MODERN DANCING

When the Waltz was first invented,

Grandmamma was much upset;

Long she mourned, and loud lamented,

Staid Quadrille and Minuet.

In her eyes ( a bit oldfashioned )

Waltzing called for condemnation,

As a somewhat too empassioned

Form of social relaxation!

Grandma, with averted head,

Swept her daughters home to bed!

When the practice of‘ reversing’

Revolutionised the dance,

Dear Mamma was heard aspersing

Fashions introduced from France.

With invectives harsh and stinging

She abused those youthful dancers

Who were over fond of‘ swinging’

Partners in the Kitchen Lancers;

Ragging, as a ballroom sport,

Made Mamma get up and snort!

Now, when Bunny-hugging habits

Elevate maternal hairs,

When our daughters act like rabbits,

And our sons behave like bears;

When the modern ballroom gang goes

Through the complicated mazes

Of those pseudo-Spanish Tangoes

( Last of corybantic crazes! ),

We can only gaze aghast,

Like our forbears in the past!

But although each he ( or she ) grows

More and more inclined to romp,

Emulating am'rous negroes

In some Mississippi swamp,

Recollect, when Gossip chatters,

Though the best hotels taboo it,

‘ Tis n't what we dance that matters,

But the way in which we do it!

Chaperones may look askance:

Honi soit qui mal y — dance!