Hoofing it on deck: Images of dancing in the maritime past

Abstract

‘Flotsams’ explores the oddly significant ephemera that surface during the research process. Visual representations of dancing on vessels – the focus of this piece – are one such category of telling flotsam. This is not, however, an attempt to examine the role of dance on ship, but to raise points about the rare visual images of this practice, which happen to be publicly available. Their interpretation can benefit from a multi-disciplinary approach. This would include cultural geography, which enables an examination of the overlooked uses of ships’ public spaces, and the sociological study of dance as a social practice and habitus, in Bourdieu’s terms, engaged in a non-traditional Palais de Danse.