DANCE HALL ENQUIRIES

Hokitika Guardian, 9 June 1925, Page 4

DANCE HALL ENQUIRIES

CHEWING GDI AXI» LIQUOJR. AUCKLAND. 3. !o verily or otherwise me criticism so Ireely levelled at the coiidutt ol' da live halls in Auckland, a reporter made a personal investigation on a recent evening. Aloat of the public dances he went to were in side streets, and tile price of admission was never more than Is Gtl for men and Is for women. The girls who attended them were obviously from the industrial class, and the men wore, too. The girls had their faces painted and powdered so extensively that it made them look ghastly in the electric lights. The majority of the men were those peculiar suits the coats of which are split for an extraordinary distance up the hacks, and they blended the.-c v.uit shrieking collars, tics and shirts, always being careful to se that huge expanses of the last-name.l were showing. The genera! elfcct v.a . incongruous. As for the dancing it was meet di!:icult to describe it. Got it be trttd first that, despite critics who hold r contrary view, the ordinary jaws step, even with a few trimmings, is net consistent with immorality or anything else repugnant, ft is a pretty step to see. a delightful step to dame. Bui what one saw in those dance balls was not recognisable as “jazz" or ,•instiling approaching ii. The only thing jazz about it was the band music. 11 I contortions perfectly ridiculous an I suggestive swaying movements that . wore executed by habitues in fiance ! balls Imd ever the faintest, semblance 1 of the original jazz, it w as' so badly * mutilated and backed about its to be ' unrecognisable. In its place were ■steps and movements that could never have been products cf the minds of original and healthy men. 'lucre I was close vhc-like bugging, stumping of feet. lioits. skips atuf jump-, runs ' from otic cad of the ball to the other. I youths and girls bending backward and forward, kicking their legs in the air. half running, half jumping, strange, neurotic movements. It aOs unpleasant to witness. One can umlefsiaml exaggeration in maty things. I ip. that wtts not exaggeration. What Has not foolishness was indecent and what wa- not indcccnl was suggestive. if l here is any line I. tween Ihe tan. To add to tile grates queness of the whole business chewing gum was essentially a part ul the evi ning ■■ prot ' -dings, All night long jaws worked, and it was nothing to -■ ; couple dancing together gripping one another closely, cheek to oho 1 !;, and moiit Its m-iving in si rid mu -n. I i is cn>y to mulct stand the inline:.r ■ that this i.ix at mosphere ol cheap powder and smelly (hewing gnu: ami suggest ive and ridiculous da:,.--has on dancers ] 1 I . iuil rcsi dig i a uolc 1 hai hi their lasi meeting a certain borough council committee reported as | illowr on the conduct of dancer Imh! in tie borough ball:--hour commit tec i- not satisfied with the manner in which dances are being conducted in the ball, a supervision appear- to be lax. with the re-till that an und- -arable element gains admission. The question of drink ni drum's has hern much in the lime light of late, and there is no doubt whatever limb there is cause for complaint. Tie’ reporter saw not only drunken youths. lat half-lipsy girls in dame balls, but they were in a minority, and alt tiling -ecuicil ci-rl ti e liquor was I.rotielii in “on t lie hin." n.“ in iiv ( ai pocket -. men no d oil.i. supplying ihe women. At a cabaret it was difi'erem. Tim dancing could not Ist l:tk u exception to. alllmugh one or two gilded ynnibs did endeavour to represent a gliding snake In the best of I heir ability. There wi- e letined alme-pber.- bre.l cf • veiling ilresj.es and domer -nil .. hut i here was I iqnoe I here on Ibe night the reporter visited the place, and that' liquor was drunk openly, the lonic:. f..-ing left mi the Gibb's during dances. \gain tin- liquor va- it'd supplied oil ill' | Mills'. O bill Wit equally by nun and women.