The Dancefloor

[jaime ryan neeley]

i have read in the 882 1/2 Questions... that the Titanic don't have any formal ball room at all. however, in Simon Adams' Titanic Eyewitness Guide, it said that "the more energetic passengers goes into the dancefloor although dancing was not allowed on Sundays". which one is through? if ever there was a dancefloor, where is it?

 

[Dave Gittins]

I believe there was no dance floor and very little dancing, if any. I can't recall any survivor account that mentions dancing. There is quite a bit of misinformation about because people get hold of drawings that are actually based on Olympic as she was in the 1920s or later. On page 142 of Anatomy of the Titanic there's a drawing showing a small dance floor in the middle of the first class dining room. This is probably a later modification of Olympic.

Some early press accounts mention dancing, based on the assumption that the Titanic was the scene of much sin and dissipation. In some quarters, dancing was seen as part of the primrose path that leads to the everlasting bonfire.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

I think at that time in the 1910s, dancing was not exactly that popular yet - it gained height in the 1920s.

 

[Brian R Peterson]

Jaime,

Olympic and Titanic were built without dance floors. Olympic would have the middle of her First Class Dining Saloon and most of her Cafe Parisen converted into a dance floor sometime between 1918 - 1920

Best Regards,

Brian

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>I think at that time in the 1910s, dancing was not exactly that popular yet - it gained height in the 1920s<<

Eh??? Who told you that??? Dancing in one form or another, either as artistic expression, religious rite, mating ritual, recreation, and so on has been around for thousands of years. The Waltz...which was popular enough in the Edwardian period can trace it's origins back to the 17th century. Check This Website out for more.

 

[Lee Gilliland]

And dancing was very much in fashion - we are speaking of the era of ragtime (which the orchestra played on deck) and Irene and Vernon Castle and the Castle Walk, and the Argentine Tango - and the Maxixe, of Edith Russell's Pig's fame. A fascinating article about all this can be found at http://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2cstle4.htm.

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Indeed the years just before World War I were big ones for dancing. The new ragtime tunes had inspired what became known as "animal dances," with names like "The Bunny Hug," "The Grizzly Bear," "The Turkey Trot." These were considered pretty risque and social commentators deplored the lack of good taste and manners exhibited by revelers in these new dances. With the 1912 arrival on the American scene (via Paris) of the Vernon Castles, dignity was brought to the dance craze with the couple's elegant steps, fresh-faced looks, and classy clothes. The Tango, though originally thought common, was just becoming the rage in 1911-12 as was the Maxixe, though that dance (and its song) was not a big hit until 1914.

Irene and Vernon Castle dancing "The Castle Walk" which they introduced at the Cafe de Paris in the spring of 1912.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

>>Eh??? Who told you that??? Dancing in one form or another, either as artistic expression, religious rite, mating ritual, recreation, and so on has been around for thousands of years. The Waltz...which was popular enough in the Edwardian period can trace it's origins back to the 17th century. Check This Website out for more.<<

What I mean was modernised dancing, which evolved in the 1920's. Take for instance the Olympic's conversion and theLeviathan's dance floor wheras the other ships before did not have these functions.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Dancing of course had always been popular, but sometimes certain groups considered it immoral. In the 19th century the waltz was the offender, because of the bodily contact. In Edwardian times it was the tango, which was so obviously "a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire". Later it was rock'n'roll.

Last night I picked up this riddle from Australian historian, Thomas Keneally.

Q. Why are Methodists so much against sex?
A. Because it can so easily lead to dancing!

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Dave that's given me a good laugh. The Baptists used to be even worse. Now they can dance, so it was decided at a convention, but I don't know a Baptist who admits to it!

There is a great book - I have it around here somewhere - on etiquette, written in 1914 I think and it has lots of funny ideas about the danger of "petting parties" that followed public dances, the horrible phenomenon of "unescorted young ladies," and the frightening fad among the younger generation of women, called "parking your corset." This meant that young ladies wore them to parties to please their mothers but once they arrived, they took them off in the "powder room" so they could dance comfortably - and fashionably - a la Irene Castle.

Here are the Vernon Castles in 1915:

 

[Lee Gilliland]

Which reminds me of being in high school and sneaking to the mall to change clothes and put on makeup - I think we're closer to our ancestors than we sometime realize!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>What I mean was modernised dancing, which evolved in the 1920's. <<

Mmmmmm....Jeremy...you might want to check out the additional information given in the posts that came after mine. The dances you consider modern go back a few decades. The crys of the churches and self-appointed moralists notwithstanding, dancing in one form or another has always been popular.

 

[Jeremy Lee]

I don't really know what that type of dance is called, but it was popularized in the 1920s. Another example is Raffles Hotel here in Singapore, our most famous and expensive hotel. Built in 1886, its Bar & Billiard Room was demolished for a dance floor also in the 1920s.

It is this kind of dancing that were in fashion in the 1920s that I am trying to put across, but I don't know what is it real name.

However, I agree that there are much earlier form of dancing, which were in its early stages prior to the 1920s (Churches not included!)

 

[Inger Sheil]

Another example is Raffles Hotel here in Singapore, our most famous and expensive hotel. Built in 1886, its Bar & Billiard Room was demolished for a dance floor also in the 1920s.

Ah, Jeremy - you bring back many happy memories for me! I sipped my first Singapore Sling back at Raffles...the family also befriended a British author, Raymond Flower, who wrote quite a bit about this timeless (or perhaps very time-specific) institution, who loved to talk about the hotel and its history. As an off-topic aside, Harold Lowe was present in Singapore for the unveiling of the Centenary statue of Sir Stamford Raffles for whom the hotel was named.

Are you perhaps thinking of the dances of the Jazz era, such as the Cake Walk, Charleston,Texas Tommy, Lindy Hop etc? An interesting era in dance, blending influences as diverse as North American slave culture, European jigs, stage, Minstrel shows and - of course - Jazz music.

While a distinctive form of dance, it was a development of the styles of previous eras, which then in turn influenced successive movements.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>It is this kind of dancing that were in fashion in the 1920s that I am trying to put across, but I don't know what is it real name. <<

That may be so, but what you said was "I think at that time in the 1910s, dancing was not exactly that popular yet - it gained height in the 1920s" That's what I was responding to. Whatever became en vogue during the 20's was a development of whatever came befor it, and there was a lot that came befor and it was quite popular.