Coinciding with the publication of Mark ‘Snowboy' Cotgrove's book, From Jazz Funk & Fusion to Acid Jazz: The History Of The UK Jazz Dance Scene, Edge09 + Straight No Chaser has got together with The Barbican to celebrate the unique, underground, UK dance jazz movement which gave us aggressive, innovative and stylish dance crews like IDJ, Jazz Defektors, Brothers In Jazz, Foot Patrol, Floor Technicians and Jazzcotech, along with a host of highly individual dancers.
From Glasgow to Manchester to Leeds to Birmingham to Bristol to London - from clubs like Berlin, The Goldmine, the Jazz Room @ Electric Ballroom, The Wag and Talkin' Loud @ Dingwalls - all the nation's major cities, came through with their own champions. The music was fast and furious, the DJ selections were deep and competition on the dancefloor was fierce, explosive and, at times, dangerous.
It's an underground movement that spans the Seventies to 2009. It is rooted in the suburban soul scene of the South and post Blackpool Mecca clubland in the North. Largely working class in make-up, this story in dance illuminates the foundation and evolution of modern day clubbing. It's about young black and white Britain united by music and dance. While the media in the Seventies and Eighties saw black youth as synonymous with reggae, there was a hard core of black British funk and fusion dancers who travelled the land, from all-dayer to all-dayer, in search of the next dance floor battle. Their mission was to channel the energy and innovation implicit in the music they loved into dance.
UK jazz dance is an art that was honed in bedrooms and on the dance floor. Now we revisit the scene at Cargo with Cuban rumba from Dilanga in the yard and a live twisted jazz set from The Mighty Jeddo in the main arch. DJs Gilles Peterson & Snowboy will set the scene for some fast and furious competition on the dancefloor from the dancers who carry on the legacy of the movement. As well as book signing and record stalls, Dick Jewell's legendary film The Jazz Room will be screened alongside other classic shorts.
LIVE: THE MIGHTY JEDDO + DILANGA
DJS: GILLES PETERSON + SNOWBOY
3-12
£10adv, £10 otd
