BALLROOM TERROR.

Matamata Record, Volume X, Issue 876, 14 November 1927, Page 2

BALLROOM TERROR.

DANCING “BY NUMBERS.”

The “ Writing ” of Steps. A new complication has now been introduced into dancing, which may mean that in the .near future those who Wish to excel as the ballroom may have to ’devote to their exercises touch more care than they have hitherto needed to do. For one M. Peters has devised a system for writing .lances just as composers write music, every step;being recorded with its accompanying musical note (says the Paris correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph). What may be described as a terpsichorean score is written on seven lines pnntecr beneath the musical score, .each note or group of notes being accompanied by a sign which shows exactly ■how the dancer’s feet should be placed. Forward step, backward step, cross steps both forward! and; backward, side steps and the rest are each represented by dots, much like the notes Sit: music, placed bn one of the seven lines. The position of dots on the lines will indicate the step, just as the notes on the scale are indicated by their position on the lines of a stave. A vertical line joined to the- doit, either on the right dr left, indicates the icftrection'of a step, while in the' case of cross steps the direction is shown by a diagonal line. Turns also are indicated by marks oyer 4’he notes. • A quarter-, circle indicates a quarter turn, a semicircle a half turn, and a circle a fullturn; while marks resembling circumflex accents and varying in span indicate long or short steps. One of the advantages claimed for this system is that it will enable the inventor of a new dance to write it in such a fashion that he will enjoy the pro lection of copyright, in the came fashion as the composer of a musical piece; while the ballroom critics will be able, by following the score, to detect a false step as they may now detect a false note in music. Whether, however. Charleston and Black Bottom experts will study the scores before responding to the insistent heat of the jazz drum is another question.