The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-27

and the khorovov. The Russian immi-
grants In New York who are not Jews
can be found mostly between Third and
Tenth streets on the East Side. round
about Avenues A and B. and In their
halls In that region and at the meetings
Of their societies you az fnd these dances
In solo or group dancing.
: Tho dancing halls OF the great jewish
colony Of the lower East Side are packed
nightly, but tho young people dance
only the American dances. They have
quite abandoned the folk dancing.
sThe Bohemian beseda Is contra dance
OF four couples, danced with all the char
acteristio Bohemian steps. Tho beseda
is danced all through the Bohemian colony
on the upper East Side all winter.
Every Sunday. IL you know where to
60. you can find Irish jIgs and Hits and four
hand reels. or the Irish quadrille with six
couples, being danced In the fats by people
born IN Ireland. The Irish are less depend
emit upon music for their dancing than any
other people. They win whistle and
dance. or sing and dance. or the rest will
sing or whistle for those who are dancing.
and keep time by clapping with the hands
or tapping with the feet. and they seem TO
enjoy dancing to whistling just as well
as dancing to Instruments.
aIhaye found Greek dances in New York.
I have been entertained In homes Of well
to do Greeks In Manhattan who showed me
many different Greek dances; contra
dances. group dancing, two and two, all
In q line, the man and woman facing each
other. They are picturesque. and some
Of their movements I liked very much. but
I can't remember their ames.-
Il have found the rezginka, the folk
dance Of the Caucasus. In New York. 1t
represents fencing with swords and the
skill Of the fighting man In other ways.
-Many OF the steps and figures Of the
folk dances picture the skill Of the men
in their vocations exactly as children
represent the scenes Of daily life in their
plays. I found two or three men who
used TO be Cossack riders for Buffalo
Bill who danced the rezginka.
Il found Turks, Mahommedans. away
down on the lower West Side. who showed
me the Turkish dance. 1t was the
Oriental dance. all body movements.
and the dancer sings as he dances. or
course men and women never dance to-
gether in the Orient.
sThis dance Of the men IL essentially
the same as that danced by Oriental
women dancers. 1t IL all the same thing.
and all repulsive to the Western taste
when one understands 1t.
"Thcre 10 plenty Of good dancing OF
the tsrantella In New York. The folk
dance all over Italy 10 essentially one
dance, but they call II by h different name
and dance 1t a little differently In every
province,
Sometimes they dance It with the
tambourine, sometimes holding up the
corners Of the skirt OF apron. sometimes
snapping the fingers Of the hands out
stretched or raised over the head. some
times clapping the hands. At Naples
they call II the t~arantella. at Rome the
saltarella. in Sicily the sioiliana. I saw
it well danced on a playground In Newark
while I was In search OF material. but
got my dancers finally from the neighbor-
hood Of Thomas jefferson Park.
There are not many Spaniards In New
York, and those that are here come mostly
from South America or the West Indian
islands. I found only two Spanish girls
who could dance well enough TO be used
In the festival. For other figures In the
Spanish dance I used Italian girls. There
Is German folk dancing In New York and
You can find the Highland fling.
@One day ] had some oolored children
In my rooms to zee what they could do,
They began TO show me O dance that