THE AMERIC AN-SC AN D IN A VIA N R E VIE W 
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the jov of living but make the pulses of the onlookers beat faster. And 
no wonder, for both music and dance have been cherished by genera¬ 
tions of Swedes for centuries past, and it would be strange if they did 
not call to the best in Swedish hearts, even in this decadent age of the 
jazz and the tango. 
The origin of the dance is play; its means are—or ought to be— 
the beauty of the human body; its end is joy. It is the oldest of the 
arts and the one that has penetrated most deeply into the masses of the 
people, because it is the one that can be understood and practised by 
everybody. No doubt our ancestors, the cave men, executed rhythmic 
movements to some primitive form of music, and even to-day we can 
study in savage nations the curious stages of development of the 
dance, its alternations between the religious and the erotic, its use as 
an incitement to war and as a social pleasure. Probably religion first 
took the dance into its service and raised it to a higher level. Even 
the Christian Church used it, and as late as in medieval times we hear 
of religious dances in Europe, but these were soon superseded by 
dancing as a social function. 
Social dances show different traditions in various countries, 
although originally they may have been the same, and although there 
are dances which have gradually come into use the world over. Gen¬ 
erally a new dance has first been adopted by the aristocracy, which was 
naturally most in touch with foreign modes; then it would continue its 
way among the middle class and the peasantry, changing and develop¬ 
ing as it went, until it was fused with the new background and reflected 
the temperament of the people. In this way the so-called national 
dances arose. But in the nineteenth century with its mingling of races 
—the result of improved means of communication—and its general 
striving after uniformity and standardization, many of these national 
treasures were thrown on the scrap heap. The rhythmic vigor, the 
joyousness and sense of style, or the grace and elegance that dis¬ 
tinguished the older dances are sadly lacking in the new forms that 
have come in, whether these be called tango or some kind of “step.” 
Fortunately, however, brave men and women have risen to the defense 
of the old and have tried to save and preserve the shattered remnants 
of the past. This has been especially true of the Swedish folk-dance, 
and the effort to save it from oblivion has grown and waxed strong, 
so that it may now be called a popular movement. 
This is the more cause for congratulation inasmuch as the Swedish 
folk-dance is both interesting and unique—closely related, of course, 
to that of the other Northern countries, but intrinsically different from 
that of the continent. Its history is closely intertwined with that of 
folk music and poetry. It has, in fact, sprung directly from the folk¬ 
song, for originally the dance consisted only of a few simple move¬ 
ments accompanying and emphasizing the refrain of some hallad or 
