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Blackpool's 'exhilarating, terrifying' history of dance

Ollie SamuelsNorth West
News imageBBC A collection of photographs on a blue board. The majority are in black and white, showing people dancing in large ballrooms. There are three in faded colour towards the top right. Towards the bottom right, an old syllabus for Blackpool Dance Festival can be seenBBC
This year's dance festival has had over 9,000 entries

Curators have said they are still working to "unlock the secrets" of a vast archive of items that tell the story of more than 100 years of ballroom dancing in a Lancashire seaside resort.

Blackpool Dance Festival started in 1920, with its centenary edition set to begin on Saturday, bringing professionals from all over the world to the famous Empress Ballroom.

The BBC was given a rare glimpse at some of the items managed by Tom Carter, the heritage officer at Blackpool's Showtown Museum.

He said working with the items was "both exhilarating and terrifying".

News imageA man wearing a red tartan shirt looks towards the camera. He has black glasses, and a white lanyard around his neck. In the background, a museum is out of focus.
Tom Carter from Showtown Museum in Blackpool

Carter said his favourite item is the programme for the Opera House in 1961, a big summer show with massive headliners.

"And in that particular year, the ballroom champions were actually part of that big show alongside Shirley Bassey and Cliff Richard. It's just a beautiful programme", he said.

Blackpool Council acquired the Winter Gardens and Blackpool Tower in 2010, and with the properties came the archives.

It contains photographs, newspaper cuttings, and programmes dating back to the very first festival in 1920.

The festival organiser, Natalie Hayes, said the archive "is really quite special", and she "didn't know that some of these artifacts were here".

News imageA series of items on a row of tables, which are covered with black tablecloths. They include a large wooden award shield with silver detailing, a book placed on a pillow, and a scrapbook with photographs. The tables are in a museum, with exhibits behind.
A collection of items relating to the Blackpool Dance Festival, dating back to 1920

The archive also contains an early trophy for "Best Sequence Dance" at the festival, given to new or innovative dances.

"There was one called 'the crush trot' which was all about dancing on a packed dancefloor, and coming up with a good sequence of steps which would work when there is not a lot of room to dance", Tom explained.

Natalie said the entries "have nearly doubled from last year" because of the excitement of the 100th edition.

"We've got over 9,000 entries, so there will be hundreds of hours of dancing over the 13 days", she added.

News imageA woman in a white blouse smiles while standing inside in front of a display. She is wearing black glasses and has brown hair.
Natalie said the fact the competition is held in Blackpool is "immensely special".

"For such a small seaside resort, having such an international event come to the town, - and it takes over the town for two weeks - it's really exciting", Natalie said.

Tom said looking back through the archive, he realised how much some things have changed, and how other things are exactly the same.

He said he was "reading a news article about people rollerskating down the Prom in 1876, and what a nuisance it was, and you think 'ah! Nothing's changed!'"

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