Bobby Sox

Since taking classes as a child, i have been enthralled by dance.  Tap, Ballet, Lindy Hop, Jive, Charleston, Broadway, Disco… i love it all.

Then, following working as a costumier and dancer in a traveling circus, i became charmed by the acrobats, trapeze artists, rope walkers and contortionists… These amazingly talented people left me awestruck.  As did the costumes involved- leotards dripping with sequins, diamante encrusted jackets, tailcoats and feather headdresses.  I loved the showy otherworldliness of the whole experience.

As soon as i returned home from tour, inspired the idea of by performance and skill, i began to learn tap dancing again.  I’m intending to perform later this year with The Venus Fly Taps.  (Unfortunately, acrobatics will not be involved as i cannot even cartwheel.)

It comes as no surprise then, that i feel i’ve found my passion- Vintage Acrobatic and Novelty Dance!

This combines my love of circus, costume and dance… as well as my interest in vintage film, glamour, 1930s- 1950s music and vaudeville- all with a heavy dose of humour too!

Here are a selection of some of my favourite film clips of acrobatic and novelty dance.  If you haven’t already seen them, you’re in for a treat!

Chain Gang Tap Dance by The Holst Sisters (Amuse Yourself, 1936)

The awesome acrobatics of Miriam LaVelle (Seven Days Ashore, 1944)

The tap dancing majorette, Betty Atkinson (Night in a Music Hall, 1939))

An acrobatic dance troupe (1937)

Drumming and tap dancing, Denett & Dae (Varsity Vanities, 1940)

The Dior Dancers (Sunday Night at the London Palladium, late 1950s/early 1960s)

Tap dancer extraordinaire, Eleanor Powell and a trained Dog (Lady Be Good, 1941)