The Stoke all-nighter, over-35s division
Six hours at the Kings Hall on a floor two inches deep in talc, and one backdrop that I landed cleanly for the first and, so far, only time.
Northern Soul all-nighters start at eleven and finish at eight, and the competition, such as it is, happens somewhere around four in the morning when everybody who was going to leave has left.
You dance to obscure mid-sixties American soul records — the more obscure the better, and there are men in that room who can name the pressing plant. The floor is talcum powder over sprung wood so you can spin on it. The dress code is a vest, a pair of high-waisted trousers with far more fabric in them than seems structurally justified, and shoes you have owned for a decade.
The moves
Spins, shuffles, drops, and backdrops. A backdrop is a full backwards bend from standing until your shoulders are near the floor, and then back up, in time, without using your hands.
I had been landing backdrops in a church hall in Tooting for two years, at about a sixty per cent success rate. In front of four hundred people at four in the morning I landed one, cleanly, on the beat, coming out of a spin, and I have never done it again since. I have tried. My back has opinions now.
They gave me a trophy that says OVER 35s on it, which I have chosen to read as a category.
Keep the faith.