FOXTROTS TOO FAST

Hokitika Guardian, 20 April 1926, Page 1

FOXTROTS TOO FAST

A keen dancer tells me that, though he used io dance six times a week, he seldom dances now because he can seldom get any enjoyment out oi the foxtrot when bands hurry him, says B. Uhalmers in Hie ‘Daily Alail.” This quiekening-up, it phenomenon of the last eighteen months—but realIv touching its peak in the last three mouths—has brought in what is in effect a new dance The old rhymthic foxtrot is passing out. in the ballroom just now one sees Charleston .stejts, small tricky, restless, agile, done by at least one couple ill every three. It is the combination dance that suits the faster music. The rhythmic, swccp-along foxtrot, with its succession of straight, gliding steps and open turns, beautifully smooth and flowing, cannot he lilted to a foxtrot piece quickened up to more than fifty bars a minute. It is a pity to see that type of dance fade ‘out. hut hands insist on quieker time, and us they play so the crowd must dance The leader of one famous dance band told me litis week that he averages 5-1. bars to the minute. Another celebrated hand, which broadcasts, averager; 52, dropping sometimes to 48 and rising to 50. This hand two years ago averaged 15. Six months ago its average was 51. Leading American hands are playing much faster. When the F dub. or the supper room of the. V reslaillKnt, has 500 people dancing in space originally intended to hold 250, a hand which plays in the old. easy, leisurely style is not popular. Small steps and “standstill" stejis are essential

But only a r ew fashionable ballrooms have these conditions. The majority of ballrooms are not overcrowded, and in these a foxtrot speed of 40 to 50 is perfectly practicable. Why. then, has the craze for quick-cned-np dance music penetrated to those plaees also? Because there are fashions in dance music, and hands follow the lead from the top. If a famous band playing at a smart club or restaurant, recording for the gramophone, and broadcasting is heard playing fust, lesser hands elsewhere are apt to follow suit under the mistaken impression that they «r keeping up-to-date. The dozen or so star hands which play in the “crush” places can make their own time, but the hundreds of other dance hands throughout the country would Ik- wise to consider whether a return to the slower time would not he popular. Otherwise the popularity of dancing may soon wane.