The Washington times., 1921-09-04
Bv ARNOLD BENNETT
Dstingushed EngRsh Author, Who Is Writing a Series
Articles for The Sunday Washington
Most Spectacular Symptom of the New
Spirit Of the Times Is the Revival and
Full Demonstration of Dancing---Great
Need of the Age Is New Step.

Is not so Intentionally and forlorn.
y empty that you feel as II YOU
Were assisting at memorial service
ior the death of dancing. .a.
Another problem. purely artistic
ana technical. is to decide whether
men should dance on their heels or
their toes. There may be serious
trouble over this. Only a little while
ago the existence Of the problem
would have been unthinIxable. Every.
BODY had to dance on his toes, and
on the floor Of the ballroom nobody
could even admit that he possessed
heels. 80 :
Dut Today one may witness the
iinest male dancers continually
using their heels in preference to
their toes. and defending the practice
on the ground that 1t gives a better
oaiance and a quicker turn, and
also that 1t enables the feminine
Feet to get closer to the masculine
feet; and apparently the inmost
secret Of good dancing is that the
feminine and masculine feet should
never. never leave each other.
A MORAL ARGUMENT.
A great problem. Of a moral or DO.
htical nature. now just simmerins
up. Is raised by the question:
why should the men always abb
solutely rule the dancer" -f y. =
There is no answer to this ous..
ton. except to say that women have
ever been in Subsection and there.
fore must ever be; which answer In
possibly not quite satisfactory. In
my dance Of two persons. one of. the
pair must Of course be autocrat. but
why should not che pair exchange
roles at intervals?
Women know as much about
dancing as men. and numbers of
them could certainly direct the
mutual movements quite as well an
the men with whom they dance. I
am surprised that our more advanced
feminists have not made a fus.
about such a fundamental affair
long since.
But the problem of problems is the
admitted monotony Of modern dane.
ing. A few weeks ago / behed with
amazement the program Of q ball at
buckingham Palace. With the ex
ception of the formal opening grand
quadrille, and the final galop, every
dance was a waltz.
THE TANGO WAS BARRED.
~ There were about twenty waltzes
one after the other. Not fox.troti
AS for a one-step-f AS for tan.
go- ..f..-
1t may have been held, and per.
haps wisely, that words such as fox.
trot' would not look nice on the
pasteboards Of Buckingham Palace
ball. But even in other bali rooms
the programs are monotonous.
Tho one-step has fallen into die.
favor. and rightly so, for It Is a
tenth-rate business. Programs ure
divided in the main between. fox.
trots and .waltzes, and though the
waltz is a finer dance than the fox.
trot, the fox.trot Is still very fine.
and, being easier than the waltz
and better adapted for variations,
1t exceeds the waltz in popularity.
The mischief is that the steps of
the two dances are identical. Again
the authorities who govern and
Judge competitions will not permi,
any sort Of stung effects, and who
shall blame them? So that there
is In practice almost a lawful out.
let for the human yearning after
change and variety.
Efforts are being made to popu.
larize the tango in London. There
is only one waltz. but there are
seventy and seven tangos, and the
tango is great dance. with the
magnificent rhythm Of the fox.
trot but rather slower; and IL YOU
knew enough you might lance
tangoes for a whole evening and
scarcely repeat your figures.
Dancing cannot be really popu.
lar unless it is public, for not one
person in hundred thousand pos.
sesses a ballroom. and square or
round dances are Impossible at q
public dance. What is more, they
are not SO interesting to the per.
formers as the couple dance. The
great need OF the age is new
step. with new figures, capable
of many variations within a few
clear rules. Such a novelty, com.
bined with the .fox.trot and the
waltz. would remove the reproach
of I1aonotopv Ply