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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 1913)
v)-4r m ..V' Jsll! 7 . iiiii- 'Yfv OS? .,S ABO B2P it J 4. . t J: WE v If MJxy-i.: iaaHLll AV4V Wonderful Danca WHioK Mies all fJoi&ns Sit Up ond RubTheir Eyczs,. 0 EUROPE CALLS US CRAZY, BUT COPIES US JUST THE SAME. "It is strange when a coun try goes crazy over a thing, some other country must bear i the blame. "We blame the Tango on "South America, and over there they call everything except the Waltz and Tango ' cette folk danse Americaine ' (that crazy American dance). But they are all doing it, and after all we P'lzPP' because it is something to start a thing and have all Europe copy it, even if it is crazy. "They think over there that all Americans are quite mad anyway, so one dance more or less to our credit, or discredit, means nothing' Mips Stomping f moy" 1 ) J Photos SSA3 I f Moffat , Ah a of hz- Bz.k- Lrv Tf2y Th2lr Hands. From I ITVW Wih lacaThemOn TheiT fl Valti V w , m 1 rmi Two of hz- Bz.KILr TaKaTheir Hands, rrom Fiset- OnTvvoThr.&Twic.eT. y7 i Then Do hz, SameAariation Their Arms. About C.sc, Other- ng From Side to Side,. tCopjrrlght: 1013: By EUlo JanU. EVERYWHERE I went last ummr in Europe I managed to see dancing of some kind, and while w are putting all kinds of stepa to all kinds of times, with no aense of fchame, I think there may be some among those steps that I saw In Berlin, Venice, orusBeis inoi lorgeiung mat spiendia little city on the .Hirer Seine known as Faris) that we might adopt , In the first place the ragtime crare was at its height iui;hiicPiuu m rrsiaurauu wnere tne slimmer be fore you had heard dreamy French waltzes in which the Parisians excel you would be compelled to eat your Bole Margery to the strains of " I Want to Be in Dixie " played all wrong. It's funny about the foreign musi cians. They can play "Tres Moutarde " or "La So-J-eila ' so snappily that you can't sit still while they are playing them, but when it comes to an American rag they are lost They don't understand our syncopation, nd they play them all too ivlow, consequently when they Start to do the dindon gai (turkey trot) as they call it, they ware from side to side madly. Really, you could aot escape ragtimover there last summer, try as you would. . 'i- 'i ' - f Pretty Cermtih Waltzing Step. While in Prague (Bohemia), the city of churches, I got ao tired of wandering about looking up pt interior decorations that I insisted on seeing some life. So in the good company of two Austrian gentlemen, mother and I sallied forth in search of excitement. We were told that there wa one cabaret that was very, very exciting, so we went there. After much red tape and the poor Atistrians I using vajl their influence to get us Inside of the fascinating place, we got in. I had it fixed firmly in my mind that I would see the dance of the eren veils or eomething equally exciting. We got in just In time for the feature of the evening, which turned tut to be two of the blackest American darkeys ..1 I s ye J l s Rosition For the Dance. Sezn In Brussels and Dc&scntaetd In Thia Art-iol. Grs hioad Thrown Well BocK Almofet Roisitin On Partners . 3ho'uldar.v' in the world anyway.' - It starts slowly and dreamily and slowly gets more and more rapid until finally the finish is awe inspiring. And there were old bearded men there who got up and made the average young man look very feeble. , Variation tq the One Step. Vm not going to try to teach you a dance that I hare only a bowing acquaintance with, but the last step of the czardas I have tried to a one step and it makes a very good variation. It's like this: The man and girl stand side by side looking opposite directions. The man puts hia arm about the girl's waist as they are standing, and the girl puts hers around the man's waist So they are in position shown in the picture. They then step on the feet that are next to each other, the man's right and the girl's left and go around In a circle, all the time 2oing forward on their inside feet and pushing them selves along with the outside feet. As they push on too inside feet they bring the heel down hard with a click and tap the outside toe right afterwards, which sounds like a quick one two, one two. They go eight steps one way and then make a quick reverse, the man turning facing the opposite way and the girl doing the same, and the same steps that way. It'a a wonderful danoe and can be dona well to one step music. In Venice the only dancing w could find was over at the Lido, a wonderful bathing resort about twenty minute away from there. We went over one uigbt, but as there were mostly Americans and English DIP iSEEN ATT VENICE. Man end Girl Step On Left Fceb Throw Right Lefl O ver, Th ejn Le.ft BocK and Riajnr- Over Rejoin. coast turkey trot. They were a great hit. So mother and I went home to bed baying, "Foiled again!" That's just one example of how ragtime lias reached every corner of Europe. Now, in Berlin, -while they try all the dances, they still have a soft spot in their hearts for the old fashioned waltz, and I saw some pretty steps done by the waltzing Germans; for instance, one step that I think would be very effective in our Boston, or as a new variation of the hesitation waltz, can be done like this: The man rests his right hand lightly on the girl's shoulder and she rests her right hand on his left shoulder. Leaning well back from each other they hold tjheir other hands straight out at their sides and then they start to waltz or Boston, whichever you prefer. Personally, I think strict one, two, three waltz time is better for this dance. Thcy waltz, leaning from side to side as they do so, twice each way, as in the old Ger man dances we have seen danced to " Lieber Augustine." Now we have bend to right, waltz one, two, three, bend to left, waltz one, two, three. . Again right and once more left Then the ; dancers stop, take theic Jbands from each other's shoulders and stamp i tlieir feet one. other and place their hands on their hips. Theothef repeat the waltz movement, only this time with oppo site hands, the man's left on the girl's right shoulder and the girl's right on the man's left shoulder. - Re pent the waltzing from side to side as they did before and repeat the stamp of the feet, one, two, three at the end of the step twice. Then they do' this wme variation standing side by side with their arms about each other. Waltz from side to side and the etamp at the finish as they did before. They put a great deal of life in the stamping of their feet, and, in fact, they do all this variation with a great deal of abandon; they seem like big, laughing children just out for a good time. In Brussels we went to the Palate d'EGt, where they had a marvelous variety show and then dancing after, ward. They had an unusual dance there. The publls were not favoring it much, but the specialty dancers did it and then I saw some of the more brave ama teurs tackling it and it seemed quite easy, It was tike this: The entire dance was done with the girl's back to When the. Ri ht bed Comes Over t ha 5econd Ti me. t h2- Dancers Dip Very Low On It With Left Leg Out Beht i-Vd Them. ijwice each way, starting first to the right, then to the left, and after that they start again as if they were goinf to two step, but instead of two steps they do eighty steps, or, rather, small slides around in a circle. At the ' end of eight slides they are around to where they started . from, then they repeat the same steps again, starting to the left, two step that way, two hack to the right and then to the left for eight slides around in a circle to the left and right back to where they started from. They did-several other Steps, but ae I only, saw them once these two variations are all that I .could grab end ex plain fully. These are, I know, quite practical, for I have tried thorn. The couple that I saw were dancing to , the latest tune from America (as Brussels pu! it), called "Everybody' Doing It" j( In Carlsbad, Austria, there are , many smart Hun garlans, and at a ball there one night, where all the Americans were one-stepping and all the French - were tangoing, and all the English were busy on their famous non reversing waits, the Hungarians waxed Impatient the man, both his arms about her waist tnd both. her ; and finally, asked jthe. orchestra t( piay tneir nan ve hands restlnir on his hands as If to. hold them tbereTand'dance, the caardasrandi; believe me, when they start ,on IoueTTTawru. right, left, she ThroWY her" head Vel tnne of Waiting fo? the Robert E. Lee, no one i too uri r: WlTu.;".,,Jr- 'l -wt-Wfolar Barbary two times. During. this stamping they are facing each shoulder. Now they do' thi bid fashioned two step up' and W their eyea It is the most wonderful music oM to-dance- a one step. . . ' 1 ; ; , . there, it being a little eany lor tneir lasnioname Ital ian season, we did not see much that we had not seeu before. They had, however, a professional dancing teaeher, a Greek, who with a most fascinating Italian partner, was tearing off all the steps of all nations. They did one step to a waltz' that was pretty. I asked an American boy what the man called the step and he said the Lido dip. So here we have it: Boston firstr then-awingout sid by side, and starting with the left foot do as follows: Both, man and girl step on left, swing right leg across with a brtad swing, step on right, and throw left leg over right just the seme way. Now we have right over, left over, and then right over again, and bend same until tUF knee almost toucheshe ground and theJeft leg goes right out behind. Then up again and throw the left leg over, right leg over, and left over again with the same dip done with the right knee bent almost touching i.c ground and the left leg right out behind. After that etvlng into the. waits position, Boston eight beats, and then swing side by side and repeat same. That is the Lido dip. .,..;... Blame Americans fot " Crozj " Dances. These are all good frteps In my opinion, and as the popular idea is to know as many steps as possible I thought they might interest the dancing public. It is strange in at wnen a country goes crazy over & wing ii t i.i I ......- vi. , the tanco on South America, and over there they call everything except the waits and tango " cette folle danse : Amerisalne " (that crasy American dance). But they are all doing it and after all we can't complain, becauss ' it ia something to vtart a thing and have all Europe copy it, even if it Is crazy. They think over there that all Americans are quite mad anyway, bo one dance more or lesa to our credit or against us means nothing, la England they think nothing , of (our barbarous , dances, where the man holds the girl in a more or less tight embrace, and I can understand it, for really, the? average Englishman, when dancing wjth you, holds you off ao far that you think yoq are- dancing alone. HU4 DUiiuu imaji niiio uu ill a Bull 11 r nnnnnv old ateps up to date. I personally telieve there is now step-too bid to be dan?ed. to'the one step,' and from the length of some of the beards I've eeen waving to tha i L
