WAR ON THE JAZZERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1921, Page 12

WAR ON THE JAZZERS.

STRANGE SCENES IN PARIS. There was a remarkable scene at the final judging in the competition for'the I championship of modern dances at the Theatre of the Champs Elysees, Paris. The tumultuous manifestation* of the discontented competitor* and their friends showed that if musi;- sweetens manners, it is not quite the same thing with the dance. The jazz band had played for five mortal hours, until two o’clock in the morning in fact, and when the decision of the jury, of which the president was M. Andre ie Fouquieres, the arbiter of fashions for men. were announced, there wer<\ volleys of protest from the galleries, and a group of black-haired men resorted to arts of obstruction. Parsons and ifis partner, Alademoiselle Pontvianno. were proclaimed the world’s champion dancers among professionals, and immmodiately their name* were announced, Lydor, a professional, rushed into the arena, and. with dramatic gesture, issued a challenge to Parsons, who, it was alleged, was an amateur, and not a professional. The president of the jury was not in the least dismayed by this clamorous ebullition of dissent. He let it be known that he accepted full responsibility for the decision that had been reached. There was another demonstration of disapproval when the announcement was made that Georges Clemenceau and hi* partner, though they had not carried off the championship for amateurs, which went to John Roskilly and Mademoiselle Andree Fabiani. had been given the prize of honor. There were only two points difference between Georges Clemenceau and Fernand de Huertas, who, dissatisfied with the decision, challenged his rival to dance all the dances. Georges Clemenceau is a grandson of the former Premier. Showing the state of excitement that prevailed, the father of one of the competitors had declared that if his daughter was not given the prize she merited he would kill a certain member of the jury who. he imagin n d, was hostile to her. It was happily if f necessary to go to that length, for the fair dancer obtained her