Figure 1.--Learning the proper steps and how to execute them with grace is the key to every dance class, but many also stressed learning polite behavior.

Many American boys somewhere between 10 and 13 take dancing lessons. For some it was an escrutingately painful experience requiring that he dress up in his best suit. Many boys can remember the awkward experience of learning to dance with the equally dressed up, but considerably more enthusiastic young ladies. That there boys learn to dance properly was important to many mothers. Equally important was leaning the social graces. Many dance schools combined the two

Importance

Lord Chesterfield, in his letters to his son, says: "Dancing is, in itself, a very trifling and silly thing: but it is one of those established follies to which people of sense are sometimes obliged to conform; and then they should be able to do it well. And though I would not have you a dancer, yet, when you do dance, I would have you dance well, as I would have you do everything you do well." In another letter, he writes: "Do you mind your dancing while your dancing master is with you? As you will be often under the necessity of dancing a minuet, I would have you dance it very well. Remember that the graceful motion of the arms, the giving of your hand, and the putting off and putting on of your hat genteelly, are the material parts of a gentleman's dancing. But the greatest advantage of dancing well is, that it necessarily teaches you to present yourself, to sit, stand, and walk genteelly; all of which are of real importance to a man of fashion."

Learning the Social Graces

Dancing classes are normlly given my ladies. But some are also conducted by often tactiturn gentlemen. Always imepabably dressed and proper, the teachers at these classes require boundless patience. A little humor was an assettm but not too outgoing as these classes were seen as formal serious occassions. The children always dressing up. The girls wore their best party frocks with white gloves ans white sicks and Mary Jane strap shoes. The boys wore their best, usually dark suit, often with short pants. The classes proceed to ficus on the intricacies of the box step and along the way--touching on as many of the social graces as possible.

Age

The age of taking dancing lessons varied. Often the teacher offered several classes for different age groups. Usually the youngest children are about 6 or 7 years old before beginning their dancing lessons. Some younger boys may be involved, but this was not the common pattern. Most boys took dancing lessons from about 8-9 to 11-12 years of age. The idea was to make sure they were able to dance by the time they reached their teen years. The younger boys were less interested in dancing lessons, but more easily directed by their mothers. Older boys were normally still not particularly interested, but many could begrunchingly see the need as they approached junior highschool and their teen years.

Gender differences

The different attitudes of boys and girls at dancing school was very obvious, even for the mist stary-eyed mother. Notably it was usually mother who arranged for dancing classes and often accompanied her son under moderate duress to these sessions. Father rarely did the honors. A variety of reasonsexplain why boys and girls differed so widely.
Dressing up: The fact you had to dress up was one strinke agaist dancing school from the very beginning on the part of the boys. Girls of course loved to dressed up in their party suits. They sometimes did that just for fun at home. Whoever heard of a boy putting on his suit just for fun. Some American boys in the 1940s and 50s might wear long pants for play and short pants with his dressup suit--further turning him against dressing up and dancing school.
Girls: Boys at this age, frankly speaking, just didn't like girls. Girls didn't know how to have fun. They never wanted to get dirty. They were always tattling. They couldn't do important things like throw a baseball. The idea of being cooped up with them, and dressed in their best suit on a perfectly good saturday afternoon just didn't appeal to most boys.
Interest: Many boys just saw dancing as boring. There were so many things one could do with his buddies in a comfortable pair of jeans that spending an afternoon with with what the, admittidly misguidedm pre-teen boy giggling, silly girls was not very appealing.
Parents: The fact that it was mother who pushed the experience often made boys suspicious. Mothrers were always doing things that were incomprehensible to the pre-teen boy. Nothers easily convinced their daughters. But many boys wondered to themselves why fathers were not involved or especially interested in this undertaking.

Figure 2.--Boys wore a variety of suits to dance class. Dark suits were the most common. Often they were short pants suits, especially for expensive classes appeling to the country club set. Notice the parents in the background are all mothers.

Clothes

The children always wore their best clothes for dancing school. The girls wore their best party frocks--usually white or a light pastel collar. At the more formal classes they would wear white gloves. Boys might also war white gloves, although by the 1940s this had become much less common for the boys. White anglets and Mary Jane strap patent leather shoes were almost de regur. For some reason in the 1940s and 50s, girls usually wore white anglets when dressing up--rately white kneesocks. I'm not sure why this was. The boys usually wore dark suits. During the summer some light colored syits might be seen. Short pants suits were common. Younger boys might wear Eton suits--sometimes with Peter Pan collars. Many boys did not wear kneesocks with their sort pants suits--but if they did they were almost always dark kneesocks.

Social class

There was a strong element of social class in these dancing lessons. They were a required ritual for the children of wealthy families. This was one reasin short pants suits were so common. Boys in weathtly families wore them more commonly than boys in more modest circumstances. Middle class boys also usually were sent to dancing school. The schools they attended, however, were often not as formal and also did not stress the social graces in the same way as the classes attended by the children of the more socially prominent families. Boys from families of modest circumstances might not attend dancing school at all.

Ballroom dances

Social dancing through the 1960s meant ball room fancing. The classic box step was the center piece for all of these dancing classes. Ball room dancing in a form of social dance which developed in western European. The standard dances include classic the fox-trot, waltz, polka, and tango. Other dances include fad dances like Charleston, jitterbug, hustle, frug, disco, shake and other constantly evloving new ones. Boys used to learn formal dances at dancing school, initually with some reluctance. Boys always dessed up in teir best suts for dancing lessons, as they once did for dances. Gradually by the 1960s ot became increaingly less important to dress up for dances as the classic dances became increasingly less popular. Some boys, however persued ballroom dancing with considrable reluctance--and it was the classic dances that remain te centerpiece of traditional ballroom dancing.

Class routiens

Dancing lessons were conducted with a wide variety of approaches. Some were straight forward dancing lessons. Other dancing classes were more social seminars. This approach was particularly popular for the chldren of affluent families so that the children acquired the necessary social graces that are so necessary for the well to do. Class routien were also significantly affected by the type of dancing school as well who was conducting the classes. Some teachers had a nack at making the lessons interesting, or at least for the boys, as painless as could be expected.

Special methods

Boys are often difficult subjects for dancing teachers. Thery often come to class involuntarily--if not under considerable duress. Not only is their attitude not the best, they tend to be rougher and often more clumsey than the girls. The girls often come to dancing school with a basic knowlege of dancing. There mothers may have preped them or they may have practiced with frioends or older sisters while listening to music. Boys on the other hand or not likely to have practiced with friends. As a result, dancing teachers often have to use considerable ingenuity.