Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 9, 1916, Page 24

OMAITA . QITNNDAY Tiur, OMAHA SUNDAY REE: JANUAKY Y, 1vie. BEE MAGAZINE PAGE e ——————— e it ey Miss Helen Moller Explains How More Vigor and Less Clothes in Qur Dances Would Give Us Miss Moller in a Vigorous Step That Could, She Thinks, Be Readily Modified for a Fox Trot or Other Popular Dance. the modern dances is that they require too much muscle in the dancer. They are so vigorous. Miss Helen C. Moller, an Ingenious and graceful young woman from the West, has evolved a system that really builds muscle while one 1s dancing, and, she belleves, if discreetly adapted to the modern fox trots, one steps and so on, Tllm chief complaint of many against A Sweeping, Fat-Banishing Dance Motion Modeled on Leighton’s Famous Painting “Atalanta.” will enable any one to develop strength enough to go through a whole season without fatigue—indeed, emerge from it in better shape than when entering. Miss Moller believes in injecting more vigor into the dance. The remarkable photographs on this page, posed for by Miss Moller, will give an idea of the amount of vigor she thinks necessary, She has made converts of many representative society women of New York, Newport, Boston and the New England Summer colonies, Recently she gave a demonstration with her puplis at the Hotel Gotham, in New York, for the benefit of the Polish Reliet Fund, “Free and graceful movements are equally impossible when there is great emaciation or excessive fat. In persons having sound organs and who lead a normal existence either of these condi- tions will disappear under the influence of dancing as it ought to be. Repetitions of certain prescribed movements of the body and limbs without any other motive are far from successful in producing this result. They may produce muscular de- velopment of certain parts of the body, but they will not develop all your mus- cles in their naturaJ proportions—which is necessary in order to make of It & perfect instrument with which to obey the commands of the mind and to give true physical expression to the emotions. “Prescribed and fixed, artificlal, forms of ‘'dancing also fall short of these ideals. Before one proceeds to dance there should be an impulse that cannot be obeyed In any other way. The move- ments of the dancing body will then be natural and graceful and will express with spirit and truth the impulse which called them forth. If you hold yourself responsive to the beauties and charms of Nature, of music, or of any other in- spiring form of art, you will find your- self more and more subject to definite A Free, Full Dance Movement That Develops the Sides. pleasurable emotions, and to a desire to express them physically. Then, if you have enjoyed the great advantage of be- longing to the “Back to Nature” move- ment, with its repudiation of cumber some garments and Its enjoyment of outdoor life, you will find yourself dano- ing-—or wanting to dance—as the Amr cadians danced. “The impulse, the emotion, must come first. You may get it from BSummer breezes whispering through the trees, from the perfume of wild flowers, from the twittering of birds, from the con- volutions of a fleecy cloud salling across the blue of the sky. When these charms fill you with happiness, and your feet are bare and your limbs free from the re- straint of unnecessary garments—why, then you are going to dance as dancing ought to be And the oftener you yleld to that impulse the more perfect your iake my pupils bear these ntly in mind. Perhaps an enthusiastic little girl will say: ‘Oh, Miss Moller, may I dance your Pan dance? I an- swer empha- tically: ‘No, yYou c¢an't dance my Pan dance, or any other of my dances. They are my dances, Dance your own dance. I try to get these beginners to feel a direct impulse, and then yield to it. If that means to roll A Dance for a Trio in Which Vigor Is Strikingly Present. Copyright, 1916, by the Star Cofpany. Miss Moller in a Very Un- usnal and Vigorous Dance Posture—Every Muscle at Good, Healthy Work. over and over on the floor, very well, they are to do it. Pretty soon they are really dancing, joyously, gracefully and with individuality, It is all gain—not only physical, but mental and moral, for it is impossible for what 1s base and un worthy to enter where truth and beauty are established.” Great Britain Rights Reserved . How Leggings Save Soldiers’ Lives EGGINGS and puttees play a very L important part in the unform of the United States Marine Corps for the protection of the men against tropical diseases while on foreign shore eervice. To the civillan mind leggings appear as purely a decorative adjunct to the uniform, useful only in horseback riding. It is very true that they are hot and un- comfortable to wear continually in the tropics, but it {s there that they are most needed. Many of the most dangerous tropical diseases are transmitted by the bites of insects. Among these are malaria, yel- low fever, bubonic plague, hookworm, elephantiasis and tropical ulcer. Fleas and mosquitoes are the prime carriers, and make their first attack upon the ankles, thence working their way up over the whole body. The ordinary flea jumps about one foot high in attacking men and animals. Al- though it is very possible for it to work its way up to the waist outside and enter the clothing above the belt line, yet the chances are against it. Ordinarily it will drop off or be brushed off. + Against mosquitoes and infected dirt and dampness leggings are good protec- Qon to the ankles. They lessen the dan- ger of snake bite in the jungles, take the place of boots in protection against mud and water and make the attack of the flea 80 roundabout that his chances of success are much reduced. Leather puttees, so universally worn when horseback riding, are worn by all officers in the Marine Corps while on shore duty, and are even more desirable than the heavy khaki leggings. It is im- possible for the ordinary small enake or ¢ © BY BRoww OBReS M.y A Back-Strengthening Posture That Also Builds Leg Muscles. poisonous hornet to make any impres- sion on the tough leather. On long marches leggings make walk- ing easier. They prevent the trousers from chafing at each step or being caught by briers in the underbrush. In wearing them constantly, some pre- cautions are necessary. They must not be worn at night, even if the soldier is obliged to sleep in his clothes, as con- stant wear for two days and nights is almost certain to produce a tropical rash, which is very frritating and difficult to eliminate. Talcum powder dusted on the feet each morning is often useful in keeping them dry and wholesome. From the experience gained in the Spanish-American war and subsequently in the pacification of the Philippines leg- gings have been given a permanent place in the required equipment of all United States troops in the fleld and are prov- ing of the greatest service in protecting the life and health og_gxa men. ~ Win, Miss Moller Muscle Building with Two of Her Pupils.