WHAT IS BEING DANCED AT HOME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18448, 26 April 1928, Page 8

WHAT IS BEING DANCED AT HOME.

SLOW FOX TROT HAS WIDEST POPULARITY

Dancing promises to have more adherents than ever in Christchurch this year. Teachers of the latest steps report that their classes are almost fully booked and that every day new applicants for tuition are coining forward. The following article by a London dance expert describes the wide popularity of the slow fox-trot.

Every art passes through phases, and to this rule dancing is no exception. Some two and a half years ago the Charleston was introduced, and because it was amusing it was accepted. In its original form

this dance was f undamentally wrong, inassimuch as, in--7 stead of interpreting the rhythm of the music, it was danced against it. The experts very soon brought the movement of the dance to the rhythm of the music, but a considerable proportion of the dancing public continued to dance against the music. The result was

~‘he result was inevitable. Dancing lost its popularity, and its most valuable supporters gave it up altogether. A danCe with no claim to true grace or rhythm could never find a permanent home in this country, which, in international ballroom dance competitions, has proved itself to have no serious rivals. Towards the end of last winter good taste reasserted itself, and the Charleston as a dance was displaced by the quick-step, a new dance, which was first-rate in rhythm and movement.

Better Dance Music. The introduction of the quick step was hailed with delight by all lovers of dancing, because it marked the return swing of the pendulum towards dancing as an art rather than a romp. The return, this season, to better dance music, slower in tempo and clearer in rhythm, has resulted in a distinct improvement in the standard of ballroom dancing. The wave of quick music, which lasted for two years, prevented all but a handful of experts from dancing, and compelled the public to walk. So the outlook is brighter this season than it has been since the post-war boom began. Dance music is better because experience has added to rhythmic knowledge, and experience has proved that fast tempo kills dancing, while correct tempo develops it. This season shows the slow fox trot more strongly established than ever. The only people who do not like it are those who have never troubled to learn it. Every real dancer in this country agrees that the slow fox-trot is the greatest ballroom dance of all time. We find the ugly Charleston displaced in favour of the quick-step—a graceful dance with plenty of variety in movement and rhythm. The Waltz Remains. The waltz, of course, remains, but it must be owned that waltzing as an art is fast disappearing, and even among our best dancers there are very few who really understand its movement. Among the general public real waltzing is seldom seen, the younger generation being content to walk or shuffle round. The tango has become tedious through multiplicity of steps, and is not very popular at the moment. The latest dance, the Vale, is full of possibilities; it is graceful m movement with good rhythm, and although it is attractive and interesting to dance, it is not difficult to learn. This dance deserves to be firmly established, but at present some who profess to teach it have not understood its movement, so we see so-called Vales with movement suggestive of tango, fox-trot and even Charleston. When the Vale is standardised we shall have four really good dances with ample variety in rhythm, movement and tempo —a most welcome change from the incessant racing fox-trots of the last two years.