Page 13 Advertisements Column 2

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5665, 12 August 1905, Page 13

THE APPEARANCE OF WOMEN IN THE DANCE MARKS THE DECAY OF ITS RELIGIOUS SIGNI3'IANCE. But as a rule in all these islands the women mingle with the men in the dance or have monopolised it. . The religious element Ims. therefore, completely disappeared. And a lascivious pantomime has taken the place of the belli* coso gestures. The same degeneration had begun in New Zealand before the arrival of Europeans; but it had nrt gone far. The energy that the cross-breeding with the vigorous aboriginals and fighting with them teo imparted, along with the keener and more bracing climate, checked the tendency to demoralisation, that the Polynesians doubtless brought with them from the island. It ii the presence of the pnkeha, with his luxuries and musket*, and the removal of tho invigoration of war that have let the lascivious dances overshadow the wardances. The women hare more and more part in them; and dancing has become a spectacular amusement rather than an exhibition of religions and warlike fervour. Somo of the women’s dances and gestures must go far back. Tho power of moving up nnd down the whole front of the body from, boiow to wa:*t, like