OVERDOING DANCING.

Shannon News, 5 April 1927, Page 2

OVERDOING DANCING.

STRAIN OF CHARLESTON. From Constantinople recently came news that Keriiel Pasha had prohibited Turkish women dancing the,-Charleston on the ground that, it impaired thair hearts, writes Patrick Chalmers in the Daily Mail. Does vigorous fox-trott-ing, of the Charleston type, impose an undue strain on the system? There is « no doubt whatever that it does, when the dancer only dances once a week or so and takes little exercise. Charlestoning is only an unusually energetic form of fox-trotting, and rhe new craze known as Black Bottom —■ it is a more staccato Charleston, with sudden stops which demand agility and considerable muscular control —intensi fies the normal strain. Half-an-hour's dancing is a, gentle .pastime; three hours of it strenuous exorcise. Intelligent dancers ne.ver dance their feet off. Moreover, they dance at thoir normal pace, not as the fashion of the moment dictates. People who do not often dance gc* to a 9 till 2 ball, take every dance enthusiastically, feel worn out the next day—and denounce modern dancing. The fault is theirs. Sophisticated dancers at a dance lasting janything over two hours sit out often, take their • time over supper, and never do dance;* they don't like. Unless the poise be perfect and the pace suited to a particular physique, dancing imposes a double strain. Some people are naturally slow dancers, others naturally fast dancers; and eachshould find out his natural bent and - stick to it. A man who is not naturally agile is foolish to take a onestep in full time if he should take it half time. The girl who feels breathless dnncing fast should ask her partner to go slower. If he is anything of * dancer he will be able to oblige, and to get just as much pleasure from th* more leisurely pace. Slippery or sticky floors, a band playing too fast or too slow, uncomfortable shoes, muscles unused to dancing, an energetic Charleston indulged in before the Charleston rhythm ha 3 been assimilated thoroughly—all these things put an undue strain on the muscular system. But no one who realises that dancing is an exercise, as well as a social pleasure and an amusing pastime, is likely to suffer from what fashionably physicians may soon be calling '' Charleston heart.''