Love it or loathe it , Talc goes together with Northern Soul dance floors like August and Deneen ...... but when was the devil's dandruff first thrown down by dancers to aid their movements ?

When the scene came into being , there was no need to use it at The Wheel , as it had its' own " talc " - the concrete dust on the floor ; but in the following growth years years following its' inception , I cannot recall it being used or seeing it on the dance floors at The Torch or at The Highland Room : if it was used , you would not have seen it for the amount of bodies on them .

If it was not used then , that would make its' rise to prominence / evidential use , come into being in the mid 70s ( WC ? ) , therefore resulting in its' use since then .

When did you see it first used ?

Malc

Love it or loathe it , Talc goes together with Northern Soul dance floors like August and Deneen ...... but when was the devil's dandruff first thrown down by dancers to aid their movements ?

When the scene came into being , there was no need to use it at The Wheel , as it had its' own " talc " - the concrete dust on the floor ; but in the following growth years years following its' inception , I cannot recall it being used or seeing it on the dance floors at The Torch or at The Highland Room : if it was used , you would not have seen it for the amount of bodies on them .

If it was not used then , that would make its' rise to prominence / evidential use , come into being in the mid 70s ( WC ? ) , therefore resulting in its' use since then .

When did you see it first used ?

Malc

Ha Ha----D'ya know Malc---I never saw it either as an 'aid' to dancing. Rumour has it that someone did use some --what can only be described as white powder to aid dancing

BUT I did see talc in there--- in the bogs where sweaty stinky torsos were liberally doused with the stuff --

-who'd have thought it could be used to dance on???---We'd have thought what a waste

...think you're right mate 12 mths or so in to Wigan.

Whose idea was it then

Why should it go together, it very very nearly cost us our venue at Lifeline. The dance floor at the Stables doesn't need it, it's like a skating rink as it is yet one corner in particular in October was absolutely covered in it. Then people decided they had to clean their shoes and did so on all the chairs. Fook knows how some of the people who attend nighters live at home. We had the riot act read to us when we arrived Saturday night....talc and drug wrappers. The drug wrappers actually blocked up the toilet system, plastic doesn't dissolve. Thye also discard them in the actual room for the owners to find, word fail me at times.

Talc will not be allowed into Lifeline and anyone found putting it down will be asked to leave. We will not lose the venue because of a few inconsiderate people spoiling the fun of many. The same for drugs, if you need to use it take it away from the venue and take your wrappers away with you, discard them at home or on the way home not in the venues that promoters work hard to put on for YOU!!

Love it or loathe it , Talc goes together with Northern Soul dance floors like August and Deneen ...... but when was the devil's dandruff first thrown down by dancers to aid their movements ?

When the scene came into being , there was no need to use it at The Wheel , as it had its' own " talc " - the concrete dust on the floor ; but in the following growth years years following its' inception , I cannot recall it being used or seeing it on the dance floors at The Torch or at The Highland Room : if it was used , you would not have seen it for the amount of bodies on them .

If it was not used then , that would make its' rise to prominence / evidential use , come into being in the mid 70s ( WC ? ) , therefore resulting in its' use since then .

When did you see it first used ?

Malc

MALC,

Not totaly revelent to actual use on the dance floor but i did see it used at the Torch by a young man changing his t-shirt while Martyn Ellis waffled on the microphone in between tunes. If memory serves me correctly it was Johnsons baby talc.

Liberal amounts went under his armpits and a little to the nether regions with the bulk hitting the floor .

It was fun watching the guys and girls afterwards trying to keep to their selves upright while dancing at 200mph

ROY

Why should it go together, it very very nearly cost us our venue at Lifeline. The dance floor at the Stables doesn't need it, it's like a skating rink as it is yet one corner in particular in October was absolutely covered in it. Then people decided they had to clean their shoes and did so on all the chairs. Fook knows how some of the people who attend nighters live at home. We had the riot act read to us when we arrived Saturday night....talc and drug wrappers. The drug wrappers actually blocked up the toilet system, plastic doesn't dissolve. Thye also discard them in the actual room for the owners to find, word fail me at times.

Talc will not be allowed into Lifeline and anyone found putting it down will be asked to leave. We will not lose the venue because of a few inconsiderate people spoiling the fun of many. The same for drugs, if you need to use it take it away from the venue and take your wrappers away with you, discard them at home or on the way home not in the venues that promoters work hard to put on for YOU!!

Christ Chalky,

Malc only asked when it was first used!!!!!! :(

I am sure Malc is old enough and wise enough not to need the riot act read to him over things he will have seen over the years .

Hopefully Lifeline does not have a serious drug problem or talc problem if the floor is that slippy.

ROY

MALC,

Not totaly revelent to actual use on the dance floor but i did see it used at the Torch by a young man changing his t-shirt while Martyn Ellis waffled on the microphone in between tunes. If memory serves me correctly it was Johnsons baby talc.

Liberal amounts went under his armpits and a little to the nether regions with the bulk hitting the floor :( .

It was fun watching the guys and girls afterwards trying to keep to their selves upright while dancing at 200mph

ROY

Malc

Why should it go together, it very very nearly cost us our venue at Lifeline. The dance floor at the Stables doesn't need it, it's like a skating rink as it is yet one corner in particular in October was absolutely covered in it. Then people decided they had to clean their shoes and did so on all the chairs. Fook knows how some of the people who attend nighters live at home. We had the riot act read to us when we arrived Saturday night....talc and drug wrappers. The drug wrappers actually blocked up the toilet system, plastic doesn't dissolve. Thye also discard them in the actual room for the owners to find, word fail me at times.

Talc will not be allowed into Lifeline and anyone found putting it down will be asked to leave. We will not lose the venue because of a few inconsiderate people spoiling the fun of many. The same for drugs, if you need to use it take it away from the venue and take your wrappers away with you, discard them at home or on the way home not in the venues that promoters work hard to put on for YOU!!

Apologies if my opening line gave the impression that I was in favour of talc , Chalks - I am not : I hate the ferking stuff with vitriolic vemon .

I will be at a venue this weekend that has had a new dance floor put down , do doubt at a considerable cost to the management of that venue : but despite it being new - and no doubt there will be polite signs put on tables not to use talc - there will be some people attending who will throw the devil's dandruff down as an aid to the dancing .

Talc is an abrasive , which can - and will - cause damage to floors , furnishings and audio / PA equipment : talc - even after intensive processing - still contains fibres in it's dust which are equivelent to Asbestos .

Malc

Edited February 28, 201114 yr by Malc Burton

It's really amusing at Radcliffe watching the chalk monitor,sorry talc bouncer doing his rounds every 15 minutes.

Do agree with Chalky though.............why talc on a good dance floor?

It's really amusing at Radcliffe watching the chalk monitor,sorry talc bouncer doing his rounds every 15 minutes.

Do agree with Chalky though.............why talc on a good dance floor?

Exactly Steve - Why ?

I was at a venue on Friday , which had - according to Lady B - a good dance floor - and despite having signs to not put it down , there was talc put on it .

A beneficial aid to dancing ? possibly - but so are a good pair of leather soled shoes ...... which , after your dancing days on this mortal coil of ours are over , you can be laid away in them .

What next ? weight lifters' chalk on dancers' hands to give more resonance when clapping to records ?

Malc

Edited February 28, 201114 yr by Malc Burton

''Love it or loathe it , Talc goes together with Northern Soul dance floors like August and Deneen ...... but when was the devil's dandruff first thrown down by dancers to aid their movements ?''

Asalready stated, never seen at Torch, Mecca, Kelmarsh, Wilby, Bletsoe.....as to where and when I dont know either.......BUT

IT WERE BY SOME SILLY BUGGER/BUGGERS WHO COULD'NT DANCE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, but IMHO if you have a dance floor, no matter what its like within reason, AND YOU CAN DANCE you dont need talc....

Sorry Malc, I wasn't reading the riot act at you and my post wasn't aimed at you but the thoughtless people who would sooner see a top class venue shut for the sake of using some talc. As for drugs that is a different argument, but every venue has a drug problem, anyone who says different is a liar.

And Roy, Malc stated that it and Soul goes together like August and Deneen, I simply retorted why should it when a decent floor doesn't need it.

My guess is at Wigan,someone accidentally spilt talc on the edge of the dancefloor,and the rest is history as they say.

Was always nice to see Garry Churm's face when we'd put a Johnson's talc bottle near the decks at the Attic.

Exactly Steve - Why ?

What next ? weight lifters' chalk on dancers' hands to give more resonance when clapping to records ?

Malc

CREASED!! :(

ROY

Sorry Malc, I wasn't reading the riot act at you and my post wasn't aimed at you but the thoughtless people who would sooner see a top class venue shut for the sake of using some talc. As for drugs that is a different argument, but every venue has a drug problem, anyone who says different is a liar.

And Roy, Malc stated that it and Soul goes together like August and Deneen, I simply retorted why should it when a decent floor doesn't need it.

CHALKS,

At the time took on board your repost to Malcs thread and you are spot on regarding the talc issue.

Just thought the rest of it, however justified in its content, did not really enter into the spirit of Malcs thread- hence my qoute.

ROY

Been saying about over talc-in the floor for years, absolutely loathe the stuff, hardly ever needed and only used cos the pamphlet says you should. First danced on it in 74, think it may have been the liberal club in Bedford, was in major use when I first visited Wigan later that year, have no idea where it originated from.

Winnie

wrong shoes

Love it or loathe it , Talc goes together with Northern Soul dance floors like August and Deneen ...... but when was the devil's dandruff first thrown down by dancers to aid their movements ?

When the scene came into being , there was no need to use it at The Wheel , as it had its' own " talc " - the concrete dust on the floor ; but in the following growth years years following its' inception , I cannot recall it being used or seeing it on the dance floors at The Torch or at The Highland Room : if it was used , you would not have seen it for the amount of bodies on them .

If it was not used then , that would make its' rise to prominence / evidential use , come into being in the mid 70s ( WC ? ) , therefore resulting in its' use since then .

When did you see it first used ?

Malc

I think the blame for this can be laid squarely at the Door of Black Music Magazine, I am (almost) sure it was mentioned in one of their occasional Northern Articles, around late '74.

Prior to reading it I had never seen it anywhere and read it with a bit of a "got it wrong again atitude"........

The following Saturday you couldn't f^ckin' breathe with all the sh^t flying about.

Talcum is one powder I have never used.

Tony

T A L C = take away & leave club

Nuff said

I used to attend a disco in a working mens club in the seventies and the floor was allways sprinckled with a white powder,this was actualy a dance floor polish made for the job.A bit like Shake and vac.

I used to attend a disco in a working mens club in the seventies and the floor was allways sprinckled with a white powder,this was actualy a dance floor polish made for the job.A bit like Shake and vac.

When my daughters were learning to Ballroom, the dance school used to grate beeswax over the floor.

Tony

the use of talc on dancefloors goes back at least as far as the teddy boy days. i've heard my dad say thet it was used way back then. on good floors, not needed - but on shite floors, absolutely essential in my opinion.

Some floors I've been on (not recently mind) were so sticky the talc was needed. What gets me is seeing some dancers - one in particular - who uses a whole bottle in a night but doesn't move more that 6 inches in any direction or spin. We stole it one night and he was so cross

When my daughters were learning to Ballroom, the dance school used to grate beeswax over the floor.

Tony

Both my nieces have danced for England and never use any aid on the floor. It's all in the shoes and preparation of the floor prior to competition.

Stops me arse from getting sweaty and makes me nose bleed ban the stuff i say i fooking hate it and if a dance floor needs it then the dance floor just aint good enough

It's in the first chapter of the div's 'everything you needed to know about northern soul but were too afraid to ask' manual.

Should be a hanging offence.

It would be interesting to know whether those that 'hate' it are dancers and if they are how you dance? Most of my steps don't leave the floor and is more of a sliding action so if the floor's sticky I could end up with spiral fractures or worse, fall over

It would be interesting to know whether those that 'hate' it are dancers and if they are how you dance? Most of my steps don't leave the floor and is more of a sliding action so if the floor's sticky I could end up with spiral fractures or worse, fall over

I considered myself a dancer, and I never used it, as somebody mentioned decent shoes helped. remember going to Bretby and a girl offering me furniture polish for the bottom of my shoes. For a short while in the 7Ts I had a pair of shoes with like a felt bottom, but the soles were so thin you couldn't walk outside in them, stone went straight through them, reverted back to the solatios after that

If I remember rightly, at your 50th Winnie, you were sprinkling water on the dance floor... a party-goer nearly cracked her head open when she slipped up on it

If I remember rightly, at your 50th Winnie, you were sprinkling water on the dance floor... a party-goer nearly cracked her head open when she slipped up on it

I always used to put water down Karen, I have good shoes so had to slow the floor down, I think the party goer was one of my sisters so it didn't count

Always try to move away if I see talc being put on the floor - my knees are so bad these days if I slipped I never get up again

and it is slightly naff - but to each their own

Cheers

Manus

Edited March 5, 201114 yr by manus

Never used theTalc myself to be honest,I was quite capable of slipping up and falling on my arse without the use of any white powder,

I knew loads of lads and girls who swore by it back in the day,Helped them sway or so they would say,

They loved it til the DS collared them,Whats that white powder on your shoes ?,

More relevant to this time is why do some people turn up to soul nights carrying an "Adidas" type bag filled with more clothes than they stock in top shop,And get changed after every third record,

And beer towels WTF,

Seen it loads of times,Give me talc anyday

More relevant to this time is why do some people turn up to soul nights carrying an "Adidas" type bag filled with more clothes than they stock in top shop,And get changed after every third record,

And beer towels WTF,

Seen it loads of times,Give me talc anyday

Me too mate,,,the born again nothern soulers...singlet vests and baggie trousers....gggrrrrr. My time was 1982 omwards...Stafford and Leicester and this cliche bollocks got jack sh*t to do with the scene! never did!

bags and singlets just happeneed to be the fashion at the time in the 70's...not a unique northern thing?

Am I right casino guys and gals?

you only need to look at the photos too see that the vests n caps baggies and skirt were only around for a few years the place was open 8 years and the fashions changed !

So we've gone from the original topic of dancing on talcum powder to insulting the way some people like to dress yet again!

It would be interesting to know whether those that 'hate' it are dancers and if they are how you dance? Most of my steps don't leave the floor and is more of a sliding action so if the floor's sticky I could end up with spiral fractures or worse, fall over

I hate it Karen and I consider myself a dancer of sorts.

For me i like a little bit and when that's vanished a little bit more and so on, not loads like i see em put down crazy.

Sorry Malc, I wasn't reading the riot act at you and my post wasn't aimed at you but the thoughtless people who would sooner see a top class venue shut for the sake of using some talc. As for drugs that is a different argument, but every venue has a drug problem, anyone who says different is a liar.

And Roy, Malc stated that it and Soul goes together like August and Deneen, I simply retorted why should it when a decent floor doesn't n

if it's a decent dancefloor and any old leather sole shoes you don't need talc.its a pain on your clothes too. as you say chalky, people clean their shoes on the furniture and if you brush past it or sit down you're covered in the stuff.

So we've gone from the original topic of dancing on talcum powder to insulting the way some people like to dress yet again!

Well said folk should dress how the want!

Just a bit o talc when the dancefloor gets a bit wet n sticky

"spike"

if it's a decent dancefloor and any old leather sole shoes you don't need talc.its a pain on your clothes too. as you say chalky, people clean their shoes on the furniture and if you brush past it or sit down you're covered in the stuff.

I wouldn't dream of cleaning my shoes on the furniture like some did at the Stables, do people wipe their feet on their own furniture at home?

Sorry but anyone caught using talc at the Stables will be asked to leave, orders of the management/owner and we are not in a position to argue. People should respect things that do not belong to them.

Some floors I've been on (not recently mind) were so sticky the talc was needed. What gets me is seeing some dancers - one in particular - who uses a whole bottle in a night but doesn't move more that 6 inches in any direction or spin. We stole it one night and he was so cross

I know what you mean Karen, me and me mate Michael always talk about this bloke when we went to Hardwick Hall nighter, near Sedgefield about 8 year ago now. There was this bloke had all the right clothes on looked super cool and everything, gets his two tone type dance shoes out, puts them on, gets his talc out of his bag sprinkles it all over the floor and then proceeded to move his feet from side to side It was so bizarre and as usual eccentric

BTW I'm not a lover of talc, I like a dance, but normally if I see talc on the floor I will dance on the carpet as it is easier and makes sure I keep upright

Suz

x

I wouldn't dream of cleaning my shoes on the furniture like some did at the Stables, do people wipe their feet on their own furniture at home?

Sorry but anyone caught using talc at the Stables will be asked to leave, orders of the management/owner and we are not in a position to argue. People should respect things that do not belong to them.

You don't police it very well then do you ! anyway i use me beer towel

You don't police it very well then do you ! anyway i use me beer towel

yes we do Ken, none went down at the last one.

Glad I don't go the stables sounds like I Would not enjoy it

Glad I don't go the stables sounds like I Would not enjoy it

the floor is fast enough, you don't need talc, that's the puzzling thing about it.

Glad I don't go the stables sounds like I Would not enjoy it

Are you saying you go for the talc not the music?

Not all floors need talc you know. The Stables certainly doesn't!

Are you saying you go for the talc not the music?

Not all floors need talc you know. The Stables certainly doesn't!

i honestly believe many dont go for the music they go for the venue and the amount of people that are there and now only if talc is allowed

Bassetts

Edited March 6, 201114 yr by Bearsy

i first saw talc used at the Queens hall allnighter in april (i think) 1974. The damp concrete floor of the old tramshed was definitely not condusive to northern soul dancing, the dance fashion at the time was the fast spins and most dancers used it for that....

Don't know (or care) about the music played there don't care about the talc!

Don't like the idea of being watched all night

If people wipe there feet on the chairs ban them!

So we've gone from the original topic of dancing on talcum powder to insulting the way some people like to dress yet again!

It's been coming up for years Karen, as I'm sure you're aware, have never quite understood the mentality myself, what difference does the way people dress make??

How one dresses defines who one is.

It should do, but there are always some who like to do our defining for us................