Many lesbians, gay men, and those who would increasingly claim the. The act of entering a darkened space, dancing to amplified music and becoming part of an undulating crowd - often for hours on end, often under the influence of perception-enhancing substances - disturbed the everyday consciousness of participants, including those who identified as straight. In the 1960s and 1970s, a new social movement called for the rejection of labels such. participants played a pivotal role, shaping a culture with a queer potential open to anyone who ventured into its vortex. The majority of this list is dominated by Americans, but few women can resist the charming cockney accent of Michael Caine. The age-old convention that social dance should revolve exclusively around straight couples imploded. Two key party spaces - the Loft and the Sanctuary - positioned New York City at the epicenter of the new phenomenon as countercultural revelers flung themselves into a dynamic, participatory and expressive ritual that made Woodstock seem conservative. Constrained and faddish during the 1960s, D.J.-led dance culture discovered its kinetic, kaleidoscopic potential in the space of a few transformational months in early 1970.
