Dancing in the English Style: Consumption, Americanisation and National Identity in Britain, 1918-50
Allison Abra
Abstract
Dancing in the English style explores the development, experience, and cultural representation of popular dance in Britain from the end of the First World War to the early 1950s. It describes the rise of modern ballroom dancing as Britain’s predominant popular style, as well as the opening of hundreds of affordable dancing schools and purpose-built dance halls around the country. It focuses in particular on the relationship between two emerging commercial producers – the dance profession and dance hall industry – and the consumers who formed the dancing public. Together these groups negotiated ... More
Dancing in the English style explores the development, experience, and cultural representation of popular dance in Britain from the end of the First World War to the early 1950s. It describes the rise of modern ballroom dancing as Britain’s predominant popular style, as well as the opening of hundreds of affordable dancing schools and purpose-built dance halls around the country. It focuses in particular on the relationship between two emerging commercial producers – the dance profession and dance hall industry – and the consumers who formed the dancing public. Together these groups negotiated the creation of a ‘national’ dancing style and experience, which constructed, circulated, and commodified ideas about national identity. At the same time, the book emphasizes the global, exploring the impact of international cultural products on national identity construction, the complexities of Americanisation, and Britain’s place in a transnational system of production and consumption that forged the dances of the Jazz Age.
Keywords:
Dance,
Popular culture,
National identity,
Commodification,
Consumption,
War
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781784994334 |
| Published to Manchester Scholarship Online: January 2018 |
DOI:10.7228/manchester/9781784994334.001.0001 |
