1403 Do not Shake The Hips or Twist the Body, Flounce the Elbows or Pump the arms
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 01:29:29 -0600
From: Tom Stermitz <Stermitz@RAGTIME.ORG>
Subject: Do not Shake The Hips or Twist the Body, Flounce the Elbows or Pump the arms
Tango history is a passionate if not polemical and fun topic.
The story of social dance (what eventually became ballroom dance) is
equally fascinating, and perhaps less polemical because it is a bit
better documented than the early tango. In the US the 1910s are a
very important decade.
Ballroom chain studios and the Ballroom Academies of Britain and the
US came much later in the game.
Some of the most interesting social dances of the old days have been
neglected, abused, emasculated or otherwise destroyed over the years,
including the ragtime "One-step" or "Peabody", and the "Half-and
Half," or waltz in 5/4 time!!!!!
Denver is fortunate to have a great vintage orchestra that plays the
top hits of the 1910s & 1920s. https://www.mont-alto.com/
Want to hear a Half&Half? https://www.mont-alto.com/dance/13.%20Francine.mp3
Ballroom dancing owes a tremendous amount to Irene & Vernon Castle,
who hit Paris in 1911& 1912. They had a tremendous influence on
social dance in the US, invented the foxtrot, and brought tango (some
version of it, anyway) back with them.
A couple of films about the Castles were made. I've had the pleasure
of seeing their self-produced silent movie of 1914, "Whirl of Life",
which includes the obligatory slapstick sequence. There is a 1939
remake by none other than Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers: "The Story of
Irene & Vernon Castle."
Here is part of a review of the 1939 movie:
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle was the last of nine films Fred
Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together for RKO Pictures, and it is
unlike any other. For the only time, Fred and Ginger play historical
characters--the legendary dancing duo that was all the rage between
1912 and 1916--and a married couple, no less. Instead of their usual
innovative, plot-driving dances, Fred and Ginger perform pastiches of
what the Castles made famous--the fox trot, polka, and tango. And
rather than an original score of great American standards by Berlin,
Kern, or the Gershwins, the film uses a collection of period tunes,
including "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Waiting for the
Robert E. Lee." No, this is not Top Hat , but fans will enjoy the
film anyway. Vernon and Irene Castle is an affectionate tribute to a
bygone era and to a team that Fred said was "a tremendous influence"
on his career. As portrayed in the film (which was based on Irene
Castle's memoirs and input), Vernon Castle is a small-time vaudeville
comedian when he meets and marries Irene. The two not only manage to
forge a career as proper, respectable dancers, they become the
essence of style, setting national trends for dance, fashion, and
even women's hairstyles.
A quick search on "Irene Vernon Castle" resulted in a wealth of
interesting reading, including this little quote from the webpage:
https://www.paragonragtime.com/castle.html
(see also https://www.streetswing.com/histmai2/d2cstle4.htm )
"Who's going to pay to see a man dance with his wife?"
"By the 1910s, a plethora of new ragtime dances had supplanted the
older cakewalk and two step. These included the so-called "Animal
Dances": the Turkey Trot, the Bunny Hug, the Chicken Scratch, the
Grizzly Bear, the Kangaroo Kant (or dip), the Possum Trot, the Snake,
the Crab Step, the Lobster Trot, and the Fox Trot. Shortly, the One
Step and the Texas Tommy would also come into style. Because these
dances were easy and simple, more people began dancing in more places
than ever before. Restaurants, cabarets, "roof gardens," and
specially built dancing clubs and ballrooms all catered to the fad.
But while Americans spun giddily across the land, the Establishment -
cultural leaders, social reformers, and bluenoses of various stripes
- thundered its condemnation. This "old order" felt threatened by the
conduct engendered by the new music and dances; they pointed out with
relish (and quite correctly), the "sensuous nature" of it all and its
obviously low origins in the bordello, honky-tonk, and other such
unsavory places. In their minds, something clearly had to be done to
save the nation from this corrupting influence. They applied
heavy-handed methods first: legislation outlawing certain dance steps
was pushed through, and a campaign to suppress ragtime music also
mounted. But these tactics went nowhere. At last, the Establishment
stumbled across an effective, subtler new "weapon": Irene and Vernon
Castle. Here was young, wholesome, "modern" married couple who danced
to syncopated music with grace and decorum without stifling the fun
of it. The Establishment, seeing in them an opportunity to promote
the and "proper" model for social dancing, quickly crowned the
Castles the media darlings of the 1910s.
--
Tom Stermitz
https://www.tango.org/
stermitz@tango.org
303-388-2560
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 06:58:40 -0700
From: Rick FromPortland <pruneshrub04@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Do not Shake The Hips or Twist the Body, Flounce the Elbows or Pump the arms
Tom writes: "The story of social dance (what eventually became ballroom dance) is equally fascinating "
We have a Waltz community (as does Seattle) here that has a monthly dance, couple fancy balls a year & occassionally brings in a visiting teacher for workshops. This circulate on our mailing lists & could have been posted here I think...Its a fun read...
******************
Summary : Historical publications in reference to the beginnings of Viennese
Waltz.
"It was, indeed, rural lads and lasses who first found these whirling steps
so appealing. And so, the waltz originally was decidedly low-brow and
provincial. In those days, there was something unsavory about a woman being
gripped in a man's embrace while whirling in a frenzy around the dance
floor.
The close contact with one's partners body contrasted sharply with the
stately dances of the aristocracy - the minuets, polonaises, and
quadrilles - in which one kept one's distance. A first-hand account of a
village dance in the latter part of the eighteenth century read "The men
dancers held up the dresses of their partners very high so that they should
not trail and be stepped on, wrapped themselves both tightly in the
covering, bringing their bodies as closely together as possible, and thus
whirling about went on in the most indecent positions....
As they waltzed around on the darker side of the room, the kissing and the
hugging became still bolder. It is the custom of the country, I know, and
not as bad as it looks, but I can quite understand why the waltz has been
banned in parts of Swabia and Switzerland."
Probably the first waltz melody was "Das Lied vom lieben Augustin" written
in 1679 in 3/4 time. It was introduced in Paris in 1775, but it took some
time before it became popular. In 1813 Mr. Byron condemned the waltz as
being
unchaste. In July of 1816, the waltz was included in a ball given in London
by the Prince Regent. A blistering editorial in The Times a few days later
stated:
"We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was
introduced (we believe for the first time) at the English court on Friday
last ... it is quite sufficient to cast one's eyes on the voluptuous
intertwining of the limbs and close compressure on the bodies in their
dance, to see that it is indeed far removed from the modest reserve which
has hitherto been considered distinctive of English females. So long as this
obscene display was confined to prostitutes and adulteresses, we did not
think it deserving of notice; but now that it is attempted to be forced on
the respectable classes of society by the civil examples of their superiors,
we feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so
fatal a contagion."
Even as late as 1866 an article in the English magazine Belgravia stated:
"We who go forth of nights and see without the slightest discomposure our
sister and our wife seized on by a strange man and subjected to violent
embraces and canterings round a small-sized apartment - the only apparent
excuse for such treatment being that is done to the sound of music - can
scarcely realize the horror which greeted the introduction of this wicked
dance."
However popular the waltz became, opposition was persistent. Dancing masters
saw
the waltz as a threat to the profession. The basic steps of the waltz could
be learned in relatively short time, whereas, the minuet and other court
dances required considerable practice, not only to learn the many complex
figures, but also to develop suitable postures and deportment.
The waltz was also criticized on moral grounds by those opposed to its
closer hold and rapid turning movements. Religious leaders almost
unanimously regarded it as vulgar and sinful. Continental court circles held
out obstinately against the waltz. In England, (a land of strict morals),
the waltz was accepted even more slowly."
