December 07, 2006

No, it's not about Glazunov

Most Dances Properly Conducted until Liquor begins to take Effect
All the investigators report that up to about eleven p.m., generally speaking, the dances are well conducted; the crowd then begins to show the effect of too much liquor. Men and women become intoxicated and dance indecently such dances as “Walkin' the Dog,” “On the Puppy's Tail,” “Shaking the Shimmy,” “The Dip,” “The Stationary Wiggle,” etc. In some instances, little children—of whom there are often large numbers present—are given liquor and become intoxicated, much to the amusement of their elders. Many of them are forgotten by their parents in the excitement of the dance, and play upon the filthy floor, witnesses of all kinds of degradation.

—Louise de Koven Bowen,
The Public Dance Halls of Chicago
(Chicago, 1917)

All I can say is, if I ever write an homage to the Bach suites, I know what each movement will be called.

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