Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-02
THE NEW DANCES.
The Racquet. the Society, the Wave,
the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Kicks
and Giides-Dancipg Professors
on the Innovations.

New York Sun.
The round dance which IL known a.
the Racquet Ii described In "Cartier's
Ball room Guide" as follow:
Take two long galep slides, with left
foot on accent, and, As right foot IL
brought up TO left foot for second
time, rest, and hold left foot In air.
Repeat By aiding with right foot, oto.
Mr.. Cartier says that these dlreo-
tions are simply intended for teaching,
and that when the learner has caught
the movement the foot IL not held In
air, but Is slid along the floor. How.
over that may be, the modern mett Cd
Of danc,ng the Racquet Is something
very different. The slides are made
of great length, and at the finish there
IL Q vigorous kick with the free foot.
This makes the dancing couple rock
like q small boat In q heavy sea, and
gives an air Of recklessness and abaL'
don to the dance, which has brought
1t into much disfavor among quiet
people Some vary the movement
by leaping In the air instead of slid.
Ing. A soon az their feet touch the
floor they kick, then leap again until
fatigue compels them to stop. This
shakes down back hair and disarranges
dress 81 that the young woman looks
as if she had come out of . rough and
tumble fight. Quiet couples have no
chance on the floor when racquet
tern are around. They sweep every.
thing before them like an Ohio food,
and strew the dancing floor with de.
bris of torn lace, torn flowers and
broken combs. 1t leaves the
performers flushed and breath
less, but while 1t lasts there
Is q maddening excitement about 1t
that pleases quick blooded young poo
pie. 1t IL still to be seen in all its
luxuriance at fancy dress balls, and at
sooiAblss where the young folks 60 In
for fun regardless Of appearances. 1t
Ia danced In 3,4 time. It took Its
name from q popular waltz written by
Miss Simmons. Il
TheSociety and the Waveare similar
to the Racquet, with this exception,
that In the society there Is only one
glide, and In the Wave, or, as 1t Is
sometimes called, the Knickerboeker,
there are three glides. Each ends by
the kick In the air or the sidewise
movement Of the for ward foot.
At the recent annual meeting in
this city of the American society of
professors of dancing, these dances
were denounced In unmessured terms,
and 1t was decided that they should
not be taught in any school controlled
by members of the society. This so.
cletv was formed In January, 1879,
with the objsct of securing uniformity
In dancing all wei the United States.
Its intention was to discourage ex.
travagant dances, and to teach In
their perfection the dances In common
use. 1t was found that people had a
dozen different ways of dancing the
~quadrille and lancerS, and that con-
fusion frequently arose. AT present
there are forty members in the so.
oietY, OF whom nearly all belong
out Of this city new dances are dis.
cussed, figures are settled, and les.
sons are given by the experienced
teachers to the country dancing mas.
ters. AT the last meeting It was de-
| cided to teach no new dances. The
members Of the society who have
schools In this city are L. De g.
Brookes, w, B. De Garmo, R s..
Manule and 81. f. 81. Rivers. w.
B. De Garmo Is the president, O. n.
Rivers, of Brooklyn, the secretary,
and Joseph T. Martin, of Brooklyn,
the treasurer. Four OF the members
are women Mr.. De Garmo said yes.
terday that the racquet, the society,
the wave and similar dances were q
~burlesque on a graceful dance which
was introduced by the society In 1879,
This was the Redowa Glissade, de-
scribed al follows:
Glide left foot to second position;
draw right foot to first position; raise
left foot In second position and leap
upon 1t, bringing 1t up to the right
foot and ~displacing the latter turn.
ing--two glides to left redowa (as first)
to left, then redows to right turning
glissade to right; redowa to right, and
80 On. 1t is danced to waltz or galop
music.
This was exaggerated into swsying
and kicking, and the result was that
the legitimate dance was killed by the
burlesque. Now neither is taught by
many dancing masters. The society
denounced the racquet and several
other dances from the start, but the
bad dances lived while good one died.
Mr.. De Garmo said that the round
dance now most In vogus is the glide
waltz, described as follows:
Glide backward with left foot, at
the same time bend both knees (l);
draw right foot nearly to third position
In front, the weight still on left foot
(2); rise end pivot upon the heel of the
backward foot, the toe of the other
foot skimming the floor (3); glide for.
ward with right, bending left knee ~;
glide left foot (the heel raised) to SEQ
ond position (5); pivot upon the balls
of both feet and draw right foot to first
position (6). Recommends by gliding
backward with left foot, and continue
with the movement as described until
the movement becomes steady and I'M.
broken.
To reverse. The gentleman will
glide left foot forward to fourth POSI-
ton (bendlng right knee) (l); glide foot
(heel raised) to second position (2);
pivot upon the balls of both feet and
draw left foot to first position (3)
Glide backward with right (bending)
(4); draw left foot nearly to third posi-.
tion In front (the weight still on right
FOOT (5); rise and pivot Ito the left
upon the heel OF the backward
foot 60.
The glide, the common waltz, and
La Russo are the only waltzes taught
by the society. La Russo consists OF
two glidea In the left and one glide and