Co-ordinating for love

Abstract

Starting from the observation that couple dancing requires the co-ordination of movements, music and mutual expectations, the chapter traces the development of conventions of couple dancing in Germany from the 1920s to the 1930s. It argues that standard steps, danceable music and well-established scripts for how to conduct oneself and what to expect from dance hall encounters were pivotal for men and women to take the risk of seeking love on the dance floor, and it shows that these conventions were established only by the 1930s. The chapter studies musicians, songwriters, dance teachers, venue operators and critics of social dancing to trace the changes of the social world of dancing under the impact of a new mass culture. Focusing on Berlin, it builds on the trade press of these groups of actors as well as on primary evidence from the archives of the city’s ‘theatre police’. The chapter consists of two chronological parts. The first focuses on the 1920s and challenges the familiar perception of dancing in the ‘Roaring Twenties’ as a spontaneous and emancipating outburst by showing that dance floor encounters were in fact fraught with tension. Music and steps were out-of-sync; the reputation of dance was tainted. The second part looks at changes in the technology, economy and regulation that transformed the entertainment business around 1930 and gauges their impact on social dancing. From this moment on, social dancing acquired the function as a primary setting to instigate heterosexual romantic relationships.