SOUTH DEERFIELD BRIEFS

A school exhibition of dances, gymnastics, wand drills and tumblinb will be held in Red Men's hall tomorrow afternoon, at 2 o'clock under the direction of Miss Ruth Archibald, physical director assisted by the teachers in all grades from 1 to 8, to which the public is invited.

SCHOOL EXHIBITION AT SOUTH DEERFIELD

South Deerfield, March 10-The school exhibition at Red Men's hall Friday afternoon under the direction of the physical instructor, Miss Ruth Archibald, assisted by the teachers in all grades from 1 to 8, was very entertaining to the large number of parents and friends who were present. The program opened with folk dances and nursery rhymes by the 1st and 2d grades, followed by an Indian dance by 3d grade pupils; Russian dance by the fourth grade; jumping jack dance by the fifth grade; boys' gymnastic drill by fifth and sixth grades; "The Little Fawn," by the fourth grade; "Sailor's Hornpipe," by the fifth and sixth grade; "Bim Bims," by the seventh grade; tumbling, boys of the sixth, seventh and eighth grades; Irish lilt, by the eighth grade; wand drill, by the seventh and eighth grades; clog dance by six boys of the seventh grade. The pretty costumes worn for the different dances and the clever way in which the dances and drills were executed were a credit to pupils and teachers.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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School exhibitions were held in Deerfield schools for more than a century and there is a discernable change over time. Those from the early 1800s tended toward words, a huge sea of banter, fiction, and didactic lectures. This program from the 1920s, on the other hand, is composed of almost pure entertainment: dances, humorous recitations, and gymnastics. Perhaps one reason for this change came from the large numbers of immigrants newly in the Deerfield school system, whose parents would have appreciated the more visual entertainments. Another reason may have been a change in American society itself, toward lighter, less dense entertainment.

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