Advertisement

Battling Under Britannia’s Shadow: UK Jazz Dancing in the 1970s and 1980s

Chapter
First Online:
  • 145 Downloads

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.

Keywords

Jazz Dance Cotgrove Youth Young People Jazz Scene audienceAudience 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Adoo, E. (2015). Don Letts: I Didn’t Feel Accepted as Black and British Until Soul II Soul Came Through. Huffington Post [On Line]. Available at URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/edward-adoo/don-letts-i-didnt-feel-accepted_b_8083064.html. Accessed 1 July 2016.
  2. Bailey, D., Baucom, I., & Boyce, S. (Eds.). (2005). Shades of Black: Assembling Black Art in 1980s Britain. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
  3. Burt, R. (2007). The Male Dancer: Bodies, Spectacle, Sexualities (2nd ed.). London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  4. Carr, J. (2012). Re-remembering the (Almost) Lost Jazz Dances of 1980s Britain. Dance Chronicle, 35(3), 315–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. Carr, J. (2016). Researching British (Underground) Jazz Dancing c1979–1990. In C. Adair & R. Burt (Eds.), British Dance: Black Routes. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  6. Claid, E. (2006). Yes? No! Maybe… Seductive Ambiguity in Dance. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  7. Cotgrove, M. (2009). From Jazz Funk and Fusion to Acid Jazz. London: Chaser Publications.Google Scholar
  8. Crenshaw, K. (1993). Mapping the Margins, Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43, 1241–1299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. Dutton, D. (1997). British Politics Since 1945 Second Edition: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Consensus. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
  10. Gilroy, P. (2002). There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack: The Cultural Politics of Race and Nation. London/New York: Routledge (First Published 1987).Google Scholar
  11. Hall, S. (1992). New Ethnicities. In D. Morley & K. Chen (Eds.), Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies (pp. 442–451). London/New York: Routledge (First Published 1989).Google Scholar
  12. Hall, S., & Jefferson, T. (Eds.). (2006). Resistance Through Rituals. Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  13. Hebdidge, D. (1976). Reggae, Rastas and Rudies. In S. Hall & T. Jefferson (Eds.), Resistance Through Rituals (pp. 135–156). London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
  14. Jazz Fusion Battle Part One [On Line]. Available at URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5DZo1ptSCc. Accessed 10 May 2010.
  15. Jazzcotech International Dance Weekender, Part 2 [On Line]. Available at URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIeaJ_H0rHI
  16. Jones, A. (2012). Seeing Differently, a History and Theory of Identification and the Visual Arts. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  17. Jones, A. (2015). The Sun Wot Done It: Relive Our Amazing Election Coverage Through the Years. Sun Nation [On Line]. Available at URL: http://www.sunnation.co.uk/the-sun-wot-done-it/. Accessed 1 July 2016.
  18. Joppke, C. (1999). The Zero Immigration Country: Great Britain. In Immigration and the Nation State: The United States, Germany and Great Britain (pp. 100–140). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Lawrence, E. (1982). Just Plain Common Sense: The Roots of Racism. In P. Gilroy (Ed.), The Empire Strikes Back: Race and Racism in 70s Britain (pp. 45–92). London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
  20. Lewis, I. (2010). Heritage Highlight: British Jazz Dance 1979–1990. Hotfoot [On Line]. Available at URL http://www.adad.org.uk/metadot/index.pl?id=24050&isa= Category&op=show. Accessed 1 June 2012.
  21. Lewis, I., & Carr, J. (forthcoming). Disrupting the Habitus: Improvisational Practices in Jazz Dance Battles. In V. Midgelow (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Improvisation in Dance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  22. Lewis, I., Nurse, G., & Nurse, S. (2011, May 2). In Discussion with Jane Carr, Sadler’s Wells Theatre.Google Scholar
  23. Maddon, C. (n.d.). Waiving the Rules, Chris Maddon Cartoons [On Line]. Available at URL http://www.chrismadden.co.uk/caricature/thatcher-caricature.html Accessed 1 July 2016.
  24. Margaret Thatcher Foundation. (n.d.). 1978 Jan 27 Margaret Thatcher TV Interview for Granada World in Action (“rather swamped”) [On-Line]. Available at: URL: http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/103485. Accessed 1 July 2016.
  25. Mohan, L. (1997). Britain’s Black Population: Social Change, Public Policy and Agenda. London: 717 Arena.Google Scholar
  26. Nurse, S. (n.d.-a). Seymour Nurse’s Jazzifunk Club Jazz History [On Line]. Available at: URL: http://www.thebottomend.co.uk/Seymour_Nurses Jazzifunk_Club_ Jazz_Chart.php. Accessed 1 June 2011.
  27. Nurse, S. (n.d.-b). Harris Berlin [On Line]. Available at URL: http://www.thebottomend.co.uk/Harris_Berlin.php Acessed 26 June 2011.
  28. Powell, E. (2007, November). Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood Speech. The Telegraph (Speech First Given to Conservative Association Meeting in Birmingham 20th April 1968).Google Scholar
  29. Ramdhanie, B. (2013). The Black Dance Development Trust (BDTT) 1984–1990. In P. Brookes (Ed.), Hidden Movement: Contemporary Voices of Black British Dance. Leicester: Serendipity Artists Movement.Google Scholar
  30. Scratchworx. (n.d.). IDJ Dance and Interview [On Line]. Available at URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8XVIyVfgiM
  31. Temple J. (1984). Venceremos [Motion Picture] Working Week: Great Britain.Google Scholar
  32. Tharp, K. (2013). Do We Need the Term ‘Black Dance’? In P. Brookes (Ed.), Hidden Movement: Contemporary Voices of Black British Dance. Leicester: Serendipity Artists Movement.Google Scholar
  33. Thorburn, J. (1988, July 5). IDJ: Dancing to The Peanut Vendor. Alter Image [Television Broadcast] Channel 4.Google Scholar
  34. Thornton, S. (1995). Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.Google Scholar
  35. Tolley, J., & Burt, R. (1983). Strut Your Funky Stuff, Body Popping, Jazz and Funk in the North of England. New Dance, 26(Autumn), 8–11.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.University of BedfordshireLutonUK

Personalised recommendations

Cite chapter

Buy options