The 'dance floor' - a space, typically situated in a club in a city, which people visit expressly to dance and dress up for- is now a global phenomenon. It has generated vast transnational industries of fashion, branding, and music, as well as innumerable local scenes through which people enjoy themselves on weekend evenings. From Motown to Bollywood, popular songs celebrate its pleasures and urge us to embrace them through by losing ourselves to the beat. But how did the dance floor emerge? What is its relationship to labour and leisure? Why is there still something highly desirable yet faintly illicit about spending our time in this fashion? In this lecture, Professor Kabir will unveil the secret history of the dance floor, moving from drum circles on sugar plantations, through Paris Noir and New York's Jazz Age, to the proliferation of clubs worldwide. Desire, sexuality, and race will all be in the mix, as this lecture will finally reveal what it means to be 'lost in music' and why, 'last night, a DJ saved my life'.

After party - 20.00 - 22.00

After the lecture, join the party! The international DJs Wilfrid Vertueux (DJ Willy the Viper, Paris), Benjamin LeBrave (Akwaaba Records, Accra), and John Armstrong (London), will offer guests the best of Latin, Afro-Electronic, and tropical sounds.

This event is free of charge but booking is required and is available on our website.

Part of the King's Arts & Humanities Festival.