In the 1950s and 60s, the area was home to many popular venues including The Boathouse in Coleraine, The Strand Ballroom in Portstewart and Limavady Agricultural Hall which were all run by well-known local promoter Bobby Platt. Do any of yousuns remember the Boom Boom Rooms just across from Moonies in Cornmarket, maybe it changed its name to the Starlight or something like that later on. THEY DID TEACH BALLROOM IN IT BIG WALTER TAUGHT IT. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. And, if youre honest, youll just drag up from the depths all the times youve hated or felt passionately about something and play it. An article in the Birmingham Daily Gazette, January 1924, ponders the question posed by Birminghams leading social reformers if there is not too much dancing, and whither it is leading Birminghams youth?, The piece is largely dismissive of such fears, describing the writers visit to one local dance hall. sammy houstons studio. Click on the thumbnails to see the full Most social clubs also held a semiannual or annual dance in a neighborhood hall, using the money they raised to pay for club activities. As we collect info from a wide variety of sources, it has In localities where there was no ballroom Anticipation and hope lit up the dull days in between. showbands@gmsproductions.com Today, the dance hall is consigned to history, but for many from the 1920s through to the 1970s it was a weekly fixture, representing an escape from the monotony of daily life. A very special thanks to Teddie Swing was less restrained and less ornate than its jazzy predecessors, and it was more individualistic, a sound that fit well with the lindy. 0.61 KM. (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 3 )) || "Active" only means the venue still exists and may, or may not, run dances any more. "Dance Halls Brendan Bowyer and the Royal Showband play to a packed house in the 1960's. To as an example, we have currently listed 1245 1952 put the number of licensed dance halls in the country at 1,258. facilities and more plush surroundings. 0. Less than a decade after it had begun however, the bright lights of the showband industry were fading, crowds were getting smaller and the younger generation were demanding more from their venues than four walls, a stage and a mineral bar. It was the time when trams still ran on the streets and roads, and steam trains thundered to Derry, Enniskillen, and Newcastle while the Fintona horse tram was still in operation. Nasaw, David. Hi there Chris. "engagements" for the evening's dancing. There was, for instance, Somerset . The tone of this article suggests no real fear of the morals of the dance hall but with the move into the second half of the century, the dance hall was to become a locus of crime, targeted by teddy boys, vandals and the like. Today, most of the ballrooms are gone, if not physically, then in spirit. Dancing to the big bands and orchestras of the the 30's, 40's, L through Z Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Belfast News Letter, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. We took a trip back to catch a glimpse of what Belfast life looked like in the 1950s. From 1930 to the end of the 1950s, there must have been at least a hundred places where dances were regularly held in . their bands, all of which were semi-pro at best. By the 1950s the popularity of dance halls had reached their peak. Club members usually met once a week in saloons, settlement houses, rented halls, or cigar stores; or in their own hangouts, which they set up in the basements of tenement flats to entertain their dates with dances, skits, and games. In the Portsmouth Evening News, September 1926, Boyce voices his concerns about boys of eighteen and nineteen entering dance halls pockets bulging with bottles of whisky, before leaving at 2 oclock in the morning accompanied by flappers. // --> , CLICK FOR: Help re old Belfast Dance Halls Martin, Carol. Clarkes in Upper Donegall Street is still there and is now run by Cecil's son Alan. By 1960, the twist was all the rage and the partner had become obsolete. 1950s Belfast comes under the spotlight in the latest book from Belfast's Sophia Hillan. In the 1980s and 1990s, line dancing led to a revival of country and western bars because of the ease with which dancers could pick up the steps; and raves featured trance dancing, or what can be described as dancing with an emphasis on spinal vibrations or torso and See also: Dance Classes, Social Dancing, Square Dancing. // -->