Victor Silvester
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Victor Silvester (1900 – 1978) was a British dance band leader whose songs sold 75 million copies from the 1930s through to the 1980s, and was a significant figure in the development of ballroom dance during the first half of the 20th Century. [1]
Silvester was born as the second son of a vicar in Wembley, Middlesex. In 1915, then a student at Ardingly College, left to enlist in the British Army during the First World War. At that time he was only 15 years old and had to lie about his age in order to get in. His true age was not discovered until he was wounded in 1917 and discharged. During his time in the army Silvester took part in the execution by firing squad of five British soldiers for desertion, a task he found deeply distressing [2] [3].
After the war his interests turned to dancing. He was one of the first post-war English dancers to feature the full Natural Turn in the Slow Waltz, an innovation which was a factor in his winning the first World Standard Ballroom Dancing Championship in 1922 with Phyllis Clarke as his partner. He competed again in 1924, coming second to Maxwell Stewart - the inventor of the Double Reverse Spin - and Barbara Miles. He was a founder member of the Ballroom Committee of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing which codified the theory and practice of Ballroom Dance - now known as the International Style - and published the first book embodying the new standards in 1928: Modern Ballroom Dancing, which was an immediate bestseller and has remained in print through many editions, the latest issued in 2005.
He went on to open a dancing academy in London, which eventually developed into a chain of dance studios. By the early 1930s his teaching had become famous and he had taught some of the top celebrities of the day, among whom was Estelle Thompson, better known as Merle Oberon.
Although he had had no formal musical training, the lack of what he felt were proper dance records led him to form his own orchestra, with whom in 1935 he recorded what would later become his signature tune, You're Dancing on My Heart (written by Al Bryan and George M. Meyer). He ensured that all his recordings conformed to the beats per minute as recommended by the ISTD for ballroom dances, a concept he termed "strict tempo" and in British eyes he became indelibly associated with the catch-phrase "slow-slow-quick-quick-slow" - the rhythm of a variant of the Foxtrot used for social dancing otherwise known as Slow and Quick Rhythm. He would continue to make music for half a century, covering genres such as swing, trad jazz, skiffle, rock and roll, psychedelia, disco, and power pop. By 1958, when he published his autobiography, he had sold twenty-seven million records and was the most successful dance band leader in British musical history, and a major star on British television.
His popularity declined from the mid-sixties on as popular music tastes changed, and the enthusiasm for ballroom dancing began to fade.
[edit] Bibliography
- Victor Silvester, Modern Ballroom Dancing, Stanley Paul, London, 1993 edition ISBN 0-09-178193-0
- Victor Silvester, Dancing is My Life, Heinemann, London, 1958
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- All Music Guide
- Children of the Great War
- Macintyre, George: Doomed Youth: How the Tragedy of 250,000 Boy Soldiers in the Trenches Was Covered Up, The Journal, June 14, 2004 [4]
