Growing up in Brighton during the 1940s and 1950s there was only one place to go on a Saturday night – The Regent Dance Hall.

Built in 1923 on the North Street site now occupied by Boots, its sprung dancefloor, glamorous stylings and house band (headed by entertainer Syd Dean) made it a huge draw for hundreds of city residents, who flocked to tea dances, cabaret, balls and dance competitions.

Holding up to 1,500 people, The Regent was at the heart of city life and many people met their future wives and husbands on the dancefloor.

But after the boom years of the 1940s and 1950s, changing tastes led to a drop in popularity during the following decade and the dance hall closed its doors in 1967. It was later converted into a bingo hall and eventually demolished in 1974.

But this weekend The Regent is revived for two nights only in Zap Art’s Our Dancing Feet, an ambitious Arts Councilfunded performance project that celebrates the part the venue played in so many lives.

Six months of community work that included oral histories, talks, exhibitions and tea dances has gone into the site-responsive promenade performance, which features archive film and photos and a script by playwright Sara Clifford based on the recollections of former dancers.

The show begins at the Clock Tower, where projections by Shared Space and Light will conjure the old Regent on its former site, before the audience is led along West Street and into nightclub Oceana – the dance hall’s modern counterpart – where actors and 50 community dancers will tell the story of 78-year-old Joan as she relives memories of a night at The Regent in 1953.

“The Regent is an important part of Brighton’s heritage – it was a focal point in local life,”

says Clifford. “Televisions had only just been introduced and, for the main, people went to the cinema or went dancing in their spare time. The place was such a big part of people’s lives – you only have to listen to some of the memories that have been shared.”

“It was the highlight of my week,”writes Alan Read on MyBrightonandHove.org.uk.

“Me and my mates and girlfriends used to meet at the Clock Tower then go to The Regent. They used to play Elvis’s Big Hunk O’ Love first, then when it was time to go, they played Ricky Nelson’s It’s Late. Great times in those days. I would love to go back in time.”

“I never missed a Thursday night, and the records were great,” adds Peter Guy. “The hits just kept on coming and many of them still remind me of The Regent today.”

It was such an exciting period,” says Clifford, whose mother was a professional dancer who toured Europe with the world-famous Bluebell Girls during the period in which the play is set.

“It was a time of such change and this was reflected on the dancefloor when people were moving from traditional quick step to the wilder jive style.”

Although the two performances tonight and tomorrow are now fully booked, there will be an opportunity for everyone to view the video projections on Boots between 5.30pm and 10pm both nights, and an interactive sound installation created by sound designer Thor McIntyre-Burnie will be open in the Deep Bar at Oceana between 3pm and 5.15pm today and 3pm and 7pm tomorrow. Both events are free and unticketed. The oral history memories on which the project is based will be archived at East Sussex Record Office.

Our Dancing Feet will transfer to Eastbourne Winter Gardens in March next year, with local people again invited to share their memories and photographs of dancing in Eastbourne. Eventually, Clifford hopes the project will be rolled out across the country, marking the role dance halls played in wider life.

*For more information about Our Dancing Feet, visit ourdancingfeet.carbonmade.com