The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-04
TEACHES ARiSTocRATS TO DANCE.
Where the Maidens of England Learn
How to Make a Court Bow.

Ao" W a. NouTt Do".
From the London News.
Ever since the days of George III.
the D'Egvilles, father and son, have
taught dancing to the fashionable
world of London. Royalty and the ari-
stocracy at their hands have learned
how to enter room and how to bow
to one another. Even this very morn
ing" said Louis D'Egville, Il was
teaching three young ladies how to
make their bow to her majesty at next
Tuesdays drawing room. 1t is almost
the most important part of my work,
as it was of my fathers before me,
to teach a girl how to enter a room,
how to walk and how to act her part
in society. The great thing is manner,
or department, as Mr.. Turveydrop used
to call it." We were talking in a fine
old room in Conduit street, where for
the past go years aristocracy. mothers
and daughters, had learned to dance.
A room full of memories. Here in this
same room Mr.. D'Egville, sr, invented
the polka -maZurka, and here such
great musicians of the past as Sainton,
Vieuxtemps, Wihelmi Nicolai, Rub
instein, Saint-Saens, Ole Bull the two
Wieniawskis and many others used to
meet and discuss the whole theory of
music as applied to dancing, for in
those days" said my host, 'the
people who taught dancing were great
musicians; unfortunately, it is not so
nowadays. Here, too, it was that
Charles Matthews, the great comedian,
received his dancing lessons, for Mr.
D'Egville took special pains with the
theatrical profession.
l asked Mr.. D'Egville what he
thought of the attempt to introduce
theatrical dancing-especially the skirt
dance-into society. IT'S a dead fail
ure, as it deserves to be- he replied
with emphasis People are beginning
to realize that it is impossible to do
off-hand what it takes a professional
years of study and gymnastics to ac-
quire. Dancing nowadays is very bad
among the upper ten: it is degenerating
into a mere rOmp. l quite agree with
what Lady Lancaster said about it in
the Morning Post a short time ago.
Yes" he went on, replying to an OBJ
servation, "the waltz is the most popu-
lar dance to-day. l teach the quadrille
especially for people going to state
balls. 1t is a dance of all others best
calculated to show off figure and cos
tune. A great many dances | teach
here are not to be seen or heard of in
a modern ball room. but l teach them
solely for the ease and grace and prac-
tice they give a learner. The chief thing
had to fight against with both sexes
is the 'mauvise honte' of your genuine
Britisher. and with the men that feel
ing of contempt for music and dancing.
Indeed, it is difficult to persuade man
to learn dancing. | get so girls to ore
man. Upper-ten men who do go in for
it prefer deuX-temps because it is cas-
Ter, and also because, as is well known,
the prince of Wales always does il.
''Ah. yes" he continued, as / glanced
with surprise down list of the various
dances he teaches, 'all those are to
give ease and grace. There is the
Pavane, a Spanish dance, like the old
minuet, which dates from the time of
Henry III. Of France. The Trepak?
That is a wild country dance, much
used in Russia. | am a great believer
in the various scotch dances; they are
pretty and require great skill. l can
not lay too much importance upon the
requirements of music by a dancing
master. Besides, lessons in dancing
from my father and the 'Theodores in
Paris, Nine. Dominique of the Con-
servatoire and Mr.. Merante, ballet mas
ter of the opera, l learned violin music
from Politzer, Papini. VieuXtemps and
Camilla Urso, and for the piano and
composition | worked under Lehmeyer,
Schmuck and Silas. l owe a great aal
also to the Roumanian Hungarian
gypsies."
We were inspecting some of old Mr..
D'EgVille's wonderful collection of Vio-
d
placed in my hands Guarnerius. which
is valued at 1000 guineas. All" he
said. with a glance at the past. when
my father was in his heyday the great
guns were CaTlotta Grisi Fanny Ellis
Ter, Marie Tagloni, Cerito who is still
alive. married St. Leon, a distinguished
ballet master. who wrote the incidental
dances to GounOds Faust All of them
used to come and talk to my father in
this very room
Louis D'Egville is a generous sup
porter of anna teur concerts, where he is
always willing to play himself. and
where he occasionally achieves the ac-
robatic feat of playing the violin and
the piano simultaneously. At one
period a few years ago, he and Lady
Bristol, Somers Cocks and other we'll
known distinguished amateurs used to
go out singing and playing in the Lon
don streets for charity, and he recalls
the amusement that was caused when
Lady Radnor flung them a sovereign,