Dancing

DANCING. BY PROF. A. M. MERRILL, LATE SUPERINTENDENT Y. M. M. I. A. OF THE CASSIA STAKE OF ZION. When the pioneers were crossing the plains, the sadness and dreariness of their condition was to a considerable extent dispelled by the rich consolations of their great faith; and perhaps to no lesser extent by the various forms of amusements introduced by their leader. President Brigham Young fully understood that if the people's minds were withdrawn from their pains and sorrows, they would be better able to cope with the hardships and vicissitudes of their unprecedented pilgrimage. One of the characteristic amusements was the "dance." After the weary day's journey, it was the usual order, supper being over, for the violinist to, start up the music, and the people, old and young, to regale themselves for an hour or two in the pleasures of the dance. No fancy balls, these, but the joyous mingling of sturdy yeomanry, the happy re-union of Christmade brothers and sisters, in the innocent pastime of the dance. Brilliancy and elegance were perhaps wanting; dress-suits and evening-gowns were unknown; but modesty, sweetness, goodcheer, were there; and for a little while, at least, these exiles were able to shake off the worrying cares of life. After the arrival and settlement in Salt Lake Valley, the dance was continued as one of the most suitable relaxations of the Saints. Neither the physiological nor psychological necessity of this particular amusement interested the Pioneers. Sufficient it was for them to know that it was innocent, and that it made them feel better. It rested their bodies and enlivened their spirits. It gave them an opportunity to say a kind word and pay a cheery compliment to a friend and neighbor; and, above all, it helped to make clear and distinct the roseate picture of the future, whose

950 IMPRO VEMENT ERA . outlines the desolateness and barrenness of the desert wild were ever striving to obliterate. The philosophy of it all was now and then given by their sagacious leader in such words as these : I want it distinctly understood, that fiddling and dancing are no part of our worship. The question may be asked, what are they for, then? I answer, that my body may keep pace with my mind; my mind labors like a man logging, all the time; and this is the reason I am fond of these pastimes, — they give me the privilege to throw everything off for awhile, and shake myself, that my body may exercise and my mind rest. What for? To get strength and be renewed and quickened and enlivened and animated, so that my mind will not wear out. And again, at another time: Some wise Being organized my system and gave me capacity; put into my heart and brain something that delights, charms, and fills me with rapture at the sound of sweet music. This experience of President Young is one that comes to every human being, and the natural expression of this rapture is in the rythmic, graceful movement of the body in dancing. No other form of amusement gives such complete expression of this emotion. It is well known that most of the creeds of Christendom condemned early this wholesome and refreshing pastime, which the genius of poets, the wisdom of philosophers, and the good common-sense of lay men, of all ages, have advocated. Homer* called it "the sweetest and most perfect of human enjoyments." Lockef said, "the effects of the dance are not confined to the body; it gives the young not mere outward gracefulness of motion, but manly thoughts and a becoming confidence." Another has said, "the force of imitation or contagion— one of the most valuable forces in education — is also much increased by the state of exhilaration into which the dance puts the system." G. Stanley Hall J maintains that "we need a great, general revival of the art of dancing." He finds in dancing an adequate response of body and soul to the rhythm sense in humanity. "Rhythm," says * Homer, greatest Grecian poet: flourished about 1000 B. C. f John Locke, great English philosopher, 1632-1704. J G. Stanley Hall, noted scientist of to-day. President of Clark University,

DANCING. 951 he, "is one of the big words in education." ''It is one of the great laws of the Universe." That the creeds put a ban upon dancing is not at all strange, as the art was sadly prostituted by its devotees. It lends itself readily to baseness, when practiced by the unclean. Religionists in the world today condemn its practice among the Latter-day Saints, because they are incapable of conceiving the spirit and beauty in which it is indulged by us . President Young used to say : "Those who cannot serve God with a pure heart in the dance, should not dance." "If you wish to dance, dance; and you are just as much prepared for a prayer meeting after dancing as ever you were, if you are saints. " "If you desire to ask God for anything, you are as well prepared to do so in the dance, as in any other place, if you are saints." It is in this spirit that the Latter-day Saints have ever engaged in this recreation; and it is in this spirit in which the art must ever be practiced. Other concomitants may change, but this element must ever remain the same. And it is well, too, we think, to perpetuate all other good elements that have elevated this form of amusement. Wherever dancing has been indulged in by refined and cultured people, there have been other fundamental constituents. In a modern compendium of social forms, a writer makes this statement: — "The general effect of the brilliancy, beauty and elegance of a ball is to elevate rather than to deprave the mind." It is these elements of brilliancy, beauty and elegance, that we consider worthy of retaining and embellishing. It may be that the dances in which our fathers and mothers engaged upon the plains can hardly be spoken of as having been brilliant, but we venture the statement that they were just as brilliant as the circumstances and conditions could make them. Beauty we know was there, for we have often been told how our fathers came out in their best linens and jeans, and how our mothers prided themselves on their neat linsey and calico dresses. That grace and elegance must have characterized their movement has been manifested to us on many occasions since, when we have danced in the same set as these "Old-timers," and have been put to shame when we have compared our awkward, ungainly movements with their elastic and graceful steps.

952 IMPROVEMENT ERA Brilliancy, beauty and elegance are elements of the dance which the Latter-day Saints have desired to perpetuate. Candledips, kerosene, acetylene and electricity mark characteristic stages of ball-room brilliancy. The young people of the Church who attended, in June, the reception given Religion Class workers, or that given the Improvement workers in Whitney Hall, have a very adequate conception of a brilliant ball-room. They have, too, in their minds a picture of beauty, as they recall hundreds of young people, with healthy, robust physiques, fresh, clean, and neatly clad, gliding to and fro in consonance with the music. These parties seemed to us models of their kind . In all the wards of Zion , let us imitate their good features. Let us make our ball-rooms as brilliant as possible; light is a grand and beautiful thing. It promotes purity of thought and action. Let us have as much beauty as possible; the room large, airy and cheery; clean, fresh walls with a beautiful picture, here and there; tasty decorations, on occasion; above all, let innocence, vigor, beauty, shine forth from the countenances of our young people, and let modesty, delicacy and refinement be manifested in their attire; let purity, elegance, and culture characterize our every thought and movement in the ball-room. To heighten the effect of beauty and elegance, let us cultivate the spirit of courtesy, chivalry, gallantry, that have characterized our inaugural balls, and state functions from our earliest history. They who have seen pictures or read accounts of the colonial balls have images of gallantry, politeness and civility, that are well worth cherishing. A picture of a colonial ball came to my mind recently when I read this extract from Ruskin, in the July number of the Ladies' Home Journal. I wish there were a true order of chivalry for our youth * * * in which boys and girls would receive, at a given age, their Knighthood and Ladyhood, by true title ; attainable only by certain probation and trial, both of character and accomplishment; and to be forfeited on conviction, by their peers, of any dishonorable act. V If this Knighthood and Ladyhood were attained, how appropriately could it be manifested in our dancing parties ! Oakley, Idaho.