1910 – Launch of the Dancing Times

Dance writer and editor Philip JS Richardson relaunched The Dancing Times, the house magazine of the Cavendish Rooms, a ballroom dancing establishment in London, as a periodical to cover all forms of dance, both in Britain and internationally, in October 1910. The magazine played an integral part in establishing the Association of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (what would become the Royal Academy of Dance), the Camargo Society and the British Board of Ballroom Dancing (now the British Dance Council). Richardson remained editor of the magazine until 1958 but continued as director until his death in 1963. Succeeding Richardson, journalist and author Arthur Franks divided the magazine, producing a separate Ballroom Dancing Times, later becoming Dance Today. The assistant editor Mary Clarke took over the editorship of both magazines in 1963 after Franks’ sudden death. Jonathan Gray became editor in 2008. The two magazines were reintegrated in 2015, marking a return to the magazine’s original intention to cover all forms of dance. Dancing Times aimed to maintain the highest standards of criticism and illustration, encouraging high standards in teaching, and giving voice to leading authorities on dance. Impacted heavily by the financial fallout of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the magazine closed in September 2022.