DANCE DISTRACTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1927, Page 20

DANCE DISTRACTIONS

WORK OF RESOURCEFUL ' HOSTESSES., " "Amuse us—or thrill us!" that is the demand of the dance crowd to-day, writes Patrick Chalmers in tho f'Daily Mail." It is a crowd no longer willing to pay a high prico for a ticket for a crush at which cramped dancing and supper are the only attractions. Consequently dance committees and hostesses arc very busy seeking new distractions to offer dancers spoiled by cabarets and the turns which dance associations and clubs put on to counter the lures of cabaret. Dance competitions and. fancy dress parades used to be tho great standby. But to-day.they;are voted dull. Sev; oral hostesses at balls I havo attended this season sought to solve the entertainment problem by bringing on amateur ukulele teams composed of attractive young women. Their friends applauded, loudly; i but really the instrument is so thin, so slight, that it takes a professional with showmanship and personality', to "put across" a ukulele turn. Another hostess had an amateur team composed of three girls and a couple of men, to play fivo foxtrots in tho middle of the evening—a "ukulele interval" it was ea'llecK But this demands intense practice, and the playing was so ragged that everybody stepped on everybody else's toes. Tha experiment was not a success. Exhibition dancers are always liked, provided they can dance really well. Style with them is everything. A simple tango done with an air is much more successful than a complicated affair which tho performers are not really competent to manage. A violin or saxophone.solo—-for preference a waltz tune, or at any rate something sweet and languorous—is usually loudly applauded. It is a change from tho foxtrot music with which 'he ears of tho crowd have been filled for so long. The most original distraction I have como across so far was' at a bal masque. An clilerly university professor camo on and gave us a little but most fascinating talk about the universe, with special references to Mars!