,,modern ,,dancing ,,and ,,dancers ,illustration3 ,,carmencita ,,after ,a ,,painting ,,by ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent ,,modern ,,dancing ,,and ,,dancers ,,by ,j4 ,e4 ,,crawford ,,flitch1 ,m4,a4 ,,author ,,of 8,,mediterranean ,,moods0 ,illustration3 colophon ,,with ,,eight ,,illustrations ,,in ,,colour ,,and ,,many ,,in ,,black ,,and ,,white ,,london ,,grant ,,richards ,,ltd4 ,,philadelphia3 ,j4 ,b4 ,,lippincott ,,company ,,mdccccxii ,,printed ,,by ,,the ,,riverside ,,press ,,ltd4 ,,beaverhall ,,road1 ,,edinburgh ,,contents ,,page ,,introduction #i ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,ancient ,,and ,,modern ,,attitude ,,towards ,,the ,,dance #ae ,,ii4 ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,the ,,ballet #bg ,,iii4 ,,the ,,heyday ,,of ,,the ,,ballet #ci ,,iv4 ,,the ,,decline ,,of ,,the ,,ballet #eg ,v4 ,,the ,,skirt ,,dance #ga ,,vi4 ,,the ,,serpentine ,,dance #ha ,,vii4 ,,the ,,high ,,kickers #ia ,,viii4 ,,the ,,revival ,,of ,,classical ,,dancing #ajc ,,ix4 ,,the ,,imperial ,,russian ,,ballet #abc ,x4 ,,the ,,repertory ,,of ,,the ,,russian ,,ballet #acg ,,xi4 ,,the ,,russian ,,dancers #aec ,,xii4 ,,the ,,english ,,ballet #agc ,,xiii4 ,,oriental ,,and ,,spanish ,,dancing #ahi ,,xiv4 ,,the ,,revival ,,of ,,the ,,morris ,,dance #bjc ,,xv4 ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,the ,,dance #bae ,,index #bbe ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,,in ,,colour ,,carmencita1 after a painting by ,john ,sargent ,frontispiece ,,danseuses ,,en ,,sc,,ne1 from a painting by ,degas ,to face page #ff ,,isadora ,,duncan 8 8 #ajf ,,maud ,,allan1 from a photograph 8 8 #aab ,,danse ,,orientale1 after a design by ,lon ,bakst 8 8 #acb ,,anna ,,pavlova1 from a painting by ,john ,lavery 8 8 #afj ,,adeline ,,gen,e1 from a photograph 8 8 #agh ,,ruth ,,st ,,denis1 in a ,nautch ,dance 8 8 #aib ,,in ,,black ,,and ,,white ,,marie ,,taglioni1 as ,la ,sylphide 8 8 #db ,,carlotta ,,grisi1 in ,the ,peri 8 8 #ej ,,fanny ,,cerito1 in ,ondine 8 8 #eb ,,kate ,,vaughan 8 8 #gb ,,kate ,,vaughan1 in ,turkish costume 8 8 #gd ,,alice ,,lethbridge 8 8 #gf ,,letty ,,lind1 in a ,skirt ,dance 8 8 #gh ,,letty ,,lind 8 8 #hd ,,connie ,,gilchrist 7,the ,gold ,girl71 from a painting by ,whistler 8 8 #ib ,,regina ,,badet1 premire danseuse of the ,paris ,opera 8 8 #ih ,,isadora ,,duncan 8 8 #ajh ,,maud ,,allan1 in ,the ,vision of ,salom 8 8 #aad ,,maud ,,allan1 in ,chopin's ,funeral ,march 8 8 #aah ,,the ,,russian ,,ballet1 an undress rehearsal 8 8 #abf ,,trouhanowa1 in an ,oriental ballet 8 8 #acj ,,waslaw ,,nijinsky1 in ,le ,pavillon d',armide 8 8 #ach ,,leontiev and ,,lepoukhava1 in ,le ,carnaval 8 8 #adj ,,karsavina and ,,nijinsky1 in ,le ,spectre de la ,rose 8 8 #adb ,,les ,,sylphides 8 8 #add ,,seraphima ,,astafieva1 as ,cleopatra 8 8 #adf ,,waslaw ,,nijinsky1 in ,scheherazade 8 8 #aed ,,tamar ,,karsavina1 in ,scheherazade 8 8 #aef ,,anna ,,pavlova 8 8 #aeh ,,pavlova and ,,mordkin 8 8 #afb ,,pavlova and ,,mordkin1 in ,russian costume 8 8 #afd ,,mademoiselle ,,schmolz 8 8 #aff ,,mikail ,,mordkin1 in ,the ,arrow ,dance 8 8 #afh ,,lydia ,,kyasht 8 8 #agj ,,lydia ,,kyasht1 in ,sylvia 8 8 #agd ,,alexandra ,,balashova 8 8 #agf ,,adeline ,,gen,e 8 8 #ahj ,,adeline ,,gen,e1 in ,a ,dream of ,butterflies and ,roses 8 8 #ahb ,,phyllis ,,bedells1 in ,sylvia 8 8 #ahd ,,beatrice ,,collier and ,,fred ,,farren1 in ,la ,danse des ,apaches 8 8 #ahf ,,ruth ,,st ,,denis 8 8 #aij ,,leonora1 as a ,spanish dancer 8 8 #aid ,,la ,,otero 8 8 #aif ,,la ,,guerrero 8 8 #aih ,,morris ,,dance3 ,,bean-,,setting 8 8 #bjf ,,mikail ,,mordkin1 in ,the ,cymbal ,dance 8 8 #baf ,,introduction ,it is not unlikely that when the art historian of the future comes to treat of the artistic activity of the first decade of the twentieth century1 he will remark as one of its most notable accomplishments a renaissance of the art of the ,dance4 ,that this renaissance is an accomplished fact1 is a matter of common knowledge4 ,within a relatively short period there have appeared several great dancers1 who must necessarily have been preparing themselves for a considerable time previously to their appearance1 yet as it were in secret1 without cognisance of one another1 with a common aim1 but without a common plan4 ,contemporaries in time1 they have been as far removed in space as the ,east is from the ,west4 ,in all movements which touch the spirit1 this circumstance of the simultaneous but independent manifestation of a common impulse is at once the most general and the most unaccountable4 ,the still small voice whispers into space and those of a delicate hearing hear and respond4 ,we content ourselves by repeating the explanation1 which is no explanation1 that the movement is 8in the air40 ,it follows1 therefore1 that he who sets out to relate adequately the story of the ,dance in recent years should have qualified himself by being present at many different points1 almost at one and the same time1 ready to take account of its various exhibitions4 ,criticism of the ,dance makes severer demands1 at any rate physically1 than criticism of literature4 ,dancers1 even the most peripatetic1 do not circulate with the same freedom as philosophers and novelists4 ,mahomet must always go to the mountain4 ,it is true that all the roads of modern art lead to ,paris1 and some are continued as far as ,london4 ,but the critic1 even if he lies in wait at either of these centres1 cannot always count on catching the bird of passage on the wing4 ,to the quality of ubiquity ,i make no claim4 ,and ,i may as well confess now as never that ,i saw ,russia only when it came to ,covent ,garden4 ,for the omission in this book1 therefore1 of a description of the performances of certain dancers1 ,i have no better excuse to offer than the fact that ,i have never seen them4 ,silence in many cases must be taken to mean not my ignoring of their art1 but my ignorance of it4 ,i think ,i may claim1 however1 that the names that are omitted will be found to be famous rather on account of some personal quality in the dancer than on account of her influence on the development of the ,dance4 ,there are other peculiar difficulties which beset the critic of the ,dance4 ,i do not refer to the difficulty of passing judgment upon a fugitive art that leaves nothing behind it but an echo of applause1 for with the dancers of the past ,i have little concern4 ,there is the difficulty of discriminating between the executant and the composer--a difficulty greater in dancing than in music1 since the dancer is more than an executant of the art1 she is herself the medium of it4 ,in the popular eye she has in fact always quite eclipsed the choregrapher4 ,criticism is in doubt as to the measure of her share in the creation of the design--an uncertainty that cannot be resolved by any reference to a score4 ,further1 it is in continual danger of being misled by the glamour of personal qualities--physical beauty1 for example--which are strictly extraneous to the art4 7,taglioni1 it should be remembered1 was probably the plainest as well as the greatest of dancers47 ,in no art1 therefore1 is personal prejudice established so readily or on grounds of such doubtful artistic validity4 ,the ,dance enjoys no immunity from the clash of schools4 ,indeed1 partisanship is the more bitter as principles of criticism are less determined4 ,the respective upholders of the school of the ballet and of the natural or classical style of dancing are barely on speaking terms4 ,to the advocates of the old school the new classical dancer is little better than a freak performer2 to the austere classicist the ballet-dancer is but a smiling automaton1 and both agree in refusing to recognise the skirt-dancer as a dancer at all4 ,to the exponents of conflicting styles ,i have endeavoured to do justice4 ,if ,i have failed1 it is of no great moment1 since criticism of the ,dance is still so inchoate that the opinion of the expert--and the responsibilities of his office ,i unhesitatingly refuse--has little more authority1 except on questions of pure technique1 than that of an expression of personal preference4 ,i care little if the reader tears to tatters any hazardous conclusions upon which ,i have ventured4 ,such denials ,i expect4 ,almost ,i welcome them4 ,but ,i care much if by anything that ,i have said the reader is provoked to formulate a serious criticism of his own and to refer his judgment to the abiding principles of art4 ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,ancient ,,and ,,modern ,,attitude ,,towards ,,the ,,dance ,in latter1 if not in former times1 ,dancing has commonly been regarded as the little sister of the ,arts4 ,gracious1 wayward1 beguiling1 it has been indulged as the amusement of a trifling hour4 ,it has ranked high among the amenities of life1 but low in the hierarchy of the sincere ministers of beauty4 ,the liberal arts have looked askance at its intrusion into their company4 ,dignity1 seriousness of intention1 fitness to express grave emotion1 power to touch the heights and depths of the spirit have been denied to it4 ,it has suffered the disdain which is the habitual attitude of grown men towards whatever appears to them to savour of the capricious and the childish4 ,charm1 of course1 has been granted it--the butterfly charm of triviality4 ,it has been discussed earnestly only to be condemned4 ,little mercy has the moralist ever shown to the art of the dance1 but he has at least done it this much justice--he has taken it seriously4 ,to the puritan of all times all the arts have been more or less suspect1 but with regard to dancing he has never had any doubts at all4 ,he has damned it with bell1 book and candle4 ,indeed the logic of his own argument has left him no alternative4 ,for dancing is the life of the senses burning with its most flamelike intensity4 ,the appeal of all the arts is by their very nature sensuous1 but in none is this appeal so direct and compelling as in the dance4 ,happily the warping and misconceived morality of former generations is a thing of the past4 ,the old opposition of sense to spirit is discredited as a false antithesis4 ,it has been displaced by the more handsome creed that 8all good things are ours1 nor soul helps flesh more1 now1 than flesh helps soul40 ,beauty is a refiner's fire1 and the beauty that enters in through the doorway of the senses cannot soil but only cleanse the spirit4 ,nowadays the dance has less to fear from the hostility of the moralist than from the indifference of the artist4 ,and perhaps the difficulty of restoring it to its ancient and rightful rank becomes thereby greater4 ,it is easier to convince an angry opponent than the man who smiles indulgently at everything you have to say and then drops quietly off to sleep4 ,it is a true if unfortunate fact that the majority of people1 at all events so far as the ,anglo-,saxon race is concerned1 not only do not appreciate the full beauty and meaning of dancing but show little or no desire ever to understand it4 ,when they do not despise it as puerile1 or actively resent it as immoral1 they merely tolerate its performance as constituting the inevitable dull portion of a pantomime or the superfluous item in a music-hall programme4 ,that dancing should ever have entered deeply into the religious and artistic life of nations is utterly inconceivable to them4 ,to become proficient in the art for the sake of money or even for the love of admiration does not seem to them altogether unreasonable2 but to dance as the world danced long ago1 for the love of ,god--well1 that falls into the portion of unintelligible ideas4 ,dancing has altogether ceased to play1 indeed it never has played1 a rle of any importance in their lives4 ,it means nothing more than paying occasionally to see the performance of some seven nights' wonder at a prominent music-hall1 or1 more usually1 gyrating languidly on a beeswaxed floor to waltz time or bounding along kangaroo-like to the swinging melody of a popular two-step4 ,it is not the purpose of this book to present even an outline of the history of dancing1 but in pleading for the 8high seriousness0 of the ,dance as art it is desirable to consider for a moment the place which it once held in the ancient world--for this place1 if ,i read the signs of the times aright1 it is about to hold again4 ,the root of dancing is one with the root of all the arts1 namely--ecstasy4 ,scorned as it has been by the sister arts of ,music1 ,painting and ,sculpture1 it can boast a longer lineage than theirs1 for the dance is more spontaneous than they4 ,all the arts must needs be founded in emotion1 but the moment of passion is usually long past before the labour of creation begins4 ,the emotion is 8recollected in tranquillity40 ,but the raw material1 if one may call it so1 of the dance is the human body1 and all human emotion expresses itself most spontaneously in bodily gesture4 ,with children and simple peoples who have never learnt that it is incorrect to display their emotions1 feeling is immediately translated into action4 ,for a child words are never enough to express the heart's delight--as may be seen at any street corner when music is in the wind4 ,the whole body becomes a lively instrument for joy to play upon4 ,joy for joy's sake only1 however1 is not yet art4 8,a child dancing for its own delight10 says ,ruskin1 8a lamb leaping or a fawn at play1 are happy and holy creatures2 but they are not artists4 ,an artist is a person who has submitted to a law which it was painful to obey1 that he may bestow a delight which it is gracious to bestow40 ,it is only when the emotion becomes self-conscious and seeks to communicate itself1 that it evokes the help of formal rhythm--and where there is rhythm there is the alpha1 if not the omega1 of art4 ,this deep ecstasy out of which the dance springs1 as a fountain from a well1 is not necessarily joy4 ,often it is the ecstasy of love--for the dance1 as ,lucian said1 is as old as love1 the oldest of the gods4 ,it may be the ecstasy of worship or the ecstasy of grief4 ,from the nature of the emotion out of which it springs the dance takes its character--voluptuous1 solemn1 bacchic1 mournful1 as the case may be4 ,whenever the passions of primitive peoples were deeply moved1 they evolved a dance to express them4 ,in the mystic ritual dance they found some expression for that divine unrest1 when the winds in the great forests or the serenity of the multitudinous stars strangely stirred the heart to a sense of the nearness of the spiritual order2 when the triumphing warriors returned after driving back the onslaught of a hostile tribe1 the sudden sense of relief from the fear of extermination could not but find vent in the dance of victory2 around the bier of the chief1 in sorrow1 fear1 and uncertainty1 they dance the dances of death2 in joy when they stored up for another year the kindly fruits of the earth they danced the harvest and vintage dances2 and always and everywhere was danced the eternal pantomime of love4 ,in a passage which is none the less illuminating if its truth is perhaps imaginative rather than historical1 ,mr ,max ,beerbohm aptly illustrates the spontaneity of the dance and its development out of the ecstasy of some happy moment4 8,some ,thessalian vintner1 say1 suddenly danced for sheer joy that the earth was so bounteous2 and his fellow-vintners1 sharing his joy1 danced with him2 and ere the breath was spent they remembered who it was that had given them such cause for merry-making1 and they caught leaves from the vine and twined them in their hair1 and from the fig-tree and the fir-tree they snatched branches1 and waved them this way and that1 as they danced1 in honour of him who was lord of these trees and of this wondrous vine4 ,thereafter this dance of joy became a custom1 ever to be observed at certain periods of the year4 ,it took on1 beneath its joyousness1 a formal solemnity1 it was danced slowly around an altar of stone whereon wood and salt were burning--burning with little flames that were pale in the sunlight4 ,formal hymns were chanted around this altar4 ,and some youth1 clad in leopard's skin and wreathed with ivy1 masqueraded as the god himself1 and spoke words appropriate to that august character40 ,it was doubtless owing to its close connection with religion that the dance in ancient times was invested with so great dignity4 ,it was a ceremonial before it became an amusement4 ,thus it is in its sacred character that we meet with the earliest instances of it4 ,it had its place in the solemn rites of the ,hebrew and the ,egyptian4 ,the ,egyptian dances were full of esoteric meaning4 ,the mystical circle of dancers round the altar interpreted the revolutions of the celestial bodies1 the music of the spheres4 ,it is significant that the name given to the dancing-women was ,awalim1 the wise or learned ones4 ,their dancing appears to have been no less elaborately technical than it was symbolic4 ,from the painted records that have come down to us1 it would appear that they were not unfamiliar with many of the movements of the modern ballet4 ,there is little doubt that the ,egyptian spectator of three or four thousand years ago delighted in the same pirouette as may be seen on the stage of ,st ,petersburg and ,milan to-day4 ,if ,egypt was the seed-ground of the arts1 it was in ,greece that they flowered4 ,as we should naturally expect1 it was there that the art of rhythmic gesture achieved its most perfect expression4 ,thoroughly to appreciate the curious poses of the ancient dances of ,india and ,egypt it would be necessary to understand the exact spiritual meaning of which those attitudes and gestures were but the symbol4 ,but the dances of ,greece1 by their supreme beauty of movement and their power of rendering all the gamut of human emotion1 are of universal appeal4 ,there the dance escaped from its tutelage to religion and was made free of the kingdom of art4 ,it had its part in that imperishable achievement of ,greece--the revelation of the full glory and beauty of the 8human form divine40 ,in its turn it nourished the other arts4 ,greek sculpture drew no little of its inspiration from the dance1 and its admirable gestures1 thus caught in the fugitive moment and eternalised in stone1 have enriched the world's heritage of beauty for all time4 ,in the ,greek view1 the dance was properly accompanied by music and song--song being the speech of music and dance the gesture of song4 ,the three formed together a single imitative art1 the aim of which was to present a definite emotion or idea4 ,the story is told of ,sostratus refusing to dance the dance of 8,liberty0 before the conqueror of his native town4 8,it would not be fitting for me10 he said1 8to dance the #8liberty' which my native town has lost40 ,the ,greeks never regarded dancing as a mere frivolous entertainment4 ,from its power of affecting the emotions1 and with them the character1 they attributed to it a grave importance4 ,in constructing his ideal republic1 ,plato went so far as to advocate its regulation by the ,state4 ,the action of the ,state1 let it be observed1 was not to be a mere prohibition of degrading performances2 it was actively to foster and prescribe the best dances with a view to elevating and perfecting the character of the citizens4 ,nothing could be stranger to a modern mind than this attitude of the ancient world to the dance2 yet if it be true--and none ,i think will care to deny it--that dancing determines the emotions and that the emotions of a people determine its character1 what could be more reasonable8 ,it is difficult to realise now to what an extent the whole life of the ancient world was coloured by the dance4 ,it occupied as great a part as music1 literature and the drama occupy in the life of to-day--perhaps a greater1 for whereas in ,western ,europe there are many who care for none of these things1 in ,egypt1 in ,greece and in ,rome1 the dance touched the life of all classes and at every point4 ,no ceremony of importance was conducted without dancing4 ,it had its place in the rites of religion1 at weddings and funerals1 at private feasts and at public triumphs1 in military exercises and in the theatre4 ,it gave the theme to sculpture and painting4 ,it went hand in hand with music4 ,indeed when we think of the ancient world we almost perforce think of it dancing4 ,in the dance is summed up all the grace and gaiety of that old pagan life which was once lived on the sunlit shores of the ,mediterranean1 and which we are now wistfully and painfully beginning to attempt to recapture4 ,it is not a little strange that the dance should have fallen from its high estate as the handmaid of religion and hierarch of beauty to be the doubtful amusement of the caf and the music-hall4 ,in some measure undoubtedly its decline was due to the growing licentiousness in which it became involved4 ,homer dignified it with the epithet 8irreproachable10 but in ,cicero's time it had already become so degenerate that he could say1 8,no sane man dances unless he is mad40 ,sallust was even more emphatic when he told a lady of his acquaintance that she danced with too much skill to be virtuous4 ,the ,catholic ,church at first not only tolerated but actually incorporated the dance in ,christian worship1 and survivals of the ancient ritual dance exist in the churches of ,spain to this day4 ,but as the character of the dances became more equivocal they were condemned4 ,little by little the dance fell into disrepute4 ,but the moralist mistakes when he supposes that the dance stands in a different category from the other arts by reason of a special taint4 ,like all the other arts it reflects the morals of the time4 ,among peoples of simple faith and primitive virtue1 the dance has always been marked by a certain strict and hieratic quality4 ,it was so among the austere ,romans of the early republic1 and among the ,christians of the first centuries4 ,when manners decay1 the dance becomes decadent also4 ,it is not the dissoluteness of the dance that poisons the morals of the age2 it is the corruption of the age that poisons the dance4 ,the sensual character of so many eastern dances is the effect and not the cause of the sensuality of the race4 ,if the dance suffers from any general relaxation of morality more swiftly and more disastrously than any of the other arts1 it is because it expresses the emotions with such fidelity and emphasis4 ,it is the most subtle and the most accurate index of the character of a people4 ,the dancing that is seen on the stage of to-day1 however1 is never reprehensible1 and seldom even vulgar1 and the fact that in former ages of looser living the dance became contaminated does not adequately explain the disesteem with which it appears1 until recently1 to have been regarded4 ,the true reason seems to lie in the popular belief1 not that dancing is less incorruptible1 but that it is less serious than the other arts4 ,this fallacy--for such ,i take it to be--is doubtless due in part to the fact that when we speak of dancing we inevitably associate it with the ball-room4 ,the word carries with it a train of images and recollections connected with the languorous cadence of waltz music1 the perfume of conservatories1 shady corners1 champagne and ices1 and the premature arrival of dawn4 ,we can scarcely avoid thinking of it as merely the amusement of our lighter hours4 ,but between the dancing of the ball-room and the dancing of art there is about as little connection as between the snow-man that children make on a winter's afternoon and the sculpture of the ,parthenon4 ,the one is an amusement1 more or less graceful as the case may be1 the other is an inspiration and a science4 ,in the dancing of a mixed company at an evening party there is as little relation to art as there would be in an exhibition of pictures by a group of beginners1 who had not yet mastered the elementary rules of drawing4 ,if the performers derive any pleasure out of their respective exhibitions1 there is an end of the whole matter and an excuse for it4 ,it is perhaps because everybody is more or less an amateur dancer that dancing has been lightly assumed to be a facile accomplishment which can easily be acquired after a few lessons1 and a little practice4 ,no misconception could be further from the truth4 ,probably there is no art that necessitates more prolonged and painful study4 ,the dancer must be 8caught young10 if she is to excel4 ,she must spend the whole of her youth in unremitting toil4 ,she will be confronted with a bewilderingly elaborate technique4 ,a steel resolution and a kind of passion for her calling must be hers1 if she is not to flinch from the severity even of an elementary training4 ,yet if dancing demanded nothing more than physical effort and mental application1 it could not claim the seriousness of art4 ,the dexterous execution of a number of intricate steps has no more value than that of any other tour de force4 ,soulless dancing has as little power to move the spectator as the feats of a clever acrobat4 ,there can be no great dancing without emotion4 ,unless the dancer has the capacity for unusual emotion1 and is also gifted with the power of emotional expression1 which is the beginning and end of all great dancing1 the performance never rises to anything more inspiring than a dreary and unpleasing display of mechanical accomplishment4 ,if the dancer has nothing in her to express1 she dances in vain4 ,great dancing demands deep sensibility and a subtle responsiveness to the strong rhythms of life1 together with the power of translating these emotions into beauty of bodily movement4 ,dancing can be taught just as much and just as little as any other art4 ,the great dancer is born4 ,but probably the seriousness of great art has been denied to dancing because of a common misapprehension as to what that seriousness consists in4 ,it is almost always assumed that the seriousness of art depends upon its subject-matter4 ,serious art1 it is supposed1 must have a 8message40 ,it must be concerned with actual problems1 social or religious4 ,it must in some way be oppressed with the burden of contemporary life4 ,but an art which has nothing to say1 no conundrums to ask1 no solutions to offer--what claim can that have upon our serious attention8 ,it is forgotten that it is not the subject that makes art serious or trivial1 but the mood4 ,there are problem pictures over which the public wrinkles its brows that are frivolous as a picture post-card from the point of view of art4 ,and there are pictures of the bric--brac of a room1 or a table spread for a meal1 that are as grave as tragedy4 ,it all depends upon the quality of the emotion that has gone to the making of them4 ,the dance expresses the most serious thing in life--that is1 ecstasy4 ,all dull things are trivial4 ,art which has only the interest of contemporary problems is ephemeral1 for when the problem is solved1 the interest vanishes4 ,the dance is the expression of the moods1 and the moods are eternal4 ,it has its source in passion1 and where there is passion there is life at its utmost and seriousness at its highest4 ,in the present revival and development of the dance there is something at once significant and hopeful4 ,it is not perhaps too conjectural to discern in it the hint of a reaction against one of the least agreeable tendencies in much of present-day art4 ,it would seem that the arts are tending to become more and more enmeshed in contemporary affairs4 ,they are exchanging the artistic conscience for a social conscience4 ,when we ask for beauty they give us advice4 ,our serious novels are blue-books4 ,their writers appear to have no other interest than exposing the weak places of the social order4 ,drama has long since abandoned itself almost entirely to a painstaking study of marriage and divorce1 and the problem picture we have always with us4 ,art has taken for its task the solution of the query1 ,what's wrong with the world8 ,it is furiously justifying its existence by hurrying to the rescue of the politician and the social reformer4 ,into this vexed and anxious company of the arts the ,dance strays a little timidly1 bringing with it the serenity and grace of a less troubled age4 ,it cannot produce the passport of discontent1 without which it seems doubtful whether it is entitled to be admitted4 ,it can contribute neither message nor criticism4 ,it seeks not to reform us but only to please4 ,it recalls us to the joy of life which the other arts had almost persuaded us to forget4 ,it has but a single purpose--to quicken our pulses with beauty and to renew our life with its own untiring ecstasy4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,the ,,ballet ,any account of the modern renaissance of dancing must needs begin with the ballet4 ,in one sense it is in the ballet that the dance attains its completest mode of expression4 ,it may be regarded as the limit of its evolution1 its most complex and elaborate statement4 ,the more orderly sequence would be to trace the simpler forms of dancing through the various stages of their evolution until they arrive at their ultimate development in the ballet4 ,the concern of this book1 however1 is not with the history of the dance1 but rather with the interest which it has for the present time as an art-form4 ,and it is with the dance as ballet that the awakening of this interest begins4 ,if the dance is essentially the art of democracy1 springing out of the gladness of the crowd1 the ballet in its origin is aristocratic4 ,it was the diversion of courts before it became the delight of the populace4 ,in spite of its lavish production of masterpieces of art1 the ,renaissance would nevertheless have been incomplete without the ballet2 for the ballet provided a perfectly fitting expression for two of the peculiar characteristics of the age--its love of pageant and its love of mythological allegory4 ,if nothing akin to the ballet had ever existed in the world before1 the fifteenth century would have been compelled to invent it4 ,invent it it did1 and although there were precedents in the mysteries and interludes of the ,middle ,ages and in the old ,roman saturnalia and pantomimi1 the invention gave a new art-form to the world4 ,the ballet of the court was a mixed entertainment1 consisting of poetry1 music and dancing1 in which princes and nobles took part4 ,a poet was commissioned to write the verses1 a musician to compose the score1 a ballet-master to arrange the steps1 and a painter to devise the artistic effects4 ,these splendid court entertainments originated in ,italy4 ,the gorgeous spectacular display given in honour of the marriage of ,galeazzo ,visconti1 ,duke of ,milan1 in #adhi1 made a sensation not only in ,italy but throughout ,europe4 ,the pageantry of the court ballet appealed to the heart of the splendour-loving ,medici4 ,catherine de ,medici introduced it into ,france4 ,it was in ,france that the ballet de la cour found its home4 ,henri ,,iv4 and ,louis ,,xiii4 were both lovers of the ballet1 while ,louis ,,xiv4 may be said to have had a passion for it4 ,the great cardinals1 ,richelieu and ,mazarin1 were its patrons4 ,the first historian of the ballet1 ,le ,pre ,mnestrier1 gives an account of a 8moral ballet0 that was danced on ,richelieu's birthday in #afcd4 ,the theme was ,truth1 the ,enemy of ,seeming1 upheld by ,time4 ,it opened1 we are told1 with 8a chorus of those ,false ,rumours and ,suspicions which usher in ,seeming and ,falsehood4 ,they were represented by actors dressed as cocks and hens1 who sang a dialogue1 partly ,italian1 partly ,french1 with a refrain of clucking and crowing4 ,after this song the background opened and ,seeming appeared1 seated upon a huge cloud and accompanied by the ,winds4 ,she had the wings and the great tail of a peacock1 and was covered with mirrors4 ,she hatched eggs1 from which issued ,pernicious ,lies1 ,deceptions1 ,frauds1 ,agreeable ,lies1 ,flatteries1 ,intrigues1 ,ridiculous ,lies1 ,jocosities1 ,little ,fibs4 8,the ,deceptions were inconspicuously clad in dark colours1 with serpents hidden among flowers4 ,the ,frauds1 clothed in fowlers' nets1 had bladders which they burst while dancing4 ,the ,flatteries were disguised as apes2 the ,intrigues as crayfishers1 carrying lanterns on their heads and in their hands2 the ,ridiculous ,lies as crippled beggars on wooden legs4 8,then ,time1 having put to flight ,seeming with her train of ,lies1 had the nest opened from which these had issued2 and there was disclosed a great hour-glass4 ,and out of this hour-glass ,time raised up ,truth1 who summoned the ,hours and danced the grand ballet with them40 ,but for the rather strident moral emphasis we seem to be breathing the atmosphere of ,leicester ,square6 ,what has usually been regarded as a latter-day corruption of the ballet--the intrusion of a mass of irrelevant properties and stage-mechanism--appears to have been a kind of original sin which attached to it even in its origin4 ,in the reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 the ballet passed definitely from the court to the theatre4 ,in the earlier part of his reign the king himself frequently appeared in the ballet1 usually taking the part of a god2 but in course of time le ,grand ,monarque put on flesh and exchanged the rle of an actor for that of a spectator4 ,in #affa was founded the ,acadmie royale de musique et de danse1 with ,quinault as its first director1 and the ballet henceforth took possession of the stage4 ,but before it assumed the form in which we know it1 the ballet had to pass through several transformations4 ,originally the ballet1 like the play1 had been performed exclusively by men4 ,the parts of bacchantes and nymphs had been taken by youths of slight and graceful build1 and the use of masks1 which at this time was general1 assisted the convention4 ,but in a ballet given at ,saint-,germain in #afha1 entitled ,le ,triomphe de l',amour1 ,lulli1 the composer1 introduced the innovation of female dancers4 ,the fashion became immediately popular4 ,the part of the male dancer grew continually less important until in the ballets of the latter part of the nineteenth century it became altogether negligible1 to be revived again in the ,russian ballet of our own day4 ,the next step was the abolition of the mask4 ,this did not take place until nearly a hundred years later4 ,the custom of wearing the mask had its origin in the classical theatre and formed an essential part of the ballet from the ,renaissance onwards4 ,in #aggb ,rameau's opera ,castor and ,pollux was given in ,paris1 the part of ,apollo being taken by ,gtano ,vestris1 who appeared1 according to the fashion of the time1 in a mask and an enormous full-bottomed black wig4 ,one night he was unable to perform and ,gardel1 one of the leading dancers of the day1 consented to act as a substitute1 but only on condition that he was allowed to discard the mask and wig and appear in his own long fair hair4 ,the happy innovation pleased the public and from that day the fashion of the mask was doomed4 ,but the character of the ballet was chiefly affected by the revolution in costume4 ,in the earlier days of the ballet the dancers were dressed in the elaborate and fulsome costume of the period--the women in hooped petticoats falling to the ankle1 with their powdered hair piled up a foot or more upon their heads1 the men in long-skirted coats set out from their hips with padding4 ,so long as this costume was worn the dance was necessarily confined almost entirely to the dignified and gliding movements of the minuet4 ,it permitted none of the airy and intricate steps which are peculiar to the technique of the ballet proper4 ,noverre1 the eighteenth-century matre de ballet1 who is chiefly responsible for giving the ballet its present form1 wrote as follows3--8,i wish to reduce by three quarters the ridiculous paniers of our danseuses4 ,they are opposed equally to the freedom1 the quickness1 and the prompt and animated action of the dance4 ,they deprive the figure of its elegance and of the just proportions which it ought to possess4 ,they diminish the beauty of the arms2 they bury1 so to speak1 the graces4 ,they embarrass and distract the dancer to such a degree that the movement of her panier sometimes occupies her more seriously than that of her limbs40 ,mademoiselle de ,camargo1 the famous dancer of the first half of the eighteenth century1 started the innovation in dress4 ,she was the first to execute the entrechat1 a light and brilliant step during the performance of which the dancer rapidly crosses the feet while in mid-air4 ,in her dances1 therefore1 she took the precaution of wearing the caleon1 from which the tight-fitting fleshing of the ballet-dancer was subsequently evolved4 ,this reform in costume brought about a transformation in the dance4 ,when the limbs were freed from the thraldom of clothes1 the movements of the ballet became swifter and more complex4 ,its technique was developed by the introduction of pirouettes1 entrechats1 jets-battus1 ballones4 ,from an elegant accomplishment in which the lords and ladies of the court could take part1 the ballet passed into a serious science1 demanding the exclusive devotion of the performer4 ,the reign of the amateur was over2 that of the artist began4 ,to ,noverre1 whom ,garrick called the 8,shakespeare of dance10 is chiefly due the creation of the ballet as an art-work1 single1 complete and harmonious in itself4 ,until his time it had existed principally as an auxiliary to opera4 ,in the ballet-opera1 which had reigned supreme on the stage hitherto1 and has never in fact been entirely abandoned1 the dances interpolated between the acts had borne little relation to the argument of the play4 ,they were merely a diversion of quite secondary interest4 ,the opera was not created for them but they for the opera4 ,the revolution which ,noverre effected was the creation of the ballet d'action1 the unravelling of a plot by dancing and gesture pure and simple4 ,for ,noverre the ballet was something much more serious than a mere saltatory display4 ,it was an sthetic composition which demanded the harmonious co-operation of a number of arts4 8,the master of the ballet10 he said1 8must study the works of painters and sculptors1 he must know anatomy4444 ,everything which subserves the ends of painting must also be of service to the dance40 ,he insisted upon the importance to the dancer of a knowledge of pantomime and himself studied closely the methods of ,garrick4 ,he deprecated the performance of the dance to any haphazard arrangement of lively airs4 ,music must be an integral portion of the ballet1 written specially for it and informed with the spirit of the action4 ,the costumes and the dcor of the theatre must also be treated with a view to obtaining one single artistic effect4 ,thus ,noverre succeeded in creating a new theatrical formula4 ,he laid down the main lines along which the ballet has subsequently developed4 ,although the ,english may claim to have been a nation of dancers in the old pre-,puritan days1 dancing has certainly never been native to the ,english stage4 ,the most brilliant of the dancers in the ballets that are produced upon the ,british stage to-day are foreign1 and it has been so from the first4 ,the ballet was late in coming to ,england4 ,it sprang somewhat suddenly and dazzlingly to life upon the ,london stage in #agcd4 ,in that year ,mademoiselle ,sall1 who had already achieved fame in ,paris1 appeared at ,covent ,garden in the ballet of ,pygmalion and ,galatea4 ,like all the greatest dancers1 she was a woman of distinguished personality4 ,she counted ,locke among her friends4 ,handel wrote specially for her the ballet of ,terpsichore4 ,voltaire vacillated between his admiration of her and of her rival1 ,camargo1 whom he apostrophised thus3 8,ah6 ,camargo1 que vous tes brillante6 ,mais que ,sall1 grand ,dieu1 est ravissante6 ,que vos pas sont lgers et que les siens sont doux6 ,elle est inimitable et vous tes nouvelle6 ,les nymphes sautent comme vous1 ,mais les ,grces dansent comme elle60 ,her dancing was full of expression and characterised by a certain simple dignity of motion2 very rapid measures and eccentric movements she never attempted4 ,she assisted in the reform of costume which ,mademoiselle de ,camargo had initiated4 ,the ,mercure de ,france noted that she appeared at ,covent ,garden 8sans panier1 sans jupe1 sans corps1 chevele et sans aucun ornement sur la tte40 ,her success was immediate and tumultuous4 ,the public was frenzied with delight--whether at this first surprising revelation of the ballet or at the vision of the ravishing figure1 8chevele et sans jupe10 it is impossible to say4 ,and the enthusiasm of the ,british public in the eighteenth century appears to have had a ,latin quality of abandon1 which suggests the inference that the ,british character is not more but less emotional than it was4 ,the crowds around the doors of the theatre1 we are told1 fought for a sight of the ballerina4 ,the spectators had to force their way to the doors sword in hand4 ,and1 in the manner of ,spaniards applauding a popular matador at a bull-fight1 the ,londoners showered upon the stage purses filled with guineas and jewels1 which the cupids and satyrs of the troupe gathered up1 keeping time to the music6 ,seven years later ,england saw the greatest dancer of the century--perhaps the greatest danseur who has ever lived--,gtano ,vestris4 ,he was by birth an ,italian and styled himself1 with a better knowledge of his own accomplishments than of the pronunciation of the ,french language1 8le diou de la danse40 ,his amazing vanity was the source of innumerable anecdotes4 8,this century has produced but three great men10 he used to say1 8myself1 ,voltaire and ,frederick the ,great40 ,one night in coming from the opera a portly lady happened to tread rather heavily upon his foot4 ,she apologised1 and hoped she had not hurt him very much4 8,me1 madam60 exclaimed the god of the dance1 8me6 ,you have only put ,paris into mourning for a fortnight60 ,his son ,auguste-,armand inherited almost all his father's talent4 ,gtano was wont to say of him1 8,if ,auguste does not continue to float in mid-air1 it is only out of consideration for his less gifted fellow-mortals40 ,as ,england never produced a great school of dancing1 the vicissitudes of the ballet in this country fluctuated with its fortunes abroad4 ,the ,french ,revolution brought about the break-up1 in #aghi1 of the ,communeaut des ,matres danser founded by ,louis ,,xiv4 ,whenever the spirit of a people has been caught up in the great winds of emotion which sweep over the world with an invariable periodicity1 the dance has always been the most immediate expression of the popular excitement4 ,perhaps ,france never danced so madly as during the ,revolution4 ,paris danced between the massacres4 ,the revolutionary spirit embodied itself in the ,carmagnole4 ,but it was the dance of the people1 not the dance of art1 that flourished during the ,revolution4 ,the grand ballet1 in spite of an attempt to make it a vehicle for political ideas1 languished4 ,among his multitudinous interests1 however1 ,napoleon appears to have included a concern for the art of dancing1 and in his enumeration of the requisites of his ,egyptian expedition 8a troupe of ballet girls0 figures among the quota of cannon and ammunition4 ,a consequence of the ,revolutionary and ,napoleonic wars1 which does not usually figure in the pages of the historian1 was that the supply of ,parisian danseuses for the ,english stage was cut off for a generation or more4 ,even for some years after the peace1 the ,french were inclined to keep their best performers for themselves and sent over to ,england only their discarded favourites4 ,the golden period of the ballet in ,england began in the twenties of the nineteenth century and lasted until the fifties4 ,in #ahba a determined effort was made to secure some of the most dazzling stars of the ,parisian ballet4 ,the difficulties to be overcome were not light1 for1 as the ,parisian dancers were trained in an academy maintained by the state1 none could leave the country without the permission of the ,government4 ,the ,british ambassador was himself charged with the negotiations4 ,after many pourparlers1 a treaty was drawn up1 signed and sealed1 by which one of the two high-contracting parties agreed to loan to the other two first and two second dancers from the ,academy1 while the other in return was to pledge itself not to attempt to import any other dancer without the ,academy's consent4 ,the first two to arrive were the danseur ,albert and the premire danseuse ,noblet1 who were engaged at a salary of #agjj and #aejj respectively4 ,they took ,london by storm4 ,they were the idols of society2 the fashionable world could think and talk of nothing but their dancing4 ,the reign of the ballet had begun4 ,already in the first season the cost of the ballet exceeded that of the opera by some #bjjj4 ,no other form of theatrical art approached the ballet in popularity4 ,the ,king's ,theatre1 afterwards transformed and renamed ,her ,majesty's1 kept a permanent corps de ballet4 ,the ,haymarket1 ,her ,majesty's1 and ,covent ,garden nightly drew crowded houses to witness displays of the most accomplished dancing that had ever been seen on the ,english stage4 ,with the advent of ,taglioni enthusiasm reached its utmost limits4 ,for about a quarter of a century ,england was enraptured with the ballet4 ,it is impossible for us to attempt to envisage the early ,victorian era without the ballet entering prominently into the picture4 ,it appears to present the just embodiment of the formal but nave gaiety1 the untroubled imagination1 the somewhat vulgarian stheticism of the age4 ,the ballerina1 with her straightly parted hair1 her rose wreath1 her innocent affectations1 is the complement to the whiskered dandy of the ,d',orsay period4 ,the ballet seems to be as closely attached to early ,victorianism as are ,louis ,quinze furniture or ,chelsea porcelain shepherdesses to their respective periods4 ,it is not altogether easy for us to regard it otherwise than as a revival4 ,even now the ballet1 in its costumes1 its music1 its dcor1 is not free from a tendency to hark back to the thirties and forties of the last century4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,heyday ,,of ,,the ,,ballet 8,will the young folks ever see anything so charming1 anything so classic1 anything like ,taglioni80 ,the question occurs in 8,pendennis10 and how shall we answer it8 ,the dance is the most fugitive of the arts4 ,time makes but slow headway in obliterating a picture or a statue1 and a verse is too elusive for his grasp2 but the dancer's art dies with her1 or rather the dancer herself outlives it4 ,painting may preserve some phantom of her grace1 but the soul of the grace is in the motion which it cannot represent4 ,the dancer lives only in hearsay1 in the memory of spectators1 and when the last eye-witness is gone she is no more than a name to posterity4 ,taglioni's is perhaps the greatest name in the annals of dancing1 but a comparison of her art with that of her successors of the present day is well-nigh impossible4 ,we can only judge of her genius by the echoes of the applause which have not even yet quite died away4 ,marie ,taglioni was born in ,stockholm in #ahjd4 ,her father was an ,italian1 her mother a ,swede4 ,her name was already well known in the world of the theatre1 as her father was a matre de ballet and two of her aunts had been celebrated dancers4 ,but although she was born into the tradition1 she appears not to have been formed by nature to be a dancer4 ,when her father took her as a child to see ,coulon1 a famous dancing-master at the beginning of the last century1 the master turned to him and said1 8,what the devil am ,i to make of that little hunchback60 ,but by years of assiduous training she overcame any defect of form that may have been hers by birth4 ,she made her dbut in #ahbb at ,vienna in a ballet which her father had composed specially for her1 entitled ,rception d'une jeune ,nymphe la ,cour de ,terpsichore4 ,her success there was immediate and it was not long before the young dancer became one of the 8stars0 of the ,opera4 ,when she appeared in ,paris1 however1 five years later1 in ,le ,sicilien1 her reception was somewhat cold4 ,perseverance was one of ,taglioni's characteristics and she determined to achieve the conquest of the ,french capital1 a measure which was even more necessary then than now to the dancer who aspired to universal fame4 ,she succeeded and her success there set the seal upon her artistic fortunes4 ,she appeared successively in ,la ,vestale1 ,mars et ,vnus1 ,fernand ,cortez1 ,les ,bayadres1 and ,le ,carnaval de ,venise4 ,she was acclaimed as the greatest dancer of the day4 ,in ,la ,sylphide she achieved a triumph which resounded throughout the whole of ,europe4 ,from ,paris she extended her conquests to ,london1 where she first appeared in #ahcj in ,didelot's ballet1 ,flore et ,zphire4 ,an incident which happened during her stay in ,london is significant of the discipline upon which her father insisted4 ,he had a small sloping stage erected in his daughter's room1 in order that she might practise her steps every night4 ,a gentleman occupying the floor below sent word that the dancer was on no account to interrupt her practice from fear of disturbing him4 ,philippi ,taglioni resented the courtesy4 8,tell the gentleman10 he said1 8that ,i1 her father1 have never yet heard my daughter's step--if ever that should happen1 ,i would have no more to do with her60 ,she had been brought to ,england as a counter-attraction to the famous ,lablache and ,malibran1 then in the zenith of their popularity in ,italian opera4 ,she at once became the idol of the ,british public4 ,the theatre was literally besieged on those nights when she was announced to appear4 ,it was in ,england that she found a public ever ready to cry her praises when her fame was being seriously challenged by younger rivals abroad4 ,she received a salary paid to no other dancer in the world4 ,she demanded and obtained a hundred pounds a night1 in addition to which several of her relations had to be financed as well4 ,an inordinate love of money was one of the least favourable of her traits4 ,one night the manager of ,her ,majesty's ,theatre was compelled to come before the curtain to apologise for the fact that the ballet had not begun1 because ,taglioni1 sitting in her dressing-room1 refused to appear on the stage until a large sum of money had been paid her on account4 ,her temper behind the scenes intimidated even the most hardened manager4 ,one evening1 when the male dancer ,perrot happened to receive a greater amount of applause than herself1 she refused to continue the performance1 and accused everybody right and left of having plotted to dethrone her4 ,but she had only to dance and everything was forgiven her4 ,she was the spoilt child of the play-going world4 ,apart from the glamour which she cast over her contemporaries1 ,taglioni exercised a considerable influence over the development of the ballet4 ,she finally freed it from the remains of the eighteenth-century artificiality and affectation which had given a certain grotesqueness to most of the dancers before her time4 ,she helped to do away with the rather heavy pseudo-classicism of the earlier ballet2 her dancing was ,catholic1 if the expression may be allowed1 rather than pagan4 ,she adopted a quality of restraint in her dress and manner4 ,she danced in a long tunic of white silk-muslin1 which reached almost to her ankles and fell in graceful folds from her figure4 ,indeed so long was her skirt that when she was dancing in ,st ,petersburg it is said that the ,czar was compelled to leave his box and take a seat in the stalls4 ,her hair was dressed in the style of the ,madonna1 falling back severely on either side and encircled by a wreath of roses4 ,her eyes were usually downcast1 her attitude demure4 ,as a woman she had few if any pretensions to real beauty2 her jaw was too square1 her features too pronounced4 ,her form also came short of physical perfection4 ,but apart from her genius for dancing she possessed an extraordinary charm of manner4 ,with her modest appearance1 her unadorned simplicity1 her virginal air of innocence1 she seemed to bring a new atmosphere into the ballet4 ,she was remarkable in winning the whole-hearted admiration of her own sex4 ,one of her male acquaintances once asked her if she would not modify her costume so as to display more of the grace of her figure4 ,her reply is characteristic4 8,sir10 she asked1 8are you married80 ,he replied that he was4 8,well10 retorted the dancer1 8,i dance not for you1 but for your wife and daughters40 ,her dancing was marked by an entire absence of the false consequence and bombast of carriage and manner which appear to have characterised most of the dancers of the time4 ,its chief note was a certain spirituality4 ,taglioni appealed to the spirit rather than to the sense4 ,she seemed less a being of flesh and blood than some creature of the spiritual order1 always about to take wing and soar away from the earth4 ,her dance was remarkable in suggesting flight4 ,one of her most wonderful attitudes was an arabesque which gave her the appearance of actually flying4 ,she completely lacked the fire and abandon of her great rival ,fanny ,elssler4 ,her dance was chastened and aspiring rather than voluptuous and intoxicating4 8,la ,sylphide marks a ballet epoch10 says ,mr ,chorley1 the author of 8,musical ,recollections10 8as a work that introduced an element of delicate fantasy and fairyism into the most artificial of all dramatic exhibitions1 one which to some extent poetised it4 ,after ,la ,sylphide were to come ,la ,fille de ,danube and ,giselle 7containing some of ,adolphe ,adam's best music71 ,l',ombre and a score of ballets1 in which the changes were rung on naiad and nereid life1 on the ill-assorted love of some creatures of the elements for an earthly mortal4 ,the purity and ethereal grace of ,mademoiselle ,taglioni's style suggested the opening of this vein1 as it also founded a school of imitators4 ,her mimic powers1 however elegant1 were limited4 ,her face had few changes4 ,her character dances1 as in ,guillaume ,tell and ,la ,bayadre1 were new and graceful2 but their seduction and piquancy were to be outdone4 ,when she touched our ,english ground1 however1 the sylph excited as much enthusiasm as the most idolised songstress can now evoke40 ,perhaps not a little of her popularity was due to the fact that the age saw in her the concrete expression of the qualities which it most esteemed4 ,the emotions she expressed were placid1 not of the ,illustration3 ,,marie ,,taglione ,,as ,la ,sylphide soul-shattering order4 ,she was the gracious incarnation of the early ,victorian ideal4 ,unfortunately1 however1 the virtue of domesticity was sadly lacking in her private life4 ,the blame however rests entirely with her husband4 ,in #ahcb she married ,count ,gilbert des ,voisins1 but the union was of brief duration1 for almost on the morrow of the wedding she was forgotten by him4 ,she met him twenty years later1 so it is related1 at a dinner given by the ,duc de ,morny4 ,when he appeared she demanded of ,morny to know why he had invited her to dine in such disreputable company4 ,after dinner ,gilbert de ,voisins1 who feared nothing1 not even his wife1 had the audacity to ask to be introduced to ,marie ,taglioni4 8,i fancy1 monsieur10 she remarked1 8that ,i had the honour of being presented to you in #ahcb60 ,taglioni lived long enough to taste all the bitterness of the discarded favourite4 ,when she became too old to practise her art1 and other less gifted but more youthful dancers usurped her place1 she passed swiftly into oblivion4 ,at the last1 the dancer who had been wont to receive the homage of kings and princes1 and the adulation of the public of two continents1 remained without a friend4 ,she lost all her fortune and in her distress was compelled to give lessons in dancing and deportment4 8,it was a sad sight10 says ,henri ,bauer1 8to see her1 a white-haired old lady1 escorting a bevy of ,english schoolgirls in ,hyde ,park in the winter1 at ,brighton in the summer1 or1 accompanied by a little old ,italian1 teaching dances and court curtseys to the proud daughters of the gentry40 8,i would be young again to dance10 she said to a friend who had asked her if she would like to live her life all over again1 8,i would be young again to dance--but not from any love of life1 not to repeat any other experiences and pleasures40 ,marie ,taglioni died at ,marseilles in #ahhd4 ,the passion for the ballet in the nineteenth century reached its climax in the amazing rivalry between ,taglioni and ,fanny ,elssler4 ,the appearance of the ,austrian dancer brought about a schism in the cult of ,taglioni4 ,it was fought out with all the fury of the odium theologicum4 ,the two claimants to the sceptre of the dance divided the world into rival camps4 ,and how shall posterity1 to whom both are little more than shadowy names1 make a just award8 ,fanny ,elssler was born in ,vienna in #ahaj4 ,her father was ,haydn's copyist and factotum1 and the composer interested himself greatly in the beginnings of her career4 ,it began early1 for at the age of six she was dancing at a little ,viennese theatre in one of the ballets d'enfants then in vogue4 ,she was first taught in the old1 stereotyped style of ballet-dancing which was revolutionised by ,taglioni and fell into disfavour about #ahcj4 ,her studies were completed in ,italy1 where she passed a great part of her life4 ,she first came into note at ,naples and danced her way through ,italy to ,berlin and ,london4 ,paris she reserved for her latest conquest4 ,it was when she was dancing at ,her ,majesty's ,theatre that ,vron1 the director of the ,paris opera1 saw ,elssler and immediately secured her for the next operatic season4 ,the ,english at this time1 in spite of their enthusiasm for ballet1 appear to have lacked the artistic perception to discover a dancer for themselves4 ,a great reputation abroad was the only royal road to success on the ,london stage4 ,and so it was that they failed to discover what a genius they had in their midst until it was too late and the new dancer was being acclaimed in ,paris as a serious rival to the incomparable ,taglioni4 ,fanny ,elssler had the advantage over ,taglioni in possessing a beauty so striking that she had only to appear upon the stage when a kind of passionate shudder swept through the audience1 more significant than the loudest tumult of applause4 ,her beauty was of the sort that consists less in the parts than in the harmony of the whole4 ,no single feature imperiously demanded the homage of the eye1 but her perfect unity was like that of a ,greek statue4 ,her hands and feet were perfectly adjusted to her limbs2 her head was attached to her body by the purest lines of neck and shoulder2 her arms were supple and alert2 her strength never trespassed upon her grace4 ,her form had a suggestion of masculine beauty4 ,she has been compared to that ravishing chimera of ,greek art1 the son of ,hermes and ,aphrodite1 whose body was united with the nymph of a river while bathing4 ,this ambiguous quality in her beauty expressed itself in all her actions4 ,even in the yielding form and seductive charm of the dancer there was a hint of the agility1 the brusque alertness1 the steel muscles of the young athlete4 ,she added to her grace of movement an exceptional command of expression4 ,her eyes were lit with a certain malicious voluptuousness2 when she smiled a trace of irony played about her lips4 ,in repose her face was like a marble mask2 in action it was capable of expressing the whole range of the emotions1 from tragic grief to the maddest gaiety4 ,the dbut of ,fanny ,elssler in ,paris proved to be the great sensation of the season4 ,curiosity had already been aroused by the rumour of her liaison with the ,duc de ,reichstadt1 the son of the first ,napoleon--a rumour wholly baseless as she had never even seen the youth4 ,nevertheless the imagination of the large body of ,bonapartists then living in ,paris was so fired that they made her dbut the occasion of a great demonstration against ,louis-,philippe4 ,the ballet in which she appeared was founded upon ,shakespeare's ,tempest4 8,tout-,paris0 flocked to the theatre4 ,but of all the notabilities the figure that excited most interest was that of a woman sitting alone in a small box on the right of the stage4 ,it was ,marie ,taglioni4 ,she knew1 and everybody else knew1 that ,vron1 the manager1 had brought the new-comer over from ,london specially to dethrone her4 ,with a somewhat scornful disdain she had come to take stock of her rival4 ,perhaps she anticipated her discomfiture2 in any case she can scarcely have been prepared for the suddenness of her triumph4 ,the new dancer did not appear until the second of the two acts4 ,her success was never in doubt for an instant4 ,her very first dance created a profound impression1 and the enthusiasm at the close of the performance knew no limits4 ,as she came before the curtain to acknowledge the thunder of applause1 many eyes were turned towards ,taglioni's box4 ,it is said that the tears were streaming down the face of the ,italian dancer4 ,the newspapers of the following morning without exception published eulogies of the dbutante4 ,the general public1 however1 was almost evenly divided between the merits of the rival schools4 ,open war was now declared between the two dancers4 ,taglioni's reply was to revive the ballet of ,la ,sylphide1 in which she had achieved her greatest triumph and captured the heart of the ,parisian public years before4 ,the result was that the pendulum of popularity swung back violently in her favour4 ,the admirers of the ,austrian retorted by throwing ridicule upon the affected innocence of ,taglioni's style1 which after ,elssler's dancing appeared altogether lacking in passion and fire4 ,the war between the ,taglionists and the ,elsslerites continued for years4 ,nothing like it had been known since the rivalry of ,pylades and ,bathyllus1 when every ,roman was either a ,bathyllian or a ,pyladian1 or the contests between the reds and the blues of the circus in ,byzantium4 ,the ,taglionists claimed the victory and the ,elsslerites considered their opponents vanquished4 ,each party strove to vindicate the perfection of one or other of two utterly opposed styles of dancing4 ,they were1 in fact1 incomparable with one another4 ,taglioni's dancing was spiritual1 while that of ,elssler was distinctly of the terrestrial order4 ,elssler was warmly human1 passionate1 dramatic2 ,taglioni when dancing seemed scarcely to belong to the earth4 ,elssler introduced into the ballet an abandon1 fire1 petulance1 temperament1 which the strict limits of art seemed all too narrow to contain4 ,the classical pirouette provided no adequate outlet for her passion2 she demanded the freer motions of the ,south and ,east4 ,she brought to the dance the ardour of the meridian1 the fougue espagnole4 ,she was at her best in ,spanish dances1 especially in the famous cachucha1 which she made entirely her own4 ,thophile ,gautier said that he had seen ,rosita ,diez1 ,lola1 the best dancers of ,madrid1 of ,seville1 of ,cadiz1 of ,granada1 and the gipsies of ,albaycin1 but he had never seen anything to approach the cachucha as danced by ,fanny ,elssler4 ,chorley1 the ,english critic1 also agrees in attributing a unique character to her dancing4 8,the exquisite management of her bust and arms 7one of the hardest things to acquire in dancing7 set her apart from everyone whom ,i have ever seen before or since4 ,nothing in execution was too daring for her1 nothing too pointed4 ,if ,mademoiselle ,taglioni flew1 she flashed4 ,the one floated on to the stage like a nymph1 the other showered every sparkling fascination round her like a sorceress4 ,there was more1 however1 of the ,circe than of the ,diana in her smile40 ,if ,taglioni embodied the ideals of early ,victorian ,england1 ,elssler was the incarnation of the ,romantic movement of the ,continent4 ,she was the new wine that was too strong for the old wineskins of classical tradition4 ,she had in her blood the northern enthusiasm for the ,south which was the keynote of the movement4 ,she drew her inspiration from ,spain1 and so her spirit was attuned to that of the ,romantics1 whose gaze also was towards the ,pyrenees4 ,she falls naturally into line with a school which cared more for tumultuous movement than for classical repose1 for colour more than for form1 for intense immediate sensation more than for considered and reflective statement4 ,some of the magic of ,elssler's dancing is caught in ,gautier's description of her appearance in the ,spanish ballet ,el ,diablo ,cojuelo4 8,clad in a skirt of rose-coloured satin clinging closely to the hips1 adorned with deep flounces of black lace1 she comes forward with a bold carriage of her slender figure1 and a flashing of diamonds on her breast4 ,her leg1 like polished marble1 gleams through the frail net of the stocking4 ,her small foot is at rest1 only awaiting the signal of the music to start into motion4 ,how charming she is with the large comb in her hair1 the rose behind her ear1 her flame-like glance and her sparkling smile6 ,at the extremity of her rose-tipped fingers tremble the ebony castanets4 ,now she darts forward2 the castanets commence their sonorous clatter2 with her hands she seems to shake down clusters of rhythm4 ,how she twists6 how she bends6 what fire6 what voluptuousness of motion6 what eager zest6 ,her arms seem to swoon1 her head droops1 her body curves backwards until her white shoulders almost graze the ground4 ,what charm of gesture6 ,and with that hand which sweeps over the dazzle of the footlights would not one say that she gathered all the desires and all the enthusiasms of those who watch her80 ,the climax of the famous ,taglioni-,elssler rivalry came when1 in defiance of all precedent1 ,elssler appropriated the most celebrated of her predecessor's ballets4 ,taglioni had made her name famous throughout the world in ,la ,sylphide4 ,she had made the part so exclusively her own that the pretension of any other dancer to appear in it seemed little less a desecration than an impertinence4 ,the announcement that ,elssler had determined to challenge her rival on her own ground fell like a bombshell in the ranks of ,taglionists and ,elsslerites alike4 ,but in this instance the ambition of the ,austrian dancer overshot the mark4 ,the part demanded the ethereal grace which none but ,taglioni possessed4 ,elssler's performance was almost a failure4 ,deeply chagrined at the reverse1 she left soon afterwards for ,america4 ,thophile ,gautier lamented in a whimsical strain her loss to ,europe4 8,ungrateful1 she has left us10 he wrote1 8she has gone away to ,america1 to the savages and the ,yankees1 whom she has wrought to such a madness with the clatter of her castanets and the swaying of her hips that senators drag her carriage through the streets and whole populations follow her with cheers and fanfares40 ,in ,america ,elssler aroused a delirium of enthusiasm which put her brightest ,european triumphs into the shadow--for ,america appears to have a capacity for worship which the older continent has exhausted and for two glorious years ,elssler was its goddess4 ,she was received by the ,president of the ,union himself1 ,van ,buren1 surrounded by his ministers4 ,during her visit to ,washington the wheels of legislation and public business ceased for a time to revolve4 ,it was decided that ,congress should only meet on those days when ,fanny was not dancing4 ,dollars rained upon her4 ,daily she received bizarre and costly presents--massive gold cigar-boxes and chemises embroidered with precious stones4 8,at present she possesses fragments of the coffins of ,napoleon and ,george ,washington10 her companion1 ,catherine ,prinster1 gravely related--suggesting a future pregnant with grim possibilities4 ,when she returned from the theatre at night crowds followed her with blaring bands2 flowers and carpets were spread for her carriage to pass over2 illuminated arches were raised to brighten her progress4 ,the very handkerchiefs which she had used after dancing were fought for as precious relics2 the water in which she had dipped her hands was preserved in bottles2 and her admirers drank her health in champagne out of the shoes in which she had danced the delirious cachucha4 ,on her return from ,america ,elssler paid many visits to ,italy1 appearing for several successive seasons at ,la ,scala1 in ,milan4 ,there she was caught up in the vortex of international politics4 ,the school of ballet which had been founded at ,la ,scala in #ahaa was encouraged by the ,austrian ,government1 partly in the hope of providing a safety-valve for that effervescence of enthusiasm without which an ,italian populace appears unable to exist4 ,the glories of the ballet1 it was supposed1 would prevent the popular mind from dwelling too insistently upon the glories of ,italian independence4 ,everywhere throughout the city was seen the portrait of the ballerina4 ,the theatre was decorated with roses when she appeared4 ,listening to the cheers with which she was received1 ,radetzky1 the governor1 rubbed his hands gleefully and said1 8,at any rate they are not plotting any revolutions now60 #ahdh1 however1 was the year of ,elssler's ,sedan4 ,revolution was in the air and the governor sent for ,elssler to dance it away4 ,the ballet which was selected was ,perrot's ,faust4 ,in the first scene1 all the members of the corps de ballet appeared wearing a medal representing ,pius ,,ix41 the new liberal ,pope1 giving his benediction to a united ,italy4 ,unfortunately ,elssler regarded the demonstration as directed specially against herself as an ,austrian4 ,behind the scenes she told the director that she refused to go on the stage again unless the offending medals were taken off4 ,the order was given accordingly4 ,the audience was speedily informed of the cause of the change1 and when the premire danseuse next appeared on the stage she was received with a tempest of hisses4 ,though she never danced with greater brilliance and grace1 the only response to her endeavours to conciliate the anger of the spectators was a sepulchral silence from the stalls and a running fire of insults from the gallery4 ,bravely she smiled upon them1 but the patriots forgot the dancer in the ,austrian and replied with cries of ,basta6 ,basta6 ,she fainted4 ,at last the idol had fallen4 ,she was looked upon merely as the instrument of the foreign domination4 ,she tore up her contract with the impresario and returned to ,vienna4 ,elssler retired in #ahea4 ,the end of her career was in striking contrast to that of ,taglioni4 ,in spite of a prodigal charity she had accumulated a fortune of a quarter of a million4 ,she preserved the freshness of her youth to the last4 ,in society she was always the most elegant figure4 ,she was beloved by the poor4 ,in ,milan it had been her wont to send all the flowers she received to be placed before a statue of the ,virgin in the ,church of ,san ,fedele4 ,in ,vienna she was as famous for her charities as for her dancing4 ,the final curtain was rung down upon the long rivalry of the two dancers in #ahhd1 when the ,austrian capital went into mourning for the death of ,elssler and ,taglioni died poor and forgotten in ,marseilles4 ,thophile ,gautier1 perhaps the most discriminating critic of the ballet1 said of ,fanny ,elssler that she was the most vital1 the most precise1 the most intelligent dancer who ever graced the boards of the stage4 ,her dancing had not the exquisite lightness1 the purity of gesture and attitude1 the ethereal qualities of ,taglioni2 but in dramatic significance1 in fire1 passion and imagination1 her art never has been1 and probably never will be1 equalled4 ,after the disappearance of the two immortal rivals1 who was to carry on the great tradition8 ,gautier gives us the answer3 8,for a long time10 he writes1 8women had said--,what can come after the misty grace1 the decent abandon of ,taglioni8 ,for a long time men had asked--,what can come after the provocative verve1 the spirited and wanton caprice1 the purely ,spanish fire of ,fanny ,elssler8 ,carlotta ,grisi has come--light and chaste as the first1 vivacious1 joyous and precise as the second1 only with the inestimable advantage of counting no more than twenty-two ,aprils and of being fresh as a nosegay wet with dew40 ,carlotta ,grisi was born in #ahba in a remote mountain village of ,istria4 ,at the age of seven she was dancing in ,milan at ,la ,scala1 where ,perrot discovered her4 ,she profited by the excellent tuition of the great matre de ballet1 and subsequently danced in ,naples1 ,venice1 ,vienna and ,london4 ,those who witnessed her ,illustration3 ,,carlotta ,,grisi ,,in ,la ,pri dbut at the ,paris ,opera ,house in ,zingaro wondered whether she would become more famous as a dancer or a singer4 ,her voice was so pure and just that ,malibran1 the famous operatic singer1 advised her to devote herself entirely to music4 ,but guided by that inner voice which speaks infallibly to all great artists she decided to remain faithful to the dance4 ,she was the premire danseuse at the ,paris ,opera from #ahda to #ahdh4 ,grisi was of medium height2 her feet exquisitely shaped2 her limbs clean1 nervous1 of great purity of line2 her complexion so fresh that the only use she made of rouge was to revive the fading colour of her pink dancing-shoes4 ,her expression had a childish navet1 a gay and communicative happiness4 ,this fresh and almost infantile gaiety was the keynote of her dancing4 ,when she appeared upon the stage she seemed to bring with her the freshness of her native mountain air and the sparkle of the sun upon the snow4 ,what ,la ,sylphide was to ,taglioni and ,el ,diablo ,cojuelo to ,elssler1 the ballet of ,giselle was to ,grisi4 ,it was the work of three famous men3 ,heine furnished the subject1 ,gautier wrote the scenario and ,adolphe ,adam composed the music4 ,the scene was laid among the mountains1 at the season of the gathering of the grapes4 ,at the vintage fte ,giselle danced with such unwearied zest that her mother said to her3 8,luckless child1 you will dance yourself to death1 and when you die you will become a will-o'-the-wisp4 ,you will go to the ball at midnight in a robe of moonshine and with bracelets of dew-pearls on your cold white feet4 ,you will entice lost travellers into the fatal circle and you will lead them1 all warm and breathing1 into the icy waters of the lake4 ,you will be a vampire of the dance60 ,grisi's most marvellous dance was her dance of death and resurrection as a fairy-spirit4 ,giselle sickened with despair of love until she lost her reason4 ,her madness did not take the form of an ,ophelia-like melancholy4 ,she began to dance1 she danced ever more swiftly and furiously4 ,as she danced1 a gleam of reason came to her2 she remembered her sorrow and1 resolving to end it and her life together1 she ran upon the point of a sword4 ,wounded to death she went on dancing swooningly1 and after some last disordered steps died in a marvellous kind of choregraphic agony4 ,in the next act came her no less wonderful dance of resurrection4 ,after she is dead1 her grave in the forest is discovered by the fairy troop4 ,she is awaked by magic from her long sleep4 ,she rises and dances with a tottering motion like one still dazed with dream4 ,gradually her limbs forget the contraction of the grave-clothes2 the cool air of the night and the light of the moon restore her gaiety2 delightedly she takes possession of space and abandons herself to the ecstasy of her new fairy life4 ,grisi made of the ballet a true poem1 a kind of choregraphic elegy1 full of tender charm4 ,more than one spectator who had never expected to be moved by a rond-de-jambe or arabesque was surprised by tears4 ,henceforth the part was impossible for any other dancer and the name of ,carlotta became inseparable from that of ,giselle4 ,the perfect art of these three dancers1 ,taglioni1 ,elssler and ,carlotta ,grisi1 raised the ballet during the term of their fame to the highest degree of excellence which it had ever reached4 ,to their names must be added those of ,fanny ,cerito1 who was known in ,italy as the 8fourth ,grace10 and ,lucille ,grahn1 who according to some critics combined the ideal form of ,taglioni with the realism of ,elssler and the sprightliness of ,carlotta ,grisi4 ,these two dancers would probably have been without a rival in any less brilliant epoch than that of the marvellous forties4 ,in ,england the ballet may be said to have reached its apogee on the #abth of ,july #ahde4 ,on that memorable day four of the foremost dancers of the age1 ,marie ,taglioni1 ,carlotta ,grisi1 ,fanny ,cerito and ,lucille ,grahn1 danced a pas de quatre before ,queen ,victoria4 ,the bringing together of such a glittering constellation of stars on a single stage is best told in the words of the impresario who conceived and accomplished the achievement4 8,with such materials in my grasp as the four celebrated danseuses1 ,taglioni1 ,carlotta ,grisi1 ,cerito and ,lucille ,grahn1 it was my ambition to unite them all in one striking divertissement4 ,but ambition1 even seconded by managerial will1 scarcely sufficed to put such a project into execution4 ,the government of a great state was but a trifle ,illustration3 ,,fanny ,,cerito ,,in ,ondine compared to the government of such subjects as those whom ,i was supposed to be able to command2 for these were subjects who considered themselves far above mortal control1 or1 more properly speaking1 each was a queen in her own right--alone1 absolute1 supreme4444 ,but there existed difficulties even beyond a manager's calculations4 ,material obstacles were easily overcome4 ,when it was feared that ,carlotta ,grisi would not be able to leave ,paris in time to rehearse and appear for the occasion1 a vessel was chartered from the ,steam ,navigation ,company to waft the sylph at a moment's notice across the ,channel2 a special train was engaged and ready at ,dover2 relays of horses were in waiting to aid the flight of the danseuse all the way from ,paris to ,calais4 ,in the execution of the project the difficulty was again manifold4 ,every twinkle of each foot in every pas had to be nicely weighed in the balance1 so as to give no preponderance4 ,each danseuse was to shine in her peculiar style and grace to the last stretch of perfection2 but no one was to outshine the others1 unless in her own individual belief4 ,lastly1 the famous ,pas de ,quatre was composed with all the art of which the distinguished ballet-master1 ,perrot1 was capable4 8,all was at length adjusted4 ,satisfaction was in every mind2 the ,pas de ,quatre was rehearsed--was announced2 the very morning of the event had arrived2 no further hindrances were expected4 ,suddenly1 while ,i was engaged with the lawyers in my room1 poor ,perrot rushed unannounced into my presence in a state of intense despair4 ,he uttered frantic exclamations1 tore his hair1 and at last found breath to say that all was over--the ,pas de ,quatre had fallen to the ground1 and could never be given4 ,with difficulty the unfortunate ballet-master was calmed down to a sufficient state of reason to be able to explain the cause of his anguish4 ,when all was ready1 ,i had desired ,perrot to regulate the order in which the separate pas of each danseuse should come4 ,the place of honour1 the last in such cases1 as in regal processions1 had been ceded without over-much hesitation to ,mademoiselle ,taglioni4 ,of the remaining ladies who claimed equal rights1 founded on talent and popularity1 neither would appear before the others4 #8,mon ,dieu6' exclaimed the ballet-master1 #8,cerito will not begin before ,carlotta1 nor ,carlotta before ,cerito2 there is no way to make them stir--all is finished4' #8,the solution is easy1' said ,i2 #8let the oldest take her unquestionable right to the envied position4' ,the ballet-master smote his forehead1 smiled assent1 and bounded from the room upon the stage4 ,the judgment of the manager was announced4 ,the ladies tittered1 laughed1 drew back1 and were now as much disinclined to accept the right of position as they had been before eager to claim it4 ,the order of the ladies being settled1 the ,grand ,pas de ,quatre was finally performed on the same night before a delighted audience1 who little knew how nearly they had been deprived of their promised treat40 ,it is scarcely possible now to conceive the excitement which this performance created4 ,it overshadowed for the time every other national interest4 ,the reports were eagerly awaited by the ,continent4 ,foreign courts received accounts of it enclosed in the official despatches4 ,it was a ,european event4 ,but even in the heyday of its prosperity there was a premonition of the waning of the popularity of ballet4 ,in the very year of this triumphant dance1 ,jenny ,lind was heard for the first time in ,london4 ,the human voice was about to drive the speechless ballet from the theatre4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,decline ,,of ,,the ,,ballet ,the history of every art-form is a record of growth1 maturity1 decay and rebirth4 ,the life of art appears to be subject to cycles1 the recurrence of which is as certain and as inexplicable as those of nature4 ,when perfect facility of execution has been attained1 the period of decline is at hand4 ,nothing is left to the artist but to attempt to elaborate forms that are already perfect4 ,the mode of art which has reached its zenith has expressed everything which the age had to say through that particular medium4 ,executive skill may still remain but the creative spirit is no longer present to inform it4 ,the result almost necessarily is a barren accomplishment which has ceased to have any significance4 ,the artist seeks to conceal his lack of inspiration by purely mechanical dexterity4 ,he produces that over-elaboration of detail which is the sure mark of decadent art4 ,an art which is full-blown can never begin to bud again until it has drawn up the sap of a new emotion and again has something significant to express to the age4 ,the history of the ballet has shown no exception to this general law4 ,after its brilliant efflorescence in the second quarter of the last century it passed into a season of decay4 ,the first cause naturally was the disappearance of the dancers of genius whose careers have been briefly sketched in the last chapter4 ,when she danced in the famous ,pas de ,quatre in #ahde ,marie ,taglioni had already passed her fortieth year2 ,fanny ,elssler never danced after #ahea2 ,carlotta ,grisi and ,cerito quitted the stage shortly afterwards4 ,more than any other art1 dancing lives by the genius of its exponents4 ,unlike painting1 sculpture and literature1 it leaves no permanent record behind it--only a name and a reputation4 ,if there is a gap in the sequence of great dancers1 there ceases to be any living art to serve as a source of inspiration for the next generation4 ,the traditional methods may be carried on1 but without the living exponent they rapidly become lifeless4 ,the great dancers had no successors of equal genius4 ,the ,french and ,italian schools1 which in a single generation had produced so many of the world's most famous dancers1 suddenly became sterile4 ,all the great dancers of the nineteenth century were grounded upon the ,italian method4 ,in ,milan they mastered the technique2 in ,paris1 where the ballet was closely connected with the best artistic life of the day1 they seem to have found the inspiration of art4 ,now1 the teaching genius of both schools appeared to have deserted them4 ,dancers still flooded the theatres of ,europe2 most of them had been through the finishing school of the ,french capital2 they modelled their style upon the great ,taglioni and ,elssler traditions2 but their achievement was stale and unbeautiful4 ,the attitudes with which ,taglioni had enraptured the whole world were copied with a marvellous fidelity2 but the inspiration was lacking1 the effect was unmoving4 ,virtuosity had always been the danger of the ,italian school4 ,the rapid degeneration of the ballet was due to the insistence upon a merely technical accomplishment at the expense of grace and spontaneity4 ,admiration was centred exclusively in the difficulty of the execution of the steps4 ,the most elaborate gestures and evolutions of the old school were laboured and exaggerated4 ,in particular the pointes or dance upon the tips of the toes came to be regarded as the highest form of accomplishment4 ,this step when it is abused becomes the curse of ballet-dancing4 ,there are moments when it completes an attitude1 giving a suggestion of ethereal lightness1 the poise of a winged god alighting for an instant upon the earth4 ,in one brief passage across the stage1 the tips of the toes scarcely brushing the dust off the boards1 the dancer may capture something of the grace of a bird's flight4 ,but the step in itself is unnatural1 and naturalness is above all things essential in the dance4 ,when the part which it plays in the ballet is no longer incidental--the emphasis given to a moment's pose or the suggestion of intriguing daintiness added to a brief passage--but becomes the basis of all the dancer's movements1 it results in producing a sense of utter weariness on the part of the spectator4 ,the effect of fairy lightness for which it was originally introduced is lost in the ugliness of the effort4 ,in the music-hall it is not infrequently applauded as though it were the climax of the performance1 but the dancer should remember that the same applause has probably a few minutes before been given to a dog walking on its hind-legs4 ,in all arts1 and in none more than in dancing1 it is always the tour de force rather than the nuance of beauty that creates the delight of the crowd4 ,it was this step which began to take a disproportionate place in the ballet when it entered upon its period of decline4 ,it was a feat which ,taglioni could do extremely well1 but she never once sacrificed gracefulness to obtain her effect4 ,her followers on the other hand threw all gracefulness to the winds4 ,they pirouetted1 they walked1 they tottered on one toe until the shape of their legs became positively disfigured4 ,the popular caricature of the ballet-dancer of the day represented her with her calves standing out like the biceps of a blacksmith4 ,it was a performance which had nothing to recommend it but its painfulness4 ,little wonder that the public wearied of this meaningless dexterity and came to regard the ballet as but a little above the display of the contortionist4 ,the final blow to the waning popularity of the operatic ballet was given by the music-dramas of ,wagner and ,berlioz4 ,before their advent1 a visit to the opera meant primarily a visit to the ballet4 ,madame ,malibran was perhaps the only singer who was able to draw the attention of the amusement-loving world from the fascination of the dance4 ,she alone used to fill the old ,king's ,theatre in ,london to its utmost capacity on those nights when the ballet was billed as the principal attraction4 ,during the years when ,marie ,taglioni1 ,fanny ,elssler1 ,fanny ,cerito1 ,carlotta ,grisi1 ,lucille ,grahn1 and one or two other of the great premires danseuses1 were the popular enchantresses1 the public turned a deaf ear to the singer4 ,during the vocal and dramatic portions of the opera1 the spectators were wont to pass the time in chatting with their friends or promenading in the foyer1 until the moment arrived when the corps de ballet appeared and riveted their attention upon the stage4 ,with the dbut of ,jenny ,lind the glory of the singing voice once more came into its own4 ,the ballet1 which for so long had held the principal place upon the programme1 was gradually relegated to an inferior position4 ,at ,her ,majesty's ,theatre it was eventually omitted altogether4 ,at ,covent ,garden1 where the ,italian opera found a home in ,london1 it no longer formed a part of the current repertory4 ,dancers with a certain ,continental reputation used to visit ,england from time to time1 but they disappeared almost as silently as they came4 ,the corps de ballet1 which had been accustomed to give itself amazing airs and to look upon the vocalists1 however proficient1 as merely interludes in the major attraction of the ballet1 was suddenly dispersed4 ,with its proverbial fickleness1 the public forgot its old favourites and turned its back upon the dancers over whom it once used to shout itself hoarse4 ,nobody talked any more about dancing--it was no longer the vogue4 ,jenny ,lind1 ,titiens1 ,patti1 took the place of ,taglioni1 ,elssler1 ,grisi1 in the popular affection4 ,in ,paris1 in ,milan1 and in most of the ,continental opera houses1 the corps de ballet still retained a prominent place upon the programme1 but none of the schools succeeded in producing a dancer of the very first order4 ,the dance suffered eclipse4 ,as ,taglioni herself remarked1 8,la danse est comme la ,turquie--bien malade40 ,it is interesting to observe that ,wagner in his early days attached no little importance to the ballet in opera4 ,he was disappointed at not being able to carry out his original intention of introducing into ,rienzi the story of the rape of ,lucrece and the expulsion of the ,tarquins from ,rome in the form of a ballet4 ,he intended the ballet in the ,venusberg scene in ,tannhaser to be something more that a mere interlude and to have a serious interest of its own4 8,i have in my mind10 he wrote1 8an epitome of everything the highest dancing and mimic art can offer1 a wild yet seductive chaos of movement and grouping40 ,the argument of this wild scene was set forth at considerable length in the score1 but it failed of realisation on the stage on account of the exigencies of the production4 ,when ,wagner explained to the matre de ballet of the ,paris ,opera ,house that the conventional ballet steps would not be in accord with his music1 and asked him to supply something 8bold and savagely sublime10 the ballet-master replied3 8,i see what you want1 but it would need a corps of first dancers40 ,it was in some measure owing to his determination to make the ballet an integral part of the opera that he wrecked his chances of success in ,paris4 ,at that period it was customary for the ballet to be performed at an hour sufficiently late in the evening to allow time for the latest patrons of the opera to get to their places4 ,its inclusion in the first act aroused the wrath of ,parisian society1 and of the influential members of the ,french ,jockey ,club in particular4 ,in later days ,wagner wrote of the 8fripperies of opera and ballet40 ,perhaps he would have allowed the ballet a more serious importance if he could have seen the ,russian dancers in ,prince ,igor1 a performance which must have realised his ideal of a dance 8bold and savagely sublime40 ,le ,corsair may be considered as the last of the cycle of the grand ballets4 ,rosati1 the last of the great danseuses1 took the part of ,medora4 ,an immense sum was expended upon it1 but in spite of the splendour of the production it was a failure4 ,the tide had already turned4 ,only twice after the fifties did ,london see anything like a revival of the former splendours of the ballet4 ,the dancing of ,madame ,dore in ,babil and ,bijou at ,covent ,garden in #ahgb achieved the distinction of calling forth an enthusiastic article in ,the ,spectator1 but the unusualness of such a notice only served to show how completely the ballet had ceased to be regarded as a serious art-form4 ,shortly afterwards1 ,marenco1 the ,italian matre de ballet1 produced ,excelsior4 ,after having been played with enormous success in ,italy1 it was seen in ,paris and ,new ,york1 and finally appeared in ,england at ,her ,majesty's in #ahhe4 ,it had an allegorical meaning agreeable to the spirit of the time1 representing the conflict between progress and superstition1 invention and reaction4 ,it took a place apart from all contemporary ballets1 not so much because of the dancing of individuals--,adelina ,rossi was the prima ballerina--as on account of the artistry of its design1 the beauty of the general movement1 the ingenious handling of crowds4 ,in the seventies the ballet entered into a new phase of life1 or1 as some would say1 decline4 ,ejected from the opera house1 it found a refuge in the theatres of varieties that were then coming into existence4 ,naturally it changed its character not a little when it left ,covent ,garden and entered ,leicester ,square4 ,twenty-five or thirty years ago1 if one went to the ,empire or the ,alhambra1 the ,oxford or the ,pavilion1 one did not choose to have it known4 ,the music-hall was not a proper subject of conversation at the dinner-table or the tea-party4 ,no respectable ,british matron would have dreamed of being seen within its walls1 much less of taking her daughters there4 ,the most expensive seats in the ,alhambra in those days1 it should be remembered1 were three shillings4 ,it was largely owing to the ballet1 however1 that these houses were lifted into another atmosphere and began to attract a class of audience that would never have entered ,leicester ,square to see a variety show4 ,the ballet at the theatre of varieties was a divertissement rather than a ballet d'action1 but nevertheless it was not without considerable merits4 ,the ballets were arranged by mistresses and masters of the dance1 like ,katti ,lanner1 ,carlo ,coppi1 ,bertrand and ,dewinne1 who possessed a correct if not a liberal notion of their science2 the music was often by distinguished composers1 such as ,herv1 ,sullivan1 ,jacobi and ,wenzel2 and at the ,alhambra there was an orchestra trained to understand and interpret ballet music4 ,if the corps de ballet was lacking in finish1 the dancing of the prime ballerine1 almost all of whom were foreign1 left little to be desired4 ,the names of ,pertoldi1 ,gellert1 ,palladino1 ,cerali1 ,giuri1 ,legnano and ,lydia ,nelidova are nowadays doubtless well-nigh forgotten1 but although they rank below the great names of the preceding generation they were all dancers of distinction4 ,indeed the decline of the ballet during this period was due less to the quality of the dancing than to the fact that it was no longer regarded as a serious art-form4 ,the ballet is in effect the combination of a number of arts1 co-operating in the production of a single whole4 ,it achieves distinction only when it attracts to itself the best artistic talent of the day4 ,the ballet-master is powerless unless he is assisted by the artist and the musician4 ,the dancing1 the music1 and the dcor should be informed by a single spirit4 ,there had been a time when the foremost men of letters and composers had shared in the production of the ballet4 ,now its direction was left to the music-hall manager4 ,the result was necessarily a vulgarisation of the ballet4 ,it ceased to have any relation to contemporary culture4 ,it became an affair of pretty faces1 banal attitudes1 waving drapery1 tawdry brocades1 limelight effects and romping music4 ,it tended to become of the same order as the ,christmas pantomime4 ,but the first reform that was needed was a more serious study of the dancing itself1 for the ballet1 however interesting the music and the scenery1 is essentially an exhibition of the dance4 ,the ballet in ,england has always suffered from the absence of any official school of dancing4 ,in ,france1 in ,italy1 in ,russia1 in ,denmark1 the academies are maintained by the ,state2 the dancers are in a manner civil servants1 holding a permanent appointment and receiving a pension on retirement4 ,an adequate training is therefore possible1 a continuous tradition is maintained and a high average1 at all events in the technique of the dance1 is ensured4 ,in ,england1 however1 it has been rather the custom for the danseuse to go to this or that teacher to learn a single dance necessary for a certain performance1 but not to learn dancing4 ,indeed it is impossible as a general rule for the dancer out of her slender salary to pay one or two guineas an hour1 or whatever the fee may be1 in order to attain a proficiency which even when acquired is rarely appreciated4 ,the managers1 rightly or wrongly1 believed that the public did not care to see good dancing1 but only good looks and a dazzling show4 ,the sounder view was probably that taken by the ,rev4 ,stewart ,headlam1 who always held that the ballet was worthy of serious criticism4 ,writing in the ,pall ,mall ,gazette in #ahhf he said3 8,if either of those houses the ,alhambra and the ,empire want a really new sensation1 to take the town1 let them have a small ballet1 not only with the best principals who can be got--these indeed they have often now--but with the whole ballet composed solely of dancers1 picked dancers1 who have been regularly and constantly at practice under a really good master40 ,time has justified his words1 for it is in no small degree to this minute and general excellence that the success of the ,russian ballet is due4 ,the ballet1 at the time of which we are speaking1 had indeed become involved in a vicious circle4 ,because of its vulgarisation it had fallen into disrepute1 and because of its disrepute it was considered demeaning for any serious person to undertake that criticism which was a necessary condition of its reform4 ,in those days it required a certain amount of courage to treat the ballet as worthy of serious consideration and encouragement4 ,the ,rev4 ,stewart ,headlam was almost alone in maintaining that the ballet should rank as art and stage-dancing as an honourable profession1 and that the religious world had done grievous harm by adopting a policy of isolation towards it4 ,his praise of the ballet of ,yolande1 probably the most beautiful that ever appeared upon the ,alhambra stage1 drew down the ,episcopal censure4 ,it is almost impossible to believe in these days that the ,bishop of ,london should have 8prayed that he might not have to meet before the ,judgment-seat those whom his encouragement first led to places where they lost the blush of shame and took the first downward step to vice and misery40 ,mr ,headlam's reply was to recommend the ,bishop to go to see the ,swans at the ,alhambra or ,excelsior at ,her ,majesty's--on the principle that only by the patient study of any form of art can even a bishop understand its laws and intention4 ,as late as twenty years ago ,leicester ,square produced some ballets of real excellence4 ,two in particular1 ,the ,swans and ,the ,seasons at the ,alhambra1 were exquisite things of their kind4 ,in the latter the dancers were all dressed as birds4 ,the colours were harmonious and restrained and the stage was never overcrowded4 ,but the tendency of the period was to elaborate the staging of the ballet at the expense of the quality of the dancing4 ,the dictatorship of the late ,sir ,augustus ,harris1 skilful impresario as he was1 led to the overcrowding of the stage1 to the accumulation of mere monstrosities of scenery1 of costume and of properties4 ,the ballet became a spectacle4 ,it was buried beneath a mass of unmeaning accessories4 ,the stage was encumbered with gorgeous properties and with the crowd of those who did not dance but merely took their place in the pageant4 ,the effect may have been magnificent1 but it was not art4 ,at the same time the ballet-dancers1 whose business was to dance1 were transformed into members of a chorus1 whose chief function was to look pretty4 ,they marched and counter-marched across the stage1 performing a number of evolutions with a kind of military precision4 ,little more skill was demanded of them than of the banner-bearers at a ,christmas pantomime4 ,the ballet of the period has been described as chiefly a procession of 8rank after rank and file after file of honest bread-winners from ,camberwell and ,peckham ,rye1 performing mechanical manuvres with the dogged perseverance of a company of ,boy ,scouts40 ,it was1 in fact1 the honest ,british bread-winners of the corps de ballet1 willing but unskilled1 that persuaded the ,british public that ballet was a bore4 ,the result was that popular enthusiasm was directed towards skirt-dancing1 and the art of the ballerina fell into undeserved contempt4 ,although practically extinct in ,england the ballet continued to maintain a healthy1 if not a flourishing1 existence on the ,continent4 ,this was due not only to the fact1 of which ,i have already spoken1 that the ,continental schools of ballet were attached to the great opera houses and usually subsidised by the ,government1 but also to a high level of criticism and technical knowledge of the ballet on the part of the general public4 ,the indifference of the ,british public was at once the cause and the excuse of the indifferent performance of the ,british ballet4 ,this aspect of the decline of the ballet has been well stated by ,mr ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan1 whose authority on all that concerns the art of theatrical dancing is supreme4 8,not only are many of the steps that must be studied exceedingly difficult10 he says1 speaking of the work of the ,continental ballerina1 8but the dancer who has learnt her work in the schools of ,vienna1 ,milan1 ,moscow1 or ,paris knows well enough that should she falter in their execution1 she will have no chance at all with the public4 ,in ,italy1 for example1 the audience understands the technical side of a dancer's art just as well as it understands the quality of a singer's voice1 or just as well as the patrons of a ,london music-hall understand the chorus of a comic song4444 ,the dancer who failed in ballet to execute a difficult step with absolute neatness and precision1 would find a decidedly unpleasant reception awaiting the end of the movement4 ,her audience have a standard of judgment and will understand what the movement should have been like4 ,in ,london1 on the other hand1 several great dancers have told me that it is not worth their while to take trouble about very difficult steps1 because unfortunately they are not understood2 while something that is obvious and childlike in its simplicity1 like a pas de bourre1 is safe to meet with a measure of applause at least as great as that which rewards some movements which can only be acquired at the end of long years of study by a very few dancers whose natural gifts are exceptional4 ,if you watch a really distinguished dancer1 you are bound to notice that she never has an ungraceful movement or unhappy pose4 ,it is not a case of occasional happy moments1 but of one long succession of movements whose rhythm has the beauty of fine verse4 ,the results that make the great dancers so much admired by those who are at any pains to study their work1 are quite within the reach of ,english girls2 but it is an unfortunate fact1 for which every great ballet-mistress will vouch1 that ,english girls as a class do not take the trouble to work hard enough to acquire the perfect control over limbs and movement that is the reward of their ,continental sisters4 ,it is on this account that what is sometimes called ,english dancing cannot be taken seriously4 ,of course one cannot blame the ,english dancers altogether3 it is of very little use to prepare a delicate dish for the delectation of the sturdy animal whose favourite food is thistles2 and ,illustration3 ,,danseuses ,,en ,,sc,,ne ,,from ,a ,,painting ,,by ,d,,gas while the public remain content with a pretty face1 a pleasing figure1 a dainty dress1 and an air for which barrel-organs cry aloud1 ,english girls may regard it as a labour lost to give them anything better4 ,and yet the successes in years past of dancers like ,katti ,lanner and ,malvina ,cavallazzi1 and the triumph that has fallen to ,adeline ,gene to-day1 must prove that there is an ,english audience for better things4 ,perhaps1 if we had more dancers who could and would take their work seriously1 the tone of what so many people are generously pleased to call their taste might cease to be contemptible40 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,skirt ,,dance ,the discovery of a new medium has not infrequently infused a new vitality into a declining art4 ,certainly the nature of the medium has been almost as important a factor in determining style as the nature of the artist4 ,one of the media through which the dance expresses itself is costume4 ,it has been pointed out how the evolution of the caleon revolutionised the technique of the ballet4 ,the rediscovery of the flowing skirt brought about a revolution in modern dancing4 ,the flowing skirt appears to us to be a natural appurtenance of the dance4 ,but it must be remembered that the infinitesimal skirt of the ballet-dancer had become a cherished convention1 and such is the tyranny of convention that it makes whatever is contrary to it appear to be unnatural4 ,the development of the ballet had been largely due to the abandonment of the fulsome skirt of the early eighteenth century2 it was felt that to adopt it once again would be to involve the dance in the swaddling-clothes of its infancy4 ,the introduction of the long skirt1 however1 provided an outlet from the impasse into which dancing had been driven4 ,on the one hand was the classical school of the ballet1 now in an unfortunate condition of decadence4 ,it lacked all those elements which make of the ballet a living art4 ,the public was sick and tired of it4 ,on the other hand a more or less vulgar type of dancing1 which had no relation to art1 enjoyed a certain popularity on the music-hall stage4 ,it consisted chiefly of the ,clog ,dance1 believed originally to have come from the cotton mills of ,lancashire1 and various kinds of acrobatic dancing4 ,in the race for popularity the ugly but energetic ,step ,dance was first1 the classical ballet nowhere4 ,between the two there was no happy medium4 ,the ,skirt ,dance was essentially a compromise between the academical method of the ballet and the grotesque step-dancing which appealed to the popular taste of the time4 ,it stood nearer perhaps to the more serious form of dancing1 for in its elements1 at least1 it was modelled upon the method of the ballet4 ,the exchange1 the pirouette1 the balance1 all the first steps necessary to the ballet-dancer1 are the same in both4 ,but while retaining the academical steps as a foundation1 it permitted the performer greater license in the use of them4 ,remembering the passionate dancing of ,fanny ,elssler1 it would perhaps not be correct to say that it introduced more spirit into the dance2 but its tendency was towards greater vividness and the play of temperament4 ,the domination of the ballet had in some measure confined dancing to one particular method and1 especially in the period of its decline1 had exalted technical proficiency at the expense of the display of personality4 ,the ,skirt ,dance broadened the scope of dancing4 ,in itself never a performance of very great artistic merit1 it had all the value of a revolt4 ,it broke down the dominion of a tradition which had become too narrow4 ,it opened up new vistas4 ,it contained the seeds of future movements4 ,in particular it recalled the forgotten dances of antiquity4 ,though essentially modern1 and notably so in its lapses into vulgarity1 it nevertheless suggested new possibilities in the grace of flowing drapery1 the value of line1 the simplicity and naturalness that were characteristic of ,greek dance4 ,but the ,skirt ,dance was chiefly justified by its success1 which can only be described as sensational4 ,the utter absence of enthusiasm for the academic dance made it manifest that the time was ripe for the discovery of a new form of dancing4 ,the wit to invent the novel mode that was to revolutionise theatrical dancing in ,england came from ,mr ,john ,d',auban1 for many years ballet-master and director of the dances at ,drury ,lane4 ,it was of him that 8,punch0 wrote the doggerel eulogy3 ,illustration3 ,,kate ,,vaughan ,photograph3 ,w4 ,d4 ,downey 8,mr ,johnny ,d',auban1 ,he's so quick and nimble ,he'd dance on a thimble-- ,he's more like an elf than a man40 ,in a short sketch with the unpromising title1 ,ain't she very shy8 in which he appeared with his sister1 he first introduced the ,skirt ,dance to the public4 ,perhaps the fortune of the ,skirt ,dance would have been different if it had not at once found an exponent who has no small claim to rank with the great dancers of the century4 ,this was ,kate ,vaughan4 ,she alone in the host of dancers who obtained a passing fame in this style of dancing possessed a touch of real genius4 ,the fact that she satisfied the discriminating taste of two men of such artistic perception as ,ruskin and ,burne-,jones is enough to establish her reputation4 ,burne-,jones called her 8,miriam ,ariadne ,salome ,vaughan10 and his wife in her biography of her husband relates how he and ,ruskin 8fell into each other's arms in rapture upon accidentally discovering that they both adored her40 ,kate ,vaughan was the daughter of a musician named ,candelon1 who earned a meagre living by playing in the orchestra of the once famous ,grecian ,theatre4 ,at the ,grecian she studied dancing under ,mrs ,conquest1 and it is significant that1 unlike most other skirt-dancers1 she was thoroughly grounded in the careful method of the ballet4 ,one of her first successes as a dancer was in the ,ballet of the ,furies at the old ,holborn ,amphitheatre in #ahgc4 ,dressed in a black skirt profusely trimmed with gold1 she created a great sensation in the rle of the ,spirit of ,darkness4 ,after the contortions of the gymnastic dancers1 whose popularity testifies to the lamentable condition of the dance at this time--the name of one of the favourites1 8,wiry ,sal10 is a sufficient commentary upon the school6--the exquisite grace of the new dancer1 whose style was both precise and refined1 was no less than a revelation4 ,the old ,gaiety ,theatre was at this time just entering upon its career of phenomenal popularity1 and its ingenious manager1 ,mr ,john ,hollingshead1 was not slow to perceive that the new dance would quickly oust the step-dancer and the contortionist from their place in the popular favour4 ,he was among the first to recognise the genius of ,kate ,vaughan1 and he had the means of presenting her to the public to the greatest advantage4 ,from the day in which she appeared in the famous ,gaiety ,quartet1 in ,little ,don ,caesar de ,bazan1 her success was established4 ,she was as supreme in her time as ,taglioni1 ,elssler1 ,grisi and ,cerito had been in theirs4 ,not only was she the popular idol of her generation1 but in spite of the tawdry glitter of the ,gaiety stage she was able to engage the interest of serious artists4 ,her career is full of pathos if not tragedy4 ,although she possessed the born instincts of a dancer she had an ambition to excel as an actress4 ,she left the ,gaiety and spent most of her life with touring companies4 ,she lived long enough to outstay her welcome4 ,london tired of her2 only the provinces remained faithful4 ,ill-health rendered her performances more and more painful4 ,her dancing became a torture to her1 yet she had the resolution to go through with it even although she frequently had to be carried off the stage for very weakness and pain4 ,worn out with failure and illness1 she left ,england for ,south ,africa1 where she hoped that her fame as a dancer would make her season a success4 ,but her name had no magic for the younger generation that had sprung up in the colony4 ,neither as a comdienne nor as a dancer was she received with any degree of enthusiasm4 ,almost broken-hearted1 she fell ill1 and died in great loneliness and distress in ,johannesburg in #aijc4 ,in spite of her adoption of a new mode of dancing1 ,kate ,vaughan belonged primarily to the school of ,taglioni4 ,although of course she never reached the perfection of her predecessor1 it was to her careful training in the school of the ballet that she owed the ease and grace of her movements and the wonderful effect of spontaneity with which she accomplished even the most difficult steps4 ,she danced not only with her feet1 but with every limb of her frail body4 ,she depended not merely upon the manipulation of the skirt for her effect1 but upon her facility of balance and the skilful use of arms and hands4 ,her andante movements in particular were a glorious union of majesty and grace4 ,it is true that she ,illustration3 ,,kate ,,vaughan ,,in ,,turkish ,,costume ,photograph3 ,w4 ,d4 ,downey condescended at times to introduce into her dance some of those hideous steps which vulgarised the dancing of the period--in particular that known as the 8high kick02 but even this unpleasant step she accomplished with a certain sense of elegance and refinement which disguised its essential ugliness and suggestion of contortion4 ,she danced with a distinct inspiration1 and upon her style was built up all that was best in the dancing of her time4 ,the followers of ,kate ,vaughan were legion4 ,most of them were not dancers at all in the proper sense of the word4 ,they devoted themselves to the ,skirt ,dance merely because it was the fashion of the hour1 but of every other branch of dancing they were almost wholly ignorant4 ,but there were three dancers who were something more than imitators of ,kate ,vaughan--,letty ,lind1 ,alice ,lethbridge and ,sylvia ,grey4 ,it is notable that all of them were originally trained for the ballet4 ,alice ,lethbridge showed that she was no revolutionary in her view of what she regarded as the foundation of all technical excellence in dancing1 when she said3 8,as long as dancing continues1 the special movements of the older ballet1 its entrechats1 pirouettes1 and countless other steps1 must also exist1 for they are but the great groundwork of it all40 ,it was she who developed the ,skirt ,dance by introducing a revolving motion1 to which she gave the rather vague name of the 8waltz movement40 ,while dancing the ordinary waltz1 she bent her body backwards until it was almost horizontal1 and in this position1 still making all the correct steps of the dance1 she rotated the body around its own axis and at the same time described a large circle round the stage4 ,the swaying of the body in slow time to the rapid movements of the feet and the graceful waving of the skirts produced a curious and pleasing effect which won for her an enormous celebrity4 ,her other most famous performances were her ,marionette ,dance1 her ,fire ,dance and some clever shadow dances1 which depended for their effect chiefly upon the skilful use of reflected lights4 ,her dancing was characterised by an extreme vivacity1 by the lightnings of eye and hand1 which were nevertheless always subdued to the rhythm of the music4 ,letty ,lind was a dancer almost by accident4 ,when still quite unknown she was somewhat embarrassed by having a song given her in one of her plays4 ,she knew the limitations of her voice and asked if she might be allowed to do a dance instead4 ,her performance was an astonishing success1 and from that moment her career was made4 ,she devoted herself to musical comedy1 which was then coming into vogue1 realising that there is always room on the lighter operatic stage for an actress who is also an accomplished dancer4 ,for some years she was one of the principal 8stars0 at ,daly's ,theatre1 but her reputation was always based chiefly upon her dancing4 ,as a skirt-dancer she never reached the perfection of ,kate ,vaughan1 but she always showed herself a dainty and finished artist4 ,the ,skirt ,dance1 with its swift rushes and billowy undulations of flowing drapery1 was at most a charming but trivial dance1 of no great pretension or particular significance4 ,it demanded only an average ability on the part of the performer1 and no previous training in the intricacies of the dance4 ,it came at a time when1 apart from the ballet proper1 the usual style of dancing was a kind of energetic double-shuffling and step-dance1 generally performed by ponderous principal 8boys0 in vividly-coloured tights4 ,kate ,vaughan brought to it a personality which would have given distinction to a dance far less artistic1 and a daintiness of peculiar fascination4 ,if it had followed more closely the ,greek models1 with which it had some remote connection1 it might have evolved into a dance of greater artistic importance2 but its development was in the contrary direction4 ,it degenerated into a romp2 it lost whatever precision of technique it had once demanded2 and as the width of the skirt grew to larger and larger dimensions1 the dancer gradually disappeared in the extravagance of her costume4 ,the original exponents of the ,skirt ,dance1 as we have seen1 were ballet-dancers1 whose novelty consisted rather in their costume than in their methods4 ,they adapted the steps of the ballet to the new style without great modification4 ,they brought to the dance that culture of the whole body and not merely of the legs1 which is proper to the well-trained ballet-dancer as distinguished from the mere step-dancer4 ,but the misfortune of the ,illustration3 ,,alice ,,lethbridge ,photograph3 ,ellis ,walery ,skirt ,dance was that it afforded a convenient concealment to the incompetent dancer4 ,less eminent artists were not slow to perceive that the instruction which had failed to give them distinction in the academic style was quite sufficient to make them resplendent as skirt-dancers4 ,there is a menace that always threatens the dance1 no less than the theatre1 and that is the incursion of the incompetent professional beauty4 ,the generous public is willing to pardon a multitude of sins for the sake of a pretty face4 ,now was the signal opportunity for the unintelligent beauty to masquerade as a dancer4 ,amateurs vied with professionals in seeking success in the simple intricacies of the ,skirt ,dance4 ,by performing it in a ,london theatre at a charity matine1 the ,countess ,russell and her sister gave the dance the sanction of the social world4 ,philanthropy became the hobby of the fashionable skirt-dancer4 ,a wit remarked that 8charity uncovered a multitude of shins40 ,in a criticism of the period1 ,mr ,g4 ,bernard ,shaw ridiculed this cult of good looks and incompetence for which the ,skirt ,dance was responsible4 8,thanks to it10 he said1 8we soon had young ladies carefully trained on an athletic diet of tea1 soda-water1 rashers1 brandy1 ice-pudding1 champagne and sponge-cake1 laboriously hopping and flopping1 twirling and staggering1 as nuclei for a sort of bouquet of petticoats of many colours1 until finally1 being quite unable to perform the elementary feat1 indispensable to a curtsey1 of lowering and raising the body by flexing and straightening the knee1 they frankly sat down panting on their heels1 and looked piteously at the audience1 half begging for an encore1 half wondering how they would ever be able to get through one4 ,the public on such occasions behaved with its usual weakness4444 ,it was mean enough to ape a taste for the poor girls' pitiful sham dancing1 when it was really gloating over their variegated underclothing4 ,who has not seen a musical comedy or comic farce interrupted for five minutes1 whilst a young woman without muscle or practice enough to stand safely on one foot--one who1 after a volley of kicks with the right leg has1 on turning to the other side of the stage1 had to confess herself ignominiously unable to get beyond a stumble with her left1 and1 in short1 could not1 one would think1 be mistaken by her most infatuated adorer for anything but an object-lesson in saltatory incompetence--clumsily waves the inevitable petticoats at the public as silken censers of that odor di femina which is the real staple of five-sixths of our theatrical commerce80 ,for his part1 he continues1 8the young lady who can do no more than the first sufficiently brazen girl in the street could1 may shake all the silk at ,marshall and ,snelgrove's at me in vain40 ,it was possibly this fatal facility of the ,skirt ,dance that gave it its unparalleled vogue4 ,for a time everybody skirt-danced4 ,there has probably been no such sudden craze for any style of dancing as that which seized ,england at the time of the famous ,pas de ,quatre in ,faust up to ,date4 ,the schottische-like melody composed for the dance by ,meyer ,lutz1 the ,gaiety conductor1 was performed to satiety upon every orchestra in the country4 ,in a mild form the dance was introduced into the ball-room1 while certainly for years no pantomime was complete without the inevitable four girls in short accordion-pleated skirts1 standing in a row behind one another1 kicking out first one leg and then the other in time to the jerky music4 ,the grace of ,kate ,vaughan had given an extraordinary vitality to the ,skirt ,dance2 her imitators' lack of grace killed it4 ,because ,kate ,vaughan danced in the moonlight--or the livid hue which then passed for moonlight on the stage--every dancer had the lights turned down1 with a special ray from the wings upon her whirling petticoats4 ,moreover the performers of the step-dance from the halls1 the only dance really popular with the public before this time1 took up the new fashion with alacrity and threw into it more than all their ancient energy4 ,the dance became more and more violent4 ,it was burlesqued out of recognition4 ,the prettiness of the ,skirt ,dance as it was danced by ,kate ,vaughan perished in the contortions that were introduced from the ,moulin ,rouge and popularised in ,england by ,lottie ,collins4 ,illustration3 ,,letty ,,lind ,,in ,a ,,skirt ,,dance ,photograph3 ,ellis ,walery ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,serpentine ,,dance ,although its origin was in a manner accidental1 the ,serpentine ,dance was a derivation of the ,skirt ,dance4 ,the accident happened to an ,american1 with whose name it will always remain associated--,loie ,fuller4 ,for the matter of that it was an accident which might have happened to any woman at any time1 and as a matter of fact it actually befell ,lady ,emma ,hamilton nearly a hundred years earlier4 ,goethe relates how at the house of the ,british ,ambassador at ,caserta he met 8a beautiful young ,englishwoman1 who danced and posed with extraordinary grace40 ,a moment's whim led her to pick up two shawls of varied hues and wave them as she danced4 ,struck by the brilliant effect of colour1 she called to ,sir ,william ,hamilton to hold the candles in such a way that the light shone through the gauzy drapery4 ,she did not pursue the discovery any further1 however--indeed in the absence of electricity it would have been of little avail if she had4 ,it is improbable that ,loie ,fuller ever heard of this incident1 for the suggestion of the ,serpentine ,dance came to her quite spontaneously4 ,loie ,fuller was born in ,chicago4 ,it is said that she made her first bow before the public at the immature age of two1 and at eleven the elocutionary powers which she displayed in her little temperance lectures had given her fame throughout the state of ,illinois as the 8,western ,temperance ,prodigy40 ,the only lessons that she ever received in dancing were given her by a friend who tried to teach her the ,highland ,fling1 but she introduced so many variations of her own that the friend had to abandon the attempt4 ,at ,chicago a professional musician was so favourably impressed with her singing that he offered to give her free tuition for two years4 ,as ,loie ,fuller was gifted with an excellent memory1 assiduous in mastering the details of whatever work she was engaged in1 always willing to take any part1 big or little1 that was offered her1 it is not surprising that she should early have won for herself a considerable reputation4 ,she travelled with a touring company1 playing in both comedy and tragedy4 ,she first appeared in ,new ,york in ,jack ,sheppard1 in which her salary was seventy-five dollars a week4 ,shortly afterwards she was in the cast of ,caprice in ,london4 ,she returned to ,america to take part in ,quack ,m4,d4 at the ,harlem ,opera ,house4 ,it was while rehearsing for this piece that she received from a young ,indian officer1 whom she had met in ,london1 a present which was to change her whole career4 ,one morning a box was delivered at the hotel where she was staying1 and on opening it she found that it contained an ,eastern robe of fine white silk1 the sort that passes through a ring uncreased4 ,the difficulty--not infrequently incidental to presents--was to know what to do with it4 ,to cut it up would have been a desecration4 ,the quality of the texture was so rare that the piece was fine enough for a museum4 ,yet its excessive length rendered it useless as a dress without mutilation4 ,but no woman1 certainly no ,american woman1 could receive such a present without endeavouring to exhaust all its possibilities as wearing apparel4 ,taking a piece of string1 ,loie ,fuller fastened the material loosely about her4 ,while playfully waving the soft folds of silk in the air she caught sight of herself in a mirror facing the window4 ,at that moment the sun's rays transfigured the dress into a mass of shimmering light4 ,the beams dancing among the transparent folds of the ,eastern material gave it an indescribable delicacy4 ,so strange and beautiful was the effect that the dancer stood for hours before the mirror lost in admiration4 ,she tried innumerable variations of pose1 and all were delightful4 ,suddenly while gazing at the floating clouds of sunlit drapery there came a sound of distant music4 ,the melody was one that the dancer knew well1 and in step to the music she danced round the room1 tossing the light billowy material about her4 ,at that moment the ,serpentine ,dance was born4 ,loie ,fuller devoted the next few months to developing the novel effects which she had discovered and to inventing an accompaniment of slow1 gliding steps such as would best accord with the involutions of the skirt rising and falling upon the air4 ,the invention of the ,serpentine ,dance coincided with the discovery of electricity as a method of lighting the stage4 ,until that time gas alone had been used4 ,loie ,fuller immediately saw the possibilities of the new scientific illumination1 and with the aid of a few friends she devised a means by which the effect of vivid sunshine could be obtained through the use of powerful electric lights placed in front of reflectors4 ,then various experiments with colour were tried2 for the white light of the electricity were substituted different shades of reds1 greens1 purples1 yellows1 blues1 by the combination of which innumerable and wonderful rainbow-like effects of colour were obtained4 ,played upon by the multitudinous hues1 the diaphanous silk gave an impression of startling originality and beauty4 ,coming at a time when the artistic lighting of the stage was scarcely studied at all1 the riot of colour created a sensation4 ,nothing like it had been seen before4 ,the old-fashioned limelight1 the flickering gas-jets1 the smoking red and blue flames dear to the ,christmas pantomime1 paled before this discovery of science which apparently possessed inexhaustible possibilities as a stage illuminant4 ,loie ,fuller introduced her new dance with its accessories to the variety stage in the ,states1 where she soon became famous4 ,but it was not until she came to ,europe that her performance received its full meed of appreciation1 not as a mere raree-show sandwiched in between the turns of acrobats and performing seals1 but as a thing of intrinsic beauty4 ,she visited first ,germany and then ,paris4 ,the ,parisians1 who have the habit in common with the ancient ,athenians of spending their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing1 welcomed the novelty of her dancing and quickly adopted her as 8,la ,loie40 ,her dbut at the ,folies ,bergre was a triumph4 ,to the accompaniment of the tinkling strains of ,gillet's 8,loin du ,bal0--a melody inevitably associated with ,loie ,fuller's dancing--the dazzling figure of light suddenly shone out of the gloom of the darkened stage like some mysteriously illuminated flower1 fluttering its petals in the breeze4 ,on batons held in each hand were hung yards upon yards of shimmering gossamer fabric4 ,the least movement of the wand sent the airy mass floating in undulating billows and twisting in streaming spirals4 ,and as the multitudinous moving forms succeeded one another1 the light from below shifted through all the combinations of the colours of the rainbow4 8,la ,loie0 immediately became the rage4 ,the management of the ,folies ,bergre engaged her for three years at the handsome salary of two hundred pounds a week--an engagement which unfortunately circumstances prevented her from fulfilling4 ,not unnaturally1 therefore1 when some time afterwards she revisited ,america1 she was enthusiastically welcomed on the sacred stage of ,new ,york's ,metropolitan ,opera ,house4 ,strict connoisseurs of the dance are disposed to scoff at ,loie ,fuller's performance1 but the fact must not be overlooked that the arrangement of the drapery is not such an easy matter as might be supposed when viewed from the other side of the footlights4 ,when the enormous dimensions of the skirt are taken into account1 the achievement of managing it with grace is not altogether to be despised4 ,the strain on the arms is severe4 ,to wave them in such a manner that the folds of the skirt do not become entangled with one another1 and that the whole of it is in motion at the same time1 is a feat of dexterity difficult of accomplishment4 ,certainly the crowd of imitators who sought notoriety in this style never achieved the variety and beauty of the effects which 8,la ,loie0 obtained4 ,amateurs who took up the dance in the enthusiasm of the moment gave exhibitions of embarrassed entanglement that provided their audience with a more amusing entertainment than they had anticipated4 ,i have heard of at least one lady1 who elected to follow in ,loie ,fuller's footsteps for the sake of charity1 becoming so enveloped in her hundred yards of drapery that she had at last to be carried ignominiously from the stage in the arms ,illustration3 ,,letty ,,lind ,photograph3 ,ellis ,walery of an attendant and unravelled behind the scenes like a twisted ball of string4 ,after it was first introduced1 the ,serpentine ,dance underwent much elaboration4 ,not only were various harmonies of colour thrown upon the dress1 but also strange and wonderful patterns of flowers and lace and barbaric designs4 ,the variety of effects thus obtained were endless4 ,at one moment the skirt was a moving wave of rose-pink2 the next it had changed to a dark purple on which gleamed golden stars2 afterwards it took the design of a ,japanese embroidery2 and again it became a flame of fire burning in the darkness4 ,and not content with these bewildering displays1 some of those whose business it is to refine upon vulgarity devised a startling and terrible novelty--they utilised the dancer as a backcloth and projected upon her photographs of the prominent people of the day6 ,among the most famous of ,loie ,fuller's dances were the ,widow ,dance1 which she danced in a black robe1 the ,rainbow ,dance1 the ,flower ,dance1 the ,butterfly ,dance1 the ,good-night ,dance and the ,mirror ,dance4 ,in the latter the multiplication of mirrors gave the appearance of eight ,loies dancing at the same time1 the whole stage being bathed in a flood of light and filled with a maze of cloud-like vestures4 ,but the most successful elaboration of the ,serpentine ,dance was that known as the 8,danse du ,feu40 ,it is said to have owed its birth to another happy accident4 ,it was originally designed for ,loie ,fuller's play ,salom1 in which it was the dance commanded by ,herod4 ,it was called 8,the ,salute of the ,sun10 as it drew its inspiration from the effects of the sunset4 ,the ,paris audience1 however1 mistook its intention4 ,overlooking the evening light which gilded the pinnacles of ,solomon's temple1 they saw only the fiery rays playing upon the dancer's dress1 and exclaimed with delight1 8,a fire dance1 a fire dance60 ,with her fertile imagination ,la ,loie saw the possibility of the new idea and determined to give them a fire dance indeed4 ,as in all other ,serpentine variations1 the ,fire ,dance necessitated a vast paraphernalia of accessories and an army of associates4 ,the dancer's dress was a voluminous smoke-coloured skirt1 to which long strips of the same material were loosely attached4 ,she danced in the centre of a darkened stage before an opening in the floor through which a powerful electric light shot up flame-coloured rays4 ,at first only a pale indecisive bluish flame appeared in the midst of the surrounding darkness2 little by little it took shape1 quickened into life1 trembled1 grew1 mounted upwards1 until it embraced all the stage in its wings of fire1 developed into a mighty whirlwind in the midst of which emerged a woman's head1 smiling1 enigmatical1 while a shifting phosphorescence played over the body that the lambent flames held in their embrace4 ,the effect has been described as a superhuman vision4 ,undoubtedly from the point of view of sensationalism1 8,la ,danse du ,feu0 was little short of an inspiration4 ,the ,fire ,dance became popular4 ,the stages of all the variety theatres in ,paris became enveloped in flame4 ,legions of dancers waving burning veils1 under a cross-fire from masked batteries of limelight men1 took possession of the stage4 ,the art of dancing appeared about to perish in a general conflagration4 ,ballets were converted into luminous symphonies4 ,such themes as ,les ,amours du ,roi des ,tenbres pour l',aurore and ,arc-en-ciel gave marvellous scope for the display of the talents1 if not of the dancers1 at any rate of the electricians4 ,the common light of day was henceforth too meagre to please2 every atmospheric effect from dawn to sunset was exhausted2 moonlight was turned on in floods and the night skies were ransacked for comets and meteors2 the kingdom of faery was invaded and despoiled of its sheen by intrepid managers1 who poured upon the stage from electric projectors the light that never was on land or sea4 ,it is doubtful whether this invention of ,loie ,fuller comes within the sphere of dancing in the proper sense of the word at all4 ,the ,serpentine ,dance has no steps1 no gestures1 no poses1 none of the usual criteria by which dancing can be judged4 ,the function of the limbs is merely to put measureless lengths of drapery in motion4 ,the dancer juggles with stuffs and veils as others with knives and billiard balls4 ,loie ,fuller's chief merit was her faculty of invention4 ,the best part of her work was done off the stage4 ,when the dance began it was the activity of the army of operators in the wings that became the centre of interest4 ,if we were adequately to discuss the theory of the ,serpentine ,dance we should have to converse of electricity and optics4 ,it belongs to the realm of science rather than of art4 ,it is an art of electricians and mechanics2 it is they1 and not the lady upon whom they operate1 who should come before the footlights to take the applause and receive the floral tributes of the audience4 ,although ,loie ,fuller was an expert in the art of theatrical illumination rather than in that of dancing1 that she possessed a considerable artistic talent is unquestionable4 ,her love of colour amounted to a real passion4 ,she was peculiarly sensitive to its effects4 ,every colour had a different influence upon her2 she was unable to dance the same measure in a yellow light as in a blue4 ,there was something more than sensationalism in her wonderful ,lily ,dance1 when she disposed the serpentine skirt in such a way that it floated across the stage like the bizarre and gigantic flower of a strange dream2 in her ,rose ,dance1 when she sank down covered with crimson petals2 in her ,radium ,dance1 one of the most beautiful effects of colour and lighting ever seen upon the stage1 almost prohibitive on account of its costliness2 in her ,fire ,dance1 which was full of a kind of demoniacal splendour1 the madness of a hashish-begotten delirium4 ,she owed her success very largely to her immense capacity for taking pains4 ,no detail was too small to demand her attention4 ,she had miniature models of the stage constructed for her1 with which she conducted her experiments4 ,the complicated lighting apparatus was managed by her brothers1 with whom she practised almost daily1 inventing and elaborating new effects4 ,she devised with equal care the design of her dresses4 ,the secret of their shape was jealously guarded4 ,on leaving the theatre1 her mother1 who always accompanied her1 enveloped her in a huge black cloak4 ,one silk gown was painted by artists in sections1 and the artists themselves had no idea as to what their work was intended for4 ,loie ,fuller herself is perfectly aware of the limitations of her dancing4 ,she has made her genial apologia as follows3--8,to-day everything is governed by laws and precedents1 and as ,i obey no laws of the dancing schools and follow no precedents1 ,i suppose1 you know1 that really ,i am not a dancer at all6 ,i have never studied1 and ,i don't believe the ancient ,greek dancers ever studied how to move their feet1 but danced with their whole bodies--with their head and arms and trunk and feet4 ,i believe that they studied more the impression that they wished to convey by their dancing than the actual way of dancing40 ,the criticism that she ignored the obvious fact that no human being was really necessary in her performance at all1 and that a small motor or gas-engine could have done the work with equal animation and less fatigue1 is a little less than just4 ,latterly ,la ,loie has come under the influence of ,miss ,isadora ,duncan4 ,in ,paris she directs a school of young children1 whom she instructs in the 8natural0 style of dancing4 ,her pupils appeared in ,london in #aijh1 when they performed ,mozart's ballet1 ,les ,petits ,riens4 ,the performance was no less notable for its lighting than for its grace of movement1 as each of the fourteen movements of the ballet was seen against a great open sky1 changing with the history of the day from dawn to sunset4 ,the influence of ,loie ,fuller upon the theatre will always be felt1 particularly in the lighting of the scene and in the disposition of draperies4 ,but she was never a great dancer4 ,she was an apparition4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,the ,,high ,,kickers ,it is always interesting to observe the interaction of life and art4 ,all art is of its time1 the greatest as well as the least4 ,it may be supposed that the dance has too slight a content to express to be under the obligation of borrowing anything from the ideas of the age4 ,but it has always responded not only to the rhythm of personal emotional life1 but also to the larger social rhythm of the time4 ,we have hinted at a relation between the conventional ballets of the forties1 with their tranquil emotions1 and the placid1 domestic temper of the early ,victorian era1 between the passionate style of ,elssler and the spirit of the ,romantics4 ,as the century waned1 the older formal and unhasting rhythms tended to break up2 the pace quickened2 the tranquillity which the nineteenth century had carried over from the eighteenth disappeared in the excitement of the fin-de-sicle spirit4 ,the temperature of the blood was rising towards the fever-point of the 8naughty nineties40 ,they were probably much less naughty than they supposed themselves to be1 and they had an unfortunate tendency to mistake vulgarity for vice4 ,something of the change of the social spirit was reflected in the dance4 ,paris began to force the pace in the latter days of the ,second ,empire4 ,it was a somewhat feverish era1 electric with the sense of political change and hazardous speculation1 echoing with coups d'tat and coups de bourse4 ,something of the general unrest penetrated the spirit of the dance4 ,it took on a more exciting allure1 became more disordered and furious4 ,the quadrille in particular was completely metamorphosed2 its elegance was exchanged for violent movements1 resembling the oscillations of a drunkard4 ,in the form of the ,cancan and the ,chahut it was the delight of the bals publics of the ,french capital4 ,cleste ,mogador1 ,rose ,ponpon1 ,clara ,pomar1 with their beaut de diable1 gave a vogue to the new and more abandoned style of dancing4 ,these stars disappeared after a brief and noisy career1 but the dance survived in undiminished vigour4 ,its two principal strongholds were the ,bal ,bullier on ,mont ,st ,genevive and the ,moulin de la ,galette on ,montmartre4 ,the transition from ,empire to ,republic did not have a sobering influence upon the dance1 but rather the reverse4 ,its natural violence was stimulated by the revolutionary excitement4 ,the fury of the barricades animated its gestures4 ,students and grisettes1 inveterate rvolutionaires1 revelled in it as a kind of vague protest against authority1 the bourgeoisie1 the spirit of order and propriety4 ,like the impressionism of contemporary painting1 it was championed by those who were rather uncertain as to the articles of their artistic faith but had a very strong sense of being 8agin the goverment10 civil or spiritual4 ,it was an affirmation of revolution4 ,to the average home-staying ,briton of the period1 ,paris meant ,montmartre1 and ,montmartre meant the ,cancan4 ,even to-day the word conjures up a vision of the old ,moulin ,rouge1 with its sinister1 winking lights1 its crude sensationalism1 its wild fandango of forced hilarity4 ,in this hot-house atmosphere of feverish yet mirthless gaiety1 the dance forgot its ancient origin in hushed forest glades and laughing vineyards1 forgot its long sojourn in dignified courts1 forgot its strict discipline in the academies2 it became little more than an appetiser to the feast of debauch4 ,but among the mob of flamboyant bacchanales for whom the dance was merely a means by which they could display their wares to the market1 there were one or two dancers with a distinct personality1 who gave the cole montmartroise the vitality1 if not the dignity1 of a kind of art4 ,the chief of these were ,la ,goulue1 ,grille d'gout and ,nini ,patte-en-l'air4 ,in her private dossier ,la ,goulue was known to the ,state as ,louise ,weber4 ,she is said to have earned her soubriquet by her gluttony as a child4 ,doubtless she had the excuse of the stimulus of hunger1 for she was the daughter of poor working-class people4 ,illustration3 ,,connie ,,gilchrist 7,,the ,,gold ,,girl7 ,from a painting by ,whistler ,she had1 however1 all the impertinent charm of the petite ,parisienne4 ,and1 moreover1 she had a passion for her mtier4 ,small1 fair1 intriguing1 with delicately rounded limbs1 ivory shoulders and a mutinous little head crowned with light gold hair1 she startled ,paris by her dancing at the ,elyse ,montmartre4 ,to the abandon of the ,cancan she added in her rendering of it novel effects of an audacity that won her immediate fame4 ,she was to the eighties what ,mogador and ,rose ,ponpon were to the sixties4 ,she became a person of note and the spoilt child of the jeunesse dore4 ,the story is told of how she was invited to supper at the ,maison d',or--she was an astonishingly vulgar little being in those days--by a ,russian prince4 ,a well-meaning friend1 wishing to give her a genial hint to be on her best behaviour1 wrote her a note1 which was handed to her on a salver by the mitre d'htel4 ,she opened it1 and with some difficulty spelled out the advice1 to the amusement of her host3 8,speak very nicely to the ,grand-,duke in order to strengthen the ,franco-,russian alliance60 ,in her dancing there was no order1 no method1 but a sure sense of rhythm and an ingenuous frankness and gaiety4 ,to grace of movement she made no pretension--the dance was a negation of it4 ,it was a frenzy1 a delirium1 a contortion4 ,her legs were agitated like those of a marionette1 they pawed the air1 jerked out in the manner of a pump-handle1 menaced the hats of the spectators4 ,she sought the geste suspect with hand1 foot1 and body1 although at the ,moulin ,rouge she was obliged to cut discreeter capers4 ,much of her popularity depended upon a purely personal attraction4 ,she had all the fascination of brilliant and irresponsible youth3 she was frankly proud of her charms and daring in displaying them4 ,in personal appearance ,grille d'gout was in every way her opposite4 ,dark1 thin1 with no claims to beauty--her upper jaw was prominent1 her chin receding--she resembled ,la ,goulue only in her youth1 her spirit and her passion for the dance4 ,in her ordinary movements she had a somewhat gauche and embarrassed manner2 hers was the type of the unassuming bourgeoise4 ,but at the first sound of the music everything was changed4 ,she launched into the dance with an astonishing assurance1 verve and directness of attack4 ,she was more correct than eccentric1 gay rather than voluptuous1 arresting by gestures that were droll rather than exciting4 ,her dancing1 a dlire des jambes1 gave a suggestion of the antics of the ,parisian gamin4 ,but the most striking personality of all was that of ,nini ,patte-en-l'air4 ,she was dark as the night1 with a strange1 mask-like face of deathly pallor1 eyes sunk in deep hollows overarched by thick eyebrows1 suggestive of ,rops' etching of 8,la ,mort qui danse40 ,her slight body quivered with intensity of life--la vie outrance--as though charged with electric fluid4 ,the rapidity of her movements was dazzling1 and every movement was unforeseen1 incalculable1 and executed without a trace of effort4 ,five1 ten1 twenty times her foot flew above her head2 then it remained suspended at the level of her face2 it twisted1 writhed1 agitated1 as though it possessed a life independent of the leg2 it was a prisoner and struggled to escape2 the dancer watched its contortions1 an amused spectator of its restlessness2 at last it was released2 it darted to the ground1 recovered its strength and resumed its command of the dance4 ,then1 this by-play over1 the dancer rested her hand on the arm of a cavalier1 and began a wild1 grotesque and fantastic career among the spectators4 ,at every step her foot leapt to the ceiling1 her head was thrown violently back1 her body maintained a difficult equilibrium1 her emaciated features shone with a delirious excitement4 ,twice she made this frenzied revolution of the hall1 then1 coming to a sudden standstill1 her heel slid along the floor and she sank abruptly in a final dislocation1 her legs extended horizontally on either side4 ,it was the dance bewitched1 bedevilled1 a frenzy and agony of movement1 without a parallel except in the maniacal contortions of the ,assaouas or the revolutions of the howling ,dervishes4 ,these dancers had their followers1 of whom the names alone survive--,folette1 ,rayon d',or1 ,la ,soubrette1 ,la ,glu1 ,la ,cigale4 ,the dance of cole montmartroise was a variation upon one perpetual theme--the dislocation of the leg4 ,to name the variations is to indicate the bizarre gestures which formed the stock-in-trade of the school--,la ,friture1 ,le ,port d',armes1 ,la ,jambe derrire la tte1 ,le ,croisement--the latter executed by two dancers whose feet touched in mid-air1 describing a kind of ogival arch4 ,it is unnecessary to comment upon this style of dancing4 ,in it the search for the sensational1 the incredible1 the impossible1 reached its limit4 ,the aim of the dancer was to escape as far as possible from the grace of natural bodily movement1 to caricature the human form1 to imitate the convulsions of the epileptic4 ,it was an instance of one of those maladies which at times afflict the arts4 ,but it is a disease which cannot recur1 for the world1 having once seen what the dance can achieve when it loses its sanity1 is not likely to wish for a repetition of the spectacle4 ,montmartre remains--chastened1 perhaps1 if not repentant4 ,it is possible that the tradition still lingers and that there are dancers who1 to the confusion of the unsophisticated ,british or transatlantic stranger1 can at need give a dim suggestion of what the cole montmartroise was at the height1 or perhaps rather at the depth1 of its fame4 ,but the dance is dead1 and not only dead but damned4 ,england has always kept a circumspect eye upon the heights of ,montmartre1 and no dance that was danced upon that hill could long be hid4 ,needless to say1 the ,cancan in all its native freedom was never performed in this country--for there are performances which depend for their success1 if not for their very existence1 upon a certain indefinable but quite perceptible rapport between performer and spectator1 and in ,england there was no atmosphere for this sympathy to ripen in4 ,but in spite of this1 ,england enjoyed for many years a very sensational imitation of the ,montmartre school4 ,the ,skirt ,dance and the ,serpentine ,dance1 after they had lost the charm of novelty1 began to pall4 ,tired of the monotony of their limited movements1 the public was ready to welcome a dance with a wild gaiety and abandon which had all the attractiveness of contrast4 ,the appetite for sensation grows by what it feeds on1 and very soon a dancer who could not kick her legs higher than the head1 who had not cultivated the 8splits0 and the 8cart-wheel0 to perfection1 who did not1 in fact1 exhibit the art of dancing as a series of grotesque contortions1 could not count upon holding the attention of an audience4 ,the ,cancan was not called by its original name after it had crossed the ,channel1 nor was it danced as a quadrille2 but to all intents and purposes the famous dance which ,lottie ,collins executed after singing her 8,ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay0 song--a dance which sent ,england and ,america hysterical with delight--was none other than the famous ,cancan1 only slightly modified in accordance with ,anglo-,saxon traditions of modesty and decorum4 ,the anglicised version of the ,cancan was closely associated with that popular song1 the last lamentable echoes of which have only recently died away4 ,the origins of 8,ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay0 have been discussed with an interest worthier of a more classical literature4 ,the melody has been derived from an old ,german ,volkslied2 it has been asserted that it was heard in a ,potsdam tea-garden in #ahgb and in a ,parisian caf a hundred years ago1 when it was played as the accompaniment to an ,algerian danse du ventre2 it is stated to have been whistled and sung for generations among the rice-fields of the ,southern ,states by negroes whose ancestors had danced to it in the barbaric orgies of ,central ,africa4 ,whatever its origin1 and the latter derivation is the most probable1 it was ,lottie ,collins who first introduced the tune to ,european audiences4 ,the words1 of course1 were entirely rewritten1 but their barbaric originals could not have been more idiotic than those which were composed to suit the music-hall sense of humour4 ,the dance which accompanied the song was1 however1 the great feature of the entertainment4 ,lottie ,collins burst upon ,london just as a dull theatrical season was drawing to a close1 and for several years she held the audiences at the ,gaiety and ,palace ,theatre in the hollow of her hand4 ,the rendering of the ,cancan on an ,english stage was a notable event1 but ,lottie ,collins had the invaluable instinct of knowing how far to go without ever once overstepping the border-line of propriety4 ,in spite of the storms of protest which it raised in certain quarters1 her dance was never even in its wildest moments very shocking4 ,the extraordinary jerks of her body1 her sudden and startling high kicks1 her frantic pirouettes1 were more astonishing than indecorous2 while the spirit with which they were executed and the utter disregard of the sense of rhythm was a revelation to the ,english public1 which was held spell-bound4 ,in ,america ,lottie ,collins met with a repetition of her ,london success4 ,she began her tour with an unfortunate experience4 ,having to remain in quarantine owing to a case of cholera which had occurred on the voyage1 in her exasperation she telegraphed to her manager the concise aspersion1--8,hang ,america40 ,this indiscretion did not predispose the ,american people1 always sensitive to the appreciation of foreigners1 in her favour1 and the moment when she made her bow to a ,new ,york audience was not unnaturally a critical one4 ,that her subsequent success in the ,states was as great as it had been in ,london seems to prove that there was something more attractive in her dance than those who know it only by the melody could have imagined possible4 ,the ,american idiom lends itself to a description of her performance4 8,lottie ,collins10 so ran the account in the leading daily paper of ,kansas ,city1 8has the stage all to herself and she bounces and dances and races all over it in the most reckless and irresponsible way1 precisely as if she was a happy child so full of health and spirits that she couldn't keep still if she wanted to4 ,sometimes she simply runs headlong all the way round the stage1 finishing the lap with perhaps a swift whirl or two1 or a whisk and a kick4 ,sometimes she simply jumps or bounces1 and sometimes she doubles up like a pen-knife with the suddenness of a spring lock to emphasise the #8,boom4' ,she is invariably in motion except when she stops to chant the gibberish that passes for verses1 but the wonder is that she has breath enough to sing after the first cyclonic interlude40 ,mr ,clement ,scott1 the dramatic critic1 writing of her in the ,daily ,telegraph1 confirms the impression of her antics so succinctly conveyed by the ,kansas ,city press4 8,bang goes the drum and the quiet1 simple-looking1 nervous figure is changed into a bacchanalian fury4 ,but wild and wilder as the refrain grows1 half-maddened as the dancer seems to become1 no one can reasonably detect one trace of vulgarity or immodesty in a single movement40 ,undoubtedly popular taste has undergone a radical change within the last generation4 ,the enthusiasm which ,lottie ,collins aroused is much less intelligible to us now than the homage that in earlier days used to be rendered to ,taglioni4 ,occasionally in the obscurer theatres of the provinces an agile young woman may still be seen throwing out her legs in all directions1 performing the 8splits0 and imitating the rotation of a cart-wheel1 but the sight leaves us wondrously cold4 ,we find it difficult to understand how a former generation could have gone delirious with delight over such a display4 ,autres temps1 autres murs4 444 ,but lest we should wrap ourselves too closely in our self-complacency we should recollect that1 at all events so far as the more popular style of dancing is concerned1 we have possibly only exchanged vulgarity for banality4 ,the popular taste is a little more queasy than formerly2 it demands not lustiness1 but prettiness4 ,prettiness1 insignificant but cheerful1 is the peculiar note of the cole anglaise1 if such a thing may be said to exist4 ,lottie ,collins left a legacy of style behind her which her successors possibly found to be a damnosa hereditas4 ,but they have prudently selected the prettier features and rejected the rest4 ,the most famous exponents of the ,english method are the girls who have been trained at the well-known schools of ,mr ,john ,tiller1 in ,manchester1 ,london and ,paris4 ,so apt was this training to meet the popular taste that the demand for pupils by theatrical and music-hall managers1 not only in ,england but on the ,continent1 grew with amazing rapidity4 ,the cry in the world of amusement was for ,tiller girls and yet more ,tiller girls4 ,it is impossible to mistake a ,tiller girl4 ,she is invariably young1 invariably pretty1 and invariably cheerful1 if with a somewhat infantine gaiety2 and1 while she is free from the affected mannerisms of an inferior ballerina1 she is a conscientious performer1 with a thorough knowledge of her special though limited technique4 ,she usually appears in troupes of eight or ten4 ,the most famous of these are the ,palace ,girls1 chiefly to be seen at the popular theatre of varieties in ,shaftesbury ,avenue1 ,london4 ,others with a marked family likeness1 better known perhaps on the ,continent than in ,england1 are the ,houp-,la ,girls1 the ,casino ,girls1 the ,ohio ,girls1 the ,snow ,drops1 the ,cocktails1 ,les ,ping ,pongs4 ,no provincial pantomime is quite complete without ,illustration3 ,,regina ,,badet ,,premi,,re ,,danseuse ,,of ,,the ,,paris ,,opera ,photograph3 ,central ,illustrations one or other of them4 ,they are to be found in the ,parisian ,revues1 and on the stages of ,america1 ,germany1 ,austria and even ,spain1 where they are welcomed as the typical representatives of the ,english school of dancing4 ,their charm is of the surface1 depending a little upon their science and a great deal upon their maturely immature graces4 ,they go through the same movements in the same manner1 at exactly the same time1 and with the same unwearying smile4 ,occasionally they vary the performance with a little singing--simple melodious ditties dealing with bees and honeysuckle1 nightingales and the moon1 love and the ,swiss mountains4 ,but vocal accomplishment is not their strong point4 ,it is not the accent of ,london or ,manchester1 but the freshness1 the buoyancy1 the cheerful innocence1 the absence of all excess1 the easy execution of simple movements1 above all the unimpeachable prettiness1 that constitute the chief characteristic of this peculiarly ,english contribution to the art of the dance4 ,it may have seemed that in ,england1 at any rate until the recent revival1 the dance had fallen quite out of relation to the other arts4 ,it appears to have been familiar only with the music of the streets4 ,it has given no inspiration to sculpture or painting4 ,it has been shamefully cold-shouldered by serious artists4 ,but perhaps it has not been so entirely uninfluenced by popular ,british art as may seem to be the case4 ,it has certainly worshipped at the same shrine of prettiness and gentle undisturbing emotionalism4 ,it has always been laudably bent on pleasing2 it has shunned violence and extremes1 even if in so doing it has had to submit to be vapid2 it has been artful only in order to appear artless2 if never profound it has always been respectable4 ,surely in their rendering of happy incidents1 their genial flow of spirits1 their easy and pretty accomplishment1 many of the pictures of official ,british art are inspired by the same spirit as that which animates the ,tiller ,girls6 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,the ,,revival ,,of ,,classical#a ,,dancing ,when an art grows infirm1 there always comes a time when the practitioners hold council over the failing body and prescribe the remedy4 ,and the remedy is always the same--they recommend a return to ,nature4 ,art must go back to its nursing mother1 nourish itself again upon the elemental milk from which it drew its earliest life1 and be made whole4 ,towards the close of the last century1 the dance was sick with a fever1 sick unto death4 ,the mild and genial palliatives of ,mr ,john ,tiller were unavailing4 ,in vain he taught his pupils to smile1 to shun the movements of delirium1 to simulate a childish glee1 to be cheerful even though the heavens should fall4 ,the result too often showed that a dancer might smile and smile and be a failure4 ,her naturalness was not really ,nature4 ,her passion for honeysuckle and the mountains was as little sincere as the morning blush upon her cheek4 ,the dance could not be tricked back to health by such artless deceptions4 ,it demanded the more radical cure of a genuine return to nature4 ,the goal was clear1 but the way was not plain to be seen4 ,for where was nature to be found8 ,all dancing is merely a refinement upon unconscious bodily gesture4 ,it is the poetic rendering of the prose of ordinary human movement4 ,but the modern world has lost the old graceful motions natural to man in a less artificial state4 ,the characteristic of natural movement is undulation4 ,waters1 winds1 trees1 all living forms1 obey a sovereign law of rhythm4 ,nature moves in curves and gradations rather than by leaps and bounds4 ,and man in his happiest circumstances--when he lives close to nature1 when his occupations are genial and not arduous1 when the processes of his labour are even and uncomplicated1 when his body is freely exercised and is not forced to conform itself to a special and restricted task--moves with the regular rhythm1 the freedom1 the equipoise1 of nature itself4 ,in that pleasant tract of life1 midway between the savage and the civilised state1 the occupations of man seem to have developed equally his vigour and his grace4 ,the ancient world had the instinct to know how far labour might be saved without the labourer being sacrificed to the machine4 ,the pause and ictus of the scythe1 the even swing of the oar1 the circular sweep of the sling1 the balance of the seat upon the unbitted and barebacked horse--such were the movements that formed a breed of men capable of all the heights and depths of human grace4 ,civilisation--in the canting sense of the word--means specialisation of employment1 and such specialisation in its turn too often means the deformation of the body4 ,in the modern civilised world the body is usually exercised either too little or too continuously in a single occupation4 ,the dependence upon easy means of locomotion1 the resort to labour-saving appliances1 the endless dull circulation through the rigid streets1 the long periods of inaction interrupted by sudden spells of haste1 have quenched the old buoyant and even rhythms4 ,human motion nowadays tends to be not flowing but angular1 jerky1 abrupt1 disjointed1 full of gestures not flowing imperceptibly one into another1 but broken off midway4 ,a return to nature means a turning away from the precedents of art to the incidents of contemporary life4 ,the difficulty of applying this precept to the dance lay in the fact that there was no nature to return to1 or rather that nature itself had become corrupt and sophisticated4 ,in this predicament what was to be done8 ,happily when nature fails us we can still have recourse to a counsellor of almost equal authority and wisdom--the art of the antique world4 ,and whereas for some of the modern arts--for painting and music1 for example--classical art is but a taciturn guide1 for the dance it is full of instruction4 ,their interests are one and the same--the body and bodily movement4 ,greek sculpture has caught innumerable moments of freely flowing action1 at a time when action was probably most pure1 removed equally far from the rudeness of the savage and the inexpressiveness of the modern4 ,all its salient gestures of sport and war and of the emotional states are as clear to us as if we had been the contemporaries of ,pericles and ,pheidias4 ,the ,greek frieze has been described as a kind of incomplete cinematographic film of the ,greek dance4 ,and the so-called ,tanagra figures represent a whole alphabet of the silent plastic speech of everyday life4 ,to recall the dance to nature by the way of ,greek art was the work of an ,american woman1 perhaps the greatest personality who has ever devoted herself to developing the art of the dance1 ,isadora ,duncan4 ,her interests ranged over a wide field of activities4 ,there was a time when she wished to initiate a reform of human life in its least details of costume1 of hygiene1 of morals4 ,but gradually she came to concentrate her interest upon the dance4 ,for her the dance is not merely the art which permits the spirit to express itself in movement2 it is the base of a whole conception of life1 a life flexible1 harmonious1 natural4 ,in the development of the dance she found herself confronted by the dilemma which has just been alluded to4 ,on the one hand was the limited technique of the ballet1 on the other the unnatural contortions of the eccentric school4 ,to return to the unconscious gesture of the people--that is to say1 the crude1 stereotyped gestures of the street--offered no way of escape4 ,she found the solution in a return to the natural gesture of human life as represented in ,greek art4 ,in order to get at her point of view it is best to let her speak in her own words--although1 as she would say1 one speaks better about the dance in dancing than in commentaries and explanations4 8,to seek in nature the fairest forms and to find the movement which expresses the soul of these forms--this is the art of the dancer4 ,it is from nature alone that the dancer must draw his inspirations1 in the same manner as the sculptor1 with whom he has so many affinities4 ,rodin has said3 #8,to produce good sculpture it is not necessary to copy the works of antiquity2 it is necessary first of all to regard the works of nature1 and to see in those of the classics only the method by which they have interpreted nature4' ,rodin is right2 and in my art ,i have by no means copied1 as has been supposed1 the figures of ,greek vases1 friezes and paintings4 ,from them ,i have learned to regard nature1 and when certain of my movements recall the gestures that are seen in works of art1 it is only because1 like them1 they are drawn from the grand natural source4 8,my inspiration has been drawn from trees1 from waves1 from clouds1 from the sympathies that exist between passion and the storm1 between gentleness and the soft breeze1 and the like1 and ,i always endeavour to put into my movements a little of that divine continuity which gives to the whole of nature its beauty and its life40 ,it must not be supposed that ,isadora ,duncan despised technique or attempted to dispense with it4 ,it was the technique of the current modes of dancing that she found unsatisfactory4 8,i have closely studied the figured documents of all ages and of all the great masters10 she says1 8but ,i have never seen in them any representations of human beings walking on the extremity of the toes or raising the leg higher than the head4 ,these ugly and false positions in no way express that state of unconscious dionysiac delirium which is necessary to the dancer4 ,moreover movements1 just like harmonies in music1 are not invented2 they are discovered40 ,it is a mistake1 which some exponents of the 8natural0 style of dancing have fallen into1 to imagine that they can express the spirit that moves them by any haphazard agitation of the limbs4 ,to dance 8naturally0 does not mean to dance impromptu1 relying upon the inspiration of the moment4 ,in art the simplest effects are usually those which have cost the greatest effort1 and no effort is more severe than the attempt to imitate the inimitable model of nature4 ,the dance demands as rigorous a technique as any other art4 ,without a technique it is inarticulate4 ,miss ,duncan ,illustration3 ,,isadora ,,duncan has undergone a training as elaborate as any prima ballerina4 ,from her childhood upwards she has devoted twenty years to the study of the dance4 ,she had to invent1 or rather discover1 her own technique4 ,taking for her models the poses of ,greek art1 she endeavoured to reconstruct from a single attitude the whole continuous flowing movement1 of which the statuesque pose is of course but an arrested moment4 ,she had to fill in the gaps1 as it were1 in the interrupted cinematographic film1 to pass rhythmically from one gesture to the next4 ,she found at first that her body failed to respond4 ,it suffered from the unpliability1 the general wrongness of movement1 which is the outcome of modern conditions of life and the loss of tradition4 ,she found that she had to begin with the elements of motion1 to learn to walk1 to run1 to leap rhythmically before she could dance rhythmically4 ,she started therefore to learn to govern her body1 to recover a lost art of balance and flexibility1 to make each slightest movement a harmonious expressive gesture4 ,for she demands none but the finest gestures for the dance4 ,everything common and contemptible she would exclude by a severe test4 8,every movement that can be danced by the side of the sea without being in harmony with the rhythm of the waves1 every movement that can be danced in the midst of a forest without being in harmony with the swaying of the foliage1 every movement that can be danced1 naked1 in the broad sunlight of the open field1 without being in harmony with the vibration and solitude of the landscape--all these movements are false movements in that they are discords in the harmony of the great natural lines4 ,that is why the dancer must choose above all the movements which express the strength1 the health1 the grace1 the nobility1 the languor or the gravity of living things40 ,the steps of the dance1 therefore1 have to be studied with a care which makes even the elaboration of the technique of the ballet appear simple4 ,but the steps are not the end2 they are only a means4 ,the end at which in ,miss ,duncan's view the dance aims is 8to express the noblest and most profound sentiments of the human soul1 those which come from ,apollo1 from ,pan1 from ,bacchus and from ,aphrodite4 ,to see in it no more than a frivolous or agreeable diversion is to offer an insult to the dance40 ,she is in thorough accord with the ,greek view that the dance reacts upon the moral mood4 8,the attitudes which we take have an influence upon our soul4 ,a simple throwing back of the head1 done passionately1 causes us a sudden tremor of joy1 of heroism or of desire4 ,all gestures have a moral resonance1 and thus can directly express every possible moral state40 ,hers also was the ,greek view that music and the dance should be mutually interpretative4 ,before her time music had been regarded primarily as an accompaniment1 a time-keeper2 she enunciated the theory that its function was to give the keynote of the mood of the dance4 ,music and the dance were to be two bodies animated by a single soul4 ,she selected as her prime composer ,gluck1 a master of simple and obvious melody4 ,but she not only interprets him1 she enlarges and sublimates him4 ,the handling of musical themes in this way is of course a dangerous matter1 and might give rise to discussion which would be out of place in this book4 ,it may be maintained that a consummate composition1 a symphonic movement by ,beethoven1 is complete in itself4 ,the best music is its own interpreter and needs no elucidation4 ,music1 moreover1 is large and broad in its emotional expression2 it transcends words1 and how therefore should it not transcend gesture8 ,it is as likely as not that a choregraphic commentary may limit rather than enhance the musical conception4 ,it is possible that the movements of a dancer might not at all correspond with the mood that a ,chopin nocturne1 for instance1 awakes in us4 ,to these misgivings ,i do not propose to reply4 ,the only adequate answer is to be found in ,miss ,duncan's dancing4 ,on this debatable ground her tread is sure4 ,in each of her interpretations of music there is a self-evident rightness which silences censure4 ,miss ,duncan at first suffered the lot of most reformers4 ,novelty is usually found to be amusing2 the public laughed because it failed to understand4 ,when she appeared some twelve years ago in ,new ,york1 she had already struggled long and hard to perfect ,illustration3 ,,isadora ,,duncan ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 her art and she sorely needed the invaluable stimulus of recognition and appreciation4 ,she performed a dance which was suggested by 8,the ,rubiyt0 of ,omar ,khayym4 ,the newspaper humorists made merry over her work4 ,one summed up the general verdict in the phrase3 8,our public will probably prefer ,omar's lines to ,miss ,duncan's40 ,when she came to ,europe1 however1 ,miss ,duncan's art met with speedy recognition4 ,in rapid succession she captured ,berlin1 ,paris1 ,st ,petersburg and ,london4 ,london perhaps found the new gospel somewhat hard to accept1 but the educational authorities both in ,germany and ,france were anxious to obtain her services in the instruction of children4 ,in ,paris she has trained a troupe of young children whose delightful dancing charmed ,london audiences a year or two ago4 ,in the power of expressing the depth and subtlety of spiritual moods ,isadora ,duncan is supreme4 ,she is a poet no less than a dancer4 ,her dancing is so deeply rooted in the soul that it ignores the superficial and often coquettish graces of the popular dancer4 ,and yet she is feminine in her dancing1 but feminine in the simple1 calm1 womanly grandeur of the three fates of the ,parthenon marbles4 ,hers is the essential and eternal type of womanhood1 the type of the ,madonna1 of the peasant woman1 breathing of the warm earth and the open air1 of ,ceres rather than of ,circe4 ,her dance has perhaps the beauty of full summer rather than of spring4 ,its lines are flowing1 but full of dignity and restraint4 ,there is perhaps still a suggestion of the frieze in it4 ,a new technique necessarily at first inclines towards rigidity4 ,there is no surer proof of the true greatness of her art than the fact that it can produce in the spectator that sense of shock which only work of an elemental character can give1 a shock which sends the mind surging forward down vistas opening up an undiscovered prospect not merely of art but of life4 ,this sensation has been well described by ,mr ,w4 ,r4 ,titterton in a glowing pan of praise4 8,i remember when ,i first saw her1 at the ,theater des ,westens in ,berlin4 ,my friends had led me to expect something fine1 and then the ,duncan came and struck me like a thunderclap4 ,will you believe me8 ,i shuddered with awe4 ,once in a century1 in ten centuries1 comes a ,new ,idea1 and here was ,i the spectator of the latest born4 ,in this idea--this free1 simple1 happy1 expressive rhythmic movement--was focused all ,i and a hundred others had been dreaming4 ,this was our symbol--the symbol of a new art1 a new literature1 a new national polity1 a new life4 ,i saw crowds of happy children1 of happy men and women1 dancing that dance on village greens1 in the green forest1 on the green hill-tops4 ,pedants at their books1 pedants at their figures1 pedants on their platforms vanished in smoke before the exultant dances of this glorious woman4 ,as the walls of ,jericho before the trump of ,joshua1 so before her the factory walls fell down1 the festering slums and ugly places of ,london crumbled to dust1 and away to ,arcady we danced to the sound of her ,shepherd's piping40 ,if ,isadora ,duncan propounded the gospel of the classical dance1 ,maud ,allan promulgated it with the greatest popular success4 ,she won the ear of ,england for the new word4 ,not that she was by any means a mere copyist--her talent was too original for that4 ,coming after her great predecessor1 she nevertheless found her own inspiration in herself4 ,with a certain assurance in the strength of her own individuality1 she treated the classical dance with some freedom and boldness4 ,she added the personal touch that gained the applause of the crowd4 ,miss ,maud ,allan is ,canadian born1 but she spent the best part of her childhood and youth in the state of ,california4 ,there she lived a breezy out-of-door life1 romping1 riding1 swimming1 mountain climbing1 drinking in health with the virgin air--all unconsciously1 no doubt1 acquiring the strength and suppleness of body that were to be invaluable to her in later years4 ,very early she began the serious study of music1 but even in those early days she seems to have been conscious of the possibilities of the expression of emotion through the medium of gesture4 ,when ,sarah ,bernhardt visited ,san ,francisco1 the art of the great actress left a deep impression upon her4 ,shortly afterwards1 when she was playing at the piano1 her mind still attentive to the rhythm of the ,french artist's gestures1 her mother asked her of what she was thinking4 8,of ,sarah ,bernhardt's wonderful talent1 of the beautiful movements of her body10 she replied4 8,she seems to express more with it than with her lips40 ,it was decided that ,maud ,allan should go to ,berlin to continue her musical studies at the ,royal ,high ,school of ,music4 ,the next five and a half years of her life were spent in an atmosphere of music1 literature and art4 ,her work was varied by travel in ,italy and elsewhere4 ,her visit to ,italy was a turning-point in her artistic career4 ,already at times she had experienced a feeling of being a prisoner while at the piano2 music was still an intense delight to her1 but it was no longer all-sufficing4 ,a new idea took shape in her mind as she stood before ,botticelli's 8,primavera0 in ,florence1 an idea that she too might render her body eloquent to speak of the joy of spring and of the scented woods and of emotions yet more various and profound4 ,she returned to ,berlin1 where she developed her idea1 concentrating her interest on physical culture1 studying in museums and libraries the poses of classical art1 seeking to discover the relation between music and gesture4 ,the new interest so engrossed her that it allowed no time for any other pursuit4 ,she no longer had any doubt as to her true vocation4 ,she left the ,royal ,high ,school of ,music and began her career as a dancer4 ,she gave her first public performance in ,vienna in #aijc4 ,three years had elapsed since the idea had crystallised before ,botticelli's picture in ,florence--three years of continuous training and preparation4 ,it is interesting to note that when ,joachim saw the dance-programme of his young friend1 he called her aside and said3 8,little girl1 you may dance anything you like1 but1 dear child1 please don't dance my ,beethoven60 ,it was another musician1 however1 ,marcel ,remy1 the ,belgian composer1 who gave her the greatest encouragement and assistance in the prosecution of her studies4 ,the success of the new dancer in ,vienna was immediate1 and in the following years she appeared in most of the larger cities of ,germany1 ,switzerland1 ,austria and ,hungary4 ,it was in #aijg that she received the command to appear before ,king ,edward ,,vii4 at ,marienbad4 8,i remember that it was with fear and trembling that ,i began my work10 so she tells the story1 8although when in the midst of any of my dances ,i am seldom cognisant of any personality near4 ,but ,i think ,i should be forgiven if1 that once1 the thought of ,england's ,king watching me gravely influenced me and1 afterwards ,i realised1 favourably4 ,i think it was the happiest moment of my life when he took my hand with his calm1 great dignity and told me he considered my art a beautiful one1 and my dances worthy of the word classical40 ,in the spring of #aijh ,maud ,allan first appeared before an ,english audience at the ,palace ,theatre1 ,london4 ,since that date much water has flowed under the bridge1 and it is not without interest now to recall the notice that appeared in ,the ,times newspaper the following morning3 8,there is little doubt that ,miss ,maud ,allan will make a great success4 ,if so she will be the first to rouse ,london to enthusiasm with a kind of dancing to which it has never yet taken very kindly--the dancing of gesture and posture4 ,as ,miss ,allan represents it1 it is a thing of such interest and beauty that it may even drive high kicking off the stage40 ,the programme informed us in magniloquent phrase that the new dancer had 8ransacked the shrines of plastic beauty and worshipped humbly and prayerfully before the ,art of the ,universe40 ,little wonder1 therefore1 that there was a hush of expectancy when the violin bows glided softly into the opening strains of ,chopin's valse in ,a minor and1 preceded by a sinuous arm1 the dancer slipped through the velvet hangings1 drawn forward apparently by the magnetism of the music4 ,her limbs and feet were bare1 her form lightly clothed in a loose classic drapery4 ,a ripple ran along her arms from the shoulder to the finger-tips1 undulating like a wave of the sea4 ,when the music changed from the minor to the major key1 her body passed into the corresponding mood1 suddenly becoming brilliant with hope and delight4 ,then as quickly the joy faded out of her face and limbs1 and she relapsed with the music into a passive despair4 ,when the music ceased1 her heart too seemed to have ceased beating4 ,silently she glided back through the curtain4 ,already ,london had capitulated4 ,mendelssohn's 8,spring ,song0 was an allegretto grazioso chase of ,illustration3 ,,maud ,,allan ,photograph3 ,foulsham ,banfield1 ,ltd4 butterflies and plucking of wild flowers4 ,with rapid sallies hither and thither1 now a-tiptoe1 now on bended knee1 she danced the joy of all living things in the spring4 ,the dream she dreamed before ,botticelli's 8,primavera0 had become reality4 ,a comparison with ,pavlova's 8,danse des ,papillons0 inevitably suggests itself1 and it is hardly possible to claim that in sheer brilliance of movement1 in papilionaceous gaiety1 the 8natural0 school has yet outstripped a style that is founded upon the older technique of the ballet4 ,but the climax of the performance was the 8,vision of ,salom40 ,many harsh things have been said of this dance1 from the propriety of the costume of jewels and gauze to that of rendering a stage version of a ,biblical episode4 ,it has been called by a respectable critic1 8sensuous1 decadent1 macabre40 ,it was stated that it preserved a nice balance between the lascivious and voluptuous4 ,above all1 the ,corporation of ,manchester1 believing that it would sully the immaculate atmosphere of their city1 prohibited its performance within the limits of their jurisdiction--an action which resembles nothing so much as that of an ,english duchess1 who1 when she was offered the translation of a ,french play that she was witnessing1 refused it1 saying1 8,i do not wish to understand40 ,it is to be feared1 however1 that the deputation of ,city ,fathers that was sent down to witness the dance was able only to misunderstand4 ,to state that the dance was as pure in intention as it was powerful in execution would be a superfluous commentary4 ,i cannot do better than let the dancer relate in her own words the meaning of the vision3 8,drawn by an irresistible force1 ,salome in a dream descends the marble steps leading from the bronze doors that she has just flung to1 behind her frightened attendants4 ,the sombre stone obelisks1 backed by the inky darkness of the cypress trees1 shut out the silver rays of the moon1 and1 save for the flickering red light of the cresset flames that the slaves have lit1 all is mystic darkness1 and to ,salome's overwrought brain all is fantastic1 vague4 8,she lives again the awful moments of joy and of horror which she has just passed through4 ,alone in the gloom the poor child's fancy assumes dominion over her4 8,slowly1 to the strains of the distant music1 reminiscently she raises her willowy arms4 ,the movement thrills her whole slender frame and she glides as if in a dream4 ,a voice whispers #8,your duty--your duty6 ,does not the child owe obedience to its mother8' ,on1 on--wilder and more reckless than ever before6 ,she sees once more the greedy glittering eyes of her stepfather--she hears again the whispered praises and encouraging words of her mother1 and ,salome1 child that she is1 realises a power within her and exults4 ,she sees again her triumph approach1 her swaying limbs are in readiness to give way1 when suddenly from out of the sombre death-still hall the wail of muffled distress--and a pale1 sublime face with its mass of long black hair arises before her--the head of ,john the ,baptist6 ,there is a sudden crash4 ,she is horror-stricken6 ,suddenly a wild desire takes possession of her4 ,why1 ah6 why should her mother have longed for this man's end8 ,salome feels a strange longing1 compelling her once more to hold in her hands this awful reward of her obedience1 and slowly1 very slowly1 and with ecstasy mingled with dread1 she seems to grasp the vision of her prize and lay it on the floor before her4 ,every fibre of her youthful body is quivering2 a sensation hitherto utterly unknown to her is awakened1 and her soul longs for comfort4 ,hark6 a sound of approaching feet4 ,frightened lest her treasure be taken from her before she has solved its mystery1 she stands guard over it1 and when the footsteps die away in the distant halls her relief knows no limit6 ,in the mad whirl of childish joy she is drawn again to dance--dance around this strange silent presence4 ,soon exhaustion breaks the spell4 ,salome1 ,princess of ,galilee1 lies prone on the cold grey marble4 8,the awakening is that of her childish heart4 ,the realisation of a superior power has so taken possession of her that she is spurred on to sacrifice everything even unto herself to conquer4 ,reared in luxury--her every wish granted since her days began--was it to be thought possible she would subject herself to the will of another1 a stronger and an intangible force at that1 without a fierce conflict8 8,what passes in those few moments through this excited1 half-terror-stricken1 half-stubborn brain makes of little ,salome a woman6 8,now1 instead of wanting to conquer1 she wants to be conquered1 ,illustration3 ,,maud ,,allan ,,in ,the ,vision of ,salom ,photograph3 ,foulsham ,banfield1 ,ltd4 craving the spiritual guidance of the man whose wraith is before her2 but it remains silent6 ,no word of comfort1 not even a sign6 ,crazed by the rigid stillness1 ,salome1 seeking an understanding1 and knowing not how to obtain it1 presses her warm1 vibrating lips to the cold lifeless ones of the ,baptist6 ,in this instant the curtain of darkness that had enveloped her soul falls1 the strange grandeur of a power higher than ,salome has ever dreamed of beholding becomes visible to her1 and her anguish becomes vibrant4 8,she begs and prays for mercy of the stern head--alas1 without response6 ,salome flees in despair1 and though her pride1 her princely rank1 confront her1 and she halts1 it is but for a moment4 ,the ,revelation of ,something far greater still breaks upon her1 and stretching out her trembling arms turns her soul rejoicing towards ,salvation4 ,it is gone6 ,where1 oh1 where6 ,a sudden wild grief overmasters her1 and the fair young ,princess1 bereft of all her pride1 her childish gaiety1 and her womanly desire1 falls1 her hands grasping high above her for her lost redemption1 a quivering huddled mass40 ,it was a dance of a strange and haunting fascination1 deriving no little of its disquieting effect from the weird ,oriental strains of ,strauss's music4 ,there were many who found themselves unaccountably drawn to it and were compelled to return to the tragic vision night after night4 ,yet as a presentment of tragic emotion1 finer even than the 8,vision of ,salom10 or the rendering of ,chopin's 8,funeral ,march10 was the dance of 8,ase's ,death0 in ,grieg's ,peer ,gynt suite4 ,it was a study of mournful poses1 inspired by that grief which lies too deep and still to explode in tumultuous and exciting gesture4 ,there is1 however1 in her ecstasies both of joy and grief just that lack of fire which makes intelligible1 if it does not quite justify1 the somewhat harsh words of ,mr ,w4 ,r4 ,titterton when he says of ,miss ,maud ,allan that 8she is the ,english ,miss in art4 ,she is an ineffectual angel beating in the limelight her luminous wings in vain4 ,she has many pretty movements2 she is light and dainty1 she has an elfin prance1 with bent knee and waving hands1 but she has no temperament1 and no presence2 she is spectral2 you think you can see through her4 ,and above all1 she is monotonous4 ,she repeats and repeats and repeats4 ,how she sickens me in the end1 for example1 with that1 at first1 so beautiful ripple of the hands40 ,the truth may possibly be that that freedom from convention in which she glories is in reality a bondage4 ,in her own words1 8dancing is the spontaneous expression of the spiritual state40 ,the dance is 8not an acquired but a spontaneous art1 revealing the temperament of the dancer40 ,she is compelled to acknowledge the necessity for technique1 but she fears that if it becomes excessive the art will no longer be able to stir the soul4 ,in this theory lurks a certain element of danger4 ,the dance1 like all the arts1 seeks the effect of spontaneity1 of inevitableness1 but this spontaneity is highly self-conscious4 ,and it expresses itself most readily by technique--for technique1 when it is really fluent1 does not hinder but facilitates the expression of temperament4 ,for us moderns the 8spontaneous0 gesture is the clumsy1 inexpressive movement of everyday life2 the dancer requires a conscious technique that comes more naturally to her than the unconscious technique of the street1 in order to be truly spontaneous and expressive4 ,it is perhaps her detestation of the stereotyped steps of the ballet that causes her to incline to the opposite extreme4 ,but she herself would be the first to admit that her art has cost her pains no less than that of the ballet-dancer4 ,it is one of her complaints that many suppose that she has learned to dance with no more than the exertion of a fluttering butterfly4 ,it is not for ,miss ,allan herself1 but for her imitators1 that the theory that technique is relatively unimportant is so dangerous a pitfall4 ,the conventions of classical or 8natural0 dancing are not yet so fixed as those of the ballet4 ,where the path is less clearly marked out there is more danger of going astray4 ,would-be dancers of the 8natural0 school1 imagining that nothing is so easy as to dance 8naturally10 forget that they have to unlearn the movements they are accustomed to before they can produce anything worthy of the name of art4 ,if ,isadora ,duncan is a poet1 ,maud ,allan is before all things a musician4 ,in the musical qualities of her art she has no rival4 ,apart from her instinct for music1 she has profited by a musical training such as probably no other dancer has been equipped with4 ,her steps are to the eye the exact equivalent of the notes which reach the ear4 ,one of the most felicitous of her accomplishments is her ability to pass with the music from the major to the minor key1 or vice versa4 ,when a phrase occurs first in one key and then in the other1 it is repeated in her dancing with just that modification of aspect and accent which expresses the change of mood4 ,some of the movements in ,grieg's first ,peer ,gynt suite gave her admirable scope for this beautiful art of transposition4 ,the faithfulness with which her movements follow the moods of the composer is probably only fully realised by those who are musicians as well as connoisseurs of the dance4 ,her translation of music has not seldom that rare quality of translations of being finer than the original1 and there are not a few who1 when they hear again1 unaccompanied1 the music which her dancing has ennobled1 will be conscious of a sense of incompleteness and loss4 ,if only ,joachim had seen her art in its maturity1 he would perhaps have been content to allow her dance his beloved ,beethoven6 ,in any account of the classical dance it is scarcely possible to forbear mention of ,mlle ,magdeleine1 although it is difficult to know exactly where to place her4 ,for the characteristic of her dancing is that it purports to be unconscious4 ,some eight or nine years ago ,mlle ,magdeleine came for hypnotic treatment to ,professor ,magnin of the ,paris ,school of ,magnetism4 ,m4 ,magnin accidentally discovered that while in a state of trance she was susceptible to the influence of music in a quite extraordinary degree1 and that although she had learnt nothing of the art of dancing1 she accompanied the music that was played to her in her trance with motions of the utmost beauty and significance4 ,she was strictly examined by a number of eminent scientists1 who certified that to the best of their belief her dancing was performed in a genuine state of unconscious1 or rather subconscious1 activity4 ,she interpreted with strange suggestiveness the music that the foremost musicians of the day played to her1 and the painters and sculptors who saw her1 including ,rodin1 were astounded at the strength and beauty of her poses4 ,naturally the main interest of her performance rests upon its genuineness1 and it is easier to believe that it was given under true hypnotic conditions than that the best scientific judgment of the day was deceived4 ,mlle ,magdeleine interpreted music ranging in character as widely as ,handel's 8,largo10 a valse of ,chopin's1 and 8,the ,marseillaise40 ,her rendering of the latter was the very embodiment of human passion and blood-lust4 ,her power of dramatic expression is indeed terrifying4 ,in her gestures there is at times something tremendous and heroic2 at other times they are distinctly faulty and fall into the conventional and the commonplace4 ,it is said that her trance tends to become mixed with the recollections of her waking consciousness1 and that when the two states ultimately coincide she will lose her distinctive quality1 her absolute rightness of gesture4 ,in any case her dancing is a unique phenomenon2 she cannot found a school or perpetuate a method4 ,but she points the way for the art of that great tragic dancer of whom the dance is expectant--an art which was only partially realised in the dancing of ,miss ,maud ,allan4 ,of the three ,ladies of ,sorrow of whom ,de ,quincey speaks it was perhaps possible for the dancer of the 8,vision of ,salom0 to represent our ,lady of ,tears1 8who goes abroad upon the winds when she hears the sobbing of litanies or the thundering of organs10 or even of ,our ,lady of ,sighs1 8whose eyes are filled with perishing dreams1 and with wrecks of forgotten deliriums02 but it was reserved for the ,magdeleine to portray that third and most terrible sister1 ,mater ,tenebrarum1 ,our ,lady of ,darkness1 the defier of ,god1 the mother of lunacies and the suggestress of suicides1 who 8moves with incalculable motions1 bounding and with tiger's leaps10 who 8wears the fierce light of a blazing misery that rests not for matins or for vespers1 for noon of day or noon of night1 for ebbing or for flowing tide40 ,the dances of delight and gaiety come almost instinctively to those of a happy temperament2 but the dances of grief1 of fear1 of madness1 of despair1 these are they which put the dancer to the severest test1 which strip her of the acquired graces of the schools1 and leave her dependent only on the quality of her own soul4 ,illustration3 ,,maud ,,allan ,,in ,,chopin',s ,,funeral ,,march ,photograph3 ,foulsham ,banfield1 ,ltd4 ,of the uninspired imitators who have followed in the steps of the great dancers of the classical school1 there is happily no need to speak at length4 ,mme ,knipper-,rabeneck of the ,artistic ,theatre of ,moscow trained a group of dancers1 who performed in ,london last year4 ,their interpretation of the music which they accompanied with their dancing was not very subtle1 but if they failed to catch the finest shades of ,schumann1 ,brahms and ,chopin1 they nevertheless gave a pleasing exhibition of youthful liveliness4 ,the sisters ,wiesenthal have added to the classical method a 8pretty fluttering1 tottering marionette manner of their own40 ,and ,lady ,constance ,stuart ,richardson was the first of the aristocratic amateurs who1 when any new style of dancing becomes the vogue1 are always ready to rush in where professionals sometimes fear to tread4 ,indeed there are signs that classical dancing may be overtaken by a fate not unlike that which befell the ,skirt ,dance--an event which would indeed be a calamity1 and not1 as in the earlier mode1 a happy release4 ,whatever may be said in dispraise of the school of the ballet--and it has its detractors not a few--it has at least the advantage of possessing a technique1 the terrors of which are sufficient to protect it against the incursion of that mob of gentlewomen who dance with ease1 or rather who would dance with ease were it not for the necessary pains without which that ease cannot be acquired4 8,natural0 dancing1 by its very name1 is inviting to those who are averse to hard work4 ,the theory that a dancer can ignore with impunity the restrictions of technique1 that she is bound to please if only she is natural and happy1 and allows herself to follow the momentary inspiration of the music1 and dances with the same gleeful spontaneity as a child dancing to a barrel-organ1 is a doctrine as seductive as it is fatal4 ,already we have seen upon the stage performers who1 in the name of ,greek art1 race and romp rather than dance4 ,we are threatened with performances in which nave young creatures in tenuous classic drapery amuse themselves by capering on bare feet1 gathering and scattering make-believe roses1 splashing in imaginary rivers1 undulating snaky arms1 shooting arrows1 playing ball1 butterfly catching4 ,the dance cannot return to nature1 in the sense which ,isadora ,duncan intended1 by returning to this rather kindergarten ,arcadia4 ,the classical dance has its hidden law1 which is perhaps more difficult than that of the ballet because it is more secret4 ,if the dancer despises technique and relies only on her natural endowment1 she must at least expect that the least flaw of beauty1 grace or intelligence will be exposed in painful nakedness to the general gaze4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,imperial ,,russian ,,ballet ,it is now time to pick up the thread of the story of the ballet4 ,we have seen how a new spirit in dancing came from the ,west2 for the new spirit in ballet we must look to the ,east4#b ,many strange and fine things of the spiritual order have come out of ,russia in these latter times4 ,our music1 our literature1 our art1 have been profoundly affected by the spirit of that people which appears to have all the unfathomable reservoirs of barbaric life to draw upon4 ,but perhaps there has come to us nothing so supremely excellent1 so unsurpassably beautiful1 as ,russian dancing4 ,as with all other peoples who still preserve the traditions of the elder generations1 with the ,russians dancing is a natural act4 ,the peasants learn the graceful national dances1 which vary from province to province1 as simply as they learn their mother tongue4 ,in summer1 on the evenings of ,sundays and holidays1 the gaily-decked youths and maidens collect in a field or on a bridge near the village and dance to the music of the twittering balalaika or the monotonous ululations of a cheap concertina4 ,unfortunately in ,russia1 as everywhere else1 the old order is giving place to the new1 and for the immemorial national dances are being substituted foreign quadrilles and lancers4 ,but though the character of the dance changes1 the passion and the natural aptitude for it remain4 ,in the ,people's ,palace at ,st ,petersburg the young men and girls from the factories may be seen dancing the intricate measures of the mazurka with an ease and abandon which some of the trained dancers of ,western ,europe might envy4 ,to this native spirit1 however1 the ballet owes little or nothing4 ,doubtless it has in a manner fertilised the soil1 created a public interested in the dance and1 if heredity counts for anything1 provided a raw material ready for the ballet-master to mould to his will4 ,but the ballet1 as ,i have said before1 is in its origin aristocratic1 and nowhere more so than in ,russia4 ,the ,russian ballet is entirely the product of the ,court4 ,it was of course originally a foreign importation4 ,the first ballet was presented in #afge1 before the ,tsar ,alexis1 the second of the ,romanovs4 ,peter the ,great1 in his efforts to westernise ,russia1 introduced the ,western modes of dancing1 and1 as he was his own shipwright1 so he was his own dancing-master4 ,he sets about teaching his ,court1 and himself made such 8caprioles10 says ,bergholz1 that any dancing-master might envy him4 ,but the institution of the ballet in ,russia was due to the ,empress ,anne4 ,in #agce she appointed the ,neapolitan composer ,francesca ,areja to compose the music and conduct the orchestra1 and a ,frenchman1 ,land1 to act as ballet-master4 ,she commanded an ,italian intermedio with a ballet to be played before her once a week4 ,at first1 as there were yet no professional dancers1 the young noblemen of the military cadet schools were instructed in the dance4 ,gradually they were superseded by a specially trained corps4 ,land collected a number of boys and girls of the poorer classes and trained them free of charge4 ,so delighted was the ,empress with their performance that she undertook to defray all the expenses of their education out of the ,imperial exchequer4 ,land received a fee for teaching them1 rooms were provided for them in one of the palaces1 and we learn that the children were entrusted to the care of a widow of one of the ,court coachmen4 ,such were the modest beginnings of the famous ,dramatic ,school of ,st ,petersburg4 ,catherine ,,ii4 followed in the footsteps of her predecessor4 ,in her reign the services of the cadets were no longer required4 ,to her initiative was due the erection of the ,grand ,theatre1 which is now supplanted by the famous ,marianski ,theatre4 ,she organised the theatre and brought it into relation with the bureaucratic regime1 appointing a director1 with two committees under his control1 one in ,moscow and one in ,st ,petersburg1 to superintend theatrical spectacles4 ,didelot1 who was called to ,st ,petersburg in #ahjb1 raised the ballet to a level of excellence which was not surpassed even in ,milan4 ,as a ballet-master he was a martinet1 almost a fanatic in his passion for his art4 ,under him the ballet took that prominent place in ,russian life which it has never since lost4 ,he regarded plastique and mime as even more important features in the ballet than dancing itself4 ,he insisted that there was no limit to what the ballet could express1 and to prove his case staged ,racine's tragedy1 ,phdre1 in ballet form with considerable success4 ,so great became the popularity of the ballet that even when opera came into fashion it was the custom for the corps de ballet to repeat in dumb show during the entr'actes the foregoing act of the opera4 ,during all this time the ,imperial ,ballet closely followed the academic ,italian tradition4 ,it was in no way distinctively ,russian4 ,fifty years ago1 and even less1 most of the principal dancers in ,moscow and ,st ,petersburg were ,italians--a complete reversal of the state of affairs at the present day1 when ,preobrajenskaya1 one of the greatest dancers at the ,marianski1 appears as prima ballerina at ,la ,scala1 the home of the ballet in ,milan4 ,the excellence of the ,russian ballet is the direct outcome of the system of ,state maintenance and control1 which has been in vogue for a century and a half4 ,the large expenditure necessary for its upkeep is met by the funds annually set apart for the ,minister of the ,court4 ,the ,imperial ,ballet provides all the dancers for the operas given throughout the season at the ,marie ,theatre in ,st ,petersburg and at the ,opera ,house in ,moscow4 ,on two evenings a week1 ,wednesday and ,sunday1 it gives a special performance devoted entirely to the ballet4 ,moreover1 some of the less distinguished dancers perform from time to time at the ,people's ,palace in ,st ,petersburg4 ,the country1 therefore1 may be said to get good value for its money4 ,attached to the great theatres1 primarily reserved as homes of ballet1 is the ,imperial ,school of ,dancing1 which is of course supported by the ,state4 ,the pupil--boy or girl--is entered at the age of about nine or ten4 ,after the necessary nomination has been secured1 a stringent examination with regard to health1 intelligence1 beauty of form and natural gracefulness has to be passed before the child is finally accepted4 ,mr ,rothay ,reynolds1 who has an intimate knowledge of ,russian life1 gives an interesting account of the training3 8,the school contains a great room for dancing1 with a floor sloped at the same angle as that of the stage at the ,marinsky ,theatre4 ,here one may see a class of merry boys instructed in their art4 ,a master1 usually one of the best dancers in the theatre1 shows them the steps and movements to be learnt1 and half-a-dozen do their best to copy him4 ,after ten minutes they go and rest1 and a second batch comes forward4 ,the boys seem to enjoy the work1 and even when they are supposed to be resting some of them will continue to practise and give each other friendly hints4 ,in another and similar room is the girls' class1 where the method is the same4 ,then there is a room with many toilet-tables on which grease-paints are set out and with mirrors and electric lights arranged exactly as at the theatre4 ,here the pupils assemble for lessons in make-up4 ,a boy has to learn to transform himself into a ,chinese or an old man or a beautiful young ,greek1 and he has to pass examinations at different points of his school career in this art4 ,i remember once meeting a young man in the waiting-room of a ,polish dentist0 7he goes on to relate74 8,he told me he had toothache and a nervous break-down1 brought on he believed by the strain of a difficult examination4 ,i asked what were the subjects of the examination4 #8,french1' he said1 #8because we must be cultured1 dancing1 the history of dancing1 and painting my face4' ,i had the curiosity to ask where this unusual curriculum was followed4 #8,at the ,imperial ,school of ,ballet1' he said1 mentioned his name with the air of one who felt that he ought to have been recognised1 and added3 #8,thank heaven ,i've passed1 and now ,i am a premier danseur4 ,it is a delightful life1 and when ,i am too old to dance the ,state will give me a pension4'0 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,russian ,,ballet ,,an ,,undress ,,rehearsal ,the pupil at the ,imperial ,ballet ,school receives in fact a sound secondary education4 ,four hours a day are devoted to dancing during the eight years he is at school4 ,while still at school the children occasionally appear on the stage in special ballets d'enfants4 ,they also take part in 8crowds0 in operas where children are needed1 as in the first act of ,tchaikovsky's ,dame de ,pique4 ,at seventeen they begin their career as members of the corps de ballet1 from which the most proficient rise upwards1 through the various grades of coryphe1 second sujet1 premier sujet1 premire danseuse or ballerina1 and ballerina assoluta4 ,the dancer retires1 after eighteen years' service1 at thirty-five--only artists of exceptional merit are permitted to continue after that age--and receives a pension of from one hundred and twenty pounds to two hundred and sixty pounds a year4 ,the fine quality of the performances of the ,russian ballet is undoubtedly due in the first place to the prolonged and thorough training1 not only of the principal dancers but of each individual performer4 ,an average of five or six hours' dancing a day is the rule rather than the exception2 for a ballet that is to be performed at night is always rehearsed during the day1 however many times it may have been given before4 ,the counsel of ,carlo-,blasis1 the eighteenth-century ballet-master is fulfilled to the letter3 8,il faut encore tudier10 he wrote1 8lors mme qu'on sera tout--fait form4444 ,dans la musique1 dans la peinture1 etc41 l'on n'a pas besoin d'un travail aussi opinitre pour conserver ce que l'on sait4 ,l'art du danseur1 comme tous ceux d'exercice1 ne jouit pas de cet avantage40 ,in the ,russian ballet there is a perfect co-operation between the performers and an all-round technical excellence quite unlike anything that has ever been seen in this country4 ,moreover the art of the male dancer1 which had almost died out in other countries1 has not only been kept alive in ,russia but has been developed equally with that of the ballerina4 ,the 8principal boy0 of the ,english stage is1 as we know1 always a girl4 ,a note of character and energy disappeared from the ballet when it became solely the medium of feminine dancing4 ,the strength and breadth of the ,russian ballet have gained enormously by the retention and development of male dancing4 ,indeed its virility is one of the most striking features4 ,the fierceness of the warrior dances in ,prince ,igor and the adroitness of the dance of buffoons in ,le ,pavillon d',armide are among its most memorable achievements4 ,scheherazade without ,nijinsky would be like ,hamlet without the ,prince of ,denmark4 ,we realise now that without the masculine element the ballet is as incomplete as an orchestra without the bass4 ,in ,russia the music of the ballet has received the same careful consideration as the choregraphy4 ,in some cases1 music which was not written specially for the purpose has been adapted to the uses of the ballet4 ,but latterly it has been the custom of the directors to apply to the leading composers of the day for ballet music written expressly for a given subject4 ,in earlier times it was of course the custom for composers to write the music for the ballets that were interpolated in the opera4 ,tchaikovsky was one of the first to compose a ballet independent of opera and complete in itself4 ,this was ,the ,sleeping ,beauty1 first presented in #ahij1 in his own opinion the best thing he ever did1 with the exception of his opera1 ,eugne ,onegin4 ,he showed his recognition of the necessity of an absolute co-ordination among the collaborators of the ballet by working in accordance with the suggestions of the choregrapher4 ,the matre de ballet1 after composing the design of the dances that were to express the spirit and action of the piece1 sent to the musician a detailed schedule of the music required2 thus3 ,no4 #a4 ,musique douce1 #fd mesures4 ,no4 #b4 ,l'arbre s'claire4 ,musique ptillant de #h mesures4 ,no4 #c4 ,l'entre des enfants4 ,musique bruyante et joyeuse de #bd mesures1 etc4 ,casse-,noisette1 another ballet by the same composer1 appeared in #ahib4 ,the original and powerful music of ,borodin has been pressed into the service of the ballet1 and entire ballets have been written by ,rimsky-,korsakov1 ,glazounov and ,arensky4 ,in the execution of the music there is the same specialisation4 ,the leaders of the orchestra qualify specially for the ballet1 having no part in the orchestra at any other time4 ,it is clear1 therefore1 that in ,russia the ballet has long been regarded as a serious art-form4 ,a keen and intelligent criticism and an enthusiastic public interest provide it with that bracing atmosphere without which it is difficult for any composite form of art to thrive4 ,on the nights devoted exclusively to the ballet1 the large ,marianski ,theatre is so crowded that it is difficult to obtain a seat4 ,most of the stalls and boxes are subscribed for1 and the people renew their subscriptions year after year4 ,mr ,rothay ,reynolds relates how1 when an elderly gentlemen who for a great number of years had had a seat in the front row suddenly died1 a friend of his rushed to the theatre and offered the young lady at the box-office twenty guineas if she would secure him the seat4 8,alas60 she said1 8,i have already received over a hundred applications40 ,when the ,russian ballet was being performed for the first time at ,covent ,garden1 an enthusiast was heard to express his intention of emigrating to ,russia in order to see the ballet in its true home4 ,if he had carried out his intention it is to be feared that he would have suffered grievous disappointment4 ,for it is a great misapprehension to suppose that the ,russian ballet as it has been seen in ,paris and ,london is typical of the official ballet at ,st ,petersburg and ,moscow4 ,when the ,diaghilew company first appeared at the ,theatre du ,chtelet1 the republican convictions of ,paris received a shock4 ,could any good thing come out of ,tsardom8 ,had autocracy succeeded where the alliance of liberty1 fraternity and equality had failed8 ,was it then true that venerable tradition1 assisted by a bureaucratic regime1 was a kinder nursing mother to the arts than the revolutionary spirit8 ,little by little the truth leaked out4 ,the ,russian ballet1 which had been welcomed as the most modern manifestation of theatrical art1 was not traditional but revolutionary4 ,it was not the child of the official art of ,st ,petersburg but the outcast4 ,its leaders were dangerous innovators whom the intransigent conservatives had expelled as hastily as if they had been political agitators4 ,paris was reassured4 ,the truth is that the excellence of the ,imperial ,school of ,ballet of which ,i have spoken is an excellence of method and technique rather than of spirit and conception4 ,in ideals the ,imperial ,ballet has not travelled far from those of ,milan in the earlier part of the nineteenth century4 ,it has elaborated and refined1 but it has not greatly widened them4 ,the visitor at the ,st ,petersburg ,opera ,house would discover that the unmeaning and unbeautiful acrobatics of an earlier day have not yet altogether disappeared4 ,he would find that the ballet in ,aida1 for example1 does not differ in many material points1 excepting always the accomplishment of the performers1 from what he has been accustomed to see in ,milan or ,vienna4 ,it was in ,russia that the spirit of criticism gave rise to new ideas1 but the exponents of these new ideas came into sharp collision with the authorities at the ,imperial theatres of ,st ,petersburg and ,moscow4 ,the spectacles which have been seen in ,london and ,paris--some of which have never been produced in ,russia--are the production of a group of daring and subversive artists1 whom ,m4 ,serge de ,diaghilew1 the organiser of the ballets1 has gathered round him--notably ,m4 ,fokine1 the choregraphic director1 ,,mm4 ,leon ,bakst and ,benois1 the designers of the scenery and costume1 ,m4 ,tcherepnin1 the musical composer and conductor1 and of course ,m4 ,nijinsky and ,mme ,karsavina4 ,m4 ,fokine1 it is true1 is the assistant ballet-master at the ,st ,petersburg ,opera1 but he is said to be in command there only at the rarest intervals4 ,m4 ,bakst has not worked for the ,imperial theatres1 and ,m4 ,tcherepnin comes1 not from the ,st ,petersburg ,opera1 but from the ,conservatorium1 where he is in charge of the orchestral class4 ,they are able1 of course1 to avail themselves of the marvellous technical powers of the dancers who have joined them1 practically all of whom were trained at the ,imperial ,school of ,ballet2 but few of these are now regular members of the corps1 and ,nijinsky1 the greatest genius of them all1 recently received his formal discharge at the hands of the ,st ,petersburg authorities4 ,long tradition1 careful science and ,state patronage helped to make of the ,imperial ,ballet an elaborate1 smoothly-working and faultless piece of theatrical mechanism2 it only wanted the breath of genius to give it artistic life4 ,what then are the essential characteristics which differentiate the 8revolutionary0 ,russian ballet from the traditional ballet as ,illustration3 ,,trouhanowa ,,in ,,an ,,oriental ,,ballet ,photograph3 ,gersche it has hitherto been known both in ,russia and elsewhere8 ,the essential difference is to be found1 not in technique1 but in idea4 ,the ballet has been brought into relation with life4 ,dancing1 which had its origin in the most elemental emotions1 gradually strayed further and further from its source1 until in the ballet it lost its last remnant of vital significance4 ,the ballet was relegated to a kind of barren limbo of the imagination2 it was the mise en scne of the fairy tale2 none of the echoes of the real world ever disturbed its enchanted silence2 no excitement1 no passion1 no humour1 was permitted to relax the fixity of its unmeaning smile4 ,it was supposed to be structurally incapable of supporting anything more weighty than merely gossamer fancies1 eternal variations upon the themes of coquetry--invitation and refusal1 pursuit and evasion4 ,such inconsequential argument as there was served only to introduce a series of independent dances which were quite unrelated to any central inward idea4 ,the ballet's complete sterility of idea was acquiesced in as a necessary condition of its existence4 ,it was an artificial and somewhat withered paradise from which the river of life was carefully diverted4 ,the work of the revolutionaries was to open the sluice-gates and let in the fertilising flood of vital emotion4 ,the ineffectual rhythms of the dance were suddenly caught up into the masterful rhythms of life itself4 ,what is revolutionary in the new ballet is the power to rouse and trouble the imagination4 ,the innovators have extended the range of the ballet1 a range as wide as that of the drama--one is tempted to say wider1 for not only does it express a minute grace as choice as the grouping of the petals of a rose1 but at times its huge leaping rhythms throb with an unconstrained and elemental violence1 all too shattering for the formal mould of speech4 ,if the aim of the new movement is the strict subjection of the ballet to an artistic idea which shall express a high emotional impulse1 the means by which it is attained is no less novel and characteristic4 ,the ballet is a composite form of art1 at once plastic1 decorative and musical4 ,its success therefore depends upon an intimate collaboration between its composers1 the choregraphic designer1 the painter and the musician4 ,an obviously necessary condition8--yes1 but one which until the advent of the revolutionary ballet had been considerably neglected4 ,its neglect had resulted in the production of a mosaic of more or less artistic effects1 jarring and warring among themselves4 ,too often the dance did not concur with the action4 ,the steps were considered not as a means of expression1 a language1 but only as a brilliant exercise1 without more signification than an acrobatic performance4 ,occasionally1 as in the production of ,tchaikovsky's ,sleeping ,beauty1 the musician and the ballet-master worked in accord1 but more often independently4 ,the scene-painter produced a finished and usually photographic picture without any thought of the placing of the performers in the scene4 ,the costumier1 again1 was accorded his own sweet will1 and added his private inharmonious notes to the general discord4 ,the new composers worked on the principle that there was not one design of the dance1 another of the music and a third of the dcor1 but one design1 one rhythm1 one dominating impulse of the whole4 ,in their ballets1 the lines1 the colours and the movements together interpret the spirit and the action1 mutually reinforcing one another and producing a cumulative effect of strength and beauty1 which at once grips and delights us4 ,if one of the collaborators of the revolutionary ballet has impressed upon it his personality more strongly than another it is ,m4 ,leon ,bakst4 ,he belongs to the new romantic school of painting1 though he himself prefers to call it the new classical school1 which is in full revolt against the illusion that the realists have set up as the final aim of art4 ,he is a member of the ,salon d',automme1 a pioneer and leader of the art movement which seeks to apply the principles of 8post-,impressionism0 to the decoration of the stage4 ,the importance1 not to say the pre-eminence1 of the place which he claims in the theatre for the decorator1 is best stated in his own words4 8,i believe10 he says1 8the time for the conventional producer to arrange the sunshine and shadow of the #8scene' has passed for ever4 ,the peculiar form of #8mental' intelligence which has dominated the theatre for so many years is about to be replaced by the plastic intelligence1 and the tone of the ensemble will be determined by the painter4 ,the evolution of the ,illustration3 ,,danse ,,orientale ,,after ,a ,,design ,,by ,l,,on ,,bakst theatre is towards a plastic ideal1 and the action of a piece1 sometimes full of invention1 is weak and ineffective if it has not been conceived according to an artistic vision2 just as an exaggerated #8literary' picture repels a true connoisseur4 ,so give place to the painter in the theatre--and a leading place4 ,it is the painter who should now 7taking the place of the erudite director7 create everything1 know everything1 foresee everything and organise everything4 ,it is the painter who must be master of the situation1 understand its finesse and decide the style of the piece4 ,to his plastic judgment and taste must be subordinated the thousand details which compass the imposing ensemble of a fine work of the theatre40 ,how thoroughly ,m4 ,bakst's personality enters into the least details of the scene is evident in the two ballets which he has staged most brilliantly--,cloptre and ,scheherazade4 ,he introduces the 8leitmotiv0 into the scene and uses it as effectively as the musician4 ,rimsky-,korsakov's overture in ,scheherazade does not more vividly suggest the sultry1 sensual1 ,oriental atmosphere with its lurking brutalities than do the voluptuous lines and sinister colours of the artist4 ,the feeling is continued in the costumes1 which are not only fitly adjusted to the languorous movements of the dancers but also serve to carry out the colour-scheme of the scene4 ,each dress is a note of colour1 chosen as carefully as an artist forms his tone upon the palette1 and placed in its proper relation to the whole4 ,but the keynote of ,m4 ,bakst's art is simplicity and severity4 8,the painter of the future demands a severe style10 he says1 8because the excess of detail has become intolerable to him40 ,realism he abhors no less than pedantry of detail4 ,he seeks to suggest the mood and not to photograph the event4 ,his most gorgeous effects are obtained by an economy of material1 which in comparison with one of the modern successful1 over-propertied ,shakespearian productions might seem positively parsimonious4 ,and what he can achieve when he limits himself to the minimum of material may be seen in ,le ,carnaval1 in which the two roguish sofas are probably the most eloquent and expressive properties ever placed upon the stage4 ,simplicity1 suggestion1 style--these are the qualities of ,m4 ,bakst's work in the theatre1 and1 above all1 that all-embracing rhythm which1 uniting with the rhythm of the music and the dance1 helps to create one unity of colour1 sound and movement4 ,perhaps this is not the place to speak of the wide-reaching effect of the revolutionary ballet upon the general world of art4 ,the colour and design of ,leon ,bakst's scenes1 the provocative gestures of ,nijinsky's dancing1 the strange and startling patterns of the dancers1 have suggested to artists a new source of inspiration1 which in ,paris at all events has already not been without its influence on their work4 ,the ballet is in the van of the artistic movement of the day1 and the dance1 through the ballet1 has attained a position which it has never held since the days of ancient ,greece--being once more received into its proper and inseverable fellowship with music and the plastic arts4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,repertory ,,of ,,the ,,russian ,,ballet ,the ,russian ballets are based upon an endless variety of themes1 but the dancing may be said to draw its inspiration from three sources4 ,first and foremost1 of course1 is the traditional method of the old ,italian masters4 ,this is the mother tongue of the ballet1 which is spoken from ,copenhagen to ,moscow1 with only the least perceptible trace of local accent4 ,but this common language the ,russians have refined to a purity unknown elsewhere2 from being the vehicle of the stiff rhetoric of the conventional ballet1 they have transformed it into a flexible speech1 in which they have been able to utter such gem-like poems as ,le ,spectre de la ,rose1 ,le ,carnaval and ,les ,sylphides4 ,next1 they have gone for inspiration to their own national dances4 ,they have refreshed the stage with the bracing air of the steppes4 ,in the ,polovtsian dances of ,prince ,igor they have given to an art that was nurtured in courts and has always moved with courtly grace1 the tigerish motions of a full-blooded barbaric life4 ,finally they have enlarged the scope of the ballet by making use of the classical and ,oriental dance4 ,and for the sources of the classical dance they have gone not only to ,greece but to ,egypt4 ,the theme of ,cloptre is really the ,egyptian attitude1 just as the theme of ,scheherazade is the ,eastern attitude4 ,the ,diaghilew ballet has an extensive repertory1 wide enough to display to the full the genius of the composers and the talents of the dancers4 ,naturally1 during the six seasons in which it has appeared in ,paris1 its large variety has been better exhibited there than in ,london4 ,the principal pieces which have been given at ,covent ,garden are ,le ,pavillon d',armide1 ,le ,carnaval1 ,prince ,igor1 ,les ,sylphides1 ,le ,spectre de la ,rose1 ,cloptre1 ,scheherazade4 ,le ,pavillon d',armide is a link with the old conventional ballet4 ,the fable is full of unreason4 ,the pavilion is a spacious apartment in an old ,french chteau1 deriving its name from the personage who forms the subject of a piece of ,gobelin tapestry on the wall4 ,to this castle comes one night a storm-belated traveller4 ,he is hospitably entertained by the wicked marquis1 the owner of the castle1 who is an amateur magician of considerable attainments4 ,after admiring the pictured figure of ,armide1 he falls asleep4 ,as he sleeps the figures on the tapestry come to life1 and he is transported in dream to the ,court of ,armide1 where her captive knights dance in a chain of roses4 ,he conceives a grand passion for the princess1 and the king1 whom he does not recognise to be the wizard marquis1 blesses their union4 ,the magic ,court vanishes and the traveller wakes to find himself still in the bare1 dawn-lit chamber4 ,when the marquis enters to ask how he has slept he recognises with horror that he is none other than the king in the dream4 ,and yet it was not wholly a dream1 for at the same time he finds the actual golden scarf which ,armide had given to him in plighting her troth4 ,he knows himself to have been the victim of a fatal enchantment1 and thereupon somewhat irrelevantly dies4 ,m4 ,fokine has made of this irrational fable the framework of a number of dances which display the perfect unity and discipline of the dancers4 ,but ,nijinsky1 as the servant of the traveller1 and ,karsavina1 as ,armide1 are scarcely given adequate scope for their originality and faculty of interpretation4 ,the thing is good of its kind--it is the perfection of the traditional ballet d'action--but it has been done before4 ,the most satisfying feature of the performance is a dance of seven buffoons1 of whom the premier buffoon is ,m4 ,rosai4 ,incidentally they execute several steps which technically are among the most difficult in the dancer's repertory4 ,but the chief merit of their display is its grotesque wit1 the mimicry of the half-human antics of marionettes1 executed with a faultless rhythmical precision4 ,the decoration was devised by ,m4 ,benois and1 at all events ,illustration3 ,,waslaw ,,nijinsky ,,in ,le ,pavillon d',armide ,photograph3 ,gerschel as it was presented at ,covent ,garden1 it cannot be said to have been really successful4 ,the pavilion had no other hint of a fatal spell than that which the lowered lights could suggest2 the ,court of ,armide1 who was surely twin-sister to 8,la ,belle ,dame sans ,merci10 might have been made to evoke some vision akin to that which ,keats saw of 8pale kings and princes too1 pale warriors1 death-pale were they all40 ,but1 perhaps largely owing to the faulty lighting1 it was a rather garish spectacle1 a noisy conflict of pure reds1 greens and blues4 ,only for a moment did the scene really live1--when the mists began to wash round the battlements1 the colours fused together in a trembling twilight1 the tumult of the action died away and the motionless figures gazed after the victim traveller led away by his fatal lover4 ,but doubtless the composers of the ballet do not claim for it any special seriousness of intention4 ,we are to take it or leave it as a simple ballet d'action of the conventional school1 no more than a groundwork for some very brilliant and elaborate dancing4 ,it is only a failure when judged by canons which we should not think of applying to any ballet but that of ,m4 ,diaghilew4 ,the theme of ,le ,carnaval may be regarded as even more flippant1 but it expresses a series of purely musical ideas1 and moreover it shows how the ballet can be made as witty as dialogue4 ,it is an adaptation by ,m4 ,fokine of ,schumann's well-known pianoforte solo4 ,hardly a note has been added to ,schumann's music or taken away from it by the four composers who have skilfully provided the instrumentation--,rimsky-,korsakov1 ,liadov1 ,glazounov and ,tcherepnin4 ,not only has ,schumann's work lost nothing of its original savour1 but rather it has gained in expression and brilliance4 ,in this fantasy1 beloved of pianists1 ,schumann sought to represent various personages whom the ballet presents to us in material form4 ,the composer's explanation of the work was given to ,moscheles1 to whom he wrote3 8,the ,carnaval was written mostly for different occasions1 and1 excepting three or four of the pieces1 is all founded on the notes ,a4 ,s4 7,a flat71 ,c4 ,h 7,b natural71 which form the name of a little town in ,bohemia where ,i had a musical friend1 and which1 curiously enough1 are also the only musical letters in my name4 ,i wrote the titles later4444 ,as a whole1 the work has absolutely no artistic merit2 but individually the various states of feeling seem to me interesting40 ,the pieces are written round a number of imagined characters--,arlequin1 ,columbine1 ,estrella1 ,chiarina1 ,pierrot1 ,pantalon1 ,papillon1 ,florestan1 ,eusebius4 ,the ,chiarina was supposed to be ,madame ,schumann1 the ,estrella1 as ,schumann told ,moscheles1 8a name such as one writes under portraits to impress the picture on the mind10 and in ,florestan and ,eusebius he represented himself4 ,m4 ,fokine has been wiser than to impose upon these irresponsible creatures of the musician's fancy the burden of a formal plot4 ,they merely flit across the stage in a succession of amorous episodes which take place during a masked fte--,pierrot deceived and suffering1 ,pantalon duped1 ,eusebius romantic1 ,florestan impetuous1 ,chiarina sentimental and ,estrella turbulent4 ,m4 ,bakst1 the decorator1 has completed the ballet by making it an exquisitely delicate artistic whole4 ,the tinsel glitter and vast expenditure of means upon which the conventional ballet is usually built up has been utterly discarded4 ,in its place is a simplicity verging on bareness1 an economy of material in which every tone and line has an individual value1 and bespeaks the guidance of a single directing mind4 ,the curtain rises upon an almost empty scene1 the ante-chamber of a ball-room4 ,the backcloth is a broad band of purplish blue uplifting a deep frieze of red tulips4 ,the furniture of the scene consists solely of two droll tiny striped sofas1 crouching against the black and gold dado1 which instantly put us on the tiptoe of expectation and give the keynote of airy mockery that characterises the piece4 ,suddenly the tall curtains of this fastidious ante-chamber are parted and ,chiarina and ,estrella1 followed by their distraught lovers1 scamper in and out again4 ,gradually the room fills with crinolined figures1 flashing amorous glances through the slits of their silk masks1 and comical gentlemen whose quaintly cut green and golden brown jackets seem to travesty their woeful passions4 ,the gaiety of the music dances through the shifting lights and softly flowing lines4 ,and through this happy and heartless crowd moves the tragic ,illustration3 ,,leontiev ,,and ,,lepoukhava ,,in ,le ,carnaval ,photograph3 ,bert1 ,paris figure of ,pierrot1 whose unrequited love his fellows make a mock of4 ,his costume and attitude are a masterpiece of design4 ,his sleeves1 a world too long1 droop far below his finger-tips1 forming a scheme of painful angles which most poignantly express his grotesque and lamentable passion4 ,of course this foolish1 fluttering world of philanderers we never for an instant really believe in4 ,they are the graceful1 graceless figures of a ,conder fan come to life4 ,they are as hollow as the porcelain amorists our grandmothers were wont to put upon their chimney-pieces4 ,we laugh at their impatient ardours as well as at their harrowing griefs4 ,even ,pierrot we refuse to take seriously4 ,he himself does not expect it--else he would not pretend that ,chiarina were a butterfly and attempt to catch her beneath his conical white hat1 and then1 lifting it cautiously half-an-inch from the ground1 make a gesture of farcical despair at finding her escaped4 ,the whole ballet has the effect of transporting us into an unreal world--not a fantastic and fairy world1 but a half-familiar world1 a ,lilliputian world1 in which all the serious traffic of our hearts is mocked and parodied4 ,we laugh because we do not recognise the likeness of these parabolic puppets to ourselves1 for if we did we should surely weep4 ,if its intention were a shade more serious the ballet would become a sermon1 with ,vanitas vanitatum for its text2 it carefully stops short1 however1 at that indefinite border-line where trifling passes into satire1 but not before it has shown us that the ballet can be made the vehicle of ironic laughter4 ,if ,le ,carnaval is gently satiric1 ,prince ,igor1 in its suggestion of historic catastrophe1 is epic4 ,the ,danses ,polovtsiennes1 of which the ballet chiefly consists1 are taken from an opera by ,borodin--8a rather tedious opera10 it has been called--founded upon a ,russian ballad of doubtful authenticity4 ,it is a case in which the dance is not merely an interlude in the opera1 but the very life and soul of it4 ,the story is of no interest2 it is effaced by the terrible intensity of the barbaric dancing4 ,the scene takes us to the ,russian steppes4 ,the design is by ,roehrich--a ,tartar camp standing out against a landscape that is sinister with a wrathful1 blood-dark glow4 8,how excellently every means that the theatre offers has been made use of to produce the desired effect60 writes a discriminating critic in an admirable analysis of the qualities that make so resistless an appeal to the imagination2 8the menace of the coming cloud of barbarians that is to lie for centuries on the desolate face of ,russia--not the loud blustering of a ,tamburlaine the ,great1 but the awful quiet vigour1 half melancholy1 half playful1 of a tribe that is itself but a little unit in the swarm2 the infinite horizons of the steppe1 with the line of the burial tumuli stretching away to endless times and places1 down the centuries1 into ,siberia2 the long-drawn1 resigned1 ego-less music 7,borodin drew his themes from real ,tartar-,mongol sources72 the women that crouch unconscious of themselves1 or rise and stretch lazy limbs1 and in the end fling themselves carelessly prone when their dance is over2 the savage-joyful panther-leaping of the men2 the stamping feet and quick nerve-racking beat of the drum2 and1 more threatening than all1 the gambolling of the boys1 like kittens unwittingly preparing themselves for the future chase40 ,the scene is a symbol of that peril of the barbarians which has always lain on the remote frontiers of civilisations4 ,the tremendous rhythm with which the warriors come bounding down the stage communicates a sense of exhilaration not altogether unmixed with terror4 ,the dance quickens to the frenzy of delirium4 ,its triumphant motions seem to throb with all those volcanic forces which one knows to be slumbering always in the heart of man3 all the eternal unrest of his blood1 all his sheer delight in life and strife1 all that central fire which kindles from age to age the conflagrations of war and revolution4 ,it is probably the most exciting presentment of barbaric frenzy the stage has ever seen4 ,considered as an artistic achievement it is astounding4 ,for it must be remembered that this effect of surging tumult is only obtained by the most rigid discipline1 by unanimity and a perfectly calculated precision of rhythm4 ,from epic the composers of the ballet turn to lyricism in ,le ,spectre de la ,rose4 ,the music is ,weber's 8,invitation la ,valse0 as scored by ,berlioz2 the pantomimic text is suggested by a poem ,illustration3 ,,karsavina ,,and ,,nijinsky ,,in ,le ,spectre de la ,rose ,photograph3 ,bert1 ,paris of ,thophile ,gautier4 ,it is the story of a young girl who falls asleep in her chair1 worn out with the fatigue and excitement of the ball4 ,in her dream the rose which she holds in her hand becomes a genie1 who dances with her1 kisses her and disappears at break of day4 ,here again ,leon ,bakst has created a scene of grave yet tender simplicity1 with the fine1 strict lines of a ,beardsley drawing4 ,the girl's bedroom is a scheme of white and blue2 on one side an alcove with a bed1 on the other a plain white dressing-table4 ,the windows open upon a garden4 ,moonlight falls upon the floor4 ,it is all very intimate1 reposeful and virginal4 ,the girl wears a simple white frock1 the spirit of the rose a fantastic costume of crimson and purple petals4 ,the pas de deux is executed by ,nijinsky and ,karsavina4 ,nothing could be more graciously conceived than ,mme ,karsavina's representation of the girl dancing in her dream4 ,with half-closed eyes she rises slowly from her chair and sways across the room in a kind of swoon1 following the gentle guidance of the flower-spirit4 ,then as her dream becomes more vivid she recovers a little strength and dances of her own motion1 but always with a suggestion of unconsciousness1 as though less to the music of the orchestra than to some dimly remembered melody of the brain4 ,as in the manner of episodes in a dream1 she darts into swift movements1 which pass again into languor4 ,for an instant the kiss awakens her1 she looks round upon the familiar aspect of her room1 then the tired head sinks again upon her breast4 ,it is a very gentle rendering of the mood of recollection and happy1 unperturbed trance4 ,in this dream-ballet ,nijinsky is a being of amazing agility and grace4 ,he is as light upon the air as a rose petal4 ,he contrives to bring into his dancing something of the gentleness of the moonlit night and the fragrance of the dawn4 ,he shows himself as capable of delicate and almost womanly motion as he is of masculine vivacity and vigour4 ,and when he floats out through the open window back to his rose-garden1 he almost persuades one for the moment that he has discovered the secret of human flight4 ,in ,les ,sylphides the producers have been daring enough to forget to be modern4 ,they have rehabilitated a form of ballet for which a few years ago one would have said there could be no resurrection4 ,the piece has no action1 no colour1 no idea1 almost no sentiment--it is choregraphy pure and simple1 as abstract as mathematics4 ,it is described vaguely as a romantic reverie4 ,the romantic note is sounded by the dim backcloth of ruins and moonlight by ,m4 ,benois4 ,the score of dancers wear the traditional costume1 pure white1 the skirt rather long1 as ,taglioni might have worn it4 ,the piece1 however1 has no connection with the ballet of a similar name in which ,taglioni made her great success4 ,it is an adaptation of various compositions of ,chopin1 which have been orchestrated by ,glazounov and other composers4 ,the orchestral version is less faithful to the original than that of ,schumann's ,carnaval1 but the additions are all in the spirit of the whole4 ,nijinsky and ,karsavina each danced a mazurka1 and together in the ,valse in ,c sharp minor they executed a pas de deux that was a perfectly finished artistic achievement4 ,for the finale there was the ,valse brillante in ,e flat1 in which the grouping of the dancers displayed the skill of ,m4 ,fokine at its highest4 ,les ,sylphides is somewhat in the nature of a challenge1 and it must be admitted that it is a successful challenge4 ,in it the producers claim that the purely musical and choregraphic interests are sufficient4 ,of its kind it is no less than perfect4 ,it is from beginning to end a rhythmic flow of flawless gestures1 which make a rounded whole of a chaste and immaculate quality like that of the finest sculpture4 ,more remarkable than the steps is the purity of the lines of the arms1 interweaving like the overarching branches of a forest glade or the groining of the aisle of a ,gothic cathedral4 ,yet was there not perhaps a moment when the disconcerting thought intruded itself3 ,supposing the ballet were always to move in this atmosphere of perfect calm8 ,without a doubt ,les ,sylphides gained some of its charm from its place in sequence of the ballets4 ,as an interlude among pieces of more violent action1 it had the repose of a statue in the midst of canvases hot with colour and tumultuous with movement4 ,illustration3 ,,les ,,sylphides ,photograph3 ,bert1 ,paris4 ,if it is in such pieces as ,les ,sylphides1 ,le ,carnaval and ,le ,spectre de la ,rose that the composers of the ballets with their coadjutant mimes most deftly lay the privy net for beauty1 they ensnare her1 more brutally perhaps1 but none the less surely in the ,oriental pageants with their closely knit web of line and tone and rhythm4 ,for these many-faceted compositions1 ballet is perhaps an incomplete expression1 and we should substitute the term1 8mimodrama40 ,dancing plays a more subordinate part in them than in the ballet proper4 ,it falls into a natural relation to the ensemble1 and yet the dance1 in the exotic world here represented to us1 is the apt1 indeed the only conceivable gesture4 ,cloptre is a name of ominous import and prepares us for voluptuous and sombre passion4 ,we are transported to a temple on the banks of the ,nile4 ,this scene is the supreme achievement of ,m4 ,bakst's art4 ,it represents an immense stone forecourt which might be none other than the great ,hall of ,columns built by the father of ,rameses the ,great4 ,but the artist is contemptuous of pedantic archological detail--he seeks only to impress1 one might rather say to stun1 the senses by a vision of grandiose and sinister masonry4 ,this effect is obtained by simple lines and vast proportions4 ,the towering walls1 the procession of squat1 colossal columns1 the gigantic intimidating statues on either flank1 fill the scene with a sense of awe and a premonition of disaster4 ,it is noteworthy that ,m4 ,bakst himself has said that the painters of the future will take for their subjects man and stone4 ,in this scene he has given to the dumb and eternal stone a voice of tragedy4 ,he has made of these sexless caryatides a kind of chorus1 the immortal and ironic spectators of the comedy of human life4 ,broken by the compacted row of columns1 we see the flowing waters of the ,nile1 violet and emerald--fit stream to bear the burnished barge of ,cleopatra with its poop of beaten gold and perfumed purple sails4 ,perhaps it is this visiting river that gives the note of expectancy which is so often present in ,m4 ,bakst's scenes4 ,satisfying the scene is in itself1 but the eternal stone awaits its fugitive inhabitant--man4 ,with all reverence1 preceded by maidens strewing rose-leaves1 the negro slaves bear in the regal litter4 ,egypt's queen is lifted as carefully as a jewel out of its casket and stands immobile as an image while her servants divest her of her silken wrappings4 ,then1 with an attitude of languor unutterable1 weary with the deceitful satiety of her desires1 supported by her abject crouching slaves1 she passes to her couch4 ,the part of ,cleopatra was played in ,paris by ,ida ,rubinstein1 at ,covent ,garden by ,seraphima ,astafieva4 ,the rle is one not for a dancer1 but for a mime1 pure and simple4 ,these artists in their studied and astonishing gestures appear to have created a new art of pantomime4 ,ida ,rubinstein--and perhaps the same may be said of ,astafieva--has trained the body to a silent speech outvying in subtlety the subtlest of spoken words4 ,the least of her gestures takes an importance so grave and so surprising that it becomes henceforth impossible to dissociate it from the personage whom she evokes4 ,her hieratic attitudes1 with their meticulous and adorable gaucherie1 their touching faults of perspective1 derive from the ,egyptian bas-relief and the ,italian primitives4 ,the unexpected lines of the slowly moving limbs are instinct with the very genius of plastique4 ,little wonder that the noble ,amoun leaves his love1 to whom he has plighted his troth but a moment before1 and is drawn by the fatal magnetism of this odalisque of a woman4 ,at his audacity the listless queen leaps into a momentary tigerish passion2 and then1 moved by the young man's beauty and willing to amuse her tedium with a new excitement1 she promises him the fulfilment of his dreams at the price of his life4 ,as the infatuated youth fondles her upon her couch1 the court fills with the retinue of slaves and begins to throb with the luminous coils of their dance4 ,the lines of the dance repeat the all-embracing lines of the architecture4 ,the attitudes of the dancers are freely modelled upon the poses of the figures depicted on the ancient ,egyptian monuments4 ,when ,m4 ,bakst sets his figures in motion1 he is mindful of their relation to the dcor4 ,they are not set against the scene as against a background1 but become actually a part of it4 ,he constructs his picture so that the actors shall be the complement of the design and of the colour-scheme4 ,his method has been thus ,illustration3 ,,seraphima ,,astafieva ,,as ,cleopatra ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 described3 8,he places a number of pure1 fresh colours on the stage4 ,the colours are first placed in order of their relationship to each other1 and thereafter arranged according to a complete gradation of tints4 ,thus he selects1 say1 six colours--red1 orange1 yellow1 green1 blue1 violet4 ,from these he evolves six rows of colours1 starting with each colour at full pitch1 and gradating it till he reaches the lowest1 subtlest1 and most ,whistler-like key4 ,then he sets all these reds and yellows and blues and greens revolving4 ,the effect is indescribable4 ,the whole scene begins to pulsate4 ,the walls and the floor clothe themselves with designs of perfectly designed rhythmical lines4 ,masses move in all directions according to a law of ordered disorder4 ,the air becomes dense with a quivering sheen of colour so violently contrasted1 yet so harmonious40 ,but the distinguishing characteristic of ,cloptre is the subordination of the dancing to the dcor4 ,in spite of the intensity of the frenzy of madly whirling limbs1 the spectator is never allowed to forget the grim stone witnesses of the human tumult4 ,with something malevolent in the gaze of their obliquely set eyes1 the erect1 abiding figures glance down upon the momentary riot4 ,the men of stone are mightier than the men of flesh4 ,suddenly1 when passion is storming through the veins1 we are reminded of the triviality and transience of everything human4 ,here again is that ironic note which in so many of the ,russian ballets forms a menacing undertone to their music4 ,a hush falls upon the dancers4 ,the night of love is over and ,cleopatra is about to take toll of her lover4 ,with an incredibly cruel gesture she passes1 or rather insinuates1 the cup brimmed with poisons4 ,the youth drinks4 ,cleopatra1 with greedy1 curious eyes1 watches him stagger and writhe in his death-agony4 ,then this newest sensation of excitement fails her1 her unutterable languor repossesses her1 and1 leaning upon her bending slaves1 she passes slowly beneath the towering portal1 along the terrace by the river1 and her retinue dumbly follow her4 ,then the artist speaks his last unerring word4 ,the priest covers the prostrate body with a black pall4 ,the voided forecourt resumes its immensity of space4 ,a warm flush clothes the broad surfaces of the columns2 brightness lies on the river2 and the single stain of black sets the seal of tragedy upon the empty scene4 ,scheherazade is an illuminated page torn from the book of 8,the ,thousand and ,one ,nights40 ,the music1 the scenery1 the dances1 the costumes1 the appointments1 all the circumstances of the ballet are designed to create a heavy perfumed atmosphere of ,eastern voluptuousness4 ,the severity and simplicity of the ,egyptian temple is exchanged for the semi-barbaric sumptuousness of the harem of an ,arabian palace4 ,a massive curtained canopy of an impure green stained with purple hangs in billowy folds over the scene2 massy silvern lamps depend from a ceiling splendid with arabesques and floral designs2 a latticed window gives upon a garden of tainted verdure2 the floor is inlaid with blood-coloured porphyry4 ,the sensuous lines of ,m4 ,bakst's dcor are echoed in the throbbing waves of ,rimsky-,korsakov's music4 ,here again is the complete sympathy between musician and decorator1 which fuses these ballets into an organic whole4 ,in spite of the wealth of the accessories1 there is not an irrelevant line or tone2 there is economy and constraint even in the splendour1 so that the spectator receives an impression of singleness and unity like that of ,greek drama4 ,at the very commencement the keynote is given in the dance of three odalisques1 in which languor intertwines with the energy of desire4 ,as the ballet proceeds the gust of passion blows more strongly1 and the riot begins after the departure of the two sultans1 when the ,grand ,eunuch unlocks first a bronze door1 through which enter negroes clothed in copper-coloured costumes1 and then a silver door1 which gives entry to another band of negroes attired in silver4 ,zobeide1 the favourite faithless wife of the sultan ,schahriar1 still remains without her consort4 ,she crouches half fearfully against a curtain1 which at last is pulled aside and her lover1 a gorgeous negro in a golden dress1 leaps upon her with one tremendous panther-like bound4 ,undoubtedly the climax of the ballet is reached in the ecstatic dances of ,nijinsky as the slate-coloured negro4 ,he has learnt a whole new grammar of grotesque1 savage gestures4 ,part monkey1 part tiger1 part human1 he fawns1 he caresses1 he grimaces1 he passes from delirium to devotion1 from awe to lust1 his body elemental fire1 motion1 passion4 ,at times his swiftness renders him momentarily almost invisible2 at times he becomes a living boomerang1 and after a marvellous circuit in space returns unerringly to his point of departure2 one moment he is an arrow shot through the air1 the next a crouching1 servile beast worshipping the feet of his mistress4 ,and in the mad final orgy he is the vortex of the swirling throng1 the happy1 leaping heart which shoots its ecstasy to the outermost limits of the coiling maze of lovers4 ,with a sound of dismay the music signals the return of the betrayed sultans4 ,the harem becomes a slaughter-house4 ,a flashing scimitar cuts down the golden negro4 ,zobeide drives the dagger into her breast and falls grasping the feet of her outraged lord4 ,a discerning critic has pointed out that perhaps the terrifying suggestiveness of ,scheherazade lies not so much in the catastrophe of the plot as in the dreadful significance of ,rimsky-,korsakov's music4 8,passages that may have meant no more1 as pure music1 than the secrecy of the ,east and the plaintive mysteriousness of women 7like that often-repeated passage on the first violin7 get a new colour of tragic passion1 of yearning in the shadow of death1 from their allotment in the dramatic scheme4 ,there is the sound of fate and murder1 mingled with the saddest ironical comedy1 in the insistent blast of the hunting horns4 ,the swift huddling of deceitful wives1 the tripping and scurrying1 the wheedling of the old eunuch1 the ravenous mien of the negroes1 the magnificent stride and gesture of the fruit-bearing attendants1 the complicated frenzy of the dance1 the drama of fear and despair in ,karsavina's proud rendering1 leave a solemn impression beyond anything in those other fantastic ballets4 ,how much depends upon the music it is hard to gauge--much more than one is disposed to admit at first2 for the mind pouring stagewards through the eyes1 receives the musical impressions half unconsciously1 as a direct emotional influence1 scarcely registered in the sensuous ear40 ,of the other ballets which complete the repertory of the ,diaghilew company1 and which have not yet been seen in ,london--of ,petrouchka1 a ,russian burlesque taken from an old folk-story1 ,harlequin in love with the clown's wife2 of ,sadko1 a strange submarine drama2 of ,narcisse1 an idyll which seeks to recapture the sylvan mood of ancient ,greece--,i will not attempt to give any description4 ,enough has been said to show that the revolutionary composers1 with the co-operation of ,nijinsky1 ,karsavina and a corps de ballet1 every member of which is a tried artist1 have given a new significance to the ballet1 have indeed given a new art-form to the stage4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,russian ,,dancers ,could the ,diaghilew ballet exist without ,waslaw ,nijinsky--this marvellous youth who is already a supreme master of the technique of dancing1 who cannot make a gesture that has not a graceful or a witty significance1 who has confounded ,newton and demonstrated that the law of gravity is a figment of the scientists8 ,nijinsky has danced ever since he was an infant4 ,both his mother and father were in the ballet at the ,imperial theatre in ,warsaw1 where he sometimes danced with them4 ,his first appearance was as a little ,chinese with a pigtail1 when he was yet only six years old4 ,the serious study of his art began in #ahih1 when he entered the ,imperial ,ballet ,school at ,st ,petersburg4 ,he passed his final examinations in #aijg1 and danced at the ,imperial theatres for a year and a half before he visited other countries4 ,in #aiji he danced in the ,russian ,ballet at the ,thtre du ,chtelet at ,paris1 and in the following year at the ,opera4 ,subsequently he has appeared with the ,diaghilew company in ,berlin1 ,brussels1 ,rome1 ,monte ,carlo and ,london4 ,at ,paris he caught typhoid1 and when he was convalescent went to ,venice1 where he danced with ,isadora ,duncan4 ,it is the place he loves best of all4 ,already1 at the age of only twenty-one1 he has received the enthusiastic applause of the most brilliant and exacting audiences of ,europe2 critics have minutely discussed and lavishly eulogised his dancing2 artists have studied and reproduced his gestures2 he has been the darling of society in half-a-dozen capitals--and yet the miracle is that he is untouched by conceit4 ,he remains a modest1 ingenuous youth1 tireless in application1 teachable1 seeking continually to bring his art to a more precise perfection4 ,in ,february #aiaa the world of the theatre was astounded to hear that ,nijinsky had been asked to withdraw from the ,imperial ,opera at ,st ,petersburg4 ,various ungrounded stories have been afloat as to the cause of the rupture1 but the truth is that it was merely an incident1 perhaps an inevitable one1 in the antagonism between the traditional and revolutionary schools of the ballet4 ,for a moment the older school triumphed1 and ,nijinsky left ,russia to undertake the enterprise of the conquest of ,europe4 ,the pretext which the officials seized upon to rid themselves of the young revolutionary was a detail of costume4 ,madame ,kschesinskaya1 the fixed star in the ,imperial firmament1 wished ,nijinsky to appear with her in one of the ballets of the stereotyped ,italian school4 ,he1 on the other hand1 preferred to take the part of ,loys in ,giselle1 the ballet by ,gautier and d',adam in which ,grisi won her greatest triumph4 ,he carried the day1 and the ballet was produced at considerable expense4 ,his costume1 a maillot of yellow silk1 was designed by ,benois4 ,he had some doubts as to whether it would be acceptable to the authorities1 and therefore obtained special permission from the 8commandant general0 of the ,imperial ballets to wear it4 ,at the last moment one of the directors objected to the costume1 and ordered ,nijinsky to change it4 ,the dancer expostulated1 and as there was not sufficient time to replace it with another1 the director did not insist4 ,the evening on which he appeared for the first and last time in ,giselle at the ,st ,petersburg ,opera1 the ,imperial box was full4 ,the dancer was received by the whole house with the greatest enthusiasm4 ,the ,dowager ,empress and the ,grand ,dukes were warm in their applause1 and at the conclusion of the performance the ,empress told one of the directors that she had never seen its equal4 ,the next day1 however1 on the pretext that the maillot was objectionable1 ,nijinsky received notice that his services were no longer required4 ,the repentance of the management came speedily1 but the dancer declined their request that he should return4 ,what influenced him probably not a little in his determination to leave was the fact that1 ,illustration3 ,,waslaw ,,nijinsky ,,in ,shehrazade ,photograph3 ,bert1 ,paris for a dancer with his zest for work1 his post at the ,imperial ,opera was more or less of a sinecure4 ,the ballet1 which only performed about six times a month1 was too intermittent to give a proper scope for his activity4 ,with a dead complexion1 lank1 dun-coloured hair1 high cheekbones1 long and somewhat obliquely set eyes1 ,nijinsky has the racial characteristics of the ,slav4 ,his expression is one of a serenity that is untroubled by the glory of the present or the cares of the future4 ,his eye is bright and expressive4 ,in repose his face has a certain dreamy preoccupation1 which at a word spoken or a sight that arrests his attention1 passes swiftly into an absorbing interest in the life of the moment4 ,his is clearly a highly-strung temperament--indeed he told me that what he found most difficult in his art was the conquest of the nerves4 ,nijinsky has the genius for taking pains4 ,a movement1 a gesture1 which upon the stage has often the appearance of a happy improvisation1 is invariably the result of careful study4 ,how searching is his preparation ,i only realised when ,i saw him one morning practising with ,madame ,karsavina on the stage at ,covent ,garden4 ,his instructor1 ,m4 ,cecchetti1 a distinguished member of the ,diaghilew company 7he is the wicked marquis in ,le ,pavillon d',armide1 the ,grand ,eunuch in ,scheherazade71 took him through even the most elementary exercises with the severity of a drill sergeant4 ,for the young dancer1 however1 it was not a mechanical routine1 but a kind of play1 into which he entered with a certain smiling gaiety4 ,if he found that he was executing a movement imperfectly1 he stopped short in the middle of it with a gesture of half-amused vexation and repeated it over and over again until he had made it faultless4 ,the actual mastery of the technique appeared to him to be in itself a delight1 and not1 as with many dancers1 a painful task-work4 ,in his practice ,i found that the turns of his pirouettes and the cuts of his entrechats were more numerous than in the actual performance1 for he never perverts the intention of the dance by introducing into it acrobatic feats merely for the sake of dazzling the spectator4 ,it is not altogether easy to analyse the qualities of ,nijinsky's dancing in virtue of which he is rightly regarded as the finest danseur of the age4 ,perhaps his chief merit consists in that very versatility which seems to conceal the pre-eminence of any single feature4 ,he never repeats himself4 ,his personality appears to inhabit not one but several bodies1 or rather his personality itself is multiple4 ,did not one know that it were the fact1 would it be possible to believe that the lustful negro of ,scheherazade was one with the tender flower-spirit of ,le ,spectre de la ,rose1 or the impish and irresponsible ,arlequin of ,le ,carnaval the same as the courteous and adoring page of ,le ,pavillon d',armide8 ,he identifies himself in each ballet with the spirit of the action and of the music4 ,nijinsky makes us understand that a gesture is1 as ,blake said of a tear1 an intellectual thing4 ,his gestures1 by which ,i do not mean the technical steps1 are different in manner and in spirit from those of the traditional ,italian school4 ,with the conventional gestures of the academies1 which mimic such attitudes as men are supposed naturally to adopt when they perform certain actions or experience certain emotions1 he will have nothing to do4 ,nijinsky's gestures mimic nothing4 ,they are not the result of a double translation of idea into words1 and words into dumb show4 ,they are the mood itself4 ,his limbs possess a faculty of speech4 ,wit is expressed in his ,arlequin dance as lucidly as in an epigram4 ,in ,le ,spectre de la ,rose he dances a sonnet of delighted devotion4 ,he makes credible the suggestion1 intended satirically1 that ,la ,rochefoucauld's 8,maximes0 should be rendered choregraphically4 ,his genius consists in a singular pliancy of the body to the spirit4 ,his technique is characterised by extreme brilliance and agility4 ,he is weirdly grotesque or daintily graceful at will4 ,where he is perhaps lacking is in gravity and statuesque pose4 ,nijinsky does not realise the ,pheidian ideal as perfectly as ,mordkin1 and therefore he can never be his equal in creating that impression of the glorious virility of a ,greek statue1 in whose firm lines a mighty strength lies sleeping4 ,nor have ,i ever seen him adequately represent the fierceness of human passion4 ,even in his ,scheherazade dances there is not so much a deep exultation as a kind of schoolboy merriment4 ,but these are the necessary limitations of a youthful body and ,illustration3 ,,tamar ,,karsavina ,,in ,shehrazade ,photograph3 ,bert1 ,paris a youthful spirit4 ,nor would we have it otherwise4 ,we will leave the rest to time4 ,the years will deepen and dignify his art4 ,if he is too happy to enter into certain phases of the spirit we will gladly bear with his shortcomings4 ,we are content to take him as he is--the genial1 leaping1 happy dionysiac fawn6 ,it is interesting to record here some of his impressions and his remarks about himself4 8,i love dancing to the music of ,chopin10 he says1 8you see we are fellow-countrymen4 ,i am not a ,russian really2 my parents were ,poles1 and ,i am a ,catholic and not ,orthodox4 ,i always imagine that it is only a ,pole who can really interpret ,chopin2 we understand the melancholy of his music40 ,with regard to the milieu of his performance he has said3 8,one thing ,i am determined not to do1 and that is to go on the music-hall stage4 ,i have had several tempting offers2 but after all what is money8 ,i think more of art than of money1 and ,i refuse to be sandwiched between performing dogs and acrobats40 ,before he appeared at ,covent ,garden he said1 8,i am frightened of ,london4 ,i like the town1 it is so big and serious1 but the thought of dancing at ,covent ,garden makes me feel nervous40 ,after he had danced there1 however1 he was not nervous of criticising the ,covent ,garden audience4 8,they are not very demonstrative compared with the ,parisians1 but they are faithful1 they seem to come again and again in great numbers4 ,but they have a horrible habit--during the last piece on the programme there is always a constant stream of people going out4 ,i think this is disgracefully ill-mannered1 and ,i refuse now to dance in the last piece on the programme4 ,i refuse to dance to an audience that is melting away--it is an insult to art4 ,at ,paris1 all the times ,i have danced there1 not a single person has stirred at a single performance until the curtain fell at the end4 ,and here at ,london we end quite early--at eleven o'clock4 ,that gives people plenty of time to get their suppers1 doesn't it8 ,fortunately the stage at ,covent ,garden is conveniently big4 ,it has one disadvantage--it does not slope at all4 ,it is quite flat1 so that when ,i was dancing there at first ,i kept falling forwards40 ,madame ,karsavina1 the premire danseuse of the ,diaghilew company1 is in every way a fit colleague for the incomparable ,nijinsky4 ,although still quite young1 she is fast making for herself a reputation that will probably be second to none in the ,russian ballet4 ,last year the retirement of ,mademoiselle ,preobrajenskaya from regular work and the withdrawal of ,madame ,pavlova left her an arduous task to fulfil in ,st ,petersburg4 ,in order to fill the gaps that she alone was capable of filling1 she was obliged to study new parts which the retired dancers had made peculiarly their own--an undertaking of considerable delicacy4 ,but her genius enabled her to draw even from the most exacting critics that quiet smile of inward appreciation which she has acutely declared to be the highest tribute to the artist4 ,she is hard-working1 very ambitious1 and takes her art very seriously in all its branches4 ,of her performances at ,covent ,garden1 all were marked by such rare technique and instructed grace that it is difficult to put any one before another2 but certainly she never surpassed her achievement in ,le ,spectre de la ,rose4 ,her dancing caught the very spirit of a maiden's reverie1 and nothing could have been more finely imagined than those transitions from languor into quick rushes of darting movement1 which illustrate the abrupt and irrational episodes of a troubled dream4 ,she was the very embodiment of faint desire4 ,we felt1 as it were1 a breath of perfume1 and were troubled in spite of ourselves4 ,moreover1 the long partnership between the two performers seemed to have resulted in a very special and intimate harmony4 ,for the most part they simply floated about the stage as though borne upon a common current of emotion4 ,there was a marriage1 not only between their bodily movements1 but between their spirits1 such as ,i have never noted in the union of any other dancers4 ,in ,scheherazade ,madame ,karsavina proved herself to be the possessor of a dramatic sense which the other ballets had not sufficiently displayed4 ,as the faithless ,zobeide1 she mimed with astonishing subtlety an inward conflict of warring emotions1 fear mingling with desire1 rapture giving place to despair4 ,her gestures were charged with the same passionate significance as those of ,ida ,rubinstein and ,astafieva4 ,illustration3 ,,anna ,,pavlova ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 ,both her miming and her dancing were characterised by a certain natural softness of movement1 the quality of languor rather than of passion1 which was nevertheless consistent with the greatest firmness of outline4 ,while in ,paris1 ,madame ,karsavina sketched a comparison of the ,french and ,russian ballets1 which indicates her own conception of the art3 8,our school is the same4 ,we derive equal inspiration from the great traditions of the dance1 bequeathed by ,auguste ,vestris and ,jean-,georges ,noverre4 ,only the ,french ballet has rested in these traditions1 without troubling to renew them4 ,the academic style of the ,french dancers is the same as that of a century ago4 ,after having carefully studied these traditions and profited by them1 we have sought something more4 ,we have wished to present faithful images of the life round about us4 ,our epoch is finer1 depend upon it1 than any other4 ,human emotions have been refined or transformed4 ,the spectacles of former times no longer move us very deeply4 ,i have been to see ,coppelia at the ,opera4 ,it is good1 very good4 ,but ,coppelia is quite dmod4 ,really it is possible to imagine choregraphic arrangements more modern1 more closely in touch with life--this fine and various and over-brimming life of to-day40 ,when ,madame ,anna ,pavlova was leaving ,russia1 she parted with an old general1 who was saying good-bye to her1 with the farewell wish1 8,may all that is best be yours60 ,to this he replied1 8,how can the best be ours when you are depriving us of the very best we had80 ,not every member of the ,imperial ballet has yet visited ,paris and ,london1 and therefore it is difficult for those who have never been to ,russia to speak in terms of comparison1 but we are willing to believe in the justice of the general's appraisement4 ,madame ,pavlova received her training at the ,imperial ,ballet ,school at ,st ,petersburg4 ,she speedily passed upwards through the various ranks of the ballet1 until she became prima ballerina at the ,marianski ,theatre4 ,she made her dbut on the foreign stage at ,munich1 and subsequently appeared in ,berlin1 ,vienna1 ,paris1 and ,new ,york4 ,when she came to ,london in #aiaj she immediately had the town at her feet4 ,london was at a disadvantage1 however1 compared with ,new ,york1 for whereas in ,america she performed in the ballet1 at the ,palace ,theatre in ,london she appeared exclusively in solo dances1 or with her partner1 ,mikail ,mordkin4 ,the ,british amateur of the dance1 therefore1 has seen but a part of her genius1 for that pure mimesis1 in which she excels no less than in the actual dancing itself1 requires for its full scope the interaction of characters which belongs to the ballet proper4 ,she herself told me that she preferred playing in the ballet to dancing alone1 but it is difficult to believe that her personality could find fuller expression than in the single dances in which she has the whole stage to herself4 ,moreover1 when in ,england she was deprived of the splendid setting of the ,russian dcor1 the backcloth at the ,palace ,theatre being a rather distracting and futile example of the ,british scene-painter's art4 ,anna ,pavlova is not merely a great executive1 but a creative artist4 ,she is more than a dancer1 she is a lyric poet4 ,one feels that she might equally well have chosen any other of the media of art for the expression of her emotion1 but she has chosen her body--or perhaps rather her body has chosen her4 ,this beautiful instrument she has refined to the most delicate sensibility and instructed in a perfect precision4 ,as a piece of mechanism--if indeed mechanism be not too harsh a term for what in grace is wholly flower-like--it has been rendered as supple1 just and exquisitely responsive as infinite pains could make it4 ,it is perfectly equipped with swiftness1 strength1 delicacy4 ,only in the very greatest dancers does the body become the utter slave of the spirit1 serving it with a scrupulous and joyful fidelity4 ,but in ,pavlova's dancing we are no longer aware of the conscious and painful obedience of the body to the dictates of a governing mind4 ,it is as though the spirit itself had left its central citadel and1 by some unwonted alchemy becoming dissolved in the blood and fibres of her being1 had penetrated to the extremities of the limbs4 ,soul from body is no longer distinguishable1 and which is servant to the other none can tell4 ,it goes without saying that her long and careful apprenticeship in the art of dancing has given ,madame ,pavlova perfect ,illustration3 ,,anna ,,pavlova ,,from ,a ,,painting ,,by ,j4 ,,lavery proficiency in that technique of the ballet which is variously known as traditional1 academic1 or ,italian4 ,but although all dancing that is not grounded upon this technique is apt to become to a certain extent wavering and nerveless1 it seems certain that this technique alone does not suffice for a dancer who dances with soul as well as body4 ,after she had passed through her years of probation1 ,pavlova's individuality naturally began to assert itself1 and she demanded a wider scope for the full expression of her emotions4 ,this liberty she found in those gestures and poses1 more naturally human than those of the conventional ballet1 which had been discovered1 or rather rediscovered1 by ,isadora ,duncan1 for they are native to the world of ,greek art4 ,the characteristic of her dancing1 therefore1 is the combination of the older traditional method with the freedom that is demanded for the expression of emotional ideas4 ,other dancers have sought to find this freedom by casting aside1 or rather by never troubling to learn1 the traditional technique4 ,pavlova knows well that the freedom of art is not to be attained by a wilful lawlessness1 but only by a glad and strict submission to law4 ,thus she has carried the dance of the ballet a stage further along the lines of its natural evolution1 not despising the heritage of the past1 but enlarging it to meet the deeper needs of the present4 ,in particular1 she has shown that true dancing demands the service of every member and particle of the body4 ,no one is now so simple as to suppose that dancing is the business only1 or even principally1 of the legs and feet4 ,carlo ,blasis1 a hundred years ago1 said that the position1 the opposition1 all the movements and carriage of the arms1 are perhaps the most difficult parts of the dance2 and ,noverre still earlier remarked1 8,peu d'artistes sont distingus par un beau style de bras40 ,but the more subtly emotional the dance becomes1 the more finely must be studied the play of light and shade over the whole surface of the body4 ,pavlova's dancing is as expressive in its minutest details as in its general lines4 ,her dance lives in her finger-tips4 ,the character-play of her hands is astonishing4 ,they take their part in the interpretation of the music2 they are1 as it were1 illuminating appendices to the story of love and joy1 of rapture and fear1 that her body relates4 ,her face dances too4 ,she has a command of vivid facial expression such as few actresses can equal4 ,never for an instant does she betray the least preoccupation with her steps4 ,her face is like a mirror1 reflecting the passing lights and shadows of the music and the mood4 ,the head dances1 the eyes dance1 the brow1 the neck1 the lips dance--the dance1 in a word1 penetrates her whole being1 as the breeze penetrates the body of a tree to the least shuddering of the tiniest leaf4 ,indeed in ,pavlova's art is realised the full meaning of the dance1 which is none other than the complete possession of the body by the spirit4 ,i understood this best when ,i saw her1 not in motion on the stage1 but at rest in her home4 ,reclining in a chair1 she sketched with a few inimitable gestures the ,danse des ,papillons4 ,it was scarcely more than a turn of the head1 a light in the eyes1 a fluttering of the fingers1 and yet the mood was evoked as surely as a painter in a few nervous strokes might capture an emotion and fix it on his canvas4 ,in this almost intangible expression the dance seemed to become1 if you will suffer the paradox1 independent even of motion1 rather a design living in the brain1 an intellectual thing which could communicate itself by a hint1 a breath1 by an energy of the spirit rather than of the body4 ,the idea of the dance--the choregraphic design--is sometimes suggested to her by music1 by fragments from the works of ,delibes1 ,chopin1 ,tchaikovsky or ,saint-,sans2 sometimes it is hinted in a chance sight or incident of everyday life2 sometimes it springs into being independently of any external impulse1 as spontaneously as a melody is conceived in the musician's or an image in the poet's mind4 ,le ,cygne1 which she dances to the music of ,saint-,sans1 owed its origin to a walk with ,m4 ,fokine in a park in ,st ,petersburg4 ,seeing some swans floating upon the water1 ,m4 ,fokine remarked to ,madame ,pavlova that it would be easy for her with her supple and slender throat to take the graceful motion of the bird as the theme of one of her dances4 ,her figure has something of the easy dignity of the swan1 and in the gliding motions1 to the accompaniment of the cool music of ,saint-,sans1 she is perhaps more at ease ,illustration3 ,,pavlova ,,and ,,mordkin ,photograph3 ,foulsham ,banfield1 ,ltd4 than in those passages which demand a more stormy energy4 ,in this dance she represents with singular beauty the proud carriage of that remote bird1 its swooning death and its sudden collapse into lifelessness4 ,it displays her skill in the difficult act of falling2 she sinks to earth without any suggestion of arrangement or preparedness1 ceasing to dance as swiftly and silently as a flame may cease to burn1 her limbs failing her1 as though her body had actually resigned its spirit4 ,her interpretation of ,strauss's ,blue ,danube is a perfect personification of the river-spirit4 ,from beginning to end it sounds a clear note of joy and untrammelled life4 ,pavlova dances it in her freest style2 the pirouette and the entrechat have no part in this simulation of the triumphing flood4 ,all the phases of the river's moods live in her dancing--its strong1 pulsating race in mid-torrent1 its bursts of sky-flung spray1 its quiet dalliance in secret1 wood-browned pools1 its gentle play with the entangling weeds1 its smooth descents over the breasting rocks ending in a laughing and ecstatic tumult4 ,what expression ,pavlova can obtain even in the narrower scope of the traditional school may be seen in one of her dances to a ,chopin valse4 ,she appears as a young girl on the night of her first ball1 in a simple white frock1 somewhat longer than the usual ballet-dancer's skirt4 ,she is dancing the dreams of girlhood in the garden after the ball is ended1 when suddenly the lover1 to whom she has just lost her heart1 appears on a balcony and throws her a rose4 ,she gathers it to her breast and in her happy dance she lives over again those revealing moments when her heart suddenly blossomed into the life of love4 ,then looking up she blows a kiss to the balcony where her lover had stood4 ,to her shy dismay she finds him still standing there1 a witness to her confessed surrender4 ,she is confused with a modest shame for what in her maiden innocence she fears must seem an unmaiden-like boldness4 ,the surprised and delighted lover offers his proposal4 ,after a moment of the most delicious embarrassment she fearfully nods her assent and skips away in a transport of excited joy4 ,it is a delicate suggestion of the troubled and innocent emotions of first love1 as suggestive in its rendering of that neutral and indefinite age that lies between girlhood and womanhood as a picture by ,greuze4 ,but perhaps the most perfect of all ,pavlova's dances is the ,papillons4 ,it has been said that she 8does not so much imitate the movement of a butterfly as the emotional quality of a butterfly-flight1 the sense raised in our minds by watching it2 and then it is not an ordinary butterfly1 nor a plain lepidopteron1 but a ,grimm butterfly1 a dream butterfly1 a butterfly multiplied many times by itself1 raised as it were to the ,pavlova-th power40 ,with that sense of the elimination of weight which is characteristic of her dancing1 ,pavlova is able to suggest the grace of things flying1 things swimming1 things borne upon the breeze4 ,the ,papillons is the quintessence of the spirit of everything that dances in the wind1 and is kissed by the sun1 and has intrigues with the flowers1 and lives its irresponsible life between the sunrise and sunset of a summer day4 ,it appears to be danced almost wholly with the eyes and the finger-tips2 the dancer is on the stage and off again all within the incredibly short space of thirty seconds4 ,yet she told me that1 on account of its ceaseless vibrating motion1 of all her dances it is the most exhausting4 ,but ,pavlova's dancing is not limited to the expression merely of thistledown lightness and inconsequential gaiety2 it has a deeper reach1 and at times is borne upon a flood of passion4 ,l',automne ,bacchanale is a stormy and tumultuous dance1 affecting the mind like that vision which ,keats saw in the 8marble brede of men and maidens0 on a ,grecian urn3 8,what men or gods are these8 ,what maidens loth8 ,what mad pursuit8 ,what struggle to escape8 ,what pipes and timbrels8 ,what wild ecstasy80 ,it was this dance which inspired ,mr ,holbrook ,jackson's spirited eulogy4 8,she does not make you think of herself10 he writes in his 8,romance and ,reality02 8she sets you dreaming of all the dancing that has ever been1 of all the dancing that is4 ,whilst watching her ,i could not help thinking she was not merely following the rules of an art1 but that she was following the rules of life4 ,the leaves ,illustration3 ,,pavlova ,,and ,,mordkin ,,in ,,russian ,,costume ,photograph3 ,foulsham ,banfield1 ,ltd4 dance in the breeze1 the flowers dance in the sun1 the worlds dance in space1 and ,pavlova dancing is a part of this cosmic measure4 8,everybody in the theatre must have felt something similar--especially when she and ,michael ,mordkin1 her superb consort in the art1 danced together the ,bacchanale of ,glazounov4 ,i imagine also those dim segments of faces in the darkened auditorium1 many of them reflecting the frigid morality of ,english respectability1 would be touched to strange emotions4 ,their staid owners would feel a new wakefulness1 recalling as in a dream all that had ever happened to them of passion or beauty1 all that might have happened to them had they followed their real desires1 their sacred whims4444 ,the swaying form of ,pavlova rhymed and romped with life and joy1 with love and beauty4 ,o the wild flight across the stage1 the hot pursuit1 the sweet dalliance1 and then the rich luxury of surrender6 ,the very essence of life was there3 life so full of joy that it overflowed with blissful abandonment until it sank from the only pardonable excess--excess of happiness40 ,in this dance ,pavlova has met the exponents of the modern 8barefoot0 school on their own ground1 and1--shall we say8 vanquished them4 ,her training in the strict traditional method has taught her that lesson1 invaluable in all the arts1 the restraint of emotion4 ,for even in the ,bacchanale there is restraint1 the art that conceals art1 else she could not have attained that perfect unison of rhythm which gives to the dance the swinging quality of a wave4 ,pavlova may be said to have introduced impressionism into the dance1 and so to have brought it into line with the tendencies of modern art4 ,not impressionism as ,zola understood it--8merely an excuse for not taking pains40 ,in this respect her faultless precision more resembles the fine work of a ,dutch genre painting4 ,but she is an impressionist in creating a sudden and brilliant effect without the appearance of laboured effort and without the addition of a superfluous touch1 in presenting with an economy of swift gesture the firm outline of an incident1 the essential summary of a scene1 the breathing heart of an emotion4 ,although she flashes across the vision for no more than a few seconds1 she nevertheless leaves in the mind the memory of a complete utterance1 something perfectly finished1 definite1 precise1 whole1 like a clear-sounding lyric1 or a finely-cut sculpture4 ,for in her work1 as in all true impressionism1 there is nothing blurred2 it is rapid1 but it is just and sure2 it goes to the roots2 it ignores what is irrelevant and seizes on the essential4 ,actual mimicry has no place in her dance2 she is not a copyist of nature2 she embodies the salient moments1 the vital energies1 of beauty and passion4 ,but when all is said1 nothing is said4 ,she refuses to yield herself to analysis4 ,too swift for the eye1 she altogether outpaces the pen4 ,one can only repeat the words of that baffled interviewer who wisely wrote3 8,pavlova can only be adequately understood by the person to whom she is an everlasting mystery--by the mind that cannot understand her4 ,the man who feels he can1 or thinks he can1 or knows he can1 sum her up in so many words2 who fancies he has done his duty to her and to reason when he has declared that she is the finest dancer that he has ever seen in all his life2 who says #8,i have seen ,pavlova' as a man would say #8,i have seen the boat-race'--as if the whole thing were over and done with1 and that nothing more was to be learned1 or not learned1 by another and another visit3 such a man speaks without having felt4444 ,she is uninterviewable--unphotographable--undra wable4 ,but she is not uncaricaturable2 for are not all the phrases of the pen and strokes of the pencil but caricatures that attempt to describe and picture perfection8 ,and what is perfection but ,pavlova80 ,in the troupe which accompanied ,madame ,pavlova at the ,palace ,theatre in ,london there were several artistic performers1 but one calls for special notice--,mademoiselle ,schmolz4 ,her dancing in ,glinka's 8,mazurka0 and ,brahms' 8,rhapsodie ,hongroise0 had all that lilt and swing and hint of devilry which1 by every rule of the theatre at any rate1 the dancing of half-barbaric peasants ought to have4 ,a dance which she and ,mademoiselle ,plaskaweska danced to the most mischievously ironical of ,chopin's waltzes was1 ,i have no hesitation in saying1 one of the most completely satisfying things ,illustration3 ,,mademoiselle ,,schmolz ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 ever seen upon the stage4 ,the credit belongs in part to ,mikail ,mordkin1 who was the composer1 but it is scarcely possible to conceive a more spirited interpretation than that given by the two executants4 ,the theme was simply a petty squabble about a rose4 ,one of the maidens covets the love-token which the other flaunts so provokingly2 there follows a pretty wrangle on tiptoe1 lively grimaces1 and the trophy is wrested from its rightful owner4 ,the latter now becomes the aggressor1 displays a delightful petulance1 and1 between smiles and tears1 pursues the laughing thief4 ,the nosegay is won back1 and then1 just as your sympathy is becoming earnestly engaged in the alternations of triumph and despair1 the rose is tossed upon the ground1 and both minxes run away with mocking laughter1 leaving you half aggrieved at having been fooled into a serious concern in their empty mischief4 ,it is simple1 trivial1 silly if you like1 and it is all over in half-a-minute--yet it prints on the mind a picture like one of those rare glimpses of incidents sometimes seen in real life1 the memory of which goes with a man for half a lifetime4 ,mikail ,mordkin received his training in the same school as ,anna ,pavlova1 that attached to the ,marianski ,theatre in ,st ,petersburg4 ,the two have been associated in a somewhat uneasy partnership at the ,palace ,theatre in ,london1 and in the ,united ,states4 ,mordkin has achieved the distinction of being the only danseur who has ever found favour in ,america4 ,there1 as in ,england1 before the coming of the ,russians1 the chief function of the man dancer was to rush out at the psychological moment and rescue the ballerina as she fell into his arms1 with her eyes staring into the drops and one toe pointing upwards towards the limelight man4 ,apart from performing this useful service1 on account of which he was tolerated as a kind of necessary nuisance1 his part was almost a sinecure4 ,the performances of ,mordkin1 together with those of ,nijinsky1 have brought about a reversal of the somewhat contemptuous popular judgment upon male dancing1 for undoubtedly the ,anglo-,saxon public shared to some extent the prejudice of ,southey1 who said that every male dancer ought to be hamstrung4 ,there is nothing of the twittering effeminacies of the proverbial 8,french dancing-master0 in ,mordkin's dancing2 its main characteristic is manliness4 ,his build is robust1 massive1 noble4 ,his physical qualities undoubtedly leave some of his less critical admirers blind to the deficiencies of his art4 ,his splendid physique is fortified by a course of rigorous and continual training4 ,in addition to his daily exercise1 it is not unusual for him to go to the theatre three hours before the performance begins and1 without the accompaniment of music1 to go through all the preliminary postures of the dance4 ,instead of becoming exhausted by this exercise1 he is fit and eager for the ballet to begin4 ,mordkin has shown that grace is not only consistent with true virility in dancing1 but is indispensable to it4 ,in their folk-dances the top-booted ,russian dancers give a fine display of masculine vigour1 but it is always upon the edge of the grotesque4 ,the beauty of a man's strength is hidden rather than revealed by these spasms of violence2 it is best seen in those lines1 suggestive of sleeping force1 which give to ,mordkin's poses the heroic quality of ,greek sculpture4 ,his dancing is distinguished by its reserve4 ,it always leaves something to the imagination4 ,his gestures in the 8,arrow ,dance0 derive no little of their effectiveness from what they suggest1 but leave unsaid4 ,it is the warrior not at war but at play1 and like the gambolling of young tigers affects us by the passion that it only hints at4 ,his dancing has a constant tendency to forsake motion for repose4 ,in his entrechats and pirouettes ,i seemed to note a certain reluctance1 as though they were a concession demanded by popular taste1 or a lingering tradition of the ballet technique4 ,yet when motion is required1 ,mordkin can give it1 and of the freest1 most buoyant1 most swinging quality4 ,the reckless swing of the galloping entry in the ,automne ,bacchanale was magnificent4 ,that was a dance of dances6 ,the riot of wine1 the sap of youth1 the tumult of love1 the sudden liberation of vigorous limbs1 were all expressed in a rush of movement that was somehow curiously restrained1 as the foaming progress of a wave is restrained1 never tempted by excess of ecstasy into breaking the steady sweep of its own rhythm4 ,illustration3 ,,mikail ,,mordkin ,,in ,the ,arrow ,dance ,photograph3 ,foulsham ,banfield1 ,ltd4 ,a comparison of the art of ,mordkin and ,nijinsky would be almost irrelevant4 ,their style differs just in the same degree as their physique4 ,if ,nijinsky is the winged ,mercury of the dance1 ,mordkin is the ,apollo4 ,nijinsky's is the dancing of motion1 ,mordkin's of repose2 the temper of the one is volatile1 of the other equable and restrained2 wit1 gaiety1 elegance1 ebullience of youthful spirits1 are the characteristics of the younger dancer2 dignity1 power1 and a slumbering passion1 of the elder4 ,the hint of ,puck-like fancy is entirely absent in ,mordkin's performances2 his dramatic qualities are less elastic than ,nijinsky's1 his personality less various1 more rigidly settled in a definite mould4 ,while other ,russian dancers pass with meteoric flight across the ,english stage1 ,madame ,lydia ,kyasht burns like a fixed star of all but the first magnitude4 ,discerning critics observed her with pleasure behind the footlights of the ,empire ,theatre for the first time one autumn evening in #aijh4 ,she had been summoned from ,russia to dance in ,london for four weeks1--she has been dancing there for three years and her engagement has still two more to run4 ,her position as premire danseuse in an ,english ballet has both its advantages and its dangers4 ,appearing in a ballet that is really very little more than a ballet of amateurs1 she achieves without great difficulty the effect desired ,i suppose by every ballet-dancer1--that of a visitant from some more gracious and ethereal sphere4 ,she trips where her companions tramp4 ,she alone has wings4 ,yet1 although her art profits by the contrast1 it suffers from the isolation4 ,it is difficult for her to keep it keyed to its highest pitch when she is deprived of the stimulus of criticism and emulation4 ,moreover1 as there is no competent master of the ballet to compose for her1 she is compelled to be her own choregrapher1 and the work of composition demands a different order of intelligence from that of the executant4 ,yet in spite of these unfavourable conditions1 the character of her dancing remains remarkably pure4 ,if it lacks the dazzling executive brilliance of her former fellow-pupils1 ,pavlova and ,karsavina1 it is marked by a certain statuesque dignity which is somewhat notable in a ballerina4 ,even a great dancer may have arresting attitudes but fail to connect them4 ,lydia ,kyasht passes from attitude to attitude in a single continuous sequence of admirable poses which flow one into another without a pause and without a flaw4 ,her purity of line is never broken by one of those inartistic feats of athletic dexterity which sometimes disfigure the dancing of ,adeline ,gene4 ,she invariably resists the besetting temptation of a clever dancer to let accomplishment trespass upon grace4 ,unfortunately the good fairy who has endowed her with so many gifts appears to have withheld the greatest of them all--imagination4 ,finish and refinement can never make amends for the absence of mood4 ,at times her dancing leaves us so cold that we are persuaded that she is dancing with her head but not with her heart4 ,it is worth while remarking that when any ,russian dancer appears in ,england or ,america1 she is almost invariably described as the 8premire danseuse of the ,russian ,imperial ,ballet40 ,this denomination is vague1 and usually inaccurate4 ,theoretically there can be only two ballerine assolute in all the ,russias--one in ,st ,petersburg and one in ,moscow4 ,as a matter of fact1 in ,st ,petersburg at the present moment both ,kschesinskaya and ,preobrajenskaya hold this rank1 although of the two1 the former is granted precedence4 ,the latter has now nominally retired1 but she continues to make six or eight appearances every season4 ,madame ,kschesinskaya has never performed in ,england4 ,she once visited ,london privately1 but when she found that an engagement there would necessitate appearing nightly1 she declared that such a task was 8blood-drying work10 and fled incontinently to ,russia4 ,in the ,russian capital she herself chooses the occasions when she deigns to appear4 ,the ballerina assoluta of ,moscow is ,mademoiselle ,catrina ,geltzer1 who has recently appeared at the ,alhambra4 ,madame ,pavlova belongs to the grade known as ballerina1 or premire danseuse1 the next below that of ballerina assoluta4 ,she is marked out to succeed to the place vacated by ,madame ,preobrajenskaya in the supreme rank in the hierarchy4 ,madame ,karsavina and ,mademoiselle ,balashova are at present equal in degree to ,madame ,pavlova4 ,madame ,lydia ,kyasht is in ,russia still only premire sujet4 ,illustration3 ,,lydia ,,kyasht ,photograph3 ,ellis ,walery ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,english ,,ballet ,in a retrospect of the performances of the ,russians in ,london this year1 a correspondent of ,the ,times summed up the effect of their achievement upon the state of mind of the spectator of the ,english ballet in these words3 8,this summer of #aiaa has brought more than an sthetic revolution with it3 in bringing the ,russian ballet to ,covent ,garden it has brought a positively new art1 it has extended the realm of beauty for us1 discovered a new continent1 revealed new faculties and means of salvation in ourselves4 ,alas6 many pleasant illusions have been shattered thereby1 many idols have tumbled from their pedestals2 we have grown up terribly fast and lost the power of enjoying things that pleased our callow fancies a year or two ago4 ,who can go back now with the old zest to the robust vivacity of ,x or the amateurish minauderies of ,y8 ,who will put up any longer with the battered themes1 the insipid music1 the ingenious setting1 and the clumsy grouping to which we were accustomed once8 ,they will still have their public1 those things2 they will serve for entertainment1 for stuffing to that pillow on which the backbone of the ,british nation leans till bedtime2 but they will no longer do for the #8seven hundred honest folk' who seek at that hour for the means to #8make their souls4'0 ,although ,i cannot claim to be one of the honest folk who go to the ,empire at that hour 8to make their souls10 it was nevertheless somewhat dismayedly that1 with the rhythm of the ,russians still marching through the brain1 ,i once again witnessed a ballet fairly representative of the modern ,english type4 ,we were no longer in the atmosphere of art1 but in the atmosphere of commerce4 ,the peculiarity of the atmosphere of commerce is that it leaves nothing to the imagination1 and therefore it leaves the imagination cold4 8,the art of the pen10 said ,meredith in the person of one of the characters of his novels1 8is to rouse the inward vision1 instead of labouring with a drop-scene brush1 as if it were to the eye40 ,the ,english ballet is not content with the primitive simplicity of a drop-scene brush2 it labours with a host of mechanical devices--with extravagant properties1 with photographic scenery1 with the stratagems of electricians1 with all the means that the stage manager can array to dissuade the inward vision from rousing itself4 ,its aim apparently is to create a diversion for the eye so that the imagination may slumber undisturbed4 ,the stage as a rule is so crowded1 that any suggestion of a governing design is lost in a general bewildering flicker of motion like that of the cinematograph4 ,frequently the corps de ballet have no room for any more elaborate step than an artless hop and a right-about turn1 a kind of convalescent pirouette4 ,perhaps it is as well--safety may sometimes lie in numbers4 8,what has come to us10 asked ,professor ,selwyn ,image a dozen years ago apropos of the ,butterflies ballet1 8that we are all gone crazy over crowds and jumble and properties and frippery80 ,a strange circumstance is that the ,english ballet not infrequently has the air of being discontented with its enforced silence4 ,at its best the ballet is not the translation of words into gesture3 it is the translation1 or rather the transposition of life into gesture4 ,it is the presentment to eye and ear by means of rhythmic motion and pictorial design1 of a certain feeling about life1 of certain moods and visions which have never crystallised into words4 8,it begins and ends10 it has been well said1 8before words have formed themselves1 in a deeper consciousness than that of speech40 ,to think of ballet merely as dumb show is the same as to think of painting merely as illustration4 ,it exists as the supplement rather than as the substitute of words4 ,it does not merely tell a story2 it tells it1 or rather it should tell it1 in a way in which words alone could not tell it4 ,it tells it with a beauty which1 we will not say is greater than1 but is at any rate different from1 the beauty of words4 ,but the ballet of commerce1 aiming at literalness rather than suggestion1 ,illustration3 ,,lydia ,,kyasht ,,in ,sylvia ,photograph3 ,bassano1 ,ltd4 seems strangely handicapped by its speechlessness4 ,it appears to be groping for the libretto4 ,it does not tell a story so much as suggest that it has a story to tell1 which it would1 if it could1 impart to the spectator4 ,probably because they never seek to go outside the narrow circle of conventionalised gestures1 which the ,english ballet has received as a sacred tradition from the ,italian1 the performers have the air of attempting to communicate with one another in the deaf and dumb language of a mute1 or rather of one who wilfully deprives himself of the use of his tongue4 ,the feeling that they arouse in the spectator is one almost of impatience1 as with the folly of a man who uses a finger alphabet when he might just as well talk rationally4 ,in speaking of the ,english ballet1 ,mr ,max ,beerbohm has gaily admitted his inability to master the meaning of formalised gesture3 8,when a ballerina lays the palms of her hands against her left cheek1 and then snatching them away1 regards them with an air of mild astonishment1 and then swaying slightly backwards1 touches her forehead with her finger-tips1 and then suddenly extends both arms above her head1 ,i ought of course to be privy to her inmost meaning4 ,i ought to have a thorough grasp of her exact state of mind4 ,friends have often explained to me1 with careful demonstrations1 the significance of the various gestures that are used in the ballet--and these gestures are not very many--and ,i have more than once committed them to memory1 hoping that though ,i could never be illuded1 ,i might at least be not bemused4 ,but1 after all this trouble1 the next ballet that ,i have seen has teased and puzzled me as unkindly as ever4 ,is it that gestures were given to the ballerina to conceal her thoughts8 ,or is it merely that the quickness of the hand deceives the eye80 ,one of the criteria of the ballet is the quality of its silence4 ,in the perfect ballet the silence is never apprehended as a negation or a deficiency1 any more than it is in a painting or a statue4 ,the interpolation of words would indeed be felt to be an impertinence4 ,where the rhythm is entirely satisfying1 the mind is content4 ,not the least of the merits of the ,russian ballet is this quality of completeness in its silence4 ,there are some exceptions3 at times the action of ,le ,pavillon d',armide stumbles and seems to cry for speech2 but in ,le ,spectre de la ,rose would not a single spoken word break the spell8 ,the gestures of the dancers are never drawn from that limited stock of conventions which ,mr ,beerbohm tried in vain to memorise1 which are in fact a kind of stock-in-trade1 and can be borne in mind and applied at will like the commonplaces of the newspaper leader-writers2 they are fluid and variable and flow naturally out of the emotion4 ,they are in fact gestures1 and not1 as they usually are in the ,english ballet1 gesticulations4 ,but there is good reason to believe that the ,english ballet is on the eve of a renaissance4 ,the success of the ,russians must have taught the managers that a gorgeous spectacle is not really necessary for the delight of the public1--in the ,russian repertory probably the simplest ballets were the most appreciated4 ,already in the ,dance ,dream the ,alhambra has produced a ballet which1 if the theme was insipid1 at any rate had the crowning virtue of breadth and simplicity of treatment4 ,a sense of space was created2 the tumult of action was varied by passages of sobriety2 an effect of beauty was produced1 larger and serener than any that has been seen in the ,english ballet during recent years4 ,the principals of course were ,russians--,mademoiselle ,balashova succeeded ,mademoiselle ,geltzer as premire danseuse--but the performance of the ,english dancers showed that under proper handling they are capable of better things than the pantomime displays to which they have been used to be restricted4 ,the ,english ballet still awaits the coming of the great ,english dancer--it is too early yet to know whether ,miss ,phyllis ,bedells will be she--but now that public interest is at last wide awake the primary condition of the creation of a native school of ballet is satisfied4 ,but there is one dancer of genius1 whom1 if the ,english stage has not produced1 it at any rate monopolises4 ,it has become difficult to think of ,madame ,adeline ,gene as belonging to any other country than ,england1 nevertheless the conscientious annalist must record1 however unwillingly1 the fact that she was born at ,aarhus1 in ,denmark4 ,if she was not born dancing1 she danced almost from her cradle4 ,at the age of eight she began that ,illustration3 ,,alexandra ,,balashova ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 arduous course of training which forms the solid groundwork of her art4 ,she was instructed by her uncle1 ,alexander ,gene4 ,she also profited greatly by the strict supervision of her aunt1 who1 it is interesting to note1 was a ,hungarian4 ,if1 indeed1 there be any natural magic in the dancing of the natives of ,eastern ,europe1 it must have passed into ,gene's style long before the ,russian dancers were heard of in this country4 ,her aunt was her most vigorous and helpful critic2 when she pleased her audiences she was glad1 but when she pleased this exacting connoisseur she was content4 ,madame ,gene made her first appearance at the ,opera ,house at ,copenhagen2 at the age of sixteen she was dancing at the ,royal ,theatre in ,berlin1 from whence she proceeded to ,munich4 ,it was there that she received that telegram which may be said to have determined her subsequent career--the invitation to take the position of premire danseuse for six weeks at the ,empire ,theatre1 ,london4 ,she made her dbut in ,england in ,monte ,cristo1 in ,november #ahig4 ,she has remained the popular favourite of the ,english public ever since1 and perhaps not of the ,english public only1 but of the ,american also4 ,amid the crowd of dancers of all nationalities she has maintained her pride of place4 ,in ,vineland her dancing first seemed to attain its full brilliance4 ,then followed the ,milliner ,duchess and ,high ,jinks1 the latter notable for the famous hunting scene in which the verve and spirit of her dancing won all hearts4 ,finally came ,delibes' ,coppelia1 an example of the classic ballet at its best4 ,coppelia was to ,gene what ,la ,sylphide was to ,taglioni1 ,giselle to ,grisi1 and ,eoline to ,lucille ,grahn4 ,naturally it is1 as she told me1 her favourite ballet4 ,but perhaps her triumph in the ,dryad was even greater4 ,it gave her an opportunity for displaying not only her marvellous technique1 but also a perhaps half-unsuspected power of raising and expressing emotion4 ,it afforded scope for the range of her feeling and revealed the actress beneath the dancer4 ,in the first scene she comes out of the tree trunk in which the jealousy of ,aphrodite has imprisoned her4 ,once a year she is allowed to roam abroad and delight in the sunlight and the flowers and the breeze4 ,her heart is on fire with joy at all the sights and sounds about her2 but a still greater joy is in store for her--she meets a shepherd who falls in love with her4 ,she relates her story to him in gestures which are as explicit as speech1 and tells him he must go away and return at the end of ten years--she delightfully counts out the tale of years on the flowers she has gathered4 ,if throughout the ten years he is faithful to her she will be released4 ,the ten years pass1 and on an autumn evening she comes out of her tree prison once again4 ,will he come8 ,she is sure of it and dances for joy4 ,will he come8 ,she searches for him eagerly through the meadows and down the glades4 ,will he come8 ,troubling doubts assail her1 and her eyes begin to fill with despair4 ,will he come8 ,of course he will4 ,she is still rippling and glowing with joy4 ,she hears his voice4 ,he is singing the old familiar love song4 ,he is there1 and on his arm is a human shepherdess to whom he is singing the song that once was only hers4 ,the faithless lover and his new-found love pass through the meadow and down the glade1 and then the ,dryad1 forsaken and forlorn1 turns to the sheltering trunk in which she can hide herself and her despair4 ,the fable is slender as a fairy tale1 yet it gave ,gene the chance of showing that she could pass from one emotion to another with the same rapidity1 ease and expressiveness that mark her steps4 ,she was by turns elfish1 tender1 sad1 merry1 passionate or despairing4 ,in the first moments after escaping from the imprisoning tree1 her dancing was full of that quality which so often inspires it--the spirit of the eternal child4 ,but the first and foremost quality of ,madame ,gene's dancing is its technical perfection4 ,if there is such a thing as a physical genius for the dance1 independent of the qualities of the spirit1 that genius is hers4 ,she reveals it in the mere act of walking across the room4 ,there is a brilliance in her movement1 a resiliency in her tread1 that distinguishes her from all other women4 ,if the ancients were right in attributing four elements to the composition of the body1 one would say that hers was compounded solely of air and fire4 ,but whereas many dancers might have relied almost entirely on this natural genius1 which is hers by right of birth1 ,gene has added to it a training which in severity1 conscientiousness ,illustration3 ,,adeline ,,gen,e ,,from ,,an ,,instantaneous ,,negative ,,taken ,,in ,,natural ,,colour ,photograph3 ,the ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 and thoroughness perhaps few dancers have equalled4 ,for years she has spent four hours a day in front of her huge mirror practising her steps1 usually under the careful supervision of her uncle4 8,i have given my life and myself to my dancing10 she says1 and the words are true in a very special and literal sense4 ,she has served her art with almost the rigour of asceticism4 ,she avoids wine4 ,she eats sparely4 ,she shuns a supper-party4 ,when her work is over her day is done1 and she drives from the theatre home to bed4 ,she has fulfilled to the letter ,ruskin's affirmation that an artist must submit to a law which it was painful to obey1 in order that she may bestow a delight which it is gracious to bestow4 ,in proficiency in the strict1 classical school of ballet-dancing1 it is possible that ,madame ,gene has never been surpassed and perhaps not even equalled4 ,within these limits her work is faultless4 ,every detail is sedulously studied1 and is executed with accuracy and ease4 ,the position of the fingers1 the lines of the arabesque1 the resumption of the exact attitude at the end of no matter how many and how rapid pirouettes--everything is as exact as if it had been drawn by an artist with infinite leisure for correction1 instead of executed in the heat of the moment without an instant's pause between one movement and the next4 ,every step has its name2 every gesture belongs to its code2 there is one way and no other of executing them rightly1 and that way is ,madame ,gene's4 ,but the dance is too rapid and too flowing to be dissected into its constituent parts4 ,the connoisseur recognises them and knows that the apparent spontaneity is obtained only by the mastery of a science as strict as mathematics2 the spectator uneducated in the dance remarks the general effect of beauty1 and is instinctively aware that the performance has something of the qualities of a masterpiece of art4 ,but this extreme physical sureness and dexterity is not without its dangers4 ,the dancer is tempted to exhibit mere tours de force which a less proficient performer would be saved by her very incompetence from attempting1 and the temptation is the greater through the knowledge that these are the accomplishments which call forth the most tempestuous applause from a public that cares less for the beautiful than for the marvellous4 ,in a recent divertissement1 ,a ,dream of ,butterflies and ,roses1 no movement1 not even the magnificent circles made backwards with wide flying steps1 excited the audience to such a pitch of enthusiasm as one particularly trying piece of gymnastic--a slow rising from the ground on one pointed toe4 ,but ,gene's mastery of technique is so complete that the least hint of strain is eliminated and even this somewhat acrobatic feat was almost transformed into a delightful flow of grace4 ,the ease with which she overcomes technical difficulties creates a delight of its own1 cheating one's fears1 and compelling an admission of beauty where one had dreaded to see only athletic prowess4 ,to this technical perfection ,gene adds certain spiritual qualities which are all her own4 ,as ,i have said1 the ,dryad revealed a dramatic ability which had been perhaps overlooked in the admiration of her pure dancing4 ,this capacity for pantomime would probably have been earlier appreciated if the ballets at the ,empire had allowed it more scope4 ,but the peculiar note of her spirit is an abounding gaiety1 as clear and elemental as that of a child1 affecting the heart like vital and exhilarating laughter4 ,there is a kind of arch-merriment in her dancing which seems to flow out of the pure exultation of movement1 at times almost threatening to break through the restraints of technique and convert the dance into a romp4 ,but the elasticity of the dance is always great enough to meet the freest ebullience of spirits2 there is1 as it were1 no leakage of vitality2 every atom of force is spent in steps and movements that never lose their precision and exactitude4 ,gene's dancing refutes those detractors who assert that the academic style of the ballet is a fatal limitation to the artist's freedom of expression4 ,she shows that1 when it is brought to the perfection to which she has developed it1 it is fluent and elastic enough to express the extremes of1 at any rate1 the more volatile emotions4 ,the hunting dance in ,high ,jinks carries the dance as far in the direction of high spirits1 of exhilaration unmixed with passion1 of sheer delight in the physical fact of life1 as it can possibly go4 ,the spirited little horsewoman in the black riding-habit1 that clings closely to the lines of her gay and lithe ,illustration3 ,,adeline ,,gen,e ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 figure1 has an air at once of fragility and vigour2 she is borne through the air on her dashing leaps1 she curvets1 she caracoles1 the slender steely limbs make nothing of the weighty burden of the skirt and boots--and yet it is all done with such a whirl and wind of enthusiasm that the motive force appears to be not muscular activity but merely a fever of the blood4 ,all the jollity1 all the glorious high spirits1 all the high-heartedness1 all the intoxication of delight1 in all the hunting mornings that ever were1 are concentrated in that swaying1 swirling1 leaping1 laughing figure4 ,there is something essentially of the ,north in ,gene's dancing1 a freshness and energy like that of the north wind1 a hint of the athlete in the vigorous clean-limbed movements1 an absence of passion1 a purity1 shall we say a coldness8 ,her spirit seems to belong to the heights rather than to the depths4 ,it is bright rather than subtle4 ,it is full of high lights but lacking in half-tones4 ,although 8finish0 in a technical sense is the peculiar characteristic of ,gene's art1 it is not marked by those almost indefinable nuances which give the dance1 no less than the painting or the poem1 a quality with which not even the finest workmanship can endow it4 ,these refinements belong to the region not of the intelligence but of the spirit1 and cannot be laid hold of by analysis4 ,they depend upon a very delicate perception1 upon a subtle responsiveness to the rhythm of life4 ,underlying the precision of her work is a kind of crudity4 ,there is no mood of creative beauty4 ,the outline is firm rather than tender4 ,the emotional qualities of the dance are explicit1 simple and wholesome1 but they are never subtle1 nor do they appear to be nourished by a great depth of spirit4 ,we miss the suggestion of those moods that are elemental and incalculable4 ,there is a gladness that cannot show itself in frolicsomeness1 and there is an ecstasy too near to tears to have any likeness to high spirits4 ,perfect within its own domain1 we feel that beyond the frontiers of her art lie tracts of the spirit unexplored4 ,to ,adeline ,gene ,england in particular owes a debt greater than to any other dancer4 ,it was she who continued1 or rather restored1 the tradition of the great dancing of the earlier half of the last century4 ,she aroused enthusiasm for the ballet in an age when that enthusiasm had grown cold4 ,she helped to put an end to a perverted form of dancing4 ,her example shone out with a clear light in that thick darkness just before the dawn1 and for more than a decade she remained true to her ideals through good report and ill4 ,it is safe to say that when the devotees of many other deities of the dance have ceased to kindle their tapers1 her own shrine will always be brightly illuminated4 ,mr ,max ,beerbohm has paid her a notable tribute1 which has all the more value seeing that he confesses that for him the ballet has no meaning4 8,no monstrous automaton is that young lady10 he said1 writing of her performance in ,coppelia in #aijf4 8,perfect though she be in the #8haute cole1' she has by some miracle preserved her own self4 ,she was born a comedian and a comedian she remains1 light and liberal as foam4 ,a mermaid were not a more surprising creature than she--she of whom one half is as that of an authentic ballerina1 whilst the other is that of a most intelligent1 most delightfully human actress4 ,a mermaid were1 indeed1 less marvellous in our eyes4 ,she would not be able to diffuse any semblance of humanity into her tail4 ,madame ,gene's intelligence seems to vibrate in her very toes4 ,her dancing1 strictliest classical though it is1 is a part of her acting4 ,and her acting1 moreover1 is of so fine a quality that she makes the old ineloquent conventions of gesture tell their meanings to me1 and tell them so exquisitely that ,i quite forget my craving for words4444 ,taglioni in ,les ,arabesques8 ,i suspect1 in my heart of hearts1 she was no better than a doll4 ,grisi in ,giselle8 ,she may1 or may not1 have been passable4 ,gene6 ,it is a name our grandchildren will cherish1 even as we cherish now the names of those bygone dancers4 ,and alas6 our grandchildren will never believe1 will never be able to imagine1 what ,gene was40 ,is there a young ,english dancer of promise who will one day vindicate the honour of ,england and succeed to the place which ,gene now triumphantly holds in the popular favour8 ,miss ,phyllis ,bedells is a possible candidate for fame4 ,she has recently taken the principal rle in ,sylvia at the ,empire in the absence of ,madame ,illustration3 ,,adeline ,,gen,e ,,in ,a ,dream of ,butterflies and ,roses ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 ,kyasht1 but she danced more happily in her original subordinate part4 ,her dancing has a charm which in some measure is enhanced by its very faultiness4 ,it is the charm of immaturity1 the suggestion of the delightful gambolling of a young animal at play4 ,her training1 so far as it goes1 has been painstaking1 but what chiefly distinguishes her performance from the routine work of the average ,english dancer is an unaffected zest1 almost a vividness of delight1 which the obvious troublesomeness of the technique is unable to depress4 ,the main difference between the would-be dancer and the born dancer is that the dance of the former is always the repetition of a lesson1 whereas every dance of the latter is like a new creation4 ,so far as it is already possible to judge1 ,miss ,bedells belongs to the latter class4 ,if the ,english ballet has yet produced no native ballerina worthy to rank with the great ,continental dancers1 the absence of a male dancer of any distinction is still more remarkable4 ,an exception can scarcely be made in favour of ,mr ,fred ,farren1 who fills the dual rle of premier danseur and matre de ballet at the ,empire4 ,neither as a composer of dances nor as an executant has he created anything that calls for special notice4 ,his most successful achievement has been an adaptation of the ,french ,apache dance4 ,la ,valse ,chaloupe was originated1 or rather popularised1 by ,max ,dearly and ,mademoiselle ,mistinguette1 a dancer who has brought into the dance all the nervous excitement of modernity4 ,in introducing the ,apache dance into ,a ,day in ,paris at the ,empire1 ,mr ,farren modified its more outr characteristics and at the same time gave it a more deeply passionate and dramatic significance4 ,his able partner1 ,miss ,beatrice ,collier1 imported into it a note of human tragedy that was more moving than the mere devilry of ,mistinguette4 ,probably the real reason why ,england has failed to produce a great school of ballet is principally owing to the absence of a matre de ballet of genius4 ,the late ,madame ,katti ,lanner and ,madame ,cavalazzi both possessed a thorough knowledge of technique1 and were capable of designing dances that were suited to the capacities of their pupils2 but their ideas were limited and their imagination feeble4 ,there is no reason in the nature of things why ,english dancers should not rise to the same level of excellence as those of ,st ,petersburg or ,moscow4 ,probably the material is there1 but the artist who can mould it into a design of the highest plastic beauty is lacking4 ,the dancer1 after all1 is very much in the position of a pawn in the game4 ,she can provide an individual note of fine quality and tone1 but it requires the genius of a master to provide the orchestration4 ,the ballet is perhaps more responsive to the attitude of the public than any other branch of art1 and the absence of a public seriously and critically interested in the dance has doubtless been responsible for the fact that the ballet has failed to attract the energies of men of talent4 ,the priority of ,russia in the art of the ballet is due above all else to that atmosphere which ,england lacks1 an atmosphere of keen and enlightened criticism1 of understanding sympathy and serious interest1 among the public at large no less than among the artists themselves4 ,that this is a condition absolutely essential to the success of the ballet is clearly shown in an instructive passage by the writer whom ,i have quoted at the beginning of this chapter4 ,speaking of the excellence of the ,russians he says3 8,this sort of perfection in an art is the result of a long process4 ,the artists are not only trained to it2 they are born to it4 ,the same names occur again and again in the history of the ballet2 sons and daughters follow the calling of their parents1 and find themselves wives and husbands among their fellow-dancers4 ,their limbs exist only for grace and suppleness1 and are never stiffened by any other use4 ,all their lives are devoted to dancing2 and it is the constant occupation of their minds4 ,a ballet-master is not an accident or sport of nature1 but one who is acknowledged by his comrades to excel them in the sort of imagination in which they all share4 ,a certain ,russian1 living in ,st ,petersburg1 was frequently puzzled by the strange behaviour of the guests in a flat across the street4 ,an aged lady lived there1 and once or twice a week she held receptions1 and the strangest leapings and gyrations could be dimly seen through the curtains4 ,in the end the aged lady ,illustration3 ,,phyllis ,,bedells ,,in ,sylvia ,photograph3 ,ellis ,walery proved to be ,mademoiselle ,p41 the once famous dancer and daughter of another famous dancer1 and these were her friends from the ,corps de ,ballet who came to take tea with her2 they were merely talking #8shop1' and incidentally illustrating their ideas by showing each other various steps4 ,monsieur ,k41 the ballet-master1 composes ballets as he walks1 and is watched by suspicious policemen swaying and waving his arms1 while he goes absent-mindedly along the streets4 ,when the ,russian ballet was in ,vienna1 the guests in a certain hotel were roused more than once in the middle of the night by a heavy bumping and clatter from the room above4 #8,it is all right1' one of the dancers explained to a nervous stranger1 #8it is evidently ,k4 composing a ballet4' ,an idea had occurred to him in bed2 and as ,strauss1 the waltz-maker1 in those circumstances used to jump out to note a tune on his tablets1 so ,monsieur ,k4 had to jump out and dance it4 ,undistracted by other things1 a ballet-master goes about the world gathering all the scattered beautiful gestures1 the nice correlations of innumerable details 7and how the tilt of the chin or the pathos of a smile just crowns the perfection of an attitude of ,pavlova's or ,karsavina's671 and keeps them ready to issue1 in organic order1 from his mind at the inspiration of the appropriate musical phrase40 ,it is to be feared that the ,english ballet-dancer does not take herself sufficiently seriously4 ,it may even be that she is a little ashamed of herself4 ,one has the uneasy feeling that she regards dancing as merely a stepping-stone to higher things--to musical comedy for instance6 ,it is her profession1 not her art4 ,not until ,english dancers begin to realise the significance of the dance as art and to create that choregraphic atmosphere which at present appears to exist only in ,russia1 shall we have a true renaissance of the ,ballet in ,england4 ,illustration3 ,,beatrice ,,collier ,,and ,,fred ,,farren ,,in ,la ,danse des ,apaches ,photographs3 ,ellis ,walery ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,oriental ,,and ,,spanish ,,dancing ,it does not require a very minute observation to discover that peoples are distinguished not only by their speech1 but by their habitual movements and attitudes4 ,every country has its special unspoken idiom of gesture1 which sometimes differs in different parts of the same country as perceptibly as the spoken dialect4 ,this characteristic gesture is the foundation of every national dance1 which does but elaborate and adorn it4 ,the composers of the ,russian ballets have achieved novel and interesting effects by using this racial attitude as the basis for the scheme of some of their dances4 ,in ,cloptre they have adopted the attitude of the ancient ,egyptians1 or rather those attitudes which are depicted on the pottery and frescoes of the old ,egyptian civilisation4 ,whether these attitudes were ever really typical of the attitudes of the people is at least questionable4 ,it is quite as likely that they were an artistic convention of the time1 due to the nave conceptions of the draughtsman4 ,but there can be no doubt that ancient ,egypt had a characteristic alphabet of gesture1 as individual as that of ancient ,greece1 although probably it has been exaggerated in the designs on the figured monuments by the faultiness of the perspective4 ,this circumstance1 however1 does not render it any the less serviceable as an element of design in the dance4 ,in ,scheherazade1 again1 ,nijinsky's dance is based upon the abrupt1 angular1 almost apish movements of the negro4 ,with ,italians gesticulation so inevitably accompanies speech that it is not surprising that the ballet should have been originated and perfected1 at all events so far as its pantomime is concerned1 in ,italy4 ,of course1 as a people becomes more intellectual1 and learns to express all the nuances of thought by means of language alone1 it relies less upon the elucidation of gesture4 ,anglo-,saxons are naturally schooled in reserve and seek to avoid any betrayal of the emotions by physical expression4 ,the national gesture nevertheless exists and finds its embodiment in the national dance1 the ,morris4 ,america can scarcely be said to have any national dance1 unless it be the cake walk1 which is plainly stamped with all the ungainliness of negro movement4 ,but ,american vaudeville artists--,i am thinking of some who have danced this year in ,london--seem almost unconsciously to have seized upon the ,american gesture and realised it in their dances4 ,naturally they have distorted it2 they have given it the immoderate energy of ,american life1 the exaggeration of ,american wit1 and the sensationalism of ,american advertisement4 ,who knows but that they will end by giving ,america its national dance6 ,the lines of bodily movement in the ,west are radically different from those of the ,east4 ,the quality of action in the ,west is energy and abruptness2 it tends to express itself in angles rather than in curves4 ,the gesture of the ,east moves with the lethargy1 the subtlety1 interrupted by sudden bursts of violence1 that are characteristic of the ,eastern temper4 ,nothing could be less suitable to the tranquillity and torpor of the ,east than the swift and intricate dances of more bracing climes4 ,it may be affirmed as a rough generalisation that ,western dancing gives the greater importance to the feet1 ,eastern dancing to the body4 ,in many of the most characteristic ,oriental dances1 the body revolves around its own axis1 as it were1 while the legs remain stationary4 ,equally with the motions of the body1 the ,eastern dance has made extraordinary use of the motions of the hands and arms4 ,it has found an invaluable auxiliary in the extreme refinement of the ,eastern woman's hands1 which always seem so infinitely more expressive than the passive oval mask of her face4 ,for me the eternal1 the essential gesture of the ,east is symbolised in the movement of a woman's hand that ,i saw through the iron grating of a koubba on the edge of the ,sahara--for where the ,arab is1 there is the ,east4 ,the woman herself ,i did not see1 for she was ,illustration3 ,,ruth ,,st ,,denis crouching upon the floor against the tomb4 ,but her whole body could not have expressed her character more revealingly than her hand1 with its fingers stained at the tips with henna to a bright orange colour and as astonishingly slender as those of a ,madonna in a primitive ,italian painting4 ,i think ,i should scarcely be believed if ,i tried to tell how much there was of resignation1 how much of a refined voluptuousness1 in its delicate gesture4 ,eastern dances1 performed by really skilled ,eastern dancers1 have not yet been seen upon the ,european stage4 ,of course the ,ouled-,nails and the hired almes of the ,algerian cafs introduced the danse du ventre to ,paris at the time of the first ,exhibition4 ,it would be easy to dismiss this dance with contempt if one had not seen it danced with a certain barbaric sincerity1 far away from the atmosphere of cigarettes and liqueurs of the cafs of ,biskra and ,tunis4 ,after all1 a dance is very much like the ,spanish inn of the olden days--you find in it principally what you bring to it4 ,and so acute an observer as ,lady ,duff ,gordon found in the danse du ventre an intensity that gave it a kind of dignity4 8,i could not call it voluptuous10 she says1 8any more than ,racine's ,phdre2 it is ,venus #8tout entire sa proie attache1' and to me it seemed tragic4 ,it is far more realistic than the fandango and far less coquettish1 because the thing represented is au grand srieux1 not travestied1 gaz1 or played with40 ,but the dancing of the ,east1 or rather of ,india in particular1 has found a very skilled translator in a dancer of ,american origin1 ,miss ,ruth ,st ,denis4 ,i believe it is true that ,miss ,st ,denis has never actually been in ,india1 but she has mixed freely with ,indians2 she has studied their art1 their religions1 their character1 she has penetrated into the spirit of the people as far as it is possible for a ,westerner to do so4 ,she has1 in fact1 caught the gesture of the ,east4 ,her dancing has for the most part a religious and symbolic character--for it should be remembered that1 besides the dances founded upon the passions1 the ,east has evolved a whole range of dances illustrative of philosophical ideas4 ,buddhism has carried the symbolism of the body to an extraordinary degree of refinement4 ,the locking and unfolding of the feet1 the uplifting of the arms and the hands1 even the very curves of the fingers1 have all their esoteric meaning4 ,the system of symbolism has so penetrated the actions of the dance that not infrequently the sequence and shades of the dancer's movements are unintelligible to an uninstructed eye4 ,thus the slow dance movements which ,hindus contemplate with delight for hours1 though they may appear drearily monotonous to the ,european1 are full of instruction to the initiated4 ,the ritual of the dance is almost as intimately connected with ,buddhism as the simpler ritual of the altar with ,catholicism4 ,the wealthier temples possess trained bands of dancers1 a sort of vestal virgins1 known as ,devadassis1 the slaves of the god4 ,they have the happy and pious custom of dancing twice daily before the images of the gods1 once in propitiation of their own sins1 once in intercession for the sins of the world4 ,it is the posturing of the ,devadassi1 rather than the dancing of the more voluptuous ,bayadre1 that ,miss ,ruth ,denis has sought to reproduce4 ,in her physical qualities1 ,miss ,st ,denis is well fitted to represent the type of the ,east4 ,while her beauty has much of the allure of sex1 it has also that childish character which seems peculiar to the women of the ,east4 ,her figure is exquisitely slender and her arms are as supple1 her hands as refined1 as those of a ,hindu4 ,the way was prepared for her to a certain extent by the success which ,miss ,isadora ,duncan had already achieved1 and when she gave a series of fashionable matines in ,new ,york in #aijf1 previous to her descent upon ,europe1 her recognition was immediate4 ,when she appeared at the ,scala ,theatre in ,london in #aijh1 ,miss ,ruth ,st ,denis was accompanied by half-a-dozen natives1 who supplied a note of human colour to the pictures of the street1 the palace and the temple1 which formed the background of her dances4 ,in most of the scenes1 the mystic atmosphere was assisted by the subdued light1 the odour of incense and the native melodies embodied in the striking music of ,herr ,walter ,meyrowitz4 ,her performances took the form of brief acts1 illustrative of native life4 ,the ,cobra ,dance was1 strictly speaking1 not a dance at all1 for it was performed in sitting1 crouching or kneeling postures4 ,the dancer appeared in the rle of a snake-charmer1 and throwing off ,illustration3 ,,ruth ,,st4 ,,denis ,,from ,a ,,design ,,by ,,paul ,,reith ,,in ,jugend 7,,munich7 her mantle revealed her arms clasped over either shoulder1 like two coiling snakes4 ,on the first and fourth fingers of each hand two enormous emeralds gleamed like serpents' eyes4 ,the arms slowly unwound and with a curiously sinuous motion began to writhe about her body4 ,they twined1 coiled1 fought and darted with lightning flashes in all directions1 simulating the movements of the reptile with astonishing fidelity4 ,it was a marvellous exercise in the flexibility of the arms4 ,the ,dance of the ,spirit of ,incense was set in a scene representing the women's quarter of an ,indian house4 ,the dancer entered bearing aloft a bowl of smoking incense4 ,with solemn1 hierophantic gestures she kindled the two censers that were placed on either side of the stage1 and1 as the smoke curled upwards1 she danced gravely and slowly1 all the motions of her body subtly responding to the rhythm of the wreathing smoke and flowing so imperceptibly one into another that they seemed less a sequence of separate movements than a single continuous thrill passing from the feet to the finger-tips4 ,but it was in the ,nautch and the ,temple ,dances that ,miss ,st ,denis really established her claim to rank as a dancer of the first order4 ,clad in a dress of vivid green spangled with gold1 her wrists and ankles encased in chattering silver bands1 surrounded by the swirling curves of a gauze veil1 the dancer passed from the first slow languorous movements into a vertiginous whirl of passionate delirium4 ,alluring in every gesture1 for once she threw asceticism to the winds1 and yet she succeeded in maintaining throughout that difficult distinction between the voluptuous and the lascivious4 ,the mystic ,dance of the ,five ,senses was a more artificial performance and only in one passage kindled into the passion of the ,nautch4 ,as the goddess ,radha1 she is dimly seen seated cross-legged behind the fretted doors of her shrine4 ,the priests of the temple beat gongs before the idol and lay their offerings at her feet4 ,then the doors open1 and ,radha descends from her pedestal to suffer the temptation of the five senses4 ,the fascination of each sense1 suggested by a concrete object1 is shown forth in the series of dances4 ,jewels represent the desire of the sight1 of the hearing the music of bells1 of the smell the scent of flowers1 of the taste wine1 and the sense of touch is fired by a kiss4 ,her dancing was inspired by that intensity of sensuous delight which is refined to its furthest limit probably only in the women of the ,east4 ,she rightly chose to illustrate the delicacy of the perceptions not by abandon but by restraint4 ,the dance of touch1 in which every bend of the arms and of the body described the yearning for the unattainable1 was more freely imaginative in treatment4 ,and in the dance of taste there was one triumphant passage1 when1 having drained the wine-cup to the dregs1 she burst into a dionysiac nautch1 which raged ever more wildly until she fell prostrate under the maddening influence of the god of wine4 ,then by the expression of limbs and features showing that the gratification of the senses leads to remorse and despair1 and that only in renunciation can the soul realise the attainment of peace1 she returns to her shrine and the doors close upon the seated image1 resigned and motionless4 ,so she affirmed in choice and explicit gesture the creed of the ,buddha4 ,the art of ,miss ,st ,denis is not free from adventitious elements4 ,it is too much concerned with the expression of ideas to give itself up wholly to the creation of beauty4 ,it is symbolic1 but not in the large1 suggestive way in which ,isadora ,duncan's dancing is symbolic2 the symbolism is somewhat limited1 artificial and literal4 ,her dancing1 moreover1 with some exceptions1 tends to be static1 an affair of postures and poses1 and in some cases these postures are more learned than beautiful4 ,miss ,denis is an imitative rather than a creative artist--that is to say1 she attempts to interpret the ,east with both fidelity to the letter and the spirit1 rather than to use its gestures freely1 with the bold grasp of an artist1 as elements of design4 ,her treatment of the ,east is in direct opposition to that of the creators of ,scheherazade1 who have been reckless of accuracy of detail1 who have sought only for the materials to build up a gorgeous pattern1 and have passed every concrete fact through the fire of a transforming artistic imagination4 ,if1 as has been said1 the art of the future lies in a ,west that is conscious of the ,east1 the recognition of the ,east will be in the manner of ,monsieur ,fokine rather than in that of ,miss ,st ,denis4 ,nevertheless1 ,miss ,ruth ,illustration3 ,,leonora ,,as ,a ,,spanish ,,dancer ,photograph3 ,dover ,street ,studios1 ,ltd4 ,st ,denis duly ranks as one of the most cultured dancers of the time1 and1 in her special sphere1 certainly the most learned4 ,her dancing is penetrated with the finest spirit of ,indian art in much the same way in which ,isadora ,duncan's is imbued with the art of ,greece4 ,she has explored a new tract of the vast country which ,miss ,duncan opened up1 and by interpreting the art of the ,east she has perceptibly broadened the scope of dancing in the ,west4 ,probably those who are trying to revive the ,classical ,dance would succeed in getting closer to its spirit if they were to add to their study of the figures on ancient vases and frescoes an observation of the living ,spanish dance of to-day4 ,the gesture of a people has a more ancient and unchanging history than its speech1 and it is unquestionable that much of the gesture of the ancient world has been preserved among the ,spanish people1 who still retain something of the inner spirit as well as of the outward circumstances of the ancient civilisation4 ,many of the poses found in the ,greek figurines are essentially those of ,spanish women2 the play of the arms and hands1 the sideward movement1 the extreme backward extension of the head and body1 are movements common both to the ,greek and the ,spanish dance4 ,the castanet1 which is invariably associated with ,spanish dancing1 was also used in ,greece4 ,the dancing that persists in ,spain is almost certainly of a kind that was once common all round the shores of the ,mediterranean4 ,it has of course been modified by an ,oriental influence1 but it possessed its special characteristics long before the coming of the ,moors4 ,in the early days of the ,roman ,empire the dancers of ,cadiz created a furore in ,rome comparable to that which the ,russians have aroused in the ,paris and ,london of to-day4 ,spanish dancing has been made familiar to ,french and ,english audiences by several dancers of repute1 of whom the best known are ,carmencita1 ,otero1 ,guerrero and ,tortajada4 ,there are some kinds of dancing1 however1 which are untranslatable into the terms of the art of other countries4 ,the ,spanish dance is intensely national4 ,the snapping of the castanets1 the short and insolent skirt1 the exciting rhythm of the music1 do not alone suffice for the performance of the jota or the fandango1 as some foreign artists would appear to suppose2 nor even when the dancer has caught the trick of the swaying of the hips1 the lightning of the eyes1 the arched back and provocative gestures1 has she caught the spirit of the dance4 ,she must first transform herself into a ,spaniard4 ,the ,spanish dance depends almost wholly on personality2 and not on the personality of the dancer alone1 for it is one of those dances which seem to require an indefinable 8rapport0 between the dancer and the spectator4 ,mr ,havelock ,ellis has drawn attention to this feature in an interesting passage in 8,the ,soul of ,spain40 ,one of the characteristics of ,spanish dancing1 he says1 8lies in its accompaniments1 and particularly in the fact that under proper conditions all the spectators are themselves performers4 ,in flamenco dancing1 among an audience of the people1 every one takes a part by rhythmic clapping and stamping1 and by the occasional prolonged #8ols' and other cries by which the dancer is encouraged or applauded4 ,thus the dance is not the spectacle for the amusement of a languid and passive public1 as with us4 ,it is rather the visible embodiment of an emotion in which every spectator himself takes an active and helpful part2 it is1 as it were1 a vision evoked by the spectators themselves and upborne on the continuous waves of rhythmical sound which they generate4 ,thus it is that at the end of a dance an absolute silence often falls1 with no sound of applause3 the relation of performer and public has ceased to exist4 ,so personal is this dancing that it may be said that an intimate association with the spectators is necessary for its full manifestation4 ,the finest ,spanish dancing is at once killed or degraded by the presence of an indifferent or unsympathetic public1 and that is probably why it cannot be transplanted but remains local40 ,the success of ,la ,carmencita was primarily due to this free play of personality which the ,spanish dance permits4 ,mr ,john ,sargent's picture1 by which she will always be known to posterity1 admirably displays the bold carriage1 the somewhat defiant attitude1 the suggestion of suppressed fire1 which are characteristic of her type4 ,as a dancer pure and simple1 she was surpassed by many who never attained her wide reputation4 ,she had gone through ,illustration3 ,,la ,,otero ,photograph3 ,w4 ,d4 ,downey no inexorable training4 ,she never pretended to any brilliancy of execution that was beyond her powers4 ,her manner was simple and unaffected4 ,without making any very strenuous efforts she glided through a few simple movements that showed off to perfection her supple and well-proportioned figure4 ,she achieved fame less by the technique of her dancing than by her character1 her allure1 the distinction of her intriguing and exotic personality4 ,la ,tortajada is a figure well known both in ,london and in ,america4 ,her style is not representative of the purest type of ,spanish dancing1 as it is apt to be infected with the atmosphere of the music-hall4 ,her personality1 moreover1 is far less interesting than that of ,la ,carmencita4 ,she was born in ,granada1 and her aim is to bring the warmth and colour of the sun of meridional ,spain into her dancing--to dance1 in fact1 as she expressed it1 8la danse ensoleille40 8,america10 she says in a nave account of her career1 8has fted me and showered dollars on me by the handful4 ,millionaires in particular have given me a great #8rclame1' among them ,pierpont ,morgan1 ,astor and ,vanderbilt4 ,the latter gave me a thousand dollars to dance one ,christmas ,day4 ,another ,american1 ,mr ,taft1 the future ,president1 made a bet that ,i was taller than another woman well known to the public4 ,he was at the pains of coming himself to measure me1 and having won the five thousand dollars1 he at once purchased a magnificent piece of jewellery with them which he offered to me4 ,if the millionaires fted me1 so also did the poorest citizens of the ,republic1 the humble ,sioux1 who are still to be found in some of the wilder regions4 ,while making a motor tour in the district of the immense pine forests for the benefit of my health1 ,i fell in with some of these fine fellows and the idea suddenly occurred to me that ,i would dance specially for them4 ,my husband and ,i improvised a stage and thereupon ,i danced my most voluptuous flamenca1 which at first terrified but soon afterwards delighted them4 ,i was royally rewarded1 for the chief made me a present of some gold dust and a purse fashioned out of serpent's skin4444 ,but the most curious spectators that ,i have known were three thousand ,zulus whom ,i came across when motoring back from ,johannesburg4 ,unlike the ,sioux1 they did not look on at my dance in silent admiration4 ,no sooner had ,i begun to dance than the ,zulus commenced to caper about all round me4 ,nothing could have been more picturesque1 and at the same time more ludicrous1 than the sight of a white woman in a mantilla appearing as mistress of the revels in a negro orgy60 ,guerrero is perhaps a more impassioned dancer than ,la ,tortajada1 but she has strayed even further from the purity of the ,spanish dance4 ,at the ,marigny ,theatre in ,paris1 she has this summer been dancing a new and startling dance called the ,tango4 ,it is a curious mixture of composure and frenzy1 and at first acquaintance seems full of complications4 ,her rendering of it is said to take away the breath of the ,english and ,american tourists who fill the popular music-hall among the chestnuts of the ,champs ,elyse4 ,but the performances of these exponents of ,spanish dancing only serve to show how swiftly it degenerates as soon as it leaves its native atmosphere4 ,even in the peninsula itself the dance seems to lose its essential character when it is performed in one of those palatial cosmopolitan music-halls1 by the erection of which ,spain is endeavouring to convince the world of its ability to keep abreast of the march of progress4 ,to see the real classic dancing of an elder ,spain1 it is necessary to search among the shabby streets of the poorer quarters of ,seville or ,barcelona4 ,there you may perchance discover some stifling1 exuberant little caf or theatre of the people1 in which1 if fortune favours you1 you may find a dancer of talent1 even of genius4 ,i remember such an one in a little caf chantant in ,barcelona1 no bigger and scarcely less unfurnished than a railway station waiting-room4 ,the dancer appeared to be on the most intimate terms with the occupants of the stalls1 and could at request lampoon the particular foibles of each habitu in copletas that were barbed with the cruellest ,iberian irony4 ,but her dancing had a brilliance1 a fire1 an abandon1 and even a technical excellence1 which ,i have never seen equalled in the displays of those artists whose names are known throughout ,europe4 ,it was at once ,illustration3 ,,la ,,guerrero ,photograph3 ,w4 ,d4 ,downey expressive of the individuality of the dancer and of the race4 ,it was as easy and as eloquent as ,spanish speech4 ,it was in fact the dancer's manner of conversing with the spectator1 and it had all the daring1 the wit1 the provocativeness and at times the real poetry of her couplets4 ,it is little wonder that all the essential fire of the ,spanish dance is quenched when it is performed upon the foreign stage4 ,the atmosphere of ,andalusia cannot be created in ,london or ,new ,york even by dancers of greater genius than ,otero1 ,guerrero and ,tortajada2 and it should not be forgotten that ,mr ,royall ,tyler1 whose word upon the inner life of ,spain must be taken as final1 has remarked that 8neither of those three ladies dances well enough to earn her living by the art in ,spain4 ,their dances are intended for exportation into foreign countries where they are more appreciated40 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,the ,,revival ,,of ,,the ,,morris ,,dance ,no view of the modern renaissance of dancing would be complete which did not take account of the revival of the ,morris ,dance4 ,perhaps it has been too lightly assumed that ,england being a nation of shopkeepers has never been a nation of dancers4 ,but shopkeeping is merely a habit1 the product of circumstance1 and in its nature a temporary makeshift4 ,dancing is a need of the spirit1 a daughter of the high moods1 and if1 as ,lucian said1 it is as old as love1 it is surely also as everlasting4 ,the shopkeeping spirit may be1 and probably is1 antagonistic to dancing2 but by the shopkeeping spirit ,i do not mean the modern spirit1 for that is an incalculable1 energetic and mobile thing1 which is going to bear ,i know not what strange fruit in life and art4 ,i mean that austere1 unsmiling1 level and practical temper which began to overshadow ,western ,europe some time in the sixteenth century2 which set its face against ecstasy1 and art which is the expression of ecstasy2 which regarded poverty and vagabondage and unrestrained laughter as disreputable2 which worshipped respectability1 common-sense1 such success as could be expressed in terms of cash1 and all things that were materially substantial and enduring2 which created ,puritanism1 the eighteenth century and the industrial revolution4 ,to this temper1 which found a secure lodgment in the ,anglo-,saxon mind1 dancing was naturally unsympathetic4 ,but though it long held ,britain1 and ,america too1 in its grip1 it was not strong enough to strangle the free and joyous spirit which had created 8,merrie ,england40 ,that spirit found its typical expression in the dance1 and particularly in the ,morris ,dance4 ,not until the improbable event of the antiquarians arriving at unanimity will it be determined whether or no the ,morris was originally danced by the ,moors or 8,moriscos0 of ,spain and imported by ,john of ,gaunt into ,england in the fourteenth century2 but if so1 it was 8diablement chang en route40 ,it mixed with the native dances and was incorporated with a mass of ,catholic and even pre-,christian tradition4 ,in some ,english villages there are memories of a dance on the #bast of ,june1 the longest day of the year1 of a slaughtered ox1 a procession in which one of the dancers carried a sword and a large wooden cup4 ,to surmise what dim forgotten rites of a pagan sun-worship linger in this ritual would take us far into the labyrinth of archology4 ,but whatever its origin the ,morris gathered unto itself the joy and holiday spirit of the countryside4 ,it had its roots deep in the soil4 ,it was inspired by the rhythm of an ancient1 simple and full-blooded life1 if not by the very rhythm of the woods and rivers themselves4 ,in spite of direct attempts at suppression1 the inevitable desuetude of ancient custom1 and the changed conditions of the life of the people1 this dancing has come down from ,catholic ,england to our own day4 ,the ,puritan preachers denounced it as 8lewde0 and 8ungodlie02 but it survived even the tyranny of ,cromwell's major-generals and flourished gaily under the ,merry ,monarch4 ,in the eighteenth century it had already become demoded4 ,in a journal of the period we read of an account of a soire1 in which the writer said of a certain lady1 with more candour than courtesy1 that she 8looked as silly and gaudy1 ,i do vow1 as one of the old ,morris ,dancers40 ,in many villages1 particularly in the west and south-west of ,england1 there still exist 8sides0 of morris-dancers to whom the tunes and music have been handed down through an unbroken tradition4 ,the fidelity of this tradition is in many cases surprising4 ,mr ,cecil ,sharp1 to whom is chiefly due the rediscovery of the ancient dances1 relates how he took down a tune from the fiddler of the ,bidford morris-men which was identical1 note for note1 with one that he had found in a version printed in #aeej4 ,but during the last twenty or thirty years many of the old morris-sides have been disbanded4 ,the revival has come at the eleventh hour4 ,already dances have been collected representing probably every variety of the morris-step2 but in another generation the memory of the ,morris ,dance would have almost vanished from the countryside4 ,soon after the ,morris ,dance took root in ,england it became incorporated with the old mummers' plays1 which embodied the cult of ,robin ,hood4 ,the traditional characters of ,friar ,tuck1 ,little ,john and ,maid ,marian accompanied the dancers4 ,the hobby-horse and the fool1 sometimes known as the dysard1 provided the necessary comic relief4 ,but the main interest1 and a very serious interest it was1 centred in the dancing4 ,at one time almost every village possessed its troupe1 and among the various villages there was a rivalry of dancing as keen as the rivalry of football to-day4 ,occasionally the contest became so hot that the victory was only determined by a vigorous bout of cudgelling with the staves1 which served as an accessory in the dance4 ,the ,morris ,dance was no hoydenish revel in which any unskilled yokel could take part4 ,it developed an intricate technique which not unnaturally lent itself to the introduction of a kind of 8star0 system among the dancers4 ,of these professional performers perhaps the most illustrious was a certain ,william ,kemp1 who achieved fame in ,elizabeth's reign by dancing the ,morris all the way from ,london to ,norwich4 ,he wrote an account of this feat in a pamphlet called 8,kemp's ,nine ,daies' ,wonder1 performed in a daunce from ,london to ,norwich3 ,containing the pleasures1 paines and kind entertainment of ,william ,kemp betweene ,london and that ,citty1 in his late ,morrice40 ,in his droll and vivid manner he tells how at ,sudbury 8there came a lusty tall fellow1 a butcher by his profession1 that would in a ,morice keepe me company to ,bury4 ,i gave him thankes1 and forward wee did set2 but ere ever wee had measur'd half a mile of our way1 he gave me over in the plain field1 protesting he would not hold out with me2 for1 indeed1 my pace in dauncing is not ordinary4 ,as he and ,i were parting1 a lusty country lasse being among the people1 cal'd him faint-hearted lout1 saying1 #8,if ,i had begun to daunce1 ,i would have held out one myle1 though it had cost my life4' ,at which words many laughed4 #8,nay1' saith she1 #8if the dauncer will lend me a leash of his bells1 ,i'le venter to tread one myle with him myself4' ,i lookt upon her1 saw mirth in her eyes1 heard boldness in her words1 and beheld her ready to tucke up her russat petticoate2 and ,i fitted her with bels1 which she merrily taking garnisht her thicke short legs1 and with a smooth brow bad the tabur begin4 ,the drum strucke3 forward marcht ,i with my merry ,mayde ,marian1 who shook her stout sides1 and footed it merrily to ,melford1 being a long myle4 ,there parting with her 7besides her skinfulle of drinke71 and ,english crowne to buy more drinke2 for1 good wench1 she was in a pittious heate2 my kindness she requited by dropping a dozen good courtsies1 and bidding ,god bless the dauncer4 ,i bade her adieu2 and1 to give her her due1 she had a good eare1 daunst truly1 and wee parted friends40 ,the ,morris was sometimes danced1 as ,william ,kemp and his amateur roadside companion performed it1 as a solo dance2 but its most common characteristic was that it was danced by 8sides0 or sets of six4 ,women but rarely figured as performers4 ,the dress of the men has become traditional1 but it appears originally to have been merely the holiday dress of the period4 ,it was marked by that 8gaudiness0 to which the captious critic of the eighteenth century took exception4 ,the dancer was plentifully adorned with ribbons and rosettes1 and latterly he wore the tall beaver hat which has become an essential part of the costume4 ,the outfit was completed by the indispensable bells1 which were stitched upon thongs and tied to the shins4 ,sometimes both treble and tenor bells were worn4 ,in some of the dances the performers carried a white handkerchief and in others a short wooden staff4 ,in early times the dance was accompanied by a pipe and tabor1 otherwise known as whittle and dub4 ,the pipe was a kind of flageolet1 which the minstrel played with the left hand2 from his left thumb was suspended the tabor or miniature drum4 ,these primitive instruments were superseded by the fiddle1 which in its turn is giving place to the concertina4 ,the dance of the people is necessarily different from the dance of art4 ,all national dances are characterised by vigour rather than ,illustration3 ,,morris ,,dance3 ,,bean-,,setting ,,from ,the ,esperance ,morris ,book ,by permission of ,messrs4 ,j4 ,curwen ,sons1 ,ltd4 by grace4 ,there is lurking in them a certain note of savagery and battles long ago4 ,the old fighting ,england as well as ,merrie ,england still lives in the ,morris4 ,it is not surprising that ,king ,charles's men should have danced it on the eve of ,naseby fight4 ,it is essentially a dance for men1 and a dance for the open air4 ,it does not sway or glide2 its movement is spirited and abrupt4 ,the foot is lifted as in walking and then vigorously straightened to a kick2 the heels come solidly to earth4 ,the object of the dancer is to make the bells ring fortissimo1 and to do this he must kick1 and kick hard4 ,the ,morris does not exhibit the graceful postures and fawn-like agility of the ,spanish country dances1 nor the fiery energy of the ,hungarian and the ,russian4 ,in its solid merriment1 its even rhythm1 its vigorous but restrained movements1 it is essentially ,british4 ,it would be impossible to describe the spirit of the ,morris ,dance better than in the admirable words of ,mr ,cecil ,sharp1 who is not only learned in the history of the dance1 but has sought it out wherever the tradition lingers on the greensward and under the ancient oaks of an ,england that is passing away4 8,it is1 in spirit10 he says1 8the organised1 traditional expression of virility1 sound health and animal spirits4 ,it smacks of cudgel-play1 of quarter-staff1 of wrestling1 of honest fisticuffs4 ,there is nothing sinuous in it1 nothing dreamy2 nothing whatever is left to the imagination4 ,it is a formula based upon and arising out of the life of man1 as it is lived by men who hold much speculation upon the mystery of our whence and whither to be unprofitable2 by men of meagre fancy1 but of great kindness to the weak2 by men who fight their quarrels on the spot with naked hands1 drink together when the fight is done1 and forget it1 or1 if they remember1 then the memory is a friendly one4 ,it is the dance of folk who are slow to anger1 but of great obstinacy--forthright of act and speech3 to watch it in its thumping sturdiness is to hold such things as poniards and stilettos1 the swordsman with the domino1 the man who stabs in the back--as unimaginable things4 ,the ,morris ,dance1 in short1 is a perfect expression in rhythm and movement of the ,english character40 ,the modern revival of morris-dancing in ,england is of very recent origin1 but of astonishingly rapid growth4 ,the story of its rise reads like a romance4 ,this movement1 which is already national in its scope1 which promises to renew the heart of ,england1 which is swelling out into wider circles that will probably be felt throughout the ,empire and ,america1 was born in a girls' club in a poor quarter of the north-west of ,london4 ,the object of the ,esprance ,girls' ,club in ,cumberland ,market was to bring something of the joyous and serene atmosphere of a younger and fresher world into the grim and hurried life of the city dwellers4 ,for some time one of the features of the club had been the encouragement of music1 dancing and play-acting4 ,during some winters ,scotch reels and strathspeys1 ,irish jigs and folk-songs1 had been practised one night a week4 ,a meeting between ,mr ,h4 ,c4 ,mac,ilwaine1 the musical director of the club1 and ,mr ,cecil ,sharp1 the leading authority on folk-music1 led to the introduction of the ,english folk-song4 ,from the folk-song to the folk-dance was only a step4 ,mr ,sharp seven years before had collected a set of morris-tunes from some dancers in ,oxfordshire1 in whose family the ,morris had been handed down from father to son for five generations4 ,the idea suggested itself that as the girls had learnt to sing the old songs they might also learn to dance the old dances4 ,in ,october #aije ,miss ,mary ,neal1 the secretary of the club1 who has throughout been the directing spirit of the movement1 went down to ,oxfordshire and brought two of the morris-men up to ,london1 and set them to teach the members of the club4 ,the success of the experiment was immediate and astonishing4 ,the girls were as unfamiliar with the steps and the music as with the speech and dances of ancient ,greece2 but perhaps a kind of ancestral memory awoke within them4 ,the rhythms of the ,morris had sprung from the rhythms of the old ,english life1 and the ,londoners1 who are said to be never more than three generations from the soil1 responded to a summons of the blood4 ,within half-an-hour of the coming of the ,oxfordshire dancers the ,morris1 with its stamping of feet and clashing of staves1 its maze of intricate movements1 was in full swing upon a ,london floor4 ,thus was begun the revival of morris-dancing which to-day is a part of the national life4 ,the next step was the giving of a public concert to make known to the larger world the rediscovery of the ancient dances4 ,this took place at the ,small ,queen's ,hall in the following ,april4 ,the public interest was immediately aroused4 ,as one of the newspapers remarked with prophetic insight1 it was 8a little entertainment which may indeed light such a candle in ,england as will not immediately be put out40 ,from that time the movement progressed by leaps and bounds4 ,inquiries began to pour in as to how the traditional dancing could be brought back into the lives of the ,english people1 to those in the towns who had lost it altogether as well as to those in the country for whom it was only a vague memory4 ,miss ,neal's answer to this demand was to send out the best dancers among the members of her club to act as teachers4 ,they have danced the ,morris throughout the length and breadth of ,england4 ,there is not a county to-day where the merry jangle of the bells and the clatter of the staves is not heard4 ,in course of time the ,board of ,education took cognisance of the movement and introduced the ,morris and other country dances into the curriculum of the elementary schools4 ,in the spring of #aiaa ,miss ,neal visited ,america1 and by lectures and demonstration showed to the people of the new continent the old dances which their ,puritan forefathers had omitted to bring with them4 ,in response to numberless appeals for instruction she left behind one of the teachers of the ,esprance ,club1 and the movement in the ,states is spreading with the same astonishing enthusiasm and rapidity as in ,england4 ,the most significant and hopeful feature of this movement is that it is in every sense a popular one4 ,the inveterate cavillers may argue that it is artificially imposed upon the younger generation by a few cultured and enthusiastic pedants1 and they will certainly repeat the well-worn shibboleth concerning the impossibility of putting back the clock4 ,but the artificiality has been in the enforced imposition of a ,puritan code that abolished dancing from the village green4 ,to all healthy children it is as natural to dance as to laugh and sing4 ,the tradition has been abruptly broken2 now it is being restored to them and they respond to it with every fibre of their being4 ,they are far from regarding it as yet another troublesome item in a bewildering system of education2 they do not have to be driven to it as to a new species of drill4 ,they revel in it as in a delightful game1 for it satisfies all the child's inborn love of music and pantomime and emphatic rhythm4 ,when once the initial impetus has been given from above1 the movement goes on with its own momentum4 ,its motive force is not authority but the old indomitable impulse of the blood4 ,all that the revival of the old dances will do for the rising generation it is impossible to foretell4 ,it is giving them back the power of self-expression1 which the common people seem once to have possessed in the old days when music and song came naturally to birth in the life of the folk4 ,as ,miss ,mary ,neal has well said3 8,music is the one art in which the otherwise inarticulate can express themselves1 and so we have in this music the truest meeting ground for all classes4 ,the revival and practice of our ,english folk-music is part of a great national revival1 a going back from town to country1 a reaction against all that is demoralising in city life4 ,it is a reawakening of that part of our national consciousness which makes for wholeness1 saneness1 and healthy merriment40 ,the movement is at present still in its trial stage4 ,if it becomes indeed a national revival of dancing it must result in a development of the dance4 ,it cannot remain content with merely perpetuating an ancient formula4 ,every form of art which has the seeds of life in it must needs change and grow4 ,the ,morris1 as has been said1 was originally a men's dance1 and already its performance by girls is changing something of its character4 ,the introduction of the feminine element necessarily robs it of its sturdiness and at the same time lends it an added gaiety and grace4 ,but the change will probably go deeper than this4 ,the old ,morris was the expression of a mode of life that has passed away2 out of it must be developed some newer variation more fitted to express the spirit of a broader and fuller life4 ,in a suggestive passage1 ,mr ,holbrook ,jackson indicates the direction of the development3 8,the old ,english folk-dances are limited in range2 they are a combination of acrobatic leaps and hoydenish frisks4 ,they are1 indeed1 the expression of a non-reflective and rather boorish peasantry4 ,to-day conditions have changed4 ,the peasantry are no more1 and we have become introspective and reflective4 ,the bumpkin and his kind have been replaced by the clerk1 with a new set of needs and different nuances of desire2 so that we have to consider not so much the question of reviving the dances of the past1 because1 as such1 these can never be anything but curiosities1 antiques1 but how to pick up the lapsed tradition of the dance at the point in history when it expressed the emotions of the people1 and to give that tradition a chance of new life in our own day2 not a chance of imitating the past in form1 but a chance of imitating the past in spirit1 a chance of doing for to-day what it once did for yesterday40 ,the ,morris cannot properly be called a dance of art2 it is a dance of the people4 ,it can never be a substitute for the dance of the theatre4 ,but the popular revival of the old dances is important1 not only in providing a new means of emotional expression1 but in arousing a new interest in the art of the dance itself4 ,dancing is a sensitive plant which can only thrive in a congenial atmosphere4 ,in some degree all the arts appear to live by the breath of popular favour4 ,their activity is stimulated1 their expression perfected1 by interest1 criticism and understanding4 ,the art of dancing has always risen to its highest level when it has been most esteemed2 decadence has always succeeded to neglect4 8,dancing is an art1 let the public remember10 a lover and critic of the dance has said1 8which depends on their support for its very existence4 ,the poet1 the painter1 the sculptor can work for posterity2 but the dancer's art is fugitive1 not permanent4 ,if the contemporaries of any dancer fail through ignorance1 or dulness1 or bigotry1 to appreciate her1 no one else can40 ,if ,england becomes once more a nation of dancers1 bigotry and dulness and ignorance will never again be obstacles to the flowering of the art of the ,dance4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,future ,,of ,,the ,,dance 8,men are so unimaginative6 ,my husband has all sorts of appliances for getting strong quick4 ,he gets up in the morning and pulls at straps1 twirls objects and kicks furiously at nothing4 ,such antics you never saw4 ,doubtless they have some underlying advantage or he wouldn't perform them1 for he is a practical man4 ,but they are so ridiculous4 ,i always think of ,don ,quixote fighting the windmill when ,i see him threatening the air and striking absurd attitudes so seriously40 ,it is an ,american woman who speaks1 and she speaks as the mouthpiece of a new idea--the attempt to recreate the lost rhythms of the human body by the means of dance movements4 ,not the least important of the results of the modern renaissance of dancing has been the rediscovery of the grace of bodily movement by the modern man and woman4 ,the sight of the beauty of human motion on the stage has naturally suggested the idea of the introduction of this beauty into daily life4 ,the dancing of ,isadora ,duncan1 of ,maud ,allan1 of ,pavlova and ,mordkin1 has in fact awakened the ancestral voices of the blood2 the spectator can no longer remain passive1 but demands to be allowed to take his or her part in the cosmic measure4 ,the speaker continues3 8,now1 when ,i get up and feel headachy or as if my body was stuffed with sawdust1 ,i too have my exercise4 ,but1 oh1 the difference6 ,i start the #8,marche ,militaire' on my patient phonograph1 and the strains are so inspiring that ,i go through my paces so buoyantly that my husband stops his seesawing to enjoy my dance4 ,now the difference lies in this1 that while ,i am unlimbering my muscles and starting my blood gaily through my veins1 my heart and my mind are also uplifted with the rhythm of music and pose40 ,she then describes how when the patient phonograph is giving forth ,mendelssohn's 8,spring ,song0 she accompanies the music with a story related in motion and gesture4 8,i first point to an imaginary tree1 run lightly to it1 stretch up and pull down a bough1 take it in my arms1 then gaily throw it aside4 ,this ,i do three times in different corners of the room4 ,suddenly ,i am attracted by the upspringing grass and trip lightly over it lest ,i crush it4 ,then ,i see flowers on the grass1 sit down and gather an imaginary bouquet1 then toss it over my head4 ,this ,i do three times1 and perhaps you may think it easy to sit down with one leg thrust forward and then break your pose gracefully in getting up4 ,my mood changes4 ,i hear a bird singing and bend forward to listen with one hand to my ear and my eye following its flight4 ,then ,i hear a bird in another direction and follow it4 ,three times these movements are repeated4 ,the pose is now entirely different1 the arms outspread as if in flight4 ,i am by this time fairly enchanted with the spring and give myself up to the abandon of the moment1 until my mood is exhausted and ,i calm down with music into final repose40 ,at the conclusion of these exercises she remarks3 8,at this moment ,i feel as if every part of my body was enjoying an independent existence1 but would1 if ,i wished it1 take a subordinate position for the common good4 ,that is exercise as it should be40 ,the husband1 we may suppose1 is now thoroughly out of humour with his get-strong-quick methods4 ,but where is his place in this new system by which the flexibility of the body and the exhilaration of the mind are sought in the movements of the dance8 ,the dance1 in any other sense than that of a ball-room accomplishment1 is generally regarded as unsuited to the masculine character4 ,how often has not one heard the remark that it is unpleasing to see a man dancer4 ,and a man himself would as a rule rather be caught in the act of stealing than of dancing alone or with his fellows4 ,the prejudice is new4 ,it is perhaps characteristic of an artificial society for whose small conventions the liberal code of nature is too broad4 ,in all simple and virile societies men have ,illustration3 ,,mikail ,,mordkin ,,in ,the ,cymbal ,dance ,photograph3 ,campbell ,gray been dancers--unless some cramping moral code imposed its arbitrary prohibition--only in more decadent ages have they been content to be passive spectators4 ,the men who fought at ,agincourt1 the men who fell in the ,pass of ,thermopyl1 were dancers4 ,greek manhood would not have been what it was without the dance4 ,the ,greek youths danced as simply and unconsciously as the ,greek maidens1 and they danced among themselves1 singly and in groups4 ,nietsche said a wise word to this generation when he proclaimed his ideal3 8,every man fit for warfare1 every woman fit for children1 both fit for dancing with head and legs40 ,america is seeking to discover a dance fit for men4 ,it has found it in a translation of the movements proper to athletics1 in an expression in dance form of all the masculine sports1 a dance which women could not perform if they tried4 ,a spectator who has seen an exhibition of this new method1 which is clearly a revival of the old ,greek method1 has recorded that 8the postures were those of wrestlers or swimmers1 or runners or discus and javelin throwers1 always preceded by the vigorous dance steps4 ,and none of it was in the least feminine4 ,it was dancing1 but it was essentially masculine from start to finish4 ,there was not a suggestion of airy grace2 there was more than a suggestion of strength and rhythm and of iron muscles under excellent control4444 ,then10 he continues1 8,i began to see the place of dancing in the world1 its place as a wholesome natural recreation and as a form of physical training1 more effective perhaps than any other1 since a vigorous athletic dance brings into play nearly every muscle in the body4 ,i saw that a normal enjoyment of dancing meant a healthy mind in a healthy body4 ,there is no more sane and natural form of exercise than the rhythmic buoyant movements of the dance1 performed with the vigour which men throw into it40 ,this form of dancing corresponds almost exactly with the ,greek gumnzo1 which was the simpler and more exclusively physical of the two divisions of the dance1 the groundwork for the orchsis1 the intellectual and emotional expression of bodily movement4 ,the former provided the technique1 which was to be mastered not for its own sake1 but as a means of furnishing the body with that eloquence by which it could utter the moods of the spirit4 ,without this training in the dance1 the ,greek men and women could never have acquired that exquisite harmony1 that easy grace of carriage1 such as we see in ancient art4 ,it may even be said to have made ,greek art possible1 for as ,j4 ,a4 ,symonds remarked in his 8,studies of the ,greek ,poets03 8,the whole race lived out its sculpture and painting1 rehearsed1 as it were1 the great masterpieces of ,phidias and ,polygnotus in physical exercise before it learnt to express itself in marble and colour40 ,the modern revival of the dance will not do the same for the art of our own time until the dance becomes the common property of the people4 ,for the ordinary man and woman dancing provides the simplest1 the most natural1 the most satisfying means of expression4 ,self-expression is a faculty the loss of which the modern age is just beginning to be aware of4 ,an earlier age realised it in the arts of the folk--in folk-dance1 in folk-song1 in folk-lore and in the popular pageants of the ,church4 ,for its loss ,puritanism is primarily responsible with its vulgar shamefacedness2 it was further weakened by the ,industrial ,revolution1 which broke up the old rhythms of social life2 and it finally perished when our artistic pleasures became specialised and we chose to become passive1 inexpressive spectators of professional artists rather than attempt any artistic expression of our own4 ,whereas a former age lived out its spirit in a popular music1 a popular ballad literature and national dances1 the present generation prefers to listen to the wheedling airs of the gramophone1 to read a professional journalism and to watch a paid dancer in the music-halls4 ,the tendency everywhere is for a passive enjoyment to usurp the place of an active participation in the arts4 ,but the desire for self-expression is instinctive and irrepressible4 ,in the dance it will find a means of satisfaction--complete1 elemental1 and one which has the saving quality of beauty4 ,by no means do ,i wish to imply that the dance of the theatre will ever be merged in that of the people1 still less that it is desirable that it should4 ,the dance of art demands the entire surrender of the artist's life4 ,it is more than a pastime or a recreation4 ,and as we demand that it shall become more and more expressive1 so the study of the dancer must needs become more searching and minute4 ,what new forms the dance is going to take1 what new spirit is going to inspire it1 only the future can show1 but without pressing too far into the region of conjecture1 it is possible to suggest the probable direction of its development4 ,in spite of the renewed vigour which the ,russians have given to the ballet1 it is difficult to believe that the strict1 academic school of ballet-dancing has still a long term of life before it4 ,indeed the ,russians--,i am speaking exclusively of the ,diaghilew company--have renewed the ballet by revolutionising it4 ,not only have they utterly transformed its spirit1 but they have introduced a new manner and gesture4 ,in ,cloptre and ,scheherazade how little remains of the strict technique of the classic ballet6 ,the ballet is turning away from ,milan and looking towards ,greece and the ,east4 ,anna ,pavlova has pointed out the way by which the academic style can find salvation4 ,her dancing is transitional4 ,from the ballet technique it derives its precision and firmness of outline1 but to these are added a fluency1 a multitudinous play of the nuances of light and shade1 a capacity for expressing an intense personal life4 ,the fatal defect of the academic style is that it is impersonal4 ,it is the geometry of the dance4 ,if the personality of the dancer succeeds in disengaging itself1 it is not so much expressed in the movements of the dance as violently imposed upon them4 ,how drearily impersonal it can be1 we are realising afresh now that the success of the ,russian ballet has let loose a flood of indifferent ballet-dancers upon the stage4 ,it permits a high degree of technical accomplishment divorced from the slightest emotional significance4 ,it is the dance par excellence for the uneducated and unintelligent dancer--and it is she who must be banished from the stage4 ,it justifies the gentle sarcasm of ,pius ,,ix4 who1 when asked for his consent to the presentation of a diadem to ,fanny ,elssler at ,rome1 assented1 but remarked that in his priestly simplicity he had always believed that crowns were designed for the head and not for the legs4 ,the famous ,austrian dancer scarcely merited the reproach1 for she above all other dancers danced with the head and the heart2 but in general it is a just indictment of the ballet technique that it has disproportionately emphasised the importance of the legs and the feet4 ,in the period of the decline of the ballet1 the dancers of ,paris and ,milan in particular were little more than automata agitated by a pair of muscular legs1 which worked with the precision and monotony of clockwork4 ,the modern dance demands expression in every line of the body4 ,it is certain that the dance of the future will tend towards the fuller expression of personality4 ,we shall not be content to watch dances that are merely dexterous1 but only those that reveal a fresh and living emotion4 ,it will follow that the dance must become infinitely more subtle1 the body more responsive to the spirit1 and the spirit more attentive to the delicate rhythms of life4 ,it follows also that the day of the empty-headed1 empty-hearted dancer1 the simpering miss of the pink shoes and fixed smile1 will be over4 ,we will listen for what the artist has to say to us1 and if she remains inarticulate1 if she is unable to utter a syllable of poetry or of passion or of wit1 we will politely ask her to trouble us no more4 ,in the future the content of the dance will be immeasurably enlarged4 ,we shall learn that1 like the ancient ,greek dance1 8it deals with every subject1 grave and gay1 religious and profane1 decorous and indecorous2 nothing in nature is too high or too low to be outside its scope2 it embraces the whole scale of human passions40 ,when it is grown to its full stature1 the dance will probably combine with drama to create a new language for the imagination4 ,sumurn1 the production of ,professor ,max ,reinhardt1 is a type of a new art-form1 neither ballet nor pantomime in the accepted sense of the words1 of which the future is bound to see a further development4 ,its medium is gesture1 but it is a gesture which1 unlike the gesture of the old pantomime1 is never merely a transcript of words4 ,the twilight procession of figures to the palace of the ,sheikh1 moving with the rhythm of a frieze against the blank white wall1 was no less than an event in the evolution of the dance-drama1 pregnant with suggestive ideas4 ,it presented movements and gestures utterly untranslatable into words1 into painting or sculpture--untranslatable even1 ,i think1 into music4 ,they were movements which had been caught up out of life itself1 and fused by the imagination into pure symbols of beauty and delight1 of pride and passion and wit4 ,the dance1 ,i believe1 is still only in its infancy4 ,is it rash to imagine that the evolution of dancing will be the special achievement of art in this century1 as the evolution of music was in the last8 ,there is a whole world of gesture waiting for the dance to take possession of4 ,the rediscovery of the gesture of the ancient world is perhaps the least important part of the undertaking4 ,there lies a broad field for exploration in the innumerable racial and national gestures1 each with its separate beauty1 and its separate expressiveness4 ,and beyond this stretches the yet more inexhaustible domain of nature1 its multitudinous minor rhythms1 each various and distinguishable1 merging into a grand rhythm of the whole1 the eternal rhythm of life itself4 ,fragments of attitude1 phrases of motion1 are scattered prodigally up and down the world1 awaiting the seeing eye and the understanding mind that can pluck these happy accidents1 store them in the memory1 and at the proper time build up out of them a new pattern of the dance4 ,when the choregrapher of genius arrives1 he will think in gestures1 as the musician thinks in sound1 and the painter in mass and colour4 ,and when he has realised the lavish abundance of his material1 he will pour into it like a molten flood all that there is in the brimming life of our day to fire1 to madden1 to delight and to rive the heart4 ,then it will be the turn of the other arts to look wonderingly upon this figure of the ,dance1 no longer straying timidly into their company1 but coming upon divine feet1 with an assured mien and a mature grace1 and each will borrow something from her ancient and untiring ecstasy4 ,,index ,a ,acadmie ,royale de ,musique et de ,danse1 #bi ,adam1 ,adolphe1 #ea ,aida1 #acj ,albert1 #cd ,alexis1 ,tsar1 #abd ,alhambra ,theatre1 #fb1 #fd1 #agj1 #agf ,allan1 ,maud1 #aaj-aah ,anne1 ,empress of ,russia1 #abd ,apache ,dance1 #ahc ,arabesques1 ,les1 #ahb ,arc-en-ciel1 #hf ,areja1 ,francisco1 #abd ,arensky1 #abh ,arrow ,dance1 #afh ,astafieva1 ,seraphima1 #adf1 #aeh ,automne ,bacchanale1 ,l'1 #afd1 #afh ,b ,babil and ,bijou1 #fa ,bakst1 ,lon1 #acb1 #acc1 #acd1 #adj1 #ade1 #adf ,balashova1 ,alexandra1 #agj1 #agf ,bathyllus1 #df ,bauer1 ,henri1 #cf ,bayadres1 ,les1 #dj1 #db ,bedells1 ,phyllis1 #agf1 #ahb ,beerbohm1 ,mr ,max1 #ah1 #agd ,beethoven1 #aaa ,benois1 ,m41 #acj1 #ach1 #adb1 #aed ,bensusan1 ,mr ,s4 ,l41 #fe ,bergholz1 #abd ,berlioz1 #ei1 #adb ,bernhardt1 ,sarah1 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,paris1 ,a1 #ahc ,dearly1 ,max1 #ahc ,delibes1 #afb1 #agg ,de ,quincey1 #aah ,devadassis1 #aib ,dewinne1 #fb ,diablo ,cojuelo1 ,el1 #dg1 #ea ,diaghilew1 ,serge de1 #acj1 #aci ,didelot1 #dj1 #abe ,diez1 ,rosita1 #df ,dore1 ,madame1 #fa ,dream of ,butterflies and ,roses1 ,a1 #ahj ,dryad1 ,the1 #agg1 #ahj ,duncan1 ,isadora1 #aje-aaj1 #aec1 #afa1 #aid ,e ,edward ,,vii41 #aaa ,edwards1 ,sutherland1 #abc gout1 ,grille d'1 #ib-id ,ellis1 ,mr ,havelock1 #aif ,elssler1 ,fanny1 #db-ea1 #eb1 #gb1 #ia1 #bai ,empire ,theatre1 #fb1 #fd1 #afi1 #ahb ,eoline1 #agg ,esprance ,club1 #bjh ,eugne ,onegin1 #abh ,excelsior1 #fa1 #fd ,f ,fandango1 #aia1 #aie ,farren1 ,fred1 #ahc ,faust1 #di ,faust up to ,date1 #gh ,fernand ,cortes1 #dj ,fille de ,danube1 ,la1 #db ,flamenco dancing1 #aif ,flore et ,zphire1 #dj ,fokine1 ,m41 #acj1 #ach1 #aci1 #adj1 #add1 #afb1 #aid ,folette1 #id ,folies-,bergre1 #hc ,frederick the ,great1 #cc ,fuller1 ,loie1 #ha-hh ,g ,gaiety ,quartet1 #gd ,gaiety ,theatre1 #gc1 #if ,gardel1 #bi ,garrick1 ,david1 #bg ,gautier1 ,thophile1 #dh1 #ej1 #adb ,gellert1 #fb ,geltzer1 ,catrina1 #agj1 #agf ,gene1 ,adeline1 #fg1 #agj1 #agf-ahb ,gillet1 #gj ,giselle1 #db1 #ea1 #eb1 #ahb ,giuri1 #fb ,glazounov1 #abh1 #aci1 #add1 #afe ,glinka1 #aff ,glu1 ,la1 #id ,gluck1 #hi ,goethe1 #ha ,gordon1 ,lady ,duff1 #aia ,goulue1 ,la1 #ib-ic ,grahn1 ,lucille1 #eb-ed ,grey1 ,sylvia1 #gf ,grieg1 #aae1 #aag ,grisi1 ,carlotta1 #ej-ed1 #eg ,guerrero1 #aie1 #aih1 #aii ,h ,hamilton1 ,lady1 #ha ,handel1 #cb1 #aah ,harris1 ,sir ,augustus1 #fe ,haydn1 #dd ,headlam1 ,rev4 ,stewart1 #fb1 #fd ,heine1 #ea ,henri ,,iv41 #bh ,herv1 #fb ,high ,jinks1 #agg1 #ahj ,hollingshead1 ,john1 #gc ,i ,image1 ,prof4 ,selwyn1 #adg ,j ,jacobi1 #fb ,jack ,sheppard1 #hb ,jackson1 ,mr ,holbrook1 #afd1 #baj ,joachim1 #aaa ,jota1 #aie ,k ,karsavina1 ,tamar1 #acj1 #adc1 #aeh-aei1 #agj ,kemp1 ,william1 #bje-bjf ,knipper-,rabeneck1 #aai ,kschesinskaya1 #aed1 #agj ,kyasht1 ,lydia1 #afi-agj ,l ,lablache1 #dj ,land1 #abd ,lanner1 ,katti1 #fb1 #fg1 #ahc ,legnano1 #fb ,lethbridge1 ,alice1 #gf ,liadov1 #aci ,lind1 ,jenny1 #ed1 #fj ,lind1 ,letty1 #ge1 #gf ,little ,don ,caesar de ,bazan1 #gd ,locke1 #h1 #cb ,lola1 #df ,louis ,,xiii41 #bh ,louis ,,xiv41 #bh1 #bi1 #cc ,louis-,philippe1 #de ,lucian1 #ag ,lulli1 #bi ,lutz1 ,meyer1 #gh ,m ,mac,ilwaine1 ,mr ,h4 ,c41 #bjh ,magdeleine1 ,mlle1 #aag ,magnin1 ,prof41 #aag ,malibran1 #dj1 #ea1 #ei ,marenco1 #fa ,marianski ,theatre1 #abe1 #abi1 #acj1 #aei ,mars et ,vnus1 #dj 8,marseillaise1 ,the10 #aah ,mazarin1 #bh ,medici1 ,catherine de1 #bh ,mendelssohn1 #aab ,mnestrier1 #bh ,meyrowitz1 ,walter1 #aib ,milliner ,duchess1 #agg ,mistinguette1 #ahc ,mogador1 ,cleste1 #ib1 #ic ,monte ,cristo1 #agg ,montmartre1 #gf1 #gi ,mordkin1 ,mikail1 #aef1 #afj1 #afe1 #afg-afi ,morny1 ,duc de1 #dc ,moscheles1 #aci1 #adj ,mozart1 #hh ,n ,napoleon1 #cc1 #dh ,narcisse1 #aej ,nautch ,dance1 #aic ,neal1 ,miss ,mary1 #bjh1 #bji1 #baj ,nelidova1 ,lydia1 #fb ,nietsche #bai ,nijinsky1 ,waslaw1 #abh1 #acj1 #acd1 #ach1 #adc1 #adh1 #aec-aeg ,noblet1 #cd ,noverre1 ,jean-,georges1 #cj1 #ca1 #aei ,o ,omar ,khayym1 #ij ,ombre1 ,l'1 #db ,otero1 #aie1 #aii ,ouled-,nails1 #aia ,p ,palace ,girls1 #ih ,palladino1 #fb ,papillons1 ,danse des1 #afb1 #afd ,pas de ,quatre1 #eb-ed1 #eg1 #gh ,patte-en-l'air1 ,nini41 #ib1 #id ,pavillon d',armide1 ,le1 #abh1 #ach-aci ,pavlova1 ,anna1 #aac1 #aei-aff1 #agj1 #bai ,peer ,gynt1 #aae1 #aag ,perrot1 #da1 #di1 #ej1 #ec ,pertoldi1 #fb ,peter the ,great1 #abd ,petits ,riens1 ,les1 #hh ,petrouchka1 #aej ,phdre1 #abe1 #aia ,pius ,,ix41 #di1 #bai ,plato1 #ai ,plaskaweska1 #aff ,pointes1 #di ,polovtsiennes1 ,danses1 #ada ,pomar1 ,clare1 #ib ,ponpon1 ,rose1 #ib ,preobrajenskaya1 #abe1 #aeh1 #aij ,prince ,igor1 #fa1 #abh1 #acg1 #ada ,prinster1 ,catherine1 #dh ,pygmalion and ,galatea1 #cb ,pylades1 #df ,q ,quack ,m4,d41 #hb ,quadrille1 #ge ,quinalt1 #bi ,r ,racine1 #abe1 #aia ,radetzki1 #di ,rameau1 #bi ,rayon d',or1 #id ,reichstadt1 ,duc de1 #de ,reinhardt1 ,prof4 ,max1 #bbj ,remy1 ,marcel1 #aaa ,reynolds1 ,mr ,rothay1 #abf1 #abi ,richardson1 ,lady ,constance ,stuart1 #aai ,richelieu1 #bh ,rienzi1 #fj ,rimsky-,korsakov1 #abh1 #acc1 #aci1 #adh ,rodin1 #aag ,roehrich1 #ada ,romanticism1 #dg1 #ia ,rosai1 #ach ,rossi1 ,adelina1 #fb ,rubinstein1 ,ida1 #adf1 #aeh ,ruskin1 #ag ,russell1 ,countess1 #gg ,s ,sadko1 #aej ,saint-,sans1 #afb ,sall1 #cb ,salom1 ,vision of1 #aac-aae ,sallust1 #bj ,sargent1 ,mr ,john1 #aif ,scheherazade1 #abh1 #acc1 #acg1 #adh-adi1 #aef1 #aeh1 #ahi1 #aid ,schmolz1 #aci ,schumann1 #aei ,scott1 ,mr ,clement1 #ig ,seasons1 ,the1 #fd ,sharp1 ,mr ,cecil1 #bjd1 #bjg1 #bjh ,shaw1 ,mr ,g4 ,bernard1 #gg ,sleeping ,beauty1 #abh1 #acb ,soubrette1 ,la1 #id 8,soul of ,spain1 ,the10 #aif ,southey1 #afg ,spectator1 ,the1 #fa ,spectre de la ,rose1 ,le1 #adb1 #aef1 #aeh ,st ,denis1 ,ruth1 #aia-aie ,strauss1 #afc ,sullivan1 #fb ,sumurn1 #bbj ,swans1 ,the1 #fd ,sylphide1 ,la1 #dj1 #db1 #df1 #dh1 #ea ,sylphides1 ,les1 #acg1 #add ,sylvia1 #ahb ,symonds1 ,j4 ,a41 #bah ,t ,taft1 ,mr1 #aig ,taglioni1 ,marie1 #ci-dh1 #eb1 #ec1 #eg1 #eh1 #ei1 #ahb ,tango1 #aih ,tannhaser1 #fj 8,ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay10 #if ,tchaikovsky1 #abg1 #abh1 #acb ,tcherepnin1 #acj1 #aci ,tell1 ,guillaume1 #db ,tiller ,girls1 #ih1 #ii ,tiller1 ,mr ,john1 #ih1 #ajc ,titterton1 ,mr ,w4 ,r41 #aji1 #aae ,tortajada1 #aie1 #aig-aii ,tyler1 ,mr ,royall1 #aii ,v ,valse ,chaloupe1 ,la1 #ahc ,van ,buren1 #dh ,vaughan1 ,kate1 #gc-ge1 #gf1 #gh ,vron1 #dd1 #de ,vestale1 ,la1 #dj ,vestris1 ,auguste-,armand1 #cc1 #aei ,vestris1 ,gtano1 #bi1 #cc ,victoria1 ,queen1 #eb ,vineland1 #agg ,voisins1 ,count ,gilbert de1 #dc ,voltaire1 #cb1 #cc ,w ,wagner1 #ei1 #fj1 #fa ,washington1 #dh ,weber1 #adb ,weber1 ,louise1 #ib ,wenzel1 #fb ,wiesenthal1 #aai ,y ,yolande1 #fd ,z ,zphire et ,flore1 #dj ,zingaro1 #ea ,zola1 #afe ,,footnotes3 #a ,the use of the word 8classical0 to denote that class of dancing which claims kinship with ,greek art is somewhat confusing4 ,before the recent revival1 8classical0 was the term applied to the traditional style of the ballet as distinguished from skirt-dancing1 step-dancing and the various eccentric styles4 ,to avoid confusion ,i have in general used the word 8academic0 instead of 8classical0 when speaking of the older school of the ballet4 #b ,the late ,sutherland ,edwards proved himself a singularly accurate prophet when in #ahha he wrote3 8,we shall probably have to go as far as ,st ,petersburg to discover a premire danseuse worthy in some manner to be compared with those of twenty and twenty-five years ago40