The Rural Voice, 2003-03, Page 44Let's Dance
By Peter
Young, Natural
Heritage
Books, 221
pgs., large -
format
paperback,
$26.95
By Bonnie Gropp
If you were waltzing in the '30s,
swinging in the '40s, jiving in the
'50s or rocking in the '60s, there's a
good chance you did so at one of
Ontario's dance halls or summer
pavilions. Peter Young's Let's
Dance! is a celebration of those
golden times, when all anyone
needed for fun was a wooden floor,
good shoes and music.
Extensively researched, and well
written, Let's Dance! as its foreward
states, "takes readers on a nostalgic
musical journey". Besides a nostalgic
look at the many halls and pavilions
which dotted the province's
Book Review
Oh those swinging days
landscape through almost four
decades, it celebrates the big name
talents (Duke Ellington, Louis
Armstrong, Tommy and Jimmy
Dorsey) who appeared at some of
these stops, and infuses life into the
history with accounts from people
who boogied theirsummer nights
away.
Chapter one introduces the readers
to the era, its quirks and fads. There
were the days of tight government
restrictions when dance halls couldn't
sell liquor so some did the next best
thing. They sold ice and soft drinks
and as Young said, the dancers
"discreetly camouflaged their jungle
juice in a brown paper bag
underneath the table or in a purse."
Jitney dances, the arrival of jazz, and
changing dance styles are also
highlighted.
The tour begins in chapter two
with a vivid literary and picture
painted of the halls and pavilions in
the Toronto area, moving around
until it finishes in the near north, then
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wraps up with The Last Waltz. Along
the way there is sure to be at least one
familiar stop for everyone over 45.
So comprehensive is his work it
seems unlikely that Young has
missed anything. The photographs
light the pages with vivid images of
these romantic times. Satchmo at
Dunn's Pavilion in Bala, lining up for
tickets at Sunnyside's Seabreeze in
the1940s, and a young woman
pictured under the arbour at Scott's
ballroom in 1958 give a clear sense
of the innocence and vitality of the
times.
However, while Young writes
with intelligence his telling of this
age is somewhat dry, and a little too
impersonal. The study is almost
clinical and would have been better
served with more personal anecdotes.
There are too few reminiscences such
as those of Ruby Conway: "The girls
were not wallflowers. We used to
watch for the good dancers and then
ask them to dance. It was a long way
out to Morgan's Point. After working
until 11:00 p.m. as we did in
Stedman's on Saturday nights, we
would hitch a ride with one of the
girls who was going steady with a
guy who drove his own car. We
didn't smoke or drink, and knew
nothing about drugs; we just loved to
dance." These memories take you
back and help to recreate the mood
and attraction of these places and the
times.
While there are a number of
quotes throughout the book, many are
quite bland, lacking the colour which
would best complement the story.
Statements such as "The (old)
Octagon (speaking of the Sauble
Beach Pavilidn) was rather primitive
inside" and "We were very busy from
the day we opened up — it was a
very successful business" do little to
enhance the book's entertainment
value.
Despite this, Let's Dance! is
unquestionably an interesting look at
a bygone era. Once the hot spots of
summer and weekends, few dance
halls remain, with notable exceptions
such as the Palais Royale in Toronto.
This book is therefore a lesson in
history and charming nostalgia.0