How to Do the Tickle Toe
Dancehalls, Glitterballs and DJs - From the Pleasure Garden to the Discotheque - Bruce Lindsay
Bruce Lindsay [+]
Music Journalist and Social Historian
Bruce Lindsay is a freelance music journalist and social history researcher. He is the author of Shellac and Swing: A Social History of the Gramophone in Britain (Fonthill Media, 2020), Two Bold Singermen and the English Folk Revival: The Lives, Song Traditions and Legacies of Sam Larner and Harry Cox (Equinox Publishing, 2020) and Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside the Sitting Room (Equinox, 2023).
Description
The twentieth century emerged in a mood of misplaced optimism and brought with it new dances and new musics, including the Cake-walk and ragtime thanks to the sensational all-Black musical In Dahomey. Soon after, the Tango became both fashionable and scandalous, its seductive moves seen as inappropriate by many while loved by many others. Then jazz appeared, helping to lift post-war spirits alongside new dance crazes including the Tickle Toe. The new-fangled wireless brought top dance bands from glamorous London hotels into living rooms across the country and dancers filled the 11,000 nightclubs and dancehalls offering live music.