Evening star., 1919-12-28
HELLO SAYS PARIS is
MAD OVER DANCING
Tango and Trot Standardized to Rhythmic
Malebolge, and Astronomers Blame
the Sun Spots.
PARIS. December 16. 1919.
MONTH ago the London papers
estimated that up to 25O,00O

per evening COulQ De
found in the public dancing
establishments of the gay British
capital At present, they say $4,000 of
both sexes between sixteen and sixty
hve. and going strong
In Paris the craze has reached such
heights that on certain day last
week, by government decree. with less
than twenty-four hours warning. "all
dancings. balls and cours de danse"
were ordered enthusiastically to
economize coal consumed in their
electric lighting. Acceptance of this
explanation throws spot light on the
Importance of the "dancings." Thea
ters. music halls. cafes, restaurants.
hotels. department stores and shop
windows were permitted to continue
as negligible in comparison with the
dancing lights. Refusal of the expla-
nation lands the craze in even greater
dignity; they did not dare attack it
but obliquely.
Turn the lights lower" laughed the
dancing public. satisfied that no coal
shortage could stop them.
That is what it did. exactly-the
French government. Five days later
it gave in, renewed the permits and
gave orders. simply:
Turn the lights lower
Thus. homogeneous masses have
their lunches. What government shall
stop the stars in their courses?
bolge Of tango is to put a stick in the
wheels of the sun. Here is wisdom
revealed to the youthful while hidden
from the prudent. Where the kaiser
and the Archbishop of New York and
Duchess of Norfolk spoke in their
haste, your correspondent will ex-
plain.
Tango and trot will last until 1924.
But note. it is the tango of astron-
omers. our tango. tango type. These
dances of dignity and rhythm. of at
titude and gesture. the negation of
romp and whirlng. are under the
protection of the sun in one of its
grand periods.
1t is the suns fault.
Everybody knows that sun spots
regulate dancing. You imagine that
You dance because it is jazz one-step.
you dance. Which comes to the same
thing; there is a time to dance.
time to tire of dancing and time to
dance something else.
The suns periods of eleven years
(as all may count on their fingers).
its thirty-three-year maximums and
it's grand maximum of once a century
correspond perfectly to the waltz
ds12. ,t the galop and s.s, sch0stisehe hot na'
ka 1S45). the cuadrille GS52). the
lancers OSS1), the can-can US69). the
pas de Quatre dsS2). the Boston
GsS3), the cake walk us0e) and the
tango (1S1S).
An astronomer could even point out
the grand maximum of no dancing
after 1870, and the thirty-three-year
maXimums which gave type dances
mazurka. auadrille, Boston.
But don't go now and think you
know it all; because. while any one
can calculate from these aXioms and
data that the present dancing craze
is bound to bounce and can't help
years). the grand joggle of once a
century (by gravitational pulls. ac-
cording to Einstein) promises equal
probability for tango type to persist
or revive and dominate through the
next 100 years as the minuet enjoyed
throughout the entire eighteenth GEN.
tury and the waltz Gas dominating
type in spite of all those new inven-
tions) through the entire nineteenth
century
You'll say we pulsate with the suns
pull on those starbeams Causing
them to bend or belly). And you're
right MISUNDERSTANDING Alter
mating current.
Regina Badet called the Boston "a
waltz for pale people" when she
saw the tango she misnamed it "a
Boston for paler people" Even the
judicious get this epoch stuff in de-
tached parts, and it was months, in
1913. before Marthe Urbain put her
finger on tango type-"the minuet of
the twentieth century,
Exactly 100 years ago came this
grand recrudescence of dancing
The waltz came floating in on the
magnetic wave
The armies of Napoleon found the
peasants of Thuringia doing a new
stunt to music Gust like we the Ar
Gentine sIums)- II was SO gay and
audacious, SO heartnelting and fasci-
mating in air, step and tempo. that
the grande armee all but stopped
fighting to dance it.
Like the tango. it rose on world
war.
Nothing had been seen like it. 1t
was danced by couples. The man
took his partner by the waist. while
she clung to his shoulder. The other
arms were outstretched, hand clasp
ing hand. And round and round the
couples whirled. and round and round
to new Tilt which brought tears
to the eyes-a measure languorous
and agitated, soothing and exciting
sentimental. diabolical.
BY 1912 it was in Paris. Debucourt
called it ''the folly of the day" Simul-
taneously in Paris they waltzed in
1900 public balls. You might think
il the tango
Young folks eating ices at Baga-
telle would jump uo every ten min
ufes to waltz on the lawn. They
waitzed everywhere. in public, i'm pri-
vate. in classes, at meals, with high
priced coaches and economical ex-
change lessons-"from countesses to
queens wrote Byron as he saw il.
land maids and Wallets waltz behind
the Genes"
In tine midst arose great protest
like that of the thoughtful kaiser
against the tango in 1913 / beg Ma
poleon's pardon. but it's world stuff
and we've got to use it. At that mo-
ment. two society queens-Nme de
GenIis and Mime. de Stael-proclaim-
cd themselves respectively against
and for. Genlis had vogue as writer.
and by her previous position as gov
erness to the royal family. and Ma
poleon was paying her $4,000 per
year to write him weekly suggestions
on literature and morals. Napoleon
requested Genlis to give earnest med
itation to the tango-pardon. waltz
End then write something strong
against it,
De Stael was for. Today she would
he in favor of infghting tango. All
three were right. AS Washington
Lopp said to the Duke of Alva: IT'S
2 touchstone of refinement Lord By
ron remarked of the waltz: II sup
pose it does not matter if they really
love one another" When, in 1913,
the Chicago Opera administration.
dance the tango with Marthe Urban.
then of the Paris Opera. in Kahn's
offices of the Rue Tronchet / saw