DECOROUS JAZZING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 79, 3 April 1928, Page 6

DECOROUS JAZZING.

Judging by the appearance of the shop windows the dancing season is again upon us and already the Opponents and exponents of the art are heard in our midst acclaiming it a folly, a sin or Rood wholesome exercise, as conviction guides. Some there be who roundly condemn all forms of dancing, while others merely deplore the modern exposition of the art and sigh regretfully for the i old-fashioned tripping of the "good old days." Poor jazz! What an utter misconception regardmg it exists in the minds of many people. I confess that I, too, along with grandma and aunt Hephzibah, did for a number of years raise my hands m horror at mention of the popular pastime, imagining it to be a wild and woolly frolic a series of gymnastic gyrations performed with the maximum of energy and the minimum of modesty. What do I find, however, on a personal investigation of the manners ruling in pavilion and nail, but that the condemned jazz is a sedate decorous saunter, as far removed from the frisky! evolutions of my youthful trippings as the east is from the west? It is indeed the very centeelest A^T*i ClSeS ' JT' Verily ' and in midd,e age, that dr6ad day which even now beckons with menacing finger,l know that whatever youthful activities tired Is ature may cancel, she will certainly permit

I would that I might transport those who denounce modern dancing on the ground of immodesty to one of the merry "hops" in which I, in my girlish folly, indulged. See us at the M.C. s stentorian order, "Choose your partners for the lancers!" Watch the struggle and the jostle for "tops," the coveted position which permits of a longer and more rollicking gallop The set is formed, impatient feet tap and stamp, the accordion gives its preliminary gasp, the MC bellows the figure, and away we go. Ladies' chain—chassee—swing partners—half right and left—swing corners—visit to the right—figure follows figure with breathless rapidity till the final thrilling "swing fours." "Let 'er go now' Swing em off their feet, bovs!" and "let 'er «*o" they do, and swung off our feet we are, while delightedly scandalised mothers shrink against the wall, and even fathers, under the influence of hectic memories, smile benignly and cheer us on vociferously. Nay, there are no thrills in jazz for one who has been accustomed to "trippW the light fantastic" in the lancers at a country io P- —JEAN BOSWELL.