The 70s Are Back! – Dance and Fashion

The 70s was a decade like no other. A time of workers’ strikes, gains for women’s rights, great music and dance moves, and the exaggerated street fashion. There was a tremendous variety of music genres and sub-genres that became popular at various points in the decade. The 70s, for some, became known as the decade of discos and revolutions.

The 70s street fashion is making it onto the High Street again. This means lots of flared trousers, pointed collars, tight clothes, double denim, frayed denim, polo necks, sequins, platform shoes, and the knee-high leather boots for both male and female. For women, the oversized blazer with masculine looking trousers, originally a challenge to gender norms of the time, are once again high fashion. You can get all these retro looks at https://www.na-kd.com/en, and much more.

This decade was full of numerous music genres such as funk, soul, R&B, jazz, reggae, hard rock, glamrock, northern soul in the UK, hip hop, and disco. All had their own dance moves, like the break dancing of hip hop, and the disco dances. It’s said that the best rock and roll of all time was recorded in this decade. The number of iconic artists from this decade is also too numerous to mention.

The word disco is a shortened form of the French word ‘discotheque’, a name given to describe nightclubs in Paris. Discos were made for dancing. They first appeared in New York during the 70s, and the dances originated in the Hispanic community which danced a Latino version of the 50s jitterbug or swing. Discos became world famous with the release of ‘Saturday Night Fever’ starring John Travolta, in 1978. Disco dancing had its roots in the Salsa, Swing, Tango, Mamba, and others.

In the 70s, partner dancing made a comeback. The dances were characterized by casual movements involving the whole body. Steps could be taken on each beat, half beat, or second beat of the music. It allowed a lot of freedom of expression, something that reflected the decade as a whole. Lots of dancescame out during this decade

Perhaps the most popular dance was the Hustle originating from the black dance clubs in the USA. It had a lot of variations, and even included a line dance version. It was made world famous by John Travolta in ‘Saturday Night Fever’, but was really meant to be danced with a partner, like all disco dancing, not as a solo. Another fun dance was the Bump, where you bumped hips with a partner in a rhythmic way. Line dancing was also a feature of the disco, and did not originate with country music as some may think.

The fashion and music of the 70s is back. If you want to get in the groove, you can learn how to do the hustle by watching videos online or attending dance classes.