COUNTRY DANCING.
THERE is a prevalent opinion that English country people are not dancers. It is assumed, because we hear nothing in country places of national figure- and step- dancing, that love for this national pastime has left the people. There is a disposition to class together folk. dancing and folk-singing,—that is to say, the folk products of other countries are cultivated with enthusiasm, while the existence of native art at home is ignored or denied outright; indeed, it might be supposed that the English peasant was more devoid of the smallest artistic sense than are his fellows in any other country of the world, except savages.
In reality the true English countryman is a cheerful person,
however difficult it may be for the unsympathetic or the severely critical to find out in which direction he likes to take his diversion. A great many highly educated people have not yet learned that it is possible to be very well amused while you are sitting still and doing nothing obvious. It is not their way of enjoyment, and they refuse to believe that any one else can be happy in the circumstances, which is rather unintelligent of them, because it is a positive fact that some of our fellow-Britons are not happy unless they have a grievance ; and yet there are those who deplore this quality in their neighbours, being apparently incapable of understanding that to go about looking miserable may be somebody else's peculiar way of enjoying himself.
That, at any rate, is not the West-Countryman's way, and
it is in the West and the North that the most truly national type of English peasant is to be found. There are certain national arts, notably folk-poetry and folk-music, which survive in greater strength and bulk in these parts than
• in all the rest of England put together. Folk-poetry and
folk-music may be extinguished by the nearness of large towns. Near London we should expect native arts to be overpowered by the artificial products of the great city, so that a love of dancing among the people in or near London might be the result of London influence. Street-arabs dance, and often dance well, though untaught, to barrel-organs. They have seen dancing in pantomime and music-hall, and imitate it naturally ; and that in itself goes far to prove that the dancing instinct-is natural in "the masses," and comes out at the first chance. But in Somersetshire, which is one of the remotest parts of England, the country people are very often excellent dancers, and that in villages which have little traffic with great towns. Nor is it the case that they see much dancing in the homes of the country gentry, for in many villages there is only the manor house and the parsonage, and very often no dancing at all in either. The fact is that the love of dancing is deep rooted in the English countryman, and it comes out willy-nilly when he gets a chance. But he dances modern dances because the tradition of others is lacking. Step-dancing of an intricate kind was kept up in Somerset until the rise of the present generation, and still lasts here and there ; but since it went on mostly in bars and taprooras, where the female element was lacking, it was not carried into family life as were the old songs. Also it was difficult to learn ; but the Somerset people learn carefully all the newest dances, although they do not often know "Sir Roger de Coverley." Their dancing is generally very correct, and slow to a degree bewildering to those not accustomed to their measure. But country
manners are very decorous, and romping is not allowed in dancing; and though the barn-dance in Somerset assumes 4he air of a minuet in reduced circumstances, the awful spectacle of the Lancers, as danced in some ballrooms, is never seen here.
In a very few parts of England, and by a very few persons, the old English traditional dances have •been preserved in full life and vigour. And the point to remark is that in those places where the Morris-dance is revived the country people, most particularly the children, fall in at once with the spirit of the dance, the swing and stamp of it. These English country dances are a variant of the dances known to almost all European nationalities. The steps in the Morris are the same as in the Irish, Scottish, and Norwegian country dances : feet crossed and lifted in intricate and graceful steps, high jumping, quick and slow stepping, measure and figure performed by the " side " all together. The rhythm of the dance is impossible to miss, accentuated as it is by the bells on stamping feet and clapping hands. That makes the outline of the dance, and the jigging tune that is inseparable from the movements seems to restrain its course, while the dancing in sides keeps the feeling of community throughout.
Dancing, like other arts, is the outcome of strong feeling, and all primitive dancing is mimetic, a game of war or a game of some other powerful interest. These games are seen best to-day in the dances of savage races,—the splendid war-dances of the Zulus (inseparable from music, as are all high forms of dancing), and the lower dances of baser races. Religion had a great deal to do with the origin of dancing. It inspired much of the beautiful choral dances of the Greeks, as it inspires yet the ecstasy of the whirling Dervish. It matters little whether these English dances are really a survival of the old mimic warfare between pretended Moor and Christian, a game of war with all the malice knocked out of it. What does matter is the survival of the game-feeling in them, which makes their performance a true delight to the ever- lasting child that stays inside most of us, however old we grow. Children take so nature/1y to these dances that they hardly need teaching; they fall in at once with the swing of step and figure, because the dominating feeling of the Morris. dance is the natural healthy man's delight in life. Nature has given us powerful feelings, and art cannot exist without them. And within the delightful restraint of rhythm and measure the primitive art of the Morris-dances represents in mimicry bean-setting in spring (which is nothing less than the immemorially ancient pagan invocation of the earth-spirit), hunting and the excitement of the chase, fisticuffs, single- stick, quarterstaff, or even the stamping of carthorses "with Jockey to the Fair."
Morris-dancing is invaluable as physical training for children. It is impossible for them not to learn the exact value of time-beats, because to keep the dance going the time must be perfect. And the quick jumping steps are a splendid training for balancing the body. Children learn easily and readily because the spirit of the dance inspires them without mental effort. How necessary such inspiration is in the training of children any one can judge who has ever watched the heavy, timeless jump of a small, slow country school drilling. Feet and brains do not work together, and the class jumps all at once, but reaches the ground again at a dozen different times. A child's brain must be overworked unless its small reasoning-power is helped by external inspiration such as this of the dance-swing.
Untaught children take more quickly to the Morris-step than those who have learned the modern fashion of glide and slide. And whether Morris-dancing is actually graceful depends much on the dancer. That it may be so any one can imagine who knows Highland dancing. " Bacco-Pipes " is a humble relation of the sword-dance, and that its origin certainly was a triumph over conquered foes is a conviction that grows upon the performer, measuring his steps across the pipe-stems to the quaint jigging tune. The modern dance has gained in grace and intricacy and refinement of many kinds, but it is a sophisticated beauty. It has lost something of the spring and freshness of the earlier fashion; it has lost most of the game-feeling that keeps the heart of youth in the Morris-dance. Morris-dancing should be taught us first when we are children, and the dances of elegance should come second. Dancing, like all other arts, clears the soul; the glorious company of the Apostles, says a Father of the Church, praise their Maker in everlasting dance.
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