“Indulgence in the turkey trot, the tango and other objectionable modern dances is as much a violation of the seventh commandment as adultery.” So bloviated Rev. Father Wm. A. Brothers, a clergyman from Montclair, NJ around the year 1913. (Library of Congress) The Vatican, according to a 1914 telegraph to the NY Times, asserted “the tango must be considered an immoral dance.” Not to be outdone, the Rev. Edward F. Hannigan of Long Island, NY said: “If I were the presiding judge in any court I would sentence any woman who danced the turkey trot to a year in the penitentiary.” (Library of Dance)
The waltz fared no better, decried by Anglican bishops as a “lust-inducing, decidedly degenerate action.” The Times of London society pages reported in 1816 that “We remarked with pain that the indecent foreign dance called the Waltz was introduced…at the English court on Friday last”, bemoaning the witnessed “voluptuous intertwining of the limbs.” The writers concluded: “We feel it a duty to warn every parent against exposing his daughter to so fatal a contagion.” (The Disgraceful History of the Waltz, 2017)
In more recent times, students from Elmore City High School in Oklahoma — “where dancing has been strictly forbidden since 1898, on moral grounds” — proposed to overturn the ban in 1980 so they could hold a senior prom. Reverend F.R. Johnson, from a neighboring town, was quoted by People Magazine as saying “No good has ever come from a dance.” The students eventually won the case, held their prom, and inspired the 1984 cult film Footloose. (Vice, March 2017)
History abounds with hysterical hypocrites purporting to hold the moral high ground, but those of us who dare to dance know, as Havelock Ellis wrote: “Dancing is the loftiest, the most moving, the most beautiful of the arts, because it is no mere translation or abstraction from life; it is life itself.”
Below you’ll find numerous ways, depending how you see it, to imperil or enlighten your soul — Turkey Trot in Lake City, Waltz in Redmond, and Tango on Capitol Hill — plus so much more. New classes start tonight in Renton and there are seven dances listed just through this Saturday. Plus you can always view complete listings online at the Dance Calendar.
See you on the dance floor —Sean Donovan
| All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing. —Moliere |