THE INDISPENSABLE WALTZ.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 900, 20 August 1910, Page 11

THE INDISPENSABLE WALTZ.

'There is, we feel assured, no > fear ol tho downfall of the waltz (says an Australian writer). Everyone who dances at all tulmits.its supreme popularity. Last winter, -hon'erer, it seemed as though the "Two-Step" and "Boston" were becoming rivals to tho swinging waltz,'but this year both of them slipped into their own place ou Hie .dance programme. As a matter of fact, the Boston is only a variety of waltz, with a slow, .undulating movement, which is decidedly effective; but dancers dp not.reverse, and this variation is tho joy of accomplished ■wailzers, wlio usually take possession of the centre of the polished, floor, and perform there to their own satisfaction. It is the happy-go-lucky; dancers who fly. round the 6utsidc -edge, and onlookersoften remark that- to them dancing is evidently more a form of exercise than one of true ■ enjoyment, for they rarely pay duo attention to the-time of the music, accentuated ' by thu orchestra. ;Whilst on the subject of ballroom dancing, it may bo observed that.the rather objectionable American habit of encoring particular dances is, in Melbourne, being more and more indulged in. No doubt jit is complimentary to the leader of the orchestra, but, , at the same time, it is decidedly undignified, if not altogether '"ba<l form." ' :

; The latest innovation the American wo;man is working for is the abolition of the ancient custom of "gniflg. tho bride ■I away." Tho habit dates back to the days .when a woman was'.a chattel, unable to hold property, and was the slave of some 'man—usually her father—until he gave her aivav to her. husband. The modern American thinks that.it is time that freehorn girls repudiated the suggestion that one man can give them awny to/another likt) sheep. ~'•..