The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-22
FAD FOR FANCY DANCING,
WOMEN AND MEN, roo, WHO LIKE
TO DISPLAY THEIR ART
Husbands and Wives who Surprise Each
Other-Men Fond of Doing Women's
Dances aud Appearing in Gowns-Trou-
bic In Hitting Enmlninn Attlrn to Rnna.

bic In Fitting Feminine Attire to Boys.
Ballet dancing and matrif"ony are not gem
orally supposed to be the best OF friends. Ac-
cordIng to n teacher Of the former. however, II
all depends on who does tho dancing.
why" she said. 81 shouldn't wonder II I'd
spoiled a lot Of business for the divorce law
ycrs, How by teaching married men aud
women to do fancy dances"
Together p
"Togetherl No. indeed. Why, do you sup
pose that after a person has learned a dance
but you Just listen to me and I'll tell you all
about It. As / Just now said, ever so many OF
my pupils are married mon and married
women. I'll tell you about the men In n min
ute. The women give various reasons for
wanting 10 learn; they want to reduce their
weight; they want to learn to walk gracefully;
they want to improve their breathing. But.
YOU mark my word. ninetv.nino out OF n hun
dred OF them either openly or secretly intend
TO use their new accomplishment as n means
OF showing on. / have Il very tall and very
stout lady coming to-day to begin her lessons"
But surely she won't do fancy dances before
peoplc?"
Won't she. thought III wager you the price
OF her lessons that she does"
But don't some OF them make themselves
ridiculous3'
"A few OF them, but not many. They learn
quickly. What they do is not regular ballet
dancing. nor yet skirt dancing. 1t IL a modifi-
cation suited for private drawing rooms. They
do not attempt TO learn the toe movements.
because, in the first place. they couldn't If they
tried, and. In the second place. those are not
particularly graceful movements. and grace Is
what society women want. They do not wear
the regular ballet slipper, because. unless the
foot is trained for it. such q slipper throws the
body out of balance.
"As for dresses. OF course they don't wear the
traditional ballet skirts. Perish even the
thought of swell society women appearing In
that costume! No. not n glimpse even of the
ankle must be given. They don't wear the ac-
ordion-pleated skirts, either. such as were
used in the skirt dance when it was the rage.
They wear a regular evening gown, such as
they would wear for n dancing party. Some of
these gowns are made with the outside in the
form OF n drop skirt. while the lining is in
founces to the knee. All of the underclothing
is a mass of lace flouncos. so that when the
dancer whirls around or kicks you see nothing
but lace
DO they kick 2"
"Oh. yes. they kick, but not very high.
These women who are not used to it would
hurt themselves II they tried it. and. anyway. |
the high kick is not graceful. As ! told you,
they want to be graceful first. last and all the
time. Alas! some Of them don't succeed. A
good many women can get the body and leg
movements better than those for the hands.
You remember how Carmen uses her hands in
the dance she gives? Well. there are some
women who act as il they were pulling up a
sail when they try to do that. That is where
the loose drop skirt comes in. literally, handy.
1t is full and they can pick ittlp with their
hands and avoid the difficult arm movements.
Il told YOU that married people are often my
pupils. So they are. Women come to mo in
dead secrecy and ask me to teach them solo
dances. They don't dare to let me go to their
houses lest their husbands may find it out.
When it comes to paying-wcll, my money is
my own. but those rich women are often on an
allowance which their husbands watch as il it
was the last penny they ever expected to see.
But the women will skimp and save on some-
thing else in order TO get their dancing lessons.
Sometimes there's no trouble about getting
know about it until they find out whether they
are going to make a success OF it. Sometimes
the house of one OF them and teach them sew
cral times a week. In any case. after a woman
surprise to her family and friends by perform
ing before them. And really. most Of them do
And what do the husbands say them"
~, say? Why, they're as proud as peaeocks
d i'Sf YAM faxyf E pay You { Df know Df how vuf mem 10 are are
about dancing girls, Well, maybe you don't.
B baf ! d dancer ayG s6 Sfsn f redseiira 1fI AA9Y9o1s TX Know sxS
the, dancers are always attractive to the men.
R Women s WaR3 to f leara d Thy z SO mxn nd il s0 Says.
Oh, yes. it pays. You'd think SO Il you could
Sss how 4owe P p sSjd d I mean bt i Pt b his I Eifs after she
But how about the six or eight who, learn
toSGGtherI Do they do eaSem6Ie figures 2"
solo dance. After they have learned they gem
orally give a little party together. keeping the
the guests by, doing the dances they have learn
ed &c but J, they HGo do o 'sm a. alone IaSs.o mind you. Each one
"How about the men? You teach them Just
ordinary dancingY'
oh, breakdowns and shufles? ~
No. They learn the womenn's dances and
no sl~ceyes-and proud?, Well. a woman's van
Of 'em have good cause to be proud. too!' en-
phatieaily noddIng her head. Ny, yes! Such
men had such pretty arms"
And they're proud to show them ~
Proud isn't the word. They're tickled to
Who makes their gowns?"
Then there's a man MILNE? here that caters
to the men a good deal. and he gets a lot of
How do the wives like to have their hus;;
oh. they're as proud Of their husbands, as
women take such an interest in what the man
wears. One man asked me once If his wife
''@a@ Ys soT I s az mg s I"F e iSsSoaS' !
=, Well now he said. want to DO a dance y
III sfh anu L "hllb 1pu W lcll nv Iitlb W veal
II think pink would be. Just your color L s
said and went on and told him about the !
he must have. And then have your !
run into that exquisite shade OF green | :
with flashes Of pink !
wear black stockings and slippers 2
",'Oh, dear. mol | snid. Pink silk tights
pink satin slippers
"Ho simply beamed and his wife beamed ,
even more than he did. A good many unmar- )
men do these dances. TOO. Some of them
have stunning apart~ments-studios. they call
them-and they have some people, and. instead .
OF having professionals to give the entertain /
ment, they DO 1t themselves. Some of these a
learned to dance Ter college PLAYS. and {
into practice again" Il
When it comes 10 teaching college boys how q
TO dance the ballet, probably Rose Beckett, =
who has drilled the Columbia and. Yale stu u
dents for several spectacular performances, {
knows as much about il AS anybody, O
" used to spend a good dcHl OF MY time sit =
- They were awfmlly funny and some of them =
hopeless. But by dint Cf hard work many 4
Of them can hn taught 10 do SO well that you =
believe they were bows. Oh, yes, II