Figure 1.--These children look to be dressed up for a dance lesson at a private dance school. The boy wears a button-on blouse, short pants, white ankle socks, and strap shoes. His strap shoes may be red. The girl wears a party dress and soft dance shoes. They are learning social dances. They look to be from affluent families. This photograph is undated, but looks to date to the late-1950s. A reader tells us, "I have seen this picture in a book called "Our Peaceable Kingdom, The Photographs of John Drysdale" that identifies the picture as coming from a "Children's Dancing School, Knightsbridge, London", 1958."

We have lsome limited information on English boys involved in dance. Some younger children during the 1950s abd 60s participated in a primary dance program emphasizing motion. We note photographs of boys taking dancing lessons for social dancing. This seems to have been boys from affluent families. We note younger boys smarly dressed up for the lessons. The clothing is a little different than what American children may have worn. We do not know if boys received dance lessons at school. This was basic dances such as the box step used in standard social dances. This was common in American schools, often in gym class. We note private schools in England provided social dance classes. We have less information on state schools. An English mewspaper reported in 2009, "Children are taking up dance lessons with such enthusiasm that the activity is now second in popularity only to football in Britain's schools. The number of pupils choosing dance has risen 83% in four years, according to research by the Arts Council. A third of those are boys. Spurred on by role models such as Darren Gough, the England cricketer who was the first male winner of BBC1's show Strictly Come Dancing, they have been getting involved in a range of genres from ballroom to hip hop and jazz. The National Dance Teachers Association says the nature of school sport is changing to meet the target of five hours a week of required physical activity announced by Gordon Brown in July 2007. 'The latest survey shows that 96% of schools are offering dance, which is a massive change over the last few years," said Carolyn Woolridge, the acting chair. "Dance has benefited by being promoted by specialist schools in both arts and sports categories and by counting towards both the Artsmark and Sportsmark awards.'" [Lightfoot]

Sources

Lightfoot, Liz. "Huge rise in boys taking dance lessons," The Observer (March 14, 2009).

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Created: 8:43 PM 11/7/2009
Last updated: 8:43 PM 11/7/2009