The History of the UK House Dance Scene: A new documentary shedding light on house dance culture

A new Mixmag documentary shares an inside look into the roots of house dance and where the style has reached in the modern day.

Titled JACK UNION: The History of the UK House Dance Scene this all-new documentary, directed by Chiara Romualdi, explores the origins of this freestyle street dance, from its American beginnings in the underground clubs of Chicago and New York, up to its breakthrough in the UK which continues to spread this legacy.

In this dance form, people can embrace physical and emotional freedom, moving themselves to the rhythm of house music and more bass-heavy dance music. Typically broken up into three main movement approaches - jacking, footwork, and lofting - the style was built by queer and Black Americans as a form of expression and escapism from the pressures of everyday life.

American clubbers pushed forth the style to become a widely recognised movement that travelled from the US to France before spreading across the UK and successively to the globe. Early UK house dancers incorporated moves such as cutting shapes, skanking and shuffling before being influenced by the American style of dancing, expanding later on to the hybrid approach we see today.

This new documentary concentrates on house dance’s impact specifically in the UK. To get a wider understanding of this, we speak with Indahouse UK founder Clara Bajado, co-founder of Makin’ Moves Matt Langrish-Smith (Matt L-S), co-founder of 4 To The Floor Collective Ian Milne (DJ Soulprovyder) and many other dancers. Each speaks on the story of house dance and shares their thoughts on what the scene looks like today.

Speaking in the documentary Ian Milne comments: “The American story has been told but the UK story hasn’t been told fully.” Whilst dancer and member of Indahouse, Frankie J shares: “House dance from New York has always been the recognised factor of this movement. But it wasn’t the only movement that was happening.”

JACK UNION: The History of the UK House Dance Scene is available to watch on Mixmag’s YouTube now.

Watch the full documentary below.

Credits:
Director/Editor: Chiara Romualdi
Script-Writer/Narrator/Music Director: Francesca Rose Miles
Producer: Louis Anderson-Rich
Ex. Producers: Patrick Hinton & Megan Townsend
Journalist: Becky Buckle
Interviewees: Clara Bajado, Kevin Gopie (DJ Renegade), Troy Banton (Dat Boy Troi), Joël Gläfke (Jo-L), Frankie Johnson (Frankie J), Ian Milne (DJ Soulprovyder) & Matt Langrish-Smith (Matt L-S).
Special Thanks: Indahouse, Houstyle, Empire House Family, 4 To The Floor, Makin’ Moves, D-Lo, Robert Hylton, Farah van Stokkum, Lorena Andres, Fabric London & the Mixmag Crew.