Taking our cue from the start of the first Gardetanz page, let's have a look at some more couples.
Each Gardetanz troupe, representing a particular town etc, has a leading Tanzpaar (dance pair or couple). These are the star dancers who do all the really tricky stuff while the others are doing the high kicks.
These are the same dance-pair as in the RH picture above. Behind them is Cologne Cathedral- so I guess they come from Köln.
Time to leave the studio and investigate the cobbled streets. Hello!
Back indoors to what seems to be a gathering of Gardetanz troupes. Of course in England we have.... Morrismen! The Germans seem to have updated a bit from the middle ages and bells round the ankles!
What would I rather see? Hmmm.. let me think about that for a second!
As we saw from the first page, the standard gardetanz skirt is usually knife pleated in ordinary polyester or polyester mix. However here we have a sunray pleated skirt, presumably in polyester satin! How wonderful!
Here is another troupe at the same event.
That guy on the right has just realised that his watch has been stolen! And the girl in front of him looks as though she's giving them the slow handclap!
This event is staged outdoors in the sunshine.
The girls in the background presumably haven't earned their stripes!
The Japanese think they invented sailor girls. We know different!
Archive Pictures
While I was trawling around, I discovered a few sites with archive pictures. And some of them are gems!
This pic was taken in 1955
Same girls in 1957
Note the larger pleats. These skirts were probably made from cotton and would have needed frequent ironing. Polyester had only been available from about 1953.
I know this pic, taken in 1965, was on the previous page but it seems to me it should be included here as well.
That queen looks to me like a man in drag. Is that a moustache? I love the girl's expression on the left! The Queen would wave like that - "You're dismissed!"
(1969) This is a great picture of the girls relaxing around a table full of booze. Smaller pleats now. I'd say those skirts were some polyester mix.
I've no idea what the date of this picture is. Quite old judging by the length of the skirts. But what a nice picture! This one blows up to a very large size. The skirts are some kind of satin. Look at the careless way she sits on that chair with the skirt all crunched round the chair back!
Marvellous!
OK, here's a few miscellaneous pix to finish on:
OK, well that really is it now. I shall choose another subject for the next page! .....or not! I've got a bunch more pix!