Freaky Dancing

A few years ago I was sitting in a local pub on a quiet Wednesday evening. A couple of tables away from me, an unassuming, middle-aged man sat alone, quietly nursing his pint.

Someone walked over from the other side of the bar and put some money in the jukebox, which promptly started playing the Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Woman. At this point, the solitary drinker (who bore an uncanny resemblance to Bamber Gascoigne) suddenly stood up and started dancing in a rather unusual, slightly robotic manner, without a trace of a smile on his face.

This wasn't a drunken man having a laugh in front of a few mates. He was quite sober and didn't seem to be performing to anyone, so what was going on? Judging by the complete lack of interest shown by the other drinkers, this was a regular occurrence.

The music stopped and the man promptly sat down. A few minutes later the jukebox began playing Give Me Shelter, at which point 'Bamber' calmly stood up and began dancing again.

Later, I discovered that I had met the Lewes Dancing Man.

Sadly I know nothing about this gentleman, except that he will dance to any music, any time, anywhere. In addition to dancing at pubs and gigs, he often gives little impromptu performances next to buskers.

There are now several videos on YouTube featuring the Lewes Dancing Man including this one:

The second video features a marvellous piece of street performance. Clearly the Lewes Dancing Man is a versatile individual and is as much at home with challenging, improvised contemporary jazz as he is with the Stones and Iggy Pop:

I want to know more about this man.