UK | 1981 | 91 mins

Directed by: Joe Massot

Dance Craze documents the phenomenon of 2-tone – the music genre that blended Jamaican ska and reggae with punk rock and new wave. It swept through the UK music scene at the end of the 1970s and into the early ‘80s - the start of Thatcher’s Britain.

 

This is not a documentary of ‘talking heads’ – just live music, filmed in 1980 at various gigs around the country, from Aylesbury to Coventry; from London to Liverpool. The atmosphere achieved in the film is infectious, and it includes performances of 27 songs by various bands in the 2-tone fold, featuring The Specials, Madness, Bad Manners, The Bodysnatchers, The Selecter, and The Beat. First released to the world in 1981, Dance Craze was restored and re-released in 2023. Obviously, we’ll be screening the restored version.

 

While we may not be able to recreate in the Green Room Bar the particular character of the venues where the gigs were performed back in 1980, we’ll do our best to make it a House of Fun. The seating will be more cabaret than theatre, the bar will be open throughout, and we’ll even try to squeeze in a small dance floor.

 

This is a chance for Gen-X to introduce Gen-Z to the some of the best things that happened in 1980. Even if you done too much, much too young, you can still be having fun with Dance Craze at The Eclectic Cinema!