BALLROOM MUSIC

Immediately after the war, Italy rediscovered the desire to dance. Ballrooms popped up everywhere in a country deeply involved in reconstruction while gramophone players played their part in spreading mostly American dances imported by soldiers during the war of liberation, first among them the boogie-woogie. The mid-1950s saw the birth of the rock 'n' roll craze, which carried with it the first emblems of a youth culture with a global reach, expressing itself in exclusive venues where dancing was to the tune of records played by disc-jockeys. In the early 1960s there was a true explosion of dance styles, some ephemeral, others more enduring like the twist or the Hully Gully, which still have a place in ballroom orchestras’ repertoires today. Dances for couples gave way to dance moves without physical contact as elaborate choreographies involving the entire dance floor were replaced by the “free style” of the shake, a dance without rules that could be adapted to any rhythmic music (from beat to rhythm & blues). A reflection of the times, in the late nineteen-sixties the shake was a dance that made couples obsolete by launching an individualist style: alone, in a circle, in front of a mirror. In the mid-1970s, black and Latin dances and disco music became fashionable – after years during which youth had given up dancing, privileging listening to music at festivals and rock concerts – triggering a huge dance revival encouraged by a production exclusively targeted to discos. In the 1980s, the trend continued, favoured by the spread of international pop (new wave, synth pop, new romance, and other sub-genres) which rapidly gained popularity in Italy making both the national songbook and the dance music repertoire more sophisticated. Finally, this particular trend paved the way to rap music which also brought to Italy dance styles such as break dance or freestyle, born in the streets and in the underground venues of the American metropolises.
Playlists (15)
Un’altra rumba playlist
Another rhumba The rhumba, as we already argued when we presented our previ...
Signori, musica da ballo! playlist
Ladies and gentlemen, dance music! 78 rpm records arrived in the homes of Ita...
Dalla balera al dancing playlist
From dance halls to clubs Before the arrival of discos, people danced to the ...
Un altro valzer playlist
One last waltz In this second playlist dedicated to three -quarter time, whic...
Un’estate di tanto tempo fa playlist
A SUMMER LONG AGO Fox-trots, one steps, slow fox-trots and exotic rhythms per...
Un’orchestra nella sera playlist
An orchestra in the evening In the 1930s and 1940s, orchestras were of fundam...
Ancora Swing playlist
Swing again Having landed in Italy at the end of the 1930s, swing in the 1940...
Hully Gully & Surf playlist
Hully Gully & Surf Musically speaking, the 1960's were full of new rhythm...
Danza la Rumba playlist
Dance the Rumba! - Rumba in Italy – 1 Like all dances of Latin Ame...
Fox-trot che follia playlist
The Foxtrot craze It was the pioneers of the “jazz band” – ...
Torero playlist
Torero - The cha-cha-cha in Italy The sound of the fifties is deeply marked b...
Un tango italiano playlist
There is an Italian gene in Argentinian Tango: it was implanted from the hund...
Un ritmo sincopato playlist
In the 1920s in Italy it was known as jazz-band, a foreign expression which wa...
Tarantella mon amour playlist
For Gioachino Rossini, it was simply “the dance” tout court. The tarantella h...
Un giro di valzer playlist
Enormously popular in the Vienna of the Strauss dynasty in the mid 1800s, the...
Songs (656)
Sergio Caputo
Gianni Morandi
P. Lion
Baltimora
Renato Carosone
Viola Valentino
Mike Francis
Spagna
Tracy Spencer
Sabrina
Adriano Celentano
Gorni Kramer, Wolmer Beltrami
Gigi Stock
Gigi Stock
Viola Valentino
Caterina Valente