大象传媒

Dancer, writer and broadcaster Deborah Bull looks at the emergence of dance as a competitive activity.

She charts the rise of the genteel, restrained English Style of ballroom dancing as a defence against the 1920s 'invasion' of the Charleston, the Black Bottom and other American imports, feared by polite society as wild and uncontrolled.

As she sweeps across the floor with a leading teacher of ballroom dance, Deborah discovers that, when the stiff upper lip combined with the irrepressible urge to dance, the craze for competitive dancing was born - a craze that has seen many incarnations, most recently with the spectacular success of Strictly Come Dancing.

Producer: Hannah Rosenfelder
A Just Radio production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.