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Show ! Mlsc&llaruj i Jazz Dance Credited to Gypsies. AKRON. Ohio.Jnr. Oscar Junek, bead of th educational department oi the B.J. Goodrich eompanv, offers n explanation the jazz band and dance, winch are daily gaining in popularity in all parts of the country.' "That which we call the jazz dance, savs Dr. Junel;, "is nothing more than a ' modification of the danee of toe Tslgane pv-jsSch, a happy, carefree nomadic no-madic people th:t roam through the southern part of Kurope. "Musie plaved by our jazz bands is closelv similar to weird, whimsical music plaved by skilled musicians of the gypsies gyp-sies who. knowing not one note from another, play with the wonderful harmony of the natural music lover." Dr. Junek was born in Tcsln, Silesia, Austria, where bands of the gypsies often stopped to play and dance. "When T was a boy." Dr. JuneU says, "T used to Ion? 'for the gypsies to come. To my eyes, they were a wonderful people, peo-ple, dressed as they were in clothes of brilliant colors, with ornaments of sold and silver and srems around their arms and "necks and fastened in their hair. "When a band finally made its appearance appear-ance I used to run and hide. For the Tsi.ancs are a la wless people, recognizing recogniz-ing no Government and doing as they bke. But when sundown came and the gypsies began to play and dance, the strantre mciodv of their music drew me like a magnet, and I would watch them from behind a near-bv thicket." Dr. Junek describes the dance as being expressive of the wild nature of the people. Keeping in perfect time to the strange, spasmodical rhapsody, the couples would swav to and fro, slowly, and then, in a seeming frenzy, go through the weirdest contortions. "Their dance is hard to describe, following fol-lowing as it does no set rules." Dr. Junek Ju-nek fa. vs. "it is purely an expression of their reeltnss, wonderful to watch and difficult dif-ficult to forget. In its simpler stages it is easv to imitate." Dr. Junek says that before the war the gypsies were in great demand at the famous fa-mous resorts of Bohemia. When members mem-bers of the royal families of Europe vis-i'ed vis-i'ed Carlsba d or Marienbad. he said, they would always demand that the gipsies' gip-sies' play and danec for them. "The gypedes were paid fabulous prices to do their best." he says, "t remember an incident that occurred once at Carlsbad Carls-bad while I was there. Count Tisza, prime minister of Hungary, was at the resort with a partv of friends. He obtained a band to dance for him. "Before the dance started the count drew a 500-franc note from his pocket. Tearing it in halves, he gave one part to the leader of the band. " 'If you please me." he said, "I will give you the other half. But if you don't I will throw this part away.' "Needless to say." Dr. Junek added, "the gypsie.s went through their nept pares for the count. Tic lived up to his word and raid the money. And that was in addition to their regular fee." Dr. Junek explains the introduction of the dame into America by saying that a dancing master from this country probably prob-ably witnessed the dance at one of these resorts and brought it heie. "It is possible, however," he said, "that some of the gypsies may have come to Ameiiea after the war prevented them from livtnsr as they loved to live and introduced the dance to us." Dr. Junek's explanation of the origin of t he ja 7.7. da nee is d i f f e i-pn t fro m that which lias been soing tl'. rounds of the npwspa'ers recemly, which, held that this dance came or'ginally from 1 he jungles of Africa and has been in vogue among the Creoles of Xew Orleans for yeai-s. A similar dance has been popuki r for yr.-irs anions: the mixed brr-ds of the West Indies. The Cleveland Plain Dealer. |
