The Strictness of Ballroom

Available for over a year

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 BBC Radio 4.