Page:Modern Dancing (1914) Castle.djvu/166

Rh difficult for the woman who knows how, but if you are not a skilled hostess in this respect perhaps the few suggestions I can give you may help.

In the first place, do not have your dance-floor too slippery; it is not necessary, and it is difficult to dance on. If you haven't a hard-wood floor, a temporary flooring of linoleum is really the best.

Do not ask more people than can dance with comfort. If your room is small have the tables or the buffet in a room adjoining. Space in dancing is absolutely essential.

One clever hostess we know, whose teas are among the most popular of the season, has a buffet tea, with sandwiches, cakes, tea, and chocolate, arranged in the dining-room, while tête-à-tête tables with cups, saucers, and plates are scattered all through the down-stairs rooms in cozy nooks and windows. The guests may take their tea in solitude à deux or about the big table in the dining-room, as they prefer.

This does away with the question of just when to serve tea, for some like to watch the dancers for a little while and sip their chocolate before they begin to dance themselves, while others like to plunge at once into the dance and eat only when they are too tired to dip and glide any more.

Heavy foodstuffs like fried oysters, creamed chicken, patties, and such things are not needed