Park Secondary School: Ethnic or Folk Dancing


Figure 1.--The Park Secondary School in Dagenham had an active dance program, endowed by the Ford Foundation. This was the Polish dance team in 1961.

Apparently even schools in other countries were involved. We note that the British Park Secondary School in Dagenham had a dance program. It was apparently promoted by Ford. There is a big ford factory in Dagenham. Apparently the Fords Endowed Junior School would have been set up with some sort of funding from Ford motor company but would still be state controlled. As these photos appear on the Park site I assume this was a feeder school. I suspect that the English dance team means they performed only English dances and not square dances. Just what English dances consisted of I am not quite sure. There was in fact a Polish dance team from the same school. This seems to suggest that Ford was ptomoting folk dancing in general and not just Western square dancing. Unfortunately we have few details at this time.

Dance Program

Apparently even schools in other countries were involved (figure 1). We note that the British Park Secondary School in Dagenham had a dance program. It was apparently promoted by the American automobile manufacturer, Henry Ford. There is a big Ford factory in Dagenham. Apparently the Fords Endowed Junior School would have been set up with some sort of funding from ford motor company but would still be state controlled.

Square Dancing

Ford had a major role in reviving American square dancing. In the eraly 20th century there was less and less iterest it it, espevially after World War I when jazz and dances like the Charles captured the popular fancy.

Folk Dances

I suspect that the English dance team means they performed only English dances and not square dances. Just what English dances consisted of I am not quite sure. There was in fact a Polish dance team from the same school. This seems to suggest that Ford was promoting folk dancing in general and not just Western square dancing. Unfortunately we have few details at this time. WEE also note that there was a Polish dance team. We are not sure to what extent this was composed of students of Polish extraction or just English children interested in dance and Poland. We do not know if there were any other ethnic dance teams at the school.

Park Secondary School

We are not sire wht type of school it was, perhaps a secondary modern school. A HBC reader tells us, "As these photos appear on the Park site I assume this was a feeder school. "







Christopher Wagner





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Created: February 2, 2003
Last updated: February 2, 2003