1914 - Tango

“All the new dances so popular on this continent are calling forth various strong statements from religious organizations – not all of them complimentary”

“Prominent Clergymen Condemn the Tango : Caters to Humanity’s Low Tendencies, Says the Rev. J. J. Ross – Dr. Mahony Is Strongly Against it He Says : Participants and Patrons Stand Self-Condemned and Socially Reprobate, View of Dr. Williams”¹

Hamilton Herald. January 1914.

As 1913 turned into 1914, the ‘tango’ dance craze was drawing strong harsh criticism from religious leaders all over Canada, including the city of Hamilton.

The tango was a name originally applied to a specific Latin American style of dancing, characterized by long gliding steps and sudden pauses which had become popular 20 years earlier.

However, by 1914 the word tango was being more widely applied as noted by a reporter from the Hamilton Herald who wrote : “it would seems as if the old Spanish dance, the tango, which, it is said, has lost most of its Spanish, is to become the center of a nation-wide controversy”¹

            The dance craze of 1913 and 1914 had included the specific tango dance itself but it also included several other dance steps which were lumped together under the word ‘tango’ by those who really were not followers of the craze :

“Last year was the first season that Hamilton society deigned to acknowledge the tango, the one-step and the maxixe. Even then the new dances were upon as a passing novelty, which might be experimented with, but which would never become terpsichorean realities.

“This season the dances have been in vogue at all the large halls. Everybody’s doin’ it!”¹

To address this new sensation, the Hamilton Herald assigned a reporter to garner opinions on it the tango and its implications.

The Right Reverend Dr. Mahony of St. Mary’s cathedral told the reporter the following :

        “You may put it in big, black letters that I am against the tango. As for the other dances I know little about them. I would condemn the tango for its bad name alone. There is absolutely no question about that dance. As for other dances, if they are performed decently, and surrounded by proper safeguards, I think they might be tolerated. Of course, it is a big question to say what is ‘decently.’ I might say in passing that it is not only the Roman Catholic priests who have in many United States cities banned the new dances, but the Catholic societies, composed of the people themselves, have been foremost in the movement.”

Next to be interviewed was Bishop Clark, bishop of the Anglican diocese of Niagara, who was less emphatic in his condemnation of the tango. He said : “I have never seen the tango or the new dances performed, but they tell me it is good exercise. However, from what I can gather, I don’t think it is a very suitable dance for refined people; but I would not like to pronounce further on it.”

        Rev. J. J. Ross was much more clear and decisive in his remarks on the tango : “I am not at all in sympathy with the public dance hall or dances either, for that matter. I hope I am not prejudiced. As for the new dances, the tango, etc., they are immoral dances, and they have a bad effect on the young participants, and also on the spectators. In short, I would say that they are catering to the natural tendencies of humanity, and on a low scale.”

The final opinion, a rather lengthy one, came from the Reverend G. H. Williams of Centenary Methodist Church : The justification of dancing lies in its perfect expression of exuberant emotions and physical grace, but when such indulgences are accompanied by indecent association, unhygienic environment, or, especially, with immoral suggestiveness they can be defended from no quarter.

“The development of social and esthetic qualities is imperative; but the excitation of sensuous passions can not be too severely condemned, nor too strongly prohibited. No lady of self respect will compromise herself, and no gentleman of fine instincts will involve himself in any situation or position suggestive of immodesty or impropriety.

“The tango dance has neither esthetic nor ethical qualities to commend it. The most respectable and honorable strata is justly repudiating it. Patrons and participants in this dissipation stand self-condemned and socially reprobate.”

The Herald reporter summed up his overview of the tango craze and the reaction of local clergymen with a question, but not a conclusion as to which side he, or many other Hamiltonians felt about the matter :

“Will society accept the views of its representative ministers, or follow its own sweet way ‘tripping the light fantastic’ to its heart’s Content ?

“ Whether the new dances express a modern tendency to lax deportment, as many of the clergy maintain, or merely fascinate through their novelty, is a question which puzzles the public.”¹