LIFE: Let's Dance

We take the floor with Life magazine to showcase the very best in vintage dance photography from around the world. From the rumba to the twist; the jitterbug to the waltz; the Lindy Hop to flamenco; from belly dancing to ballet, from disco to tap, and featuring dance legends such as Martha Graham, the Rockettes, Fred Astaire, and Rudolf Nureyev.

I wanna dance with somebody

Decades of dance curated from the Life archiveWhen publisher Henry R. Luce founded Life magazine in 1936, its aim was: “To see life; to see the world; to eyewitness great events.” Life dedicated its sixth issue to the world of dance, recognizing its importance, not just as a source of joy, but as an expression of community and culture. From Vegas to Hollywood sound stages, from Paris nightclubs to Woodstock, from the Western Provinces of China to Harlem ballrooms, Let’s Dance showcases the evolution and impact of dance, as captured by Life photographers, from the late 1930s to the early 1970s.

Featuring over 200 mainly unseen images, scanned from original negatives and pulled from Life’s vast archive, each page of Let’s Dance reflects an influential era, important dance style, premiere dancer, legendary choreographer, or glamorous star—sometimes all in a single frame. Subjects jumping off the page include modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, ballet legends Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr, Elvis Presley swiveling his hips on stage, and Brigitte Bardot dancing barefoot on set in Spain. Let’s Dance features not only professionals and celebrities, but regular people with a love for dance: couples swaying at a supper club in South Carolina, students in a ballet class in Suriname, indigenous dancers performing in India, Greece, Senegal and Mexico City, groovy 1960s disco kids, square dancers in Oklahoma, strutting debutantes, and Princeton college students letting loose at homecoming. 

Along with expertly curated archival photography, Let’s Dance features original Life covers and tear sheets, as well as an introductory essay and illuminating captions from dance critic Lyndsey Winship, providing vivid historical context. Let’s Dance is not just a history of this captivating performing art, but an evocation of the bliss and catharsis of dance: urging readers to get up and (in the words of Whitney Houston) feel the heat with somebody.

The author

Lyndsey Winship is dance critic for the Guardian. She was previously dance editor at Time Out London and has also written for the Independent, the Times, the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard and Dance magazine. She is the author of Being a Dancer, published by Nick Hern Books.

The editor

Reuel Golden is the former editor of the British Journal of Photography and the photography editor at TASCHEN. His TASCHEN titles include Mick Rock: The Rise of David Bowie, both London and New York Portrait of a City books, The Rolling Stones, Her Majesty, the National Geographic editions, the David Bailey SUMO, and Andy Warhol. Polaroids.

LIFE. Let's DanceHardcover, 20 x 27.9 cm, 1.34 kg, 248 pages

ISBN 978-3-7544-0656-4

Edition: English