Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-06-25
DANC|NC'S FINE AID.
Pittshrrg Woman Describes the
Value of Beautiful Thoughts.
SAYS SOUL MUST BE REACHED
Miss Margaret Thuma Tells National
Dance Experts Why Lofty Ideas Are
Pillars of Exquisite Daneins-Quips
of Skeptic From ST. Joseph, Mo.


Dance Experts Why Lofty Ideas Are
Pillars of Exquisite Dancins-QuiPs
of Skeptie From ST. Joseph, Mo.
Beautiful thoughts! These are the
pillars of exquisite dancing. One must
possess them before one can properly
Merry Widow" waltz or even buck
and wing. This sweet truth was Srav-
en- the other day in the minds of the
delegates to the third session of the
twenty-fifth annual convention of the
National Association of Dancing Mas
ters which was held in Chicago. Miss
Margaret Thuma, dancing instructor
well known in Pittsburg, was the lee
turer. She soon proved that the city
of smoke Is the core of things aesthet-
ic She drilled her fellows in ways of
dancing instruction that few ever
dreamed of before. Miss Thuma main
tanned first and foremost that one must
entertain beautiful thoughts before one
can do beautiful dances. Then she told
them how to have ornate ideas
Miss Thuma, arrayed in becoming
and close fitting black, stood before
her auditors in n position statuesque.
Her arms slowly and majestically We're
lifted upward until the limp fingers
touched above her pompadour. She
calls it "mental circle" Her eyelids
closed dreamily. and in musical ac-
cents she delivered her tenet from
Pittsburg.
"To dance in way that is lovely
and harmonious one must reach the
soul" she said. "The soul responds
with its flow of personal magnetism,
and it is then registered Mt the brain,
which is, as you must understand, the
seat of all intelligence"
How truer murmured several fem
mine hearers
"Then the mind, or as l might say.
the mental force, gives out this soul
feeling" continued Miss Thuma in
softer tones when this has been
done we will have completed the true
harmony of the soul"
isn't it loyely?" whispered a slender
girl to her masculine neighbor.
Great said the man, who repre-
sented st. Joseph, Mo.
Miss Thuma, as if In heavenly rap
ture, went on:
Force generates different elements
in man. Mental force is related to the
mind. All spiritual force is related to
the heart. But. remember. life force
is the inner atmosphere of ourselves.
When we have fully cultivated the
soul we multiply personal magnetism,
although I prefer to call 1t soul mag
netiSm."
1T must he a help in a barn dance"
muttered the man from St Joseph. Mo.
Il have one line of thought which
call a Vision In n Garden Fair" said
Miss Thuma, all obivious. "One may
imagine one is meeting Apollo in a
garden of Eden or one may picture the
tete-a-tete of Romeo and Juliet She
is in u balcony. we may coniure. and
he calls to her. She is apprised of his
presence here. Then it is his heart to
hers and finally his lips to hers"
Il wonder if Missouri would stand
for it" said the man from st. Joseph.
Il have still other modes of Thought
which must be absorbed by the
dancer" said Miss Thuma "There is
the Vision of the Accursed,' in which
the reviled one is groping onward, on
ward in Stygian darkness. Then there
is the Vision of the Graces,' a kaleido-
scope of fitting, blending goddesses,
with gaTlands intwined. All this, my
friends. will tend to give you complete
control of the centers mental, physical
and emotional, and finally you will
have attained the true grace of mind"
l i
ter, of applause yignetted Miss Thu
mas address; then bunch of the men
got up and jigged about TO see if their
emotional centers had rusted.
Miss Thuma lined up all the other
dancing teachers and showed them
how to act out the soul stuff. She had
them raise their right hands and nod
the palms gently to waltz time. Then
they were ordered to sway their left
hands gently attuned to the piano.
Next the forearms were brought into
play. Gradually, almost imperceptibly.
Miss Thuma coaXed her pupils into mo-
lions that grew more and more siren
uous. Al length the affair became a
hopping, dipping, swinging ordeal that
was neither soulful nor pleasant for
the stout men. Once she had them
pose as Mercury. Did you ever see a
200 FOUNDER initiate Mercury?
When it was all finished the party
was still in an unsoulful mood. This
was proved when Isa'nra Sampson,
the general instructor roposed to
teach them n new banyt step The
men dcmurred
"Aw, show us the buck and wingm
they shouted.
And so it came to pass.
Generous Mrs. Crewe.