Northern soul: The story behind viral 'Sheffield Stompers' dance video which has been viewed 3.9m times

Now the woman who filmed it – a nurse at Sheffield Children’s Hospital – wants to introduce a new generation to the charms of the music and dance movement which has been going strong since it emerged in the late 60s.

‘Sheffield Stompers’ is a 15-second clip in which a man wearing a vest, flat cap and red neckerchief shows off his nifty footwork to the strains of Time, by Edwin Starr.

The video, which encapsulates all that is great about northern soul, was shot during the Roundabout Soul Club night at Norton House Country Club last Friday by Amy Hodkin, who goes by the name sheffieldsoulgirl on TikTok.

As of Friday afternoon, less than a week later, it had racked up 3.9 million views, more than 150,000 likes and over 3,000 comments – many from people keen to know more about the northern soul scene and how to learn the snazzy steps on show.

The northern soul nurse

At just 30, Amy is one of the younger northern soul devotees, who decribes herself as a ‘second generation soulie’ and became hooked after going along with her dad Ian to a club night.

She plans to launch a northern soul club for young people on Sheffield's Lowedges estate to help them embrace the joy of the music genre, which for many among its tight-knit community is a way of life, with freedom of expression at its heart.

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“I can’t believe how the video’s taken off but it’s great that so many people are showing an interest in northern soul, which I fell in love with as soon as my dad introduced me to it,” said Amy who danced in the Queen’s Jubilee Pageant outside Buckingham Palace.

“As a nurse, things have been quite tough these last two-and-a-half years with Covid and the music has really gotten me through it.

“There’s a real sense of community and it’s great to see the men there have an avenue to express how they’re feeling and dance like nobody’s watching.

“What’s blown me away about the response to the TikTok video is how people from all over the world have commented to say where is this place, I want to come, I’m moving to Sheffield tomorrow.”

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Amy hopes to launch the Younghearts Soul Club at Lowedges Community Centre to give young people on the estate something new to do, the chance to make new friends and most of all experience some great toe-tapping tunes for the first time. She is trying to raise the funds and recruit the volunteers to help get it up and running.

“Northern soul is a way of life and I want to get more people as passionate about it as I am. The dancers you see at club nights today are getting older so I want to introduce it to a new generation to help keep it going,” she said.

The northern soul club founder

Kevin Bruce is one of the founders of the monthly Roundabout Soul Club, where the viral video was filmed, and he says it typically attracts around 100 dancers.

“It’s all about the music, the dancing and socialising with like-minded people. It’s not about the drinking,” he says.

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“I’m shocked by how popular the video’s proved but the more people who view it the better.”

It’s hard to define northern soul, which grew up in the north of England and has its own slogan, ‘keep the faith’, and clenched fist logo.

Amy suggests the heavy 4/4 beat is a key feature, with tracks typically featuring a faster tempo than your typical soul song, and the biggest hits from Motown are generally less favoured than the more obscure tracks which were originally harder to obtain.

For Kevin, the scene’s appeal lies in the ‘music and the camaraderie’.

“I’m not saying you never get any fighting at a northern soul night but it’s very rare,” he says.

If someone steps on your toes, it’s more likely to start a conversation than a fight, he explains – ‘they’ll say sorry, you’ll ask where they’re from and you’ll soon be chatting away’.

There have been a handful of northern soul films about the movement’s early days, mostly focusing around the legendary Wigan Casino club, but Kevin feels these fail to do the scene justice as they focus too much around the drugs which were never a big part of northern soul.

Northern soul is bigger now than it ever was in the 60s or 70s, he adds, and it continues to thrive in Sheffield and South Yorkshire, where the biggest draw nowadays is probably the J36 club at Birdwell Venue in Barnsley, while famous clubs from years gone by include Samantha’s on Queen’s Road, KGB at Abbeydale Picture House, and Tiffany’s, on the corner of London Road and Boston Road.

Classics of the genre, he says, include Tainted Love by Gloria Jones, most famously covered by Soft Cell; Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You (Indeed I Do); and Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, by the Temptations.

But for Kevin part of the appeal is the sheer variety of music under one banner.

The northern soul dancers starring in the video

The star of the video is Mick Carter, who can be seen tearing up the dancefloor in his vest and flat cap.

The 58-year-old, who lives in Mosborough and works for a wholesale meat company, first got into northern soul as a teenager and twice visited Wigan Casino.

His love of the scene was rekindled when he visited Maggie Mays in Sheffield city centre in 2010 and he’s never looked back.

He is doing his best to pass on his passion to his granddaughters, Edith, aged three, and five-year-old Maisie, who he says love the music and the dancing.

Mick jokes about the video: “I’m glad they captured my best side.”

To any new converts, he adds: “I applaud anybody and everybody who gets on that dancefloor. It’s about expressing yourself and it doesn’t matter if you’re good, bad or indifferent.”

Dean Fox, a 61-year-old roofer from Norton Lees, also appears in the video, wearing a trilby.

“It’s amazing to see the interest it’s generated. Northern soul's always been about the dance and the chance to do your own thing and express yourself, which is what I love about it,” he said.

“It’s nice to see some youngsters getting into the scene and if we can do our bit to bring the next generation through that’s great.

“It keeps you agile, it keeps you fit and it’s more fun than a workout at the gym.”