NEW DANCE CRAZE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1366, 17 February 1912, Page 18

NEW DANCE CRAZE.

"GRIZZLY B "TURKEY

Fashionable society in New York re seriously considering to-day tho advisabililv of banishing from its entertainments many modern (lances such us The Grizzly Bear," "The Turkey lrot. B lhj Lovers' Twostep, Bunnj Hu o , Thes2 K daiices have recently becomo "tho rage" in American society (says tho "Daily Mini"). , especially with tho voung'er set, members of ~w ? n ? j = found thein so fascinating that are often tit their wits end to >"«" c8 guests to depart homewards, bo popular, indeed, have tho new movements become, and so unwearied are young couples m practising them, that breakfasts ot ham and eggs and coffee at 5 a.m. are new a regular feature oi fashimiab o balls. The dances have been imitated lit giosser form by the ivorldug c asses who frequent tho popular dancing halls, w ltli Ksulw which are described m a pamphlet issued bv tho Committee on the /Amusements aiul tho Vacation Resources ot forking Girls as "in the highest degree -per"Tir "The New Grizzly Bear" danco which'excites tho special tondemnation of the committee. It is an. imitation of tho slon- movements of bears_ to music whicii high-class orchestras simply refused to play, with tho result that secondrate orchestras throughout tho 6oason' havo enjoyed a record scries of engagements at extravagant prices to perform in the houses of the ultra-rich. Tho committee, after sending inspector to watch and report c.n the extent to which tho new danoe.s obtained a vogue in fashionable society, admits that " 'The Turkey Trot* and "The Grizzly Bear' can be and arc danced very prettily by souio of the girls of tho younger set." But it adds: "Tho diifcron'co between their manlier of dancing them Mid that which can lie witnessed ill rowdy halls is only one of_degree. Even the most innocent participators can slip unconsciously to one extreme or the other." , Working girls, it is pointed out, "who seek at the dancing halls their amusement are tremendously interested to read in the newspapers that Mrs. So-and-so's debutante daughter danced 'The Grizzly Ilea;',' and urge this fact as a reason why they should continue to indulge in it." Tho commit tee enters into historical details regarding the origin of the new dances, which it describes as "not dances at all, but .hideous perversions of dancing. being a series of niovenlouts to tho accompaniment of music."

The committee has invited tho loading hostesses of New York to a privato exhibition of the new dances performed by piofessionals with the- hope of convincing them of tho m-gent liocossity of banishing them from their ballrooms.

"Tho Grizzly Hear" and kindred (knees have already reaped on enonnciis harvest of fees for dancing professors, who in tho last few months have devoted their en tiro time to teaching them, together with "The Dandy Dance" and "The Argentine Tango" at the rale of eight guineas for half an hour's lesson to Hie wealthv daughters of fashion in New York anil other towns.