Dance Hall
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Dance hall in its general meaning is a
hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...
for dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term applied to purpose-built dance halls in Britain and Commonwealth countries, which became popular after the First World War. Other structural forms of dance halls include the dance pavilion which has a roof but no walls, and the open-air platform which has no roof or walls. The open-air nature of the dance pavilion was both a feature and a drawback. The taxi dance hall was a dance hall with a specific arrangement, wherein the patrons hire hall employees to dance with them.


General history

From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or
nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
. The majority of towns and cities in the West had at least one dance hall, and almost always featured live musicians playing a range of music from strict tempo
ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and te ...
music to
big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
, swing, and
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
. The early days of rock n' roll were briefly played out in dance halls, until they were superseded by nightclubs.


United States

Commercial dance halls in the United States began to appear toward the end of the nineteenth century and grew in popularity at the beginning of the twentieth century. These halls were generally frequented by working-class or immigrant teenagers that admired dance halls for their lack of chaperoning and convenience as cheap commercial leisure. The rapidly changing economy of the early twentieth century shifted the views many young adults had about the separation between work and leisure, increasing dance hall popularity from the 1900s into the 1920s. With increased financial freedom, as compared to prior decades, young immigrant and working-class women were able to access dance halls, generally placed within urban areas, that did not require chaperones. Dance halls allowed young working-class women the opportunity to step outside of their extremely stressful home and work environments while not costing too much, or anything in some cases. These city dance halls were especially popular with newly independent immigrant women from more rural areas as country-side dances were often more closely monitored and tended to host styles of dancing that were considered more socially acceptable for performance in public spaces. The styles performed in city dance halls had dancing partners physically close, performing movements that would allow for limbs and body parts to graze each other in ways not seen in other partnered dance forms of the time. Although interests in dance halls were growing, halls attracted negative attention from moral reformers and the media for the types of dancing done at these establishments, the sexual independence these environments allowed women, and the difficulty of regulating dance halls. Simple dance moves were already seen as morally wrong by select religious groups prior to the popularity of dance halls but with the additions of possibilities for prostitution, as well as access to alcohol, within dance halls reformers and religious leaders were increasingly against the existence of these halls. In order to discourage young adults from frequenting dance halls, media of the early twentieth century used subjective and inflammatory language to sway readers toward ideas that dance halls would morally corrupt young women while reformers petitioned to their local governments for regulation surrounding dance halls. In 1917, with the approval of the vice investigation panel the Fosdick Commission, a committee was organized in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
to develop rules and regulations for public dance halls. According to middle- and upper-class white vice investigators and social reformers, many young people, who they believed to be lacking in proper moral character, attempted the "irregular dancing in vogue in the commercial halls" in the settlement house's dance hall and would be angered when approached by settlement hall staff or residents instructing them to dance differently. According to one report, "a resident would say to a new couple dancing irregularly, "You can't dance that way in this hall." The couple in self-defense would answer, "I can dance that way in every other hall in the city." Starting in the early 1930s, The Savoy, a dance hall in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
(a black neighborhood in New York City) was the first truly integrated building in the United States — for both the dancers and the musicians. "We didn't care about the color of your skin. All we wanted to know was: Can you dance?"
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
has a high concentration of community dance halls, the largest number of them built by German and Czech immigrants.


United Kingdom

Following
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1918, dancing became enormously popular in Britain, especially with working-class women. The purpose-built dance hall, or "palais de danse" emerged, the first being the Hammersmith Palais in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, opened in 1919.


Australia

Dance halls, also termed palais de danse, became popular in Australia too, such as the Palais de Danse and the Wattle Path Palais de Danse, both in St Kilda,
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, Victoria.


Sweden and Finland

In Sweden and Finland, open air dance pavilions have been used mostly in summer, but especially in Finland some have also been built to be used throughout the year. Formerly, the dance pavilions were often built at sites with beautiful landscape, for example by the lakes. The Sivakan lava dance pavilion in Sivakkavaara, Kaavi,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
has a history of more than a hundred years, as according to some sources, dances have been held on pavilion since 1907.''Koillis-Savo'' (#51), p. 4, June 26, 2014. (in Finnish)


See also

* Ballroom * Dance club, the successor of the dance hall


References


Further reading

* Cressey, Paul. ''The Taxi-Dance Hall: A Sociological Study in Commercialized Recreation and City Life'' (1923; reprint University of Chicago Press 2008), Famous study of Chicago in the 1920s. * Nott, James. ''Going to the Palais: A Social And Cultural History of Dancing and Dance Halls in Britain, 1918-1960'' (2015)


External links


Dance Halls
at ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance Hall