Page:Social Dancing of To-day (1914) Kinney.djvu/23

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PAST CRUDITIES
3

of politeness; yet its gains in popularity continue unchecked. As though to emphasise its superiority to former mannerisms, it is just now urbanely changing its name: it prefers to be known as the One-Step. And in the desire for a new appellation it is justified, since no history ever so vividly recalled the fable of the ugly duckling. The hypothetical turkey whose trot it once portrayed proves, as it matures, to be a creature closely resembling a peacock. The peacock it was whose designation (Spanish pavo} furnished the name of the old Pavane; and the One-Step, moved by some force more potent than coincidence, is now tending strongly toward the form of that favourite of seventeenth-century courts.

With the Turkey Trot came out of the West the Bunny Hug, the Grizzly Bear, and perchance the bearers of other names reminiscent of the zoo. They treated Europe to a mixture of amusement and irritation, but were not destined to long life on either side of the Atlantic.

While North America turkey-trotted, the Argentine Tango was delighting and scandalising Paris. A dance of curious history, the Tango. Certain details of its execution justify the assignment of its remote origin to the Gipsies of Spain. Argentina is an attractive market for Spanish dancing; undoubtedly the original Tango, composed of Gipsy steps and movements, was shown in Argentina soon after its first exploitation in Spain, some forty years ago. To change it from a solo for a woman into a dance for couples needed only rearrangement, plus modification of movements that might not be considered respectable. The latter being a purely relative term, disagreements followed the dance's appearance in Paris—Argentinian synonym for Paradise.