Abstract
In this chapter, Carr discusses styles of dancing, termed UK, Underground or, more recently, Old Skool Jazz, that emerged in British clubs during the late 1970s. Evidence from recordings of this dancing attest to the high levels of technical and performance skills the dancers attained through their ‘battles’ on the dance floor. Yet his dancing received limited recognition in Britain beyond the immediate community of dancers and jazz enthusiasts. Carr explores the cultural significance of the styles of jazz dancing in order to initiate consideration of how the dancers negotiated the complex interplays of ‘race’, class and gender during a turbulent period of recent British history.
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Notes
- 1.
It could be noted that the dancers are careful to emphasise their identity as ‘not gay’ (cited in Cotgrove, 2009, pp. 249–251).
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Carr, J. (2018). Battling Under Britannia’s Shadow: UK Jazz Dancing in the 1970s and 1980s. In: Akinleye, A. (eds) Narratives in Black British Dance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70314-5_14
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