DANCING IN ENGLAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1947, 1 December 1906, Page 1

DANCING IN ENGLAND.

It is pleasing to record that what

the Daily Express calls “ the boisterous terpsichorean revels of America and France ” have fallen from popularity this season in England, and in their plaeo there is a revival of the dainty, graceful dances of more picturesque times. '1 he undignified cake walk has given way' to the charming minuet. But while efforts are being made to improve darning and introduce now movements, the dearth of dancing men seriously handicaps re« formers. The president of tho Imperial Society of Dance Teachers complains that dancing is not, taught at tho English public schools, and that consequently when young men receive their hrst invitations to dances they have to acquire, in a hurry, a scanty know ledge of the subject from a dancing master. At the dances they scramble through more or 1- ss creditably, and when they apologise for their awkwardness their partners say, “ Oh, you dance very well, awfully well, in fact,’’ and the young men—after the manner of young men—swallow the flattery and dance badly for the rest of their lives. In England —and this expe/t’s remarks seem to apply equally to New Zealand—there is not enough variety in dances, whereas on the Continent, out of a programme of twenty dances, only a couple are waltzes, the rest being novel and pretty dances which make tho pastime a tiuo recreation. However, English men and women can take comfort in the opinion expressed by this gentleman that if they were taught how to dance they would greatly outshine the people of other countries. Aptitude for danciDg varies greatly in different parts of Great Britain. Lancashire and Yorkshire folk, for instance, dance much moro gracefully and quietly than do Londoners, while Edinburgh children take to street dancing with astonishing case. London hostesses, embarrassed by a shortage in dancing men, have one advantage over their colonial cousins. 1 hey can send out to the great stores or the entertainment agencies and ob* tain experts at a moment’s notioo.