WHEN WOMEN DANCED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8062, 1 October 1887, Page 4 (Supplement)

WHEN WOMEN DANCED.

It is only within the past f>oo years that women have danced publicly wii'i men. Iu Italy, however, as early as the thirteenth century promiscuous dancing was tolerated, although the Church sternly condemned the innovation as immodest and unbecoming, and it was not at all general. When Henry 111. of Frauce visited Venice, early in the sixteenth century, th<-ro was u grand ball given m his honour, to whioh all the noble ladies in Venice were invited. Nothing could exc< e i the splendour ol their dresbea and the incredible number of enormous pearls which they wore ; but whereas 300 of them danced in the presence of the King, not one of them was assisted by a male partner. However, Sanudo, in that part of his diary in whioh he gives minute d.-tails of the progress of Lur crezia Borgia from Koine to Ferrara on the occasion of her marriage with her fourth husband, informs us that she was particularly fond of dancing the salta and the bosoia. Thus he tells us on one occasion : " My Lady Lucreza, the bride, being dressed in the French style, in crimson satin, striped with llsh scales of bealeu gold, each stripe being two fingers in breadth, and wearing on her head a coif of pearls of great price, danced the salta with the French ambassador until it was time to attend the performance of the 'Miles Glorioius' of PlautHß." This salta is the original of our w»l z, and was first introduced into these islands on toe occasion of the marriage of Magdalene do Valois with Jaines V. of Scotland, and gave terrible scandal to the pious folks of Edinburgh. The pretty young Queen died a few years later, and her demise, which was really the result of consumption, was attributed to a celestial punishment upon her lor the iniquity of having "gyrated in this naughty French dance." The Bait a was very popular at the Court of Henry VIII,, and was quite as fashionable then as the waltz, with which it is identical, mnt the present time. Possibly it was while dancing a salta or volta, as it was indiscriminately called, that this uxorious monarch fell in love with Anne Boleyn—Saturday Review.