The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-23
THE NEWEST THING In DANCING.
A Description of the RedOwa Glissade ana
the Polka Bohemian.
New York SUM-

The Polka Bohemian.
New York SUM-
The Society OF Professors of Dancing" had
Its beginning in this city about three weeks
ago Such society has long been talked of
Mr.. Dodworth, OF Fifth Avenue, and Mr..
Brookes, the old dancing master of Broome
street, put their heads together as long ago
as 1910, but for one reason and another the
contamination of the scheme was always de-
layed. The object of the society is to bring
about an Identical method of teaching among
the masters 1t Is formed upon the plan of
Tie London Society OF Dancing Masters, -
ana the Societe Academique de Paris" It
Is 10 pc exclusive In measure and q mas
eef' LII oroer TO get admission to it, must be
backed by MISUNDERSTOOD responsibility
as well as by proficiency In his espeeial art
The applicant for membership is s,,nmonaa
before an examining committee and tho in
apeetor Oh tne society subjects him To a rigid
technical examination. III, then. his resneot
aDlllty Is assured, he becomes member and
pays his Initiation fee and his dues from ti1na
to time, and once year the society nirn a,,e
To give ball, whose profits are to be given tn
charity. e''eh W
Mr.. Brookes sitting In the tidy dancing
nali Whlch ne constructed out of @ Welsh
ltSSDy a@ia 0aateh u GltHb luhDY wears
shed some very interesting light. while dis,
cuSsiLg the new society yesterday. unon n
number OF matters that have not been nonu.
larly understood. He drew attention to an
advertisements wherein 1t was announced that
the society had introduced two dances de-
nominated the "Redowa Glissade" and the
Polka Bohemian" One of these. the master
said, Is not intrinsically new, but 1t is q new
combination. The redowa held possession of
tie moor Tor over thirty years, and then gave
nuIty
however, the redowa began again to come
In vogue; 1t was very popular, and, indeed
some OF the masters, himself among the mum,
Der, never entirely abandoned it. It was
joined with the "glssade" or sliding side stem
in the new combination
"You must understand" the master con-
tlnued: that there Is not step used in
dancing that has not its definite technical
name. By the use Of these names can in
struet at the same time pupils Of whatever
nationality the terms are universal just as In
music the do, 'ra, me- sol are understood
all over the world. The words used to de-
nominate the steps in dancing are French.
For instance, when | wish to tell pupil to
mop on the right foot | say, 'Jette on right
and when l wish to tell him to hop on the
left foot say, Jette on Left This term Eglis-
SADIE denotes double glide sliding one foot
and then sliding the other foot up to it, each
OF which movement Is termed 'gtisse' Two
gttsses make one giissade In private dane
H.
which these will serve for examples. The
new dance, the 'redowa- glissade,' is made up
OF three redowa and two gtissade steps when
It is done quickly, or OF three redowa and one
gf 1880 steps when it Is performed slowly.
The Polka Bohemian" the master went
on to say, lis just what its name implies. 1t
consists OF the old h, ell and toe polka, with
gttssdde steps gtissddes and the turning
OF the three-step polka. Let me give you a
little sketch of the polka, which Il a dance
f.td IN p,1En,
peasant girl, Anna Slezark, who lived in the
village OF Elbeteinitz. performed one sum-
mer afternoon at a merry making dance Of
her own Invention, and sang suitable tune
70 IL. The village schoolmaster, Joseph
Neruda, who happened to be present, wrote
down the melody, and the following week it
was performed by the students and the vii
lage maidens at Elbeteintz. In 1885 the
.i found Its way to Prague, and there
It. Iva, was hres rest called "pola, from the Bo-
hall, on account of the numerous
half or short steps of which 1t is made
up. -Four years later the dance was |
taken to Vienna by a music band from Prague |
under the leadership of Pergier, and In 1910 |
Real, dancing master Of Prague, danced it I
With great success In the Odeon, at Paris /
ifter which it spread with rapidity all over
Europe. 1t had not been very long In vogue
,n the other side when DIR. Thier, a musical
amateur in Paris, sent the music and a des-
'rption OF the dance to Thaddeus w. Meighan
u the Datty Aurora man and a paper we'll
Known at that time in New York. and Mr..
Mefghan brought it to me. | was then ballet
master at the old National Theatre in Chat
lam strickland first danced the polka in this
COUNTRY with Mary Ann Cannon. In that
heatre on the tenth OF May, 1874"
MT Brookes said that sixteen dancing mas
ers had taken part in the formation OF the
lew society, which it is contemplated to
make national institution.
q