MODERN DANCING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17843, 26 July 1921, Page 6

MODERN DANCING.

THE WOMEN'S VIEWPOINT.

CONDEMNATION RESENTED. "UNQUALIFIED CRITICS." INNOCENT AND HEALTHY. Strong condemnation of the attitude adopted by certain critics with regard to modern dancing was expressed yesterday by a number of Auckland's leading women citizens. " 1 do think it is a great pity that people who do not dance, and are, therelore, not qualified to criticise, can only look upon two people of opposite sexes dancing ogether a% something evil and not to bo tolerated," said Mrs. C. E. Maguire. '• If they knew anything whatever about modern dancing, they would -understand that to dance properly you have to think more about yonr feet than anything else! And even apart from that, there is a joy in the rhythm of movement that nobody coul'd possibly appreciate who never has done any dancing himself or herself. 1 really do rot know what these critics are talking about in their bitter denouncement of modern dancing as something vile and to be avoided by rightminded men and women. One cannot be!;i wondering what kind of dancing they have been studying! "Dancing is a delightful and natural form of enjoyment. I get quite as mucn enjoyment out of it. now a? ever I did, Hid I shall continue to be a strung advo'•.ite for it. The modern fox-trot I consider as pretty a dance as anyone could wish to see, when it is well danced, and I may add that it is not considered at all good form now to writhe and bob about in it as was done when it first came out. I he proof that dancing in itself is an inherently delightful and natural form of recreation is shown by the fact that girls dancing together get just as much pleasure out of it as in mixed dancing. The instinct to dance is part of human nature, and all the preaching and the intolerance in the world won't stamp it out!" Old Dances Preferred. Mrs. J. McKail Geddes expressed herself as unquestionably in favour of dancing under proper supervision, although not greatly attracted by the present styles. " 1 greatly deplore the non-teaching of the minuet and other forms of square dances of bygone days," she said, "in winch there was much more grace of movement and less embracing than in these modern dances. The dances which have been evolved since the war do not, to my mind, compare in beauty wi{,h these old-fashioned dances. I see nothing graceful in tho modern -two-stop or fox-tjrot. nor anything beautiful in the music. The girls at the Y.W.C.A. are learning the old country and square dances, and they enjoy them greatly. I think those folk who criticise dancing so bitterly can never have known aay of its innocent pleasure, else they",would not speak as they do. I do not like their condemnation of a perfectly natural and healthy impulse as something sinful and abhorrent. If these people had then way, and kept young folk from dancing, they would probably only succeed in driving them to some far more harmful and more questionable form of recreation." Harmless Form of Recreation. Another lady who thought the condemnation of the critics too sweeping was Mrs. A. W. Averill, of Bishopscourt. "I certainly believe in dancing," was her prompt reply to a query, " but I also think it requires careful supervision and chaperonage. I enjoyed dancing greatly myself when I was a girl, andj'have always encouraged my children to take the same pleasure in it. Given the necessary supervision, I can see no harm whatever in young people dancing together and enjoying themselves in an innocent and natural manner." These views were supported by other critics, who agreed tliat those strongest in their denunciations were defaming a harmless and popular form of recreation. ** Of course, there is a certain type of man and woman who will find opportunity for improper behaviour in any kind of dancing, ancient or modern," said one, " but people of that turn of mind- would probably find the same opportunity, oc make it, in a. Sunday School picnic. But no one would dream "of condemning Simday School picnics as a dangerous form of recreation on that account, would they?" Where the Difference I»iss. Another opinion expressed was that of an enthusiastic follower of modern dancing, who, while acknowledging its charm aad fascination, questioned whether the whole trend of modern forms of amusement did not tend toward a slackness that sometimes led people farther than they really meant to go. " I know of nothing more absolutely delightful than the modern dances when they are danced in the right way," she declared, " but then there is a tendency not to dance them the right way. To those who dance for the sheer joy" of the dancing, there can be no suggestion of anything indelicate or improper, but otherst have not, perhaps, the same sense of musio and rhythm and the modern dance offers opportunity for attitudes and movements that sometimes give ground for criticism. At the same time, it would he absurd to condemn all dancing because of this. Dancing is nothing but enjoyable and desirable if people observe good manners and the restraint that makes all the difference between good and bad form."