POOR LITTLE CHILDREN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 35, 5 November 1918, Page 6

POOR LITTLE CHILDREN

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l am quite sure the correspondents whb have written to you under this heading condemning tho appearance of ehildron at dance recitals have dono' so with the very best intentions, and I trust none of them will think 1 feel personally affronted by anything they have said. As it happens, howojer, they have left mo to bear the brunt of criticism which apparently was intended for someone else.

Tho older Wellington'teachers were allowed to hold their recitals without a word of protest from these kindly folk against the fatigues and excitements and perils of the dances and the rehearsals and tho performances; but now I am to follow their well-deserved successes amidst a chorus of denunciation, mingled with a cry from one of your correspondents for the intervention of tho Society for tho Protection of Women and Children and the Minister of Public Health. The police have not so fnr been invoked, and I-am hoping they yet may remain on my side.

With a, groat deal of what your correspondents say I henrtily agree. If children really were being- "exploited to the detriment of their bodily and mental health," and "encouraged to imitate grimaces and oglings" of which they should remain entirely ignorant, then it certainly would be quite time for foraeone to interfere. But I cannot believe such things aro dono by dancing teachers anywhere. They -would be onposed to every tenet and tradition of their profession ins well as to every decent instinct of a woman's heart. One of your correspondents is good enough to admit that dancing, with all lis abuses, is one of the finest of ewreises for growing boys and girls. The ancient Greeks made this discovery many centuries ago, and they, of course, were the most perfect race physically the world has ever known. Thev rented thaMancing was not merely 6ne of the finest, but actually the finest, of all for young people at every stage of their

Physical eulturists'and doctor? nrP i^. 000 '?' 50 this trl,t, >. indppd some of them have recnimiscd it for years past. and anion? the best of the sion lirvo been medical men who have entrusted to ;no children who required special exercises-kmdergiirtfn treatment. as one of my friends called it—for their Fr"il little bodies, i

I cannot expect you to let me flood your columns with the literature of the subject, but perhaps you will allow me to remind your co-respondents that with the Greeks danoin.g was an essential part of their religion as well as of their education. As snnn a= a child could walk it was taught in dnnoe. Boys had to lonrn to dance beftv-n thev IV efe eon*idemd lit to l°arn (lm arts of war Youths danced "to rest thcms«lves" after more strenuous exercises in the gymnasium.

I'mally, I should like to ask your correspondfnts to believe that some of us are teaching dancing with a higher aim than making money. An easier wnv of <wi<nir a living is open td mo?t of ns. But hefre we have a chance of doing somcthm? for our own day and generation and for posteritv which mWit »nt come to us in Ips*i laborious work. Let your rnTrcsr.'""'ents 00m „ to lm . lt^o nl . ffl mv refill and sop f or Hipmsolves. Their criticism would 1« as welcome as their presence.—l am "tp. DOROTHY SAUNDERS.

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