THE HUMILIATION OF THE BALLROOM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 557, 12 July 1909, Page 3

THE HUMILIATION OF THE BALLROOM.

'/ ■.'-VAN AUSTRALIAN SKETCH.:,. : ' -There is a great deal of truth in Whatman e Australian writer has recently said; in tho. j "Sydney Morning Herald" about tho-"un- i satisfactory position of the.girl in the ball- i room, though Now Zealand readers will won-, der wfierever she found her./information.; j about a country dance in the Dominion. She i does not deal too gloomily 'with .her' sub- < jeot; and leaves oiit various harrowing de- ] tails; ' For instance, she-docs,.not speak i of that sad little, gathering of wall-flowers i who prifer to bloom in the ; dressing-room rather than sit in.the full sight of the ball- '. roomj .neither does she. speak,of those many ; men who accept an ./invitation ;to .a -dance, j largely for the sake of.Ue supper,, and who sr>end the golden dancing hours smoking in | tho seclusion of their dressing-room,;br/ pat- -j fering back .and forth between room ■ and trie nearest bar. As the; solemn Duke in ; "As You Like It" states quite truly there . are "sermons in stones," and inthis respect : even the stones of Sydney Street cbuld.tell— : but no matter.. ■''■■•"■'■■ v. •-,. « .Twenty — or:-...shall 'we . say • thirty t ■ :(says- : tbe' ; writer) —years -'.ago -the. ■ age! ; woman /did not.. worry, about her place, in nature, but it- seems, that_ w the ballroom of -that.' period .she was held superior to man,; because man was still a dancing animal, and woman,. waß necessary for his pleasure in that direction. Men cannot daji'ce together, - any more than .women can gyrate/in each other's / arms (though why they can't onlythe person responsible for tho stupid convention - can say), andas the numerical equality of the sexes was nearer in those days- women ,• scored. •'•■. V. /,--. '■ ■■'.■■'■':■'■."-'■.' •, - '■■::,..■ To-day. the thinking woman does' worry ; , about :her;:plaoe in nature, and in/almost every - sphere, - with one notable exception, ■ she is now able to feel on an equality witii man. The ono exception is in • the . ball- : room. There she is bound, to ; depend ,on : man's caprice and favour. If she attends a dance and/does not trip round to every moasure'sbe is considered.a.-failure.. That • goes without, 'saying.;- Tp adorn, the wall and wear- alternately an. abject or wierdly expectant > expression : is .the fate, of many [ habitues- of the ballroom, and,,what student of faces « over saw ■;■ anything'/ to approacn the aijectnes3 i oft. .the ~ usual,, wallflower s ■ countenance? Perhaps balf ; a; dozen girls I will'be sitting together in'the interval.of. the 'dance,: Will • they, open;: a bright conversation or a spirited /argument? No; 'tney will not open their lips' to each other, for fear of missing the eye of a-maiv,who has escaped from the damsels who-hqld.the.fort at the hall entrance..without 'completely-hi - inghis programme. The-dull.'pathetic look in their-eyes is enough;'to : scare any man who is not a philanthropist, and no;,self-re-specting person'-' willingly, yields her card to the dancing'-phibnthtopisj: He always treads on, her toes and breathes like a UKid-up-motor-car,, and says after tho first whirl or two: "Dancing's warra> work. I; don t, care for it much,.- but I've been up .every dance to-night.' It isn't fau to tbe girls; I say, to let them' sit out every dance? And the girl who; has been: lifted from the wall decorations -hasn't the. spirit to .resent. such remarks.'... . ■'.; •' ■■/;■•'''!■'' The.girls who sit out are not unattractive. 'There are no plain girls," some gallant once remarked, and it is almost .a, truism to.say that most girls are pretty when flushed wrtn pleasure and clad in becoming draperies.'Anyhow, a girl may be as pretty as a postcard belle 1 and dance like a pantomime nymph, yet she will have a wretched time at the rout un-less-she has graduated in modern-ballroom 'methods.- She-had better not/hide herself behind a cluster of palms, as bur shy, mammas d'"d unless she-takes a pillow.and goes, to sieep, for all the reward her,modesty -will K aih her. will be the assurances later on of -the'swaittthatthey wondered'where she had got to, and now, '.'beastly bore," their_dances are all gone.-Therefore, if she is a wise virgin she,.like thb other up-to-date damsels.in these enlightened days when the/dancing man is not only a fara avis but likewise a suppery eel will arrive'early and plant herself at hall doorj and-with an engaging.simle waylay every'man/' who" enters,, keep him. in; an-imated-converse until his/hieroglyphics are scrawled on hor card, then turn to .the next comer with a laugh, dangle her programme m his faco until he insoribes .himself, ask him to introduce the man beside him, and athough he scarcely knows the ( fellow he wiU perform the ceremony with businesslike celerity, and 'thus-continue until every man has all his dances booked before he has seen half his fribhds or met any new, girls. Look at it as one may, this rushing 'of ; partners is a fairly'degrading business, and, alas! man is not unspoiled by his undue- importance.; "Under presenti conditions no bne seems to get satisfaction out of the fray. Certainly, ■the girls "don't, and after working like: hardened canvassers to sell tickets (if; it is a subscription dance), raking in the men, and getting new frocks and expensive etceteras,' thby generally spend, the day after the ball with' 'heartburnings';and regrets.. Recently I was at a hop in a New Zealand town. It was given by the girls of the district, and although nice girls, are, quite plentiful in the proud Dominion men of any kind are rather , scarce (hence Amy Bock's masquerading as a male person'may,be interpreted more as an act'of philanthropy than anything else), and thus the efforts of: those ma.idens . to: find enough men was truly pathetic,-They scoured the whole district, and whenever they heard of a.stray surveyor or any inspector of anything whatsoever they mailed him a gilt-edged card, and even made arrangements, for putting him up for the night if ho did not feel ' inclined to ride far ;after the dance. They bestowed invitations on every youth' over the age of 16, regardless of social status; and finally in desperation at matching their female strength' went in a deputation to the I matrons of the town and begged for a loan of their husbands for the evening, and appealed to the wives' better feelings by asking them not to comb themselves, as it was "only a girls' danced" A few of the young ' women, still being uncertain .that they would not be left- lamenting, secured themselves against the awfulness of being merely spectators by taking with them cards for bridge. Thai was certainly rnoro sensible than sitting glassy-eyed ogairist. a wall, but why did they go at all? They could have played bridge at . .homo -comfortably without the distraction of the orchestra,.but for some occult reason no i 'eirl is ever supposed to refuse an invitation to a danco. She goes, even if 'she has to stoop to conquer, as n.n alternative to the i humiliation, of being a ba-llroom failure.