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Show PRIVATE DANCING. 489 The admirers of dancing will have conceived, it is hoped, a just notion of the art from the preceding parts of this work. They will, at the same time, have had an opportunity of observing, clearly pourtrayed, all the materials of which it is composed. Now, as the private dancing derives its origin from the theatrical dancing, there are many particulars in it which may be serviceable to the Amateur, as well as the Professors of the Art; such as, for instance, the common mode of carrying oneself- the gait-some of the practical movements-some of the postures-a certain number of the steps and footings, and, in short, the gracefulness, the lightness, the liveliness, the elegance, which are qualifications almost indispensable to every genteel person. Having already, in the First Part of m y work, explained the utility and advantages to be derived from it, even by those who do not practise this attractive art, excepting simply for their amusement, or as a kind of finish to an accomplished education, I shall now, more particularly, treat of the mechanical part, and theory of that species of dancing which is practised in polite society, and studied by well-bred and fashionable persons. As soon as the dancing-master shall have ascertained the natural qualifications and abilities of the learner, it will be his business to begin by showing him the five positions, in each of which he must make him bend, and then raise himself upon the point of the toe. H e will then teach him to make petits battemens tendus upon the instep, and, also, even petits rond-de-jambes a terre, inwards and outwards. The learner must, at first, practise with holding, and then afterwards without, in order to acquire the proper balance. (See plate X I , fig. 5.) |