Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-07-28 | Page 5 | On with the Dance

On With the Dance j Maurice Tells What Few Dances Are Worthwhile Worth-while in Ballroom i ENGLISH TEACHERS ADOPT RESOLUTION TO STAMP OUT FREAK I STEPS. BY MAURICE. (World's Uosl Famous R.illriKiiu Dancer. ) LONDON. England, July J7. There are four dances that are worth-while In a ballroom They a re the fox-trot, the one-step, the wnltz and the tanjro. The first three an especially adapted for Ame'rleans and Knjrlish people The great advantage of the fox-trot one-step and w ilt, is their Simplicity and their grace when thv are prop-rrlv prop-rrlv doe.- Their trr'.it merit is (hat they .'ie rns'lv t urht nd easily learned. 1 hej are dances of three m four steps whii h everyoni can do and hie h result In a general symmetry of niov ement OPPOSE SIMPLICITY. Do you know who It Is that is opposed op-posed to slmpllcllv In these dances'' It is the same person who Is responsible respon-sible for many of the ugly fashions in the present-daj dancing it is :he person who brought In the hiprh Iticil the bunny-hup ' the shimmy -shake .md all th other endless foolish gy-rattona gy-rattona and contortions, each given v name as foolish as the thing it indicates indi-cates Beautiful dancing can never be biought about ihls way. It may develop de-velop acrobats ami contortionists, but not dancers What are people ?lm-in; ?lm-in; at who are teaching these freak things? Do the-, imagine there is something risque In the fox-trot and the one-strp " Is that why thev .ire living nlwavs to lnirodu e something more elaborate nnd intricate in form ' If so. I i.ould easily convince an unprejudiced un-prejudiced Jury that a minuet or a schotische could be made to bear an undesirable Interpretation Mv own thought Is that the constant con-stant Introduction of freak things In dancing is due to a certain kind of dancing teacher who thinks he cdii make 'note money if be lontinuall1 has some "he steps' that his pupils' slmjilv must learn If thit Is the Ide-i It Is absolutely unfair. Why should a irirl or boy of modest means, who has spent money to learn current dancing, hove to pay ii good deal more to keep abreast of unnecessarv , un-expci un-expci ted and uniovei Innovations? What vve need is not these senseless Changes, but improvement and above' oil standaidUatlon of ballroom danc-' ing, together with elimination of cer- tain faults and peculiarities. It may Interest mv merlcan. , isjisiss " iibsi ai igjL 'laSSCTUrSmWWy Maurice end his dancing partner, Leonora Hughes, give dance demonstrations. friends to know thiil I advocated this pi o;ram recently at a great meeting of I-'ngllsh dancing teachers. if I may say so without undue egotism, one of the results of my talk and of my dance demonstrations, with Miss Leonora Hughes was the adoption of two resolutions Under the one. the teachers present agreed to do their best to stamp out t'rck steps In the ballroom, particularly dips and steps ia which the fei.t are raised hlh off the ground, and also sidesteps and pauses which Interfere with the prog-. prog-. ss of couples who may be following. follow-ing. The other resolution provided !lor a committee whose task It should j bo to consider what should be recognized recog-nized as the standard steps In the va- i ions ballroom dances.