Expert Gives Advice On Rock ’N’ Roll Dancing

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28266, 2 May 1957, Page 10

Expert Gives Advice On Rock ’N’ Roll Dancing

“If you’re a novice, don’t try to be fancy; and if you’re not fully qualified as a teacher, don’t attempt to teach—you might kill

someone.” This is the advice and warning of a leading rock 'n* roll expert, Mr Milton Mitchell. ■’When people start throwing each other aroujrf they are taking each others livjs in their hands; in other word*, if you cannot do it, do not daboM with it,” he said yesterday. Mr Mitchell, who is Australian progressive dancing . champion with 12 years’ experience as a rock ’n’ roll teacher, was commenting on the death of a young man in Palmerston North.

“I think that dancing rock ’n’ roll is a more open and pleasant dance than any created,” he said. “Done the right way, it is acceptable to all ages from 15 to 55. “But if it is not taught the right way and executed the right way it can be very dangerous, particularly to girls,” he said. “When any person throws another during rock ’n’ roll he has to be in full control with both feet on the ground and know exactly what he is doing,” Mr Mitchell said. “He has got someone else’s life in his hands. Accidents happen in any form of recreation, but there is no need for them to happen in rock ’n’ roll with properly trained dancers.

“In other words, if you cannot do it, do not dabble with it. It is the same thing as: ‘lf you cannot drive a car do not get behind the wheel and endanger other people,’” he said. A former member of the touring “The Boy Friend” company, Mr Mitchell claims to have taught nearly 12,000 persons the art of rock ’n’ roll in New Zealand cities in the last eight months.