NEW DANCE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21971, 24 May 1941, Page 14

NEW DANCE

“BOMBER PARADE” A number of London hotel restaurants are restoring their cabarets. Most of them already provide dancing each night in basement rooms that are proof against air raids and. owing to a lack of other evening entertainment, do a brisk trade. Some restaurants guarantee a place to sleep for every supper guest. Most of the customers are not idlers, but R.A.F. officers on short leave, business men from the provinces in town for a night or two, and a good sprinkling of Canadians and Americans. The newest dance is called the “Bomber Parade.” “Plot your course —bank—release your bomb” booms a voice through a microphone. And the dancers extend their arms to imitate the wings of a plane; “bank” as if circling, plot their course. As they “bomb target” the partners slap their knees. Next they clap their hands. This represents the delight that the. bomb is on its way to its target. As the “bomb” drops, the dancers point down, stop an ear with a finger, and whistle. Barry Lycett and Leila Bonser, who composed the dance, believe it is a second Lambeth Walk. Also it is making money for the bomber fund, for it is staged in ballrooms up and down the country and part of the takings are devoted to the fund.