New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-09-30
PARTNERS FOR a DANCE.

PARTNERS FOR A DANCE.
From Time Imnnemorial the Dance Has
Been . symbol of Joy-Each Nation
Has Contributed it's share
America Joins tho
Chicago Herald.
Dancing has been called the ..mirth
of the feet. = It's one OF the tine arts
of which we have no account of its ORR
gn. THERE'S evidence that man knew
how to dance wherever there are hui
man records; in the he.roglyphics of
the oldest nations. on Egyptian monu
ments, in pictures on rocks, in the
most ancient writings on parchment
and papyrus. The priests Of Isis and
OSIRIS danced before their affairs, the
Hebrew children, when they escaped
from Pharaoh. danced to the songs of
Mir am, and David danced before the
Ark of the Covenant But suppose
we skip history and come down to yes
terday. The Herald writer saw on
Mad son street rub;cund and jolly in
dividual, manifestly in that state of
happiness produced by llbations of
something more potent than water
To give full expression to his internal
delight he began gyrating and dane
ing to the musical croonings of his
own husky voice. There was happy
but vacuoas smile upon his face, and his
e es showed him to be oblivious to
most things external. With appro-
pirate but by no means graceful GEES
lures he waltzed around on the pave
ment, hold ng his hand for his partner,
having no thought for himself and no
care for the spectators. Nature was
thus rudely vindicating her suprema-
cy and illustrating that. after language,
dancing is the one method by which
the feelings are expressed, and has its
origin in the constitution of humanity.
There is not an emot: on that has swept
the heart strings but what has found
expression through the photographic
art. Love, mirth, martial fury. funer-
al grief, religion, all have had the r
special dances, and a religious form
still survives among us in that eccen-
trio set we call the Shakers. Among
the savages the glories of the chase,
as we'll as the most heroic deeds of
war, are recounted by means of dane
ing. and, besides their war dances, the
North American Indians have Their
buffalo dance, the Kamtskchatkans
the,r bear dance and the Austral ans
Their kangaroo dance.
For our own social dances the panto-
mime and the ceremonials have long
disappeared, and little remains but the
love Of kicking and the love Of flirt ng.
No one who dances quadrille nova
days is conscious why he shuffles his
feet in one way at one time and anoth-
er way at another time, if, in fact, he
condescends to shuttle them at ALL
Every mot. on had meaning at one
time, though the key is now lost. For
all that, dancing still has its uses. Is
any young man short in his converse
tional powers, and, like Orlando, east
ly "graveled for lack of matter?' He
can still hold his own with the fair sex
if he have but az lily single CONVEX.
sat:onal formula being adapted to
many partners. Thus he may dance
himself into the affections of some
ma den fair, though he could never
have talked himself there if he had lived
a hundred years. How can lady
show the grace of her form so we'll as
in the dance? The .ladies' chain''
was invented expressly for that, and
very we'll does it fulfill its purpose.
Most nations have their own peculiar
dances, and we, cosmopolitans that we
are, have tired them nearly all. The
country danceis Indigenous with us,
or rather brought by our forbears from
England, and its hearty, social fun, its
pretty figures, its availability for any
number and for all ages, make it a
truly happy dance, like the chorus of
song Where all the parts come in to-
gether. Then there was the stately
minuet dance of the eighteenth centu-
ry, which we see occasionally in some
old comedy on the stage. That, too,
was English, and suited to the English
temperament. We read that at a
grand ball given in New York on the
inaugural on of Washington, as Pres.
jdent. and in his honor, he danced two
cotillions and a minuet. We are glad
to rescue from the idle worshippers
such a bit as this about the father of
his country, for we have but little 9TH
o.her evidence that he was a human
being. We know of three occasions on
which he sWore and one on VIII ca he
laughed uproariously, and these, with
his dane ng, must convince the most
skeptical that he had some of the at
tributes of humanity at least. Per-
haps as time goes on we VII find
more.
The cotillion or quadrille we got
from France, the mazurka and polo
naise from Poland, the waltz from
Germany, though it originated in
France some centuries before the Ger
mans adopted it. The German cotil-
Ion, which we call 1.-THE german al
so came from Germany. TIL is not
so fashionable as it was fifteen years
! ago, but it is most seductive dance
Schiller describes it.
See how the couples whirl among the dances
buoyant tide,
And scarcely touch with winged feet the floor
on which they glide.
Oh! are they flying shadows, from material
forms set free!
Or elm shapes, whose airy rings the summer
moOn-beams see!