Dancing with Martin Parr
"We all know the feeling: some familiar music, possibly a few drinks, and that irresistible urge to dance kicks in. It never fails. It is as predictable as night follows day. In a club, outside on a terrace at a fading seaside resort, young or old, this simple and wonderful social phenomenon is what we celebrate in these pages," writes Martin Parr in the epilogue to the new issue of editions2wice.

Left: Rimini, Italy, 1999. Pasha nightclub. Right: Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007. Copyright Martin Parr/MAGNUM PHOTOS, courtesy Pentagram.
At the invitation of Pentagram's Abbott Miller, Parr, who has been photographing people dancing for decades, combed his archive. He has also added images to the collection from recent travels to Brazil, China, and Dubai among other spots around the globe.
It's not surprising that the UK, the country that gave us everything ballroom from dance competitions to reality TV shows like Dancing with the Stars, would inspire Parr, the social observer extraordinaire. This Briton has hit all kinds of dance parties from raucous New Years Eve celebrations to serious tango milongas, from socials in church basements to wedding parties in hotel ballrooms, with a few Highland Flings thrown in. Every age and social strata is represented. Revelers and wallflowers alike are given the consideration of his gaze, which is surprisingly un-ironic here.
In his Introduction, critic Andy Grundberg writes, "Dance, however, should be considered only a pretext for Parr's pictures, just as food and parking places have been for other series of his work....Parr's particular talent on display here is his penchant for finding absurdity in details, gestures, expressions, clothing, colors." But the absurdities Parr reveals are simply evidence of life being lived large, unfiltered by the stern watch of the dance police.
The publication glitters like a disco ball, with a foil cover printed in a split-fountain spectrum, which is transformed into an op art treatment for the end pages, and silver gilt edges. Everybody Dance Now is a must for those who delight in Martin Parr's colorful view of the human condition. It was designed by Abbott Miller/Pentagram and is availaable at editions2wice.
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Correction: In yesterday's issue of DART, directionals on the photo credit were
incorrect. The center image, Thirty Plates, is by Keith Carter. The image to the right, Corinth, North Dakota, January 2006, is by Eugene Richards.

