DANCING REQUIREMENTS
Reading edition
Come and trip it as ye go On the light fantastic toe. —Milton.
The National Association of Dancing Masters is responsible for the following rules. You may well think those dancers who disregard them either ignorant, or awkward, or vulgar.
1) Face your partner at a distance of six or eight inches, bodies parallel, shoulders parallel.
2) If you are leading, place your right hand between the shoulders of your partner, keeping your right elbow well away from your body.
3) See that above, but not resting on this arm, is your partner's left arm, at right angles with her body, her hand just back of the curve of your shoulder.
4) Let your left hand, palm up, clasp your partner's right. A line from these hands to the opposite elbows should be parallel with your parallel bodies.
5) Remember,—bobbing and wriggling are taboo. Let the spring come from the ankles and the knees. Imitate the grace of the swallow.