El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-07-24
TRAFFIC COP IS
NECESSITY IN
DANCE HALL
Go-as- You-Please Type Be
walled; Too Much Dan
ger Of Death.
NO TWO PERSONS
EVER "TRIP ALIKE
7 oNDON, Eng, July Alt was a
l. popular dance club in the West
End Of London.

I oNDON, Eng July 24.-It was a
popular dance club in the West
End OF London.
The beautifully spring floor was
crowded by men and women in each
others arms solemnly gyrating TO
the sound Of horsehair drawn over
catgut and the noise Of a tight, dry
skin beaten by a stick. says The
Sketch.
Suddenly a young man. with an
anxious face and the expenditure Of
much physical effort, lifted his part
ner off her feet, held her for a sec
ond high up in the air, just long
enough TO give a glimpse Of a back
ward poised leg. in silk stockings
and then dropped her and resumed the
amble.
A little further on two dancers
suddenly revolyed with tremendous
speed. creating an acute danger zone
while the operation lasted
Two more. instead OF progressing
round the room in the regulation
way, took an apparent delight in
dancing across It to the confusion OF
less unconventional performances.
Looking around the room it could
be SEEN Is you can prove at any
London dance today, that no two
people dance alike.
Given an average ragtime tune
some people viii Boston, others will
twostep, others viii foxtrot with a
smooth, gliding action or a ierky,
lame dog, dot and carry one effect;
but each viii maintain that his par
ticular version is the right one.
Nc Regulation Steps.
The fact OF the matter is that mod
ern dancing has no regulation steps,
IL is go-as-you-please dancing. an art
into which. each dancer Is entitled to
Introduce any eccentric extravaganza
he fancies ct the moment.
To this chaos Of the modern ball
room certain dancing authorities and
experts wish to bring. If not order.
at least grace. With this object in
view a conference OF the foremost
dancing teachers is to meet at the
Grafton galleries.
There is a touch Of mordant hu-
NOR about this. Is It not an instance
OF the blind trying 10 lead the blind2
There can be no doubt that so per
cent Of the eccentric freak steps and
styles seen in every London dance
club today are due to the enormous
number OF dancing instructors who.
ever since the wartime dane boom
started. have been working off their
own theories Of what a fox trot and
a jan should be on their unsuspecting
pupils.
There IS no agreement among
teachers Of dancing.
What Is a fox trotI
What Is a jazz
No one knows but everybody cher
ishes a theory.
Unless something IS done to re-
strain the teachers OF freak steps we
shall see ballroom dancing reproduc-
ing all Of the wild antics Of stunt
stage exhibitions.
II would not even now be surpris-
Ing to see an athletic young man
cast his partner into the air. catch
her on his shoulder. throw her away.
and execute a wild fandango with
his hand in her back hairi
Dancing IS. or should be, an express
sion OF rhythm
Actions. jerky. ugly and acrobatic,
which do not express even the caco-
phonic indiscretions OF a rag time
orchestra. should be barred.
Only by some standard idea Of what
constitutes grace and rhythmic move
ment can che wild men and the wild.
wild women" Of the go-as-you-pIeass
ballroom be convertedg
When this happens there viii be
one danger fewer in a dangerous
world.