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LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - DECEMBER 11, 2016
Mary Cox and the Scandalous Dance
I was watching PBS the
other night with Andre Rieu
playing iconic Strauss waltz-
es in the square in Maas-
trict, Netherlands with the
graceful, swirling dancers,
and the women in long full
skirts. It was fortuitous, be-
cause I was writing the script
for the 1864 scene in our
Christmas candlelight tours.
In the scene, Mary Cox tells
her story about growing up in
LeRoy House. Mary’s father
was the Reverend Samuel
Cox, who was the first Chan-
cellor of Ingham University.
The family came to LeRoy
in 1856, and lived in Le-
Roy House until 1864, when
Mary’s mother died. During
that time, Mary attended In-
gham University across the
street. Many years later,
Mary, who was in her 80s,
reminisced about those In-
gham days. One of the fun-
niest stories takes place one
day when the Ingham faculty
is uptown for a lecture. The
students decide to have a
dance. They are upstairs in
the dormitory, and the danc-
ing brings down the ceiling.
Madam Staunton, head of
the University insists that
Mary’s father call all the stu-
dents together and to lecture
them on their bad behavior.
Mary’s father talked with
his daughter and she admits
that they had a “grand time.”
Apparently her father wasn’t
as upset as Madam Staunton
thought he should be. How-
ever, he does call all the
girls together and asks the
girls who had been standing,
to stand up. Mary was the
first to stand, and she said
her father had a hard time
concealing a smile. He ad-
monished the girls, and ap-
parently didn’t dole out any
punishment.
Mary doesn’t say
what type of dancing the girls
enjoyed. In the mid-Victori-
an era, most of the dancing
was done with couples stand-
ing side-by-side in what was
called the “open position.”
Dances were done in forma-
tions of circles, squares, or
lines. Dances like the waltz
and the polka were done in
the “closed position” with
partners holding each oth-
er. The man would place his
hand on his partner’s waist.
This was quite scandalous. It
apparently was more accept-
able by upper class young
people in urban areas. Jo-
hann Sebastian Strauss’ mu-
sic was popular in Germany
and Austria, but he did not
tour the United States until
the 1870s.
So perhaps, Mary
and her girl friends were
practicing the waltz, but we
will never know for sure.
However, the December
1864 LeRoy Gazette News
reprinted an article expos-
ing the scandalous nature
of the waltz, especially if
performed in the middle of
the day. It suggests that the
waltz should only be done in
the evening, when the lights
were low and the “repulsive”
and “coarse” “gyrations”
were not as exposed. And
further, the author was crit-
ical of those who danced the
waltz in the fashionable hoop
skirt, which exposed the an-
kle and leg:
“Waltzing is s pro-
fane and vicious dance . . .
always. When it is prosecut-
ed in the center of a great
crowd in a dusty hall, on a
warm, mild summers day, it
is a disgusting dance. Night
is its only appropriate time.
The blinding, dazzling gas-
light throws a graceful glare
over the salient points of
its indecency and blends
the whole into a wild whirl
that dizzies and dazes one;
but the uncompromising af-
ternoon light, pouring in
through the manifold win-
dows, tears away every illu-
sion and reveals the whole
coarseness and all the repul-
sive details of this most alien
and unmaidenly revel. The
very pose of the dance is pro-
fanity. Attitudes which are
the instinctive expression of
intimate emotions. This is
a guilty and wanton waste of
delicacy. That it is practiced
by good girls and tolerated
by good mothers does not
prove that it is good. There
is another thing girls and
their mothers do not seem to
consider. The present mode
of dress renders waltzing
almost as objectionable in a
large ballroom as the boldest
feats of a French ballet danc-
er*. Not to put too fine a
point on it, I mean that these
gyrations in the center, of
their gyrating and centrifugal
hoops, makes a most operatic
drapery display. I saw scores
and scores of public waltzing
girls last summer and among
them, all I saw, but one who
understood the art, or at any
rate, who practiced the art
of indecent exposure. Do I
shock you? I hope so if the
saying of shocking things
might prevent the doing of
shocking things, I shall be
well content. “
*The French ballet was
considered extremely scan-
dalous. Scanty costumes,
and exposed legs were not
considered proper in Victori-
an England.