Down town with Fran at 8:30. Shopped a little. Orchestra 9:30 to 11:45. Practiced, got harmony - played - sang. Wrote letters. Letters from Elizabeth, Mattie, and Cornie and cards from Leon and mother.
Rita's Entry: Thursday, Feb 16, 1911
Harmony at 10 - fun - I like him ever so much. Lesson at 11:30. Had three for audience. Made me so fussed my fingers were all thumbs. Beginning work on double stops. Horrors!!!! Sewed, wrote, played.
Rita's Entry: Friday, Feb. 17, 1911
Home all day. Tin went to Crowls. I practiced hard all afternoon. Played whist in evening. Fran grouchy because she hadn't a bid to church dance. Found out later it wasn't till Saturday.
DANCING IN RITA'S DAY: There have been many references to dancing in Rita's diary. They go to church, Hamilton Park, the Reynolds Club at the University of Chicago to dance. Some of the dances they did were probably the one step, the two step and maybe the cake walk. Below is a passage from Every Woman's Encyclopedia, published in London at this very time:
All the new dances of recent years - round dances, that is to say - have come from America. We have had the Washington Post, the modified cake-walk, which was worked todeath by a certain section of society a few years ago ; the two-step, which is still popular, and the Boston. This dance continues to be invented, changed, and altered to suit the convenience of thedancing public.
Last of all, the one-step has arrived. It is a quicker, more jumpy edition of the two-step, with several variations, and is danced with one step taken at a time by successive feet. Throughout all the varieties of the one-step - most of them acquired since it reached England - in no case does the. same foot take two steps directly following each other. The left foot must immediately follow the right, and vice versa ; so it Will be guessed that the steps are not at all complicated. Whether going sideways, forward, round, or backwards, the " one-step walk " continues," like a series of jumping steps, taken as if walking, with a spring, in whatever direction the gentleman chooses to steer.
TODAY: Dancing has become very athletic and dance competitions are popping up on TV (along with singing competitions like American Idol). So You Think You Can Dance? was one of the first and it tries to find individual great dancers who can do things like the two-step as well as new dances, and now Paula Abdul is the host of another one trying to find great dance acts.
Judy's Entry:
As February progresses, my daughter's back pain seems to be getting worse. I spend most of my days taking her to chiropractor and trying to find things she can eat. She is very nauseous this first trimester. My mother and I are also working on a 1000 piece puzzle. I'm not crazy about puzzles, but now it is a challenge!
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