The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-11
HISTORY OF DANCING.
From the Ancient Exercises to q
Ghosf-waltz of Modern Times.

Prom the Ancient Exercises to the
Ghosf-waltz of Modern Times.
Everyone knows how true the words OF
Pope are, who says that they move easiest
who have learned TO dance. Everyone
knows that good manners are perpetual
letters recommendatory.
Dancing and etiquette are inseparabIe;
they must go hand in hand TO impart
pleasure and TO secure just moral result.
Therefore il is wiser to invest the embel-
lishments of the art with the graees OF re-
fined manners, which, indeed, are the
ornaments of il. Thus viii dancing be-
come a rational and, necessarily, an inno-
cent amusement, worthy of place among
elegant arts. Dancing deserves the atten-
ton of the enlightened as necessary ac-
complishment. 1t is natural exercise,
tending to promote the exhiliaratlon OF
the mind and the dissemination of good
feeling and rational enjoyment among all
classes of our society.
Locke, in his essay on education, has re-
marked: Excess of ceremony shows
want of breeding. That ciyility Is best
which excludes all superiuous formality."
Nothing gives children so much conf
dence and raises them TO the conversation
of those above their age as dancing. They
should be taught 10 dance as soon as they
are capable of learning it for, though this
consists only in outward gracefulness OF
motion, yet il gives children manly thought
and carriage more than anything The
sages of antiquity regarded dancing as
useful bodily exercise, an inofenslye re-
Taxation, and an efficacious preservation
against the disorders OF the mind. for,
said they, when the body is in motion the
mind rcposes itself; the hgure. the step,
the movements of the dance are equally
amusing 10 the spectator and the dancer. ;"
nd AZ srsf hgf an
and rigorous manners, did not disdain TO
dance after he was 90 years of age. hnding
pleasuTable excitement in practicing IN
his age what he learned in his youth. Old
Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy"
says: 81 condemn not dancing. | hold IL,
on the contrary, an honest disport, and .
lawful recreation, If il be opportune and
moderately and soberly used Plutarch
says: That which respects pleasure alone,
honest recreation or bodily exercise, ought
not TO be rejected or condemned" and
Lucian has written. :" 'Tis an elegant thing
which cheereth up the mind, exerciseth
the body, and delights the spectators;
which teacheth many comely gestures,
equally affecting the ears, the eyes and the
soul itself"
The Scriptures contain ample evidence
that dancing was early known among the
ancient Hebrews and formed part of
their religious exercises. All great events
were cetcDFdted DIV solemn udDccS COin-
posed by the chief priests. Lucien, Macro-
bius, Libanus, Plutarch, Julius, Pollux,
Atheneus and host of ancient writers
have in various essays commended it.
In modern times we find among the adj
mirable essays of Addison. published I'M
der the title of THE Tattler,'' the follow
ing: lit Is for the advancement of pleas
ures We receive, in being agreeable 70 each
other in ordinary life, that one would wish
dancing were generally understood as con-
duciye, as il really is, TO a proper deport-
ment in matters that appear the most re-
mote from il. A man of learning and sense
is distinguished from others, though he
never runs upon points too difficult for the
rest of the world, In like manner. the
reaching out of the arms and the most or
binary motions discover whether a man
ever learned to know what is the true har-
| mony and composure of limbs and counte-
nance
1t was in such circumstance that David
king OF the Jews, mixed with the ministers
of the altar and danced in the presence Of
the people as he accompanied the ark.
This march or procession was composed of
seven different companies, who danced TO
the sound of harps and of all the other
musical instruments common among the
Israelites. JOIN 4. c. GoSEwIscH.