ACTS OF DANCING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 288, 29 December 1944, Page 5

ACTS OF DANCING

Sir,-Concerning the article "Acts of Dancing," the question is asked why should it be forbidden. Here are some quotations which cannot be denied. John Carrard, an American evangelist, says: "It (dancing) endangers health of body, virtue of soul, and efficiency of mind. . . Dance half the night and sleep half the day is the programme of modern youth. Nothing but evil can come from such a corrupt and demoralising state of society." A bishop of the Methodist Church says: ‘"Passion-passion, and nothing else, is the basis of the dance." Your Youth Worker stated that dancing is about the only way boys and girls can meet socially. I say that such men should be utterly ashamed of themselves if all they can offer youth is the degrading, lustful pleasure of* the modern dance. Such people are not working for but against youth, for the tendency of this amusement is always to create a distaste for mental application and honest work in those who love them, to make idle, frivolous, and brainless men and women.

What are we here for, anyways 10 be slaves of pleasure? No. We are here to build character and citizenship. What possibilities are to be found in the soul of our New Zealand youth who hold the destiny of our country with them? If the ideals of the pioneer are to be forgotten, then disintegration will set in. I suggest that the Youth Worker spend his time on teaching the values of Art, which brings out the best in us and provides us with a pastime which gives greater spiritual communion and intellectual fellowship and demands more courtesy than any dance hall. One only need ask a musician to be satisfied on that point. Fathers and mothers, what will your answer be when God asks where your children are?--"EYE WITNESS" (Waimate). | [We print this letter to show why we cannot open our columns for a_ general discussion; though "Youth Worker" may, if he wishes, reply briefly.-Ed.]