AT A DANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17151, 3 May 1919, Page 4 (Supplement)

AT A DANCE.

"Do you roll?" To roll in the ballroom ! These may bo unconventional times, but—well, although I'm only a country cousin, I have a certain amount of self-respect. Speech tailed mo. I shook my head. "Try—it's most fascinating, really." I clutched ray partner's arm, expecting at least to be hurled forcibly to the floor.

" It's so simple, everybody's doing it." My uneasiness vanished. Everybody seemed to be dancing on two feet, as they had been doing for the past few hours. "' The American roll,' we call it. Two steps to one side, dip two steps to the other side, dip; half-turn, swaying slightly, so—" Almost mechanically I followed my partner's lead. "There, you have it. You dance so frightfully well that one would ne/er think you were always buried in the country '—a remark not so complimentary as it sounds, because these modern dances are so simple to pick up if one has any taste at all for dancing. The music stopped, and as it was the second encore and the band remained obdurate my partner reluctantly led me to a seat.

" You see wo ' roll' in the one-step and we jazz in the fox-trot," he explained; "it all makes variety. There's the Canadian three-step, too, which is rather fascinating—and have you ever tried to spin?" To spin? Why should I spin? I shall try to find out "if there is such a thing as a Dictionary of Dance Jargon when I go home, and If there is I shall studyit hard. That reminds me, the last time I was up in town I " fell in" most beautifully. The man I was dancing with gazed into my eyes and said seriously, " Do you twinkle?" " Not— intentionally," I answered, confusedly, feeling that if my eyes would twinkle I couldn't help it. My partner laughed so that I felt quite annoyed. Now, how could I guess that he was referring to a dance step?