VARSITY DRAG

Evening Star, Issue 20130, 21 March 1929, Page 8

VARSITY DRAG

MiW BALLROOM PAiNCE. A fascinatins new ballroom dance, the ! varsity drag.” js new being performed in several est End dancing centres. , , ~ Will it prove to be “ the ' new dance that both public and teachers have been sea rolling for during the past two years? Jt scorns highly probable that it will. The dance, as it is demonstrated at the Empress Rooms, is not too difficult; there is nothing grotesque about it; it is as attractive to watch as it is to perform. Although the rhythm anti steps arc new, it is danced to quick time or Charleston music. The dancp introduces a lorwarcl walk and aNo progression sideways, and its chief fascination lies in the contrast it - affords between a snappy heel-and-toe step wth a languorous and gracetul “drag” movement that follows. Already it is popular with American undergraduates, who usually aio the arbiters of new dance fashions in the States. It is, however. Ihc stage version which London teachers arc now adapting lor English ballroom dancois. Jt lias certain characteristics reminiscent of the Charleston, and, though, there is a sprightly joyousness about the steps, it is not ton spirited. The bold is slightly different from the present fashion. The man’s left hand, instead of being at a level at the top of his shoulder, is low down by his waist. The girl’s left hand is not on the man’s shoulder, but jut below the shoulder blade. Unlike all other modern dances, the dancers arc not close together, hut leave a distinct space between their bodies, so that they can execute the “passing through _ movements. or bring one foot over in front of and across the oilier. The main steps arc the heel tap, the drag, and the .side stomp. As in llis Charleston,• the music is in 4-4 time, but the accented step is diffeient, in the Charleston the accent is ono-“ two ’’-thrce-“ lour,” lint, in the ’varsitv drag it is “ one ”-two- “ i nice ’’-four. The heel tap is introduced into the walk. There is a slight kick forward from the knee of one leg, accompanied bv a heel beat with the other fool. This hoel-and-toe movement may ba repeated as oflcn as you wish. Tim sung in the stage version puts it simci nt ly: “This is Ihc drag: see how it goes: down on the heel, up on the toes.” . The drag more or less explains itself. With the weight on one foot the dancer drags tlie other loot up, much as a soldier comes to attention from the “stand at ease” position, though the dancer makes the movement slowly. In the side stomp one foot is brought in front of the other with a double stamp, or “ stomp,” as the Americans call it. An ingenious teacher might well familiarise his pupils with the sequence of principle of the Morse code. The heel-and-toe movement could be represented by a dot and the drag by a dash. Thus... — (in Morse this is th« numeral 4) would mean tour heel-and-toe taps, followed by one drag.