18. THE LATEST WORD ON DANCING

The transition period, through which we are passing, affects our lives in every way in manners, fashions and mode of living, and extends to dancing so that new dances appear and disappear with amazing rapidity.

Of the new dances only a step or motion is retained and then so modified by social usage that it may be properly danced with pleasure in a refined manner. These new steps are incorporated into the figures of the Fox Trot which still retains its great popularity and when viewed in comparison with its original form will show such variation as to appear almost as a new dance.

Second only to the Fox Trot is the Waltz which also shows the new style of introducing various figures into the standard form so that the figures of the Hesitation, the Lame Duck, and the Boston appear preceded and followed by the usual Waltz step. The time of the music has greatly changed and is so much slower that the Two Step is being eliminated as it requires more lively music.

From all points of the compass it is said that now every man dances differently, adding figures or steps as he prefers them so that more than ever a correct position which permits one to change easily and quickly, a knowledge of the individual steps, and an understanding of leading and the readiness to be easily led are of the utmost importance.

Therefore the keynote of the present day dancing is "form," however much it may be outraged by some who desire to be eccentric.

The details of the Toddle step are explained and also those of the Camel Walk with a diagram of direction, since this dance or walk is so beloved by the college lad and the flapper. The intelligent dancer will recognize the Toddle as only a springy step with a sideways direction, which is the only change from the Fox Trot step, and that the Camel Walk is only the walking step of the Trot with a zigzag direction and a dragging motion.

The difference between the manner of dancing the standard Waltz, the Hesitation, the Lame Duck, and the Boston is carefully explained.

The correct position of the dancers is described in detail and attention attracted to the balance of the body which is most important in executing easily and gracefully the changes in the dance.

Practising the quick changes from figure to figure and the turn in the reverse which is again in favor to the music of the phonograph at home will enable one to lead or follow with much ease, permitting the attention to be given to the "form" of dancing which should be smooth and graceful as the flight of a swallow. This smoothness and symmetry of motion, where by one seems a part of the music, is an art which can be attained by practise, so that one motion seems part of the next and the dancer responds to the rhythm of the music.

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