Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-10-14
Local Matters.
THE WALTZ PASSING.
So the Dancing Masters Of Other
States Announce.
But Down Here in Maine il Shares With the
Step.

not long ago that the waltz is no ioiise'
popular, must have come potn do ="
surprise and shock. All the statlstlcs'
however seem to justify the ueciai a'io''
| of the masters and to indicate that the
good old waltz that became popuiai
hundred years ago, and was uaiiceu III
| GERMANY no one knows now MANY
years before that, is giving way 10 the
nlicker two-step. The dance that our
yrandfathers and grandmotherS
learned only after patient practice has
been succeeded by the tWo-Step that Il
girl ~. boy can learn in two minutes OF
sidewalk dancing to the music of a
| hurdygurdy.
If is not with any pleasure that the
dancing masters make their semi-otfi-
cial announcement Of the change. for TO
them the transition means loss of bust
ness OF all the round dances the
waltz is the most difficult to learn. and
that fact alone has always made il
profitable to the teachers. Nowadays
when knowledge Of the tWo-Step is all
| that is required IL enable a person to
go through fully half of the list of
dances at any function, there isn't apt
to be such Il demand for professional in
Struction. So the masters protest and
it will be no fault of theirs if the de
cline of the waltz is anything more
than temporary. --
Dealers in sheet music have the same
story to tell. They declare that the de-
mInd for waltz music has been stead
lily increasing for several years and
that the sales Of music written in two
fourths, four-fourths. and six-eighths
time suitable for the t~o-step have in
creased in proportion.
There are almost as many theories
advanced to explain the decline Of the
waltz as there are myths and legends
relative to the origin of dancing. All
are agreed, however. that the ease and
quickness with which the two-step
may be learned is the principal reason
for its present popularity. Some of the
old-timers who We're in their ballroom
prime ten years ago declare that the
recent death of Strauss has had some
thing to do with the cause. But the
young folks laugh at this. and say that
Strauss was n back-number in this
city long before he died. that his music
was seldom played at dances, especial
ly at fashionable ones, and that if
there is any one now who should be
called the waltz king it is Waldteu-
fel. Another explanation is that the
waltz has suffered the fate of the bicy-
Gle, only by a slower process. 1t be
| came too popular, and when prizes
We're given for the best lady and gent
walters" at Saturday night festivi-
| ties, it hurt that particular dance in
other parts of the town.
But this talk about the decline of the
waltz rule, applies to the large cities
and to certain parts of them, and not
to us down here in Augusta. There
are some New York authorities who do
not agree with the average dancing
master that the waltz is going out.
| They admit, however, that the two
step is just as popular as the waltz
| even in their own limited circles. The
dancing manager of one of the New
York resorts said recently that it was
q case of half and half. II am sure
he continued. that | have found plen-
| ty of Waiting at all of the summer
| places this season. OF course the city
season hasn't opened yet and we can't
tell what will happen when it does.
Another authority declared that one
can't tell anything about city dancing
| from what is seen out of town. why.
| was in Newport a few years ago
said this dancing master, and saw
New York society people dancing
polkas in the Casino. They wouldnt
have thought Of doing such a thing 1t
home"
The dancing out of town is altogether
different anyway. and the further out
one goes the more he will learn about
the dances that used to be popular in
this city but are now forgotten A
young man from a New Hampshire viii
lage went to a dancing master in New
York recently.
II want to learn the Portland Fancy
said the applicant.
WHAT" asked the dancing master.
Say that again. 1t brings up a lot of
memories. Why you must be forty
years older than you look. I'm. nearly
sixty and haven't heard of n Portland
Fancy since I was boy"
why they have been dancing it for
the last three winters up in my place. =
replied the man from New Hampshire.
They think it's great and don't even
dance the Tempest now"
The dancing master looked dreamy
/ and reminiscent again. THE Tenn
pest he said half to himself II re-
member now. Every one in the room
dances in the same set and they are
drawn up in two long lines
Yes just like a big Virginia Reel
interrupted the young man.
| And after the lineup the rest of the
| Tempest is sort of a stampede
| Something like a football game, only
! instead of rushing at each other the
/ two lines race up and down the hall
So you got through with that only
three years ago up in your place, and
then took up the Portland Fancy or
something new"
Yes, but We like it and We've danced
the Virginia Reel for years and years.
That's the only real and original Amer
lean dance"
mo it isn't. said the dancing mas
ter. There isn't any real American
dance except perhaps the scalp dance
and the sun dance of the North Amer
lean Indians and they'll never be pop
ular. The Virginia Reel was arranged
200 years ago in England and the last
name it was known by over there was
the Sir Roger de Coverly." and we re-
named it the Reel over here. All