ТРАДИЦІЇ ТА НОВАЦІЇ BLACKPOOL DANCE FESTIVAL: ІСТОРИЧНА РЕТРОСПЕКТИВА

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to explore the activity of the Blackpool Dance Festival in 1920-2018; to consider the development of the festival program in accordance with the evolution of ballroom dancing; to analyze the peculiarities of conducting traditional competitions and championships in the historical retrospective, as well as the innovations proposed by the organizers at the present stage; to identify and characterize the stages of development of the Blackpool Dance Festival. The research methodology consisted in the organic set of basic principles of research: objectivity, historicism, multifactorness, systematicity, complexity, development and pluralism; to fulfill the purpose of the research, the following methods of scientific knowledge were used: problem-chronological, concrete-historical, statistical, descriptive, and logical-analytical. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the art critical research of the Blackpool Dance Festival from its inception in 1920 until 2018; the study of the development of the competition program of the festival in the context of the evolution of ballroom dancing – standardization of dances of the European and Latin American program; peculiarities of the formation of the panel of judges and the system of evaluation, the regulatory and legal basis of the festival; the analysis of features of conducting traditional competitions and championships in the historical retrospective; the description of the directions and trends of development of the Blackpool Dance Festival at the present stage. Conclusions. As a result of the conducted art critical research of the activity of the Blackpool Dance Festival in 1920–2018, the stages of development of the festival were defined in the context of the evolution of competitive ballroom dancing, and the programs of championships and competitions were analyzed: 1920–1931 – the period of formation of the festival program; 1931–1947 – the period of establishment of the competition program on the basis of the standards developed and approved by the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing and the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing (OBBD); 1954–2004 – the period of extension of the Blackpool Dance Festival program and the international promotion of the festival; 2004–2018 – the modern period characterized by the development of the festival program in accordance with the evolution and trends of competitive ballroom dancing.