The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-16
IS THE TURKEY TROT
 A CONTAGIOUS MANIA ]?
An English Writer Says That the Present RagtiIne Craze Coincides With a Widespread Neurasthenia- It Resembles the Dancing Mania of the Middle Ages.

Gerald Du Maurder, the English playwright, recently laid down the ddc- fh1rn that '.the bunny hug, the turkey trot, the dog bite and the rest of the new dances are only forms of the old est dance in the world-St. Vitu5.''
 Comm emttng upon his statement, a writer in ''The Iady's Pictorial'' says tIfis is, at the first blush, somewhat disqufeting statement, implying that irregular rhythm are merely pathologd- cal symptoms.
 Yet there is no doubt that the pres ent ragtime manila which appears to affect all classes and to appeal to all ages, coincideS with Q. widespread neT1- rasthenia, and in an age when unrest, hritabdlity and an unreasonable de- sire to be ssannused'' at all costs and by any means are prominent charac- teriStica
 The dancing mania of the Middle Ages, which affected all Europe and became a, veritable epidemic, is now diagnosed by the medical profession as a. neurotic phenomenon, as well as a contagious mental disease.
 Misery and want. fanattcal religion. war, famine and pestilence, all con tribute to a neGrotic state of mind, on which music worked It's customary effects-tlaat of exciting or depressing people to such a degree that in those times, at least, they lost control of their muscular movements.
 The mania about witchcrafb which later on affected quite reasonable peo- pie to an amazing extent, was anoth- CT pathological symptom, which had, indeed, more dire results for women folk than the dancing epidennAcs of earlier centuries.
 That authority on ''the crowds" M Le Bon, declares that ideas, senti- ments, emotions and beliefs possess g. contagious power as intense as that of microbes so that it is not difficult to understand, in the& light of our pres ent knowledge, how a saltatory cpl dernbc quickly grew and spread.
 All those travellers who have seen the dancing derv1sheS in Constantine pIe and other Eastern cities can tell y,ro4 of the extraordinary exa1tation of the insane fervor they put into their never ending tvdrls and whfrla
 For in dancing, above alI Pappetit vient en mangeant, and a perfect fren- zy can we worked up by a performer who lets himself go and who Is. above all under the influence of mental sug- gestdon.
 It Is a well known fact that most of the present popular ragtinne tunes are versions of the revfvalist hymns sung by negroes in America in those strange camp meetings where masses of people are suddenly and singulariy "converted'' and ttget, in the cant phrase, '<sa1vation.'
 Now while we know, from no less an authority than Professor William James. that such conversions are oLLen quite real, the methods by which they are attained strike US as mentally ana morally undesirable
 If we can turn rev1val1st nyfnn into a. ragtime tune to catch all the town. it is obvious that ta1e original
 h k7i the reticence, the solemnly which shoqlld be the hal1-marks of religious compositions
 we do not want the methods of the music hall in religious matners Ine human being must be cr1riouSly ll- raJanced who can be appealed to only 71v this kind of cerebral excitement
 Vet e,11rio11s1y enough. dancing mas always been connected with religion both in Pagan and Christian countries.
 The exquisite dancing figures on Greek vase often represent some rehg- ious processdon-a feStlVaA III AA1hioU oA Dionysius or AtheneA
 Tn ancient Jewish religious festivals we know that dancing was employeo in the splendid ritual or those tlIne*s' part of the church ceremony III 11e early Christian period
 So it would seem that dancing Is not only a very primitive instinct ehor aAl savawes indulge in one form Or an other of tt), but that 1t is 1ntanaCely connected with the deepest emotions
 We often use the phrase 'oo dance for ioy,' and yet we do not except when very HyouthflIl) indulge In saita-- tory exercises to express our elatlon. Yet the instinct must be there
 This taste, indeed this need' TOT dancine as a. means of self-expreSslon shouId therefore be cultivated, but some of US would fain see a more tru- ly national form of art revived than the grotesuue wrigglings and heaV1ngs of the negro ragtime-
 The present craze for foolish, and not always decorous, dances from North and South America will doubt less die down. but it has already soWn seeds which will not easily be de- stroyed.
 Indeed, the ragtirne craze has re- gently been 1ikened by an acute ob- server of our social manners to the | Tarantisrn of the Middle Ages iIf Eu- ! rope, so widespread is the passion for a certain tune of which the refrain sounds like nothing more inspiring | than a sneeze.
 The instinct for dancing is all to the 1 good and, as regards exercise and re reation, it is hard to beat. It remains | for hostesses to discourage eccentric | on the part of their young | er guests. and for teachers to invent \