The Art of Stage Dancing Part 33

DANCING AND EASE OF MANNER

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Man is a gregarious animal, and eagerly seeks the company of his fellows. In civilized society men and women gathered to dine, to converse, to dance, to play games, to watch others indulging in various sports or pastimes. Out of this intermingling at social gatherings there has gradually developed an accepted code of conduct termed "good manners," which are as stringently binding as any law enacted by a legislature. And there are penalties for violation of this code, that are surely imposed upon the luckless offender, ranging all the way from a snub, a sound or gesture of disapproval, to social ostracism.

"Manners maketh man" is an ancient aphorism that has a very wide application. While the forms and standards of what const.i.tute good manners change with the times, their essential basis is always the same--a deference to, and consideration for, those with whom one is thrown in contact. Courtesy, politeness, helpfulness, and other evidences of good breeding and careful training, are the outgrowth of a desire for eliminating selfish instincts. The rude man or woman is an egotist, seeking to a.s.sert his or her individuality without regard for the sensibilities of others.

Aside from the willful violation of those unwritten laws that have come to govern social intercourse, there are many who err because of excessive self-consciousness, which makes it difficult or impossible to put themselves at ease among those with whom they would like to a.s.sociate. They are painfully aware of their own surplus ego; they are constrained and awkward; they feel that in some way they are outsiders, that, as the slang phrase puts it, they do not belong. It is probable that more social failures are due to this trait than to any other cause.

Against this self-conscious att.i.tude a thorough training in the dance is a most effective remedy. The shy, constrained, awkward boys and girls mingle with their companions on terms of ordered freedom and equality. They are taught grace of movement; the spontaneous expression of their individuality is modified by contact with their a.s.sociates; they acquire a graceful walk and carriage. To follow the various movements of the dance in harmony with the music takes their thoughts away from themselves, and provides an escape from the dread self-questioning: "Am I doing the right thing?" Success in mastering the technique of the dance brings a.s.surance and poise, and adds immeasurably to the capacity for adjustment to environment that marks the well-mannered members of what is in the true sense of the word "good society."

[Ill.u.s.tration: NW]

DANCING AND CIVILIZATION

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Solemn professors are discussing the question "What is Civilization?"

the answers ranging all the way from an increase in man's power over material things that add to his comfort and happiness, up to the development of higher ethical standards of personal conduct. To one the civilized man is he who has brought to his service the hidden forces of nature, and by steam and electricity has girdled the earth, vastly increased the production of wealth, and by superior methods of transportation has brought all regions of the globe into close contact. To another the mark of civilization is the diffusion of valuable knowledge, the spread of popular education, and the sharing by a whole people of the culture and scholarship of the great creative minds. To yet another the real test of civilization is in the cultivation of a greater capacity for enjoyment of all that life has to offer. And a fourth affirms that only those are truly civilized who have learned the laws of right living and conduct, so that in seeking the fullest development and expression of their natures they are careful to avoid infringing on the rights and welfare of their fellow men.

Leaving the definition of civilization for future settlement, it may be taken for granted that a civilized society is one in which order and individual rights to life, personal liberty, and lawfully acquired property are respected; in which the rule of brute strength is supplanted by the higher law of reason and social justice and in which the people are free to develop their artistic and aesthetic tastes into a complete and harmonious whole. Applying this standard to the world's history there are found great civilized communities that at various periods have emerged from primitive barbarism, have flourished for ages, have left their records of high achievement in architecture, sculpture, painting and other arts, in imperishable literature, and in religions that phrase the highest exaltation of human thought and ideals. Such are the civilizations of ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome, where the conditions attained were as greatly in advance of those prevailing at the time in practically all the other regions of the earth, as are those of modern Europe and America compared with the black tribes of Africa.

To the student of social customs in various ages it is significant that the peoples of the most civilized countries were eager in their search for the higher enjoyments, and that among them the dance was regarded as one of the most important forms of self expression. Along with the greater acc.u.mulation of wealth; the erection of great palaces, temples and other enduring movements; the mastery of form, line, and color by the sculptor and painter; the progress in music and literature toward higher levels, came the recognition of the dance as one of the greater arts, worthy of encouragement by rulers and statesmen. The fact that at the period of highest civilization in the four countries referred to the dance was held to be an important and honorable art, is testimony to its inherent value as a means of satisfying the universal desire for human expression of the beauty of form and harmonious movement. It is not a mere coincidence that the most enlightened peoples of all ages have regarded the dance not only as an amus.e.m.e.nt or diversion, but as exemplifying the eternal laws that bind mankind to its earthly environment. Poets, philosophers, scholars, leaders and teachers of men, have at the times that they have been most highly regarded because of their special qualities or abilities, joined in rendering homage to the dancer as an interpretative artist.

Coming down to modern times and our own country, it is found that as America has vastly increased in population, wealth, knowledge and material comfort, along with the widest extension of popular education of any great nation on the earth, there has arisen a greatly increased and steadily-growing interest in the dance, both as means of individual enjoyment, and as an artistic entertainment ranking high among all forms of creative effort. With the growth of great cities and industrial centers social activities have been greatly multiplied, and of these the dance is easily the most popular. At all seasons; at the winter resorts of the South, or the seash.o.r.e, and in the mountains in summer, the story is the same; dancing is the one diversion that never palls, and is constantly engaged in everywhere. Golf, with its hundreds of thousands of devotees, has brought with it the country club, where the dance flourishes until the wee sma' hours. In the home, in hotels, restaurants and supper clubs, the dance reigns supreme. Learning to dance has become a part of the boy's or girl's education, along with the ordinary school studies. Not to dance is to be distinctly outside of practically all social circles in American cities and towns, and each year finds the number of one's dancing acquaintances increasing. From the select few who are a.s.sumed to be "smart society," down to the mult.i.tudes who make no social pretentions, everyone dances, and enjoys it. If a poll could be taken of the population over twelve years of age in any American city, asking for their favorite amus.e.m.e.nt, it would doubtless be found that dancing comes first.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NED WAYBURN'S PRIVATE OFFICE]

In the field of public entertainment dancing holds an equally prominent place. The musical comedies, vaudeville acts, and other theatrical productions in which the dance is the chief or an important feature, testify to the popular appreciation of the highly skilled and highly paid artists who delight the public eye.

The motion picture is reputed to have seriously affected the prosperity of the legitimate drama, but it does not appear to have lessened the interest of amus.e.m.e.nt seekers in shows of which dancing is an essential part. The percentage of theatrical productions in which dancing figures has in recent years steadily increased, and the financial success of so many of this cla.s.s of entertainments proves that the public knows what it wants, and is getting it. The enthusiastic crowds attracted by the great dancing artists also testify to the growing appreciation by the American people of what is distinctively the product of advanced culture and the higher civilization. As population grows, and as the percentage of urban residents, as compared with the dwellers in rural districts, increases, there will be an ever-increasing interest taken in the dance and all that pertains to it.

DANCING AND CHEERFULNESS

"For the good are always the merry," says William Butler Yeats, Ireland's foremost living poet, in "The Fiddler of Dorney." This is an old truth, too often ignored or forgotten. There are, unhappily, many persons who have conceived the strange notion that goodness means a gloomy outlook toward the world and those who inhabit it. To them this earth is a vale of tears; everything is evil and steadily growing worse; if every prospect pleases it only emphasizes their conviction that man is vile. Natural instincts that prompt mankind to rejoice and be glad, to lift up their voices in cheerful songs, or to express their abundant vitality by joyous dances, are to them evidence of sin and depravity. If they could have their way they would abolish every manifestation of happiness, and carry their conviction that man is doomed to endless pain and woe into the life beyond.

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That this peculiar idea of the relation of goodness to happiness at one time represented the prevailing sentiment of what are termed the enlightened peoples, is undeniably true. Yet always there has been a saving remnant that protested against the solemn, serious, and sad railers against mirth and merriment, and at last these dissenters are finding that they are rapidly becoming the majority. No longer are normal men and women ashamed to show that they are glad to be alive; that they believe that they were meant to be happy and should seek happiness; that they do not agree that goodness means repression of natural impulses. Perhaps they are less concerned with abstract standards of conduct than were their ancestors. For them life is a joyous adventure, and they wish so to live that they may experience to the full all that it has to offer.

Not the least encouraging sign of the changed and changing att.i.tude of humanity toward the old repressions and fears, is the world-wide extension of interest in all forms of popular amus.e.m.e.nt. People no longer think that to be good--or moral--whatever those words may mean, is to be a doleful machine, wearily going the rounds of earning a livelihood. They question the authority of those who try to inflict upon them their narrow standards of life. They ask questions. They want to know many things. Why, they ask, should it be a virtue to wear a gloomy face, to shun pleasure, to avoid their impulses to sing, play or dance? They have capacity for enjoyment. Why should they starve their natures, and go without pleasures that are rightfully theirs? It has often been said that Americans have not as a rule known how to play. They are changing all that, and as the level of education and intelligence rises, as wealth acc.u.mulates and is more widely diffused, as old inhibitions lose their force, this country is destined to become the great playground of the world. The American people are above all else cheerful and optimistic. They know what they can do because they know what has been done, ever since their brave pioneer forefathers cleared the forests, subdued the wilderness, spread out across the wide prairies, and established the mightiest empire of the earth. The present and all coming generations that enjoy the fruits of pioneer labor and sacrifices have a right to be joyous. They are free, prosperous and filled with vitality, vim, pep and go. They want more from life than any other people. There are among them no country peasants, or city proletariat, no cla.s.s distinctions, no artificial aristocracy. Strong, confident, fearless, they work not merely, as the ma.s.ses in other lands, for a bare existence, but as a means for providing the comforts and pleasures to which they feel they are ent.i.tled.

Whether people are cheerful because they dance, or dance because they are cheerful, may not easily be decided. One thing is certain, that if from an a.s.semblage of men and women there should be selected those with smiling, happy faces, by far the greater percentage would be found to be dancers. "For the good are always the merry," the lighthearted, free from care and worry, who sing, or dance, or play because of their superabundance of vital energy, and because in so doing they are in harmony with the primal laws of being.

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[Ill.u.s.tration: "LITTLE OLD NEW YORK," FOLLIES OF 1923]

DANCING AND COUNTRY LIFE

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For more than a generation the problem of checking the steady drift of the young people from American farms into the cities has occupied the attention of statesmen, able editors, farm leaders and economists. It is universally agreed that agriculture is the basic industry upon which the prosperity of manufacturing and commerce depends. When the farmers are prosperous their demands for all kinds of manufactured goods sets in motion the wheels of industry, labor is fully employed and merchants find increased sales to the rural communities and factory workers. When, as happened five years ago, there is a widespread depression among the farmers, it is felt by manufacturers, railways, merchants and industrial workers in every field. Today, as one hundred years ago, when Thomas Jefferson wrote that agriculture was the most important of all industries, the welfare of the American people as a whole is indissolubly bound up with the existence of a large and prosperous agricultural interest.

President Roosevelt twenty years ago recognized the importance of keeping on the farms the young and vigorous American men and women who are needed to maintain the enormous food supplies required by the vast populations of the great cities and industrial centers, and appointed a Country Life Commission to investigate and report on the conditions that were making life on the farms unattractive as compared with the cities. One of the reasons found by the Commission for the increasing flow of country youth cityward was the lack of social activities and amus.e.m.e.nts in the rural districts, and the consequent desire to migrate to localities where a denser population brought wide opportunities for social diversions. Curiously enough, the dance as a means of promoting sociability among the farm population was not discussed, possibly because of an old-fashioned prejudice against dancing that still prevails in many rural regions. Why certain good people should object to the dance, innocent, joyous and beneficial as it is in practically all its manifestations and a.s.sociations, can only be explained on the grounds given by Lord Macaulay from the British Puritan's objection to the sport of bear-baiting. "The Puritan condemned bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." There was a time when it was considered frivolous and wicked to be happy, and dancing and many other innocent amus.e.m.e.nts were put under the ban. This narrow view of life is, fortunately, becoming outgrown, and no power is now invoked to prevent pleasure-seekers finding diversion in sports, games, or the dance.

With the gradual disappearance of the ancient view of pleasure as akin to sinfulness, there is no good reason why dancing should not become as popular in the rural districts as it is in the cities. The automobile and good rural roads have combined to make possible social gatherings in central localities that would have been impossible twenty years ago. Improved farm machinery and implements have shortened working hours on the farm, so that the evenings are no longer devoted to finishing up the day's work. Then there are the long winter evenings when the heart of youth calls to youth, and when in every village or country hamlet there should be a.s.sembled joyous groups, finding in the dance an escape from the routine of daily cares. Picnics and outings would take on new attractions, and under the spur of rivalry the simpler forms of dancing would evolve into its more artistic branches. There would be something to look forward to outside the family circle; new acquaintances and agreeable companions.

With the dance would come a wider knowledge and love of music that would stimulate its study and practice. In many thousands of farm homes the radio is now installed, and programs of dance music are arranged that make it possible for millions to join in moving to the strains of the best metropolitan bands and orchestras.

The contrast between the city residents and their "country cousins" is in no respect more marked than in their walk and carriage. Watch the city crowds, as with heads up, chins in, and shoulders back, they step out briskly along the sidewalks. They know how to walk. They may be going somewhere in a hurry, or sauntering to see and be seen, but in either case they carry themselves as individual personages. They have been taught grace of movement, and their self-confidence expresses their individuality. Compare with them a group of rural walkers. Too often the latter slouch carelessly and drag limbs that are awkward and aimless. They are frequently bent and listless, as though walking were hard labor imposed as a penalty. They do not know how to hold their arms to keep them in accord with their bodily progress. It is not an injustice to the country folk to say that by their walk they can nearly always be distinguished from the city resident. Instruction in even the simplest forms of the dance, and practice in their movements, will bring about a far-reaching change. The country boys and girls will learn to hold themselves erect, they will quickly see the difference between the sort of progress by what has been described as a process of falling over and recovering one's balance, and real walking by a coordinated ent.i.ty. They will take pride in well developed bodies, and will show in every movement the results of the training that has enabled them to become proficient in the dance.

Is it not possible that the answer to the old query: "How you goin' to keep them down on the farm?" may be found in the advice: "Teach them to dance"?

Perhaps you are asking yourself, "What has country dancing to do with stage dancing?" And I will answer you:

Just this: The city has no monopoly of talent in any field. The candidate for dancing honors and emoluments comes as often from rural communities as from metropolitan. But first, whether in city or hamlet, there must be present in the aspirant the true love of dancing as an art, a sense of rhythm, an urge to step to music,--and these he or she discovers only as the ballroom dancing in the home community develops them.

This is no lure; it is a true word: There are young ladies and gentlemen in all localities who, if they but knew it, could rise to heights worth while, because possessed of genuine talent needing only correct training to develop its possibilities to the full.

The country-bred girls and boys in our courses have equal opportunity with their city cousins, and both are thriving alike.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RITA OWEN]

DANCING AS A SOCIAL ACCOMPLISHMENT

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Some years ago the editor of a great New York newspaper, who was nationally known as one of the foremost personalities of his era, invited a group of his friends to his home to enjoy a performance by the then celebrated Spanish dancer Carmencita. After the plaudits of the delighted guests had died away, a lady eminent in society inquired of her appreciative husband: "Why didn't we ever think of arranging for something of this kind?" And her worser half agreed that for the future they would follow their host's example, and make dancing by great artists a feature of their social entertainments.

Ever since that time there has been an increasing demand by those whose wealth, culture and good taste have made them the dominant force in American society, for the services of the leading exponents of the creative art of the dance. To the ballrooms of the great mansions that adorn every city of any considerable size there have come brilliant a.s.semblages of the men and women who by reason of their special qualifications are recognized as social leaders, to see, enjoy and appreciate the charm and beauty of "woven paces and of weaving arms."