OLD TIME DANCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 June 1939, Page 5

OLD TIME DANCES

FAVOURITES OF LONG AGO. Having referred in a previous article to the minuet, let us now consider some of the other interesting dances of our ancestors. Firstly, the pavane, perhaps the most famous and stately dance of the Catherine de Medici period. Of Spanish origin, it was really more a procession than a dance, presenting a very gorgeous and noble sight, being perfectly suited to the dress of the period, the stiff brocades of the ladies and the swords and heavily plumed hats of the men were displayed in its simple and dignified measures to great advantage. In the pavane, and in nearly all the dances up to the end of the 18th century, the practice of kissing formed not an unimportant part, and seems to have added greatly to the popularity of the pastime. The cour.nte (from which developed the minuet iiid the gavotte) was the favourite dance of Louis / XIV., being performed on tiptoe with slightly jumping steps and many bows and curtseys. No gentleman’s education was complete without a thorough knowledge of this dance. The gavotte, which was often danced as a pendant to the minuet, was originally a peasants’ dance, and consisted chiefly of kissing and capering. It also became stiff and artificial, and in the later and more prudish half of the 18th century the ladies received uquets instead of kisses in dancing the gavotte. It rapidly became a uge dance, and has never been restored to the ballroom. The waltz is no doubt the most popular of the 19th century dances. Its origin is a muchdebated subject, the French, Italians and Bavarians each claiming for theii respective countries the honour of having given, birth to it. As a matter of fact, the waltz,. as it is now danceci comes from Germany, but it is a development of the volte, which in its turn came from the lavolta of Provence, one of the most ancient oi French dances. The lavolta was fashionable in the 16th century, and was the delight of the Valois court. A dancing expert says that “the waltz which we took away from the German in 1795 had been a French dance foi four hundred years.” The first Ger man waltz tune is dated 1770 —“Ach, di lieber Augustin.” It was first dance: at the Paris Opera in 1793, in Gardel’f ballet, “La Dansomanie.” On being in troduced to the English ballrooms in 1812, it roused a storm of ridicule and opposition, but became popular when danced at Almack’s by the Emperor Alexander in 1816. The waltz has a sliding step in which the movements of the knees play an important part. The tempo is moderate, so as to allow three distinct movements on the three beats of each bar; and the waltz is written in 3-4 time and in eight sentences. Walking up and down the room and occasionally breaking into the step of the dance is not true waltzing, and the habit of pushing one’s partner backwards along the room is an entirely English one. The dancer must be able to waltz equally well in all directions, pivoting and crossing the feet Where necessary in the reverse. It need hardly be said that the feet should never leave the floor in the true waltz. Gungl, Waldteufel, and the Strauss family may be said to have moulded the modern waltz to its present form by their rhythmical and agreeable compositions There are variations which include hopping and lurching steps; these are degradations, and are foreign to the spirit of the true waltz. This is the last of these short articles on old-time ballroom dancing. Next will be dealt with the Military Ball, held in Masterton on July 25, 1914. But, splendid spectacle though that was, the Military Ball of 1939 has every prospect of eclipsing it.