THE MAN IN THE BALLEOOM.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2059, 10 August 1875, Page 2

THE MAN IN THE BALLEOOM.

Dancing of the present time differs essentially from dancing in all previous ages, and the difference is much greater than people at first sight think ; that is if! they think on the matter at; all. That the ; present age should differ from its predecessors in the names and styles of the dances indulged in is only natural, and follows almost as a matter of course. That the polka would be superseded by the much more graceful waltz, and that the latter should,- in its turn in a- manner divide its attractions with the more rapid mode of progression involved by the galop, was only to be expected, and was, as we have said, natural. But a much "greater difference than this divides the dancing of the present from the dancing of the post, and from everything which, in the way of dancing, has ever proceeded it. -By the present we will take to mean that period which commenced ■ when according to lord Byron—

" Imperial waltz was imported from the Rhine;" and by the past all that ever came before it; and the difference which divides the two is this—■'that whereas people in general (every rule has its exceptions) I used to dance to please others, they now ! dance to please .themselves. That this is so, few, we think, who care to give to the matter a few moments consideration i will fail to see. can any casual ', visitor to an ordinary*balHroom deny'tbal what dancing of the. present has gained in fun and joviality it has lost in grace and elegance. The that.dancing at first was hardly , '(y&\ suppose, ever indulged in off the stage ; and the performers themselves were therefore bound to devote their energies to amuse the spectators rather than to please themselves. We can hardly imagine that when David was dancing before Saul his performance—however much it may have edified Saul — wasT-very gratifying to David himself. We pass over, the .Romans and others, wjio deemed dancing fit only for women ,and children slaves, and drunkards,"; arid coming down to' medieval and later ..times. we still find much the same spirit pervading the dancing world. Me* in the ball room, have indeed joined^frith ladies, and of course to. some extent there ia. the enjoyment which dancing is supposed; to give ; but the pleasure after, all must have been of a very questionable kind, to any the ' least, and either performers—when two stepped out in the centre of a room to dance a minuet before the whole assembled guests—must have thought much more of showing off to his or.'jier best advantage, than of any real griijificatioa they might be supposed to havtf,derived from the performance of the dance itself;, iir-fact a man then engaged'Jft; a dance rather to deserve the praises \ which might •: be accorded to his' graceful movements than to spend some . few enjoyable moments with a jretty and intelligent girl. Whether thf Exchange from endea-' vouring to please othets ,to pleasing one- , self is^ a good one, is^open to question;" i Men like Mr Pecksniff, addicted to mora- ' Using, would say that'" pleasing others," even in so trivial a:matter as a dance, was the preferable course of the two; but it may be well urged that those" who erstwhile danced well showed-their skill uibre to gain the praisc-.which their exertions than from "any real'desire to please others; and this state of the , case we are inclined to believe to be the true one. But, however that may be, there is no doubt now that too often dancing has degenerated from being a graceful movement —or rather a series- of thorn—to what h very little better than a romp, and in - this case the male performers are almost invariably to blame, by reason either of their incompetency or' excitability. Girls, as' a rule, nearly always ,dance well. The motions seem so natural in them that one is led -to believe they are almost innate. But with men, the case is very different. To those whose " hot blood of youth" has cooled down, the amusement of watchingrthe man in the ball-room is certainly no mean one, and much secret satisfaction may be derived from so doing by those who know that they arc safe from being called upon to make exhibitions by being themselves asked to dance. The man in the ball-room on entering is generally nervous, and confines himself, as a rule, to the immediate neighbourhood of the,, door, and his remarks—as has been often said—to the weather. The luckless youth who has made his appearance in a ball room with grave misgiving as to ■ his real ability to steer through' the waltz safely, is not one to be envied.. He stands alternately making up his mind, and then repenting, until at last, with'a certain amount of redness, he makes the fatal plunge, and findshimself engaged for the next waltz. Up to this point we may have pitied him, but now we 'pity.his-partner. I We are presuming that the.-gentleman i would not have "been so diffident of his 1 powers had he been a really good goer. The probability is "that, he starts off just how he can, and that not in time to the music, to the great danger of his partner's toes; and if after, two or .-three false starts and blunderings against opposing couples he settles into his stride, he generally adopts one of those intensely grotesque forms of dancing which we have often heard of and rauch more often seen. He" may affect what has been termed the " hot potato " style, in which he holds his partner at arm's length, as if she were something unpleasantly warm, and using her as a pivot, bounds round her in all directions; or he niajr if he choose to afford her the support 'of his right arm, hold her right hand in his left also at arm's length, working., the two up and down as he gyrates round the room somewhat as if he were working a pump handle, to ■ the no small hurt of the faces of others. Again he may —especially if he thinks he has what has been so aptly termed a taste for music, i.e., only a taste and nothing more —endeavour to shew his knowledge of the tune by. humming it to himself and partner out of time, and dancing to it instead of the music, which may well be termed the untimely style. And many other styles there be, .such as the fast dancer who seems .careless of his = partner and of aught else, and only desirous of getting over as much ground as he can in the time.allowed.him ; he generally.does this by • taking two or three terrific bounds up the centre of the room, dragging his unwilling partner after him into the midst of three or four couples who have been endeavouring to dance in the normal way. "When there, he tries to make his partner revolve somehow —in what manner :he cares not—and then goes at it again finishing his rush this time by placing the heel of his boot with much force on

the, toe, of some .bystander;-. who'havipirT hitherto^ refrained from' taking an active ~\ part m these gymnastics, is compelled" v henceforth to • take 1 a' passive part and suffer m silence. These kinds might be multiplied almost to infinity," and cases quoted of the double time-man who willinsist on dancing a gal6p in double tfineM while a slow waltz is being played, or the man who, unable to dance a mazurka, dances a waltz instead, to the annoyance of the room in general, and other kindred spirits, who, having once got , over their first shyness,-go dancing mad, and heedless;of torn dresses or suffering part- '■ ners dance.-every. available round dance with an energy worthy of a better cause; m truth.-after watching their doings we have felt singularly lenient to those fair beings who," having had eßOUgfr-end^to spare ©f their experience of these, betake themselves to'white lies, and though the programme be blank, declare themselvesengaged,.when petitioned,, though, it be - with entreaties, for the.next round dance : by the man in the ball-room.