Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-04-21
TANGos OF OTHER TIMES.
Some of the. Dancing Days and Dane
ing Ways of Past Generations.

Just as the tango has now taken the
dancing world by storm. so eli the waltz
a century ago
There was the same outc-y about it.
too. Coming TO US from Berlin. by way
of Paris. it was denounced as this imp
OF Germany brought up in Francs"
But the younger generation, both men
and women, took to ii enthusiastically,
and in a little while the waltz had pracy
tically ousted the older dances. Its popu
larity continued undated for above 20I
years. when il was temporarily ee,ipsez
by the polka craze
The polka came originally from b.
hemia where it has been danced by theI
peasants from time immemorial Its in-I
PRODUCTION into fashionable society waSI
due to Josef Neruda. who saw a girl
dancing it one Sunday afternoon in theI
market place of Elbeleinitz. and note3|
down the melody and steps.
The craze for the new canoe broke outI
first at Prague, and spread thence ts|
Vienna and Paris y French dancingl
master named Cellarius brought 1t to|
London. and reaped fortune by his eiH
terprise.
Duchesses waited their turn for hours
in the ante rooms of his salon in Picca.
dilly. His terms were high, ranging FROM
six to eight guineas for half an hour II
lesson. Nevertheless, he was so greatly
in request that it was said that he had
only one hour free, between and ~
NJ, and that he selfishly insisted upon
keeping this hour for slumber.
The polka mania of 1874 seems 10 have
exceeded even the tango craze OF 1918 I'M
its intensity and virulence. People
thought and spoke of little else so that
the Times was induced querulously til
complain that its news columns remain al
unread, for neither politics nor anything
else interests the public today-only this
new and all-absorbing pursuit, ths
polka"
Ten or u years later another new
dance the now well-known lancers, TOOK
the fashionable world by storm, although,
probably owing to the intricacy of its
very elaborate figures, it did not all at
once become so universally popular as
had been the case with the waltz and the
polka.
The Iancers were introduced to London
society by four young ladies WHO wer9I
exceedingly popular at the time. They
were Lady Georgina Lyon, Lady Jans
| Fielding. Hon. Miss Berkeley and MlleA
Olga de Lechner, daughter. of the Rus
| sian Ambassador.
| 1t was danced for the first time in a
London ballroom by these ladies and four
| young gentlemen whom they had initial.
ed into its mysteries at grand ball
given at the Turkish Embassy, while the
assembled company looked on. =
| Among the guests at that particular
| ball were Queen Victoria and the Prince
| Consort, and so delighted were they with
\ the new dance that they ordered il to be-
| included in the program of the state balls
at Buckingham Palace, Were now it is
never omitted.
Besides the above, there has been. als
most from the earliest beginnings of
English dancing, more or less constant
| succession of what may very properly be
termed freak Dances" among the very
latest examples being the bunny hug. the
! turkey trot and other similar calisthenic
denominations, mostly of American origin.
| Long years ago, however. quite az
understanding dances, of purely English
origin, were popular over here How
! strange it would sound In a modern ballS
room to hear the steward say: Now,
gentlemen, take your partners for.
Lunyps of Pudding!" Or to be told to
dance Under and over" The Bath, or
! up Tails All 4
| Yet once upon a time each of these was
a well-known dance, to say nothing OF
even more curiousy entitled ones. as fot
example 1.-The Slaughter House'-what
name for a dance!-"The Ladies' Mis-
fortune" AN Old Mans a Bedful o.
Bones" rub Her Down With Straw"
and Have at Thy Coat. Old Woman.
| Answers.