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Dance and Health speech, Ken Bartlett, Nov 2010
A speech given by Ken Bartlett, Creative Director of the Foundation for Community Dance at the Health and Well-Being Through Dance Seminar, Swindon Dance, 15th November 2010

When I give talks about dance I often have to remind myself of what an Archbishop of Constantinople said in the 3rd Century. Something along the lines of, “Whenever I see dancing there will I find the devil.”

It’s a reference from a book by the sociologist and cultural commentator Barbara Ehrenreich called ‘Dancing in the Streets’, which charts the consistent suppression of dance and dancing in Western and Western imperialist, and primarily Christian cultures throughout history.

Anyway, how many of you have glimpsed or even watched Strictly Come Dancing or any of the other dance programmes crowding our TV screens...


To read the full speech download the document below