This is one of six films made for the project Renaissance Yorkshire. All the films were made by Ed Torsney of Mojo Films. Renaissance Yorkshire is one of several regional museum hubs, consisting of the museum services of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and York. The Renaissance project is an initiative funded by Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) to regenerate the nation’s museums. It incorporates a whole range of different projects of which the films are just one. With Renaissance...

This is one of six films made for the project Renaissance Yorkshire. All the films were made by Ed Torsney of Mojo Films. Renaissance Yorkshire is one of several regional museum hubs, consisting of the museum services of Bradford, Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and York. The Renaissance project is an initiative funded by Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) to regenerate the nation’s museums. It incorporates a whole range of different projects of which the films are just one. With Renaissance Yorkshire the Yorkshire Film Archive got together with Leeds and Bradford Museums to commission these films. 

 

The films were explicitly designed to take a snapshot of Yorkshire at a moment in time: films that can be archived and used as a resource for future generations to discover aspects of how we live today. This film, together with Faith in the City and A Greener City, were made as a collaboration between Leeds and the YFA; and My World My Things, My World My Work and My World My Sport were made as a collaboration between Bradford and the YFA. Each of these films are in turn made up of six or more shorter films, making a total of 52 films in all. The Steps in Time films also include: ‘Promo’, ‘Bobak Walker ‘Krump’, De-Napoli Clarke ‘Reggae, Jazz, Contemporary’, Joan Holmes ‘Jazz’, ‘Zoobin Surty ‘Indian Dance’ and Lori Gilchrist ‘Ballet’.

 

All the films were made over a two year period, with Ed the sole filmmaker. The Leeds films were produced by Gabrielle Hamilton and Binny Baker, doing the behind the scenes production work: finding the people, places and so on.   Ed filmed in 16:9 in stereo using just the one camera. The three Leeds films were the central part of the Museum's community engagement programme – through the Renaissance Yorkshire Museums Hub – which helped Leeds City Museum win the "making a difference in Yorkshire and Humber" award in 2009. This award, for ‘Building Cultural Spaces,’ recognises a significant impact through cultural activities.  As the Leeds City website puts it: ‘Working in Partnership with the Yorkshire Film Archive the Museum worked with different local groups to create a series of themed film exhibitions in the arena that document contemporary life in Leeds and provide a voice for local people.’

 

The films included in Steps in Time look at a great range of dancing: Ballet, Jazz, Kathak, Salsa, Line, Tango, Break, Skank, Krump, Step, Ballroom, Classical, Contemporary, Morris, Waltz, Swing, Street, Folk, Break, Pop, Square, Lock, Bhangra, Disco. The films manage to encompass these simply by focusing on, ‘Six Leeds Dancers, Six Leeds stories’. Two of the dancers, Zoobin Surty and De-Napoli Clarke, trained with the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD), founded in Leeds in 1985. The films show the connection between dance and community, and the NSCD exemplifies this in being both the result of developments in local schools, and in its programme of community projects.

 

As with music, the range of different kinds of dance means that there is something for, almost, everyone. And as these films show, dance is infinitely adaptable, mutating from one thing into another.  It is also highly inclusive, as this film on Alan shows. So long as one doesn’t get tied to preconceptions, dance can be something for almost everyone and that includes people with disabilities – as Paddy Masefield’s excellent book demonstrates (see References).   Even less than playing music, anyone can just have a go and it is ideal for getting people together, especially for those who might otherwise be quite socially isolated. This is something that the community dance movement – which has been going in Britain for several decades – takes advantage of.  The Foundations for Community Dance define it thus: “Community dance is about artists working with people. It’s about people enjoying dancing, expressing themselves creatively, learning new things, and connecting to other cultures and to each other.” Another definition, which more captures the flavour of this film, is: “Community dance is about working with people using movement. [It] can include set dance steps and free movement, it inspires and motivates. Community dance gets people moving who may not normally dance.” (both cited in Amans, p. 4)   There is no need for any special skills, talent or training to participate. 

 

This equality of dancing is furthered by the actual experience of dance as a release, of energy and inhibition.  Perhaps this is the reason why dance is such an old and essential part of being human. Barbara Ehrenreich quotes the Israeli archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel as asserting that the painting of dancing scenes, “were a most popular, indeed the most popular, subject used to describe interaction between people in thee Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods [between 8000-3300 BC].” (Ehrenreich, p. 22) In fact it is just this ‘ecstatic’ aspect of dance, rebellious and uncontrollable, that has often led the powers-that-be to condemn and ban it – a story told in Barbara Ehrenreich’sfascinating book.

 

Much dance, however, as with the line dancing seen in this film, has very distinct forms and movements. As with much music emanating from the US, it is a twentieth century phenomenon that has longer historical roots. Famously, more than most, the US is a country of immigrants, and these brought with them their customs, including their music and dance. Hence the original Schottische arrived from Poland, German settlers brought "clogging", and the Cajun influences derive from the French. But in fact, in spite of the cowboy get up it usually involves, it was rock and roll in the 1950s that led to the line dancing we recognise today. It has evolved ever since, with dances such as the Tush Push, Cajun Mambo Walk or Roll Back The Rug, embracing disco and country music on the way. 

 

Although there is obviously some discipline in these dances, it is hardly the discipline of classical dance or ballet. There is room for what Paul Valéry calls, “an action transposed into a world, into a kind of space-time, which is no longer quite the same as that of everyday life.” (References, p. 55) In a world which tends to make impairments into disability, this can be a joyous thing to do. It is not surprising therefore to find people with learning, or other, disabilities, taking up dance, as well as music, drama and art. This is a relatively new development, especially as regards dance – in Bob Gates’ wide ranging 700 page book it doesn’t get a mention. As recently as the Griffith’s Report on Care in the Community (1988), leisure activities, as part of An Agenda for Action, barely figures. Even now there is perhaps an over emphasis on these activities taking place as part of a day-care programme, and as therapy; rather than as evening and weekend activities undertaken simply for the love of them.

 

However, as Brian Kay outlines, there has been a major shift in thinking towards disability over the last few decades.  The government took a big leap forward in 2001 with its document Valuing People, which put forward a person centred approach in addressing discrimination and exclusion –see References. Yet despite the developing policy of social inclusion, and the breaking down of old ideas, there have been many concerns expressed that people with disabilities haven’t had sufficient say in policies and putting them into practice. The development of independence requires control over ones life, and this has led, as Dan Goodley recounts in his book, to the growth of self-advocacy. This film is, hopefully, evidence of this movement towards self determination for all.

 

References

 

Simone Aspis, ‘Researching our history: who is in charge?’, in Lindsay Bringham et al (eds.), Crossing Boundaries: Change and Continuity in the History of Learning Disability, BILD, 2000.

Diane Amans (editor), An Introduction to Community Dance, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

Barbara Ehrenreich, Dancing in the Streets: A history of Collective Joy, Granta Books, London, 2007.

Bob Gates, Learning Disabilities: Toward Inclusion, fifth edition, Elseveir, London, 2007.

Dan Goodley, Self Advocacy in the Lives of People with Learning Difficulties, Open University Press, 2000.

Paddy Masefield, Strength: broadsides from disability on the arts, Trentham Books, Stoke on Trent, 2006.

Paul Valéry, ‘Philosophy of the Dance’, in Roger Copeland and Marshall Cohen (eds), What is Dance, Oxford University Press, 1983.

 

Mojomedia

Renaissance Yorkshire

Their Past Your Future

Northern School of Contemporary Dance

A History of Line Dancing

Valuing People, Department of Health