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Show By E. L. EOBERTS, 1 Recreational Director B. Y. U. With the steady decrease of the length of working hours and the correspoziding increase . of leisure time comes the prob-' lem of providing suitable activities ac-tivities for these leisure hours. Up until recently the most of a man's life w7as spent in making a living, and he had little time to spend in recreational activities. activi-ties. Now that he has time upon his hands, it is the dut of society to make an effort to provide abundant leisure activities activ-ities so that a man's life may be full and well rounded. Another problem that comes with the need of wholesome free-time activities is that ,of training young people from th youngest years on until maturi ty to select play and recreation of a type which really recreates and which also insures that they will become safe members of society. Recreation which, leads downward is dangerous to society as well as to the individual. in-dividual. Society must ultimately ulti-mately pay the price for every j form of delinquency, and the' best way to train away froraj delinquency of all sorts is lo supply a rich selection of ac-J ceptable play forms, and to j eliminate types which lead to ward immorality. It will be seen at a glance that every institution of educa tion and social betterment in the United States must accept the responsibility of making a study of recreation, and it must put forth constructive efforts to develop the right kind of recreation re-creation for its people. This is being done at the present bv schools, churches, communities, clubs and social betterment organizations or-ganizations all over the country. coun-try. , Even the United States government is now actively at work planning for the free-time of its citizens. , We must provide playgrounds, play-grounds, swimming pools, ball parks, tenuis courts, golf links, volley ball grounds, skating rinks, concert halls, moving-picture moving-picture houses, hiking centers, community social centers, thea tres, skii courses, tobaggen slides, libraries, and a hundred other opportunities.for the peo pie. W,e must also see that the activities conducted within I these centers are of the kind that will promote physical and ; moral wellbeing. In this .way we can develop a type of -citi-, zenship that is healthy, happy .and sound. Dancing is a form of recreation recrea-tion which offers some of th-j; best opportunities for a social I good time, and at the time may j be used to lead upward. Dane- j ing, however, may be and often ' is socially dangerous. It is i game, which, if played without rules, almost always leads downward. Every game, and every recreational activity must have its guide rules. Dancing is no exception. The time is fast coming when society socie-ty will take over the matter mat-ter of dancing and will see thai, it is used to good purposes. At the present writing there is too much harm done by permitting per-mitting dancing to take its own course. In the thickly popula ted centers the path of dancing j is strewn with too many monil t and social wrecks, and tue com-.; munity at large must pay the' price for every unfortunate -case. The reasons for this is .clear. Dancing is not used as a means of developing self-control, but is allowed to drift un guided or unchecked The "setting" of a dance cfc-termines cfc-termines largely whether or not. it will produce a good time without leading downward. If the music is of the most sensuous sensu-ous drunken type the results will be immediate. For example, ex-ample, if an orchestra permit -s every instrument to go upon a rampage and conduct itself as if it were "souzed" upon boot-ileg boot-ileg liquor the effects upon young dancers will be almost jas strong as if they were drunken drunk-en themselves. Add to such music the so-called moon-light lighting effects where the moon doesn't amount to much, and then permit close affectionate positions and suggestive movements move-ments and we will have a recre ational "setting" which can produce nothing but un-saT-and unsound social reactions. Let us emphasize the fact that such a recreational situation is creating a RECREATIONAL HABIT which may last a lifetime. life-time. The damage is often permanent, and society must pay the bill. No one should be permitted to conduct a dance who does not consider himself responsible responsi-ble for the social habits of young people. No orchestra '.should be permitted to play for dances which does not accept the responsibility of educating for higher social standards and for training in appreciation of better dance music. No one should be permitted to engage in dancing who does not willingly will-ingly allow himself to be guiJ-ed guiJ-ed by the rules of the game. This means that there must ge intelligent supervision of ,the dancing game by officials jwho understand it thoroughly. It is too imporant and too dangerous a past-time to be allowed al-lowed to go unchecked and un-i un-i guided. Morally it is far more i dangerous than is automobile speeding upon the highway is dangerous physically. We need permanent and intelligent "dance-speed-cops" and the community must support them in their work. |