OUR DANCING SONS

To Seniors worrying over their theses and to Juniors taking the Reading Period seriously, the petition in circulation among the Sophomores to the effect that the desirability of a class dance is felt by certain 1931 classmen might seem paradoxical coming as it does at a time when all ephemeral things should be put aside and a serious attempt made to fill in the gaps of one's general culture. To Freshmen who have illusions concerning the social side of Harvard life without experiencing other than that which centers around the Freshman dormitories, the fact that the Sophomores should have a dance does not seem inconsistent in view of the Freshman Jubilee, the Junior Dance, and the Senior Spread, a point of view forcibly expressed in the current petition. Beyond this attitude, no one will feel concerned or will deny that the petition presents a problem which 1931 alone is capable of setting to its satisfaction. It remains for the officers and the members themselves to decide whether or not the class as a whole is unhappy over the present state of affairs and desires to emulate the classes which can boast an annual gala festivity, as such affairs are blazoned in newspaper headlines.

Sentiment having been worked up to the desired pitch, the logical thing for the Sophomores to do is to investigate the financial and social state of the dances of which they are envious. The Jubilee, heralded by nebulous publicity throughout the first year and coming at the time when a class has attained its acme as an entity, is usually a financial success in spite of its nondescript social category. Like it, the Senior Spread comes at an advantageous time, and largely in its capacity as an entertainment for the Commencement crowd is assured of enough support to make it practicable. And, apropos a class dance, it is the question of practicability which should confront the Juniors as well as the Sophomores at this time. This might sound like heresy to those who base their arguments upon the social allurements of the proposed dance, but the desired opportunity of making contacts has only the shadowiest chance of fulfillment.

An investigation of the trend taken by recent Junior dances would no doubt have the effect of placing the 1930 dance in a state of jeopardy rather than initiating a new venture into the unstable realm of Harvard terpsichorean celebrations. Year after year there has been a steady decline in interest in the Junior dance involving natural financial embarrassment for the Committee and requiring inroads into the class funds. From the social point of view, likewise, the third year dance has tended to prove itself a white elephant, owing to the waning social homogeneity of a class, especially after its initial year. In short, the quicker it is recognized that the class promenade, a by-product of rampant collegiatism, is destined not to flourish at Harvard the better.

Tradition has neither stabilized nor sanctified the present three annual affairs, one of which is fast developing into an incubus. The spirit which fills the gymnasiums of state universities with a sympathetic mass of jazz-appreciators and inspires the grand march with the prom chairman and the lucky girl at its head in a confetti setting is not transferrable to Memorial Hall. The happy solution of the problem would be for the blaise Juniors to pass over their dance to the social Sophomores who might profit by early experience or carry on the Jubilee tradition throughout their college career.