Did you know the waltz was once considered a scandalous craze? Dances before it had been precisely choreographed things, which kept men and women at arm’s length and the most a couple might do was hold hands. Then suddenly the waltz appears in the late 1700s. Couples could get close, even putting their arms around each other! So shocking! And of course, it was insanely popular with young people.
Madame de Genlis, a royal French governess, said the waltz caused women to lose their virtue. “A young woman, lightly dressed, throws herself into the arms of a young man. He presses her to his chest and conquers her with such impetuosity that she soon feels her heart beat violently as her head giddily swims!” The waltz, M. de Genlis said, could corrupt any honest young woman who danced it.
It sounds silly today. But people were really worried that waltzing was corrupting the youth. Rather like with some modern dance crazes…
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