Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-04-07
LA DANZA NEXICANA.
One Experience sufneient for a Life Time How the Mexican Dance Affected ADistinguished New Yorker
 Bailes de Compndrc.

| Baiiss de Compadres.
 CrrY or MzxIoo, March 24, 'Ss
 ED. CITIzas:-Congrstulate me, for in she words of the immortal Webster, "I still live" even after having participated in a Mexican dsnxs! For sn unmmsr- ried lady of sooial standing to attend 8 public ball of this description. though escorted by her father or brothers, is oonsidered rather: 6 daring thing Co do, yei last nights crowd attested ths, many do attend them. In the innocence of my heart, sctssted by pure journal issi, ferver in pursuit of informs stion, accepted ihs invitation. and now quite agree with that American who remark cd, "A man may dsnxs in the inn ocepce of his hesrt,' just once"
 You ask, "What is La dsnzs!" It is something impossible to define in oold black and white, to be read st long range amid prosaio surroundings; it could not occur anywhere but among these political passionate races of the tropics, and cannot even De understood by one of northern birth, unless he has lived here long enough to get something | Of the climate into his blood.
 | lt IS the most innocent-lookingd dance in the world, no more harm in 1t, to merely look st, than in e champagne glass. or in the unloaded pistol which
 "GoRs OFF" AT SOME UswARY MOMENT and may be murders your grandmother.
 The music Is slow, so very slow thst 6
 northern belle would re-belle at once;
 and the Quick-step Is simply the
 bslenees of the dsncInE-msster qua drille, with the important addition that
 this B round dance"
 With this lazy step you move back
 ward and forward. or gently turn around whenever the crowd gives you room, un- tl you come face to face with smother
 couple ss sleepy ss yourselves, with whom you execute thai stupid fright hand across to cross over and back, "
 exactly as in our pinstore-snd- pantsIette days. Then ths gentlemsn's arm encir- cles has partners vast, she leans on his shoulder and gives her right hand to his left, and in this little qusdrilIe they
 bsleneeE until it is time to resume the tete-s-tete, This is sIl there is of ii.
 and what could possibly appear more innooentp
 But appearances are sometimes de- ceitfuI, and the danEs depends slto- gether upon who dances it, certainly
 ''the racquet" in 6 northern ball room Git wouldn't bs possible here) looks fully | as demoraliKlns, but probably the vast difference lies ID the fact that the par
 ticipants in the dsnEs are as unlike the dudes and debutsntes of other chimes ss | the cactus flower differs from the holly
 book, or the warmth of the tropio sun from the pale glimmer of an Aurora Borealis, These creatures of impulse are now no more Co be judged by the
 same rules which apply 10 phlegmatic I Anglo-SaIons than John Smith to Sarah Jones would enlist our sympsthiss If they behaved exactly as dId Rom 70 and Juliet. Therefore it is that ID the best society of the Mexican capital girls gre | not permitted Co indulge in the dsnzs | except with their brothers or nearest of | kin, not even with the lovers 10 whom | they are betrothed, and married ladies | only with their husbsnds-very sensible | etiquette, by the way. but would be bet | tered if unmarried folk were prohibited | from dancing 1t st slL
 These guileless Sehoritas, with their | convent breeding, their ignorance of | books, and the restrictions that neoes sarily environ females SO near the equs- | tor, are not up" in the ways of the | world. Not one of them could tell you | & word about Theosphy or Protoplssms | or Bsthy bios, never having heard of l such things in sll their lives. They are
 NATURES PAvoBITR CHILDREN,
 = termed by tropical instincts rather than by the tramels of education, and ss | ooq uettish ss uusophisticsted. While | their minds lie fsllov ss 6 fertile field, f, their hearts have been ripening like 6 prize strawberry ID hot house, or like one of then giant sloes which gives its life to the blossoming.
 | For SD exsmple-sn exceedingly fair | one-let us take the belle of last nights ball. A slim snd lsnguid young lady, aged nineteen, is the SenOrIts Aptonis -, one of the loveiiest girls in this land where all women are lovely in youth and inoompsrsbly ugly at middle age: but her greatest ohsIn n IS ID that | indescribable manner which the French | call abandon. All her life has hsen pass | ed in the hovery court of her massive home and all she has seen of the world has been the daily psnorsms from the balcony, or from the closed carriage | during the sunset drive
 Feeling the spirit of the dsnrs in every | fibre, she fsirly pslpitsted to the music
 and moved like Q winged Mercury upon her tiny, high heeled slippers. To be
 sure her rose-bud mouth vss Tar more
 suggestive to her partners olfsritno Of inc garlic and Chili she had eater for supper than of its floral prototype-but his ane teeth and ripplipE laughter stoned for all thai, and though her soti cheak upon his shoulder adorned hjs Sunday coat with brosd epulst of rics-
 noyder. he didst mind it in the least.
 especially when her great dark eyes were
 raised to his.
 He VAS a middle aged New Yorker,-
 one of the ponderous type both m mind,
 hody and bank account down here on intent business schemes of magnitude,
 and being 6 friend of batter fsmilias, no longer young was permitted to dance
 vith the giddy Antonis as the safest Of
 partners.
 She evidently didn't like 1t SO well
 cer,sin young Francisco lowering about
 the edges of the ball room and looking
 st her Sith loye-Iit eyes, who seemed to
 occupy her thoushs.-bu, then, she
 ooulin't dance with him you know. Il
 vould never do to be rude to the strsn'
 gs, Amsr,oano who was psps's friend
 70 the dear girl submitted with charm
 ins grace, having first islegrsphed Iron
 nnder her sye-lids . protest and sr
 apology to ths adorable frsno''o0
 Well,
 rux vIspuarn FROM WALL STREET, fvho v.s perhaps forty-f years old,
 .,es, age 10 Ant .is), wishing Co "do uI brovn" alI she social requirements of tne
 Msucsn capital, and thereby renoe bim,elf solid in business, first loohee tImidly around to see hss others s"a, yer disnor,ipg themselves. On the moor
 axsyyb1 iy was in somebody slse's em, .s moving slowly to the music sne