The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-17
when it is SIN, to however slight and re-

when it is still. TO however slight and re-
strained an extent, pantommic.
The Cuban waltz, TO the present writer.
always evokes the remembrance of warm
nights when the windows stood omen 10
the street; nights when passers-by, in the
moonlight, could glance in curiously at
heeting figures of women IN white dresses.
ana men gathered in clusters about the
doorways wondering who they We're and
what they We're talking about, aud doubt
less did so glance and wonder. Presently
some young man would wander over TO
the piano and prelude with the superficial
dexterity of every male of the Latin blood.
All the Cuban and Spanish dance-airs-
hab3nera, jaleO de Jerez, jOta Aragone-
sa, or what not-haYe a family resemb-
lance, built on the foundation OF their al
most identical, sharply accentuated bass.
our player would pass over finally into a
waltz tune, slow in measure, but filed up
In the treble with a great quantity of
softly viyacious little runs. And then one
couple would get up, and another. and
another.
It was the Cuban waltz; and such COM
posed, such discreet, such INDECENT, phan-
tom-hke dancing never before was seen.
The couples turned very little, and the
soies of their feet scarcely stirred from
the floor. IL was the conventional waltz
step reduced to the last pitch Of deliberate
languor. Slowly they revOved together
slipping insensibly around the room
There seemed to be no reason why waltz
ing taken at such a gait as this should
not go on for ever. The music flowed and
rippied on brightly, successfully ping
the dirge-like character which one might
suppose it would possess under these cir
cumstances. The dancers danced, moving
in sort of somnambulistic maze At a
selves opposite each other, and formed q
quadrille, the round dance thus merging
temporarily into a square one. The white
dresses of the women swept to and fro
with dignihed disregard of haste, and
their plumply rounded arms were ex-
tended in a graceful chain. Then they
broke softly away and returned to THEN
partners, and the waltz was resumed on
the same deliberate terms as before.
II IS easy TO see what opportunities for
conversation of the kind that is not mean,
for others TO hear such a dance at hal
must offer. The mans attention Is not en-.
crossed with efforts to steer" his partner
through a cohiding crowd of riotous walt
zers; there is no promiscuOus running into
people when dancing goes on at so leisure
ly pace, and IL can concentrate itself
entirely upon what he may wish to say &c
\her. She may be well guarded as a rule
be few, but the most watchful parent viii
not object to a dance, and, under covel
of the music, the Cuban waltz while II
draws out its dreamy length is a solitude
a deux of a practically complete and, pre-
sumably. satisfying kind.
Perhaps for this reason, and perhaps tol
emotional reasons more general, the Gu
ban waltz, while its gracefuness is due II
so great part to the extreme reposeful
ness of altitude which il uecessitates, Is
by no means devoid of animation Yot
might not find conversation on intel
lectudl matters with the average Cuban
girl a triumphant success. II is quite sure
that she knows less about educational re
forms, the hereditary antagonlsms OF
races, the progress Of woman, and analo-
gous topics than a group of Bos-
ton ladies' would know. But she =
quite capable of conveying an impression
of great life and intensity Of another sort
of fervent, temperamentHl, feminine
sort. And she conveys notably such ar
impression, on favorable occasions, wher
she passes before you in the languid teVo
lutions of her native dance. You may not
in any case, admire Cuban women very
greatly when they talk-their voices
among other things, are often gutturai,an'
in view of the delicate appearance OF IN
younger girls, surprisingly rough-bu
when they dance they are often excellen
examples Of a species of womanly fasena
ton that appears to be fast dying out o
the world. They dance with the look
smile, pose and the motion Of women VIII
still believe, in this day and generation o
equal sexes and no senumentality, tina
man should be allured. 1t is this suggestion
of emotional coquelry in their mein and al
which gives their danza all its expressive
and what | have called its pantomimic
value. 1t softens their black eyes, it give
vitality TO the posture of their heads,
iIumNes their pale cheeks-under the re-
powder or cascarilla, or whatever thel
use SO liberally-as with inner light. Il
short. the Cuban waltz invests young PEG
pie often Of mediocre looks, and who un
der ordinary conditions might be common
place enough, with something of tina
graVey chivaric pose on the mans side
and Of that feminine appeal on the other
which possibly corresponds 10 nothing yer.
real within them, but none the less please
the vision and satisfies the taste and aes
thetic sense Of the spectator.
THE QUEEN REGENTS POSITION.