Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-27
LATEST IDEAS IN DANCING.

Novelties Of the DsS, iuciudipg the Brand
New Glide Waltz Masters OF SaItatory
Art.
Sixteen gentlemen in span-new broad
cloth and crush hats nimbly climbed
the broad staircase of dancing acade-
my in Broome street Saturday, says the
New York Sun, and bowed to each
other with much grace and courtesy as
they tripped lightly across the waxed
floor Of the big assembly-room. A
seventeenth gentleman, also in broad
cloth, who had been waiting for them,
sat down at a piano ard tapped the
keys as they entered. Then the sixteen
gentlemen bowed to each other elabo-
rately once more. and whirled about the
slippery floor with pleasing and in
tricate agility. Each of the sixteen
gentlemen wore low shoes of ire
proachable polish, and eight OF them
had snowy handkerchiefs bound about
the left sleeve Of tne'r full-dress coats.
They were all professors Of dancing,
opening with appropriate festiyity the
annual convention of the American So
ciety of Dancing-Masters. These con-
yentions are held to enable the pro-
fessors to exchange views on terpsicho-
rean subjects, and it was the tenth
time they had come together to consult
about the way the light fantastic toe
ought to be shaken. 'rhe eight hand
kerchiefs on the eight coat-sleeyes were
impromptu signals indicating that in the
interesting proceedings the wearers were
impersonating the part usually taken by
ladies. The gracefulgyrations that filed
up the first half hour of the convention
were illustrative of the new ideas that
the professors wanted to present for the
consideration of their fellows. Pro-
fessOr l.. ID. &. BrOOkes received a
quarter of an hour of enthusiastic at
tenton from the other professors. He
is a member of the Paris Society, and
the oldest dancing-master in the pro-
fession in this country. 1t was from
him that Mark Lanigan acquired the
famous redowa glissade advertisement
that made the dancers Of the old Fourth
ward wild with enthusiasm in Bill
Tweed's time. and later sill he in
structed County-Clerk Kenan in the
pleasing mystery Of the Danish chassez
step, with which the county clerk bal
anced his partner at the great ball of the
old volunteer fremeD in Tammany Hall
last season. Professor Brookes waited
an instant for an inspiring bar of music
from the piano, and then, gliding grace
fully on his toe, took three steps quick
ly, and, lifting a foot from the floor
lightly, touched his heel to the calf Of
his leg. Then he slid sideways with an
impressive glisSade movement. The
combination was something that
eclipsed even the mastery redowa slide
Of Mr.. Arthur Leary in the charity
ball quadrilles, and the fifteen profess
sors who watched the poetry of the
motions clapped their hands with de-
light. They kept on applauding and
made the Professor do it all over again.
What do you call it," we asked,
trying to make diagram Of the sinu-
Gus movements.
THAT" said the Professor, proudly,
- is the new Highland schottischc,
which is to be the society dance Of the
season this year. 1t is imported from
England and Scotland, and will be in
troduced in all first-class academies as
soon as the dancing classes open. Tech
nically, it is combination of the High
land fling and the galop, and it has
raised a furore among the Scotch lads
and lassies, and has also found ey-
ceptional favor among the fashionables
of London and Liverpool. 1t is thing
that no description can do justice to.
1t must be seen to be fully compre-
hended."
The fifteen other professors unani-
mously resolved to teach the Highland
schottische when they went back to
their classes in Cleveland, Boston,
Philadelphia, st. Louis, Terre Haute,
Chicago, Binghamton, Poughkeepsie,
Providence, Norwich, Springfield, Low
ell, Bangor, San Francisco, and Louis
vile.
1t is something" Professor Ash
ley, of Chicago, said, "that will ill
the Chicago girls with delight. Their
aptitude for dancing will enable them
to master it with ease and dance with
dazzling brilliancy Of style"
When Professor Brookes sat down in
a crimson cushioned seat Professor
inns, Of Brooklyn, got up and showed
how the lawn-tennis 7" ought to be
managed. The lawn-tennis is a fairy
thing from Newport that is regarded as
a gem Of graceful conception in the way
of square dances. 1t is described as
combination Of the quadrille and lancers,
and the dancing-masters predict popu-
larity for it.
Professor Sphinx, Of Providence. pro-
PEELED his patent-leather ties through q
new and impressive waltz divertisse-
ment as be lightly whirled four profess
sors who were the improvised ladies in
a quadrille set.
This new glide waltz interlude,"
he said, as he whirled the last profess
sor in the set, I" is the distinguishing
feature of the new waltz quadrille,
called the glide polacca."
After this the professors, one after
another, mimicked the various wild ex-
separations of the waltz and polka that
they proposed to eliminate from the
art. Among the offensive attitudes
that are to be banished from all we'll
regulated bathrooms are the holding of
the arms akimbo, the dip motion in the
side-step waltz, and the carriage Of the
body bolt upright, as If the dancers
were lot Of figures being twirled
around on an old fashioned hand-organ.
At length the professors all sat down
together and talked over what they
would do next season to lend variety