THE STUDY OF DANCING. (Pall Mall Gazette.)

Waikato Times, 22 February 1873, Page 3

THE STUDY OF DANCING. (Pall Mall Gazette .)

A ismn'ce at the advertisraant3 h. iho newspapers .\t this season of theyexr reveals a goodly array of offers fiom professors of the art of dancing to teach the accomplishment in a few lesson;. Some of those announcements appear to imply on the part of the masters »r mistresses of the cra f t the possession of a secret as mysterious as tho celebrated chaim of Mr Rarey ; that is to say thoy undertake to tame tl.e wildest and most uncouth of pupils iuto tame and graceful porforraers by a process so quick that it scorns to owe its vutue to magic Tins, indeed, is the new mode. The old fashion presei ibed tlut a lady and gentleman should learn to walk before danpmg. Neophytes were practically put to the back board and the goose step. They were made to maich slowly to a tune upon a squeaking kit or sort of pyp fiddle, and after a severe course of such tieatment, were at length initiated by single steps into the manner of. moving in a quadiille. We have now changed all that. The ciamming system is at work in the dancing school. And as horse trainers are in the habit of harnqssing profiuont stagets with animals unaccustomod to the shafts, piofessors of the dance hay a discovered that nothing expedites the culture of a pupil like having " the. benefit of his daughteis to dance with " Of comse tbq number of people engaged yi this calling is a pioof of the large propnj-l-ion pf persons in town requiting their sen i,ces, but no adult will icadily confess to taking lessons, any more than he or she •\wll if possible be detected dyeing the hair or dining at one o'clock. However, there are both ladies and gentlemen who really make dancing a study. Although the winter is tho season of the dancing man's discontent, he has a few oppoi tunities of consolation in those off-handed scratch parties which indefatigable mothors are -not- indifferent to promoting at my time of the year ; in fact, he loves the little danoo peiliAps e%-en moie than the big ball. In the crush aud polite confusion of the large assembly there is but scant loom for the pioper e<«rme of ivaltzmg as a fine ait To be sure the occasion rqay be seized in older to exhibit the gifts of pilotage and steering, but these, are only the minor niceties of the danc. lug man's craft ; there is. noth'Ug he likes better than an linprov lsed atlair, when at some one's svggestion middlefloor furniture is thrust into coineig, a centre piece is established under the gaseher, and the piano is made to give tongue in aquadiille ; for the genuine dancing man does not ignore quadnles The figures enable him to develop latent capacities of fascinating movement which contrast lemarkably with the soit of plantation walk in which an ordinary practitioner endeavours to do what is expected of him. There is an air of assmance and of certainty about his manners which is imposing. In lanceis or Caledonians he is as completely at home as a drill sergeant among r»w recruits. He is master of every perplexity, and by his disci eet management will extricate puzzled performers from the miseiiea of that ridiculous dead-lock which at iiit n r\als will occur in quadrilles of a senu-domestrc kind. But of course it js in the round rather than m the squre dance that your rigadooning expert chiefly triumphs. The whirling dervish wonld not get the better of hun in wind. His head is equal to the most limited circle of revolution. His shoes Hash simultaneously with the gleam of his partner's white boot 3. Contrast his perfect composure at tho rapid finish of a gallop with the di»comtifcur&, to say the least of it, visible on the countenances and the neckties of common-place pue9ta. One hive been hauling a blonde acainst the music until'every step wa3 torture to both. Another is obliged to stagger to a sofa w ith a general appearance of having had the boxing gloves on with a hiend. A thud baa been compelled to slop after a single turn in older to make t^e requisite apologies for a. torn dress and a disturbed teirpeir. A fqwth who has contrived to keep up hke a man in a dream, when the icprieve of a halt comes dror><j in a crisis of vertigo into th,q bosom of an nuligti.tut wallflower. Our daneinsj man serenely twirls through !t al].a 1 ]. If his partner ran stay, it is really a pretty sight to nota the pei feet rhythm of the spinning, and the ease with which the grand problem of tho re\erso is solved without a hitch. For the dancing ' man disdains the mere alphabet of waltz or galop, and if he has a good partner, you will discover them taking relief from the monotony of the tiguie by altering the direction of the swing. This can be dons without mk of collision by moving inside the regular round of title dance, describing a smaller circle : but it has also the effect of precipitating an inclination to gidditiess to which unaccustomed waltzers of the outside ring may be subject i The dancing man is made, nut born. It is not in private parties he acquires so wonderful a command over ilis legs lie is the. person to whom the professois of calisthenics, kc. , both male and female, to whom we nave before alluded, largely address themselves. Our dancing man frequents the academy of some distinguished shipjak, where the professor receives only advanced pupils. Here our dancing man learns the feats which put jou to the blush when your awkward inteipretations of Strauss or Godfrey into motion were contrasted with hig, Nat that the professor or his daughters could d,o with every one whaiathey have done with our dancing man. lie brings his soul to ins woik, and gives his whole mind to his heels. He picks.up steps with wonderful alacrity. He has a kind of phenomenal apprehensiveness for the most recondite figures. He has a memory of exceptional strength for postures Bufc besides his studies with adepts the dancing man has twice the experience of the average adventurer into evening parties. He is indefatigable in tho reason and never misses the chance of showing big accomplishments out it. And, oddly enough, it often happens that neither of mild'e are- nor marriage cures the dancing man ; and his gyrations are perfect to the last. Portliness imparts a kind of graceful swimming motion to his circuits, and any git 1 who knows the vnliio of having her own dancing seen at its best cannot do better than keep a walt 7 or two ou.her card for the Benedick who in his early youth and long after the expiration of his legal infancy had won the admiration of many a, ball-room by his grace, cvpoditirtj;, and confidence in the dijcliarge q£ a, fascinating obligation of polite intercourse.