two and three and four and four and two and three and four,

five and two and three and four and six and two and three and four.

It's highly unlikely a new Travolta emerged from these lessons.

Out to harness the rejuvenated enthusiasm

and fresh techniques brought by disco was a new dance troupe,

with a style raunchier than anything on TV before.

There may be things that will make

those of you with a nervous disposition tremble a little

before three minutes to nine tonight,

so what I want you to do now is to kick off your slippers,

pour yourself a cup of tea, fix yourself a hot buttered Valium

and off we go with, ladies and gentlemen, Hot Gossip.

# Super Casanova... #

The brainchild of Arlene Philips, Hot Gossip seemed out to shock

and inspire with the latest dance styles and fashion -

a kind of anti-Pan's People.

It was a winning formula, and they found fame on their own terms.

-You consciously set out to be erotic and provocative.

-Not consciously.

And in the way that that sort of first happened, I think

it had a lot to do with the clothes that we wore,

because at the time when the first group was formed, we had no money,

therefore we got costumes from whoever would give us them cheaply.

One of the boys in the group said

"Oh, I've got a friend who runs a sex shop

"and they have wonderful little plastic dresses

"and little rubber tops and we can have them really cheap."

I said "Oh, wonderful.

"Let's get all these costumes and we'll do a number in them."

And that's how, partly, the sexy image was formed and, also,

because we were doing commercial dancing in these clothes,

where you could see every movement of the body.

Now, you are the Ninette de Valois of this group, if you can call it that.

Can you teach anybody to dance?

Well, not always anybody, but I can always have a damned good try.

-There are basic steps, are there?

-Yes, yeah.

There are basic steps which we particularly call Hot Gossip steps.

And I could, within a millionth of a second,

-pick one of them up, could I?

-Sure.

-And you'll lead me gently into it?

-I'll lead you very gently.

Come on this way.

Grace Jones, thou shouldst be living at this hour.

LAUGHTER

Now, you put your left hands on Donna's left shoulder

and your right hand just rested on her bum gently.

LAUGHTER

And Debbie is going to do the same to you.

LAUGHTER

-That's it. Now, feet apart, wide apart.

-Gently!

Keep your feet wide apart.

Now, relax your knees and bend and then get the hips back and forwards

and back and forward now round and round...

APPLAUSE

And again and back and forward and back and forward...

LAUGHTER

Round, keep going...

LAUGHTER

What fed the fantasy about becoming a dancer like Hot Gossip

was a new smash hit series from America.

# Fame

# I'm gonna live for ever... #

Fame's clean-cut kids were

a far cry from Arlene's edgy dancers.

Based at a school for slightly irritating performing arts students,

Fame brought back the dream of becoming a professional dancer

in the public imagination.

# Light up the sky like a flame... #

Arlene Philips was already leading the way.

Since I started Hot Gossip,

I've always had letters from kids saying "I want to join Hot Gossip.

"How do I start? How do I begin?"

But now, with Hot Gossip and Fame

and Wayne Sleep and everybody else, it's just enormous.

Every child wants to dance.

All you needed were the obligatory leg warmers and a leotard

and you were away.

The Pineapple Studios in London are where dedicated young dancers

come, yearning to be stars, and where stage-struck young hopefuls

strive for the chance of auditioning for West End shows.

It's also where secretaries turn up in the evenings,

leaving the dust of city offices behind them for the glitter,

glamour, sweat and dedication of Pineapple.

But soon a dance arrived from the streets of New York

that was to provide an antidote to all the glamour,

pop socks and choreographed routines.

Break dancing wasn't a dance you learned in a studio,

but outside with your friends.

Improvised, spontaneous and edgy,

it was an acrobatic dance that not everyone could do.

In time-honoured fashion,

this was popular dance that whooshed over the BBC's head.

Away from the main stage at this GLC-sponsored event, there was

even a small crowded platform for the beginners' class.

Though occasionally it looked like it wasn't only the dancing that might break.

Everyone tried to get in on the act.

It was the male break dancers who stole the limelight

with their athletic twists and turns.

The Prince said he'd like to try

a few of the easier moves for himself.

APPLAUSE

One of his partners offered the Prince a proper course of lessons.

Later, though, the Royal visitor admitted that break dancing

isn't something he's tried before. He hasn't quite learned the knack.

-Have you done it before?

-No, I have not.

-Will you be doing it again?

I'm far to old for that sort of thing.

I shall have to go to an osteopath after this.

For some commentators, it all looked a bit risky.

And there's a chance that these youngsters are setting up

problems in later life.

The sort of problems that I can envisage

are spondylosis,

which is an osteoarthritic condition affecting the spine and which

will be set up by this swivelling on the mat such as they are doing here.

As news and current affairs

were attempting to extract maximum airtime and controversy

from break dance, in documentary, the BBC found a more nuanced view.

In 1984, Arena headed to America to shoot a seminal documentary

about the roots of hip-hop and break dance.

And so it became hip to hop

In the land known as Planet Rock

Where gangs used to fight in the street every day

Now they began to compete in a different way

As the DJ's music made the house shake,

The dancers would begin to break

Some electric boogie to move like toys

Others would spin and became B-boys.

Perhaps for the first time, popular dance was given an authentic voice.

This was one dance the BBC wasn't going to try and teach you.

It was a stark contrast to what was still going on in some

corners of Britain.

In a decade obsessed with modernity and the new,

ballroom dancing seemed distinctly old-fashioned.

MUSIC: Star Wars theme played by dance orchestra

Competitions had tried to keep with the times,

costumes grew more and more flamboyant,

but as TV entertainment,

the old stalwart Come Dancing was looking very dated -

no longer the popular entertainment of choice with audiences.

Ballroom was still a world that fascinated television,

but now the cameras were focused on the faded glory of the dancehalls

and the anachronistic world of competitive dancing.

And this year, to Blackpool came 700 hopeful couples,

the majority amateurs, sharing one thing -

-a passionate commitment to ballroom dancing.

-Time to get on a bit, dear.

-Do you want to start getting ready now or not?

-OK. In a minute.

WIND HOWLS

Even now, the BBC were there to remind the audience that the

idea of ballroom was to escape from the drudgery of everyday life.

When you're out on the dance floor, sometimes it goes absolutely

marvellous and it feels good and I can't explain what it is.

You do a movement and it goes well,

the girl feels lovely with you.

You feel as if you can throw her on the floor and pick her up.

You know, it's that sort of feeling.

It tends to take over your life.

It's something I can't explain, not unless you do it.

'It's a wonderful life.

'Why other people don't do it, I just don't know.'

Good morning, madam.

-North Thames Gas. I've come about a reported escape.

-Oh, yes.

-Come in.

-Thank you.

They are only going to throw these away,

so we might as well pick them up.

Probably half of these have come off our own outfits, anyway.

Don't you think so?

One of the longest-running series in British television,

Come Dancing was gradually shunted later and later

in the schedules, until it was eventually taken off air in 1998.

With it, ballroom disappeared from TV for the first time in half a century.

From all of us here at the Albert Hall, a very good night.

As ballroom was fading away on the BBC...

in ballet, the focus remained on the story of ballerinas.

It was still a parental fantasy for children to become top dancers.

On the BBC, you, too, could be taught by Alicia Markova.

As you come up and on this pirouette, don't start too late.

The next generation of hopefuls

arriving in the 1980s found themselves on Blue Peter,

including a very young Darcey Bussell.

Darcey Bussell is 16. Now, your modern piece is very unusual.

-Can you describe it?

-Well, I'm speaking in it. It's an awful shock.

-So there's no music?

-No music.

Did you find it unnerving to actually work to that?

-Yes, it is, actually.

-It's a very striking piece, though. Good luck.

Soon enough, Bussell was taking the ballet by storm.

But she was a noticeably more accessible prima ballerina

than her predecessors.

Darcey was no diva - Britain's leading ballet dancer didn't

insist on being taken seriously, and Dawn French was eager to oblige.

In The Vicar of Dibley, Bussell was happy to have fun with her trade.

This is ballet as everyone had seen it on the Beeb,

with its perfect dancer and dainty routines -

versus the rest of us mere mortals.

LAUGHTER

The presentation of ballet on the BBC had been changing.

What had once been a close relationship was becoming

altogether less cosy.

In 1996, the BBC broadcast a series called The House,

a behind-the-scenes documentary

filmed at Covent Garden - the home of the Royal Ballet -

where nothing was out of bounds.

Well, I think this is a really appalling story of incompetence.

The Opera house can contract a designer for two different

works in this way at the same time

and that she can accept commitments that she then can't fulfil,

I think it's really... It is dreadful.

Where there had once been awestruck and deferential coverage,

the focus was now on an organisation that seemed shambolic

and in some disarray.

If we don't agree at the end of the day, I think

they'll just impose a settlement on us.

People don't know if they're going to be in a job in six months' time.

Right in the centre of the storm was Darcey Bussell,

preparing for one of her most important roles.

Sleeping Beauty was to premiere in front of the American President.

At the final dress rehearsal, things weren't going well.

You'd never have seen this in a BBC ballet programme

in days gone by.

It seemed like the BBC was perhaps falling out of love with dance.

But dance was soon to be restored in the BBC's affections -

and from an unlikely quarter.

In 2004, a programme was started that would become all-conquering,

based on a tired old idea in TV dance -

competition ballroom.

The BBC took a long, hard look at its time-honoured traditions

in ballroom dancing,

centred around the lives and energy of everyday people,

amateurs committed to perfect performance on the dance floor,

and decided what it needed was celebrities.

Rechristened Strictly Come Dancing,

it had the competition element

that people had enjoyed since the '50s,

but it was no longer important that the dancers were any good.

What was important was that they got better

and impressed with no prior experience - the fairy-tale ending.

Judges give us moments of celebration...

The crowning glory on a spectacular night. That's entertainment.

..and pantomime villainy.

Dumbo springs to mind.

LAUGHTER AND BOOS

And there on our screens once more were first Arlene...

Oh, I think I have to say I was right. The boy can dance!

APPLAUSE

..and then later Darcey.

You definitely shook me up. That was so entertaining!

For 11 years now, Strictly has dominated our screens,

reaching an audience of up to ten million,

with success around the world.

What's more, it's revived the idea of ballroom in the public eye.

What was once kitsch has now become chic again,

bringing dance to the nation like never before.

So, from everyone in the Dancing Club,

I'd like to say cheerio and goodnight to you all

as they all come on the floor to shake, twist or hitchhike,

and here it comes!