IS DANCING IMMORAL?

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11012, 27 January 1926, Page 5

IS DANCING IMMORAL?

TALK TO THE KILL-JOYS. ~LONDON, Dec. 1. Mrs Ethel Gasltell, the well-known Society dancing hostess, writes in the Sunday Chronicle, basing her remarks on the news that the Church of New Zealand lias said definitely that dancing is “immoral.” The subject is a hardy annual, hut the writer puts forward some common-sense arguments which are worth quoting. “The kill-jtoys tell us,” she writes, “that it is indecent for two young people—or two old people, for that matter—to move so closely together to the dreamy strains of a band. They would know, if they ever danced at all, that the mind is so fully occupied when dancing that the passions simply do not come into play one little hit. A man has to think of many things—his partner, his hold, his steps, the music, his guiding. A woman has to be on the alert for each faoveme.nt of the male. ■ There is no ime for ‘immorality.’ “And I have noticed, too, that the feelings aroused by dancing are frank comradeship, jollity, and laughter. It is a clean recreation—and a safe one. In some cities there is an increasing tendency to lower lights during dances other than waltzes, and this practice may have lent color to the opinions of the people against dancing. Personally, I think the practice need not lie too seriously deplored. It seems to •bo forgotten that the dance hall is probably the meeting place for many sweethearts, and that it is their one little spot for a few hours’ romance. -v

“If we can add to their mutual dreams, help them to escape from their everyday lives, I think we are doing a good tiling, and not a had thing. If they are not meeting openly on the dance floor, rest assured they will meet somewhere—and not in full view qfspectators I’:V>rWho! pays the hilF'fqr the* injured -worker ? Consult the Standard. Insurance Corilpaffy for>full ; - C. : Gk Bloore; chief agent; G. Seddon local- manager.—ifctvt.