The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

DANC I NG , 91 and stay there twodays, andsee first prizes awarded to dancers who did not dancea single step either correctly or gracefully, yet it is not an unusual occurrence. It is true there are points in dancing thatmust, to a great extent,be matters oftaste, suchas grace, ease, and lightnessof carriage, but there areother points; such as the position of the feet in every part of the step,and the keeping of exact time, that arenot matters ofopinion. FEATURES OF GOOD DANCING .—The first great point in dancing, as laid down by the father of the celebrated Taglioni, is the absence of all appearance of effort. Dancing is meant to give expression to feelings ofjoy and light-hearted gaiety on the part of the dancer, and to afford pleasure and delight to the onlookers. How can a man with an expression of dead earnestness, making apparently frantic efforts to drive holes with his feet in a wooden platform, express joyous light-hearted freedom from all care in himself or afford pleasure to others? Yet it is often the light,graceful dancer that is passed over and the frantic pile-driver that getsthe prize. The writerremembers some ten years ago being at Kingussie Games, when two noted dancers danced a hornpipe or jig on the sameboard at the same time. The one danced beautifully, his feet were always in the right position, andthere was no appearance of effort. What was seen was a finely formed man keeping time to music ina series of easy graceful movements, the poetry of motion, a pleasing sight to any one ofcultivated taste in such matters. The other did not dance ; he simply cut grotesque cap rs with extraordinary energy ; his feet were never in the right position, and he was evidently exerting himself so much that one felt relieved when hestopped. The gracefuldancer gotnothing; the one whohad given a display of frantic, ungainly capers gothe first prize, the decision being received with great applause. The approval of the crowd might be due to their uncultivated taste, but the judges were partly, if not altogether, selected from amongst the gentry. WRONG DECISIONS .—Hundredsof decisions are givenyearly