Dancing Time

Otago Witness, Issue 3828, 26 July 1927, Page 8

Dancing Time

THE BLUES AGAIN.

HOW TO DANCE AT FORTY-FOUR BARS TO THE MINUTE.

By

Maxwell Stewart,

World’s Champion Ballroom Dancer, 1924-25-26.

(Copyright.—For the Otago Witness.)

XVIII. During the past two seasons the tempo of dance music has grown faster and faster, until dance-lovers have begun to wonder where the tendency will lead them. Charleston and quick-time fox trot are now as strenuous as fast music can make them. But already the reaction has set in. In New York most of the important bands are playing a few dances in blues time, and at least one of the well-known London dance orchestras takes every third or fourth fox trot at 44, or even 42, bars to the minute. What shall we do with the slow time? This is the question likely to occupy dancers for the remainder of the season, and there seems no reasonable doubt that a modification of the blues will emerge in answer to it. The position at present is somewhat chaotic. A number of couples simply sit out while the slow music is going on. Others attempt a very slow fox trot or a slow Charleston, and others again revive the blues steps we were doing at the beginning of last season. This last is the course I should recommend. The blues was a good dance, though perhaps it came a little before its time; now it can fill an important gap in ballroom dancing. I will describe the dance as it was done last season, and though there may be occasion to note some modifications later on my prophecy is that the dance will retain all its principal features. The blues is danced with a slow, gliding motion to slow four-four music, each step occupying two beats of the bar. There is a slight bending of the knee on the first beat of each step, which serves to bring out the rhythm, but there is not the slightest resemblance here to the Charleston knee bend, which is staccato, syncopated, and which comes on the second half of each step. The blues

bend comes absolutely on the beat, and the change from bent to straight knee is made with a continuous gliding motion, and with no suspicion of a foot twist. The Walk.—The man takes a long step forward with his right foot on “ one,” keeping both knees slightly bent. On “ two ” he straightens his knees, and on “ three ” he steps forward with his left foot, again bending the knees, and straightening them on “ four.” His partner dances the counterpart. The walk can be varied with slow or double time chassees taken to either side, and an open chassee is perhaps used more frequently than the closed one. Care must be taken in the double time chassee to avoid a jerky movement. The Side Step. —This is always done to the man’s left, and the knee bend is varied a little from that in the walk. The man points his left foot to the left, having the knees bent slightly sideways, and the weight on the right foot. Two beats. (It will be found that in this step the right knee is more bent than the left.) He then takes a short step to the left, one beat, and draws his right foot up to it, one beat, at he same time straightening the knees. This figure may be repeated or followed by a walking step. The Turn.—Both open' and reverse turns are performed in a series of double or slow time chassees, and the pivoting movement is reduced to a minimum. For a natural turn the man takes a step forward with his right foot, two beats, followed by a chassee beginning with his left foot, in which he makes a quarter turn to the right; The figure is repeated to complete the half-turn, and after this the complete turn may be made, or the man may continue in a backwards walk. The reverse turn consists of exactly the same figures in a reverse direction.