In the last few posts we looked at a Glasgow-based music and fashion project, remembered dancer and choreographer Margaret Morris, and analysed the power of energetic moves in current fashion films and music videos. Since it's Saturday and it's also a Bank Holiday weekend, let's have a quick post dedicated to dancing.
It's not incorrect to state that dancing and architecture actually went hand in hand in Glasgow as the opening of ballrooms and venues meant more people could join the trend.
The first purpose-built place for dancing in Glasgow was the Assembly Room in the Tontine Buildings, funded by the Tobacco Lords in 1796. Only the wealthy could afford to dance there.
By the 1920s Glasgow had eleven ballrooms and 70 smaller dance halls – more than anywhere else in Britain and dancing could be enjoyed by everyone. The Barrowland Ballroom (also known as Barrowlands) opened in 1934 in the east of Glasgow.
Dress was formal and people would wear their best clothes to go dancing, men would therefore opt for suits and ties. The fuchsia pink dance dress matched with silver shoes and handbag and the Teddy Boy style jacket in this post are on display at Glasgow's People's Palace (they are actually part of some sadly never updated displays...) and they represent the typical garments donned by people going out dancing in the '50s.
The display case is accompanied by a statement from one resident, a regular dancer named Margaret Suttie, who explained about her dancing garments: "I used to stand for hours ironing them all. Because the dress I had was chiffon and it had organdie frills all around the bottom. Oh when I think of the hours I stood ironing that thing!"
Ladies also wore gloves in the '50s and '60s with shocking pink being one favourite shade for gloves. At times dancers also carried their dancing shoes and changed into them inside the ballroom.
Dance steps were regulated in the big ballrooms: people took lessons and watched the exhibition dancers employed by the bigger dance halls that also had resident bands. More fun was added by games such as the mystery boxes that allowed the dancer in the spotlight to win a wide range of prizes, from a rotten egg to money.
The Barrowland had a small dance floor upstairs known as the Geordie's Byre where records were played. It was lit by candlelight and this space was where dancers went to get a bit more intimate and maybe steal a kiss from a potential lover.
Largely destroyed by fire in 1958, the building was reopened on Christmas Eve 1960 (the neon wheel was the only feature of the venue that survived the fire), and turned into a major concert venue in more recent years with its front decorated with a distinctive animated neon sign (the original sign portrayed a man pushing a barrow, a reference to the downstairs indoor market The Barras).
The venue actually has a footnote in fashion history: "The Stars of Europe Fashion Gala", a benefit night featuring collections by fashion houses such as Versace, Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, and Christian Lacroix, took place at the Barrowlands in September 1999.
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