DANCE fever gripped Bolton – yet again.

More than 60 people filled the floor at the Venue Bar for a one-off event following the success of the BBC Two show You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.

It was like a scene from the past as Westhoughton dance tutor Philip Hurst taught the newcomers the Cha Cha to great cheers and applause.

Mr Hurst had joined presenter and choreographer Jack Murphy on the two-part You Make Me Feel Like Dancing show which brought together old and new dancers at the reopening of the Palais.

Venue co-owner John Wray attended the Palais dance to see if there was an interest in the dance scene and has since joined forces with Mr Hurst to host a night at his bar in Churchgate.

Father-of-three Mr Hurst is now on a mission to bring social dancing – dancing as part of a social occasion dancing – back to life. He said: “I don’t think dancing is dying out, everyone loves to dance, it’s the opportunity people are getting to actually dance which is so scarce. There is definitely the demand for social dances where people can come along, socialise, have a laugh and let loose.

“I hold a dance at Blackpool tower once a month and every time more than 1,000 people turn up for that, there’s nothing more enjoyable than dancing cheek-to-cheek.

Click on the picture below to see a gallery of photos from the night

 

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“I really hope this will take off in Bolton and with the turn out from tonight I think it looks promising.”

Support worker, Ann Griffiths, aged 59, attended with her friend Jackie Flanagan, aged 60. She said: “I absolutely love dance since I started ballet aged four.

“Dancing is about freedom and expressing yourself, as soon as I heard about the social dance I was up for it straight away.

“I would love to see the Palais reopened in Bolton and see social dancing become more popular.

“I really think it would take off like a rocket – not immediately but the interest is definitely there to keep the doors open.

“It’s nice to have a dance somewhere like this than in a club where you’ll most likely get a drink split on you.”

Mr Wray said: “We put at advert on Facebook for tonight’s event and it got 15,000 hits. Now that’s 15,000 reading the advert which suggests to me there’s a massive interest in social dancing.

“There’s been an amazing turn out tonight so I’m hoping to hold one of these nights on the first Tuesday of every month.

“It’s good fun for people to have a few drinks and relax.”

Company director Neil McGivern and his wife Alison, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, put on their dancing shoes for the night.

Mrs McGivern, who works as a secretary, said: “We’ve been to dancing lessons before and always enjoyed it but there was never any progression to higher levels so we stopped going.

“When we heard about this night we thought it would be fun to come along.

“We actually found out about it through Facebook as we unfortunately missed the BBC show but definitely would have watched it.

“We’ve always watched Strictly Come Dancing and would support social dancing if nights were put on.”