What is dancehall?

A harder question to answer than it might first appear.
The term 'dancehall' or dance hall predates the genre now so recognized by many years, and of course also refers to the physical space in which music aimed primarily at motivating dancing was presented.

Its current usage emerged some time between 1979-83( a wide span I know, but till now, we still haven't pinned down 'reggae' as yet, so I don't feel too bad) and as such encompasses tunes recordings making extensive use of rhythmic aspects of reggae, drawing from dub as well as increasingly other sources, and featuring extnesively - though not exclusively - the rapping/toasting which we refer to as deejaying (and which was the main wellspring of rap in the US).

That's my best approximation of it. Let's see how the choices match up to the terms. Remember to post your choices for the top 100 or email me at liveplug22@gmail.com