They danced with grace and spirit, moving in circles
round their nearly stationary partners, and showing their figures
to great advantage.
A great deal was said about our friend Don Juan Bandini, and when he
did appear, which was toward the close of the evening, he certainly
gave us the most graceful dancing that I had ever seen. He was
dressed in white pantaloons neatly made, a short jacket of dark
silk, gaily figured, white stockings and thin morocco slippers
upon his very small feet. His slight and graceful figure was
well calculated for dancing, and he moved about with the grace
and daintiness of a young fawn. An occasional touch of the
toe to the ground, seemed all that was necessary to give him a
long interval of motion in the air. At the same time he was not
fantastic or flourishing, but appeared to be rather repressing a
strong tendency to motion. He was loudly applauded, and danced
frequently toward the close of the evening. After the supper,
the waltzing began, which was confined to a very few of the "gente
de razón," and was considered a high accomplishment, and a mark of
aristocracy. Here, too, Don Juan figured greatly, waltzing with the
sister of the bride, (Donna Angustia, a handsome woman and a general
favorite,) in a variety of beautiful, but, to me, offensive figures,
which lasted as much as half an hour, no one else taking the floor.
They were repeatedly and loudly applauded, the old men and women
jumping out of their seats in admiration, and the young people
waving their hats and handkerchiefs.
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