Popular Culture and Modernity: Dancing in New Zealand Society 1920-1945.

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  • Author(s): Griffiths, John
  • Source:
    Journal of Social History. Spring2008, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p611-632. 22p. 1 Chart, 1 Graph.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      DANCE; MODERNITY; POPULAR culture; YWCA; AMERICAN military personnel; SOCIAL change; SOCIAL history; NEW Zealand history -- 1918-1945
    • Subject Terms:
      UNITED States; NEW Zealand
    • Abstract:
      This article discusses the role of dancing in the midst of modernity in popular culture in New Zealand between 1918 and 1945. Public dancing is popular in a farmer dominated society like the New Zealand of 1914. The popular dances at that time were the waltzes and square dances like Lancers, Schottisches and Velettas. Dancing provides entertainment and bonds of mutuality. However, the puritans along with the state has censured dancing as it is considered a vice or social evil like drinking. The Young Women's Christian Association regarded dancing as a danger to purity. Dances in the rural areas are more traditional than urban centers. However, modernity soon reached the rural areas. The arrival of U.S. servicemen challenged the puritanical values of New Zealand.