Changes In The Ballroom Traced To Jazz Influence

Southland Times, Issue 23793, 15 April 1939, Page 16

Changes In The Ballroom Traced To Jazz Influence

With the introduction of sound films to the picture theatres some years ago great numbers of musicians were cast out of employment. Hundreds of players were in a serious plight, for at the time there was no large avenue of employment to replace the many picture theatre orchestras that provided the musical accompaniment to the silent shadows of the screen.

Fortunately for musicians, however, a new demand for their services has grown with the establishment of numerous cabarets and ballrooms throughout the metropolis, and the formation of modem dance bands to provide the music. In consequence of this development a notable change has come about in the character of light instrumental music. Violin and ’cello have been supplanted by saxophone and trumpet, piano accordion and steel guitar, not to mention numerous other instruments that contribute to the rhythmic sounds of jazz and swing music.

From the sartorial point of view, ballrooms promise to be full of interest this year. The suave, svelte, sophisticated evening frock has individual glamour, it is true, but is not comparable in qualities of the' picturesque to the full-skirted, billowing Victorian and adapted crinoline gowns which have now found favour. Soft colours blending and harmonizing, their shades emphasized in the glow of subtle lighting effects; high dressed coiffures with curled feather tips, with clusters of fragrant flowers, demure ribbon bows or gleaming ornaments nestling in soft curls; a muff to match one’s frock of organdie or taffetas, or gossamer net over satin; a quaint velvet ribbon tied at the throat, just as our grandmothers were accustomed to wear them—the modem ballroom has found a new, and different, charm.

SEQUENCE DANCES The modern sequence dance promises to be one of the features of the season. Since last year, thousands of voices have been raised in the rollicking “Oi” of the Lambeth Walk, and, incidentally, it is to this concluding battle cry that much of its popularity has been contributed. But now there is a new star in the sky. The old familiar “Oi” is giving way to the hand-clapping exercise which is the piece de resistance of The Chestnut Tree, that new sequence .first popularized by the King in camp.

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