school; but boys and girls should be exercised, as of old, in every species of dance which expresses an idea. The musical ear should be early trained, and the body be taught to move in measure. Nothing but the artificial asceticism which arose from that one-sided view of religion which the too energetic Puritans had, could have crushed out of human nature, even so far as it has done in New England, the natural tendency to dance, and degraded the music of motion with associations of presumptuous sin. It is unquestionable that a corrupt people will dance in a manner to corrupt themselves still more; but "to them that hath shall be given." The system of dancing, natural to the innocent-minded and intellectually cultivated, will refine and elevate.[1]
- ↑ A woman of talent of the present day, for mere economic purposes, has discovered to the world, and especially to the American world, which is peculiarly ignorant on the subject, what a power lies in dancing to inform the mind, while the eye is delighted. The Viennese children, by performing the various national dances of Europe, suggested a means of studying the characteristics of various races, without travelling for the purpose; and their ideal dances opened out the possibility of a still higher intellectual effect, suggesting to those who criticized their utility the words the poet puts into the mouth of the retired Rhodora:—
"Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being."Of course, it is bad for any human beings to be exclusively dancers. "There is a time to dance," and a time for other things, said Solomon. But how easy it would be for all children to be trained to dance, among other things; and then for talent to idealize, in the ballet, the customs of nations, historical events, even the processes of many kinds of industry; while genius, "at its own sweet will," should rise into the region of the allegoric and mystic dance!
It is an encouraging circumstance, that some good-natured persons in Boston have turned their attention to the object of teaching the whole youthful population the practice of this art. The whole aim of these persons, however, is only to provide more gentle and elegant exercises, to supersede the rude and boisterous mirth which brutalizes the minds as well as manners of the laboring people, and to provide a harmless channel to lead off the overflowing animal life, that, left to prey on itself and others, turns into intemperance and ferocity. All this is well, but not enough. The Swedenborgians of Boston have done better, by combining, as a church, to have social dancing parties, disconnected with the dissipation of late hours. But even this is not enough. If dancing is not elevated by those who invent its mazes, to have something of an intellectual character, it will probably degenerate into an expression of mere blind passion, and really become to a
