The Art of Stage Dancing / The Story of a Beautiful and Profitable Profession

EXERCISE 12.
To strengthen the thighs and biceps.

Stand erect, heels together. Raise arms horizontally to the sides. Bend the knees and assume a squatting position. Rise to erect position. Count "down, up, down, up," etc., eight times.

There are more than thirty different exercises given in the Ned Wayburn courses in this work. If you desire a complete list, address an inquiry to the Ned Wayburn Studios of Stage Dancing, Inc., 1841 Broadway (at Columbus Circle) entrance on 60th St., New York, for prospectus of the New Ned Wayburn Home Study Courses in Dancing.

MR. WAYBURN ADDRESSES THE BEGINNER’S
CLASS IN FOUNDATION TECHNIQUE

Primarily I originated this series of exercises to make good dancers quickly. There was nothing of the kind in existence that would do the work I wanted done, so I carefully thought it out myself, and finally developed the complete plan. Some of it will be taught you here. It has proven to be all I anticipated,—a method of preparing the muscles and ligaments to respond instantly to the dancer's call upon them for precise action. It is the object of this series of exercises to eliminate fatigue, create sturdy yet symmetrical and flexible frames and increase the health, grace and beauty of the participant. It is, therefore, no wonder that others than those who expect to enter upon a stage career have sought these exercises for their own improvement in personal appearance and physical well-being.

Now all please stand in line around the room, stand quietly and without leaning against the wall. Stand shoulder to shoulder, hands down at sides, heels together, feet flat down, toes pointing left oblique and right oblique; the weight equally distributed between the two feet. Hold your chin high and look straight ahead on a line with your eyes.

I organize the class by first arranging the pupils according to their height. There is a reason for this. If you are five feet tall and stand next to a girl who is five feet eleven, you at once become conscious of your size. It is to avoid this handicap of self-consciousness that I grade you by height.

You are now in line as to heights. Please each of you stand in front of a chair, one pupil to a chair, and number from "one" at the left end. Number thirteen will be called twelve and a half. Speak out your individual number loud and clear. This number you are given is your personal, distinctive number during the life of this class and is never changed. The number of this class is 501. As you call your number out loud please be seated in the chair back of you, and while the stenographer takes your names and the instructor collects your weekly tickets I will say a few words.

I expect you to arrive promptly in the classroom, and request that you time your arrival so as to be here in the studio at least fifteen minutes before class time, so as to be in your practice costume and ready for the call to class right on the hour set.

We have to observe discipline in all your work in the courses, otherwise nothing would be accomplished. We have printed rules posted in the office and elsewhere, and expect you to read and observe them.

Please do not talk at all during class work. It interrupts the work seriously. You have all been to school before and know that silence is one of the important rules of every school. This one is no exception.

Now, the first thing to do is to have your ticket ready. You must have your name signed on the ticket, where it says "Signature of pupil." Turn the ticket over and read it through on both sides. Remember your class number and your individual number in the class. The success of our school depends largely upon the way the classes are organized and thereafter dominated. Much of the success of the work depends upon the lectures you hear in the classes. They are in the form of inspirational talks based on different subjects. You are required to read all of our literature. Get and read the booklet entitled "Your Career." Every month we issue a school paper, "The Ned Wayburn News," which tells of the activities of pupils of the school who are now appearing in New York, or out on the road, and which has many interesting articles and information monthly for students of the dance. Please get a copy and read all of our literature—because it gives you an idea of what the school and its present and graduate pupils are accomplishing.

It is a well established rule of the studio that pupils shall weigh themselves every Monday and keep a record of their weight from week to week. For this purpose use the scales in the main office of the studio, please. They are accurate. We have them tested and adjusted at intervals to be sure that they are right. You are requested and expected to come into my private office and talk with me once a week, and when you do so I shall ask you about your weight, and you must be prepared to tell me. I know just how much you ought to weigh, and am interested in hearing whether you are gaining or losing flesh in the proportion that you should. At the end of the four weeks' period I shall ask each of you individually in the class about the variation in your weights, and I am then able to tell who is faithfully following my instructions as to practice, diet, hours of sleep and the other simple and necessary requirements of our courses. For I know that if my regime is observed as I request that it be, you will show it, and if you neglect to follow my advice you will not have made the progress you should, and will show that. You cannot disguise the real facts from me.

I do not want any of you to overexert at these limbering and stretching exercises. They are scientifically constructed to do for you what no other known cultural movements of this kind will do. At first they will tire you, leave you "all in," I have no doubt. I expect that. You see, in these exercises you are putting into play a lot of muscles that have been lying dormant, perhaps never been used in the way you will use them in this class as preparation for health, comeliness and dancing strength. You need to use these muscles. It is to stir them up and make you strong, and at the same time supple and shapely, that I have devised this series of exercises. It was not made by guess, this plan of developing and conditioning, but as the result of years of study and proof.

These exercises will make you feel perfectly wonderful after a while. Nothing else will do you as much good. But do not, please, expect the perfected results to show in a day or two. It cannot be done so quickly. You have been several years getting the way you are, and if you can improve greatly in a few months you must consider yourself fortunate.

Let me say, as a word of caution, that if you have any organic trouble, or have been weakened by a serious operation or recent illness, I wish you would report the facts to your class instructor or to me before you take on this work. In any event, don't overdo at any time, neither here nor in your home practice. If you find it necessary, stop at any time and sit down in your chair a few minutes till you get your breath. But don't stay out of class tomorrow because you find your muscles are tired. Every other student's muscles will be sore tomorrow, as well as yours. If you remain absent you will be much slower in getting those sore muscles feeling right than if you come into class and work the soreness out.

If you are absent you may miss something you will want to know. There is something new taught every day—or there may be a special lecture which you cannot afford to miss.

I hope you are going to be patient. I hope you are not going to say: "This is too much for me!" No matter how tired you are this work will do you more good than any medicines. You are not to take medicines without telling me about it. You are not to eat between meals; you are not to take any liquids with your meals. Masticate your food carefully. Don't bolt your meals in a hurry. Take time to eat properly. Don't sleep more than eight hours. Don't dance half the night away. You must look out for your health while you are training. Some of you are underweight, because you are not properly regulated so far as your meals and living is concerned. You are eating things you should not eat. Others are eating in such a hurry that the food is not properly assimilated by the body. You should drink not less than forty-five ounces of water a day. That is about nine glasses. You should drink a glass of water before and after each meal, NOT during your meals—one about eleven o'clock in the morning, another about four o'clock in the afternoon, and one just before you go to bed at night. NOT ice water. Water not only flushes the system but it induces perspiration. And you must perspire freely in all of our work because you get rid of many impurities through the pores. I reduced my own weight, by diet, exercise, and dancing, from 262 pounds to 207 pounds. But you have got to be very patient in reducing or building up. If you take off or put on a pound a week you will be doing very well. But let me regulate that, please. Sometimes pupils who are underweight when they first come here begin to lose weight, and they get worried about it. But you shouldn't worry. That means that you are losing unhealthy tissue, which will be replaced in time by healthy muscular tissue. That doesn't mean that you will get big knots of muscle on your arms and legs, such as you see in pictures in some of the magazines. The new tissue will be evenly distributed over the body. It is my business to manufacture symmetrical bodies. I have manufactured hundreds of celebrated beauties since I began my theatrical career, sometimes through facial makeup, sometimes through exercises and diet, but always with dancing as the chief feature in health and beauty culture.

There is a reason why this school has grown to its present proportions. It is because I have made a thorough study of anatomy and know how to make human bodies healthy and beautiful. I could tell you a very interesting story of Clan Calla, a little Irish princess who came to me with curvature of the spine to see if I could help her. She was very weak and hardly able to walk; they had to carry her to the studios from the subway. Now she is strong and well and dances beautifully.

Don't try to reduce too fast. I had two friends who died as a result of reducing with medicine. They took some sort of baths for reducing, and some kind of medicine to shrink themselves. That is why I became interested in reducing and began to practice on myself.

Now make up your minds to make this class a success. Don't make it necessary for your instructor to have to address any one of you personally. When your instructor gives an order execute it at once. Always get into your places promptly. Don't forget that you are going to be lame—but you must work it out.

You will begin with mild calisthenics—then, later on, you will learn several kinds of kicks—the side kick, the front kick, the hitch kick, etc. But before you can kick, you must have the strength necessary for kicking. You must practice the exercises in order to get this strength.

Now you are organized and you can accomplish real work. If there are any questions you would like to ask me, come to my private office at the end of the hall on the second floor—Broadway front. You will progress according to the way you practice. You must put in hours of faithful practice. If you take one hour of instruction a day at the studio, you should practice three hours a day at home. If you can possibly do so, always go through your Foundation Technique when you first get up in the morning. The lesson itself is not enough. Faithful practice means success, and without practice you won't succeed at all, and you won't get your weight off or you won't build up. Three times the length of a lesson is my rule for practice. Some practice from three to eight hours a day so as to gain dancing strength. You must have a lot of flexibility in order to dance in a professional manner.

Get the habit of deep breathing. Gradually you will increase your breathing capacity and deep breathing makes good blood. The oxygen you take into your lungs goes through the blood and takes off the impurities in the blood, and oxygen is necessary in properly assimilating your food.

Don't let anybody else advise you about diets. If a doctor has put you on a diet, let me know about it. My diets won't do you any good unless you are taking the limbering and stretching work along with them. You will enjoy them; you do not have to starve yourself.

Another thing let me warn you about! Don't bring or wear valuable jewelry to the studios. All of our employees are trustworthy, and besides, we investigate the pupils who come into our studios. We know all about them. If the wrong kind of person does get in, he or she doesn't stay more than an hour or two. We also have detectives in the classes. But don't take any chances. Don't bring valuable things into the place. Do not leave pocket-books in the dressing rooms; bring them into the class room.

We keep a strict record of the attendance and the progress of each individual pupil. We insist that you have the best that money can provide for you. If anything should happen at any time to which you could take exception, I hope you will report it to me. Our policy of giving you the very best to be had has appealed to a world of ambitious youth.

Be careful about giving advice to other girls. I don't want anybody in this class to presume to give advice to anybody else in the class. Many times a girl comes here to the school from clear across the continent. She comes with great hopes and aspirations, ready to work hard, and with all the enthusiasm in the world. Then, some girl in her class may tell her that she doesn't dance well—and her hopes will be shattered and she will become discouraged. Now none of you has any business to give advice or criticize other members of the class. If you can learn stage dancing anywhere, you can learn it in the Ned Wayburn Studios. Persistent practice will do wonders. Remember all I have said about this, and keep smiling.

NED WAYBURN’S MUSICAL COMEDY
DANCING

Now you may think that you know just what Musical Comedy Dancing is, and perhaps you do, but the name of it hardly defines it so that it would be recognized for exactly what it is by one not thoroughly stage-wise. You see a pleasing ensemble or solo dance at some revue or musical show and, without seeking or desiring to classify this dance as this, that or the other kind, you are satisfied to realize in your inner consciousness that it is a pretty movement and well worth seeing. So exact is the execution that it arouses your wonder how the dancers ever manage to get so many intricate steps and rapid motions and pretty flings of their heels into a united and harmonious picture; all working in perfect unison, to a pleasing tempo, smiling the while and doing it all as a mere matter of course, with seeming unconcern, just as though the steps and kicks and posing and grouping were second nature to them all.

That is a Musical Comedy dance, and instead of growing on bushes to be gathered by every careless hand, it is actually the result of studious endeavor and persistent drilling on the part of the participants, and of careful and conscientious training by competent dancing instructors. It is well done and gratifying to the spectator because it is the finished product of qualified teaching, earnest endeavor, tireless energy, practice, rehearsing. Remember this, the next time you attend a show where dancing is a feature, and accord the dancers the credit that is their due.

True Musical Comedy dancing is in reality an exaggerated form of what was formerly styled "fancy dancing." It is a cross between the ballet and the Ned Wayburn type of tap and step or American specialty dancing. It combines pretty attitudes, poses, pirouettes and the several different types of kicking steps that are now so popular. Soft-shoe steps break into it here and there in unexpected ways and places, adding a pleasing variety to the menu. The tempo enhances and harmonizes the scene and the action. There is no monotony, no tiresome sameness; yet the varying forms of action blend into a perfect continuity. The dance is full of happy surprise steps, perhaps, or unexpected climaxes and variations that arouse the interest as they quickly flash by.

Often there is featured in Musical Comedy dancing a bit of so called "character" work, which may be anything—Bowery, Spanish, Dutch, eccentric, Hawaiian, or any of the countless other characteristic types. Also there are touches of dainty ballet work interspersed among the other features, at times. Yet to accomplish the ballet effects or the character representations exacts of the dancer no special development along strictly ballet or classical lines, when she obtains her Musical Comedy training here, for these features are given the required attention as part of the regular course in fitting the student for this branch of the stage dancing art, and thus our Musical Comedy graduates are qualified for all the variations of effort that naturally come under that head.

My foundation technique is a prime factor in the successful accomplishment of any type of dancing, and the scientific limbering and stretching exercises that constitute that work are indispensable in perfecting the pupil to handle every phase of the varied demands in Musical Comedy dancing. Hence my insistence that our foundation technique precede the entrance of the pupil into the classes of this or any of the other various types of stage dancing that we teach.

Two of my most famous pupils in Musical Comedy dancing are Fred and Adele Astaire, brother and sister. They came to me to study from Omaha, Nebraska, as little tots of about six and seven years of age. Adele was always fond of coming to her classes; but Fred says that he just "followed on" through brotherly association rather than from any preconceived ambition to become a professional dancer. Then, through reverses of family fortunes, the time came when they felt that they should be supporting themselves. They continued to study under me, and I was very happy to be able to place them in vaudeville in a singing and dancing act, which I had prepared for them. This started them on their career, which has led them to Europe and back again. They have appeared in "Over the Top," "The Passing Show of 1918," "Apple Blossoms," and in "The Love Letter." They then scored a sensational success in London in "Stop Flirting" (575 performances). Now they are starring in "Lady, Be Good," on tour after a long run in New York.

In this chapter I shall now describe in detail 32 bars of a simple musical comedy dance, a "soft shoe" routine, as we call it, to give you some understanding of how modern stage dances are developed at the Ned Wayburn Studios.

MUSICAL COMEDY ROUTINE—4/4 TEMPO

Tune: "Way Down Upon the Swanee River."

The dancer enters from stage left.

Step right foot to right oblique on count of "one." Step left foot behind to right oblique back on count of "two"; step right foot around behind the left on count of "and"; step left foot to right oblique on count of "three"; repeat same for "four," "five," "and," "six." Step right foot to right oblique, count of "seven"; drag left foot in air behind to right oblique and slap left heel with right hand on count of "eight."

Step left foot to left on count of "one"; drag right foot in air behind to left oblique and slap right heel with left hand on count of "two"; step right foot to right on count of "three" and drag left foot across in front in air on count of "four"; step left foot to left facing left, count of "five"; right foot front small step on count "and;" step left foot back facing back, count of "six;" right foot to left, small step on "and." Left foot to right facing right, count of "seven"; right foot to back, small step on "and." Left foot to front facing front, count of "eight." Now repeat entire movement.

These two movements should take the dancer to the centre of the stage; done in eight measures of 4/4 time.

Step right foot to right oblique count of "one"; hop on it in same place with left foot in air behind to left oblique back, count "two"; step down to left oblique back with left foot on count of "three"; hop on left foot, extend right foot in air right oblique on count "four"; step right foot back behind left foot on count "five"; step left foot to left oblique back, count "six"; step right foot across to left oblique, count "seven"; hop on right foot, extend left foot in air right oblique back, count of "eight." Now reverse this entire movement to other side. These two steps are done in four measures of 4/4 tempo in the centre of the stage.

Step right foot to right, count "one"; step left foot behind to right oblique back, count "and"; step right foot down in same place, count "two." Reverse to left for count of "three," "and," "four"; then step right foot to right, count "five"; step left foot in front to right, turning and facing up stage, count "six"; step right foot around stage front to right, turning front again, count "seven"; drag left foot across in front of right to right, count of "eight." Reverse this entire step to other side. These two steps are done in four measures of 4/4 tempo in centre of the stage.

This finishes the first half of the chorus, or 16 measures.

Facing left oblique, drag right foot from left oblique to right oblique back, count of "and"; hop on left foot in same place, count of "one"; drag right foot from right oblique back to left oblique, count "and"; hop on left foot same place, count of "two"; drag right foot from left oblique to right oblique back, count "and"; hop left foot same place, count of "three"; displace left foot with right foot from right oblique back, left foot extending to left oblique, all on count of "four." Hop on right foot same place, count "and;" step left foot to left oblique, count "five"; step right foot across in front to left oblique, count "six"; hop on right foot same place, count of "and"; step left foot to left oblique, count of "seven"; hop on left foot same place, and turn, kick right foot to right oblique, count "eight."

Going up stage right oblique back facing right oblique, step right foot back to right oblique back, count "one"; step left foot to right foot, count of "and"; step right foot to right oblique back, count "two"; step left foot to right foot, count of "and"; step right foot to back, facing back, count "three"; hop on right foot turning right to face front on count "four." Step left foot to left oblique on "five"; step right foot to left foot on "and"; step left foot to left oblique on "six"; step right foot to left foot on "and"; step left foot to left oblique on "seven"; hop on left foot and kick right foot to right oblique on "eight." Reverse all of these steps. These are done in eight measures of 4/4 tempo in the centre of the stage.

Step left foot to left oblique, count "one"; step right foot behind to left, bend left knee, count "two"; hop on right foot and kick left to left oblique, count "three"; swing left foot back to right oblique back on "four"; bring right foot around behind left on count "and"; step left foot to front, count "five"; step right foot back to left on "six"; bring left foot around behind right on count "and"; step right foot to front on count of "seven"; step left foot to left oblique on count "eight."

MR. WAYBURN ADDRESSES A CLASS IN
MUSICAL COMEDY DANCING

This class is organized for a period of not less than twenty lessons, during which time you will have the satisfaction of acquiring four complete routines. Each routine consists of not less than ten steps. Some have more, but the average routine consists of ten steps, one to bring you onto the stage, which is called a travelling step, eight steps in the dance proper, usually set to about 64 bars of music, or the length of two (2) choruses of a popular song, and an exit step, which is a special step designed to form a climax to the dance and provoke applause as you go off stage. Now, there may be two travelling steps to bring you onto the stage instead of one, depending upon the arrangement of the routine, but you will be taught about two steps every lesson, in the beginners' courses, so that at the end of each week, or five lessons, you will have learned one complete routine.

You must learn to throw your personality into the dances. And when you get further along in the dances you can begin to work your facial expressions into your dancing. There are many things to learn about dancing besides the steps, and you will do well to improve your opportunities in every way you can while you are preparing for a stage career. Go to see as many expert professional dancers as you can—study them—and absorb all you can about stage dancing from the "Ned Wayburn News" and other dance magazines.

This course teaches complete professional routines such as you would do on the stage, and may be used as solo dances. "Routine" is a professional term for musical comedy or any kind of a stage dance. It is a sequence of steps. Routines are arranged so that they will provoke applause. Maybe the fourth or the eighth step will be "climactic" steps, especially arranged to make a climax in the dance and win applause. In different routines, the climax you will find comes on different steps, depending upon the arrangement of the routine. In order to put over a climax you must throw your personality into it.

Exits as well as entrances are difficult of successful accomplishment. It takes a great artist to make an effective exit. The exit should always be made with the face toward the audience (unless there is some special reason why the back is turned), so that the audience gets the full effect of your facial expression.

All the dances in my courses are taught in a professional way. That does not mean, of course, that you have to go on the professional stage. Many girls and boys study with me who have no intention of ever going on the stage. They do so because they know that my limbering and stretching work and my type of dancing will make them healthy, flexible and graceful, but nevertheless they are all taught in a professional stage way, which is the only successful method.

My stage dancing is the type of dancing that gets over with an audience. The old folk dances and the old-fashioned fancy dances no longer appeal to the interest. But I teach the kind of dancing that is in demand. If you should appear in any kind of entertainment for charity or any private theatrical performances, you can make use of my really professional stage dances; and since you are properly taught, you will make a success, providing you profit by expert advice and devote ample time to practice every day.

One reason that we get such good results in our school is on account of the way in which we organize and conduct our classes. Everybody must conform to discipline. You certainly will get discipline if you go on the stage.

Everybody should get a copy of our booklet, "Your Career", if you haven't already done so, and read it through from cover to cover. (A copy will be sent free on request.) Read the call-board outside in the office. In the professional theatre the call-board is usually placed near the stage door. Anything of interest to the company is posted on the call-board. Pupils in my courses are required to read the call-board because in reading the call-board, the booklet and the other literature that we get out, you will absorb a lot in the way of showmanship and stage-craft. Any one of you, after taking my course, should make a success on the stage because you will know how to dance in a professional way. You will know how to sell your dancing. Specialized training is very necessary in order to get a foothold, and the rewards are enormous for those pupils who do get over. Make an effort to acquire an easy presence. This you must get by appearing before an audience. Now, I represent your audience. I come in to visit your class in order to make constructive criticism, and to watch your physical progress. Whenever any of our pupils are appearing in the city theatres you should go and see them, because from their work you will get inspiration, and you must have inspiration. Without it you can't do anything; you won't get any benefit out of the work at all. You must concentrate on the work and enjoy it. Only through patient practice will you ever make a success of it. Some girls come into the musical comedy work and are inclined to take it lightly. They don't practice enough. Or perhaps they get discouraged if they miss one step and can't seem to get it at first. You must be enthusiastic about your work if you are going to succeed.

Ned Wayburn's "Honeymoon Cruise" is made up of pupils from the Studio, also, and has made a great success. They are girls and boys of good breeding, personality and good minds.

I want you to come to me and advise with me about what you are going to do with yourself. Let me be the one to guide you, please. Don't listen to any girl you may meet in classes. You will learn to like some girl in the class very much and you will become great friends. All of a sudden she gets an idea about a professional engagement and she drags you along with her, and you both think you are ready to start in and do something big. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about getting started, and you must start with the right manager for the sake of your whole future success. Remember that I am always glad to talk with you and to help you about engagements when you are ready, but you must prove your ability first.

No girl or boy can get an endorsement from me who misses a lesson without offering a plausible excuse. You must be regular in attendance and you must be punctual. If you miss a class you are obliged to telephone in before the class starts. If you are ill you must bring a doctor's certificate the next time you come to class. Your excuses must be sent to me personally. If you telephone in, be sure that it is sent through to me. I keep track of all the past pupils, and I do not recommend pupils who have not worked faithfully or who have been irregular in attendance.

There is a great incentive in class work, since you can get encouragement and inspiration from the other girls. Some girls in the class will take to the work more easily than others because they are in better physical condition, but if a girl gets along faster and better than you do, don't be discouraged by it. Just let it make you more ambitious to do as well. Your time will come if you keep at it. Do not try to practice in this room. This is a place to learn. Practice your lesson, go over the exercises, at home, several hours a day or use the practice rooms we provide. Don't be satisfied to come into class and try to perfect your routines there. It isn't possible.

When you go on the stage professionally you will be expected to be already fully informed as to certain necessary facts that concern all actors everywhere. Much information about showmanship is given in our makeup classes. You must take lessons in makeup before you go on the stage. You will do well to practice the same things here in the studio, now and all the time, in order to make you stage-wise and perfect in necessary stage deportment.

One of the things required of you on the stage is to stand still. Don't move about or turn your head or lop around or move your hands or feet. You will have a fixed position established at rehearsals, when you enter upon professional stage work, and if you do not hold it and observe the rules about standing still, you will not be wanted and will not last long. It seems a very simple thing to do, when you think of it, but unless you do it right here, while you are learning the basic facts about a stage career, you may fall down on it there. Heed this advice, and you will be grateful to me for it sometime.

If you are on the stage and someone is playing a scene, and your head is going from side to side, you attract the attention of the audience from the actor to yourself. When you do it here you take the attention of the class away from me, and you also take my attention away from the class, and if one or all of you do a "go as you please" about your movements, your talking and your attitudes in class, we have a pandemonium here that will drive your teacher frantic and prevent you from getting the instruction that you are paying for.

In this studio we insist upon and enforce discipline, just as your stage director will do when you join some company. It is good for you to get the disciplinary practice now that you must expect to receive when you pass from here to a regular stage. Those of you who really mean business and are going to succeed do pay attention to the studio discipline, always.

NED WAYBURN’S TAP AND STEP DANCING

Buck-dancing is done to syncopated rhythms, and you must get the right accent on those syncopated beats or taps or you cannot get the knack of doing a buck dance properly. So it is most important that you practice over and over again the four kinds of "taps" and "hops" which I shall describe now. First of all, stand in an imaginary circle the diameter of your feet, with your heels together, your right toe pointed right oblique and your left toe pointed left oblique, your weight equally distributed between the two feet, as described in a previous chapter.

Straight
Tap Every dancing step is in counts of eight. Remember that all of your counts begin with the left foot unless you are instructed to the contrary. Remember always, when you hop, to land with the knees bent; otherwise, the landing of the body with stiff legs after the hops will be a shock to the nervous system which in time will undermine your health.

The first tap is called a "straight" tap. Put your weight on the whole right foot. The left foot should be held about one inch from the floor. Tap the floor with the ball of the left foot for seven counts, working the foot on a hinge from the ankle, keeping your feet directly opposite and inside the circle or place. On the eighth count put the flat of the left foot down on the floor, shifting your weight to the left foot. Now in doing these straight taps count: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat. And when you say "flat" you shift your weight to the left foot by putting it flat on the floor. Then comes the same with the right foot—seven taps with the ball of the right foot and "flat" on the eighth count. Now do the sixteen counts, first with the left, then with the right. Thus: (left) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat; then (right) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat.

Front Tap The next tap is a "front" tap. The front tap goes front—it gets its name from the direction it takes. Swing the lower leg (from the knee down) like a pendulum. The tap is made with the inside edge of the sole of the shoe, striking the floor as the foot goes front only, clearing the floor as it goes back, the back swing being made to the count of "and." Put the accent on the number as you say it out loud. "Front-and," "2-and," "3-and," "4-and," "5-and," "6-and," "7-and," and "8-flat" (weight on the left foot). Swing the lower leg from the knee back and forth, not the upper leg at all, striking or tapping the floor only on the front swing. Then execute the same taps with the ball of the right foot, stopping after the count of "8-flat" with both feet flat on the floor, the weight equally distributed between them. Now, you have had the "straight-tap" and "front-tap" with both feet.

Back Tap The next is the back tap. Make the back tap like the snap of a whip, swinging the lower leg from the knee only, like a pendulum, with a sharply accented move to back, striking the floor with the ball of the foot as it goes back only to the counts, and swinging it front to the count of "and" when the foot must clear the floor each time. Snap it down—"Back-and," "2-and," "3-and," "4-and," "5-and," "6-and," "7-and," "8-flat" (with the left foot); then with the right foot, "Back-and," "2-and," "3-and," "4-and," "5-and," "6-and," "7-and," "8-flat."

Heel Tap We now come to the heel tap, which is made and counted like this: Heel, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, flat (8 counts). The same with the right heel for the same counts (8).

Practice these four taps, the straight, the front, the back, the heel, and the hop faithfully before you try to learn the buck dance, because from these four taps and the hop are built up many combinations which form complicated steps which you will want to learn later on. And the more you practice these fundamentals the better dancer you are going to be. Be sure to review, too, over and over again, the eight stage directions—front, left oblique, left, left oblique back, back, right oblique back, right, and right oblique.

In "tap" dancing, as in the musical comedy dances, there will usually be ten steps; one "travelling" or entrance step which will bring you onto the stage (from "off stage" into the line of sight of the audience), eight dance steps, and one exit-step to take you "off," out of sight of the audience, which will always be in the nature of a climax to provoke applause.

But, as I have said above, in buck-dancing or in any type of tap and step dancing, the rhythm is most important, and in order to be thoroughly grounded on syncopated rhythms, I shall give you first of all a beginner's "time-step." After that you will learn a beginner's "break."

The "time-step" and "break" are the keys to tap dancing and must be mastered before the tap dance can be learned. The "time-step" and "break" must be perfectly timed to the syncopated rhythm. And it is going to take long, patient periods of practice in order to perfect them. Do not get discouraged. Apply yourself keenly to both of these fundamental steps.

THE TIME STEP

The purpose of the time step is to get the syncopation into the dancing step, and establish the "tempo" of the dance.

With the weight on the left foot, front tap with the right, back tap with the right, hop with the left, with the right foot back and raised from the floor. The count is "And a one," with strong accent on "one." Now straight tap with right foot to count "two" and accent it.

Do a front tap with the left (count "and"), left foot straight front (count "three" and accent), right foot straight (count "four" and accent).

With the weight on the right foot, front tap with the left, back tap with the left, hop with the right, with the left foot back and raised from the floor. The count is "And a one," with strong accent on the "one." Now straight tap with left foot to count "two" and accent it. Do a front tap with the right (count "and"), right foot straight front (count "three" and accent), left foot straight (count "four" and accent).

Repeat all six times.

With the weight on the left foot, front tap with the right foot, back tap with the right, hop with the left, with the right foot back and raised from the floor. The count is "And a one," with strong accent on the "one." Tap right foot straight (count "two" and accent). Tap left foot front, tap left foot back, then left foot straight, to the count of "and three and." Now right foot straight, to count of "four" accented. Hop on the right foot with the left raised from the floor in front, count "five" and accent it. Front tap with the left (count "and"), straight tap front with the left (count "six" and accent it), straight tap with the right, place the right toe even with the arch of the left foot (count "and") then left foot flat front to count of "seven" accented.

Now, first of all you had the eight different directions; after the eight different directions the four different parts of the foot and the "hop," and then the different kinds of sounds or taps that I just gave you. We begin to make all sorts of combinations of those sounds. For instance, one of the primary steps which you must know is a combination of front, back and straight tap together. Stand on the ball of each foot; the weight is off the heels, and equally distributed between the balls of the feet.

Now beginning with your left foot, do one front-tap, one back-tap, and one straight-tap, accenting the straight tap—counting it 1, 2, 3. Now, begin with the right foot and do one front-tap, then one back-tap, and one straight-tap, counting it 1, 2, 3, and then alternately with each foot. On the third count your weight should rest on that foot. When perfected, that makes the first actual step in "Tap and Step" dancing.

One of my pupils of whom I am very proud is Miss Ann Pennington, another of the "Follies" stars. She became one of the leading exponents of "Tap and Step" dancing, and although she has reached this high point in her career, she still comes to me for advice and for pointers, and I am glad that she does this, because it shows that she realizes the necessity of new ideas and hard work to keep herself at the top. In dancing, as in many other professions, one must "keep everlastingly at it." The story of Miss Pennington's career is similar to that of many who have come to me for instruction. She had innate ability, good looks, a sense of rhythm and a willingness to work hard and patiently, and with these qualities has achieved success.

MR. WAYBURN ADDRESSES A CLASS IN
TAP AND STEP DANCING

When you know how to execute the routines of these dances and add to and develop your routines to keep them fresh and up to the hour, you have a lot of neat steps that will get over with the producers of many of the better types of modern shows. That is what I mean by "bread and butter" dances; something you can sell most easily in the present show market, and get not only food and raiment and lodging, but build up a savings bank account for the future as well. So it is well worth while to take your instruction here seriously and earnestly, as I am sure you intend to do. There is big money in this line of dancing if you practice and keep at it long enough. There are many four-figure salaries being paid every week to qualified dancers with an established name and reputation, and the way to earn these big salaries is to become qualified yourself. We teach you right and start you right—then it's practice for you; practice and more practice.

Let me tell you just how you should practice from now on in order to become a competent solo specialty dancer. Practice one step at a time. In a routine take the first step; practice that step until you are tired, then sit down and rest five or ten minutes. As soon as you feel like getting up again, take the second step and practice it until you are tired; sit down and rest again. Then do the first and second steps—no more; then sit down and rest again. Practice until you feel yourself tiring, but DO NOT overdo it. Practice faithfully and don't slight any one step. Then practice the third step the same way. When tired sit down and rest—then get up again. Put the first, second and third steps together, and so on all through the routine of eight or ten steps. No other way you can think of to practice will result as well as this particular way. It is a systematic, practical way.

I am taking a big responsibility with you, because when you finish your course you are going to appeal to me and ask if I know of an opportunity for you; where I think there is a good chance for you to begin; how you can get started. You are now getting along in advanced work. Try to get on in some charity entertainment; some place where you are employed in the day may have some benefits. Try for church entertainments. Some evenings in the neighborhood where you live there may be little entertainments. No matter how small an affair, try to go on. Get in front of an audience and feel the tension of an audience; it will give you encouragement, and on each succeeding appearance you will gain confidence and see how you "get over" with an audience. After a few appearances any feeling of stage fright will gradually disappear, and eventually you will gain confidence in yourself. Do not try to go on at first in any Broadway benefit. Be satisfied to make a very small beginning.

You have to begin now to put yourselves in the work. You can't be looking down at the floor and wondering what step comes next. That is no longer possible. You must acquire a method of executing the step; a little smile on your face; a little personality behind it; inject character into all your work.

Recently the Friars put on a Minstrel Show in New York that was a sensation. It shows that the public are gradually coming back to the old-time Minstrel Shows. The show business moves around in cycles; styles change in dances the same as in fashions. Light operas and musical comedies are coming in. Those of us who watch the theatre know that the styles are changing, and when I tell you this type of dancing is coming in you can believe it. Many prominent society women are studying this style of dancing. The Universities are taking it up, and we are gradually establishing it. Kansas City, Atlanta—the Junior League Follies, all did this type of work. There are 10,000 dancing teachers in America, and out of these, 2,350 are already teaching it, and there is every incentive for you to learn it, for it is popular and profitable, and with our foundation technique already acquired as a basis for this work you should not find it difficult to master.

This class is going to be taught four complete professional stage dances this month. If you got that outside of this school you would have to pay not less than $100 to $200 for each routine. I make it a point to give my scholars the very best there is in the line of instruction, and at the same time charge them only a reasonable fee.

We also give you the backing of every part of this establishment—publicity, advertising, and bookings when we can, but not until you have made good during your study.

Now there is one little thing I am going to talk to you about that really is a bigger thing than it seems—and that is gum—chewing gum. If you had had stage experience you would know that gum is taboo in the theatre, and the reason for this is not only that to chew in sight of an audience would be an insult and result in immediate dismissal, but also for this very important reason, that a cud of gum if dropped on the stage would destroy that stage for dancing—your own dancing and everybody else's. And it would be the same way here in the studio. We have here the finest of clear-maple dancing floors in every one of our studios. Drop a piece of gum on this floor and then try your dance and see what would happen to you. You'd step on it and you'd get a fall; you couldn't help it; and an unexpected fall like that might break your ankle, very easily. It has been done before now. Just make believe that you are under a theatrical producer on a Broadway stage, while you are with us here, and park your gum on a lamp post before you come into this building. Then you and the rest of the young ladies will not be in danger of meeting with an accident from that source.

Real flowers are not allowed on the professional stage for a similar reason. A flower petal falling on the floor acts as a banana skin would, making a slip and a bad fall possible to anyone on the stage. You'd not like to have your dance spoiled by a wad of gum or a flower petal, and perhaps get put out of commission and have to forfeit a contract because of a personal injury. So let's play we are on the professional stage here and do as real professionals do—cut out the cud and forego the posies. If you have flowers handed to you over the footlights when you get to be stars, ladies, let it be at the final curtain. Then you won't break anybody's neck.

I say often to every class, and I say it again to you—come and see me in my office and tell me how you are getting along here. And I mean this for every one of you. If I wasn't certain that I am going to be able to help you I wouldn't ask you to do this. If I didn't care I might do as some others do—take your money and let you go along in the class work as you choose to without bothering myself whether you made good or not. But that is not my way—not this studio's way at all. You must make good, for your own sake—and for the sake of this school's reputation. Now remember, there is absolutely no charge for my advice or counsel about anything that concerns you—your health, your reducing, your improvement in dancing—anything you want to know.

One day a girl came to me for the first time after she had been in the school about four months. I asked her in some surprise why she hadn't been in to see me before. "Why, Mr. Wayburn," she said, "I understood that you charge a high price for consultation, and I didn't feel that I could afford it."

Not only do I not charge anything for counseling you, I esteem it a favor to myself to be allowed to advise you. Candidly, I have never yet had a girl or boy take my courses here who has made a success of a dancing career who didn't write to me or talk things over with me first. If you don't come, you cannot get my ideas, cannot coöperate with me in matters that concern you.

Come to my office at any time. Between 11 and 1, or 4 and 6 are usually the best times. If I am busy with some important matter I may have to ask you to wait awhile or come in at some other time. I'm a pretty busy man some of the time, myself!

Weigh yourself and tell me about your weight.

NED WAYBURN’S ACROBATIC DANCING

(2) High-Kicking exercises; including all the so-called "legmania" varieties of dancing, which are best acquired by thorough preparation of the body in the Ned Wayburn foundation technique and studious attention to the drill in the Ned Wayburn Americanized ballet technique.

All of the acrobatic dancing tricks that are properly classified under bending exercises have for their foundation the back bend and the hand stand, as they are called, both of which must be mastered absolutely before attempting other and more complicated acrobatic exercises.

I want to go on record with the emphatic statement that acrobatic dancing must not be attempted except by those who are entirely and absolutely physically fit. The acrobatic dancer must possess unusual strength in the arms, in order that the weight of the body may be safely supported; and there must be strength and flexibility of the waist muscles and the abdominal muscles, and of all the muscles of the back and shoulders, to enable the performer to execute the front and back bends and their companion strenuous exercises. First, the pupil must have an unusual adaptability to this type of dancing, and then must prepare carefully and properly in advance of entering upon the real work of the course.

The best development comes from our limbering and stretching exercises. There is nothing else like it nor anything equally as good as a foundation for all types of dancing, and it is especially needed by the amateur entering upon an acrobatic dancing career. We have put literally thousands of pupils through this course, and every student of our acrobatic dancing classes who has taken this essential preliminary course has come through in fine shape.

You must be extremely careful if you have or ever have had any abdominal trouble. You must get the abdomen strengthened before you undertake any acrobatic work. If you have had an operation for peritonitis, appendicitis, hernia, or elsewhere in the abdominal cavity or region, you must, out of consideration for your own health, avoid any violent bending exercise. This does not imply that you should not exercise properly. You should, for it is easily possible to strengthen the tender muscles into a normal condition by suitable and systematic exercises.

Try this test: Lie flat on your back on the floor. Now, without aid of the hands or elbows or any outside assistance, bring your body to a sitting position. If you cannot do this, get your back muscles into training before you attempt any difficult exertion. If you succeed in your test, you can safely consider your abdominal muscles to be in sufficiently good condition to go ahead with acrobatic dancing.

Let me describe a few of the most common of the acrobatic tricks that all acrobatic dancers must know, and you will no doubt recognize them as being also favorite tumbling acts of boys and girls on the lawn. The most complicated and difficult acrobatic exercises are taught in full in the Ned Wayburn Studios, and are printed in detail, with simple instruction for their successful accomplishment, in the Ned Wayburn Home Study Course in Stage Dancing. The few we give you here are not difficult, and can be mastered at home by anyone who persistently practices and follows the descriptions with care.

Stand erect. Spread the feet about fifteen inches apart. Have the toes pointed well out, at about a sixty degree angle. Raise the arms directly overhead, the hands shoulder-width apart. Put your head back, pushing forward with your knees. Lean back, bending the arms as far back as you can, till the palms of the hands rest on the floor. In doing the back bend, relax the lower jaw and keep the mouth slightly open to breathe. Throw the strain of the bend in the small of the back. To come up, acquire a little rocking motion forward and back, lean forward, and you will come up easily.

How to do a back bend while standing near a wall.

Stand about 3 feet from the wall, with your back to the wall, feet about two feet apart. Bend back, touch the wall with the palms and walk down the wall with your hands until you touch the floor. Then walk up with your hands until you are erect.

The Back Bend on the Flat, and Near a Wall

HAND STAND

Take a wide step forward with the left foot, place both hands flat on the floor at least eighteen inches apart in front of the left toe, fingers open and pointed directly front, right leg perfectly straight, extended straight back. Swing the right leg up and over and follow it with the left leg, and when you come down bring down the left leg first, then the right leg, bringing the left knee close up to the chest. Do not kick hard or you will go over.

How to do a hand stand while standing near a wall.

Advance whichever foot comes natural to you to do this act (people are right and left footed as well as right and left handed); let us say your right foot. Stand facing the wall with the right foot advanced to within about two feet of it. Place both hands on the floor, about eighteen inches apart, in front of left foot, fingers open and pointed front, right leg extended back and straight. Kick up with the left foot over your back so as to bring the soles of both feet against the wall, the left foot reaching the wall first; knees straight, heels together.

The Hand Stand on the Flat (A, B), and Near a Wall