Wigans Chosen Few Footsie BBC Totp 1975

The problem is everybody who was into the scene, but did not go to Wigan, could easily be fooled into this was a typical Wigan sound, and hence the tarnished reputation it had for playing more tailor made than anywhere else.

The dancers are great, and on my few trips to Wigan, it was no different to any other nighter apart from being bigger.

14 to 17 year olds never really cared about the quality of music, it just had to be danceable I guess, the older you got the more bothered you were about what was being played.

You see the same exuberance in the film trailers over the last few years about the scene.

Happy days I guess.

Ed

Looking back at this now, I should have gone in for the dance comps, I would have p*ssed it!.

I remember seeing this on tv. I knew gethro. They had a good time  i think Yes the record was total crap Like the soussan instrumentals on a plastic comb with wax paper over it. I am still in therapy. Has anybody got those? I want a relapse. Ktf

11 hours ago, SOULMAN62 said:

Looking back at this now, I should have gone in for the dance comps, I would have p*ssed it!.

Really!. Perhaps post up a clip of you dancing then for us all to admire.

Unfortunately no videos, but I'm always out and about

I almost died of embarrassment the night that this appeared on Top of The Pops. My whole family gathered around the TV to find out what me and my mates had been getting up to at those strange all night clubs that we went to. They took the piss for months and months. It was crap then and it is even worse now and all of the posers who danced on this and who went to Wigan the night Granada turned up to make their crap program should be shot!. They were the people who trashed our scene in the late 70's, they brought the bus loads of stiffs into our clubs. These are the same people who ran to the stage at Wigan for the poxy dance competitions, while the rest of us ran for Mr M's!

The dancers in this are excellent & are giving there all. Great foot work, spins & acrobatics. What I struggle with is 'what record are they dancing to?' I do not mean the name of the record; I know that's 'a can of worms in itself ' . I mean the way there not locked into the beat & there movements (however great they are & they are great) are not in time with the music. However I am not claiming there's rules to self expression thru dance. People can dance however they wish. My own appreciation of dancing is how much someone becomes one with the Music.

There is a huge difference between feeling the music and just hearing it and nothing shows this up more than these videos. Watch the ones of the Blackpool dancing comps it makes me cringe because there are so many people throwing themselves around and doing backdrops for the sake of it AND SO OBVIOULSY NOT IN TIME WITH THE MUSIC. A lot of them are new to the music and didn't grow up with it and it shows. I went to Wigan in 1973 because I loved soul music and had grown up on a diet of Motown, Ric Tic and the like and went there because it was an extension of what had happened in the years before, not because it got on the telly.

100% agree with what you said. I've spend many hours watching videos of dancing on you tube.

4 minutes ago, Okehdownsouth said:

There is a huge difference between feeling the music and just hearing it and nothing shows this up more than these videos. Watch the ones of the Blackpool dancing comps it makes me cringe because there are so many people throwing themselves around and doing backdrops for the sake of it AND SO OBVIOULSY NOT IN TIME WITH THE MUSIC. A lot of them are new to the music and didn't grow up with it and it shows. I went to Wigan in 1973 because I loved soul music and had grown up on a diet of Motown, Ric Tic and the like and went there because it was an extension of what had happened in the years before, not because it got on the telly.

 Sorry Okehdownsouth I ment to put yr quote up to give my reply context.100%  agree with what you said. I've spend many hours watching videos of dancing on you tube. Yes there is a lot of 'cringe' in those dancing competitions...

Just now, NSDancer said:

 Sorry Okehdownsouth I ment to put yr quote up to give my reply context.100%  agree with what you said. I've spend many hours watching videos of dancing on you tube. Yes there is a lot of 'cringe' in those dancing competitions...

The problem with a lot of the Youtube videos is that people copy the film and dub over it with their favorite records, so the folks in these are actually dancing to a different record. The only way to see real dancers is to watch the live stuff, like the dreaded Footsie video where you can tell that the video is original and then you can see these people with no timing or sense of rhythm who are either just posing or can't dance. When the dancing comps started at Wigan I always use to exit stage right and make my way up to Mr M's for some real banging oldies

Sightly off topic...I do enjoy the videos on you tube, where some one has uploaded a tune with a clip  from old black & White movie. With dancers like Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers also the Nicolas Brothers. Some times the dancing matches up!