As captured February 9, 2025

2 files changed, 25601 insertions, 25601 deletions

diff --git a/59104-0.txt b/59104-0.txt
index a281937..ca04f10 100644
--- a/59104-0.txt
+++ b/59104-0.txt
@@ -1,11603 +1,11603 @@
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: The Dance

-

-Author: Daniel Gregory Mason

-

-Editor: Ivan Narodny

-

-Release Date: March 20, 2019 [EBook #59104]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: UTF-8

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

-file was produced from images generously made available

-by The Internet Archive)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-Transcriber’s Note: The List of Illustrations was added by Transcriber

-and placed into the Public Domain.

-

-

-

-

-THE ART OF MUSIC

-

-

-

-

-  The Art of Music

-

-  A Comprehensive Library of Information

-  for Music Lovers and Musicians

-

-  Editor-in-Chief

-  DANIEL GREGORY MASON

-  Columbia University

-

-  Associate Editors

-

-  EDWARD B. HILL          LELAND HALL

-  Harvard University      Past Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin

-

-  Managing Editor

-  CÉSAR SAERCHINGER

-  Modern Music Society of New York

-

-  In Fourteen Volumes

-

-  Profusely Illustrated

-

-  [Illustration]

-

-  NEW YORK

-  THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC

-

-

-[Illustration: Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)

-

-_Design by Léon Bakst_]

-

-

-

-

-  THE ART OF MUSIC: VOLUME TEN

-

-  The Dance

-

-  Department Editor:

-  IVAN NARODNY

-

-  Introduction by

-  ANNA PAVLOWA

-  Ballerina, Imperial Russian Ballet

-

-  [Illustration]

-

-  NEW YORK

-  THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC

-

-

-

-

-  Copyright, 1916, by

-  THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC, Inc.

-  [All Rights Reserved]

-

-

-

-

-THE DANCE

-

-

-

-

-INTRODUCTION

-

-

-‘The gods themselves danced, as the stars dance in the sky,’ is a

-saying of the ancient Mexicans. ‘To dance is to take part in the cosmic

-control of the world,’ said the ancient Greek philosophers. ‘What do

-you dance?’ asks the African Bantu of a member of another tribe after

-his greeting. Livingston said that when an African wild man danced,

-that was his religion. It is said that the savages do not preach their

-religion but dance it. According to the Bible, the ancient Hebrews

-danced before their Ark of the Covenant. St. Basil describes the angels

-dancing in Heaven. According to Dante, dancing is the real occupation

-of the inmates of Heaven, Christ acting as the leader of a celestial

-ballet. ‘Dancing,’ said Lucian, ‘is as old as love.’ Dance had a sacred

-and mystic meaning to the early Christians upon whom the Bible had made

-a deep impression: ‘We have piped unto you and ye have not danced.’

-

-The service of the Greek Church--even to-day--is for the most part

-only a kind of sacred dance, accompanied by chants and singing. The

-priest, walking and gesturing with an incense-pan up and down before

-the numerous ikons, kneeling, bowing to the saints, performing queer

-cabalistic figures with his hands in the air, and following always

-a certain rhythm, is essentially a dancer. It is said that dancing

-of a similar kind was performed in the English cathedrals until the

-fourteenth century. In France the priests danced in the choir at the

-Easter Mass up to the seventh century. In Spain similar religious

-dancing took deepest root and flourished longest. In the Cathedrals of

-Seville, Toledo, Valencia and Xeres the dancing survives and is the

-feature at a few special festivals.

-

-‘The American Indian tribes seem to have had their own religious

-dances, varied and elaborate, often with a richness of meaning which

-the patient study of the modern investigators has but slowly revealed,’

-writes Havelock Ellis. It is a well-known fact that dancing in ancient

-Egypt and Greece was an art that was practiced in their temples. ‘A

-good education,’ wrote Plato, ‘consists in knowing how to sing well

-and how to dance well.’ According to Plutarch, Helen of Sparta was

-practicing the Dance of Innocence in the Temple of Artemis when she was

-surprised and carried away by Theseus. We are told by Greek classics

-that young maidens performed dances before the altars of various

-goddesses, consisting of ‘grave steps and graceful, modest attitudes

-belonging to that order of choric movement called _emmeleia_.’ The

-ancient Egyptian Astronomic Dance can be considered the sublimest of

-all dances; here, by regulated figures, steps, and movements, the order

-and harmonious motion of the celestial bodies was represented to the

-music of the flute, lyre and syrinx. Plato alludes to this dance as ‘a

-divine institution.’

-

-In spite of the high status of dancing in the ancient civilizations,

-it has not progressed steadily, as have the other arts. It has

-remained the least systematized and least respected of arts, generally

-considered as lacking in seriousness of intention, fitness to express

-grave emotions, and power to touch the heights and depths of the

-intellect. Being an art that expresses itself first in the human body,

-the dance has aroused reprobation in certain pious, puritanical minds

-of mediæval type, who have considered it a collection of ‘immodest and

-dissolute movements by which the cupidity of the flesh is aroused.’

-It is this particular view that has damned dance with bell, book and

-candle. The main reason for this has been the hostile attitude of the

-church to all folk-arts which manifested a more or less conspicuous

-ethnographic individuality--that is, were stamped as of Pagan and not

-Christian origin. All folk-dancing, broadly speaking, is a natural

-form of æsthetic courtship. The male intends to win the female by his

-beauty, grace and vigor, or vice versa. From the point of view of

-sexual selection we can understand, on the one hand, the immense ardor

-with which every sensuous part of the human body has been brought

-into the play of the dance, and, on the other, the arguments of the

-pseudo-moralists to classify it with the frivolous and least tolerated

-arts.

-

-The stamp of frivolity, put upon the dance by the Christian clergy,

-has retarded its natural development for several centuries. Italy and

-Germany, having been the cradles of all modern music and stage arts,

-have given little inspiration to a systematic development of the art

-of dancing. The seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, that

-have meant so much to the perfection of the opera, vocal and orchestra

-technique, gave nothing of any significance to choreography. The church

-that tolerated Bach, Paësiello, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, put an

-open ban upon everything that had any relation to the dance. The

-great musical classics of the past centuries have treated dance as an

-insignificant side issue, thereby putting a label of inferiority upon

-this loftiest of arts. All the dance music of the great classics sounds

-naïve and lacking in choreographic images. Yet dance and music are like

-light and shadow, each depending upon the other. As canvas is to a

-painter, so is music to a dancer the essential element upon which he

-can draw his picture. The fact that the art of dancing has not evolved

-into its normal state of equality with the other arts, is wholly due

-to the lack of musical leadership. Neither the reforms of Noverre

-nor those of Fokine nor Marius Petipa can be of fundamental value if

-they lack the phonetic designs which alone a choreographic artist can

-transform into plastic events. Essentially, and æsthetically speaking,

-dancing should be the elemental expression alike of symbolic religion

-and love, as it used to be from the earliest human times.

-

-Dancing and architecture are the two primary and plastic arts: the

-one in Time, the other in Space; the one expressing the soul directly

-through the medium of the human body, the other giving only an outline

-of the soul through the medium of fossilized forms. The origin of these

-two arts is earlier than man himself. Both require mathematics, the one

-rhythmically, the other symmetrically. For dancing the mathematical

-forms are to be found in music, for architecture, in geometry. ‘The

-significance of dancing, in the wide sense, thus lies in the fact that

-it is simply an intimate concrete appeal of that general rhythm which

-marks all the physical and spiritual manifestations of life,’ writes

-Havelock Ellis. ‘The art of dancing moreover is intimately entwined

-with all human traditions of war, of labor, of pleasure, of education,

-while some of the wisest philosophers and ancient civilizations have

-regarded the dance as the pattern in accordance with which the moral

-life of man must be woven. To realize therefore what dance means for

-mankind--the poignancy and the many-sidedness of its appeal--we must

-survey the whole sweep of human life, both at its highest and at its

-deepest moments.’

-

-                        ANNA PAVLOWA.

-

-

-

-

-CONTENTS OF VOLUME TEN

-

-

-                                                                    PAGE

-  INTRODUCTION BY ANNA PAVLOWA                                       vii

-

-

- CHAPTER

-  I. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING                                         1

-

-  Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed

-  in dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive

-  dance and sexual selection; professionalism in dancing--Music

-  and the dance; religion and the dance; historic analysis

-  of folk-dancing and ballet.

-

-

-  II. DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT                                        12

-

-  Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence;

-  the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals;

-  festival of the Sacred Bull--Music of the Egyptian dances;

-  Egyptian dance technique; points of similarity between

-  Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the

-  Graveyard Dance; modern imitations.

-

-

-  III. DANCING IN INDIA                                               24

-

-  Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the

-  Brahmin religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis;

-  Hindoo music and the dance; dancing in modern

-  India; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism of the Indian

-  dance.

-

-

-  IV. DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS    30

-

-  Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics

-  of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of

-  ancient China; Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese

-  dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern imitations; the

-  Lantern Festival--Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional

-  variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry;

-  general characteristics and classification of Japanese

-  dances--The American Indians: The Dream dance; the

-  Ghost dance; the Snake dance.

-

-

-  V. DANCES OF THE HEBREWS AND ARABS                                  43

-

-  Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode

-  and its modern influence--The Arabs; Moorish florescence

-  in the Middle Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances;

-  the dance in daily life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting;

-  pictorial quality of the Arab dances.

-

-

-  VI. DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE                                       52

-

-  Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek

-  life; Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance;

-  Terpsichore--Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek

-  dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the

-  Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia;

-  The Cordax; the Hormos--Greek theatres; comparison of

-  periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries;

-  the Heteræ; technique.

-

-

-  VII. DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE                                    72

-

-  Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus;

-  the _Bellicrepa saltatio_; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime;

-  the Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the

-  Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.

-

-

-  VIII. DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES                                    78

-

-  The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain;

-  the strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of

-  dancing by the church; dances of the mediæval nobility;

-  Renaissance court ballets; the English masques; famous

-  masques of the seventeenth century.

-

-

-  IX. THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE                                      86

-

-  Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante;

-  reforms under Louis XV; Noverre and the _ballet d’action_;

-  Auguste Vestris and others; famous ballets of the period--the

-  Revolution and the Consulate; the French technique,

-  the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five positions’;

-  the ballet steps--Famous _danseuses_; Sallé, Camargo;

-  Madeleine Guimard; Allard.

-

-

-  X. THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE                                       104

-

-  The rise of nationalism--The Spanish folk-dances: the

-  Fandango; the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish

-  folk-dances; general characteristics; costumes--England:

-  the Morris dance; the Country dance; the Sword dance; the

-  Horn dance--Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.--Ireland:

-  the Jig; British social dances--France: Rondo, Bourrée and

-  Farandole--Italy: the Tarantella, etc.--Hungary: the Czardas,

-  Szolo and related dances; the Esthonians--Germany:

-  the _Fackeltanz_, etc.--Finland; Scandinavia and Holland--The

-  Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs; the Roumanians

-  and Armenians--The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy

-  and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.

-

-

-  XI. THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST                       144

-

-  The _Pavane_ and the _Courante_; the _Allemande_ and the

-  _Sarabande_; the _Minuet_ and the _Gavotte_; the _Rigaudon_ and

-  other dances--The Waltz.

-

-

-  XII. THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY                  151

-

-  Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century--Maria

-  Taglioni--Fanny Elssler--Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito;

-  decadence of the classic ballet.

-

-

-  XIII. THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA                                    161

-

-  The Danish ballet and Boumoville’s reform; Lucile

-  Grahn, Augusta Nielsen, etc.--Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline

-  Genée; the mission of the Danish ballet.

-

-

-  XIV. THE RUSSIAN BALLET                                            170

-

-  Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles

-  of the Russian school; French and Russian schools compared--

-  Begutcheff and Ostrowsky; history of the Russian

-  ballet--Didelot and the Imperial ballet school; Petipa and

-  his reforms--Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets;

-  Pavlowa and other famous _ballerinas_; Mordkin;

-  Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.

-

-

-  XV. THE ERA OF DEGENERATION                                        189

-

-  Nineteenth-century decadence; sensationalism--Loie

-  Fuller and the Serpentine Dance--Louise Weber, Lottie Collins

-  and others.

-

-

-  XVI. THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING                            195

-

-  The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan--Duncan’s influence:

-  Maud Allan; Duncan’s German followers--Modern music

-  and the dance; the Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’--

-  Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St. Denis--Modern Spanish

-  dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.

-

-

-  XVII. THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET                                       214

-

-  The old ballet arguments _pro_ and _con_--The new movement:

-  Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s

-  company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of

-  the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ _Le Pavilion d’Armide_, ‘Scheherezade’--

-  Nijinsky and Karsavina--Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’

-  ‘The Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.

-

-

-  XVIII. THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE                         234

-

-  Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the

-  ‘Eurhythmic’ system--Body-rhythm; the plastic expression

-  of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze

-  system--Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics to the

-  dance.

-

-

-  XIX. PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY                                      247

-

-  The defects of the new Russian and other modern

-  schools; the new ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories--Lada

-  and choreographic symbolism--The question of appropriate

-  music.

-

-

-  EPILOGUE: FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE DANCE                              261

-

-

-

-

-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

-

-

-  Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)              Frontispiece

-

-                                                                    PAGE

-  Egyptian women dancing with cymbals                                 21

-

-  Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases                 68

-

-  Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)                                    102

-

-  The Ball                                                           150

-

-  Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet                                156

-

-  Pavlowa                                                            174

-

-  Duncan                                                             200

-

-  Maud Allan                                                         211

-

-  A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)                         245

-

-

-

-

-THE DANCE

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER I

-

-THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING

-

-  Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in

-  dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual

-  selection; professionalism in dancing--Music and the dance;

-  religion and the dance; historic analysis of folk-dancing and

-  ballet.

-

-

-I

-

-Every true art is a direct and immediate act of life. As in music and

-dancing, so in life, rhythm is the skeleton of tone and movement and

-also the basis of existence. We breathe rhythmically and our heart

-beats rhythmically. We walk, laugh and weep rhythmically. Rhythm is the

-only frame to the moving material of the visuo-audible art. What except

-rhythm can unite living men in order to convert them from a chaotically

-moving crowd into a work of art? It was undoubtedly the innate feeling

-for rhythm that actuated the primitive man to dance. All existing races

-show a strong tendency to dance, as well in their primitive as in the

-more or less civilized state. The plastic forms of the human body lend

-themselves more to an æsthetic expression that contains architecture,

-sculpture, painting, poetry, drama and music, than anything else in

-creation. The mimic expressions of the face, the agility of the steps,

-the grace of gestures and poses are all natural means which a man can

-employ in his dance. The symmetric lines of the body that are produced

-after the melodic patterns of the music form the æsthetic basis of the

-art of dancing. The ability to give a living meaning to these lines is

-what makes a dance beautiful and divine. Although frequently the beauty

-of a line and movement can be observed in animals and birds, yet there

-it is an unconscious act, lacking in that individual and subjective

-feeling that we call inspiration.

-

-The foremost element in every dance is--the step. Step is also,

-practically speaking, the first movement of life. In consequence of

-pure physical laws each step requires a new impulse and thus divides

-it into two periods: motion and repose. The continuance of these two

-rhythmic periods produces the feeling of symmetry and joy, which in

-its turn creates the various combined movements that again are divided

-into various sub-motions and partial measures. The development of

-steps in a dance is based on two principles: the movement of the feet,

-and the combined movement of the body and hands for grace or mimicry.

-Consequently dance is nothing but a chain of bodily movements that

-are subjected to a certain musical rhythm and follow the emotional

-expressions of the dancer. According to an innate principle dance,

-like speech, was practiced by the primitive races as a medium of

-the most vital expressions. By means of a dance the savages express

-their joy, sorrow, anger, tenderness and love. Dance has its peculiar

-psychology, which varies according to racial temperament, climate

-and other conditions. This is best illustrated in the various styles

-of the folk-dance. To the vigorous races of Northern Europe in their

-cold and damp climate dancing became naturally a function of the

-legs. The Scandinavian and Finnish folk-dances betray more heavy and

-massive motion, while those of Spain, Hungary and Italy or France give

-an impression of romantic grace, coquettish agility and fire. The

-folk-dances of the Cossacks are usually violent and acrobatic, as is

-their life. Energy or dreaminess, fire or coolness, and a multitude

-of other racial qualities assert themselves automatically in a

-folk-dance. The list of forces that make and preserve a nation’s dances

-is incomplete without the addition of the powerful element of national

-pride, weakness or other peculiarities. On the contrary, in the Far

-East, in Japan, Java, China, etc., dancing is exclusively a motion of

-the hands and fingers alone. In ancient Rome dancing was predominantly

-the rhythmic motion of the body, with vibratory or rotatory movements

-of breast or flanks. The Stomach Dance of the Arabians betrays the wild

-passion of a nomadic desert race.

-

-According to Louis Robinson, dancing is an innate instinct that has an

-indirect bearing upon the existence of the human race. Robinson argues

-that throughout Nature instincts, like the organs of our bodies, are

-the product of the strict laws of evolution, and have been built up to

-meet some need. At some critical time in the past they had a certain

-survival value--i. e., they were capable of determining in the struggle

-for existence which individuals or tribes should go under and which

-should survive. This principle can be taken as one of the axioms which

-must be our pilots in every attempt to account for the faculties which

-each of us brings into the world, as distinct from those acquired in

-the life of the individual.

-

-Practically every savage people has elaborate dances and spends a good

-deal of time in such exercises. Among adults dancing takes the place

-of the play of children. When we come to analyze the play of all young

-creatures from the historical standpoint we find it forms part of an

-elaborate natural system of physical training. The perpetual motion

-of the kitten while it is awake is obviously a training for those

-accomplishments which in later life mean a livelihood. Such astonishing

-skill and agility as are shown by the cats in securing prey cannot be

-attained by any ready-made machinery like that of the dragon-fly or the

-mantis: they must be built up and manufactured. Herein the nervous

-mechanism of the mammalia has prevailed over the limited mechanical

-perfection of lower things such as reptiles, fish, and insects. Most of

-them can do some one thing or other supremely well, but the mammalia,

-with their better nervous system and receptive brains, can excel in

-many things. We, with our greater gifts of the same sort, are the

-most versatile and teachable of all; hence we prevail over the rest

-of creation. The kitten, the puppy, and the young savage, by their

-continual restless and organized activity, gain great advantage in

-certain movements necessary in after life, and foster the growth of

-the particular muscles which later on will be absolutely requisite in

-the serious business of holding their place in the world. Obviously

-such instincts would become out of date and inappropriate should the

-general manner of living undergo a complete change. Hence we find that

-much of the play of young children in civilized lands has little or no

-reference to the serious life which comes afterwards. Such instincts,

-however, were developed during or before the long stretch of time

-of the Stone Age, when all men played hide and seek, and chased one

-another, and threw things, and ran, and jumped, and wrestled for

-exactly the same reason that makes us scan commercial articles, attend

-markets, and work in our studies or offices. What is observable in any

-nursery or playground affords a good illustration of the persistence

-of instincts long after the need which created them has passed away.

-For some reason the play instinct in most creatures tends to lapse

-at the time of full bodily maturity. It does not cease entirely, but

-apparently it no longer suffices as an incentive for the battle of life.

-

-Man in the savage state is naturally lazy and does not like to exert

-himself when food comes easily. When no urgent need or human authority

-is pushing him, he prefers to eat to repletion and then to lie in

-the sun or loaf. We even find this primitive habit cropping up in

-strenuous lands where the stimulus of moral education and competition

-has been at work for generations.

-

-We are all aware that, when we are lazy for any length of time, we

-get slack and soft. The primitive savage who lives by hunting and is

-in continual danger of raids from his neighbors, cannot afford to get

-slack. He must keep himself fit every day of life. How was this to be

-managed by our prehistoric forefathers when there was no fighting,

-with the weather soft, and a delicious fish easily to be caught quite

-near the dwelling? It is pretty safe to say that, owing to the want

-of condition--if they were not dancing tribes--they did not leave

-descendants which are among us in the twentieth century.

-

-It seems strange how readily a group of negroes who are apparently

-exhausted after a long day’s work will join in dance with their

-fellows, and how, when not very tired, they will in their laziest

-moments spring up and take vigorous exercise of this kind. Every doctor

-will tell you that there are plenty of women to-day who have not the

-strength nor the energy to do any work or to walk a couple of miles,

-but who will dance from evening till morning without showing any

-great fatigue. Among such Pagans as the Zulus and Masai, who organize

-themselves for war almost as well as has ever been done by the most

-civilized Christians, there is practically no distinction between

-military exercises and dancing. This is proof enough to show that

-dancing had a survival value throughout the long stretch of the Stone

-Age. Dancing taught primitive men to move in compact bodies without

-confusion, and especially without getting so bunched together that they

-could not use their weapons.

-

-To-day the true war-dance only persists among us in the form of

-military marchings, but the other primitive dances have left numerous

-descendants of all kinds and degrees, down to the modern tango. Among

-these non-military dances the survival value, apart from the healthy

-exercise which they provided and their general disciplinary effects,

-worked through the agency of sexual selection.

-

-In the case of the primitive dances the working of sexual selection was

-beneficial as conducive to racial fitness. The dances in which women

-took part gave opportunity for appraisement of exactly the kind needed

-for a sound choice of mates under savage conditions. It afforded the

-chance, so lacking in our present civilization, of advertising any

-admirable qualities which might be possessed. It was a test not only of

-physical grace and perfection, but of activity, taste and temper. It

-contributed to honest matrimonial dealing--especially when danced in

-the approved ballroom costumes of savage times.

-

-There have been many discussions as to why clothes were first

-worn--whether for ornament, warmth, or decency--but one may fairly

-say without any doubt whatever that, from the first ages until now,

-dance clothing has been mainly decorative. Here we find an ethical

-justification of matters connected with dancing dress, which has often

-provoked severe criticism among puritans. Without a doubt from the

-earliest times until now the dance has been a chief purifying agent

-in the marriage market--has played the part, in fact, of those market

-inspectors appointed to guard against adulteration.

-

-It is a most extraordinary thing, when we come to consider man’s place

-in Nature, that he ever began to dance. Not that dancing is uncommon

-in Nature; many birds, especially those of the crane tribe, execute

-elaborate dances during their season of courtship, and as a mere

-pastime when they have nothing else to do. Few, if any, of the mammalia

-appear to indulge in organized dances, unless we give such a name to

-the frisking of young lambs and the prancing evolutions of horses and

-antelopes. Assuredly, in our direct line of descent nothing of the kind

-could have existed as far back as our knowledge and imagination will

-carry us. You cannot very well dance in the trees, which, according to

-Darwin, were the real nurseries of our species; and when you come down

-to solid earth your weak prehensile lower members would only make you

-ridiculous and contemptible if they attempted any performance of the

-kind.

-

-Mother Nature, however, is a dame of infinite varieties, and seems

-continually to be trying the most bizarre experiments apparently

-without the least prompting or justification. The products of these

-experiments are called ‘sports,’ and there seems no limit to their

-possibilities. Chimpanzees delight in thumping hollow trees and

-knocking pieces of wood together, while it is said that the gorilla

-waddles to war to the sound of the drum, improvising a substitute by

-beating his hands against his brawny chest.

-

-In the Western world professionalism in dancing has happily not had the

-blighting effect on the pursuit that it seems to have had on some other

-forms of pastime. But if we go to the East we find that practically all

-other forms of dancing have ceased to exist. We see the effect of this

-tendency most fully developed in China, where the recreative dancing

-of European society seems to be quite beyond the comprehension of a

-well-bred Chinese, who naïvely asks the question: ‘Why do you not pay

-people to dance for you?’

-

-Stage dancing seems to be an interesting instance of the degeneration

-into pure luxury or something which was at one time a helpful influence

-to the race. This is a tendency observable in many phases of life

-when the pressure of evolutionary forces is somewhat relaxed. Most

-of the luxuries pertain to matters which at one time had a survival

-value, and it cannot be said that they have retired from among the

-evolutionary forces even to-day; but their effect, if still beneficial

-to the race, lies in aiding Nature to eliminate the unfit.

-

-

-II

-

-From the earliest times on dancing has been dependent upon music of

-some kind. The question whether music is older than dancing has not

-been answered satisfactorily by academic anthropologists yet. However,

-all scholars agree that the appearance of these two arts must have

-been more or less simultaneous, the one influencing the other. But

-undoubtedly the first dance music was not instrumental but vocal. The

-savages to-day dance most of their sexual dances to rhythmic recitation

-of certain words. Music is in every phase of evolution the only true

-essence of that which forms the subject of the dance.

-

-To the transformation of more or less primitive folk-dances into those

-of strictly religious character is due the principal idea of the

-modern ballet. In the Oriental temples dancing underwent a strange

-transformation. While dancing was made the basis of dramatic and

-symbolic ideas, yet this very fact became detrimental to the musical

-influence upon the choreography. The Egyptians, whom we consider the

-pioneers in religious dances, originated elaborate temple ballets,

-which were based more upon a dramatic than a musical theme. Though the

-tradition speaks of rounds, of symbolic and sidereal motions, and the

-instruments chiefly employed, as the Egyptian guitar, used both by men

-and women, the single and double pipe, the harp, lyre, and flute, yet

-essentially this all resembled a pantomime rather than actual dance.

-

-It is very likely that all the ancient sacred dances originated with

-the subconscious idea of counteracting the sensuous or strictly

-playful influence of the social dances. The whole pedigree of our

-Western religions seems to show a remarkable absence of this method of

-encouraging religious feeling. The reasons why such manifestations were

-discouraged by Jewish and Christian moralists pertains to physiology

-rather than theology. As already said, man’s nature is compounded of

-many diverse elements, and the machinery of emotion at present at work

-within us dates back to our animal past. Our most refined and exalted

-feelings spring from the same nervous reservoirs and pass through

-the very channels which were at one time solely occupied by grosser

-passions. The Egyptian church that grew directly of the folk-art of

-the country was a stranger to Greece and Rome, and still more so to

-our Christian religion. The ethical ideals that actuated the Egyptian

-priests in introducing dancing at the altar, sprang directly from the

-soil and meant, in bringing the better part of human nature to the top,

-to act as a kind of separator. The priests discovered that the higher

-emotions, with the help of sacred dancing, can be put to excellent

-service as impulses to improved conduct. The Christian missionaries,

-coming from the East, found nothing elevating and ennobling in our

-Western dancing, which did not appeal to them on account of the very

-differences of the style and racial character. It is due to their

-opposition that the religious dances have faded out under the Western

-civilization. The warfare against dancing generally, on the part of the

-Apostles of Christianity, dates back to the fanatic era of theological

-and nationalistic differences. In all countries where the religion

-descends directly from a racial folk-lore, dancing has remained in high

-esteem at home and in the temples. This we find true in Egypt, Greece,

-India and China. In the Jewish form of worship there seems to have been

-no formally recognized dancing, although we have records of several

-displays of this kind, as in the case of King David, when, ‘clothed in

-a linen ephod, he danced before the Ark of the Lord with all his might.’

-

-In Greece, cradle of the arts, the Muses manifested themselves to man

-as a dancing choir, led by Terpsichore. The Romans imitated the Greeks

-in all their arts and imported with the Greek slaves Greek dances. But

-Rome was too barbaric to appreciate the full value of Greece’s poetic

-arts. The solemn religious dance instituted by Numa and practiced by

-the Salian priests soon degenerated into ceremonial march that was

-abolished when Rome became Christian, through a papal decree in 744.

-Darkness of night fell on the development of secular and religious

-dancing, a darkness that endured for centuries. The influence of the

-Nile in Egypt and Cadiz in Spain, which for centuries had been the two

-great centres of the ancient dancing and supplied their dancers to the

-Roman potentates, faded out slowly in the history of European nations.

-The folk-dances were labelled as low and undignified amusements of

-Pagan peasants. Dance in every form remained an outcast, despised and

-condemned until the court circles of Italy and France distorted it

-to an amusement at domestic gatherings and masquerades. It is said

-that the modern ballet had its origin in the spectacular masquerades

-arranged for the marriage of Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, in

-1489. The impression of this performance spread to the Court of

-Florence. Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, brought the Italian

-court pantomime to Paris, where the French kings and queens grew to

-admire dancing and took actual part in it. The attempts of Noverre to

-elevate the art of dancing to what it had been in ancient Egypt and

-Greece, were successful only externally. Music, the soul of dancing in

-the modern sense, was lacking, and without this soul the art of plastic

-form is incomplete. Though the Russian reformers elevated dancing from

-a domestic amusement to a serious and lofty stage art, they did not

-succeed wholly in giving to it the foundation that it deserves among

-the other arts. All the past and living goddesses of choreography have

-not had the freedom, the phonetic means and dramatic threads to thrill

-their audiences as they would, if man had not distorted and hidden the

-natural meaning of the dance that inspired his barbaric ancestors.

-

-The philosophical conclusion of our historic analysis of dance leads

-back to the same axioms that actuated the savage in his practice of

-agility: the sexual selection and primitive sport, both necessary for

-evolution and the existence of the race. However, there is neither

-sexual motive nor instinct for ‘physical culture’ in the ‘Heavenly

-Alchemy’ of evolution that has created the poetic movements of Taglioni

-and her successors. The ancient racial propensities have developed into

-more spiritual ideas. Like the tendency of evolution generally, to

-universalize an individual and individualize the universe, so in dance

-the racial characteristics are transformed into cosmic motives. In this

-stage beauty becomes symbolic and concrete emotions take on a more and

-more abstract form. The survival value of the greatest art of the dance

-lies in ennobling the intellect and soul, which has necessarily an

-indirect bearing upon the physical. Ultimately this means perfection of

-the whole human organism. It inspires the mind and influences the body.

-

-Civilization has brought humanity to a state where the physical needs

-depend upon the psychical. We have devised a more complicated form

-of sexual selection and more complicated means of existence than the

-primitive dances employed in our animal past. Beauty in the long course

-of evolution has grown more spiritual, accordingly dancing as an art

-has become an evolutionary medium of the intellect.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER II

-

-DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT

-

-  Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence;

-  the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival

-  of the Sacred Bull--Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian

-  dance technique; points of similarity between Egyptian and

-  modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the Graveyard dance; modern

-  imitations.

-

-

-I

-

-Long before the rest of the world had emerged from barbarism Egypt

-had reached a high state of civilization. But the history of Egyptian

-civilization was hidden behind a curtain of mysteries, until the

-key to the hieroglyphs was discovered. Then, the imposing pyramids

-opened suddenly their sealed lips and the world stood aghast at

-their revelations. The ruins of Memphis and Thebes became books of

-interesting reading. The discovered inscriptions and papyri revealed

-the high state of development that the dance had reached in the ancient

-Egyptian temples. The first dancing in Egyptian history is recorded

-by Manetho, the priest of Heliopolis who lived in 5004 B. C.,--which

-is approximately one thousand years before the creation of the world,

-according to Biblical chronology. Plato alludes to Egyptian art and

-dancing performed ten thousand years before his time. Schliemann, the

-great archeologist, maintained that the history of Egypt was written

-in various dance-phases, as can be seen from the inscriptions of their

-ancient sarcophagi and pyramids.

-

-Scarce as are the hieroglyphic materials, nevertheless they reveal to

-us that the Egyptians, during the reign of the Pharaohs, highly admired

-the art of dancing. Most of the Egyptian documents or inscriptions

-begin with dancing figures. These figures are to be found in the most

-ancient records, which proves that dancing must have been known as

-an art to the Egyptians not for hundreds but for thousands of years.

-Herodotus, ‘the father of history,’ tells us that the dances performed

-to Osiris were as elaborate as the music of a hundred instruments and

-a chorus of three hundred singers. According to Diodorus, Hermes gave

-to mankind the first laws of eurhythmics. ‘Hermes taught the Egyptians

-the art of graceful body movements.’ A fragmentary inscription of a

-sarcophagus in the Museum of Petrograd describes that Maneros, ‘who

-conquered so many nations, did this not by means of torch and sword

-but by teaching the divine art of music and dancing.’ The ancient

-Egyptian legend surrounds Maneros with nine dancing Muses, which

-the Greeks probably copied from Egypt later. Music and dancing were

-employed by the Egyptians at home, in social festivals, on the occasion

-of marriage, birth and death, and in the temples. Their folk-dances

-were as gay and fiery as the temperament of the race. This is best

-illustrated in the recently discovered frescoes of peasants dancing,

-evidently after their daily work in the fields.

-

-Being worshippers of all the celestial bodies, the Egyptians practiced

-in their temples certain astronomical ballets. It is said that Hermes,

-the inventor of the lyre, produced from his instrument as many tones

-as there were stars in the sky. The three strings of his lyre meant

-Winter, Summer and Spring. This gives an idea to what an extent

-astronomy and nature figured in all their dancing and music. The Astral

-Dance was an imitation of the movement of the various constellations.

-In this their imagination knew no limit. The altar, around which most

-of the astral dances were performed, represented the sun. According to

-the descriptions of Plutarch, the dancers made with their hands the

-signs of the zodiac in the air, while dancing rhythmically from the

-east to the west, in imitation of the movement of various planets.

-After every circle the dancers stopped for a few moments as if

-petrified, which was meant to represent the immovability of the earth.

-By means of combined gestures and mimic expressions, the priests gave

-intelligible pantomimic stories of the astral system and the harmony of

-eternal motion. Lucian called this one of the most divine inventions.

-

-It is a pity that all the hieroglyphic records known to us do not

-give any adequate explanation of the ancient Egyptian Astral Dance.

-The descriptions left by Greek writers are too general and are

-frequently incorrect. Various scholars have made efforts to discover

-the mystic meaning of the dance of the ‘Seven Moving Planets,’ but in

-vain. How much the idea of an astral dance has impressed the European

-ballet-masters is proved in that Dauberval and Gardel produced in the

-eighteenth century ballets of this character. However, in this case the

-performers were not priests but fantastically dressed ballet dancers

-who, representing various stars and planets, jumped and turned around

-the _prima ballerina_, who represented the sun.

-

-To what an extent the love of pantomime and dancing prevailed in Egypt

-can be judged from the recently made decipherings by Setche of the

-inscriptions of the sarcophagus of a prime minister which describes

-the code of an elaborate court ritual. The inscription tells how a

-newly-appointed minister should meet his ruler. He should enter the

-imperial hall, dancing so that from his gestures, poses and miming

-could be read devotion, loyalty, chivalry, grace, tenderness, vigor

-and energy. Pharaoh, in his turn, would meet the minister with a

-different sort of dance. The reception would end with the joining

-of all the court functionaries, musicians and priests in a great

-procession.

-

-The Egyptian clergy exercised a great influence upon the people.

-Imitating the court of the Pharaohs, they surrounded the religious

-rituals with unnecessary secrets. The more mysterious they made

-the ceremonies the more they impressed the people. In consequence

-of such an attitude on the part of the clergy, a large majority of

-religious dances grew so complicated in their symbolic details that

-they degenerated into nonsense. A large number of the Egyptian sacred

-dances were based on the cult of Isis and Osiris, the one a feminine,

-the other a masculine divinity. This gave the fundamental idea of

-maintaining a large number of the so-called ‘sacred’ courtesans, who

-took an active part in most of the temple dances. Herodotus tells us

-that the presence of these ‘sacred’ courtesans in the Egyptian temple

-ceremonies during the last Dynasties is responsible for the downfall of

-this ancient civilization.

-

-Most of the Egyptian temple dances were performed by men and women

-alike. On the other hand, there existed special feminine and strictly

-masculine ballets. Of the feminine dances, the most known is the dance

-which was performed during the celebrated sacrificial festival of the

-sacred bull Apis. After the black bull on whose back grew naturally

-the figure of a white eagle was found, forty temple maidens were

-selected to feed it forty days on the shores of the Nile. All this

-time the maidens had to practice the great ballet that they were to

-perform thereafter. The Festival of the Sacred Bull was opened with a

-solemn dance of the priests in the temple of Osiris at Memphis. Then

-the bull was carried through the city by the maidens in a spectacular

-procession, accompanied by singing and dancing. When the bull was

-brought before the huge statue of Osiris the real ballet was performed

-by priests and maidens together. The ballet, which lasted for half a

-day, was opened with a slow introduction in march form. In this the

-dancers personified the birth process of divinities, particularly of

-Osiris. In the second movement, which probably resembled a modern

-_allegro energico_, were depicted the youth and romantic adventures of

-Osiris with the goddess Isis. Priests in fantastic costumes represented

-Osiris and his warriors, while the maidens played the rôle of Isis and

-her companions. The last movement of the ballet closed with a festival

-_finale_, which meant the victory of Osiris in conquering India. When

-the sacred bull was drowned in the Nile a violent funeral ballet was

-performed by the priests. As the recently discovered bas-reliefs

-illustrate, the dancing priests wore costumes consisting of a yellow

-tunic and round caps.

-

-While some of the Egyptologues maintain that dancing was performed only

-on special occasions such as the above, others are of the opinion that

-every Egyptian temple service contained some kind of dance. However,

-the hieroglyphic inscriptions of various periods prove that there were

-hundreds of different temple dances. Of particular interest is the

-recently discovered ‘Dance of Four Dimensions,’ which was performed in

-the temple of Isis. In this both priests and priestesses participated.

-It differed from the other dances in that the dancers carried along

-their musical instruments.

-

-

-II

-

-Since the art of dancing had reached such a high degree of culture

-in Egypt it is evident that the people must have possessed a highly

-developed form of music. Though musical history denies the fact

-that harmony was known to the ancient civilization, yet the recent

-archeologic discoveries and hieroglyphic decipherings speak eloquently

-of the use of various instruments in a kind of orchestra, and there are

-frequent allusions to temple choirs of a hundred and more singers. Dr.

-Schliemann even believes that the Egyptians had their specific musical

-notation which was still in use by the Arabs when they came to Spain.

-It is only natural to believe that an art of such a high standard

-was taught in a school, as the technique that they evidence is the

-result of long and systematic studies. ‘It is very likely,’ a Russian

-archeologist writes, ‘that the Egyptian academy of music and dancing

-was connected with the temple of Ammon.’

-

-It is evident that the Egyptians knew practically every choreographic

-rule and possessed a technique which our most celebrated dancers have

-not yet reached. Their mimic expressions are superb, as are their

-eurhythmic gestures and poses. Since the temple in Egypt united under

-its supreme patronage all the arts, it is only natural that dancing

-and music knew no other forms of expression, except the home. However,

-the court of Pharaohs played a big rôle in stimulating a secular style

-of dance, which the Greeks later performed in a modified form on their

-stage. Various inscriptions and sarcophagus bas-reliefs depict a corps

-of several hundred dancers that was maintained by the ruler. The Queen

-Cleopatra was so fond of dancing that she herself gave performances

-in a specially constructed hall, dimly lighted and richly decorated.

-Here she danced nude to her guests behind numerous gauze curtains,

-using constantly the effects of fused light produced by different

-colored lanterns. She had a well trained and beautiful voice and played

-masterfully on various instruments. Also, in connection with her

-dances, Cleopatra used heavy redolescent perfumes by means of which

-she put her audience into a ‘passionate trance.’

-

-That the Egyptian dancers knew _pirouettes_, _fouetté pirouettes_,

-_arabesques_, _pas de cheval_, and other modern ballet tricks 5,000

-years ago is proven by the dancing figures that can be seen at the

-sarcophagi at Beni Hassan. These figures illustrating ballet corps are

-usual. A common style of Egyptian dancing was the peculiar reverse

-movement of the two dancers which reached a rhythmic perfection,

-particularly in dances where many participated, that is absolutely

-unknown to our choreographic artists. Some dances show great

-architectural beauty in their pyramidic combinations. The use of the

-hands at the same time with the use of the legs is evidently more in

-keeping with a certain style and harmony of line, than that employed by

-our ballet or classic dancers.

-

-There is in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum a wall painting

-taken from a tomb at Thebes. The painting is supposed to have been

-executed during the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, and in it are

-depicted two dancing girls facing in opposite directions. There is

-plenty of action and agility depicted in these figures. In one the

-hands are raised high above the head; in the other they are lowered.

-One female not dancing is represented playing a double pipe, and others

-are clapping their hands. The accompanists are dressed, but the dancers

-wear only a gauze tunic.

-

-All Egyptian professional dancers are represented either nude or

-very slightly dressed and the performances were given by the people

-of highest respectability. All Egyptologues are of the opinion that

-the outline of the transparent robe worn by these dancing girls may,

-in certain instances, have become effaced; but others say that it is

-certain they danced naked, as their successors, the Almeiis, do. The

-view of Sir Gardner Wilkinson that the Egyptians forbade the higher

-classes to learn dancing as an amusement or profession, because they

-dreaded the excitement resulting from such an occupation, the excess

-of which ruffled and discomposed the mind, contradicts the opinions of

-other scholars on the same subject. We read in the Bible that after

-the Israelites had safely accomplished the passage across the Red Sea,

-Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, herself a prophetess, took a

-tambourine in her hand, and danced with other women to celebrate the

-overthrow of their late task-masters. There are other instances in

-the Bible which tend to show that among the Jews, who were reared on

-Egyptian civilization, it was customary for people of the most exalted

-rank to dance. There is a reproduction of Amenophis II. from one of

-the oldest tombs of Thebes that goes to show that Egyptians of all

-classes were highly proficient in the art of dancing. Four upper class

-women are represented as playing and dancing at the same time, but

-their instruments are for the most part obliterated. A fifth figure

-is resting on one knee, with her hands crossed before her breast. The

-posing of the heads in these figures is masterful. In another painting

-from Beni Hassan, executed about three thousand five hundred years

-ago, a dancer is represented in the act of performing a _pirouette_

-in the extended fourth position. The arms are fully outstretched,

-and the general attitude of the figure is precisely what it might

-be in executing a similar movement at the present day. It is also

-noticeable that the angle formed by the upper part of the foot and fore

-part of the leg is obtuse, which is quite in accordance with modern

-choreographic rules, while the natural inclination of an inexperienced

-and untrained dancer when holding the limb in such a position would be

-to bend the foot towards the shin, or at least to keep it in its normal

-position at right angles.

-

-From many paintings and sculptures that have been discovered, we may

-gather that the primary rules by which the movements of the dancers

-are governed have not altered since the time of the Pharaohs. The

-first thing the Egyptian dancers were taught was evidently to turn

-their toes outward and downward, and special attention was paid to the

-positions of their arms, which were gracefully extended and raised

-high, with the hands almost joining above the head. In the small tablet

-of Baken Amen representing the adoration of Osiris, now in the British

-Museum, all arm positions of the dancing figures are excellent. In

-one of the sculptures from Thebes a figure is unmistakably performing

-an _entrechât_. Other figures go to show that the Egyptians employed

-frequently _jetés_, _coupés_, _cabrioles_, toe and finger tricks.

-There are reproductions representing dance figures for two performers,

-executing apparently a kind of minuet. Between the dancers in each

-figure are inscriptions which refer to the name of the dance. Thus, for

-instance, one was called mek na snut, or making a _pirouette_. This

-appears to have been a movement in which the dancers turned each other

-under the arms, as in the _pas d’Allemande_.

-

-Besides the temple dances, Egypt had travelling ballet companies,

-giving their performances in the open air gardens of towns and

-villages. The nomadic Hawasis whose profession to-day is chiefly

-dancing, are undoubtedly barbarized descendants of the Hawasis that

-entertained the Pharaohs with their passionate and fiery social

-dances. Most of the Hawasi dances were of a sensuous nature, performed

-exclusively by girls, either naked or in light gauze dresses. The

-themes of all these dances were often so distinctly feminine, depicting

-the romantic nature of a woman so graphically, that they were performed

-only as a part of wedding ceremonies. In regard to this style of dance

-Sir Gardner Wilkinson expresses the conviction ‘that there is reason to

-believe that dances representing a continuous action or argument

-of a story were in use privately and were executed by ladies attached

-to the harem or household.’

-

-[Illustration: Egyptian women dancing with cymbals

-

-_From an ancient fresco (in the original colors)_]

-

-Another secular class of Egyptian dances was that performed by Almeiis.

-While the style and subject of the Hawasi dances tended to express the

-sexual passions, the Almeiis had learned to be ‘classic’ and scholarly.

-The Almeiis of to-day maintain that they descend directly from the

-dancing Pharaohs. The romantic element in the Almeii dances remains

-within the limits of a strict code of propriety. For that reason the

-dancing Almeiis, like the clergy, enjoyed an immunity from the common

-law. The Almeiis of to-day enjoy the same ancient reputation throughout

-the East and are invited by the Mohammedan chiefs to teach dancing

-to their harems. They can be seen dancing in the Arabian desert and

-in Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli and Morocco. But their present-day dances

-lack the subtleties and technique that their ancestors possessed five

-thousand years ago. Their celebrated Sword and Stomach Dances have

-degenerated into deplorable vaudeville shows. Petipa, the celebrated

-Russian ballet master, has succeeded in composing a brilliant ballet

-on the theme of Almeii dances, called ‘The Daughter of the Pharaoh.’

-However, excellent as the Russian ballet dancers are, they have never

-performed it to the satisfaction of its author.

-

-One of the weird ancient Egyptian dances that has survived and is

-practiced by several Oriental races, particularly in Arabia, Persia

-and Sahara, is the Graveyard Dance. It is known that the Almeiis used

-to perform this dance at midnight on the graveyards of rich Egyptians,

-frequently around the pyramids. Though semi-religious, it did not

-belong to the classified sacred dances performed under the supervision

-of the clergy. Prof. Elisseieff thinks that this dance probably

-originated in lower Egypt and belonged there to a recognized temple

-ceremony, but the priests in upper Egypt failed to recognize it, so the

-Almeiis monopolized it with great advantage.

-

-The Graveyard Dance performed in the East to-day is wild, weird and

-ghastly. It is performed by women, dressed in long robes, which cover

-even their heads. It is danced on moonlight nights by professional

-Almeiis. These are hired by the relatives or descendants of the rich

-dead to accompany the wandering soul until it reaches that sphere which

-belongs to it. There is much strange symbolism and morbid beauty in

-the Graveyard Dance. Just as weird as the dance is the music, produced

-from pipes and drums, often accompanied by hooting or sobbing voices.

-It begins in a slow measure, the dancers marching like spectral shadows

-in a circle around the musicians. Gradually the music grows quicker,

-as does the dance. It ends in a wild fury after which the dancers drop

-unconscious to the ground.

-

-The dances of the living Almeiis and Hawasis and their imitators give

-little idea of the high art of dancing that was practiced thousands of

-years ago in ancient Egypt. The modern axis and stomach dances that

-are practiced by the daughters of the various tribes of the desert

-are crude acrobatic feats and vulgar degenerations of the graceful

-and highly developed art that has vanished with the whole ancient

-civilization of Egypt. In 1900 there appeared in Paris a supposed-to-be

-descendant of the celebrated ancient Almeiis, _La belle, unique et

-incomparable Fatma_, giving performances of ‘Egyptian Wedding Scenes’

-and a ‘Dance of Glasses,’ which created a sensation among the decadent

-artists and writers. However, her success was more due to her beautiful

-body and its vivid gestures in suggesting certain erotic emotions, than

-to any real art. On the other hand, Isadora Duncan, Mme. Villiani and

-Desmond have attempted to arouse interest in the Egyptian dances by

-giving performances that they have claimed to be the genuine classic

-art of the Nile. According to them, all that a modern dancer needs in

-becoming Egyptian is to dress as the Egyptians did and produce poses,

-if possible, with the fewest possible garments, that are to be seen in

-the ancient fresco paintings, sculptures and hieroglyphs. Then again,

-the Russian ballet, touring in Europe, announced in its repertoire an

-Egyptian ballet _Cleopatra_, which was to be a revelation of unseen

-beauties of the lost ancient civilization. However, all efforts of the

-modern imagination are unable to lift the veil of the ages.

-

-Though posterity can catch more accurate fragments in the degenerated

-dances of Almeiis, Hawasis and the few folk-dances of Young Egypt than

-in the artificial imitations of various choreographic modernists, as

-a whole we know but a microscopic part of the vanished age of the

-Pharaohs. The few scarce records that we possess of the Egyptian

-dancing speak eloquently of an art far superior to anything which our

-boasted civilization has yet reached.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER III

-

-DANCING IN INDIA

-

-  Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin

-  religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music

-  and the dance; dancing in modern Indian; Fakir dances; philosophic

-  symbolism of the Indian dance.

-

-

-The civilization of ancient India was, with the exception of China,

-the only rival to that of Egypt. But it is remarkable that the Indian

-mind took a totally different direction from the Egyptian. The tendency

-towards spiritual expansion that manifested itself in Egypt and

-Greece became in India a tendency towards concentration. The Indian

-mind lacked the gift of observation and mathematical proportions, so

-essential in art, that was possessed by the subjects of the Pharaohs.

-For this reason we find a magnificent Indian philosophy and mystic

-science, but an undeveloped feeling for æsthetic values. With the

-exception of weird and bizarre architecture, that manifested itself

-most powerfully in the pagodas and temples, the Indian sculpture,

-painting, music and dancing are too primitive for our taste, as they

-probably were for that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.

-

-In all the Indian constructive arts, in their temple decorations and

-frescoes, we find very few dancing figures, still fewer graceful

-reproductions of the human body. Their gods and goddesses look to

-us like monsters. The Indian Venera, to be seen in the Pagoda of

-Bangilore, looks like a caricature, as compared with the Greek

-Aphrodite. The Indian goddess of dancing, Ramble, who, according to

-the legend, was a courtesan of Indra, and gave birth to two daughters,

-Nandra (Luxury) and Bringa (Pleasure), lacks all the loftiness and

-charm which surrounded the dancing goddesses of Egypt and Greece.

-There is neither life nor grace in any of the Indian temple art. Even

-the smile of Indian gods is stupid and inexpressive. The lack of

-humor and joy mirrors itself best in the art of the Bayaderes, the

-celebrated dancers of India. Their gestures and movements are void of

-that exultant gaiety and optimism that predominates in dances of other

-nations. An air of gloom and pessimism emanates from all the Indian art.

-

-There is no doubt that the peculiarities of Indian music have been

-obstacles to the development of the national dance. Although it is full

-of color and feeling, yet the division of their scale into so many more

-tone units than ours makes it extremely difficult for a dancer to catch

-the delicate nuances and lines and reproduce them in movement. A few

-dancing designs here and there give the impression that this art has

-not changed during the four thousand years of the nation’s existence.

-Since the whole Indian civilization is the same to-day that it was

-thousands of years ago, we are pretty safe in our assumption that the

-dances of the Bayaderes exhibited at Calcutta or Benares now were

-pretty nearly the same during the life of Buddha. The modern dances,

-like the old ones, show similarity in the fact that the Indian dancers

-stand nearly at one spot and hardly move their feet, while mimicking,

-and moving their body, arms, hands and fingers. The individual

-peculiarity of all Indian dances lies in the impressionistic poses of

-their hands and the body.

-

-India deserves to be called the Land of a Thousand Religions. Religion

-to an Indian represents everything. Like wisdom and life, dance is of

-divine origin. From time immemorial dancing has been a part of Indian

-temple ceremonies. The Brahmin religion is interwoven with beautiful

-legends and myths, according to which dancing was the first blessing

-that Brahma gave to mankind. One of the legends tells us that the

-divine Tshamuda danced to music while standing on an egg and holding

-a huge turtle on her back. In such a position she is to-day giving

-performances to Brahma in the Nirvana. Such a magic Paradise, with

-plenty of dancing and music, lasting from early morning till late in

-evening, is promised after death to all faithful souls.

-

-A widespread Indian legend is that which describes the magic dancing of

-the Apsarazases, or divine nymphs, with which the Indian imagination

-has populated every hill and brook. The only occupation of the

-Apsarazases is singing and aerial dancing. For this purpose these

-sacred nymphs are supplied with feathery wings which enable them to

-fly freely in the air. Dancers who reach the very climax of their art

-get magic wings like every Apsarazas and vanish alive from the earth.

-This legend laid the foundation of the Indian sacred dances, which

-were taught by the priests to young maidens kept specially for that

-purpose near the temples. While the European tourist calls all Indian

-dancers Bayaderes, regardless whether they give their performances

-on the streets or in the temples, an Indian calls the temple dancers

-Devadazis, or the ‘slaves of God.’ The common street or social dancer

-is called Nautch Girl. The Indian Devadazis are raised and educated

-much as are the Christian nuns. After being graduated from a dancing

-school, the girls are taken by the priests to the temples in which they

-give daily performances to the pilgrims and live as sacred courtesans

-with the clergy.

-

-The main function of the Devadazis consists in giving performances,

-either singly or in groups, to the priests and the pilgrims. Some of

-their dances take place in front of the pagodas, others inside. The

-dancers always wear a long garment, covering their body and legs,

-leaving only the hands and arms bare. Rich people can hire these

-temple dancers to give performances in their homes, otherwise they

-never appear outside the temple atmosphere. To an Indian dancer the

-most important parts of her body are her breasts and fingers. Though

-she appears in dance barefoot, frequently with rings in her toes, she

-pays comparatively little attention to her feet. Many of the modern

-Bayaderes wear an elaborate costume of yellow with wide pantalettes and

-richly embroidered wraps around the shoulders, leaving arms and breasts

-bare.

-

-The music accompanying the dances of the Indian Bayaderes is produced

-by an orchestra consisting of wood wind instruments similar to our

-flute and oboe, a few string instruments, two different drums and a

-few tambourines. The leader of the orchestra gives a sign by striking

-certain brass plates and the Bayaderes, lifting their veils, advance

-in front of the musicians and begin the dance. The dance, consisting

-usually only of mimic expressions of two dancers, has a strange melody

-and a stranger rhythm. Neither the music nor the dance can be compared

-with anything known in our Western art. Now and then the feet beat

-measure, otherwise there is little display of leg agility. The face,

-particularly the eyes, of the Indian dancers are very expressive.

-But the alphabet of the dance mimicry is so large that it requires a

-special study in order to understand and appreciate the fine movements

-of an artist.

-

-All the Indian social ceremonies, such as marriage, birth and burial,

-are celebrated with dancing and music. This is particularly true of

-the social ceremonies of the rich. The standing of the dancers is high

-in India, so that even in the palace of the Rajah dancers are treated

-like the guests. In certain parts of India the Bayaderes have the

-right to live as guests at any house without paying. Prince Uchtomsky,

-who made a special study of Indian life and art, writes that in cities

-visited by the European tourists one rarely gets a glimpse of the real

-Bayaderes. According to him there are many Indian Bayadere dancers that

-surpass in their suggestive power our most passionate ballets. Every

-line of their miniature impressionism in dance has an exotic beauty

-which implies more than it expresses.

-

-The Indian dancers are usually women, though Pierre Loti writes that he

-witnessed several dances performed by men. These dances, as described

-by him, tally closely with those which the writer saw frequently

-performed by various Mongolian tribes in South-Eastern Russia. But we

-are inclined to think that these, being wild in their character, could

-not be classified as dances of Indian origin.

-

-To a certain class of Indian dancing belong the well-known fakir

-dances, performed by begging pilgrims at public gatherings. These

-represent the surviving fanaticism of an ancient sect. Their strange

-performances are to be seen everywhere in Northern India. Absolutely

-naked and with dishevelled hair, they moan, shriek and groan, jumping

-wildly up and down and shaking their hands convulsively. When the

-fanatical execution has reached its climax the fakirs stab themselves

-with knives or hot irons until they fall into a trance. It is a kind

-of Oriental ‘Death Dance.’ To an outsider it is unexplainable how they

-can endure such self-torture for any length of time. In most cases the

-knives that the fakirs use are so constructed that they do not go deep

-into the body but scratch only the skin and produce slight wounds.

-Though their bloody performances make a deep and shocking impression

-upon the onlookers, yet dances of this kind cannot be classified as an

-art.

-

-The best dancers that India has ever produced are those who resembled

-brooding philosophers and prophetic priestesses rather than pleasing

-artists. The Indian conception of beauty lies in the spiritual and

-intellectual and but little in the physical and æsthetic forms. The

-main purpose of the great Indian _ballerinas_ is to inspire their

-audiences to thought and meditation upon the great powers of nature

-and the mystic purposes of human life. Their art is exotic and

-introspective and lacks absolutely the element of purely beautiful

-inspiration, produced by the great Western dancers. Those of our

-Western students of art who make us believe that they can perform

-genuine Indian dances are grossly mistaken, simply because the real

-Indian dance is not an art and amusement, but the preaching of a

-certain philosophy. Our materialistic logic is unable to catch the

-subtle philosophic symbolism that appeals to an Indian mind. We are

-brought up to enjoy the positive and not the negative plane of life.

-For us beauty is joy, for the Hindus it is sorrow. An Indian dancer who

-can move her audience to tears with her dancing will fail to make the

-least impression upon our audiences.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IV

-

-DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS

-

-  Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics

-  of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China;

-  Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing

-  Mandarins; modern imitations; the Lantern Festival--Japan: the

-  legend of Amaterasu; emotional variety of the Japanese dance;

-  pantomime and mimicry; general characteristics and classification

-  of Japanese dances--The American Indians: The Dream dance; the

-  Ghost dance; the Snake dance.

-

-

-I

-

-In China the art of dancing was in full bloom for centuries before

-the Christian era. The great Chinese historians tell us that music

-and dancing were developed and stood in high esteem in China from the

-dynasty of Huang-Ta till the rule of They, which is a period of not

-less than 2450 years. Europe with its civilization did not yet exist

-when choreography was publicly taught in China. Like every other form

-of Chinese evolution, dancing thus fell into a state of spiritual

-torpidity. Forbearance, the foremost virtue of the Chinese race, that

-was preached by their ancient moralists, like Kon-Fu-Tse and others,

-stifled in the long run all the passionate emotions of the people

-and exerted a most detrimental influence upon the arts. Under such

-conditions the Chinese view of life grew materialistic and dry, the

-very opposite of the Indian. This peculiarity did not fail to make

-itself felt in Chinese dancing. The gradual killing of passionate

-emotions killed also the tendency to imagination in the race. The

-fantasy that populated the air and water, the mountains and forests of

-other nations with myths, legends, gods and goddesses, was transformed

-in China into the most realistic reasonings and mechanical dexterity.

-The industrial spirit of the great nation killed all romantic and

-poetic aspirations in art, religion and literature. The music of China

-is as syncopated and monotonous as her views of life. The only poetry

-that the Chinese possess is that which was written 4000 years ago.

-

-_You_, which means in Chinese language ‘dance,’ lacks the principal

-forms of agility of our choreography. _Pirouettes_, _jetés_,

-_cabrioles_ and _pas’s_ are unknown terms to a Chinese _ballerina_.

-Their dancing, consisting of slow gestures of the arms, the shaking of

-head, bowing to the ceiling, and other similar manipulations, makes

-at the first glance an impression that suggests to our imagination

-the officiating of Greek priests. The power of a dancer lies in the

-atmosphere that she creates and the peculiar imitating poses of the

-body. Chinese dance music is correspondingly slow of rhythm and reminds

-us in many ways of our ultra-modern orchestral music. However, we read

-in the works of the Chinese classics that their art of dancing was much

-higher about two and three thousand years ago.

-

-The ancient Chinese philosophers recommended dancing to strengthen the

-human body and mind. They emphasized the mimic expressions which all

-races of the world should learn as an unspoken and universal language.

-It is written that the great ruler Li-Kaong-Ti took dancing and music

-lessons from the great teacher of music, Teu-Kung, so that he was able

-to give entertainments in these arts to his family and guests. He

-founded a dancing academy at the court and invited learned Mandarins to

-take charge of the institution. Gradually dancing was introduced in all

-the colleges and public schools. All Chinese educated classes had to

-be good dancers at that time. The rulers used to dance to the public at

-great annual festivals to express their gratitude or dissatisfaction.

-The receptions of various Viceroys at the national capital were opened

-with dancing performed by the great functionaries and statesmen of the

-empire. People judged the characteristics of their newly appointed

-officials and judges from the individual peculiarities of their dance.

-The Chinese court kept regularly 64 sworn dancers, who were obliged

-to give historic ‘ballets’ to the rulers. The orchestra was composed

-of flutes, a drum, one or several tambourines with bells, and a queer

-instrument in the shape of the figure ‘2.’ About a thousand years

-before Christ an imperial decree was issued for the purpose of limiting

-the number of dancers that one or another of the statesmen could employ.

-

-Eight different dances were performed at the Chinese court and

-eight dancers participated in each dance. The first dance was

-_Ivi-Men_--Moving Clouds; this was given in honor of the celestial

-spirits. The second dance was the _Ta-knen_--Great Circle; this was

-performed when the Emperor brought sacrifice at a round votive altar.

-The third dance was _Ta-gien_--General Motion; this was performed

-during the sacrificial festival at the square altar. The fourth

-dance was _Ta-mao_--Dance of Harmony; this was the most graceful

-dance and was dedicated to the Four Elements. The fifth dance was

-_Gia_--Beneficial Dance; this dance was dedicated to the spirits of

-the mountains and rivers, and was slow and majestic. The sixth dance

-was _Ta-gu_--Dance of Gratitude; this was dedicated to women. The

-seventh dance was _Ta-u_--Great War Dance; this was dedicated to the

-spirit of Man. The eighth dance was _U-gientze_--Dance of Waves; this

-was dedicated to the ancestors and was of elaborate form, containing

-nine different movements and nine different rhythms. These were all

-long ‘ballets’ and lasted for several hours each. But besides these

-there were six smaller dances. One of these was called the Dance of

-the Mystic Bird; another the Dance of Oxtail; another the Dance of the

-Flag; another the Dance of Feathers; another the Sword Dance; and the

-last the Dance of Humanity. This was performed only by the Mandarins.

-

-The Chinese historians write that Confucius did not like the Sword

-Dance, but highly praised the others. Confucius describes the Emperor

-Yu-Vang, who lived 1100 years before Christ, as the author of many

-new dances and composer of music to accompany them. One of his dances

-was a great historical ballet, which must have resembled the Roman

-pantomimes. This ballet has been performed in a distorted form in the

-nineteenth century and is mentioned by several Russian writers who

-lived or travelled in China. Judging from the Chinese writers, the

-historical ballet must have been a spectacular performance in the style

-of the Oberammergau Passion Play. It opened with the creation of the

-world and sea and ended with the latest phase of national history. Some

-of the dancers represented fish, animals and birds; others, monsters,

-spirits, rulers and social classes. The music of this ballet was of

-peculiar symphonic form, very melodious and dramatic. Only fragmentary

-records of the ancient notation had been preserved in the imperial

-palace at Pekin, but during recent political disturbances even these

-vanished and the world has thus been deprived of one of the most

-valuable of musical documents.

-

-In China the social and religious dancers were one and the same. The

-touring dancing companies to be seen to-day in China give a faint

-idea of the ancient choreography. Japanese dancing has made a deep

-impression upon the Chinese dancers, so that there is a marked element

-of mixture in the performances that one sees in the present Chinese

-towns. The Chinese dancers from olden times on have been men and

-women. It seems as if men predominated before, while now the feminine

-element is in majority. The Chinese dancing costumes are bizarre and

-picturesque. There are no barefoot dancers among them and their bodies

-are heavily covered with garments. Nude dancers are unknown in China.

-

-An odd class of Chinese dancers are the dancing Mandarins. In Su-Chu-Fu

-there exists still an old school that was founded 2500 years ago for

-the purpose of teaching dancing to the Mandarins. They presumably

-learned with the idea of using the art in religious rituals. The style

-of their dancing differs slightly from that of the professional class.

-Dancing Mandarins can be seen now in China, but their cabalistic

-gestures and queer mimic expressions are unintelligible to the Western

-mind. There are no folk or national dances in China and the people do

-not dance in the same sense as we in our social dances. The idea of

-a social dance is a torture to an average Chinaman. He enjoys seeing

-dancing, but never takes part in it. The rich Chinese frequently hire

-professional dancers and let them give performances at their houses.

-The Chinese wedding dances are never performed by the bride, groom, or

-their guests, but by hired professional dancers or dancing Mandarins.

-The historians tell us that this was not so in remote antiquity.

-There was a time when the Chinese people danced, though their dances

-were mostly slow and pantomimic. The Russian ballet dancers, who have

-toured in China, have told that their performances filled the Chinese

-audiences with horror and disgust, as our Western acrobatic technique

-makes them afraid of possible neck-breaking accidents.

-

-The attempts of Europeans to create Chinese ballets for our Western

-stage have been in so far miserable failures. ‘Kia-King’ by Titus,

-‘Chinese Wedding’ by Calzevaro, and ‘Lily’ by San-Leon give no true

-impression of Chinese choreography of any age. Nor are their music

-or their scenarios similar to any genuine Chinese ballets of the

-above-named titles.

-

-In our story of Chinese dancing it is worth while to mention the

-celebrated ‘Lantern Festival’ that is performed every New Year night.

-It is very likely that the Chinese had once long ago a lantern dance,

-which has degenerated now into a simple marching procession, in which

-the people participate in the same sense as the Italians do in their

-carnival. Confucius writes of it as of a festival in honor of the sun,

-the source of the light and life. This festival is celebrated three

-nights continually. Everything considered, we come to the conclusion

-that the art of dancing of the land of Mandarins has been of little

-influence and significance to our choreography. The reason for this

-lies partly in the racial morale, partly in a national psychology that

-breathes peace and externalism.

-

-

-II

-

-Of a quite different character are the dances of Japan, of which

-Marcella A. Hincks gives to us a comprehensive picture. According to

-her, dancing in Japan is an essential part of religion and national

-tradition. In one of the oldest Japanese legends we are told that the

-Sun Goddess Amaterasu, being angry, hid herself in a cave, so that the

-world was plunged in darkness and life on earth became intolerable. The

-eight million deities of the Japanese heaven, seeing the sorrow and

-destruction wrought by Amaterasu’s absence from the world, sought by

-every means possible to coax her from her retreat. But nothing could

-prevail on her to leave it, until one god, wiser than the others,

-devised a plan whereby the angered goddess might be lured from her

-hiding place. Among the immortals was the beautiful Ame-No-Azume, whom

-they sent to dance and sing at the mouth of the cave, and the goddess,

-attracted by the unusual sound of music and dancing, and unable to

-withstand her curiosity, emerged from the concealment, to gaze upon the

-dancer. So once more she gave the light of her smile to the world. The

-people never forgot that dancing had been the means of bringing back

-Amaterasu to Japan, therefore from time immemorial the dance has been

-honored as a religious ceremony and practiced as a fine art throughout

-the Land of the Rising Sun.

-

-Dancing in Japan is not associated with pleasure and joyful feeling

-alone; every emotion, grave or gay, may become the subject of a dance.

-Some time ago funeral dances were performed around the corpse, which

-was placed in a building specially constructed for that purpose, and

-though it is said that originally the dancers hoped to recall the dead

-to life by the power and charm of their dance, later the measures were

-performed merely as a farewell ceremony.

-

-The Japanese dance is of the greatest importance and interest

-historically. Like her civilization, and the greater number of her

-arts, Japan borrowed many of her dance ideas from China, though the

-genius of the people very soon developed many new forms of dance, quite

-distinct from the Chinese importation. From the earliest times dancing

-has been closely associated with religion: in both the Shinto and the

-Buddhist faiths we find it occupying foremost place in worship. The

-Buddhist priests of the thirteenth century made use of dancing as a

-refining influence, which helped to refine the uncultured military

-class by which Japan was more or less ruled during the early Middle

-Ages.

-

-The Japanese dance, like that of the ancient Greeks, is predominantly

-of a pantomimic nature, and strives to represent in gesture a historic

-incident, some mythical legend, or a scene from folk-lore; its chief

-characteristic is always expressiveness, and it invariably possesses

-a strong emotional tendency. The Japanese have an extraordinary mimic

-gift which they have cultivated to such an extent that it is doubtful

-whether any other people has ever developed such a wide and expressive

-art of gesture. Dancing in the European sense the Japanese would call

-_dengaku_ or acrobatic.

-

-Like the tea ceremony, the Japanese dance is esoteric as well as

-exoteric, and to apprehend the meaning of every gesture is no easy task

-to the uninitiated. Thus to arch the hand over the eyes conveys that

-the dancer is weeping; to extend the arms while looking eagerly in the

-direction indicated by the hand suggests that the dancer is thinking

-of some one in a far-away country. The arms crossed at the chest mean

-meditation, etc. There is, for instance, a set of special gestures

-for the _No_ dances, divided first of all into a certain number of

-fundamental gestures and poses, and then into numerous variations of

-these, and figures devised from them, much as the technique of the

-European ballet dancing consists of ‘fundamental positions’ and endless

-less important ‘positions.’

-

-The conventional gestures, sleeve-waving and fan-waving movements,

-constitute the greatest difficulty in the way of an intelligent

-interpretation of the Japanese dance. The technique is also elaborate

-and the vocabulary of the dancing terms large, but the positions and

-the attitudes of the limbs are radically different from those of the

-European dance, the feet being little seen, and their action considered

-subordinate, though the stamping of the feet is important in some

-cases. The ease of movement, the smoothness and the legato effect of

-a Japanese dance can only be obtained by the most rigorous physical

-training. The Japanese strive to master the technique so thoroughly

-that every movement of the body is produced with perfect ease and

-spontaneity; their ideal is art hidden by its own perfection.

-

-The dances of Japan may be grouped under three broad divisions of equal

-importance: Religious, classical, and popular. The last vestiges of a

-religious dance of great antiquity may still be seen at the half-yearly

-ceremonials of Confucius, when eight pairs of dancers in gorgeous

-robes, each holding a triple pheasant’s feather in one hand and a

-six-holed flute in the other, posture and dance as an accompaniment to

-the Confucian hymn. It is said that the _Bugaku_ dance was introduced

-2000 years ago.

-

-The Japanese history of dancing begins from the eighth to twelfth

-centuries. The _Bugaku_ and the _Kagura_, another ancient Japanese

-sacred dance, are considered the bases of all the other dances. The

-movements in both dances strive to express reverence, adoration and

-humility. The music of the old Japanese dances is solemn, weird and

-always in a minor key, and the instruments used are flutes and a drum.

-Stages were erected at all the principal Shinto temples and each temple

-had its staff of dancers. The _Kagura_ dance can still be seen at the

-temple of Kasuga at Nara. Like the Chinese, the Japanese lack dances

-known to us as folk-dancing. In the art of dancing Japan far surpasses

-China, this being due to the more emotional and poetic character of

-the race. The dancing of Japan, like its other arts, is outspokenly

-impressionistic and symbolic. It is graceful and dainty and gives

-evidence of thorough refinement.

-

-Dances of pungent racial tinge are those of the American Indians. The

-best known of the Indian pantomimes are the Ghost, Snake, and Dream

-Dances. Very little observed and recorded are their various war dances;

-still less their social dances. Stolid, impassive and stoic as is

-the man himself, so are his dances and other æsthetic expressions.

-Void of frivolous gaiety and passionate joy as an Indian remains in

-his life, so is his dance. His dance turns more about some mystic or

-religious idea than about a sexual one. There is that peculiar heavy

-and secretive trait in an Indian folk-dance that manifests itself so

-conspicuously in the dances of the Siberian Mongolians, as the Buriats,

-Kalmuks, and particularly the Finns. Though our space is limited, we

-shall here attempt to give an outline of the better known peculiarities

-of Indian folk-dances, particularly of the Dream Dance of the Chippewa

-tribe.

-

-The Chippewas or Ojibways were, at the arrival of the whites, one of

-the largest of the tribes of North America. They originally occupied

-the region embracing both shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron. We

-owe the description of the Dream Dance to S. A. Barrett, according to

-whose view it is based on the story of an Indian girl who escaped into

-the lake upon the arrival of the white men and hid herself among the

-lilies, thinking they would soon leave. She remained in the lake for

-ten days without food or sleep, until the Great Spirit from the clouds

-rescued her miraculously and carried her back to her people. In memory

-of this event the ceremony of the Dream Dance was instituted and is

-performed annually in the open air, about the first of July. A special

-dance ground, from fifty to eighty feet in diameter, was prepared and

-marked off by a circle of logs or by a low fence. This circle was

-provided with an opening toward the west and one toward the east.

-

-The objects about which this whole ceremony centres are a large drum

-and a special calumet, the former elaborately decorated with strips of

-fur, beadwork, cloth, coins, etc. It is hung by means of loops upon

-four elaborately decorated stakes. Often they are provided with bells.

-To this the greatest reverence is paid throughout the dance, a special

-guard being kept for it. The calumet serves as a sacrificial altar,

-the function of which is the burning of sacred tobacco, in order that

-its incense may be carried to the particular deity in whose honor the

-offering is made. The drum is beaten by ten to fifteen drummers, each

-beating it with a stick two feet long, as an accompaniment to the

-song which serves as the dance tune. Each song lasts from five to ten

-minutes, and is repeated for several hours continually.

-

-The drum-strokes are beaten in pairs, which gives the impression of

-difference in the interval of time between the two strokes of one pair

-and the initial stroke of the next. In this dance, which is always

-performed by a man of highest standing in the community, a dancer may

-go through the necessary motions with the feet without moving from the

-position in which he is standing, or he may dance one or more times

-around the circle. Frequently the dancers take at first a complete

-turn around the circle and come back to the vicinity of the original

-seats and dance here until the tune is finished. The movement is of

-a skipping step, from the east to the west. Perfect time is kept in

-the music no matter what movement may be employed by the dancer. Two

-motions up and down are first made with one heel and then two motions

-with the other, these being in perfect unison with the double strokes

-of the drum sticks. The position assumed in the dancing is perfectly

-erect, the weight of the body being rapidly shifted from one foot to

-the other, as the dancing proceeds. The foot is kept in a position

-which is nearly horizontal, the toe just touching the ground at each

-stroke of the drum. The dance begins at eleven o’clock in the morning

-and lasts until four in the afternoon. A special festival meal is

-served during the dance in the circle.

-

-Of somewhat different nature is the Ghost Dance, which is performed

-in the unclosed area, the ground being consecrated by the priests

-before the beginning of the ceremony. The features of this are the

-sacred crow, certain feathers, arrows, and game sticks, and a large

-pole which is placed in the centre of the dancing area. About this the

-dancers circle in a more lively motion and with lighter steps than the

-dancers in the Dream Dance. In this there are no musical instruments

-used. The men, women and children take part in the Ghost Dance, their

-faces painted with symbolic designs. The participants form a circle,

-each person grasping the hand of his adjacent neighbor, and all moving

-sidewise with a dragging, shuffling step, in time to the songs which

-provide the music. The purpose of the Dream Dance is to communicate

-with the Great Spirit of Life. The Ghost Dance has for its object the

-communication of the participants with the spirits of the departed

-relatives and friends, this being accomplished by hypnotic trances

-induced through the agency of the medicine man.

-

-The Snake Dance is a ceremony performed by the Indians of the

-southern states. This is of a ghastly nature, as the dancer holds two

-rattlesnakes in his mouth while executing his evolutions. Not only must

-the dancer be an artist who can manage the movement of his face so that

-the heads of the deadly snakes cannot touch his face or bare upper

-body, but he has to know the secret words that neutralize the poison

-of the snake, in case he should be bitten. This dance, like the two

-above named, is executed in a circle to the chant of special singers.

-Though the Indian uses musical instruments for his social ceremonies,

-such as the turtle-shell harp, wooden flute and whistles, he never

-applies their tunes to the dances that have a more serious or religious

-meaning. The Snake Dance, like the Dream Dance, is based on a legend,

-but the story of it is more involved, tragic and mystic, therefore

-its ghastly nature and weird symbolic gestures appear more vivid and

-direct than the themes of any other of the Indian folk-dances. But

-the steps and poses of every Indian dance are similar to each other,

-slow, compact, impassive and dignified. A strong mystic and symbolic

-feeling pervades the limited gestures and mimic expressions. Æsthetic

-ideas with the Indian are closely interwoven with those of ethics and

-religion. There is nothing graceful, amusing, delicate or charming in

-an Indian dance, therefore our dance authorities have ignored them.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER V

-

-DANCES OF HEBREWS AND ARABS

-

-  Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its

-  modern influence--The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle

-  Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily

-  life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the

-  Arab dances.

-

-

-I

-

-That dancing was practiced in temples and homes of the ancient Hebrews

-is evident from numerous Biblical allusions, and is only natural when

-we consider that they were educated in Egypt, the cradle of dancing.

-Some scholars maintain that dancing was a part of Hebrew worship,

-pointing as a proof of their theory to David’s dancing before the Ark

-of the Covenant and the fact that Moses, after the crossing of the

-Red Sea, bade the children of Israel to dance. Others, basing their

-arguments on the Talmud, deny this. It is very likely that the dancing

-which the Hebrews had learned in Egypt soon degenerated into crude

-shows, due to their long nomadic desert life, far from civilization.

-Only now and then did some of their kings indulge in dancing and try

-to revive the vanishing art. David and Solomon introduced dancing at

-their courts and in the temple, as we can see in the Bible: ‘Praise

-the Lord--praise him with timbrel and dance.’ ‘Then shall the virgin

-rejoice in the dance.’ ‘Thou shalt be again adorned with thy tabrets,

-and shalt go forth in the dances,’ etc. On another occasion we read

-how the sons of Benjamin were taught to capture their wives. ‘If the

-daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of

-the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife.--And the children of

-Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number of them

-that danced, whom they caught.’

-

-The Dance of the Golden Calf, which was plausibly an imitation of

-the Egyptian Apis Dance, was most severely forbidden by Moses. Since

-this dance was one of the principal ceremonial dances of Egypt, it is

-evident that it had rooted deep into the soul of the people and Moses

-had to resort to violent methods in order to abolish it entirely.

-We read in the Bible that to honor the slayer of Goliath, the women

-came out from all the cities of Israel and received him with singing

-and dancing. Other historic sources tell us that the ancient Hebrews

-frequently hired dancers and musicians for their social ceremonies.

-There are various Byzantine designs and inscriptions of the fifth and

-sixth centuries, in which King David is depicted as a ballet master,

-with a lyre in his hand, surrounded by dancing men and women. We read

-that when Solomon finished the New Temple in Jerusalem it was dedicated

-with singing and dancing. It is evident that the ancient Hebrew sacred

-dances were performed by men, while women figured exclusively in the

-social dancing. The Jews in Morocco employ professional dancers for the

-celebration of the marriage ceremony to-day.

-

-The best known of the ancient Hebrew dances is that of the celebrated

-Salome. Thus we read in a chapter of St. Matthew of the beheading of

-John the Baptist: ‘But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of

-Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised

-with an oath to give her whatever she would ask.’ These short remarks

-of the New Testament describe a gruesome tragedy that has inspired

-hundreds of artists to amplify with their imagination what has been

-left unsaid in the Gospel. Moreau, Botticelli, Dolci, Reno and Stuck

-have produced immortal paintings of Salome. Some of them have depicted

-her as a stately society lady of her times, the others show her either

-frivolous, abnormal or under the spell of narcotics and wine. Many

-gruesome legends have risen about the death of Salome, according to

-which she committed suicide by drowning. But an accurate historic

-investigation has revealed that she was married to the Tetrarch Philip,

-after whose death she became the wife of Aristobul, the son of Herod,

-and died at the age of 54.

-

-Be that as it may, the Salome episode is an eloquent proof that dancing

-was cultivated by the Hebrews and that their daughters were educated in

-this art either by Egyptian or Greek masters. Several other historic

-allusions show that Greek dancers went often to Jerusalem to give there

-performances during the national festivals. Plutarch writes that rich

-Hebrews came to the Olympic and Dionysian Festivals and were eager to

-learn Greek music and dancing. But evidently the Greek arts had the

-least influence upon the Hebrews, whose minds had been trained in the

-strict Mosaic code of morals to follow only the autocratic commandments

-of the Lord, and to leave all the arts of other races alone. Like the

-Confucian philosophy in China, the Mosaic ethics in Palestine put a

-stamp of æsthetic stagnation on Hebrew national life. For this very

-reason the Hebrews never developed a national art, particularly a

-national music or national dance.

-

-The _Salome_ of Richard Strauss has inspired many of our Western

-dancers to personify the ancient heroine. With the exception of Ida

-Rubinstein and Natasha Trouhanova, the Salome dances of all the

-European or American aspirants have been of no importance. There are

-characteristics to be seen in a few old inscriptions of dancing Hebrew

-priests which express most forcibly their peculiar nervous poses and

-quick gestures. European choreography has for the most part failed to

-grasp the principal features of the vanished Hebrew dances.

-

-

-II

-

-Of all living Oriental races the Arabs show the most innate instinct

-for dancing. Judging from the ruins of the architecture that the

-Moors have left in Spain we can see that they knew more than the mere

-elementary rules of æsthetic line and form, which is the very essential

-of a dance. The ruins of the majestic Alhambra speak a language that

-fills us with an awe. No architects of other races, either dead or

-living, have reached that harmony of line which is plainly visible in

-this structural masterpiece of humanity. Since, according to the views

-of all æsthetic psychologists, dancing and architecture develop as

-allied arts, the Moors must have developed a high degree of dancing in

-the Middle Ages, when the rest of the world was shaken by barbaric wars

-and ruled by ecclesiastic fanaticism. However, the Mohammedan religion

-prohibits painting and sculpture, therefore we find no frescoes or

-decorations in the walls of the Moorish castles or Mosques that could

-give an idea of the style and perfection of the dancing that was taught

-in Cadiz.

-

-The Greek and Roman writers allude frequently to the fiery and

-passionate dances that were exhibited by the graduates of Cadiz, ‘which

-surpassed anything the people had seen before.’ We know that the Moors

-taught dancing to their boys and girls alike. Furthermore, we know

-that their dances differed distinctly from those of the Greeks and

-Egyptians. The dancing teachers at Cadiz emphasized agility of legs,

-softness and grace of the body and a vivid technique of imitation.

-Passion was the principal theme of their feminine dances, and was

-expressed with the technique of virtuosity. It is said that the Califs

-of Seville kept a staff of fifty trained dancers at their court.

-

-The essential feature of Arabian dancing was the graphic production

-of pictorial episodes, in rich harmonious lines of the body, sensuous

-grace of the poses and sinuous elegance of movement. A special emphasis

-was placed upon the exhibition of the most perfect womanly beauty. To

-complete the task of architectural perfection an Arabic dancer was

-taught to study carefully the geometric laws of nature and eliminate

-the crudities acquired in everyday life. The principal musical

-instrument of the Moorish dancers was the African guitar, which was

-their national invention. Most of the great Arab dancers were women,

-who preferred to dance without a masculine partner. Ordinarily they

-danced to the music of two or three differently tuned guitars, and only

-on festival occasions or in appearances at court was the music supplied

-by an orchestra of ten or more. Already the Arabs had their musical

-notation, set in three colors: red, green, and blue. Fragments of their

-mediæval music notation were recently discovered by a French scholar

-and were successfully deciphered. It appears that many of the dance

-melodies still in use in Spain are of Moorish descent. The Kinneys,[A]

-who seemingly have made a study of Spanish and modern Arab dancing,

-write of it graphically, as follows:

-

-    [A] Troy and Margaret West Kinney: The Dance (New York, 1914).

-

-‘Of formulated dances the Arab has few, and those no more set than are

-the words of our stories: the point must not be missed, but we may

-choose our own vocabulary. In terms of the dance, the Arab entertainer

-tells stories; in the case of known and popular stories she follows

-the accepted narrative, but improvises the movements and poses that

-express it, exactly as though they were spoken words instead of

-pantomime. Somewhat less freedom necessarily obtains in the narration

-of dance-poems than in the recital of trifling incidents; but within

-the necessary limits, originality is prized. In the mimetic vocabulary

-are certain phrases that are depended upon to convey their definite

-meanings. New word-equivalents, however, are always in order, if they

-can stand the searching test of eyes educated in beauty and minds

-trained to exact thinking.

-

-‘Nearly unlimited as it is in scope, delightful as it unfailingly is

-to those who know it, Arabic dancing suits occasions of a variety of

-which the dances of Europe never dreamed. In the café it diverts and

-sometimes demoralizes. In his house the master watches the dancing

-of his slaves, dreaming under the narcotic spell of rhythm. On those

-rare occasions when the demands of diplomacy or business compel him to

-bring a guest into his house, the dancing of slaves is depended upon

-to entertain. His wives dance before him to please his eye, and to

-cajole him into conformity with their desires. Even the news of the

-day is danced, since the doctrines of Mohammed deprecate the printing

-of almost everything except the Koran. Reports of current events reach

-the male population in the market and the café. At home men talk little

-of outside affairs, and women do not get out except to visit others of

-their kind, as isolated from the world as themselves. But they get all

-the news that is likely to interest them, none the less; at least the

-happenings in the world of Mohammedanism.

-

-‘As vendors of information of passing events, there are women that

-wander in pairs from city to city, from harem to harem, like bards of

-the early North. As women they are admitted to women’s apartments.

-There, while one rhythmically pantomimes deeds of war to the cloistered

-ones that never saw a soldier, or graphically imitates the punishment

-of a malefactor in the market place, her companion chants, with

-falsetto whines, a descriptive and rhythmic accompaniment. Thus is the

-harem protected against the risk of narrowness.

-

-‘In the daily life of the harem, dancing is one of the favored

-pastimes. Women dance to amuse themselves and to entertain one another.

-In the dance, as in music and embroidery, there is endless interest,

-and a spirit of emulation usually friendly.

-

-‘One of the comparatively formalized mimetic expressions is the

-“Dance of Greeting,” the function of which is to honor a guest when

-occasion brings him into the house. Let it be imagined that coffee

-and cigarettes have been served to two grave gentlemen; that one has

-expressed bewilderment at the magnificence of the establishment, and

-his opinion that too great honor has been done him in permitting him

-to enter it; that the host has duly made reply that his grandchildren

-will tell with pride of the day when the poor house was so honored that

-such a one set his foot within it. After which a sherbet, more coffee

-and cigarettes. When the time seems propitious, the host suggests to

-the guest that if in his great kindness he will look at her, he--the

-host--would like permission to order a slave to try to entertain with a

-dance.

-

-‘The musicians squatting against the wall begin the wailing of the

-flute, the hypnotic throb of “darabukkeh.” She who is designed to dance

-the Greeting enters holding before her a long scarf that half conceals

-her; the expression on her face is surprise, as though honor had fallen

-to her beyond her merits or expectation. Upon reaching her place she

-extends her arms forward, then slowly moves them, and with them the

-scarf, to one side, until she is revealed. When a nod confirms the

-command to dance, she quickly drops the scarf to the floor, advances to

-a place before the guest and near him, and honors him with a slave’s

-salutation. Then arising she proceeds to her silent Greeting. * * *

-

-‘The Arabian dance is not a dance of movement; it is a dance of

-pictures, to which movement is wholly subordinate. Each bar of the

-music accompanies a picture complete in itself. Within the measure

-of each bar the dancer has time for the movements leading from one

-picture to the next, and to hold the picture for the instant necessary

-to give emphasis. At whatever moment she may be stopped, therefore,

-she is within less than a moment’s pose so perfectly balanced that it

-appears as a natural termination of the dance. The Oriental’s general

-indifference to the forces of accumulation and climax are consistent

-with such a capricious ending. In his dance each phrase is complete

-in itself; it may be likened to one of those serial stories in our

-magazines, in which each installment of the story is self-sufficient.

-

-‘To the Occidental unused to Oriental art, the absence of crescendo

-and climax, and the substituted iteration carried on endlessly,

-is uninteresting. Nevertheless, a few days of life among Oriental

-conditions suffice to throw many a scoffer into attunement with the

-Oriental art idea, which is to soothe, not to stimulate. Moorish

-ornament is an indefinitely repeated series of marvellously designed

-units, each complete in itself, yet inextricably interwoven with its

-neighbors. In music the beats continue unchanging through bar after

-bar, phrase after phrase. The rhythmic repetition of the tile-designs

-on the wall, the decorative repetition of the beats of music, produce a

-spell of dreamy visioning comparable only to the effect of some potent

-but harmless narcotic.’

-

-From all modern observations and ancient records it is evident that

-the Arabs’ dances differed essentially from their Eastern neighbors.

-Spain undoubtedly is the only Occidental country that has preserved

-in its vivid national dances, _Jotas_, _Boleros_, _Seguidillas_ and

-_Fandangos_, the mutilated and deformed elements of the vanished

-choreography of Cadiz. Though the Moor has left so few records of

-his highly cultivated art of dancing, yet his spectral shadow hangs

-over the race beyond the Pyrenees. Of all the living civilized nations

-the Spaniards, more than any others, are justly the very incarnation

-of the vanished magic Arabs in dance. A studious observer finds in

-Spanish dances all the hysteria, magic, seductiveness and softness that

-was practiced by mediæval Arab dancers. And then the costumes--most

-picturesque and romantic--that the Spanish women use in their dances

-are similar in their lines and colors to those that were worn by the

-Moorish girls who entertained with their magic dances a Cleopatra and a

-Cæsar.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VI

-

-DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE

-

-  Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life;

-  Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance;

-  Terpsichore--Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek dance

-  music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the

-  Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia; the Cordax; the Hormos--Greek

-  theatres; comparison of periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the

-  Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.

-

-

-I

-

-Best known to us of all the ancient and exotic dances are those of the

-Greeks. In Greece dancing was an actual language, interpreting all

-sentiments and passions. Aristotle speaks of Saltators whose dances

-mirrored the manners, the passions and the actions of men. About three

-hundred years before the Augustan era dancing in Greece had reached

-an apotheosis that it has never reached in any other country in the

-history of ancient civilization. Accurate information about the ancient

-Greek dances is given not only in numerous fresco paintings, reliefs

-and sculptures, but in the works of Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Lucian,

-Aristophanes, Hesiod and many others.

-

-That dancing was highly esteemed as an accomplishment for young

-ladies in the Heroic Age we may gather from the sixth book of the

-Odyssey, when gentle white-armed Nausicaa, the daughter of a king, is

-represented as leading her companions in the choral lay after they had

-washed their linen in the stream, and amused themselves awhile with

-a game of ball. Ulysses compliments her especially upon her choric

-skill, saying that if she should chance to be one of those mortals

-who dwell on earth her brother and venerable mother must be ever

-delighted when they behold her entering the dance. We read how Ulysses

-was entertained at the court of Alcinous, the father of the young lady

-who had befriended him, and whose dancing he had so greatly admired.

-The admiration of the wanderer was excited by the rapid and skillful

-movements of the dancers, who were not maidens only, but youths in the

-prime of life. Presently two of the most accomplished youths, Halius

-and Laodamus, were selected by Alcinous to exhibit their skill in a

-dance, during which one performer threw a ball high in the air while

-the other caught it between his feet before it reached the ground. From

-the further description it appears that this was a true dance and not

-a mere acrobatic performance, and that the purple ball was used by the

-participants simply as an accessory.

-

-The twenty-third book of the same poem tells us that dancing among the

-guests at wedding festivals formed in these early times an essential

-part of the ceremonies. The wanderer, having been recognized by the

-faithful Penelope, tells his son, Telemachus, to let the divine bard

-who has the tuneful harp lead the sportive dance, so that anyone

-hearing it from without may say it is a marriage. Homer thought so

-highly of dancing that in the ‘Iliad’ he calls it ‘irreproachable.’

-In describing various scenes which Vulcan wrought on the shield of

-Achilles, he associates dancing with hymeneal festivities. No Athenian

-festivals were ever celebrated without dancing. The design with which

-the gods used to adorn the shields of heroes represented the dance

-contrived by Dædalus for fair-haired Ariadne. In this dance youths

-with tunics and golden swords suspended from silver belts, and virgins

-clothed in fine linen robes and wearing beautiful garlands, danced

-together, holding each other by the wrists. They danced in a circle,

-bounding nimbly with skilled feet, as when a potter, sitting, shall

-make trial of a wheel fitted to his hands, whether it will run; and at

-other times they ran back to their places between one another.

-

-Galen complained that ‘so much do they give themselves up to this

-pleasure, with such activity do they pursue it, that the necessary arts

-are neglected.’ The Greek festivals in which dancing was a feature

-were innumerable. The Pythian, Marathon, Olympic and all other great

-national games opened with and ended with dancing. The funeral feats

-of Androgeonia and Pollux, the festivals of Bacchus, Jupiter, Minerva,

-Diana, Apollo, and the Feasts of the Muses and of Naxos were celebrated

-predominantly with dancing ceremonies. According to Scaliger dancing

-played an important part in the Pythian games, representations which

-may be looked upon as the first utterances of the dramatic Muse, as

-they were divided into five acts, and were composed of poetic narrative

-with imitative music performed by choruses and dances. Lucian assures

-us that if dancing formed no part of the program in the Olympian games,

-it was because the Greeks thought no prizes could adequately reward it.

-Socrates danced with Aspasia and Aristides danced at a banquet given by

-Dionysius of Syracuse.

-

-The Greeks danced always and everywhere. They danced in the temples,

-in the woods and in the fields. Every social or family event, birth,

-marriage and death, gave occasion for a dance. Cybele, the mother of

-the Immortals, taught dancing to the Corybantes upon Mount Ida and

-to the Curetes in the island of Crete. Apollo dictated choreographic

-laws through the mouths of his priestesses. Priapus, one of the

-Titans, taught the god of war how to dance before instructing him

-in strategics. The heroes followed the example of the gods. Theseus

-celebrated his victory over the Minotaur with dances. Castor and Pollux

-created the Caryatis, a nude dance performed by Spartan maids on the

-banks of the Eurotas.

-

-It is written that Æschylus and Aristophanes danced in public in their

-own plays. Philip of Macedonia married a dancer by whom he had a son

-who succeeded Alexander. Nicomedes, King of Pithynia, was the son of a

-dancing girl. This art was so esteemed that great dancers and ballet

-masters were chosen to act as public men. The best Greek dancers came

-from the Arcadians. The main aim of the Greek dancers was to contrive

-the most perfect plastic lines in the various poses of the human body,

-and in this sculpture was their ideal. It is said that the divine

-sculpture of Greece was inspired by the high standard of national

-choreography.

-

-Though we know little of the Greek dance music, yet occasional

-allusions inform us that it was instrumental and vocal. Thus Athenæus

-says: ‘The Hyporchematic Dance is that in which the chorus dances while

-singing.’ Xenophon writes in his sixth book of ‘Anabasis’ as follows:

-‘After libations were made, and the guests had sung a pæan, there rose

-up first the Thracians, and danced in arms to the music of a flute,

-and jumped up very high with light jumps, and used their swords. And

-at last one of them strikes another, so that it seemed to everyone

-that the man was wounded; and he fell down in a very clever manner,

-and all the bystanders raised an outcry. And he who struck him, having

-stripped him of his arms, went out singing _sitacles_; and others of

-the Thracians carried out his antagonist as if he were dead, but in

-reality he was not hurt. After this some Ænianians and Magnesians rose

-up, who danced the dance called Carpæa, they, too, being in armor. And

-the fashion of the dance was like this: One man, having laid aside his

-arms, is sowing and driving a yoke of oxen, constantly looking around,

-as if he were afraid. Then comes up a robber; but the sower, as soon

-as he sees him, snatches up his arms, and fights in defence of his

-team in regular time to the music of the flute, and at last the robber,

-having bound the man, carries off the team; but sometimes the sower

-conquers the robber, and then, binding him alongside his oxen, he ties

-his hands behind him and drives him forward.’

-

-Another ancient Greek dance is graphically described by Xenophon as it

-was given by Callias to entertain his guests, among whom was Socrates.

-The dance represented the marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne. ‘Ariadne,

-dressed like a bride, comes in and takes her place. Dionysos enters,

-dancing to the music. The spectators did all admire the young man’s

-carriage, and Ariadne herself is so affected with the sight that

-she may hardly sit. After a while Dionysos, beholding Ariadne, and,

-incensed with love, bowing to her knees, embraces and kisses her first,

-and kisses her with grace. She embraces him again, and kisses him with

-the like affection.’

-

-The nature of the Greek religion was such that many of their sacred

-dances would, according to our conventions, be far more shocking than

-those which they performed socially. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo we

-read how the Ionians with their wives and children were accustomed to

-assemble in honor of the god, and delight him with their singing and

-dancing. The poet describes that dancing was at that time an art in

-which everybody could join, and that it was by no means cultivated only

-by professional artists. Though the Ionians contributed much to the

-development of the art of dancing, yet in later years these degenerated

-into voluptuous gesticulations and sensuous poses known by the Romans

-as ‘Ionic Movements.’ In another part of the same poem Homer depicts

-‘the fair-haired Graces, the wise Hours and Harmony, and Hebe and

-Venus, the daughter of Jove, dance, holding each other by the wrists.

-Apollo strikes the harp, taking grand and lofty steps, and a shining

-haze surrounds him, and the light glitters on his feet and on his

-well-fitted tunic.’ Pan, who was considered by the Greeks as well as by

-the Egyptians one of the greater gods, is represented by Homer as going

-hither and thither in the midst of the dancers moving rapidly with his

-feet. However, his dancing must have been singularly devoid of grace,

-as most of the designs known to us depict him as a patron of shepherds

-in Arcadia, gay and old-fashioned. All other gods and goddesses of the

-first order were supposed to be accomplished artists in dancing. The

-recently found bronze vase in a Phœnician sarcophagus, on the island of

-Crete, contains designs of unusually soft forms of naked dancing girls

-following Apollo. This best illustration of the Apollo ceremony goes

-to show that the Phœnicians had learned dancing from the Greeks and

-imitated them successfully.

-

-As thorough as were all the Greek gods and goddesses in their knowledge

-and talent of dancing, yet they were far surpassed by Terpsichore, the

-real goddess of dancing and one of the nine Muses who always surrounded

-Apollo. Most of the recovered Greek drawings and sculptures represent

-Terpsichore either sitting or standing, but always with a lyre in her

-hand. The invention of the lyre was attributed to her. A painting,

-discovered in the excavated city, Herculaneum, represents her standing

-with the lyre in her uplifted hand. Another smaller drawing describes

-her with a wreath on her head while executing a graceful dance with

-other Muses. Various mediæval artists represented in their works

-Terpsichore dancing with a flower in her hand and an ethereal veil

-floating around her head. One of the Greek legends tells us that she

-was the mother of the singing Sirens.

-

-

-II

-

-All records indicate that dances in Greece were performed by men and

-women alike. In some of these dances they wore a loose garment, keeping

-their arms and legs bare; in others they danced perfectly naked. Some

-dances were performed by girls alone and others by boys, but often

-they mingled freely. The Greek customs generally permitted the freest

-intercourse between young people of both sexes, who were specially

-brought into contact at the great religious festivals and choruses. It

-seems that the youths who had distinguished themselves at the public

-dances expected no other reward than smiles of appreciation from the

-girls present, and dreaded nothing so much as their indifference.

-The constant practice of dancing by youths of both sexes from their

-earliest years was meant to impart to them precision of movement,

-suppleness of body, pliant and firm action of limbs, celerity of

-motion and all those physical qualities that would be advantageous in

-warfare and elevating or ennobling in everyday life. Plato praises

-the quickness of the body as the most reliable medium of warfare. The

-Greeks developed such beautiful bodies that they disliked to hide their

-plastic lines with any garments, therefore they preferred to appear

-naked, and more so in the temples and theaters than in their homes

-or in society. The fact that all the Greek sculpture is nude can be

-attributed, not to any abstract art ideals, but to the actual custom of

-the time.

-

-The first form of the Greek dance music was vocal, sung by a chorus;

-in later times they began to use as accompaniment to singing certain

-_chrotals_, or castañets. During the Homeric era, the lyre was used

-predominately. In later centuries the flute (_aulos_) was introduced.

-The vocal music was produced by soloists and by male or mixed

-choruses. Frequently the dancers themselves sang or played the music

-and danced at the same time. However, the dancers of the fourth century

-never furnished their own music. According to the three principal

-divisions of the Greek mythology (the cult of Earth and Heaven, the

-cult of Chronos, Titans and Cyclops, and the cult of Zeus and the 12

-Olympic divinities) the sacred dances of Greece can be divided into

-similar groups. All the Greek deities, even Zeus, were considered

-accomplished dancers. Since they enjoyed dancing themselves it was only

-natural that they should like to see dancing included as part of their

-worship. Cupid, the naughty little god of love, is depicted in most

-cases dancing. The fourth century figurine of a Bacchante in thin and

-supple draperies, whirling around on one foot, looks very much like a

-ballet dancer of to-day.

-

-The oldest of the Greek dances was probably the _Hyporchema_, which

-was accompanied by the chorus. Though developed in different styles,

-it always kept a religious character and was looked upon as the first

-Greek attempts at saltation, in which, as the name betrays, song and

-dance were intermingled. The earliest use made of saltation was in

-connection with poetry. Athenæus says, however, that the early poets

-had resource to the figures of saltation only as symbols of images and

-ideas depicted in their verse. All dances of the _Hyporchema_ class

-were dignified and elevated, men and women alike taking part in them.

-Some attribute their origin to the Delians, who sang them around the

-altars of Apollo. Others ascribe their invention to the Cretans, taught

-by Thales.

-

-Of later descent, but more practiced than the _Hyporchema_, were

-the _Gymnopædia_, favored especially by the Lacedæmonians in their

-festivals of Apollo. This was considered one of the most noble and

-praiseworthy of the ancient dances. At the festivals the Gymnopædias

-were at first performed by large choruses of men and boys, but later

-the maidens were permitted to join them also. Then the men and women

-danced in separate choirs. The _choragus_, or leader, was crowned with

-palm leaves, and it was his privilege to defray the expenses of the

-chorus. All who took part in this had to be well-trained dancers, as it

-was the custom in Sparta that all children should commence to receive

-choreographic instruction from the age of five. Max Müller says, though

-this dance was performed perfectly nude, it enjoyed a high reputation.

-Müller is of opinion that music was generally cultivated by the Dorians

-and Arcadians owing to the circumstance that ‘women took part in it,

-and sang and danced in public, both with men and by themselves.’ Music

-and dancing were taught to the females at the Laconian capital, while

-housekeeping was regarded as a degrading occupation.

-

-One of the public dances most favored by the Lacedæmonians was the

-Pyrrhic Dance. Lucian attributes its invention to Neoptolemus, the son

-of Achilles, who so much excelled in this that he enriched it with a

-fine new species, which from his surname Pyrrhicus received its title.

-The influence of this dance must have extended to the remotest and most

-barbarous nations, for not only the Romans but the Mongolians practiced

-it. That it underwent considerable modification in later times is

-evident from what Athenæus says: ‘The Pyrrhic Dance as it exists in

-our own time appears to be a sort of Bacchic dance, and a little

-more pacific than the old one; for the dancers carry thyrsi instead

-of spears, and they point and dart canes at one another, and carry

-torches. And they dance figures having reference to Bacchus and the

-Indians, and to the story of Pentheus; and they require for the Pyrrhic

-Dance the most beautiful airs.’

-

-The Pyrrhic Dance in its early stage was a kind of war dance, as

-the performers employed every type of arms. The figures of the dance

-represented a kind of mimic battle, and the movements of the dancers

-were generally light, rapid, and eminently characteristic. There were

-figures representing the pursuit or retreat of an enemy; then again

-there were movements and positions of the body by which spear thrusts,

-darts, and wounds generally could be avoided. Other kind of movements

-suggested aggressive actions, striking with the sword or using the

-arrow. All these movements were performed in the most accurate rhythm

-to the music of flutes.

-

-The number of the ancient Greek dances is so large that we can count on

-this occasion only those which are already known more or less through

-classic literature. Wide popularity was enjoyed by the _Lysistrata_,

-_Dipoda_, _Bibasis_, _Hymnea_, and the stage dances, _Cordax_,

-_Emmeleia_, _Hormos_, _Endymatia_ and the celebrated religious

-Mysteries of Aphrodite, Apollo, Demetrius, Dionysius, etc.

-

-Most of those elegant female dancers whom we find represented on

-ancient bas-reliefs, with their heads crowned, reeds in their hands

-raised above them, are executing the _Dipoda_, which Aristophanes has

-used as the climax in his celebrated comedy _Lysistrata_. This is what

-the author himself writes of the dance: ‘Come here to celebrate Sparta,

-where there are choruses in honor of the gods and the noise of dancing,

-where, like young horses, the maidens on the banks of the Eurotas

-rapidly move their feet, and their dresses are agitated like those

-of bacchanals, brandishing the thyrsus and sporting, and the chaste

-daughter of Leda, the lovely leader of the chorus, directs them. Now

-come, bind up your hair, and leap like fawns; now strike the measured

-tune which cheers the chorus.’ It is said that the simple, flowing

-chitons which they wore as garments flowed freely with the movements of

-their limbs, or fell in naturally graceful lines appropriate to the

-poses they assumed.

-

-A dance of wonderful agility was that of the _Bibasis_. According to

-Max Müller, a Laconian maiden danced the _Bibasis_ a thousand times

-more than any other girl had done. The peculiarity of this dance was

-to spring upward from the ground and perform a _cabriole en arrière_,

-striking the feet together behind before alighting. The _cabriole_ is

-executed by the modern dancers with both feet in the air; and both legs

-act in the beating movement, rapidly separating and closing. To this a

-leap, called _jetté_, in the modern terminology, was probably added.

-The upward spring was made first from one foot and then from the other

-and striking the heels behind. The number of the successful strokes was

-counted, and the most skillful performer received the prize. It is said

-that Æschylus and Sophocles improved considerably the _Bibasis Dance_,

-musically and choreographically, for both authors were accomplished

-musicians and dance authorities.

-

-The _Emmeleia_ was one of the most respected and popular dramatic

-dances of the Greek stage. Plato speaks of it as a dance of

-extraordinary gentleness, gravity and nobility, appropriate to the

-highest sentiments. It possessed extraordinary mobility and dramatic

-vigor, and yet was graceful, majestic and impressive. This dance, as it

-was produced on the Athenian stage, is said to have been so terribly

-realistic that many of the spectators rushed shocked from the theatre,

-imagining that they really beheld the incarnated sisters of sorrow

-whose very names they did not dare to mention. These awful ministers

-of divine vengeance, who were supposed to punish the guilty both on

-earth and in the infernal regions, appeared in black and blood-stained

-garments. Their aspect was frightful and their poses emanated an air of

-death. On their heads they carried wreathed serpents, while in their

-hands were wriggling scorpions and a burning torch.

-

-The music used for the _Emmeleia_ was supplied by an ‘orchestra’[B]

-and chorus. Both the musicians and the singers were divided into

-two groups, one of which was to the right, the other to the left

-of the dancers. This gives an idea of the so-called ‘strophic’

-principle. There are allusions to the fact that the Egyptians used

-music to the Astral Dances in this form. Though we do not know the

-character of the Greek dance music, particularly of the _Emmeleia_,

-yet fragmentary allusions here and there give an idea that they were

-mostly in a minor key and of very changeable measure. Kirchoff, who

-made a special study of this dance, came to the theoretic conclusion

-that this was predominantly recitative and resembled partly the later

-operas of Wagner--of course, only melodically--and partly the Finnish

-_Rune_ tunes. As there was much action that could not be danced, the

-_Emmeleia_ required a perfect mimic technique and thorough knowledge of

-‘eurhythmic’ rules. A few of the old Greek writers speak of dance music

-as dignified and stately, which attributed seriousness or sorrow to the

-grave steps, gracefulness and modesty to the gay and joyful poses.

-

-    [B] As to the significance of this word, see Vol. I, pp. 120ff.

-

-Of a very opposite character was the _Cordax_ Dance. According to most

-accounts it lacked in respectability and some writers speak of it as an

-‘indecorous dance.’ Lucian says it was considered a shame to dance it

-when sober. In some parts of Greece it took a comic character and was

-often marred by buffoonery. According to Burette, people had recourse

-to this dance when excited by wine. _Cordax_ was a Satyr who gave his

-name to it. Since it was frivolous and comic, it was performed only

-by less reputable female dancers. It is said that in its first phase

-the _Cordax_ was an extremely comic dance and the people enjoyed its

-refreshing humor and burlesque style. Like the Spanish _Zarzuelas_,

-the _Cordax_ dances were small local comic pantomimes. In it the

-dancers ridiculed public men whom no one dared to criticize otherwise.

-Like every other stage art of this kind the _Cordax_ dances grew

-indecent and were later abolished.

-

-A dance of distinctly sexual nature was the _Hormos_, which was

-dedicated to Artemis. Lucian tells us that the _Hormos_ was commenced

-by a youth, absolutely unclad, and started with steps in military

-nature, such as he was afterwards to practice in the field. Then

-followed a maiden, who, leading up her companions, danced in a gentle

-and graceful manner. Finally, ‘the whole formed a chain of masculine

-vigor and feminine modesty entwined together.’ Sometimes the dance went

-in a circle, sometimes in pairs of a maiden and a youth. Sometimes

-passionate and sensuous gestures were made by both sexes, though only

-for a moment, and the dance ended with a floating, graceful adagio.

-It was an allegorical playlet in dance of human passions and their

-control. The music for the youths was twice as rapid as that for the

-maidens.

-

-Lucian writes that at some of the festivals three great choruses

-were formed for the dancers: of boys, of young men, and of old men.

-The old men danced, singing of their life of valor and wisdom. The

-chorus of the young men took up the theme and answered that they could

-accomplish deeds greater than any that had been achieved. The boys

-finished the song boasting that they would surpass both in deeds of

-glory. The _choragos_, who acted at the same time as a conductor and

-ballet-master, was regarded a man of the highest standing.

-

-

-III

-

-The Greek theatres, in which the dances and dramas were performed

-regularly, were of vast dimensions. The Theatre of Dionysius at

-Athens, being built in the shape of a horseshoe, could accommodate an

-audience of 30,000 spectators. A deep and wide stage was constructed

-for the dramatic performances. The theatre was not merely, as with

-us, a place of entertainment, but also a temple of the god whose

-altar was the central part of the semicircle of seats, where the

-worshippers sat, during the festival days, from sunrise to sunset. The

-stage decorations were of three sorts: for tragedies, the front of a

-palace, with five doors; for comedy, a street with houses; for satire,

-rocks and trees. There were no accessories of any kind on the stage.

-Instead of a roof there was the blue sky. The front part of the stage

-was used for the chorus, instruments and dancing. Lucian mentions how

-even the Bacchanalian dance was treated so seriously on the stage that

-the people would sit whole days in the theatre to view the Titans and

-Corybantes, Satyrs and shepherds. ‘The most curious part of it is,’ he

-writes, ‘that the noblest and greatest personages in every city are

-the dancers, and so little are they ashamed of it that they applaud

-themselves more upon their dexterity in that species of talent than

-on their nobility, their posts of honor, or the dignities of their

-forefathers.’

-

-How learned the public dancers were in Greece is best illustrated by

-a dialogue that occurred between Lucian and Croton. In this one of

-the speakers maintains that any person desiring to become a public

-dancer should know by heart Homer and Hesiod, should know the national

-mythology and legends, should be acquainted with the history of Egypt,

-should have a good voice and know how to sing well, and should be a man

-of high personal character. A dancer should be neither too tall or too

-short, too thin or too fat. If a dancer ever failed in his efforts to

-please the audience he ran the risk of being pelted with stones. The

-Greek audiences were accustomed to express their disapprobation in a

-very decided manner.

-

-It is interesting to compare the Greek dancing figures of various

-periods, which actually give an idea of the development of their

-choreography, and also of the change which took place in their costumes

-and styles. In the first half of the sixth century the Ionic style

-prevailed in garments. The feminine body was heavily draped. Later,

-until the Persian War, a costume of a chiton, with wide sleeves and

-sharply cut was in fashion. This century is rich in reproductions of

-dancing figures, which have a tendency to keep one another’s hands and

-strive to be decorative. The fifth century figures give an impression

-of poised grace and plastic perfection of the body. The fourth century

-figures show dancers with great individuality and perfection in the use

-of the arms. Numerous bas-reliefs of this era represent women dancing

-with veils which give to them a peculiar magic of motion. Like all the

-Orientals, the Greek women used to wear veils while outside of their

-homes. The veil was a natural medium of decoration and a symbol for the

-pantomime of the dance. Frequently the dancing garments of this era

-are so slight that they add only a mystifying charm to the apparently

-nude dancers. The poses of their limbs and arms give evidence of rhythm

-and technique. The mimic expressions play seemingly a foremost rôle,

-as their smiling faces and bashful looks betray the power of their

-fascination. They show expert skill in the use of the veils, with which

-they now seemingly cover their bodies, opening them again to give a

-glimpse of their great beauty. The exquisitely artistic statuettes

-found at Tanagra give some idea of the beauty of motion as practised

-by young women dancers, when, in the marvellous setting of the antique

-theatres, under the blue skies of Greece, they gave performances to

-audiences with whom the love of beauty was a passion.

-

-At some of the religious ceremonial dances only boys and girls

-appeared, at others young men or girls, or both together, danced. Of

-a rather voluptuous nature were the dances performed in the temples of

-Aphrodite and Dionysos. Of special importance were the dances connected

-with the Eleusinian Mysteries, always celebrated in Athens. Their

-performance and the form of their construction were surrounded with

-greatest secrecy. Plato, who was initiated into them, spoke very highly

-of their meaning. It is evident that their real influence upon the

-people began in the sixth century. In the beginning the Mysteries were

-performed once every five years. Later they became annual performances.

-According to Desrat, they had much in common with the _Rondes_ of the

-Middle Ages. The procession of the Mysteries proceeded from the temple

-of Demetrius, in Attica, and passed along a wooded road to Athens.

-A special resting place was the Fountain of Magic Dances, where the

-girls performed dances of unusual poetic grace. Late in the evening the

-procession entered the temple with a dance of torches. Here, on a stage

-specially erected for this purpose, were performed the dances of the

-Mysteries. Very little is known of the character of these dances. It is

-likely that they were dramatized legends of Demetrius, who was depicted

-as a pilgrim, wandering from place to place, in search of his lost

-daughter. Another phase of the Mysteries was to produce in symbolic

-gestures and poses and by proper staging, episodes of the life beyond.

-The performance began in twilight, the first scene being the pantomime

-in Hell, whither the soul of Demetrius was carried by infernal powers.

-It represented the utmost horror. During all the performance no word

-was spoken. After the scene in Hell came another in Heaven. The most

-impressive of all the dances was the ‘Leap with Torches,’ in which only

-the women appeared. It was said to be the most fantastic and acrobatic

-of all the Greek religious dances. Plutarch says that the impression

-was that of spectral ghosts playing perpetually with flames. It was

-meant to act as a purgatory fire that cleansed all the souls from their

-wickedness. The Mysteries ended in the night of the fourth day with a

-Dance of Baskets, in which the women appeared with covered baskets on

-their heads in a solemn march rhythm and vanished into the darkening

-temple. The Eleusinian Mysteries were abolished by an imperial decree

-in 381 A. D.

-

-Not less popular than the Eleusinian were the Dionysian Mysteries.

-It is said that these developed as the festival of the first-fruits,

-but were later dedicated to the god Dionysos, the patron of wine and

-pleasure. To him is ascribed the invention of enthusiasm and ecstasy,

-the essential element of all beauty. The symbol of all the Dionysian

-dances was the goat, which also figured in the Mysteries. It was one

-of the most sensuous performances that imagination could invent. In

-it men and women took part, but men wore usually women’s dresses and

-the women men’s. In the centre of the dancers, before the statue of

-Dionysos, stood a huge cup filled with wine. The ceremony lasted

-three days and was performed in every town and hamlet of the country.

-According to the Greek mythology, Dionysos is represented in a group of

-dancing women and men. As Satyrs were supposed to be daily companions

-of Dionysos, the Satyr Dance was a feature of the Mysteries. Of one of

-the Dionysian dances we read in ‘Daphnis and Chloë’: ‘Meanwhile Dryas

-danced a vintage dance, making believe to gather grapes, to carry them

-in baskets, to tread them down in the vat, to pour the juice into tubs,

-and then to drink the new wine: all of which he did so naturally and so

-featly that they deemed they saw before their eyes the vines, the vats,

-the tubs, and Dryas drinking in good health.’

-

-[Illustration: Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases]

-

-Other features of the Dionysian Mysteries were the Dances of Nymphs,

-the Dances of the Knees, and the _Skoliasmos_, in the nature of

-gymnastics, in which the performers hopped on inflated wine-skins,

-rubbed over with oil to make them slippery. The ancient writers

-describe these dances as lascivious and comic. In the Satyr Dance

-the dancers wore goat-skins and appeared as Satyrs. Several of these

-dances consisted of graceful and more modest movements, measured to the

-sound of flutes. Some of them were accompanied by light songs, daring

-sarcasm, and licentiously suggestive poems. Dances in which animals

-were imitated were numerous. There was a Crane Dance, supposed to be

-invented by Theseus, and Owl, Vulture, and Fox Dances.

-

-The Mysteries of Demetrius took a more centralized form than the

-Mysteries of Dionysos. Each town had its individual secrets of romantic

-mysteries. In Athens the cult of love turned very much around the

-legend of Mænads, which, like little devils, shadowed the people day

-and night. In the Museum of Naples can be seen a vase with dancing

-Mænads, which represents best the ancient spirits of love. Plato

-says that the Mænad Dance consisted principally of the embracing and

-caressing of men and women.

-

-Reinach believes that all Greek mythology, art and science grew out

-of the Greek folk-songs and folk-dances. According to him, the rhythm

-and melody of dance music changed in strict correspondence with the

-theme. All the sacred dances dedicated to Demetrius and Apollo, or

-to Aphrodite, were in legato form, graceful, melodious and full of

-color; on the other hand, those dedicated to Bacchus and Dionysos

-were of quicker tempo, syncopated style and less melodious. Reinach

-succeeded in deciphering the words and music of an ancient Greek dance

-song that was discovered in the ruins of the temple of Delphi. This

-was presumably danced at the Delphic festivals and is dedicated to

-Apollo. Since the cult of Apollo was widespread in Greece there were

-not a few dances dedicated and performed to this god. We are told that

-palm-leaves were given as prizes for the best of the Apollo dancers.

-

-Besides the artists who appeared either in sacred or classic dances,

-there existed in Greece a class of professional dancers called Heteræ.

-These were women of flirting and coquettish type. In our sense, they

-must have been a kind of _Varieté_ or professional social dancers.

-During the time of Pericles there were 500 Heteræ in Athens. Thus

-Sappho, Aspasia and Cleonica were trained to be Heteræ dancers. At

-one time in Greek history the Heteræ became a danger to the family.

-Aspasia was the mistress of Pericles until she became his wife. Being

-well educated, the Heteræ were women of attractive type and most of

-the great Greek thinkers, artists or statesmen felt the spell of their

-charm. Sappho called her house the ‘home of the Muses,’ where plastic

-beauty rivalled with poetry and music. The tragedy of Sappho has

-inspired many writers, ancient and modern, to immortalize her in their

-works, particularly the story according to which she sang and flung

-herself down into the sea. Performed by great celebrities the dances

-of the Heteræ were by no means vulgar, but lyric and suggestively

-sensuous. They were performed with garments or without, with floating

-veils and to the music of a flute. The dancers of this class used to

-give performances at their homes or in specially established gardens.

-All the Hetera dances were dedicated to Aphrodite and the ambition

-of the performers was to imitate the lovely poses of the celebrated

-goddess. According to most descriptions they resembled our past

-century’s _minuets_, _gavottes_ and _pavanes_.

-

-Emmanuel, who has written an interesting work on the Greek

-choreography, maintains that the accuracy of rhythm was of foremost

-importance. A choreographic time-marker was attached to sandals that

-produced sounds modified to the changing sentiments of the action.

-A little tambourine or cymbals were occasionally employed. A special

-branch of dance instruction was the _Chironomia_, or the art of using

-the hands. Greek dancing was by no means predominantly gesturing with

-hands, as some people think, but it was the harmonious use of every

-limb of the human body, in connection with the corresponding art of

-pantomime. There were numerous dancing schools in Greece, and each of

-them had its particular method of instruction. The first exercise in a

-school was the learning of flexibility of the body, which lasted a few

-years. A special school dance was the _Esclatism_, which was chiefly

-a rhythmic gymnastic, on the order of Jaques-Dalcroze’s method at

-Hellerau. We know comparatively little of the details of the ancient

-technical mechanism of choreography. Unfortunately all the ancient

-dancing figures represent merely one moment of a dance, therefore it is

-extremely difficult to grasp the principal points of the vanished art.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VII

-

-DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE

-

-  Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the

-  _Bellicrepa saltatio_; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the

-  Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age;

-  importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.

-

-

-As with all their arts, the ancient Romans borrowed their dancing from

-the Greeks. A nation raised in adoration of military and aristocratic

-ideals, conceited, and with a strong tendency to materialism and

-formalities, the Romans contributed little to choreography. Their

-civilization was imitative rather than creative. Their art is void

-of ethnographic characteristics and a kind of artificial stiffness

-breathes from their best achievements. The only conspicuous

-contribution of the Roman dancers to the evolution of dance lies in

-their unique dramatic and ecclesiastic pantomimes and their celebrated

-masque dances. But it seems surprising that dancing was far more highly

-developed and esteemed in the earlier period of Roman history than

-in those days of luxury and vice which preceded the downfall of the

-empire. Under the republic, dancing was considered one of the foremost

-factors in education, and the children of patricians and statesmen were

-obliged to take lessons in Greek dancing. But of the social views of

-later centuries we read from Quintilian that ‘it disgraced the dignity

-of a man,’ or as Cicero said, ‘No sober man dances, unless he is mad.’

-Horace rebukes the Romans for dancing as for an infamy. Various other

-Roman writers tell us how much the women of standing were criticized

-for their lack of virtue if they entertained a dancer at their house or

-shook hands with him.

-

-On the other hand, we have an eloquent proof of the Roman frenzy for

-the stage dance in the exciting intrigues of Pylades and Bathyllus,

-which set the whole Republic in a ferment. De Jaulnaye, the great

-historian, writes that the rivalries of Pylades and Bathyllus occupied

-the Romans as much as the gravest affairs of state. Every citizen

-was a Bathyllian or a Pyladian. Glancing over the history of the

-disturbances created by these two mummers, we seem to be reading that

-of the volatile nation whose quarrels about music were so prolonged, so

-obstinate, and, above all, so senseless that no one knew what were the

-real points of dispute, when the philosopher of Geneva wrote the famous

-letter to which no serious reply was ever made. Augustus (the Emperor)

-reproved Pylades on one occasion for his perpetual quarrels with

-Bathyllus. ‘Cæsar,’ replied the dancer, ‘it is well for you that the

-people are engrossed by our disputes; their attention is thus diverted

-from your actions!’ While Pylades is described as a great tragic actor

-and dancer, Bathyllus is represented as having been endowed not only

-with extraordinary talent, but also with great personal beauty, and

-is said as having been the idol of the Roman ladies. It is said that

-the banishment of Pylades from Rome almost brought about a serious

-revolution, that was prevented by the recall of the imperial decree.

-

-One of the most interesting ancient dances practised by the Romans

-was _Bellicrepa saltatio_, a military dance, instituted by Romulus

-after the seizure of the Sabine women, in order that a similar

-misfortune might never befall his own country. To Numa Pompilius, the

-gentle Sabine, who became king after the mysterious disappearance of

-Romulus, is ascribed the origin of Roman religious dances. Especially

-celebrated were the dancing priests of Mars, and the order of Salien

-priests, numbering twelve, who were selected from citizens of first

-rank. Their mission was to worship the gods by dances. As a sign of

-special distinction they wore in their ceremonials richly embroidered

-purple tunics, brazen breastplates and their heads covered with gilded

-helmets. In one hand they held a javelin, while the other carried the

-celestial shield called the _ancilia_. They beat the time with their

-swords upon this _ancilia_, and marched through the city singing hymns

-to the time of their solemn dancing.

-

-According to Livy, pantomimes were invented to please the gods and to

-distract the people, horrified by the plague that created havoc in the

-sacred city of Rome. The _Ludiones_, the celebrated Roman bards, are

-said to have performed their dances first before the houses of the

-rich to the music of the flute, but later appeared in the circuses and

-in special show tents. Their example found followers among the Roman

-youth. All the Roman dancers gave performances masqued, and it was the

-custom that in the sacred, as well as in the great dramatic pantomimes

-women were excluded, though during the later period of the Empire,

-particularly during the reign of Nero, women dancers appeared.

-

-The best known of the ancient Roman pantomimes were those performed

-at the festival of Pallas, of Pan and of Dionysus or Bacchus. Juvenal

-writes that Bathyllus, having composed a pantomime on the subject of

-Jupiter, performed it with such realism that the Roman women were

-profoundly moved. The same is said of the dances invented and performed

-by Pylades, some of which were later given by the priests of Apollo.

-The art of Roman pantomime developed gradually to classic standards and

-ranged over the whole domain of mythology, poetry and drama. Dancers,

-called _Mimii_, like Bathyllus and Pylades, translated the most subtle

-emotions by gestures and poses of extreme graphic power so that their

-audiences understood every meaning of their mute language. This plastic

-form of mute drama made the dancing of the Romans a great art. The

-Emperor Augustus is said to have been a great admirer of Bathyllus, and

-so also was Nero. It is said that an African ruler, while the guest

-of Nero, was so impressed by the dancer that he said to Nero that he

-would like to have such an artist for his court. ‘And what would you

-do with him?’ asked the Emperor. ‘I have around me,’ said the other,

-‘several neighboring tribes who speak different languages, and as they

-are unable to understand mine, I thought, if I had this man with me, it

-would be quite possible for him to explain by gesture all that I wished

-to express.’

-

-Very unusual was the Roman festival of Pan, or the _Lupercalia_, at

-which half-naked youths danced about the streets with whips in their

-hands, lashing freely everyone whom they chanced to meet. The Roman

-women liked to be lashed on this occasion, as they believed it would

-keep them young. Another kind of Pan festival was celebrated by the

-peasants in the spring at which the young men and maidens joined in

-the dances, which took place in the woods or on the fields. They wore

-garlands of flowers and wreaths of oak on their heads. Similar dances,

-only more solemn and magnificent, were performed at the festival of

-Pallas by shepherds. Dancing and singing around blazing bonfires in

-a circle they worshipped the goddess of fruitfulness. Frequently the

-officiators were disreputable women who appeared dressed in long white

-robes, symbolic of chastity. Then there were the great _Floralia_

-or May Day festivals which in the beginning were of sufficiently

-decent manner but eventually degenerated into scenes of unbounded

-licentiousness. Still wilder than these were the orgies of Bacchus,

-which contributed greatly to the demoralization of the people until

-the consuls Albinus and Philippus banished them from Rome by a decree

-of the Senate.

-

-On account of their sensuous character the Romans were unable to keep

-their art of dancing in such poetic and yet simple æsthetic frames

-as did the Greeks, for which reason all the Roman women characters

-in a pantomime were disguised young men. They lacked the ability of

-self-control in the stage art which in Greece had reached a standard of

-classic perfection. It is sufficient to say that they must have been

-wicked enough when a ruler like Tiberius commanded the dancers to be

-expelled from Rome. But Tacitus relates that, while publicly Tiberius

-reprimanded Sestius Gallus for the elaborate balls given at his house,

-privately he made arrangements to be his guest on the condition that he

-should himself be entertained in the usual manner. Of his successor,

-Caligula, Suetonius writes: ‘So fond was the emperor of singing and

-dancing that he could not refrain from singing with the tragedians and

-imitating the gestures of the dancers either by way of applause or

-correction.’

-

-During the reign of Augustus the art of pantomime reached its zenith.

-The dances of this time were more spectacular and impressive on

-account of their carefully executed stage effects. As far as music

-was concerned, this was produced by flutes and harps, sometimes by

-singing voices. The Romans never cared for dancing itself, but they

-were fond of it as a spectacle. A great rôle in Roman life at this

-juncture was played by the female dancers from Cadiz, which were said

-to be so brilliant and passionate that poets declared it impossible to

-withstand the great charm these women exercised over the spectators.

-Some one says ‘they were all poetry and voluptuous charm.’ An English

-writer maintains that the famous Venus of Cailipyge was modelled from a

-Caditian dancer in high favor at Rome. Another noted writer calls the

-_delicias caditanas_ the most fascinating performances that ever could

-be seen, and calls all other dances of the Romans and even the Greeks

-amateurish puerilities.

-

-Of great Roman female dancers we know by name Lucceia, who was said to

-give performances when she was one hundred years old; Stephania, ‘the

-first to dance on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners’;

-Galeria Copiola, who danced before Emperor Augustus ninety-one years

-after her first appearance; and Alliamatula, who danced before Nero

-at the age of one hundred and twenty. The most known of all the great

-women dancers in ancient Rome was Telethusa, a fascinating girl from

-Cadiz, to whose extraordinary beauty and art the poet Martial dedicated

-many of his songs.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER VIII

-

-DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES

-

-  The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the

-  strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the

-  church; dances of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets;

-  the English masques; famous masques of the seventeenth century.

-

-

-There is a lapse of time, nearly a thousand years, from the fall of the

-ancient civilization of Greece and Rome to the Grand Ballet of France,

-when the art of dancing was almost stifled by the Mediæval ecclesiastic

-scholasticism. Since we have practically no records of the dancing that

-was fostered in Cadiz, which was probably the most conspicuous at that

-time, we must confess that the greatly esteemed art of the ancients

-nearly came to a ruin. If it had not been for Spain, where dancing

-was introduced even into the churches, it might have taken centuries

-longer to revive the vanishing ideas of the ancient choreography and

-keep alive the plastic religion. We are told that a bishop of Valencia

-adopted certain sacred dances in the churches of Seville, Toledo and

-Valencia, which were performed before the altar. In Galicia a slow

-hymn-dance was performed by a tall priest, while carrying a gorgeously

-dressed boy on his shoulders, at the festival of Corpus Christi.

-

-Much as the church fathers fought dancing in other countries, they

-had to admit it in Spain. It is said that the choir-boys of Seville

-Cathedral executed _danzas_ during a part of the religious processions

-in mediæval Spain, and that this practice was authorized in 1439 by a

-Bull of Pope Eugenius IV. Of these choir-boy dancers Baron Davillier

-writes: ‘They are easily to be recognized in the streets of Seville by

-their red caps, their red cloaks adorned with red neckties, their black

-stockings, and shoes with rosettes and metal buttons. The hat (worn

-during the dance), slightly conical in shape, is turned up on one side,

-and fastened with a bow of white velvet, from which rises a tuft of

-blue and white feathers. The most characteristic feature of the costume

-is the _golilla_, a sort of lace ruff, starched and pleated, which

-encircles the neck. Lace cuffs, slashed trunk-hose or _galzoncillo_

-blue silk stockings and white shoes with rosettes, complete the costume

-of which Doré made a sketch when he saw it in Seville Cathedral, on

-the _octave_ of the Conception. The dance of the boys attracts as many

-spectators to Seville as the ceremonies of Holy Week, and the immense

-cathedral is full to overflowing on the days when they are to figure in

-a function.’

-

-Vuillier writes of another occasion of the Spanish temple dances: ‘One

-of these festivals is celebrated on the 15th of August, the day of the

-Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the other on the following day, the

-feast of the patron of the village of Alaro. On these occasions a body

-of dancers called _Els Cosiers_ play the principal part. It consists

-of six boys dressed in white, with ribbons of many colors, wearing

-on their heads caps trimmed with flowers. One of them, _La Dama_,

-disguised as a woman, carries a fan in one hand and a handkerchief in

-the other. Two others are dressed as demons with horns and cloven feet.

-The party is followed by some musicians playing on the _cheremias_, the

-_tamborino_, and the _fabiol_. After vespers the _Cosiers_ join the

-procession as it leaves the church. Three of them take up positions on

-either side of the Virgin, who is preceded by a demon; every few yards

-they perform steps. Each demon is armed with a flexible rod with which

-he keeps off the crowd. The procession stops in all the squares and

-principal places, and there the _Cosiers_ perform one of their dances

-to the sound of the _tamborino_ and the _fabiol_. When the procession

-returns to the church they dance together round the statue of the

-Virgin.’

-

-Of a very primitive but unique nature were the mediæval strolling

-ballets of Spain and Italy. Some old writers assert that they

-originated in Italy and passed later into Spain, but others tell

-the contrary. Later the Portuguese organized a strolling ballet in

-adoration of St. Carlos. Castil-Blaze writes of a strolling ballet that

-was instituted by the King René of Provence, in 1462, called the _Lou

-Gue_. This consisted of allegorical scenes of the Bible and was danced

-in the style of Roman mythological pantomimes. Most of the conspicuous

-characters of the Bible and history were enacted in this ballet.

-The procession of the ballet went through a city to the square of a

-garden before some cathedral or castle. Fame headed the march, blowing

-a trumpet and carrying a gorgeous shield on a winged horse. He was

-followed by the rest of the company in various comic and spectacular

-costumes. There were the Duke of Urbino, King Herod, Fauns, Dryads, and

-Apostles, and finally the Jews, dancing round a Golden Calf.

-

-‘King René wrote this religious ballet in all its details,’ writes

-Castil-Blaze. ‘Decorations, dance music, marches, all were of his

-invention, and his music has always been faithfully preserved and

-performed. The air of _Lou Gue_ has some curious modulations; the

-minuet of the Queen of Sheba, the march of the Prince of Love, upon

-which so many _noëls_ have been founded, and, above all the _Veie de

-Noue_, are full of originality. But the wrestler’s melody is good

-René’s masterpiece, if it be true that he is its author, as tradition

-affirms. This classic air has a pleasing melody with gracefully written

-harmonies; the strolling minstrels of Provence play it on their flutes

-to a rhythmical drum accompaniment, walking round the arena where the

-wrestlers are competing.’

-

-Some queer religious pantomimes came into vogue in France about the

-twelfth century, and of these the torch dances, executed on the

-first Sunday in Lent, enjoyed the greatest popularity; but they were

-all suppressed by the clergy and later became degenerate. In Paris

-the clergy sold dancing indulgences to the rich patricians for a

-considerable sum of money. The high society was taught to despise

-dancing as an amusement unworthy of its position. It remained only a

-popular diversion among the middle class. The theatrical ballets and

-strolling pantomimes disappeared altogether. The theatre was declared

-by the clergy a Pagan institution and every art connected with the

-stage of infernal origin. But, strange to say, mediæval stage dancing

-was first introduced by women. Men appeared only as spectators of such

-performances. Thus we read in a ballad of the twelfth century that the

-_damosels_ arranged a grand ball and the knights came to look on.

-

-The first dances that the mediæval nobility introduced at their

-castles, in which they themselves participated, were the famous

-_Caroles_. These were performed to the vocal accompaniment of the

-dancers themselves, although sometimes a strolling band was hired.

-Out of these grew gradually the various mediæval social dances and

-the court ballets and gay masquerades, which reached a climax during

-the middle of the seventeenth century. The most celebrated of this

-kind were the _Ballets des Ardents_, arranged by the Duchess de Berri

-and attended by the whole court. However, the most conspicuous of the

-mediæval attempts in this respect was the _Fête_ given in 1489 by

-Bergonzio di Botta of Tortona, in honor of Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, on

-the occasion of his marriage of Isabella of Aragon. Of this we read:

-

-‘The Amphitryon chose for his theatre a magnificent hall surrounded

-by a gallery, in which several bands of music had been stationed; an

-empty table occupied the middle. At the moment when the Duke and the

-Duchess appeared, Jason and Argonauts advanced proudly to the sound of

-martial music. They bore the Golden Fleece; this was the tablecloth,

-with which they covered the table, after having executed a stately

-dance, expressive of their admiration of so beautiful a princess and of

-a sovereign to possess her. Next came Mercury, who related how he had

-been clever enough to trick Apollo, shepherd of Admetus, and rob him

-of a fat calf, which he returned to present to the newly married pair,

-after having had it nobly trussed and prepared by the best cook of

-Olympus. While he was placing it upon the table, three quadrilles that

-followed him danced round the fatted calf, as the Hebrews had formerly

-capered round that of gold.’

-

-The writer describes how Diana, Mercury and the Nymphs followed the

-first scene. Then Orpheus appears to the music of flutes and lutes.

-‘Each singer, each dancer had his special orchestra, which was arranged

-for him according to the sentiments expressed by his song or by his

-dance. It was an excellent plan, and served to vary the symphonies;

-it announced the return of a character who had already appeared, and

-produced a varied succession of trumpets, of violins with their sharp

-notes, of the arpeggios of lutes, and of the soft melodies of flutes

-and reed pipes. The orchestrations of Monteverdi prove that composers

-at that time varied their instrumentation thus, and this particular

-artifice was not one of the least causes of the prodigious success of

-opera in the first years of its creation.’

-

-This was followed by a solo singer accompanied by a lyre, after whose

-aria Atlanta and Theseus appeared to the sound of brass instruments.

-After this appeared a ballet of Tritons. During the intermission

-refreshments were served and the spectacle ended with the scenes

-of Orpheus, Hymen and Cupid. Finally, Lucretia, Penelope, Thomyris,

-Judith, Portia, and Sulpici advanced and laid at the feet of the

-Duchess the palms of virtue that they had won during their lives.

-

-There is no doubt that this spectacular fête of the Duke of Milan gave

-the initial impetus to the following Grand Ballets at the French Court,

-which in turn became the embryos of the modern stage dances. It is also

-very likely that the well-known masques, so much in vogue during the

-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were an outcome of the original

-Milan pageant. In particularly high favor stood the masques at the

-English court. Thus we read that in 1605 ‘The Masque of Blackness’ was

-given at Whitehall, in which Queen Anne and her ladies blackened their

-skins and appeared as blackamoors. The Spanish Ambassador, having to

-kiss Her Majesty’s hand, gave voice to his fears that the black might

-come off. Three years later ‘The Masque of Beauty’ was given. Both

-were written by Ben Jonson. The speeches of the masques were mostly in

-verse, but sometimes in prose. In the ‘Masque of Castillo,’ written by

-John Crowne in 1675, the Princess Anne and Mary took part at St. James’

-Palace and the performance was a great success. Though Bacon designated

-masques as mere toys, nevertheless he enjoyed them as spectacles on

-account of their rich colors and costumes. In 1632 James Shirley wrote

-‘The Triumph of Peace,’ upon which production a sum of £21,000 was

-expended. This was given for the first time before the king and queen

-at Whitehall and was repeated in Merchant Tailors’ Hall. The music

-to this was composed by William Lawes and Simon Ives. The scenes and

-costumes were designed and superintended by the famous architect Inigo

-Jones.

-

-Nearly all the masques of olden times were written in honor of the

-marriage of royalty or of some great nobleman and were mostly given at

-Christmastide Twelfth Night. They were said to be many-sided in their

-construction, music and themes. For the most part they were dramatic,

-festive and gay, the allegorical characters giving them an element

-of poetic charm. Dancing was one of their most potent elements, and

-this was graceful, dainty and lively. The dancers called maskers were

-a special feature in the masques, though they had nothing to do with

-speech or song. The dresses in these masques were not always accurate,

-for the parts were sometimes acted by women in farthingales, though

-they impersonated classic goddesses. Masques were patronized in England

-for only two centuries, Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I

-being their main sponsors. Queen Anne of Denmark was so much delighted

-with them that she acted one of the characters.

-

-Alfonso Ferrabosco, a noted musician of Italian descent, was the

-composer of many masques during the reign of James I. Other composers

-were Nicholas Laniere and John Coperario. ‘Salmacida Spolia’ by Sir

-William Davenant, with music by Ferrabosco, was said to be one of the

-most spectacular masques of the seventeenth century. It consisted of

-pretty scenes and songs between the dances, so full of allegory and

-devices, and so gay in costumes and light that it was a favorite of

-English nobility for three generations. The most popular of the English

-masques were ‘Love’s Triumph Callipolis’ by Ben Jonson and Inigo

-Jones, which was performed at the court in 1630; the ‘Sun’s Darling,’

-performed in 1623; the ‘Masque of Owles,’ performed for King Charles

-I; and ‘Tempe Restored’ by Aurelian Townsend, performed in 1632, with

-Queen Henrietta Maria and fourteen ladies as the leading characters.

-In the last-named masque the beasts form a procession, fourteen stars

-descend to the music of the spheres, and Tempe is restored to the true

-followers of the Muses. Large figures were posted on either side of

-the stage, one a winged woman, the other a man, with the lighted torch

-of Knowledge and Ignorance. Women with snaky locks mingled with Harmony

-in the songs of the chorus of Circe. Dances by the queen and her ladies

-added to the spectacular character of the scene.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER IX

-

-THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE

-

-  Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms

-  under Louis XV; Noverre and the _ballet d’action_; Auguste Vestris

-  and others; famous ballets of the period--the Revolution and the

-  Consulate; the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic

-  grammar’; the ‘five positions’; the ballet steps--Famous

-  _danseuses_: Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine Guimard; Allard.

-

-

-I

-

-Though Catherine de Medici, Henri IV, and Cardinal Richelieu are

-often quoted as the first rulers who enabled and encouraged their

-subjects to revive the ancient dances and thus lay the foundation of

-the modern ballet, the honor really belongs to Louis XIV. His love for

-dancing was so vital that he himself figured frequently on the stage,

-and emphasized the fact that the theatre was not a Pagan or immoral

-institution. He personally inspired Lully, Benserade and Molière to

-devote their genius to the stage. He introduced Minuets, Gavottes,

-Pavanes and Courantes at his court functions and they were copied by

-all the other rulers and by the nobility. In 1661 the Royal Academy of

-Dancing was founded. To its graduates were given the privileges that

-were enjoyed only by the highest officers of the empire. It is said

-that the king danced in the Masque of Cassandra when he was thirteen

-years of age. The French historians write that Louis XIV danced in

-twenty-seven grand ballets, not to mention the intermezzi of lyrical

-tragedies and comedy-ballets. In the _Ballet du Carrousel_, given in

-1662 on a large open space before the Tuileries, the king danced in the

-rôle of a Roman emperor and his brother in that of a Turkish sultan.

-On the occasion of the king’s marriage in 1660 the ballet ‘Hercules in

-Love’ was given at the palace.

-

-Lully’s ballet, ‘Cupid and Bacchus,’ was said to be a piece full

-of imagination, dramatic, vigorous and rich in timely mood. ‘The

-Triumph of Love,’ performed in 1681, being the first ballet in which

-women appeared, is considered one of the best creations of this time

-musically and scenically. One of the most popular comic ballets of

-that era was _Impatiencem_, composed of series of disconnected scenes

-of extremely humorous nature. Pecour and Le Basque were the two

-celebrated dancers of those days, while Beauchamp, a talented composer

-and artist of considerable imaginative power, acted as Director of the

-Academy of Dancing and ballet-master in the Opéra. All his ballets

-were distinguished by their extraordinary complexity of mechanical

-contrivances, by imposing effects and their allegorical character.

-However, towards the end of the century Dupré appeared on the stage and

-soon far surpassed all his predecessors. Noverre speaks of him as the

-god of dancing, whose harmony of movements was of marvellous perfection.

-

-The principal tendency of dancing of this era was to be magnificent and

-noble, but it lacked individuality and failed to stir the emotions. The

-best examples of this kind of stateliness and stiffness are offered

-by the Pavane and Courante, which still survive. The gentleman, with

-hat in one hand, a gilded sword at his side, an imposing cloak thrown

-over his arm, gravely bowed before his partner, stiff and statuesque in

-her long train, and began the dance walking gravely around the room.

-The Pavane was ridiculously ceremonial and conventional. The Courante

-was different, somewhat resembling the Minuet. It was rather graceful,

-consisting of backward and forward steps. How fond the king was of the

-Courante is evident of what Regnard writes: ‘Pecour gives him lessons

-in the Courante every morning.’ Littré says that the Courante began by

-bows and courtseys, after which the dancer and the partner performed

-a set figure, which formed a sort of elongated ellipse. This step was

-in two parts: the first consisted in making _plié relevé_, at the same

-time bringing the foot from behind into the fourth position in front

-by a _pas glissé_; the second consisted of a _jetté_ with one foot,

-and a _coupé_ with the other. The dancers performed the back stay step

-twice, returning to position, and turned, beginning the movement again

-by repeating the first springing step and the back stay step, so that

-the partners changed places and turn. All these three figures were then

-repeated, commencing with the opposite foot. Eight bars of music were

-always occupied with the slow _pas de basque_ in a circle. This briefly

-shows the same designs and forms in the dance of this era that we find

-in the Rococco style of architecture.

-

-But the beginning of the eighteenth century shows a marked reaction

-against the statuesque solemnity, the dead stiffness and merciless

-etiquette that had prevailed. An era of artificial reforms begins

-with Louis XV. To this period belongs the origin of our modern

-industrialism. The views and feelings of the feudal system begin to

-give place to those of coming realism and individualism. But the change

-is insignificant, as the art of dancing lacks in this as it did in the

-other, energy, feeling and soul. The one was more impressive through

-its grand outlines, the other excelled through its dainty charm, like

-the fashions, decorations and other arts of that time. Long, gilded

-mirrors, gay garlands of flowers, frail elliptic carvings, graceful

-designs, gauzy tissues, mauve ribbons, painted faces and hands,

-perfumed atmosphere, these and numerous other impressions emanate

-of the art of dancing of the first part of the eighteenth century,

-although to this era belong the vigorous attempts of Jean-Georges

-Noverre, the greatest of all the dance authorities of the past

-centuries.

-

-Noverre, the celebrated ballet-master of France, is considered the

-father of the ballet and classic dancing generally. The brothers Gardel

-and Dauberval based their ideas upon the principles of Noverre. It was

-he who drove the masks, paniers, and padded coat-skirts from the stage

-and made it human. ‘A ballet,’ he said, ‘is a picture, or rather a

-series of pictures, connected by the action which forms the subject of

-the ballet. To me the stage is a canvas on which the composer paints

-his ideas, notes his music and displays scenery colored by appropriate

-costumes. A picture is an imitation of Nature; but a good ballet is

-Nature itself, ennobled by all the charms of art. The music is to

-dancing what the libretto is to the music.’ According to his theory

-the action of the dancer should be an instrument for the rendering of

-the written idea. Before Noverre laid the foundation to his _ballet

-d’action_, dancing had existed as an auxiliary form to opera and was

-lacking in any signs of life. The dancers wearing powdered hair piled

-up a foot on their heads, and the men in their long-skirted coats

-made the impression more of a big puppet-show than of a living dance.

-This made the use of intricate and plastic movements of the body

-and, moreover, of mimic expressions, absolutely impossible. This is

-Noverre’s argument:

-

-‘I wish to reduce by three-quarters the ridiculous paniers of our

-danseuses. They are opposed equally to freedom, to quickness and to the

-prompt and animated action of the dance. They deprive the figure of its

-elegance and of the just proportions which it ought to possess. They

-diminish the beauty of the arms; they bury, so to speak, the graces.

-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 limbs.’

-

-In spite of his great reputation and influence, Noverre found it

-difficult to reform the stage fundamentally. He failed to perform

-his own ballets in the way he wished. Thus in the ‘Horatii’ Camilla

-appeared in hooped petticoat, her hair piled up and decorated with

-fantastic ribbons and flowers. However, his reforms gained ground

-little by little. Much as he tried, he failed in reforming the stage

-celebrities of his time. This actuated the great reformer to say, ‘what

-we lack is not talent, but emulation. It almost seems, in fact, as if

-this were deliberately repressed. How I should rejoice to see a great

-dancer performing some noble part without plumes or wig or masks! I

-should then be able to applaud his sublime talent with satisfaction to

-myself; and I could then justly apply the term “great” to him, whereas

-now the most I say is: “_Ah la bella gamba!_” It is evident, therefore,

-that theatrical dancing demands many reforms. They cannot, of course,

-all be carried out at once; but we might at least begin. Let us do away

-with those gold painted masks, which deprive us of what would be one of

-the most interesting features of a _pas-de-deux_, the expressions of

-the performers’ faces. The disappearance of the periwig would follow of

-itself, and a shepherd would no longer dance in a plumed helmet.’

-

-It is said that the Noverre’s ballets reached the number of fifty. But

-most known of them are ‘The Death of Ajax,’ ‘The Clemency of Titus,’

-‘The Caprices of Galatea,’ ‘Orpheus’ Descent Into Hell,’ ‘Rinaldo and

-Armida,’ ‘The Roses of Love,’ ‘The Judgment of Paris,’ etc. Several of

-these he produced at the courts of Stuttgart, Vienna, St. Petersburg

-and Florence. It was through his influence upon the Empress Anna of

-Russia that the great Russian Imperial Ballet School was founded,

-whose graduates have been electrifying the European audiences during

-the present and past decades.

-

-Noverre’s reform ideas were much perfected by the French composers

-and dancers of the following generation, men whom we have previously

-mentioned--Gardel, Dauberval, the Vestris brothers, and, in addition,

-Duport, Blasis and Milon. Auguste Vestris was twelve years old when he

-made his début in Paris, in 1772, in the ballet _La Cinquantaine_, and

-aroused the wildest enthusiasm in the audience. His high leaps were so

-popular that his father used to boast, ‘If Auguste does not stay up in

-the air, it is because he is unwilling to humiliate his comrades.’ For

-thirty-six years he was _premier danseur_ of the Opéra of Paris, and

-preserved his popularity till the age of sixty-six, when he retired

-to give lessons in dancing at the Academy. Of an eighteenth-century

-performance Weber writes graphically:

-

-‘On June 11, 1778, Mile. Guimard and the younger Vestris danced in the

-new ballet, _Les Petits Riens_, with Dauberval and Mlle. Anglin. The

-performance was a great success. The only author mentioned was Noverre,

-the celebrated ballet-master. It was he who had imagined the three

-scenes, which were in fact the groundwork of his ballet. The first

-scene represented Love, caught in a net and put in a cage; the second,

-a game of blind-man’s buff; and in the third, which was the greatest

-success, Love led two shepherdesses up to a third, disguised as a

-shepherd, who discovered the trick by unveiling her bosom. “Encore!”

-cried the audience. Mlle. Guimard, the younger Vestris, and Noverre

-were heartily applauded, but not one “bravo!” was given to the composer

-of the music--who was no other than the divine Mozart. Mozart, who,

-fifteen years before, had been acclaimed in Paris as an infant prodigy

-and an inspired composer, was vegetating in the city in poverty and

-obscurity. The success of _Les Petits Riens_ apparently made little

-difference to him, for a few days after the performance we find him

-leaving Paris, and seeking employment as an organist to ensure his

-daily bread.’

-

-This sad episode of the treatment of one of the greatest musical

-geniuses of his time is partly proof of how little valued was the

-musical side of a ballet at that time, yet it is also a graphic picture

-of the mental level of audiences of any time--ours not excluded--who

-judge a genius by public sentiment artificially aroused, either by

-means of some press-agent or by incidental novelty.

-

-Of the Gardel ballets the most popular were _Paul et Virginie_, _La

-Dansomanie_, _Psyche_, _L’Oracle_, _Telemaque_, and _Le Déserteur_.

-The writer witnessed a performance of _Psyche_ given by the Russian

-Imperial Ballet with all the true atmosphere of its age, and it made

-a peculiar impression, similar to that which we get in visiting

-ethnographic museums of Europe. It was performed in Paris first time

-on December 14, 1790, at the Théâtre des Arts and pleased the people

-so immensely that it has been repeated not fewer than a thousand times

-since. The _Dansomanie_, which was given during the Revolution, was

-less effective and the author was apparently depressed, though he had

-chosen a subject of timely character--peasants, villagers and Savoyard

-farmers acting as the heroes. His ballet, _Guillaume Tell_, promised

-to be more successful, as the Committee of Public Safety had ordered

-its performance, but the money granted for its staging was stolen by

-politicians and Gardel took back his manuscript. It was given after his

-death. But his spectacular ballet _Marseillaise_ created a furore when

-it was given at the Opéra. The ballet opened with a blast of trumpets,

-and was executed by dancers dressed as warriors and participants in

-a hungry mob. Mlle. Maillard, personifying Liberty, took her rôle so

-well that the actors on the stage and the audience fell on their

-knees before her, as though in prayer. The solemn hymn passage of this

-part of the opera, and the slow, majestic dance of the artist were so

-impressive that the audience burst into sobs.

-

-

-II

-

-Though the ballet lost its previous splendor under the Revolution, yet

-it became more vigorous in its enforced simplicity. The French writers

-admit that the ballets performed in connection with the _fêtes_ of the

-Republic were marked by more serious tendencies and possessed certain

-profound emotional qualities. Actors and dancers soon accommodated

-themselves to the new ideals of social life. The Festival of the

-Supreme Being, conducted by Robespierre himself, was the most important

-of the itinerant ballets of that time. It was a ceremony of classic

-nature, performed with slow and march-like steps. Special ceremonial

-dances were also performed by the colossal statue of Wisdom to the

-accompaniment of an orchestra. The members of the Convention had their

-places on a specially erected platform, while choirs chanted a hymn

-to the Supreme Being. The President set fire with a torch to an image

-of Atheism. ‘An immense mountain,’ writes Castil-Blaze, ‘symbolized

-the national altar; upon its summits rises the tree of Liberty, the

-Representatives range themselves under its protective branches, fathers

-with their sons assemble on the part of the mountain set aside for

-them; mothers with their daughters place themselves on the other side;

-their fecundity and the virtues of their husbands are their sole titles

-to a place there. A profound silence reigns all around; touching

-strains of harmonious melody are heard: the fathers and their sons

-sing the first strophe; they swear with one accord that they will not

-lay down their arms until they have annihilated the enemies of the

-Republic, and all the people take up the finale.’

-

-This short picture gives a fairly clear idea of the Revolutionary

-period, which laid a new foundation to the French arts, including the

-art of dancing. The historians tell us that scarcely was the Terror

-at an end when twenty-three theatres and eighteen hundred dancing

-salons were open every evening in Paris. The costumes worn by the

-dancers under the first Republic were more or less imitations of those

-of the ancient Greeks. The women arranged their hair in imitation of

-the coiffures of Aspasia and Sappho, and appeared with bare arms,

-bare bosoms, sandalled feet, and hair bound in plaits round their

-heads. Even during the Terror people danced in every restaurant on the

-boulevards, in the Champs Élysées, and along the quays. It is said the

-people danced in order to forget the tragedies of the day. Milon was

-a celebrated composer and ballet-master under the Consulate. The most

-popular of his ballets during this period were _Les Sauvages de la Mer

-du Sud_, _Lucas et Laurette_, _Héro et Leandre_, _Clary_, _Nina_, _Le

-Carnaval de Venise_, etc. As in their dress and their ideals, so also

-in their dancing the people showed an outspoken tendency to appear _à

-la sauvage_. However, the political turmoils that shook France in these

-centuries, when the art of ballet crystallized into a systematic shape,

-assisted its natural development, chiefly by forcing it to swing from

-one extreme to the other.

-

-The foundation which the French grand ballet laid for the art of

-dancing still prevails in all the dancing schools of Europe. The

-ballet codes of all the modern nations use the same French grammar

-of technique as that which was taught to Mlles. Sallé, Camargo, and

-Guimard during the past centuries. To the French Academy of Dancing the

-world owes the principles of the ballet-technique, the _pirouettes_,

-_jetés_, _chassés_, etc. The French ballet-masters found it necessary

-to divide dancing into five different positions, which formed the

-foundation of all dancing; and then classified the various styles of

-steps. In describing first, the positions, we begin with the right

-foot, but the movements would be the same if we would choose the left

-foot. First position: place the heels against each other, the knees

-and toes turned well out, the legs firm and straight, the body erect

-and well balanced, standing equally on the two feet. Second position:

-pass the right foot to the side to the length of the foot, the weight

-of the body resting on both feet, the right heel turned forward. Third

-position: bring the heel of the extended foot close to the hollow of

-the other instep, in the middle. Fourth position: move the right toe to

-the front, the toe pointed, the heel forward. Fifth position: let the

-feet be completely crossed, the heel of one foot brought to the toe of

-the other.

-

-In systematizing the dance steps the French based their technique upon

-the ancient method. Here we find the _pas marché_, or the walking step,

-in which the toe is pointed and is accompanied by a springy gait, for

-it is often combined with a _jeté_ and a _demi coupé_, as the primary

-steps of the ballet. This is followed by the _jeté_, which means,

-spring forward on the pointed toe of the front foot so that the weight

-is thrown on it. To perform this it is necessary first to bend the knee

-and jump on the foot; second, to bring the toe of the right foot into

-the above-described third position; third, advance the right foot in

-small steps; fourth, bring the left foot behind into the fifth position

-and raise the right.

-

-The _pas coupé_ is a step that requires the raising of one foot to the

-second position, then bringing it quickly to the other foot, which is

-then raised. Literally it means a step cut short. A step to the side is

-called _coupé lateral_, it is a _coupé dessous_ if the same movement

-is executed in front or behind. Then there is a _demi coupé_, in

-which the step is half made. The _chassé_ is a step in which the feet

-appear to be chasing each other close to the ground. It requires the

-advancing of the front foot, bringing the other close to it behind,

-then advancing the hind foot to the front, with an _assemblé_ round the

-other foot. The first movement requires a step forward with right foot,

-bringing the toe of the left to the heel of the front foot. Then step

-forward, bring the foot back to third position with an _assemblé_, and

-let the other foot take the fifth position in front.

-

-The _battements_ is balancing on one foot, while the other is extended

-to the side, front or back, and returning to the fifth position, in

-front or at the back. In the _petit battements_ the movements are made

-with the toe on the ground. For theatrical dancing the leg is raised as

-high as possible. The _arabesque_ is a step that requires the placing

-of the foot in the third position, then a slide of the left foot to

-the second position, turning the face and body in the same direction,

-the left hand curved above the head. In the second movement the right

-foot should be well extended behind, and the right hand stretched out

-behind. Of a quite different nature is the _cabriole_, which means

-striking the feet or calves of the legs together in the course of a

-leap. A _demi-cabriole_ is a leap from one foot to the other, striking

-the feet while aloft. It requires the feet to be in the third position,

-sliding the right foot to the side, passing the left foot to the back,

-springing on the right foot, and turning and leaving the left foot

-still behind; the fourth movement brings the left foot forward with the

-right knee to the third position. Executed by trained ballet dancers

-with both feet in the air while the legs are rapidly separated and

-brought together, it is an effective trick.

-

-Well known even to social dancers, as the basis of the polka-step, is

-the _pas bourrée_. This requires the dancer to stand on the front foot

-while the back one is raised. In the first movement the back foot is

-brought into the third position on the toes. The second movement is the

-beating of the front foot, and third movement the beating of back and

-front feet. To this step belongs the _pas de bourrée emboîté_, which

-requires the advancing of the right foot to the fourth position, the

-toe pointed and the knee straight, the bringing up of the left foot

-to the fourth position with the toe pointed behind the right, and the

-advancing of the right foot with the toe pointed to the fourth position

-without any raising or sinking of the body; it is all performed on the

-toes.

-

-Quite acrobatic in character are the celebrated _pirouettes_--movements

-composed of a _demi-coupé_ and two steps on the points of the toes. The

-_pirouette_ starts by bringing one foot to the fifth position behind,

-the toe touching the heel, then raising both heels and turning on the

-toe, reversing the position of the feet, and revolving on the toe. A

-_pirouette_ used in the old dances consists of a turn on one foot and

-the raising of the heel of the other, stepping with the toe of this

-foot four times and so getting around the other one. In some of the

-slow _pirouettes_ the movement seems to consist of the raising of the

-foot and jumping round as in some of the country dances. To this class

-belongs the _fouetté_, which gives a fluid, swinging impression.

-

-Of ancient French origin is the _pas de basque_, which starts in the

-fifth position with the bringing of the right foot forward with pointed

-toe, and passing in a semi-circle to the second position with the

-weight on the right foot, then with a _glissade_ through the third

-position into the fourth. The _glissade_ is a slide. Slide the front

-foot from the third position with pointed toe slightly raised to the

-right; then bring the left toe to the right heel, and _vice versa_. The

-first movement is the sliding of the foot from the third to the second

-position; the second, the left foot is drawn into the third position

-forward and repeats.

-

-The _fleuret_ is a movement composed of a _demi-coupé_ and two steps on

-the points of the toes. Start in the fourth position without touching

-the ground, bend the knees equally and pass the right foot in front in

-the fourth position, and so rise on the points of the toes and walk two

-steps on the toes, letting the heel be firm as you finish. This can be

-done also at the back and sides. The ‘balance’ is performed by rising

-and falling on the side of one foot, while the other is brought up

-close. The _brisé_ and _entre-chat_ are related movements. They occur

-during the spring while in the air. The feet cross and recross, and

-assume various positions. The _changement de pied_ is a conventional

-step. In the first movement the dancer springs upward from the third

-position with the right foot forward; in the second, he throws this

-foot back and the left forward, dropping down into the third position,

-the situation of the feet being changed; this can be done in the same

-manner starting from the fifth position. The _pas sauté_ is a jumping

-step, performed by bending the knee and leaping on one foot while the

-other is raised. Of more or less importance are the _assemblé_ and the

-_ballotté_. The movement in the former is that of bringing the foot

-from an open to a closed position, as from the second position to the

-fifth. The latter is a crossing of the feet alternately before and

-behind. Then there is the _pivot_, in which the dancer revolves on one

-foot while the other beats time in turning around.

-

-This is briefly the elementary grammar of the French ballet technique,

-upon which the mechanical part of the art of dancing has been based.

-This was thought to be of essential value for a dancer in producing

-the most effective lines of the various positions and gestures of the

-body. According to the views of the authorities of the French Academy,

-mental application to physical effort were the chief requirements of

-a dancer. The gymnastic, and particularly the acrobatic, features

-occupied the foremost place in the ballet performances. Thus dancers

-in a ballet were not considered human beings but rather moving figures

-in a decorative design. Even the celebrated _prima ballerinas_,

-Mlles. Sallé, Camargo and Guimard, who are considered as the first

-accomplished women dancers on the European stage, with their ‘ravishing

-figures,’ and ‘enchanting appearances’ as Voltaire praised them in

-his poems, remained acrobatic puppets, as compared with our modern

-terpsichorean celebrities.

-

-

-III

-

-The advent of the above-named three French ballet dancers was due to

-the genial reforms of Noverre, the Shakespeare of the dance, in the

-eighteenth century. We know very little of the principal qualities

-of Mlle. Sallé’s art, except that she disliked rapid measures and

-choreographic eccentricities. She was the principal dancer in many of

-Noverre’s ballets, especially in ‘The Caprices of Galatea’ and ‘Rinaldo

-and Armida,’ and in several Gardel ballets. In 1734 she appeared at

-Covent Garden in London, in the ballet of ‘Pygmalion and Galatea,’ and

-seemed to electrify her audiences so much that Handel wrote for her the

-ballet ‘Terpsichore,’ and at the close of the ballet purses filled with

-jewels were showered on the stage at her feet.

-

-The real favorite of the eighteenth century opera habitués was Mlle.

-Camargo. Her success is said to have been so sensational that the

-crowds around the doors of the theatre in London fought for the mere

-privilege of seeing her. She was also famous for her enchanting body

-and fascinating personality. Though born in Brussels, she was the

-daughter of a Spanish ballet-master, therefore she had at her command

-all the impassioned art of the ancient Caditians. At the age of ten

-she was sent by the Princess de Ligne to Paris and became a pupil of

-Madame Prévost, the foremost dancing teacher of that time. At the age

-of eleven she made her début at Rouen; but she continued her study

-until she was sixteen when she appeared for the first time at the Opera

-in Paris with unparalleled success. ‘Nimble, coquettish, and light as a

-sylph, she sparkled with intelligence,’ writes Castil-Blaze. ‘She added

-to distinction and fire of execution a bewitching gayety which was all

-her own. Her figure was very favorable to her talent: hands, feet,

-limbs, stature, all were perfect. But her face, though expressive, was

-not remarkably beautiful. And as in the case of the famous harlequin

-Dominique, her gayety was a gayety of the stage only; in private life

-she was sadness itself.’

-

-Camargo is credited with having brought about an absolute revolution

-in opera by her fanciful and ingenious improvisations. In spite of

-the prevailing stiffness and rigid rules in the ballet she made a

-special place for herself by depicting the characters that she had to

-personify on the stage. She delighted in the conquering of technical

-difficulties. Stormy love affairs affected her so much that for six

-years she retired from the stage. But she quitted public life in 1741

-and lived in seclusion the rest of her life. She left two children with

-the Duc de Richelieu and Comte de Clermont. She died at sixty years of

-age and ‘was remembered as the grave, sweet woman whose last years had

-been spent in loneliness and meditation.’

-

-Madeleine Guimard, whose fame loomed up soon after the retirement

-of Camargo, remained for forty years a commanding figure in the

-French ballet. Born in Paris in 1743, she made her début at the age

-of eighteen and was acclaimed as an artist of exquisite figure,

-marvellous grace, and extremely distinguished manners. She knew how to

-make money out of her rich patrons but she was also most reckless in

-the expenditure of her wealth and her affections. She possessed two

-elaborate villas, one at Pantin, the other in the Chaussée d’Antin,

-in both of which she had built little stages on which she and her

-contemporary stage celebrities gave performances to the high society

-of Paris. Fleury says that ‘it was a gala day for one of our actors

-when he could escape from the desert of the _Comédie Française_ and

-disport himself on the boards of a theatre so perfectly arranged.’ She

-entertained the guests of the court at her houses and loved to make

-her arrangements to clash with those given at the court. She was said

-to be pensioned by a Royal prince, a banker and a bishop, but lost

-nearly everything in the revolutionary storms. Retiring from the Opéra

-in 1789, she married the dancer Despreaux, who died soon after. Her

-old age was verging on misery and she died neglected in a miserable

-three-room apartment in the Rue Menars, at the age of seventy-three.

-

-A great dramatic _ballerina_ after Camargo was Mlle. Allard, whose

-partners were Vestris, Dauberval and Gardel. Her frenzied admirers

-claimed that she far surpassed Camargo because of her added fire, her

-unusual agility and the expressive beauty of her poses. At one time

-she would be an ideal Sylvia, gentle and graceful to her finger-tips,

-then again she was the terrible Medea; now she personified the ethereal

-charms of a goddess of youth, then the voluptuous passions of a

-sultana. She figured as the _prima ballerina_ in many of the ballets

-written by Maximilian Gardel, Milon, Mozart and Rossini.

-

-Of other dancers of the French school who enjoyed public favor

-under the Republic and the early Napoleonic era Duport is the only

-conspicuous figure. Being a special favorite with Napoleon, he

-was the star in the ballets of Blasis and Blache. He composed some

-ballets himself in which he played the leading rôles. But these gained

-little success. Napoleon wrote to Cambaceres from Lyons that it was

-inconceivable to him why Duport had been allowed to compose ballets.

-‘This young man has not been in vogue a year. When one has made such

-a marked success in a particular line, it is a little precipitate to

-invade the specialty of other men, who have grown gray at their work.’

-This clearly shows how much the great emperor was interested in the

-ballet, and how well he could criticize its artistic values.

-

-The Napoleonic era stopped temporarily the development of the ballet.

-Pieces composed during this time gained production more easily on

-foreign stages than at home. Thus the brilliant _Antoine et Cléopatre_,

-with music by Kreutzer, lived a few performances at home, whereas it

-became one of the most successful ballets abroad. The same was the

-case with Blache’s ballets ‘Don Juan,’ ‘Gustave Vasa’ and ‘Malakavel,’

-which became the favorites of the St. Petersburg audiences, while

-they remained unknown at home. It seems as if the political events

-which marked such a great step towards democratic ideas in France and

-Europe became a serious stumbling-stone to the evolution of the dance.

-Democratic England always relied on autocratic France, Italy, Austria

-and Russia for stimulation in dancing. All the great ballet celebrities

-of continental Europe found in England responsive and generous

-audiences, but never any serious rivals. Who of the great French _prima

-ballerinas_ or male dancers, from Mlle. Sallé till Carlotta Grisi, did

-not make pilgrimages to Drury Lane?

-

-[Illustration: Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)

-

-_Painting by E. Degas_]

-

-Though to the period of the Renaissance and the European national

-awakening belong all the immortal musical geniuses, like Bach, Mozart,

-Gluck, Beethoven, Schubert and others, who laid the foundations

-of the opera and symphony, yet these men seemed to ignore the ballet

-(if we leave out of consideration their inferior or incidental works).

-Gluck wrote a few pieces of this order, and so did Mozart; but they are

-not the works of their inspiration. Scribe, Rossini, Auber, Weber and

-Meyerbeer gave occasional expression to ballet music, particularly in

-connection with their operas, but they regarded these works as inferior

-to their operas. There are two reasons for this: ecclesiastical

-prejudice and the revolutionary mob. Just as a fanatical clergy branded

-the dance as Pagan and immoral, so the mob has always regarded the

-ballet as an aristocratic luxury. Science seems to us essentially

-democratic; but from the arts there breathes an air of snobbishness

-and luxury. The history of civilization has not yet recorded a truly

-democratic art, particularly a democratic ballet.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER X

-

-THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE

-

-  The rise of nationalism--The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango;

-  the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances;

-  general characteristics; costumes--England: the Morris dance;

-  the Country dance; the Sword dance; the Horn dance--Scotland:

-  Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.--Ireland: the Jig; British social

-  dances--France: Rondé, Bourrée and Farandole--Italy: the

-  Tarantella, etc.--Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related dances;

-  the Esthonians--Germany: the _Fackeltanz_, etc.--Finland;

-  Scandinavia and Holland--The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs;

-  the Roumanians and Armenians--The Russians: ballad dances; the

-  Kasatchy and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.

-

-

-The greatest factor in the stimulation of European art, particularly

-music, drama and ballet after the bloody Napoleonic wars, was the

-rise of nationalism, vigorously manifested in the folk-art--dresses,

-customs, decorations, buildings, songs and dances--of various nations.

-The first steps in this direction were taken by the Scandinavians:

-Grieg, Ibsen, Björnson and August Bournoville. What Noverre was to

-aristocratic France that Bournoville was to Scandinavia. Instead of

-searching for models and inspiration in the aristocratic traditions of

-the past centuries, these men turned to the inexhaustible treasuries of

-the national folk-art. And they truly discovered new beauties in the

-simple racial traits of the people. In the previously despised peasant

-art they found unexpected æsthetic gems, out of which they began to

-form the individual beauties of their new art.

-

-The Scandinavians were soon followed by the young Russian dreamers:

-Glinka, Dargomijsky, Seroff, Balakireff, Moussorgsky and Tschaikowsky

-in music and also in ballet; Gogol, Turgenieff, Dostoievsky and

-Ostrovsky in drama and literature, turned in their creations to the

-rich and unexploited folk-lore of the people. Russian music, perhaps

-more than any other, is a true mirror of the racial soul. There is

-fire, gloom, sorrow and joy, remodelled and expressed in the same

-racial spirit as that in which the moujik sings his _Ai Ouchnem_, or

-builds his _izba_.

-

-The electrifying effect of the Russian dancers upon the European

-audiences is not due to the influence of the French Academy, on the

-model of which the Russian Imperial Ballet School was formed, as many

-music and dance critics of the old and new worlds seem to think, but to

-the primitive racial spirit, to the great stage geniuses of the Russian

-Empire, who began their work on the basis of ethnographic principles.

-It is therefore in the folk-dances that we must look for the solution

-of future dance problems, it is in the ethnographic element that is

-laid the foundation of the modern art dance.

-

-

-I

-

-While taking into consideration the folk-dances of various European

-nations, we find that those of Spain are the richest in racial

-individuality, most passionate in their æsthetic conception, and most

-powerful in their dynamic language. With their mediæval mystery, magic

-passion, merciless fury, angelic grace and seductive plastic forms the

-Spanish folk-dances remain the most impressive examples of folk-art.

-The centuries of Inquisition, romantic tragedies of the Moors and the

-silhouettes of an Alhambra are all expressed in the voluptuous lines of

-a _Jota_ or _Fandango_, regardless of whether they are performed by an

-Andalusian or an Aragon beauty.

-

-So manifold is the Spanish folk-dance and so rich the Spanish

-imagination that each province has its own peculiar dance, of which,

-as in the case of the _Zarzuelas_, the inhabitants are immensely

-proud, and which they dance on the occasion of the fêtes of their

-patron-saints. The Andalusians boast of their _Bondinas_, the Galicians

-of their _Muynieras_, the Murcians of their _Torras_ and _Pavanas_,

-etc. Dancing is the great pastime of a Spaniard. A dance of distinctly

-Moorish traits is the _Polo_. This is performed to the music of the

-_gaita_, a kind of bagpipe, and to the songs accompanying it. Devilier

-tells us how the male dancer looks over the girls present and, smiling

-on one of them, sings: ‘Come hither, little one, and we’ll dance a

-_Polo_ that’ll shake down half Seville.’ ‘The girl so addressed was

-perhaps twenty years of age, plump, robust, strapping and supple.

-Stepping proudly forward, with that easy swaying of the hips which is

-called the _meneo_, she stood in the centre of the court awaiting her

-cavalier. Then castañets struck up, accompanied by the gay jingle of

-tambourines and the bystanders kept time by tapping the flags of the

-yard with their heels or their sword-canes, or by slapping the backs

-of the fingers of the right hand, and then striking the two palms

-together. The dancer, marvellously seconded by her partner, had little

-need of these incitements; now she twisted this way, and now that, as

-if to escape the pursuit of her cavalier; again she seemed to challenge

-him, lifting and lowering to right and to left the flounced skirt of

-her calico dress, showing a white starched petticoat and a well-turned,

-nervous leg. The spectators grew more and more excited. Striking a

-tambourine, some one cast it down at the girl’s feet; and she danced

-round it with redoubled animation and agility. But soon the exhausted

-dancers had to sink upon a bench of the courtyard.’

-

-One of the most typical of the Spanish folk-dances is the celebrated

-_Fandango_, that surpasses in its wild passions and vulcanic vigor

-everything of its kind. If you see it performed in the shadows of the

-ruined Moorish castles and mosques to a measure in rapid triple time,

-and hear the sharp clank of ebony or ivory castañets beating strange,

-throbbing rhythms, you stand spellbound and electrified, a mute witness

-of striking ethnographic magic. You seem to feel the pulse of the

-semi-tropical, semi-African race. The flutter and glitter, passion and

-quivering seductiveness, are a glimpse into the æsthetic depths of a

-national soul. The dance seems to inflame the dancers as well as the

-spectators. A Spanish poet speaks of the _Fandango_ as of an electric

-shock that animates all hearts. ‘Men and women,’ he writes, ‘young

-and old, acknowledge the power of the Fandango air over the ears and

-soul of every Spaniard. The young men spring to their places, rattling

-castañets, or imitating their sound by snapping their fingers. The

-girls are remarkable for the willowy languor and lightness of their

-movements, the voluptuousness of their attitudes--beating the exactest

-time with tapping heels. Partners tease and entreat and pursue each

-other by turns. Suddenly the music stops, and each dancer shows his

-skill by remaining absolutely motionless, bounding again into the full

-life of the _Fandango_ as the orchestra strikes up. The sound of the

-guitar, the violin, the rapid tic-tac of the heels (_taconeos_), the

-crack of fingers and castañets, the supple swaying of the dancers, fill

-the spectators with ecstasy.’

-

-An equally well known of the Spanish folk-dances is the _Jota_, which

-is said to have originated in the province of Aragon, though the

-inhabitants of Valencia and Andalusia claim that the _Jota_ is the

-invention of their ancestors centuries before the Aragonians knew

-of it. It is a more ceremonial and less passionate dance than the

-_Fandango_, as it is performed on Christmas Eve and at other festivals

-with the purpose of invoking the favor of the Virgin. The Kinneys write

-of it: ‘It is a good, sound fruit of the soil, full of substance, and

-inviting to the eye as good sound fruit may be. No academy’s hothouse

-care has been needed to develop or protect it; the hand of the peasant

-has cultivated without dirtying it. And that, when you look over the

-history of dancing in some more progressive nations, is a pretty

-significant thing. The people of Aragon are not novelty-hunters.

-Perhaps that is why they have been satisfied while perfecting the dance

-of their province not to pervert it from its proper motive--which is to

-express in terms of poetry both the vigor and the innocence of rustic,

-romping, boy-and-girl courtship.’

-

-‘A trace of stiffness of limb and angularity of movement, proper to the

-_Jota_, imbued it with a continuous hint of the rural grotesque. Yet,

-as the angular spire of the Gothic cathedral need be no less graceful

-than the rounded dome of the mosque, so the _Jota_ concedes nothing

-in beauty to the more rolling movement of the dance of Andalusia. It

-is broad and big of movement; the castañets most of the time are held

-strongly out at arm’s length. One of its many surprises is the manner

-of the pauses: the movement is so fast, the pauses are so electrically

-abrupt, and the group in which the dancers hold themselves statue-like

-through a couple of measures is so suddenly formed, that a layman’s

-effort to understand the transition would be like trying to analyze the

-movements of the particles in a kaleidoscope.’

-

-The _Jotas_ of the other provinces, particularly of Andalusia and

-Valencia, are less racial than _la Jota Aragonesa_, but nevertheless

-they are true to the spirit of their localities. Thus the Andalusian

-_Jota_ breathes mystery and romantic gloom, while that of Valencia is

-fluid and graceful in every movement. The great violinist Sarasate was

-so fond of the _Jota_ that he made special trips after his concert

-season in the capitals of the world to his home town in Spain, and

-immensely enjoyed dancing with his old friends and the townspeople or

-playing the violin to them free of charge.

-

-An extremely graceful and dignified Spanish folk-dance is the _Bolero_.

-This dance more than any other resembles the general architectonic and

-decorative style of the Spanish middle class. It has round and fluid

-lines, rich, soft forms, and graceful poses. In many respects it rather

-suggests a mediæval ballroom than a simple folk-dance. Some authors

-say that it is an invention of Sebastian Cerezo, a celebrated dancer

-of the eighteenth century, but the Spaniards themselves maintain that

-it dates back to the Arab rule or before. Blasis writes of it: ‘The

-_Bolero_ consists of five parts: the _paseo_, or promenade, which is

-introductory; the _differencia_, in which the step is changed; the

-_traversia_, in which places are changed; then the so-called _finale_;

-followed in conclusion by the _bien parado_, distinguished by graceful

-attitudes, and a combined pose of both the dancers. The _Bolero_ is

-generally in duple time, though some _Boleros_ are written in triple

-time. Its music is varied and abounds in cadences. The tune or air may

-change, but the peculiar rhythm must be preserved, as well as the time

-and the preludes, otherwise known as feigned pauses--_feintes pauses_.

-The _Bolero_ step is low and gliding, _battu_ or _coupé_, but always

-well marked.’

-

-A folk-dance of great antiquity, according to Fuentes, is the

-_Seguidilla_, which has certain affinities with the _Bolero_. It is a

-spirited, gay and modest country dance of the Andalusian peasants. The

-_Seguidillas_ of some provinces have a rapid rhythm and are accompanied

-by humorous recitative songs. It is said that in La Mancha, whose

-inhabitants are famous for their passionate love of dancing, verses to

-_Seguidillas_ are improvised by popular poets to suit every occasion.

-The _Seguidillas_ are dances that you see performed on any occasion at

-country inns and at social festivals. Though requiring less physical

-strength and dynamic technique than many others, nevertheless the

-_Seguidilla_ is difficult to untrained aspirants. But like most of the

-Spanish folk-dances it betrays caprice, coquettishness and romantic

-tendencies of some sort. The theme of the _Seguidilla_ poems is always

-love. Davillier says that the _Seguidilla_ that he saw at Albacetex

-‘began in a minor key with some rapid _arpeggios_; and each dancer

-chose his partner, the various couples facing each other some three or

-four paces apart. Presently, two or three emphatic chords indicated to

-the singers that their turn had come, and they sang the first verse of

-the _copla_ (the song that accompanies a dance); meanwhile the dancers,

-toes pointed and arms rounded, waited for their signal. The singers

-paused, and the guitarist began the air of an old _Seguidilla_. At

-the fourth bar the castañets struck in, the singers continued their

-_copla_, and all the dancers began enthusiastically turning, returning,

-following and fleeing from each other. At the ninth bar, which

-indicates the finish of the first part, there was a slight pause; the

-dancers stood motionless and the guitar twanged on. Then, with a change

-of step, the second part began, each dancer taking his original place

-again. It was then we were able to judge of the most interesting and

-graceful part of the dance--the _bien parado_--literally: well stopped.

-The _bien parado_ in the _Seguidillas_ is the abrupt breaking off of

-one figure to make way for a new one. It is a very important point that

-the dancers should stand motionless, and, as it were, petrified, in the

-position in which they are surprised by the final notes of the air.

-Those who managed to do this gracefully were applauded with repeated

-cries of _bien parado_!

-

-‘Such are the classic lines upon which the dance is regulated, but

-how shall we describe its effect upon the dancers? The ardent melody,

-at once voluptuous and melancholy, the rapid clank of castañets, the

-melting enthusiasm of the dancers, the suppliant looks and gestures of

-their partners, the languorous grace and elegance of the impassioned

-movements--all give to the picture an irresistible attraction only to

-be appreciated to the full by Spaniards. They alone have the qualities

-necessary for the performance of their national dance; they alone have

-the special fire that inspires its movements with passion and with

-life.’

-

-Noteworthy among the other Spanish folk-dances is _El Jaleo_, a wild

-and animated dance, consisting of acrobatic leaping and bounding,

-pirouet wheeling and fury-like fleeing and rushing. It needs a strong

-and experienced gypsy girl or a seasoned country dancer to give it

-its peculiar electrifying quality. _El Garrotin_ is described as a

-pantomimic dance, in which the gesture of the hands and arms plays a

-leading rôle. The Kinneys write that _La Farruca_ is an interesting

-folk-dance. ‘After one becomes accustomed to it sufficiently to be able

-to dominate one’s own delight and astonishment, one may look at it as a

-study of contrasts. Now the performers advance with undulation so slow,

-so subtle that the Saracenic coquetry of liquid arms and feline body

-is less seen than felt. Mystery of movement envelops their bodies like

-twilight. Of this perhaps eight measures, when--crash! Prestissimo!

-Like gatling-fire the volley of heel-tapping. The movements have become

-the eye-baffling darting of swallows. No preparation for the change, no

-crescendo nor accelerando; in the matter of abruptness one is reminded

-of some of the effects familiar in the playing of Hungarian orchestras.’

-

-The _Cachucha_, _Tascara_ and _Zorongo_ are Spanish folk-dances of more

-or less local color. While the _Zorongo_ is a rapid dance, performed

-in backwards and forwards movements, the dancer beating time with his

-hands, the _Cachucha_ is danced by a single dancer of either sex, in

-triple time. Its steps are gay, graceful and impassionate, head and

-bust playing a conspicuous rôle. The _Tascara_ dance is more fantastic

-and symbolic than hardly any other of Spain. The movements are slow

-and languorous. It requires more backward curving and strange posing

-than agility and grace. In olden times Tascara was imagined as a dragon

-with an enormous mouth and fantastic wings. The slow movements of the

-dance grow gradually in speed and near the end the castañets strike,

-for without them a Spanish dancer seems to feel uneasy.

-

-The choreographic designs of all the Spanish folk-dances are rich

-in graceful curves, with abrupt sharp corners here and there, like

-the national architecture. They speak of a sweet glow of emotion and

-make a direct appeal to the passions. In dances of certain provinces

-and certain ages we discern the influence of Egypt, particularly of

-the Arabs. They give evidence of an ancient training which has grown

-into the blood and bones of the nation. They betray more the forms of

-Moorish arabesques than the clear-cut images of the Roman, Greek, or

-Gothic style. You can feel in their vigorous rhythm and colorful tunes

-simple, unspoiled souls, filled with energy and hope. To this the

-picturesque and romantic dresses of their women add that atmosphere and

-background which the individual stage dance seeks in proper scenery

-and costumes. In this the Spaniards are born masters. Take, for

-instance, the black velvet bodice, golden-yellow satin skirt, net-work

-dotted with little black balls, draped over the hips of an Andalusian

-belle, and you have a combination of colors and designs that so aptly

-fit a _Fandango_ or _Bolero_ that it seems as if a genius had been

-at work in this harmonious combination. Not less effective are the

-silver-spangled costume of an Aragonian dancing girl, and the costume

-of Spanish male dancers, which is suggestive of humor, brilliancy and

-simple strength. The laced black breeches lashed at the knee, the black

-velvety waist-coat, broad blue sash, and the red handkerchief tied

-around the head, and you have the most harmonious counterpart to the

-picturesque woman dancer. The music, steps, gestures, poses, dress and

-choreographic figures of the dance melt into a grandiose masterpiece

-of some gigantic yet unknown genius. The colors, the wide skirt, the

-light sandals, the comfortable costumes and the animated gestures fit

-so perfectly together and produce in the symbolic lines of the movement

-a language that speaks so clearly of the æsthetic peculiarities of

-the nation that we are convinced we have here the best lesson in the

-fundamental principles of a new art dance.

-

-

-II

-

-How true a mirror the folk-dances and the folk-songs have been and

-are in showing the racial differences in regard to beauty, is best

-to be seen if we take the reader from semi-tropical Spain into

-cold, conventional England, where æsthetic views have developed so

-differently. In this field we owe much to Cecil Sharp, whose careful

-works on English folk-dances are of exceptional service to the student

-of choreography.

-

-The most typical of English folk-dances are the Morris Dances, the

-Country Dances, and the Sword Dances. All three lack the fire and

-boisterous passions of the Spanish _Jotas_, _Boleros_ and _Fandangos_.

-They betray the traits of a more phlegmatic and more critical, perhaps

-more intellectual, but less emotional race. Take, for instance,

-the Morris Dance, and you find it to be a manifestation of vigor

-rather than of grace. The same you will find true of all the other

-English folk-dances. They are, in spirit, the organized, traditional

-expressions of virility and sound health--they smack of cudgel-play, of

-wrestling and of honest fisticuffs. There is nothing dreamy, nothing

-romantic, nothing coquettish about them. Speaking particularly of the

-Morris Dance, Mr. Sharp writes:

-

-‘It is a formula based upon and arising out of the life of man, as

-it is lived by men who hold much speculation upon the mystery of our

-whence and whither to be unprofitable; by men of meagre fancy, but of

-great kindness to the weak; by men who fight their quarrels on the spot

-with naked hands, drink together when the fight is done, and forget

-it, or, if they remember, then the memory is a friendly one. It is the

-dance of folk who are slow to anger, but of great obstinacy--forthright

-of act and speech; to watch it in its thumping sturdiness is to hold

-such things as poniards and stilettos, the swordsman with the domino,

-the man who stabs in the back--as unimaginable things. The Morris

-Dance is a perfect expression in rhythm and movement of the English

-character.’

-

-The Morris dancers wear bells strapped to their shins, and properly

-to ring them requires considerable kicking and stamping. This ringing

-is done to emphasize the _fortissimo_ part of the music. The foot,

-when lifted, is never drawn back, but always thrust forward. The toe

-is never pointed in line with the leg, but held at a right angle to

-it, as in the standing position. The stepping foot is lifted as in

-walking, as if to step forward, then the leg is vigorously straightened

-to a kick, so as to make the bells ring. At the same instant that

-the forward leg is straightened, a hop is made on the rear foot; the

-dancer alights upon the toe, but lets the heel follow immediately and

-firmly, so that he stands upon the flat foot. The dancer jumps as high

-as his own foot, holding his legs and body straight while he is in

-the air, alighting upon the toes (but only so as to break the shock

-sufficiently), then letting the heels come firmly down. In alighting

-from the jump, the knees are bent just enough to save the dancer from

-injurious shock, and are straightened immediately. The Morris Dance

-is danced by men, usually six. Occasionally, but rarely, women have

-figured as performers. The music in early times was furnished by the

-bagpipe, whistle and tabor; but for a century or so a fiddle did the

-service. The dress of the dancers was a tall hat with a band of red,

-green and white ribbons, an elaborately frilled and pleated white

-shirt, fawn-shaded breeches with braces of white webbing, blue tie

-with the ends long and loose, substantial boots, and rough, gray wool

-stockings. All dancers carry a white handkerchief, the middle finger

-thrust through a hole in one corner.

-

-Of somewhat different type is the Country Dance, which is performed

-by men and women together. Though less of a festival nature than

-the Morris, the Country Dance has been practised as the ordinary,

-every-day dance of the people. It is performed in couples and contains

-gestures that suggest flirtation. For this no special dress is needed.

-The figures and steps are simple and more graceful than those of the

-Morris Dance. Its step is of a springy walking nature, two to each bar,

-executed by women with a natural unaffected grace, and on the part of

-men with a complacent bearing and a certain jauntiness of manner. Like

-the Morris, the Country Dance never requires pointed toes, arched legs

-or affected swayings. The galop, waltz and polka steps are occasionally

-used. The movements are performed smoothly and quietly, the feet

-more sliding than walking. The figures are numerous and involve many

-repetitions.

-

-Of a very spectacular character are the Sword Dances, which bear a

-stamp of high antiquity. During the mythologic era they may have been

-practised as war dances, as we find similar ones practised by all

-primitive tribes. The history of all nations speaks of sword dances of

-some kind. There is to be seen in the Berlin Museum a picture from the

-seventeenth century that shows two double rings of dancers in white

-shirts, holding up on a frame of interlaced swords two swordsmen clad

-entirely in colors. There are also, separately, seven sword-dancers,

-six in white shirts, the first only clothed in red, like one of the

-swordsmen. They dance in file toward the left, each sloping his own

-sword back over his left shoulder and grasping the sword-point of the

-men next in front of him. The last man only shoulders his sword.

-

-In England there seem to have been six principal sword dances, three

-long and three short. The long-sword dance of Yorkshire requires six

-men dancers, the Captain, and the Fool. These are accompanied by a

-musician who plays either a fiddle, bagpipe or accordion. The dancers

-wear red tunics, cut soldier fashion and trimmed with white braid down

-the front and around the collar and sleeves; white trousers with a red

-stripe an inch or more wide down the side of each leg; brown canvas

-shoes, and tightly fitting cricket caps, quartered in red and white.

-Each dancer carries a sword; the leader, an ordinary military weapon,

-and the others swords forged by a village blacksmith. The Captain wears

-a blue coat of flowered cloth, ordinary trousers and a peaked cap of

-white flannel. He used to carry a drum, slung round his waist, upon

-which he accompanied the dance tunes. The Fool used to wear a cocked

-hat, decorated with peacock feathers. He wore a dinner-bell and a fox’s

-tail attached to the back buckle of his trousers, and he used to run

-among the spectators making humorous exclamations. The steps, a kind

-of leisurely tramp, or jog-trot, fall on the first and middle beats of

-each bar of the music, and the tramp of the feet should synchronize

-with the rhythm of the tune. The dancers move slowly round in a ring,

-clockwise, stepping in time with the music and clashing their swords

-together on the first and middle beats of each bar of the first strain

-of the music. The swords are held points up, hilts level with the chin,

-the blades nearly vertical, forming a cone immediately above the centre

-of the circle. Each dancer places his sword over his left shoulder

-and grasps the sword-point belonging to the dancer in front of him. He

-then faces the centre of the ring, passes his sword over his head and

-lets his arms fall naturally to his sides. The dance consists of eight

-different figures. In the last figure the dancers draw close together,

-linked by their swords, each crossing his right hand well over his

-head. Each man then drops the tip of his neighbor’s sword and, using

-both his hands, presses the hilt of his own sword under the point of

-the sword adjacent to it. In this way the swords are tightly meshed

-together in the form of a double triangle, or six-pointed star. The

-process of fastening the swords together is carried out as quickly and

-smartly as possible.

-

-The writer saw a series of English folk-dances given at the MacDowell

-Festival at Peterboro, N. H., in 1914, among them the sword-dance

-described. The performance was exceedingly effective, though the

-instructor had only inexperienced young amateurs at his disposal. The

-character of the English folk-dances made rather the impression of a

-wholesome sport than of a social ceremonial. It seemed as if they were

-void of all emotional suggestions and their language was clever and

-realistic rather than fanciful and imaginative.

-

-Though of the same order as the previously described Morris, Country

-and Sword Dances, yet of a more fantastic appearance is the Horn

-Dance, which the English have borrowed from the Finns, and greatly

-changed after their own taste. The English Horn Dance requires ten

-performers, six dancers, a fool, Maid Marian, a hobby-horse, and a boy

-carrying a bow and arrow. These are accompanied by a musician, who

-plays an accordion, and a boy with a triangle. Each dancer carries a

-pair of reindeer horns. The antlers borne by the first three dancers

-are painted a white or cream color, the remaining three a dark blue.

-The horns are set in a wooden counterfeit skull, from which depends

-a short wooden pole or handle about eighteen inches long. Each dancer

-bears the head in front of him, and supports it by grasping the handle

-with his right hand and balancing the horn with his left. The fool has

-a stick with a bladder attached to it; Maid Marian is impersonated by

-a man dressed in woman’s clothes and carries a wooden ladle which is

-used to collect money. The boy holds a bow and arrow which he clicks

-together in time with the music. The step is similar to the country

-dance step, an easy, rhythmical, graceful and springy walking movement.

-

-

-III

-

-The Scotch folk-dances, which surpass the English by their more

-rigorous movement and spirited steps, picture graphically the simple,

-industrious traits of a thrifty race. The most characteristic of the

-Scotch folk-dances are the _Highland Fling_, the _Scotch Reel_, and the

-_Shean Treuse_. All the Scotch dances are more or less variants of the

-previously described English ones. They have the same strong, sporty

-rhythm and jaunty bearing as the others. Their choreographic figures

-are so closely related to the English, and the English to theirs, that

-it were superfluous to give a detailed description of them on this

-occasion. Perhaps the _Scotch Reel_ shows most typical traits of the

-Scottish race. This dance requires four ladies and four gentlemen, who

-all join hands, forming a circle. Then the gentlemen and ladies cross

-their hands and move eight steps forward and eight steps back in the

-style of a promenade. The gentleman balances his partner, swinging his

-right and left arms alternately and proceeds through the chain, the

-ladies separating left, the gentlemen right, until all arrive at their

-previous positions. The first lady goes into the centre of the ring

-while others hop around her until they reach their original position,

-after which the lady in the centre balances to her partner and back to

-the opposite gentleman in a half-swing, forming occasionally a chain

-of three. Thus it goes on until all the four ladies have done, after

-which the gentlemen follow the same figures and steps. All their steps

-are of a sharp, skipping nature and the lines of their poses remind

-one of the designs on their checked decorations and on the patterns of

-their bright and plain dresses. Noteworthy among the Scotch folk-dances

-is the _Hornpipe_, which has been a favored dance of the sailors and

-peasants. Its lively, rapid measure, so far as the feet are concerned,

-the folded arms, the firm and stiff body are typical characteristics

-of a Scotchman’s manners. The dance owes its name to the fact that it

-is performed to the music of a pipe with a horn rim at the open end.

-There are an infinite variety of _Hornpipes_ and of music to which they

-can be danced, either in common or triple time, the final note having a

-special stress laid on it.

-

-Of somewhat different character than the English and Scotch folk-dances

-are those of Ireland. The Irish _Jig_ enjoys a popularity throughout

-the world. Already the name suggests a light, frolicking and airy

-movement. Since the days of Charles II and Queen Anne, this dance has

-been associated with humorous verses. The _Jigs_ were already in vogue

-at the time of Shakespeare, who speaks of them as leading pieces in

-the theatrical repertoires. A dancing or singing _Jig_ was the real

-climax of a piece, often being given as an entertainment during the

-intermissions. Audiences were accustomed to call for a _Jig_ as a happy

-ending to a show. The Irish people, possessing a natural love for music

-and dancing, have put their soul into the _Jig_. It mirrors best the

-semi-sentimental, the semi-adventurous racial traits of an Irishman.

-

-There are single and double _Jigs_; the distinction rests on the

-number of beats in the bar and they have often enough been danced to

-the strains of the bagpipe. As a rule, the foot should strike six times

-to a bar, and it needs a certain amount of enthusiasm to get into

-the spirit of the thing, the music thereof being most exhilarating.

-It adds to the charm if the dancers appear as Paddy in a brown coat,

-green breeches, and the soft hat with the pipe in it, and his partner

-in emerald green stockings and skirt, with a red kerchief about her

-head. The music of a _Jig_ is usually an old Irish ditty, and anything

-more spirited or more in tune to the step could not be found. The first

-sixteen bars of the dance are occupied with the pitch in which the

-leg is thrown out. Sixteen bars are given to the toe and heel step.

-Thirty-two bars are occupied with the diagonal cock-step, supposed

-to represent the strutting of a cock. Sixteen bars are danced to a

-rocking-step, in which the legs are crossed. Eight bars are given to

-pointing; sixteen to stamping firmly with both feet, then the dancers

-advance and pivot. Finally, sixteen bars are given to a round and round

-movement. It requires a great deal of hand movement and body vivacity.

-It has been said by certain Irishmen that a _Jig_ is in its apparent

-fun and fury a short symbolic drama of Irish life. The first figures

-mean love making, wooing, wedding and marriage. Then come the troubles

-of married life, the repentance and sinking into the grave.

-

-To old Irish, Scotch and English folk-dances belong the ‘All in a

-Garden Green,’ ‘Buckingham House,’ ‘Dargason,’ ‘Heartsease,’ and

-‘Oranges and Lemons.’ They are all graceful and dignified, but depict

-more the English middle class or nobility than the people. Thus in

-the ‘All in a Garden Green’ the man begins by shaking the hand of his

-lady partner and kissing her twice, which was rather the custom of

-the fashionable ballroom than of a puritan people. They all give the

-impression of a refinement of manners that belongs more to the early

-French social dances than to the folk-dances of a heavy and realistic

-race. We know how the English high society and court imitated the

-French in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so it is only

-natural that it accepted with certain modifications the French social

-dances.

-

-

-IV

-

-It seems like a paradox that a country which gave to the world the

-classic ballet in the modern sense, Noverre, Blasis and Vestris, never

-produced any folk-dances of such racial flavor as we find in many

-other nations. The old French Rustic Dances, ‘Rounds,’ _Bourrées_, the

-Breton Dances, and the _Farandole_, betray only in certain figures the

-characteristics of the French race; otherwise they make the impression

-of a pleasing and polished bourgeois art. The _Ronde_, considered as

-the first form of French folk-dances, being performed in circles by

-taking each other by the hand, is to be found among races like the

-Finns, Esthonians, Letts and Lithuanians, as we read from the old

-epics of these nations. Thus we read in the _Kalewipoeg_ that ring

-dances--_ringi tants_--of eleventh-century Esthonians were practically

-of the same order as the French _Rondes_. The Greeks had ‘Rounds,’ so

-had other ancient civilized races.

-

-An old French dance is the _Bourrée_ of Auvergne. It is said to be a

-shepherd dance originally; but Catherine de Medici introduced it at

-court and polished out all the heavy, simple and characteristic traits

-of the people. From that time it has figured as a semi-fashionable

-dance danced in the society. Bach, Gluck, Handel, and many others since

-have either composed _Bourrées_ or treated _Bourrée_ themes in their

-orchestral compositions. Originally the _Bourrée_ was a simple mimic

-dance of the peasants. The woman moved round the man as if to tease

-him. He advanced and returned, glanced at her and ignored her. In the

-meanwhile she continued her flirting. Then the man snapped his finger,

-stamped his foot and gave an expression of his masculinity. That

-induced her to yield, and the dance stopped--only to begin anew.

-

-Like the _Bourrée_, the _Farandole_, which originated in Southern

-France, was concocted into a dance of the _Beaux Monde_ and deprived of

-its racial language. The _Farandole_ that one sees danced in Provence

-is only a pretty social dance and has little of the old flavor. The

-dancers performing it stand in a long line, holding the ends of each

-other’s handkerchiefs and winding rapidly under each other’s arms

-or gyrating around a single couple in a long spiral. The modern

-‘Cotillions’ and ‘Quadrilles’ are based on the old French _Farandole_.

-

-It is likely that the idolized French ballet killed the interest of

-the people in their simple and idyllic folk-dances. The peasant going

-to the town felt the contempt that a patrician had for the country art

-and naturally grew to dislike his traditional old-fashioned village

-dance. The music that he heard in the city cafés cast its spell upon

-him, as did the city dances. Urban ideals have been of great influence

-upon the French country people, upon their traditional folk-dances and

-folk-songs, and this has deprived the race of valuable ethnographic

-reserve capital, in which many other nations excel. The French, like

-the English, have been strong in cosmic tendencies but weak in ethnic.

-While science grows out of the cosmic principles, art’s vigor lies

-in those of ethnographic nature. An average Frenchman is a great

-connoisseur of dancing and indulges in it with a particular pleasure.

-But his love of the refined and most accomplished impressions puts him

-naturally outside a simple and coarse peasant art.

-

-The Italian is less pretentious in his taste than the former. But an

-average Italian, regardless of whether he be a peasant from the most

-secluded corner of the country or a citizen of Naples, lives and dies

-in music, particularly in song. The predilection that a Frenchman shows

-for the ballet transforms itself in the case of an Italian into a love

-for the opera. Italy has produced great composers, great musicians and

-singers, but only a few great dancers. An Italian dancer is either

-acrobatic or blunt. She seems to lack the more subtle qualities of

-plastic expression, the ability to speak in gestures and mimic forms.

-This is best illustrated in the celebrated folk-dance, the _Tarantella_.

-

-The _Tarantella_ owes its name to a great poisonous spider, whose bite

-was supposed to be cured only by dancing to the point of exhaustion.

-The Italians perform it to the music of a tambourine, which in the

-hands of an expert gives an amazing variety of tones. Like the skirt,

-apron and the head-dress of the dancing girl, the tambourine is

-adorned with glaring red, white and green colored ribbons. The white

-under-bodice of the Italian peasant dress is capable of any amount

-of embroidery, the hair intertwisted and interplaited with ribbons,

-the aprons interwoven with colors, and, instead of the usual square

-head-dress, with its hard oblong board resting on the head, a scarf

-is gracefully folded over the foundation and caught back with bright

-ribbons; this is the special Tarantella dress of a girl. The Italian

-costumes, both ancient and modern, are full of grace and beauty and

-give the appropriate atmosphere to a dance.

-

-The _Tarantella_, being a tragic dance, demands considerable

-temperament, fire and dramatic gift. It begins with the dancers

-saluting each other, and dancing a while timidly. Then they withdraw,

-return, stretch out their arms and whirl vehemently in a giddy circle.

-It has many surprising and acrobatic turns. Towards the middle the

-partners turn their backs on each other in order to take up new

-figures. It ends with a tragic, whirling collapse of the girl and

-the man looking sadly on. It is typical of hysteric fury, revenge,

-superstition, hatred, fanaticism, passion and agony. It speaks of a

-quick and sanguine temperament. An Englishman, Scandinavian or Dutchman

-could never dance a _Tarantella_. It is the dance of a temperamental

-race.

-

-Like the ancient Romans, the Italians are fond of pantomimes and

-spectacular effects, with little discrimination for poetry and poise.

-We can see the same traits in the Italian ballet, which has an

-outspoken tendency to the acrobatic. All the Italian ballet teachers in

-Russia are kept there only for their acrobatic specialties. You find

-in Italy everywhere singing parties, but comparatively little dancing.

-Some provinces may be more inclined to dancing than those around Naples

-and Rome. We have heard of a pretty dance, called _Trescona_, that the

-people dance in Florence, but we have never seen it performed. Other

-Italian folk-dances are the _La Siciliana_, _Saltarello_, _Ruggera_

-and _Forlana_. Some of them are more graceful and less dramatic than

-the _Tarantella_, but they have comparatively little racial vigor,

-little original appeal. They are either pantomimic or imbued with

-gymnastic tricks, and with a strong tendency towards the extravagant or

-the grotesque. However, the _Tarantella_ is and remains the crown of

-Italian folk-dances. How much it has impressed the Italian and foreign

-composers is evident in the numerous compositions that they have

-devoted to this theme. Rubinstein’s ‘Tarantella’ is one of the best.

-

-

-V

-

-We find a remarkable contrast to the Italian style and spirit in

-the folk-dances of the Hungarians, whose popular themes have been

-successfully employed by Liszt and Brahms in their instrumental and

-orchestral compositions. A nation of Mongolian descent, of impassionate

-and virile temperament, living its own life, isolated from the æsthetic

-influence of their European neighbors, little conventional, optimistic,

-fantastic and lovers of adventure, the Hungarians are born dancers.

-True to the quick and fiery temperament of the race, the Hungarian

-dances are vivid sketches, full of action and color. Music and dancing

-have been for centuries past the foremost recreations of the race.

-Their ancient legends speak of worship that consisted only of music and

-dancing. Unlike other nations, their dance music is exceedingly pretty,

-melodious and full of imaginary beauty. The Hungarian folk-dance is

-expressive, rich in pictorial episodes, symbolic and elevating.

-

-The Hungarian costume for a _Czardas_ is singularly effective, the

-petticoat of cloth of gold, the red velvet bodice opening over a

-stomacher of gold and precious stones, crimson and green blending in

-the sash which surrounds the waist. It is said that the name _Czardas_

-is derived from an inn where it was danced by the peasants in past

-centuries. In every _Czardas_ the music governs the dance, which is

-romantic, full of lyric beauty and very changeable. It is mostly

-written in 2/4 time, in the major mode. The dance consists of a slow

-and quick movement, the music beginning with _andante maesteso_,

-changing gradually to _allegro vivace_. It is of ancient origin and

-was probably used as a worship dance. It is danced to different tunes

-of one and the same character, as far as the figures are concerned.

-Six, eight, ten, or more couples place themselves in a circle, the

-dancer passing his arm round the waist of his partner. As long as the

-_andante_ movement is given, he turns his partner to the right and

-left, clapping his spurred heels together and striking the ground with

-his toe and heel, and then they continue the step as a round dance. In

-some provinces the women put their hands on their partners’ shoulders

-and jump high from the ground with their assistance. So fond is the

-Hungarian of his _Czardas_ that, as soon as he hears the stirring tunes

-of the dance played by a gypsy band or fiddler, it seems to electrify

-him so that he can hardly listen to it without dancing. As the music

-continues, the dance gets wilder and wilder until it ends abruptly.

-The steps of the Hungarian folk-dances are as varied as the music. Now

-they are gliding and sharp, then again graceful and curved. Some of the

-dances are quiet and of seductive nature, others of involved steps and

-tricky tempo.

-

-The _Szolo_ is said to be a semi-acrobatic dance, in which the woman

-is swung through the air in a horizontal position from which she

-descends as if she were coming down from a flight. The _Verbunkes_ is a

-dance of military character, performed mostly by men (ten or twelve),

-each dancer being provided with a bottle of wine which he swings

-as he dances, singing in between a patriotic song as an additional

-accompaniment to the occasional gypsy band. Unlike the English

-folk-dances, the Hungarian are mostly built upon some romantic theme,

-either legendary or symbolic. Being a nation with rural traditions and

-rural ideas, Hungary has no sport spirit in any of her folk-dances.

-There is a strong feeling for Bohemianism and nomadic abandon in their

-mute language. Mostly the Hungarian dances are gay, sparkling with life

-and fantasy. They suggest Oriental designs mixed with Occidentalism, a

-world of queer dreams and sentimentalism.

-

-Folk-dances related to those of Hungary, that deserve to be known, are

-the Esthonian _Kuljak_, _Kaara Jaan_, and _Risti Tants_. Descendants

-from the same stock as the Hungarians and the Finns, the Esthonians

-settled down in the Russian Baltic Provinces about the seventh or

-eighth centuries and since that time have formed their independent

-racial art and traditions, which they have cultivated and preserved

-till to-day. The great Esthonian epic _Kalewipoeg_, known so little

-to the outside world, remains, like Homer’s _Iliad_, and the Indian

-_Mahabarata_, a valuable treasury of ethnographic art, and it is from

-this book that we have gained an authentic knowledge of the character

-of the Esthonian folk-dances, though the writer has seen some of them

-performed in the country.

-

-The _Kuljak_, like many other Esthonian folk-dances, is performed

-to the accompaniment of a harp--_kannel_--and the singing voices of

-the dancers themselves. It is danced by men and women alike, in a

-similar formation as the Irish _Jig_. But the _Kuljak_ tempo is very

-similar to that of the _Czardas_, with the exception of the latter’s

-tune and the formation of the figures. Like the national costumes of

-the Esthonians, their folk-art is more sombre and poetic than the

-Hungarian, but less romantic and less fiery. The _Kuljak_ steps are

-sharp, angular and timid, without that boisterous and jaunty expression

-which is so conspicuously evident in the dances of the southern

-nations. The peculiarity of the _Kuljak_ is that it is performed around

-a bonfire or kettle filled with burning substance. Sometimes the

-dancers circle round the fire holding each other’s hands, sometimes

-they go in gliding promenade step, sometimes they dance singly, as

-if challenging or fearing the cracking and high-leaping flame. There

-is no doubt that this is a rare survival of the ancient sacrificial

-temple dance. The legendary and mythologic element is the unique

-peculiarity of the Esthonian folk-dances. The _Risti-Tants_--‘Cross

-Dance’--which is performed by men and women, first, in crossing the

-hands, then in making the cross designs with the steps, is of great

-antiquity and many of its cabalistic figures are incomprehensible to

-the modern mind. Like the designs of the Esthonian national dress, the

-figures of their primitive and simple folk-dances have a tendency of

-never-ending lines. The colors, white, black and red--the symbols of

-red blood, white light and black earth--suggest dreamy, melancholy, but

-determined traits of a semi-Oriental race. Dance here is not a sport,

-not an amusement, not a medium of love-making, not a social function,

-but a magic motion to influence the great powers of Nature, and a

-semi-mythologic ceremony for the purpose of future joy and happiness.

-On this occasion the æsthetic element is interwoven with the ethical,

-the art is at the same time religion.

-

-

-VI

-

-The German mind has not been strikingly original or racial in

-folk-dances. It has taken more an abstract and purely musical direction

-and paid little attention to the dance. If we leave out the dances

-of the Bavarians, Saxons and Tyroleans, there is little that is of

-any ethnographic interest in this respect. The Prussian _Fackeltanz_

-belongs more to the elaborate pantomimes of the order of ancient Rome,

-rather than to regular dances. The mediæval Germany that was ruled

-politically and ecclesiastically from Rome never felt the influence

-of the rural country people, but, on the contrary, was mostly under

-the æsthetic and intellectual influence of the feudal barons and urban

-middle class. Under the influence of these two classes, German music,

-poetry, drama and literature came into existence. The German classic

-art is predominantly aristocratic and ecclesiastic. The early German

-artists were constrained to gather in the aristocratic salons of

-the rich patricians. The peasant was rarely a model of early German

-artists, but a German _Freiherr_, _Bürger_ or _Handwerker_ has been the

-subject of many German dramas, operas and musical compositions, and of

-much painting, sculpture and dancing. Wilhelm Angerstein tells us in

-his interesting book _Volkstänze in deutschen Mittelalter_ that already

-in 1300 there existed German guild dances--_Zunfttänze_--such as the

-_Messertanz_ (‘knife dance’) in Nürnberg, _Schafftertanz_ (‘cooper’s

-dance’) in Munich, etc. Besides these there were the aristocratic

-_Schreittänze_ and _Schleiftänze_. The _Drehtanz_, out of which

-originated the later _Walzer_, was an aristocratic and patrician, but

-never a truly rural folk-dance.

-

-There is no question that the German people has always been interested

-in dancing, a fact which is best illustrated in the frequent outbursts

-of mediæval _Tanzwuth_--‘dance craze’--that affected the population of

-various cities. These phenomena became occasionally so threatening to

-the public morality that in 1024 the Bishop Burchard von Worms issued

-a special decree putting dancing under the ban of the church. In 1237

-over two thousand children left Erfurt, dancing. In 1418 an epidemic

-rage for dancing manifested itself in Strassburg. The well-known

-_Veitstanz_--St. Vitus’ dance--originated in mediæval Germany and

-spread itself all over the world. The _Schuhplatteltanz_ of Bavaria

-is a real folk-dance and contains in its gay and grotesque figures

-characteristic spiritual traits of the Tyrolean peasants. Most of

-the tunes of the _Schuhplatteltänze_ are gay, joyful and bubbling

-with mountainous brilliancy, as is the dance. Though played in the

-waltz-rhythm, the dance is by no means a waltz, but a pretty, quaint

-little ballet of the people. There are some six to eight different

-figures in the dance as one can best see it performed in some villages

-near Innsbruck. It is danced by a man and girl, and begins with a

-graceful, slow promenade of the couple. Then she starts to flirt with

-him by spinning coquettishly round and round until he is enchanted

-and puts his hand gracefully round her waist. Now they dance together

-awhile, seemingly in love. But suddenly she seems to have changed her

-mind and tries to turn him down. The dance is full of buoyant joy and

-clever mimic expressions. It gives the impression of a healthy mountain

-race, optimistic, simple and humorous. Though occasionally rough, there

-are passages of sweet and sentimental grace which convey the impression

-of an old-fashioned Minuet.

-

-The _Schmoller_ is a characteristic dance of the Saxonian peasants,

-in which the man never reaches his hand to the lady, though they

-perform the four or five movements in the rhythm of the _Mazurka_ with

-considerable turning and stamping the heels. A quaint old dance is

-the _Siebensprung_ of Schwaben which is danced to the accompaniment

-of a song with humorous verses. The _Taubentanz_ of the Black Forest

-region is a very graceful and simple dance with distinct mazurka

-steps, in which the gentleman reaches only his right hand to the lady.

-The _Zwölfmonatstanz_ of Wurtemberg is a semi-social dance, which is

-performed by twelve couples. The _Fackeltanz_ has been for centuries a

-ceremonial display of Prussian nobility and the court. The following

-is a short account, from the _Figaro_, of a Torch Dance as it was

-performed at the marriage of the sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II:

-

-‘Twelve youthful pages, pretty and dainty as the pages of opera,

-slowly entered by a side door under the direction of the chamberlains.

-They carried torch-holders in wrought silver, containing thick white

-wax-candles, which they handed to the twelve ministers. The marshal

-raised his _bâton_, the orchestra from the gallery opposite the emperor

-slowly began a tuneful _Polonaise_. The bride and bridegroom placed

-themselves after the ministers, who made the tour of the room, the

-chamberlain completed the _cortège_, which stopped before the emperor.

-The bride made a slight curtsey, the emperor rose and offered his

-arm, the _cortège_ again passed in procession around the room. On

-returning, the bride invited the empress and made the tour with her.

-Then the twelve pages approached and took the torches again. The dance

-continued. The ceremony might have been monotonous but for the infinite

-variety and richness of the costumes and uniforms, and the liveliness

-of the music. The twelve pages were quite delicious and marched with

-all the enthusiasm of youth.’

-

-The German _Rheinländer_ and the _Walzer_ are both dances of the middle

-class and the city. Whether they ever were danced as folk-dances by

-the German peasants, we do not know. They probably originated in the

-mediæval guild circles and spread gradually over the country. The

-Waltz, as we know it to-day, originated in the eighteenth century in

-Germany, though the French claim that it is a development of _Volte_,

-which originally was an old folk-dance of Provence. The _Volte_ was in

-vogue in France in the sixteenth century. Castil-Blaze writes that ‘the

-waltz which we again took from the Germans in 1795 had been a French

-dance for four hundred years.’ The German waltz originated from the

-widespread folk-song, ‘_Ach du lieber Augustin!_’ which dates back to

-the middle of the eighteenth century. Gardel introduced it first in his

-ballet _La Dansomanie_ in 1793 in Paris. But the real vogue for the

-waltz began after the Czar Alexander the First danced it at his court

-ball in 1816. Until the masses began to imitate the nobility it was a

-‘high society’ dance and such it remained fully half a century, if not

-longer.

-

-The waltz is written in 3/4 rhythm and in eight-bar phrases. It has a

-gliding step in which the movements of the knees play a conspicuous

-rôle. Each country developed its particular style of waltz. The Germans

-and French treated it as a dainty and graceful courtship play. In

-Scandinavia it grew more heavy and theatrical. In the English waltz

-the dancers walked up and down the room, occasionally breaking into

-the step and then pushing the partner backward along the room. The

-German rule was that the dancers should be able to waltz equally well

-in all directions, pivoting and crossing the feet when necessary in the

-reverse turn but the feet should never leave the floor. Waldteufel and

-Johann Strauss may be considered as the master-composers of the waltz

-as a social dance.

-

-

-VII

-

-As elaborate as the Finnish folk music is in racial color and line,

-the Finns have few interesting and original folk-dances. Dr. Ilmari

-Krohn has hundreds of Finnish folk-dance tunes, but they reveal

-musical rather than choreographic vigor. A large number of graceful

-Finnish folk-dances are imitations of the Swedish or Norwegian style.

-In their own dances the figures and steps are heavy, languorous and

-compact as the rocky semi-arctic nature. Like the Finnish sculpture,

-the Finnish folk-dance has a tendency to the mysterious, grotesque and

-unusual line. Some of their folk-dances are as daring and unusual as

-the Finnish architectural forms. You find in the Finnish architecture

-that straight lines are broken up in the most extraordinary manner,

-projecting gables, turrets and windows are used to avoid the monotony

-of gray, expansive and flat walls. It falls into no category of known

-styles. Like fantastically grown rocks, it compels your attention.

-There is something disproportionate yet fascinating in the Finnish

-style and folk-dance.

-

-The most racial of the Finnish folk-dances are not the pleasing village

-_Melkatusta_ and other types of this kind, but the ‘Devil’s Dance,’

-_Paimensoitaja_ (‘Shepherd Tune’), _Hempua_, _Hailii_ and _Kaakuria_.

-Like the Finnish _Rune_, Finnish dancing shows an unusual tendency to

-the magical, the mystic and the fantastic in emotions and ideas. It

-is less the graceful and quick, fiery style that appeals to a Finn

-than heavy, rugged and compact beauty. The ‘Devil’s Dance’ is weird,

-ceremonial and mystical. It is performed by a single woman inside of a

-ring of spectators, who are chanting to her a rhythmic and alliterative

-hymn of mythologic meaning. The hands are crossed on the breast and

-take no part of any kind in the display, while there are slight

-mimic changes to convey the more subtle meaning of the performance.

-Like the other northern races, the Finns make their dancing a

-function of the body and the legs. The Finns dance to the music of a

-harp--_kantele_--horn--_sarwi_--and to the singing voices. It is never

-the dancer who sings, but the spectators or special singers.

-

-More picturesque and graceful than the Finnish are the Swedish,

-Norwegian and Danish folk-dances. Grieg, Svendsen, Gade, Hartmann and

-the modern Scandinavian composers have made successful use of the old

-folk-themes for their individual orchestral compositions. Though simple

-in step, the Scandinavian folk-dances are complicated in figure, lively

-and gay in manner, and rich in pantomime. They seem to have a strong

-predilection to square figures and sharp lines. The Swedish dancers are

-fond of arabesques, minuet grace and dainty poses. The Norwegian dance

-is more rugged and imaginary, the Danish and Swedish more refined and

-delicate. While the Norwegian is a naturally gifted singer, the Swede

-is a born dancer. There is a strong feeling in Sweden for reviving

-their old _Skralat_, _Vafva Vadna_, and other old national dances.

-The latter is a weaver dance and imitates the action of the loom. The

-girl, representing the movements of the shuttle, flashes back and forth

-through the lines of other performers, who are imitating the stretched

-threads. It is a clever piece of folk-art showing the vivid and quick

-temperament of the race. There are quite a few such symbolic country

-dances in Sweden, of which the harvest dances take the first place.

-The _Daldans_ and _Vingakersdans_ are pantomimic dances of humorous

-character, both themes dealing with the social-sexual relations in

-a rather satirical way. In the latter two women are endeavoring to

-gain the affection of a man. The favored one seats herself a moment

-on the man’s knee and finishes the number by waltzing with him, while

-the other bites her nails with vexation. In Sweden, as in France, the

-sexual elements play a conspicuous rôle in the folk-dance and render it

-sweetly graceful, seductive and sensuous by turns.

-

-The Danes, being a race of industry and agriculture from the earliest

-times on, have followed the lead of Norway in ethnographic matters, but

-of Paris and Vienna in artistic manners. While they have developed the

-national art of the ballet to a high degree, their folk-dances have

-impressed me more by their cosmopolitan and imitative nature than by

-any original and racial traits they may have. There are certain plastic

-traits, certain soft nuances in the Danish mimicry, that speak of

-something racial, yet they melt in so much with the universal art that

-it is hard to analyze the national elements. Whether the ‘Corkscrew’

-is a Norwegian, Danish or Swedish folk-dance, we have been unable to

-learn, but it is a charming piece of folk-art. In this the couples form

-in two lines. The top couple join hands, go down the middle and up

-again, and turn each other by the right arm once; then the gentleman

-turns the next lady, the lady the next gentleman, then each other again

-to the end, when the other couples kneel and clap their hands; and the

-first couple, joining hands, dance up one line and down the other, the

-lady inside. Then follows the corkscrew: all join hands outstretched

-with their vis-à-vis, the leading couple thread their way in and out

-of the other couples, the ladies backing, taking the lead, and then

-the gentlemen. All hands are raised when they reach the bottom, and,

-passing under the archway thus formed, they give place to the next

-couple.

-

-The Dutch had previously many characteristic and racial folk-dances, as

-their great painters have handed down to us in their numerous works,

-but they have mostly died out. A Dutch folk-dance, with the performers

-dressed in long brocaded gowns and close-fitting caps of the same

-material, the face framed with small roses edging the cap, makes a most

-quaint and charming impression. The best known of the Dutch folk-dances

-is the Egg Dance, which was given with eggs beneath the feet. Another

-very effective dance, though slightly coarse in conception, is their

-Sailor’s Dance. The latter is danced by a couple in wooden-shoes, man

-and woman with their backs to each other and faces turned away. The

-dance has some eight figures and only at the end of each figure the

-dancers turn swiftly around to get a glimpse of each other, and turn

-back in the original position. If well executed this is an exceedingly

-humorous dance.

-

-

-VIII

-

-The Lithuanians had in olden times snake dances and dances somewhat

-related to the legendary and mystic themes of the American Indians.

-Even in the folk-dances of the modern Lithuanians there are elements to

-be found that show relation to the ancient American tribes. An average

-Lithuanian folk-dance, as known and danced to-day is simple but pretty,

-and is either mixed with Byzantine or with Romanesque designs. But the

-legendary ideas still prevail, even in the picturesque wedding dances.

-

-The Polish folk-dances, the _Polonaise_, _Mazurka_, _Krakoviak_, and

-_Obertass_, contribute their quota of originality. The _Krakoviak_ is

-a circular dance with singing interspersed; lively graceful poses,

-soft delicate lines and gliding steps make it look like a refined

-salon dance of mediæval nobility. The _Polonaise_ and _Mazurka_ have

-spread as social dances in numerous variations throughout the world.

-Chopin used the themes of many Polish folk-dances for his individual

-compositions, as they are exceedingly sweet, romantic, and delicate in

-their melodic structure. The _Obertass_ is a real gymnastic performance

-with occasional polka-steps and wild turns. It is danced by a couple

-with such velocity towards the end that the woman must hold strongly

-to the shoulders of her partner in order to keep from reeling off

-towards the spectators. Delicate, temperamental, with occasional

-traits of melancholy and softly graceful line, the Polish folk-dances

-are characteristic of the racial soul. In many respects the Poles

-resemble the French in racial qualities. The debonair manners of the

-French, their tendency toward romantic emotions, are to be noticed in

-the Polish national dance. The qualities give it an air of seeming

-refinement and make it a distinct social amusement, and nothing else.

-

-The Bohemian, Ruthenian, Servian and Bulgarian folk-dances are each

-typical of their race. A tendency of most of the Slavic folk-dances is

-that the two sexes should mingle as little as possible. Men and women

-join hands in certain figures, emphasizing the dramatic meaning of the

-dance, otherwise they remain separated. They rarely dance in couples

-as the other European races do. They make promenades, march or gallop;

-they leap and bound in such a manner that the woman faces the man but

-rarely touches him. The woman’s movements are distinctly feminine, the

-man’s masculine. The Slav feels that the mixing of the sexes, or the

-putting of woman on the same plane with man, is detrimental to the

-æsthetic emotions, particularly to the romantic feelings.

-

-The _Romaika_ and _Kolla_ are both picturesque circle dances of the

-Southern Slavs. In the latter the man does not take the hand of the

-woman next to him, but passes his arm under hers to clasp the hand of

-her neighbor. The whole ring circles round in skipping step to the

-accompaniments of melancholy songs. The women are adorned with glass

-beads, huge gowns, artificial flowers and false jewelry of the most

-fantastic colors. The men wear richly embroidered bright-colored shirts

-and wide trousers. Sometimes a special woman dancer enters the ring and

-executes a dramatic pantomime, reflecting somehow a local affair. On

-other occasions man and woman go through a vivid pantomimic performance

-in the circle, while the rest circle around them singing.

-

-The Roumanians have a strange folk-dance called the _Hora_ which is

-performed by the youth in languishing cadence to the long drawn notes

-of the bagpipes. This consists of a prelude and a real dance. At first,

-the dancers advance to the left five steps, stamping the ground and

-stopping suddenly, after which they repeat the same motions for a few

-times. Of this M. Lancelot writes: ‘Gradually the mandolins strike in

-to enliven the solemn strain, and seem desirous to hurry it, emitting

-two or three sonorous notes, but nothing moves the player of the

-bagpipes; he perseveres in his indolent rhythm. At last a challenging

-phrase is thrice repeated; the dancers accompany it by stamping thrice

-on the ground, and looking back at the girls grouped behind them. The

-latter hesitate; they look at each other, as if consulting together;

-then they join hands and form a second circle round the first. Another

-call, more imperious still, is sounded, they break from each other, and

-mingle in the round of young men.

-

-‘At this moment the old gypsy opens his keen little eyes, showing

-his sharp white teeth in a sudden smile, shaking out a shower of

-joyous, hurried notes over the band, he expresses by means of an

-agitated harmony the tender thrill that must be passing through all

-the clasped hands. The _Hora_ proper now begins. It lasts a long time,

-but retains throughout the character of languor that characterized

-its commencement. Its monotony is varied, however, by a pretty bit of

-pantomime. After dancing round with arms extended, the men and their

-partners turn and face each other in the middle of the circle they have

-been describing. This circle they reduce by making a few steps forward;

-then, when their shoulders are almost touching, they bend their heads

-under their uplifted arms, and look into each other’s eyes. This figure

-loses something of its effect from the frequency with which it is

-repeated; and the cold placidity with which the dancers alternately

-gaze at their right-hand and left-hand neighbors is disappointing, and

-robs the pantomime of its classic aroma.’

-

-

-IX

-

-Of Oriental flavor are the Armenian folk-dances, which the writer saw

-many years ago performed by Armenian students to the music of a queer

-mandolin-like instrument and the rhythmic beats of the drum played

-by the dancer with his fingers. This drum gives a register of six or

-seven different tones and adds its peculiar effect to the whole. It

-seems that most of the Armenian dances are executed by a single dancer,

-either man or woman, in bent, erect, arched and twisted positions,

-often standing on a single spot for minutes. Though languorous and

-weird, they possess a grace of their own.

-

-In no other country have the folk-dances reached such a variety of

-forms, such a high degree of development and an individuality so

-distinctly racial and rich in dramatic and imaginary poses, steps,

-gestures and mimic expressions as in Russia. In the Russian dances

-we can trace the elements of all the hundreds of ancient and modern

-tribes and nationalities who have been molten in one homogeneous

-mass of people, a world in itself. Here the Orient and Occident have

-found a united form for their æsthetic expressions, with no relation

-to those of the West-European nations. The Russian dances, like the

-country itself, are a mixture of contrasts and extremes: melancholy

-and yet gay, simple and even sweet; ghastly yet fascinating and

-seductive; mysterious and yet open as the prairies of its own boundless

-steppes; old and yet young. All these contrasts and contradictions

-may be found reflected in the essentials of the Russian folk-dance.

-Like the semi-Oriental style of architecture, now curved and gloomy,

-then suddenly straight and dazzlingly brilliant, occasionally bizarre

-and fantastic, but strongly inclined to the romantic and the mystic

-forms, are the innumerable figures and steps of the Russian dances.

-In Russia more than in any other country the sexual diversity in the

-style of the steps, poses and mimic display is subjected to a most

-careful consideration. The woman is neither equal nor inferior to the

-man. She occupies her dignified position in the slightest move, by

-remaining more subtle, tender and passively fascinating, while the

-man’s rôle often is extravagantly masculine, sometimes even rough.

-No Russian dance puts the two sexes on the same level æsthetically

-and dramatically. The couple dance is an unknown, or at best a rather

-crude, conception to a Russian.

-

-Up to this time no one has yet made a thorough study of all the

-Russian folk-dances, as each province and district has its particular

-traditions and dances. The Volga region, having once been inhabited

-by Bulgarian and Tartar tribes, has a more nomadic and adventurous

-dance style than the dreamy peasants of Kostroma and Nijny Novgorod.

-The dances of the Little Russians are more joyful and humorous than

-those of more northern regions, but they are also less elaborate and

-less dramatic. The dances of the provinces of Novgorod and Pskoff

-possess an unusual tendency towards the legendary and towards free

-forms of plastic expression, as if meaning to express tales of a golden

-age in the past when they had a republican form of government and a

-democratic evolution. The dances of the Caucasian and Crimean regions

-are outspokenly romantic and epic, those of Siberia tragic and heroic.

-

-Fundamentally, the Russian folk-dances can be divided into four

-different groups: the ballad dances, or _Chorovody_; the romantic

-dances of the _Kamarienskaya_ type; the dramatic dances of the

-_Kasatchy_ type; the bacchanalian dances of the _Trepak_ type; and

-the unlimited number of humorous, gay, amusing and entertaining

-country dances--the so-called _Pliasovaya_--of purely local flavor.

-Besides these there are the historic ballad dances, such as ‘Ivan the

-Terrible’, ‘Ilia Murometz,’ and others. The Cossack dance, _Lesginka_,

-the _Kaiterma_, the _Polowetsi_ dances, the _Vanka_, and others of this

-kind, are dances of a rather local character, though they have spread

-all over the country.

-

-The oldest and most varied of Russian folk-dances are the _Chorovody_,

-or the ballad dances, performed only to the singing voices of the

-dancers themselves. This is a kind of ring dance like the old French

-Round. In some dances the men reach their hands to the girls, in

-others they touch each other with their elbows only, as the girls

-keep their hands on their hips, while the men cross them on their

-breast. The real dance is performed inside the ring, usually by a

-girl, who sometimes has a man partner; this dance may be pantomimic,

-humorous or full of wildest joy and agility. The writer has witnessed

-some _Chorovody_ which were performed with such skill and finesse of

-plastic pose and mimic art as to leave many ballet celebrities far in

-the background. The Russian folk-dancer employs every inch of his body,

-his hands, legs, toes, heels, hips, shoulders, head and the mimic art

-so masterfully and correctly that you must often marvel his born talent

-and lively interest in dancing. However, in all folk-dances the women

-seem to play the leading rôle, the men merely supporting them with the

-contrasted figures.

-

-The _Chorovody_ were used by the mediæval _Boyars_ in a more refined

-and poetic style for their social functions and the entertainment of

-their guests. Later they were introduced to the court and finally they

-were employed in the Russian ballets and operas. Ivan the Terrible

-was fond of _Chorovody_ dances and often danced them himself, as did

-also other Russian rulers. The aristocratic _Chorovody_, however, grew

-more stately and artificial and lost their racial freshness. Catherine

-the Great sent her chamberlains to every province to invite the best

-folk-dancers to come to the court, which they did. All dances of

-this type are picturesque, romantic, poetic and restrained in their

-expression.

-

-An entirely different dance is the _Kasatchy_, danced by a man and a

-woman at the same time. This is more a man’s than a woman’s dance.

-He selects his partner and proceeds to execute a series of seductive

-motions around her, while she demurely hangs her head, refusing for a

-while to be seduced by his allurements. At length she thaws and begins

-to sway in harmony with his manly but graceful movement. Now they bend

-and bow together, and swerve from side to side, the while performing

-a multitude of gestures depicting timidity and embarrassment, till

-finally from shy, half-tearful expression of love and flirting glances

-they proceed with gay eyes expressive of the most burning devotion.

-Now the dance waxes fierce and fast, in and out they circle, turn

-and twist, ever now and then reverting to that crouching posture,

-so commonly seen in the Russian folk-dances. Finally they meet in

-close embrace and whirl with incredible rapidity round and round,

-till thoroughly out of breath and dizzy from their effort, they sink

-exhausted on a friendly bench.

-

-The _Kamarienskaya_ is a bride’s dance, in which the girl symbolizes

-all the imaginary bliss and happiness of her future married life.

-In the first part, which consists of a soft _legato_, she dances

-dreamily but dramatically, using conspicuously every muscle of her

-body and her arms to express the imagined love motions that she will

-perform in meeting her beloved. Thus the pantomime continues on to the

-blissful moment of meeting, which she performs like a whirlwind, until,

-unexpectedly stopping, she ends the dance with a slightly disappointed,

-humorous expression.

-

-Since our space is limited, the writer must refrain from more detailed

-and further description of the previously mentioned types of the

-Russian folk-dances. He need only repeat that they surpass by far

-the folk-dances of all the rest of the world, in that they are so

-much more racial, so rich in plastic lines, and so perfect in their

-artistic appeal; it seems as if a remarkable genius had presided over

-their invention and execution. They are masterfully original from the

-beginning and continually furnish new ideals of choreographic beauty.

-They draw their inspiration from some rich fountain unknown to the

-Occidentals. They are too fresh, vigorous and alive to be perverse.

-

-Thus having drawn kaleidoscopic sketches of the primitive racial

-choreographic impulses of a number of the civilized and barbaric

-races, we can come to the conclusion that in these alone are to be

-found the sound and virile germs of lasting individual or highly

-developed national art-dance. Ethnographic essentials are the next

-stepping-stones to a more developed future cosmic choreography, and in

-this the folk-dances give the most eloquent elementary lessons. As from

-a mute conversation we learn from the ethnic dances in what manifold

-forms one and the same beauty can manifest itself to the human mind.

-The ethnic symbols are graphic and true to the spirit of the thing

-expressed; for this reason a folk-dance, no matter how coarse, how

-grotesque and how strange it seems, is yet sincere and intelligible to

-the open-hearted observer. It always impresses one as something manly

-and direct, sound and firm.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XI

-

-THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST

-

-  The _Pavane_ and the _Courante_; the _Allemande_ and the

-  _Sarabande_; the _Minuet_ and the _Gavotte_; the _Rigaudon_ and

-  other dances.

-

-

-Since we have devoted a chapter to the folk-dances, it will be fitting

-to describe a few of the most noted dances of the nobility in order

-to complete our comparative treatment of such a vast subject, so

-little systematized and so much ignored. While the general tone of

-all the folk-dances is masculine, that of all the social dances seems

-predominantly effeminate, rather soft and delicate. Their exceedingly

-graceful plastic lines, shaded movements, soft forms and subtilized

-gestures speak of gilded ball-rooms, silk and perfume, affected manners

-and the artificial air of a Rococo style. It seems as if a woman’s mind

-had worked out their embroidered figures and timid steps. They belonged

-to no particular nation, but to the rich class of all the world. The

-same _Allemande_ that was danced by the French nobility was copied at

-the castles of the German barons, English lords, Italian and Russian

-counts.

-

-The oldest and most ceremonial of the Middle Ages’ social dances was

-the _Pavane_, the celebrated peacock dance, in which kings and princes,

-lords and ladies took part, the men wearing gorgeous uniforms, the

-ladies flowery trains. It was distinguished by rhythmic grace, and

-by slow and stately measure. The dancers attempted to enshroud their

-very souls in majestic dignity, gracefully rounding their arms, while

-crossing and recrossing, keeping their heads away from each other. One

-big step and two small ones accompanied one bar of the music, which was

-sung by a chorus of hidden singers. Beginning side by side, hand in

-hand, with a curtsey and bow, the couple started with a _pas marché_

-down the floor, making four steps, the cavalier taking the lady’s left

-hand. After making a turn with four steps, they danced backward with

-four steps. He took her right hand and turned with four steps. Thus

-it went on in four different movements. The _Pavane_ was a dance for

-cortèges and processions, and the lady’s trains were spread out like

-the tail of a peacock.

-

-The next most conspicuous nobility dance was the _Courante_, which

-was practised for nearly three centuries at the European castles and

-courts. It was a great favorite of Louis XIV, and no one else danced

-it so well as he. It was danced at the court of Charles II and Queen

-Elizabeth was fond of it. The ladies danced it in short soft velvet

-skirt; bodice with basques and lace berthes. It had three movements

-and started usually with a deep curtsey, a springing step forward and

-back, both arms raised and each dancer turning outward. These movements

-occupied four double bars of the music. Handel and Bach wrote many

-_Courantes_, but they were too elaborate and quick, therefore they were

-used only by professional dancers.

-

-Bach and Handel have also written numerous _Chaconnes_, which were

-dances in slow triple time, of a stately character, light and graceful.

-In the _Chaconne_ two or three people could participate. This dance was

-said to be of Spanish origin, though the Italians claim that one of

-their blind musicians composed it in the sixteenth century. Cervantes

-writes in ‘Don Quixote’ that it was a mulatto dance for negroes and

-negresses, imported by the French. It is composed of a springing and

-walking step on the toes, at the end of which the heels must be so

-placed that the body is firm. The rhythm is slow and well marked. The

-dance has seven different movements. The fourth and sixth movements are

-in Mazurka steps, the fifth in skating steps and the last in bourrée

-step. In the third movement the lady turns under her partner’s arm.

-

-A celebrated dance of more than four centuries was the _Allemande_, in

-which the head and arm movements played the foremost rôle. It had five

-movements, danced by any number of couples, placing themselves behind

-each other. The _Allemande_ step is three _pas marchés_ and the front

-foot raised. The lady stands in front of the gentleman and he holds her

-left hand with his left and her right with his right hand. For four

-bars they go forward and pose, repeat this four times and turn. The

-second movement has four steps around, after which the gentleman turns

-the lady with arms over head, and the lady turns the gentleman. The

-third movement is a polka step backward and forward and turned. In the

-fourth the lady takes four steps in front of the gentleman and turns.

-In the last they take four steps across the room, turn and pose; two

-steps back and pose, and repeat.

-

-A dance of pretty music and more original design was the _Sarabande_

-of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which was danced as a solo

-by a man or a woman, although later it was danced by couples. It had a

-slow and stately step and consisted of four different figures. In the

-first figure the dancer raised the right foot and took a step forward,

-turned to the right and posed, and repeated to the left and the right.

-The second figure was a _pas bourrée_ to the left and the right, with

-some turning in between. The third figure consisted of an accentuated

-hip movement, _coupé_, a pose with head movement, and a repetition to

-the opposite direction. The last figure consisted of springing on the

-left foot, stretching the right leg to the back, and bowing. This was

-carried on in several repetitions. The most effective _Sarabande_ music

-was composed by Lully. For this the ladies wore a picturesque dress of

-cloth of gold, the sleeves and tunic in the form of gigantic oak leaves

-of red and gold, tipped with sequins; red shoes and stockings.

-

-Probably the most celebrated and widespread of old social dances was

-the _Minuet_, which demanded much repose and dignity on the part of

-the dancers. It was performed by men and women, but was given also by

-ladies only. It began with a deep reverence on the part of the lady

-and a bow on the part of the man, the dancers turning towards each

-other at right angles to the audience, the lady with her left hand

-holding her dress, the elbow prettily rounded. They advanced, the lady

-turning around and assuming the position in which they started. This

-was repeated, and the dance ended with a bow and a curtsey. Then the

-lady held her dress in both hands, her head being turned over her right

-shoulder, while her partner’s head was turned to the left. A favorite

-step was that of lifting the foot high, rising on the toes, and then

-taking three little steps on tip-toes to the next bar. The _Minuet_

-requires much grace and deliberation, with every movement thought out

-and studied. The main rule is that in passing each other the partners

-should make a deep curtsey and bow. The fingers of the hand should be

-moderately open, the arms curved and graceful. The women often carried

-a feather fan. Louis XV was a virtuoso in the _Minuet_. The English

-kings used to take lessons in the dance. It is the one dance that

-England has looked on kindly. It created a perfect sensation in France

-and was in vogue until the Revolution swept it away. Many celebrated

-composers have written fine _Minuet_ music, Lully’s being probably the

-best. It had nine different movements. The ladies wore for the minuet

-a satin petticoat, bordered with a deep flounce. The bodice had a

-pleating round _à la veille_, which was carried down to the open front

-of the skirt, on either side of the bodice, and round the back, which

-left a plain pointed front with a rosette in the centre of the neck.

-The sleeves were elbow length, the hair powdered and worn very high, a

-ribbon tied across the back from which rose three large bows of white

-plumes, the shoes pointed.

-

-A dance as distinguished as the minuet was the _Gavotte_, performed

-by couples in joyous, sparkling little steps. Its foundation was

-three steps and an _assemblé_ in quadruple time, commencing on the

-fourth beat of the bar. It starts in a line or a circle, one couple

-separating themselves from the rest. It has six figures. The first

-figure consists of four gavottes forward, four gavottes round, four

-back, four around again, the dancers hand in hand, the figures always

-accompanied by graceful head movements, the partners turning towards

-each other or apart. The following three movements are nearly the same,

-with slight variations. The fifth consists of four skating steps and

-gavotting around the partner. The sixth figure consists of gavotting

-forward three times, pirouetting back, raising the foot up to the heel,

-and advancing four times. In the _Gavotte_ the partners generally

-kissed each other, as they did in so many other dances. In later days

-the cavalier presented a flower in the course of the figure instead.

-The _Gavotte_ was a favorite dance of Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and

-Napoleon. Lully, Gluck and Grétry composed pretty gavottes, and it was

-frequently performed on the stage by Gardel and Vestris.

-

-The _Rigaudon_, which enjoyed a great popularity at all the European

-castles and courts till the French Revolution, was rather intricate. In

-it each figure occupied eight bars and both dancers started together

-without taking hands. The dance consisted of seven figures, the first

-being a sliding step and four running steps, turning, posing and

-repeating with the opposite foot. The second consisted of turning to

-left and right alternately four times, and sliding backwards. The third

-figure was danced diagonally to the right with running steps, turning,

-posing and repeating. The fourth figure was a graceful hopping and

-turning, repeating, running diagonally to the right and turning with

-the arms out straight. The fifth was in two half turns, one turn and

-repetition. The sixth was three steps left with arms over the head,

-hopping around, turning to left and right, posing with right hand down

-and the left hand above the head. The seventh consisted of balancing

-four times on the left foot and four times on the right and posing.

-Like the music of so many other old social dances, that of the Rigaudon

-was of extremely gracious cadences, with sentimental pathos and sweet,

-gay melodic turns. Music combined with dancing carried gladness and joy

-into the soft-shaded ball-rooms, bringing smiles and laughter to the

-lips of the picturesque gatherings.

-

-Somewhat resembling the Minuet, but with quicker steps, was the

-celebrated French _Passepied_, with which most of the balls began,

-all the guests dancing around hand in hand. It originated many other

-old-time social dances with song. It opened with the dancers joining

-hands and facing each other, then setting to each other with the

-_pas de Basque_, bringing the first left shoulder forward and then

-the right, and changing their places with a waltz step. The partners

-cross hands, placing the arms round each other’s neck and making the

-pirouette with eight pony steps, pawing the ground and then turning.

-The dance consists of ten figures, each of which demands some dramatic

-talent.

-

-Other celebrated old dances were the _Galliard_, consisting of five

-figures, that require some pirouettes, _pas de bourrées_, _coupés_,

-_dessous_ and springing. Similar to this was the _Tourdion_, which

-was more of a _glissade_ movement. The _Canaries_ was a queer old

-dance, very popular in England and Germany. It had seven figures and

-started with a _pas jeté_, by throwing the right foot over the left,

-and the left over the right. In the last movement the partners held

-hands vis-à-vis, turning each other without separating hands, posing

-vis-à-vis one bar and repeating four bars. History tells us how in

-former times queens and princesses often fell in love with graceful

-male dancers as did their husbands with the pretty women dancers. Queen

-Elizabeth fell in love with young Hatton, an insignificant London

-lawyer, whom she first met at a ball dancing the _Galliard_. Sir Perro

-used to say that Hatton danced into the court by the _Galliard_. It is

-said that the favors which the virgin monarch extended to the young

-lawyer excited the jealousy of the whole court, especially that of the

-Earl of Leicester, who, thinking to depreciate the accomplishment of

-his rival, offered to introduce to Her Majesty a professional dancer

-whose performances were considered far more wonderful than those of

-Hatton. To this the royal lady exclaimed: ‘Pish! I will not see your

-man; it is his trade!’

-

-A languishing eye and a smiling mouth were considered indispensable

-accessories to a fashionable society dance. Like the prevailing style

-of dress and manners, the dances were too delicate and artificial to

-last. The high-heeled shoes, the elaborately piled-up structures of

-powdered hair and ornament, and the dresses with long trains were by no

-means favorable to virility and sincerity. Like all effeminate art, the

-nobility dances of the past lacked spontaneity and inspiration.

-

-[Illustration: The Ball

-

-_After a painting by Auguste de Saint-Aubin_]

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XII

-

-THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

-

-  Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century--Maria

-  Taglioni--Fanny Elssler--Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence

-  of the classic ballet.

-

-

-The end of the Napoleonic wars marks the beginning of a new era of

-European art, particularly of the ballet. To this period belong the

-great ballet masters, Taglioni, Bournoville, Didelot, and the greatest

-of all, Marius Petipa; the great ballet composers, Meyerbeer, Rossini,

-Adam, Delibes, Nuitter, Dubois, Hartmann, Gade, Tschaikowsky, and

-Rimsky-Korsakoff; the celebrated _ballerinas_, Taglioni, Grisi,

-Elssler, Genée, Teleshova, Novitzkaya, Liadova, Muravieva, Bogdanova,

-Sokolova and Kshesinskaya. It seems as if the evolution of the art of

-dancing is always stopped by political disturbances; during the middle

-of the past century, which was marked by revolutionary movements, in

-which even Wagner participated, we notice a sudden indifference to

-dancing ideals on the part of the public. The history of evolution

-seems to proceed in certain cosmic waves of public sentiment and

-ideals. They grow, reach their climax and die.

-

-The foundation that the French Academy, particularly Noverre, Vestris

-and Gardel, had laid for the ballet, developed during the nineteenth

-century into a solid and essential stage art. We find the beginning

-of a rivalry among the various schools, of which those of Paris,

-Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg stand in the

-first rank. Like music and drama, the ballet strives either towards

-the classic or romantic. The most conspicuous ballets of this period

-are _La Sylphide_ by Léo Delibes, _Corsaire_ by Adam, _Sakuntala_ by

-Gautier, _La Source_ by Delibes, _La Farandole_ by Dubois, _Sylvia_

-by Delibes, _Gretna Green_ by Nuitter, _Excelsior_ and _Sieba_ by

-Manxotti, _Flore et Zephire_ by Didelot, _La Esmeralda_ by Perrot

-and Pugni, _Iphigenia in Aulis_ by Gluck, _Laurette_ by Galcotti,

-_Ghiselle_ by Gautier and Adam, _Abdallah_ by Bournoville and Paulli,

-_Arkona_ by Hartmann, _Swan Lake_, _Sleeping Beauty_ and _The Snow

-Maiden_ by Tschaikowsky, _Baba Yaga_ by Balakireff, _Scheherezade_ by

-Rimsky-Korsakoff, etc.

-

-The main tendency of the nineteenth century ballet is to get rid of the

-mechanical contrivances, the monstrous etiquette and majestic solemnity

-and, like music, give it more coherence and better harmony with the

-plot. Between 1820 and 1850 it became an inseparable accompaniment

-to the opera to such an extent that the occupants of the gilded

-boxes preferred the thrill of the dancing to the music. The ballet

-represented at that time more than a stage filled with masses of

-elegant _coryphées_ and a magnificent spectacle. The public interest

-began to centre in a few great dancers whose names were as familiar to

-the audiences as those of the prima donnas. The first phenomenon of

-this kind was the cult of Taglioni that spread with miraculous rapidity

-throughout the Occidental world.

-

-

-I

-

-Maria Taglioni was born at Stockholm in 1804 of an Italian father and

-Swedish mother and made her début in Vienna in 1822, in the ballet

-_Reception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore_, written by

-her father, M. Taglioni, who was a ballet master in the Swedish Royal

-Opera. Inspired by the ideas of Noverre, M. Taglioni laid a solid

-foundation for his daughter’s training in dancing. Though she was

-successful in her début in Vienna, the father did not think that she

-was sufficiently ripe for public appearances in a larger style, so he

-continued to instruct the girl himself and secured for her education

-other celebrities of the time. Even when she appeared five years later

-in _Le Sicilien_, in Paris, she did not arouse any enthusiasm. It was

-only in _Les Bayaderes_ and, above all, in _La Sylphide_, that her art

-attained the utmost limits of spirituality and she was hailed as one of

-the most ethereal appearances that the European stage had ever seen.

-

-Taglioni appeared in Paris in _La Vestale_, _Mars et Venus_, _Le

-Carnaval de Venise_, and many other ballets, which marked the beginning

-of her career. A French critic of that time writes: ‘Her talent, so

-instinct with simple grace and modesty, her lightness, the suppleness

-of her attitudes, at once voluptuous and refined, made a sensation at

-once. She revealed a new form of dancing, a virginal and diaphanous

-art, instinct with an originality all her own, in which the old

-traditions and time-honored rules of choreography were merged. After

-an appearance of a few days only on our boards, this charming mirage

-vanished to shine in great triumph at Munich and Stuttgart. But she

-came back, and an enthusiastic reception awaited her. And in the midst

-of these brilliant successes, taking the hearts of the people by storm,

-admitted to the intimate friendship of the Queen of Wurtemberg, she

-remained sweet, simple and reserved.’

-

-Besides her choreographic training, Taglioni was a highly educated girl

-in every other respect, and was of the most charming personality and

-manners. The people, and even her many rivals, loved and adored her

-as a great artist and great woman. Though not pretty in any sense, as

-so many other dancers were, she was fascinating through her distinct

-spiritual appeal. This same note of spirituality manifested itself in

-her dance. Her admirers used to say that she looked in _La Sylphide_

-like some supernatural being always ready to take wing and soar up in

-the air. Her steps were pure and innocent, as were all her gestures and

-mimic expressions. Even in her romantic dances she failed to suggest

-any symptoms of voluptuous or sensual emotions. Throughout her life she

-remained as poetic as she was in her art.

-

-In London she appeared first in 1830 in Didelot’s ballet _Flore

-et Zéphire_ and made an instantaneous success. On nights when she

-was announced to appear the London theatre was literally besieged.

-Thackeray immortalized her in his ‘The Newcomes,’ saying, ‘you can

-never see anything so graceful as Taglioni.’ She received in London

-£100 a night, and insisted on handsome sums for her family, as well

-as £600 for her father as ballet master, £900 to her brother and

-sister-in-law, together with two benefit performances. She was so much

-the fashion of the hour that women wore Taglioni hats, gowns, and

-coats, and even a stage coach was called after her.

-

-With all her charm and refinement, Taglioni was in many respects

-an undeveloped girl emotionally, capricious and sentimental to her

-finger-tips. It is said that one evening when Perrot, her partner,

-happened to receive a greater amount of applause than she, she refused

-to continue the performance, and accused her surrounding stage people

-of having intrigued against her for malicious reason. She received

-immense sums of money, but she spent everything just as lavishly as

-it was received, not so much on herself as for her relatives, friends

-and the poor. She married Comte Gilbert des Voisins in 1832, but their

-married life was of short duration. There is a story that she met him

-some years later at a dinner at the Comte de Morny’s, when he had the

-effrontery to ask to be introduced to Maria Taglioni. She replied that

-she thought she had made the gentleman’s acquaintance in 1832, the year

-of her marriage. In 1837 she went to Russia and remained there for five

-years as prima _ballerina_ of the Imperial Ballet.

-

-Taglioni’s freedom and style had a great influence upon the development

-of the ballet at that juncture. Her dress, a long tunic of white silk

-muslin which reached almost to her ankles and fell in graceful folds

-from her figure, was the first of this kind. Through this she was able

-to reveal the plastic lines of her body, and thus made her movements

-free from the artificial stiffness that had prevailed before her. She

-was a reformer in many ways, and in this her father, as a practical

-ballet-master, was of material help. It was not until Fanny Elssler

-appeared in 1847 that Taglioni began to lose her hold upon the public.

-Little by little her art grew old-fashioned to the novelty-loving

-audiences, as the dancing of Elssler brought a new note of more

-romantic nature to the stage. Actually this change was nothing but a

-turn of public sentiment indicative of some new social fad. Trying

-to maintain her living by giving dancing lessons in various European

-capitals, she died in Marseilles in 1884, in great poverty, forsaken by

-all her previous adorers and frenzied audiences.

-

-

-II

-

-Of a very different nature were the art and personality of Fanny

-Elssler, the pretty Viennese girl, who in many respects followed the

-example of Taglioni. Emerson, who saw her dancing in Boston, exclaimed,

-‘that is poetry!’ But Margaret Fuller, who sat next to him, replied,

-‘Ralph, it’s religion.’ Turgenieff was so impressed by her art that

-he wrote to Balzac: ‘Her dance is the most magic novel that I have

-ever read. What a mystery of beauty! Her every step and gesture is a

-line of unwritten verse. Her lines are accentuated phrases, her poses

-illustrations to the intoxicating text. Her art haunts me.’

-

-Born in Vienna in 1810, Elssler received an early and thorough musical

-education from her father, who was a copyist to Haydn. Her ballet

-training, which she received partly in Vienna, partly in Italy, was of

-the old order. It was the _Cachucha_ that made her a favorite of the

-Milan and Naples audiences, but, as with Taglioni, it was _La Sylphide_

-that made Elssler’s final reputation. Elssler saw _La Sylphide_ danced

-by Taglioni in Munich and it electrified her so that she made it a main

-aim of her ambition to surpass Taglioni, which she did.

-

-A girl of receptive mind, good education and great talent, Elssler took

-notice of all the critical views of her future rival, as expressed by

-her contemporary ballet-masters, composers and dance critics. This

-enabled her to embody in her art and style the features which were

-less developed and most disliked by Taglioni. Taglioni was said to be

-poetic, but lacking in romantic warmth and dramatic sentiment. In this

-latter quality Elssler excelled. She made a special study of those

-gestures, poses and steps, which express by passionate emotions, and

-made appropriate use of them. The mechanical features of the dance

-interested her little, though occasionally she indulged in acrobatic

-tricks. Chorley, the English critic, writes of her: ‘The exquisite

-management of her bust and arms set her apart from everyone whom I have

-ever seen before or since. Nothing in execution was too daring for

-her, nothing too pointed. If Mademoiselle Taglioni flew, she flashed.

-The one floated on the stage like a nymph, the other showered every

-sparkling fascination round her like a sorceress. There was more,

-however, of the Circe than of the Diana in her smile.’

-

-[Illustration: Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet]

-

-A graphic description of Elssler is given by Gautier. ‘Clad in a skirt

-of rose-colored satin clinging closely to the hips, adorned with deep

-flounces of black lace, she came forward with a bold carriage of her

-slender body, and a flashing of diamonds on her breast. Her leg, like

-polished marble, gleams through the frail net of the stocking. Her

-small foot is at rest, only awaiting the signal of the music to start

-into motion. How charming she is with the large comb in her hair, the

-rose behind her ear, her flame-like glance, and her sparkling smile! At

-the extremity of her rose-dipped fingers tremble the ebony castañets.

-Now she darts forward; the castañets commence their sonorous clatter;

-with her hands she seems to shake down clusters of rhythm. How she

-twists! how she bends! what fire! what voluptuousness of motion! what

-eager zest! Her arms seem to swoon, her head droops, her body curves

-backward until her white shoulders almost graze the ground. What charm

-of gesture! And with that hand which sweeps over the dazzle of the

-footlights would not any one say that she gathered all the desires and

-all the enthusiasm of those who watch her?’

-

-It was a pity that such a bitter rivalry was created between Elssler

-and Taglioni by theatrical managers, which became a source of fierce

-controversy throughout Europe. We are told by the writers of that

-time that a veritable war of sentiments between the Taglionists and

-Elsslerists lasted for years. Now the one, now the other party claimed

-victory. Each party claimed to have the highest art in the individual

-style of its idolized dancer. It was a conflict between two movements

-rather than two artists: here the classic idealism, there the romantic

-realism. Elssler at the end remained the winner, but not for a long

-time, as the political unrest that swept Europe in the middle of the

-nineteenth century distracted the public attention from the ballet.

-After a successful tour in America, Elssler returned to Milan, when

-the La Scala opera, which was supported by the Austrian government,

-began to feel keenly the political pulse of the time. Elssler was to

-appear in Perrot’s ballet _Faust_, when she beheld the members of the

-ballet wearing a medal that represented the new liberal Pope, who was

-strongly pro-Italian, while Elssler was an Austrian. To her it seemed a

-demonstration directed against her fatherland and she refused to go on

-the stage unless the demonstration stopped. The audience was informed

-of the trouble behind the scenes, and from this time on Elssler’s

-career was finished. Vainly trying her luck in Russia and England till

-1851, she realized the sentimental opposition of all the audiences to

-her art and retired forever. She spent her life in comfort, as the

-American tour alone had netted her a sum of five hundred thousand

-dollars. She died in 1884 in Vienna, a few months after the death of

-her rival, Taglioni.

-

-

-III

-

-The star that followed Taglioni and Elssler was Carlotta Grisi, born in

-a village of Istria and educated in Milan by Perrot. She was a medium

-between the poetic Taglioni and romantic Elssler. Her favorite ballets

-were _La Peri_ and _Ghiselle_ (the libretto of the latter by Théophile

-Gautier and the music by Adolphe Adam). She was excellent in fairy

-rôles, in which she showed a marvellous conception of imaginary motions

-and gestures. Her fragile figure was favorable to similar rôles and in

-these her mimic expressions were superb. She danced in England with

-success, but somehow failed to arouse the enthusiasm that greeted her

-contemporary Fanny Cerito. Grisi married her former teacher Perrot, who

-composed for her many ballets.

-

-Cerito distinguished herself in _Ondine_ and _La Vivandière_, and was

-for a long time a favorite of the French audiences. A French critic

-writes of her: ‘A good many of our readers will probably remember

-Saint-Léon, the distinguished and popular ballet-master. Originally an

-eminent violinist, it was out of love for the fairy-like Cerito, whom

-he married, that he first gave himself up to the enthusiastic study of

-dancing. Mme. Cerito bewitched the public with her exquisite dancing,

-while Saint-Léon delighted them with his skill upon the violin and the

-dignity and distinction of his compositions.’

-

-There were several French, Italian or Austrian ballet dancers who

-distinguished themselves at home, but none of them succeeded in

-attracting much the English or American public’s attention. Katty

-Lanner and Madame Weiss danced with some success in London, and enjoyed

-a high reputation in Vienna. The characteristics of all the Vienna

-dancers of this age were their decadent manners and their pretty,

-plastic poses. Vienna developed more conspicuous operetta dancers than

-real ballet dancers. Katty Lanner achieved a particular grace and

-agility in the _Le Papillon_, by Emma Livry.

-

-Of the French and Italian ballet dancers that appeared during the

-second half of the nineteenth century most conspicuous are Leontine

-Beaugrand, Mlle. Subra, Rosetta Mauri, Mlle. Bernay, Mlle. Petipa, and

-Rita Sangalli. Though local critics praised one or other of these as

-rivals of Taglioni and Elssler, the fact is they were all either mere

-acrobatic imitators, decadent impressionists, or conventional figures.

-The ballet shrinks into a secondary position, as the vogue for opera

-and orchestral music occupies the foremost attention of the public.

-Stage dancing degenerates into shows of insignificant meaning. With our

-best will we can find nothing that would seem worthy of the attention

-of the French critic who writes of Beaugrand:

-

-‘Before long the public will learn to love this strange profile--so

-like a frightened bird’s--and criticism will have to reckon with this

-aspiring talent. She has not yet put forth all her strength. It was not

-until she appeared in the part of _Coppélia_ that she wholly revealed

-what was in her, and that the full extent of her grace and poetic

-feeling was unfolded to the public.’

-

-One season later the expected virtuoso vanishes from the public

-eye and a new aspirant takes her place. Considering one after the

-other, one finds little crisp and spontaneous beauty in the steps and

-gestures of the _ballerinas_ of the last part of the past century. The

-umbrella-like stiff dress of the classic ballet has only a momentary

-semi-sensuous appeal. In the long run it becomes unæsthetic and

-unpractical, since it hides the natural lines of the human body.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIII

-

-THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA

-

-  The Danish ballet and Bournoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta

-  Nielsen, etc.--Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission

-  of the Danish ballet.

-

-

-I

-

-The French ballet dominated civilized Europe for centuries, as did the

-French fashions, manners, language, art and social traditions. The high

-society of every country was outspokenly French, and so were its views

-and entertainments. How much even Germany was in the grip of French

-ideals can be seen best from the efforts of her eighteenth-century

-writers and reformers on behalf of their own national traditions.

-Lessing was most bitterly fighting the French influence in German

-life and art. It was only natural that semi-aristocratic Sweden

-and Denmark felt the French sway. Stockholm introduced the ballet

-during the last part of the eighteenth century, but used it for the

-most part as an accessory of the opera. Taglioni, the father of the

-celebrated _ballerina_, was employed as a ballet-master in Stockholm

-where, in addition to his actual stage work, he was training dancers

-for the ballet corps. He was succeeded by no one else than the great

-Didelot, who later became a director of the ballet and ballet school

-in Petrograd. But Sweden strictly followed the footsteps of France

-and Italy and never took another direction. The Swedish ballet of the

-nineteenth century was strictly French-Italian.

-

-But the Danish ballet, which had been founded at the same time with

-the Swedish, took a different turn. The early part and middle of the

-nineteenth century mark a great turning point in the history of the

-Danish stage dance. This is wholly due to the patriotic efforts of

-its great reformer, Bournoville, who did not like the foreign flavor

-of such an important art as dancing, and, moreover, found the stiff

-style, artificial manners and the incoherent relation between the music

-and dancing too crude and outmoded for a new era. On the other hand,

-the method of training the dancers was lacking in system and seemed

-too insufficient to make any thorough artists of the young men and

-women who wished to make their career as dancers. Vincenzo Tomaselli

-Galeotti, who had been for half a century an autocratic figure and

-ballet-master of Denmark, emphasized either the acrobatic Italian or

-the stereotyped French styles. For Galeotti the Danish ballet was

-perfection itself, but not so for Bournoville.

-

-Antoine Auguste Bournoville was born in 1805 in Copenhagen, where

-his father had been a dancer and assistant conductor under Galeotti.

-Already at the age of eight he danced in small parts in Copenhagen.

-But it was not until 1829 that he made his real début in _Gratiereness

-Hulding_. In 1824 he made a trip with Orloff to Paris where he saw

-Vestris and Gardel, whose instruction and art inspired him to do for

-the Danish ballet what they had done for the French. After a tour in

-Austria and Italy, Bournoville settled down in Copenhagen and began to

-reform the stage of his native land.

-

-Bournoville’s main reformative idea was that a dancer should first of

-all have a perfect technique, and then be an individual and not a dead

-figure in a spectacular design. The technique of the Milan school was

-to him one-sided, striving for gymnastic effects at the expense of the

-musical and thematic requirements of a composition. Taglioni had just

-made her reputation on the foundations that Bournoville had laid for

-the Danish ballet. Virtuosity had been the danger of the old school.

-Admiration was centred exclusively in the difficulty of the execution

-of the steps. The _pointes_ and _pirouettes_ had been regarded as

-the highest form of accomplishment. Bournoville realized that this

-step, when it is abused, becomes the curse of ballet dancing. While

-recognizing that it was absolutely necessary for momentary use, when

-completing an attitude or giving a suggestion of ethereal lightness (as

-of the poise of a winged being alighting for an instant upon the earth)

-he combated the tendency to base the significance of the dance only on

-this. On other occasions, one quick passage across the stage, the tips

-of the toes scarcely brushing the dust of the carpet, the dancer may

-make the impression of the grace of a bird’s flight. But if this trick

-is displayed constantly during a performance the effect is lost in the

-ugliness of the effort.

-

-Bournoville was also dissatisfied with the ballet compositions and

-plots. He remodelled many French ballets and wrote some himself. In

-many things Bournoville coöperated with Pierre J. Larcher. The most

-conspicuous of their works was _Valdemar_, which was first performed

-in 1835, with music by Froehlich. Not less successful was the _Festen

-i Albano_, an idyllic ballet in one act with music by Froehlich. This

-was first performed in 1839. A very popular ballet that Bournoville

-arranged to the music of Hartmann was _Olaf den Hellige_.

-

-The most conspicuous pupil of Bournoville and the foremost of his prima

-_ballerinas_ was Lucile Grahn, a girl of outspoken individuality,

-temperament and dramatic force. She was a rival of Taglioni and

-Elssler, not only in Denmark, but in France, England and in other

-European countries. Grahn’s favored ballet was _La Sylphide_, though

-she danced superbly in the _Fiorella_, and _Brahma und Bayaderen_. The

-Danish critics wrote that the Copenhagen audience fairly went wild over

-her dancing in the _Robert af Normandie_. Grahn differed from Taglioni

-in her individual style, which was more romantic and lofty, and in her

-dramatic talent. Besides being a great dancer she was an excellent

-actress. The London and Petrograd audiences were particularly fond

-of her _divertissement_ numbers, mostly written by Danish composers.

-She was born in 1819 and died in Munich in 1875, after having lived

-nineteen years of happy married life with Friedrich Young, a celebrated

-opera singer of that time.

-

-Next to Lucile Grahn in the Danish ballet stands Augusta Nielsen, born

-in 1823 in Copenhagen. As a girl of fifteen, she danced in _Valdemar_.

-But her real career began with _Toreadoren_, in which she danced for

-the first time in 1840. Nielsen’s tendency in dancing was to be natural

-rather than acrobatic. Her mimic and rhythmic talent surpassed by far

-that of Grahn, Taglioni and Elssler. But since she strove less for

-gymnastic effects than her celebrated contemporaries, she failed to

-arouse the enthusiasm that greeted the others. She came close to the

-modern natural dancers, since dancing was for her an individual art

-like singing, in which each artist should express only the best of his

-inner self. Like many other Danish dancers, Nielsen was a born actress

-and emphasized the dramatic features as the most important ones in the

-ballet.

-

-Among Danish ballet dancers the most conspicuous figures are Adolph

-F. Stramboe, Johann Ferdinand Hoppe, Waldemar Price and Hans Beck.

-They all follow the footsteps of Bournoville, whose reforms in Danish

-dancing are equal to those of Noverre in France, or Petipa in Russia.

-Bournoville’s main efforts were to make dancing a serious dramatic

-art. In this he succeeded. The influence of the Danish ballet upon

-the Russian is of far-reaching extent. Didelot, having been a

-ballet-master in Stockholm, was inspired by Bournoville’s attempts,

-and followed his example after becoming a ballet director in Russia.

-But the art of dancing has its period of youth, maturity, decay and

-rebirth. The Danish ballet stopped its evolution after Bournoville. It

-has remained what it was half a century ago. It is sound, classic, and

-noble in its spirit, but it lacks the fire and soul of youth.

-

-

-II

-

-The writer has a record of the young living solo dancer of the

-Danish Royal Ballet, Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen, whose exquisite

-delicate plastic art in Strindberg’s _Brott och Brott_, and Gabriele

-d’Annunzio’s _Gioconda_ aroused stormy enthusiasm among Copenhagen’s

-audiences. Haagen Falkenfleth, the celebrated ballet critic of

-the _Nationaltidende of Copenhagen_, writes of her; ‘Mrs. Elna

-Jörgen-Jensen, the _prima ballerina_ of the Danish Royal Ballet,

-entered the Copenhagen Ballet School as a child, as the result of

-an episode that is still little known. Her parents knew that little

-Elna was passionately fond of dancing, but their surprise was great

-when one day she disappeared from her home. It appeared that she had

-run after a street organ-grinder to whose screaming tune she was

-dancing in the middle of the street to the surprise of the occasional

-spectators. At the age of seven she became a pupil of the Royal Ballet

-School in Copenhagen, where the children are taught not only dancing

-and _calisthenics_, but also the general school subjects, in the same

-way as the dancers are educated in the Russian Imperial Ballet School

-in Petrograd. As a pupil she was favored with small dancing parts in

-certain ballets. She was excellent for little fairy rôles. In this way

-she received a gradual training for the stage and had already mastered

-her routine when she made her real début in Drigo’s “Harlequin’s

-Millions.” She had personified Sylvia’s child in d’Annunzio’s

-_Gioconda_ and the page in Schiller’s _Don Carlos_. Her dancing was so

-sure, her movements so graceful and her mimicry so true to life that

-her reputation was instantly established; but how versatile she was

-became known only later.

-

-‘No one who saw her during her début in the rôle of the gay Pierrette,

-with frolic-humorous eyes and graceful juvenile steps, could imagine

-that on the next occasion she would be so easily transformed into a

-tragedienne in Schnitzler’s and Dohnányi’s “Veil of Pierrette.” She

-practically created her rôle. Her romantic eyes, so full of sorrow and

-despair, added a magic gloom to her dramatic dance, in which she stands

-so high above her many contemporaries. She is realistically gripping.

-Already at the age of nineteen she was an accomplished mute actress of

-the modern type, and a great solo dancer. Dohnányi, who attended the

-performance, told me that he had not supposed she could possibly add

-such a tragic fire to the rôle that he wrote for untrained theatrical

-dancers. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen proved in this rôle that she had broken

-loose from all the traditions of the Bournoville school in which she

-was trained. You could not see a line of the conventional ballet style.

-

-‘Bournoville, the reformer of the Danish ballet, introduced a

-strong dramatic element into the national art. Yet his tendency was

-outspokenly romantic. In this he aimed to be classic and strictly

-choreographic. In many of his ballets the romantic and the realistic

-issues are closely interwoven. In these Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen sometimes

-has gone against the Bournoville principles and used her own judgment.

-She has figured as the principal dancer in the “Flower Festival

-at Genzano,” _La Ventana_, “Far from Danemark,” _Coppélia_ and

-_Swanhilde_. But in “The Little Mermaid,” a ballet based on Hans

-Andersen’s fairy-tale, she is best of all. While dancing in the rôle

-of the Mermaid, she makes the impression of a magic creature of a

-different world, with grace and charms that we have never known, yet

-which cast a spell upon us. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen’s repertoire is large,

-but still larger is the range of her dramatic personifications. The

-Copenhagen audiences are sorry to see her so little, but the stage of

-our National Theatre is more adapted to the opera and drama than to the

-ballet.’

-

-Perhaps the best known of the living Danish dancers is Adeline Genée,

-whose name has figured during the past twenty years in the ballet

-repertoires of all the more or less known opera houses. She has been

-a special favorite of the London public, where she made her début in

-_Monte Cristo_ in November, 1897. She has shown her best in Delibes’

-_Coppélia_, though some critics maintain that her triumph in the

-_Dryad_ is even greater. But what _La Sylphide_ was to Taglioni,

-_Ghiselle_ to Grisi and _Éoline_ to Lucile Grahn, that is _Coppélia_

-to Genée. She is a true exponent of the Bournoville school of ballet,

-though she claims that she owes her brilliant technique to some

-other sources. Though she studied dancing with her uncle in Denmark,

-yet the method, style and technique originate from Bournoville. Max

-Beerbohm has given a pretty characteristic account of her appearance

-in _Coppélia_ in London. ‘No monstrous automaton is that young lady.

-Perfect though she be in the _haute école_, she has by some miracle

-preserved her own self. She was born a comedian and a comedian she

-remains, light as foam. A mermaid were not a more surprising creature

-than she--she of whom one half is that of an authentic _ballerina_,

-whilst the other is that of a most intelligent, most delightful human

-actress. A mermaid were, indeed, less marvellous in our eyes. She

-would not be able to diffuse any semblance of humanity into her tail.

-Madame Genée’s intelligence seems to vibrate in her very toes. Her

-dancing, strictly classical though it is, is a part of her acting. And

-her acting, moreover, is of so fine a quality, that she makes the old

-ineloquent conventions of gesture tell meanings to me, and tell them so

-exquisitely that I quite forget my craving for words.--Taglioni in _Les

-Arabesques_? I suspect in my heart of hearts, she was no better than

-a doll. Grisi in _Ghiselle_? She may or may not have been passable.

-Genée! It is a name our grandchildren will cherish, even as we cherish

-now the names of those bygone dancers. And alas! our grandchildren will

-never believe, will never be able to imagine, what Genée was.’

-

-The writer has attended a number of Genée’s performances in Europe and

-in America, and does not agree entirely with Mr. Beerbohm’s eulogy. As

-already explained above, Bournoville’s method was a great improvement

-over the French-Italian schools of dancing, in that it emphasized

-the dramatic issues and individual traits in the ballet, which Genée

-has exactly followed; but unfortunately the evolution of the Danish

-ballet stopped with Bournoville. The art remained in its preliminary

-state of development and ended with the Dresden-china steps. It is

-this very style that makes Genée an attractive museum figure. In this

-she stands unrivalled. She exhibits an art of the past, with every

-detail sedulously studied. You can see how mathematically exact is the

-position of the fingers, the attitude of the head, the lines of the

-arms and limbs, and so on. ‘Every step has its name, every gesture

-belongs to its code; there is only one way and no other of executing

-them rightly, and that way is Madame Genée’s,’ writes one of her

-admirers. But the dance is more than an exhibition of mathematical

-figures. The studied smile and sorrow fail to arouse the emotions of

-the audience. The Dresden-china step is a fossilized thing of bygone

-centuries. It somehow does not belong to the stage.

-

-The significance of the Danish ballet, and its influence upon the

-evolution of the art of dancing is greater than it is universally

-admitted. The Danes introduced the element of drama into the ballet in

-order to make the dancing a kind of mute acting. They were the first

-to revolt against many time-worn rules of the old schools. They were

-the first to advocate the imitation of nature to a certain extent.

-Bournoville said ‘as nature moves in curves and gradations rather than

-by leaps and turns, dancing should take that into consideration.’ The

-Russian ballet was influenced through the Danish and Swedish. The

-Danish ballet was a stepping-stone between the academic French-Italian

-and ethno-dramatic Russian schools. It has accomplished a great task

-in the evolution of the art of dancing by making the ballet a dramatic

-expression on academic lines.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIV

-

-THE RUSSIAN BALLET

-

-  Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the

-  Russian school; French and Russian schools compared--Begutcheff and

-  Ostrowsky; history of the Russian ballet--Didelot and the Imperial

-  ballet school; Petipa and his reforms--Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’

-  and other ballets; Pavlova and other famous _ballerinas_; Mordkin;

-  Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.

-

-

-I

-

-The celebrated saying of the German poet, ‘_Und neues Leben blüht aus

-den Ruinen_’ applies better than anything else to the Russian ballet,

-which has risen out of the West European choreographic ruins. The

-Russian ballet marks a new era in the history of the art of dancing.

-The Russian ballet is a new word in the dance world. It brings the

-smell of trees and flowers, the songs of birds, the leaps of gazelles

-and lions and the very soil of nature to the stage. It breathes the

-spectral shadows of the trees and mountains; it begins with the

-simplest mushroom and ends with the most complicated hot-house plant.

-It emanates nature with all its uncouthness and grace. Like the Russian

-composers and poets, the Russian dancers strive to echo Nature with all

-its majesty and mystery.

-

-Even with the beginning of the nineteenth century the Russian ballet

-begins a course entirely different from that which the schools of

-Western Europe were preaching and teaching. Though the ballet-masters

-and instructors are foreigners, yet they are actuated by outward

-circumstances to apply their academic theories to the conditions of

-a different school. With the advent of a national school of music

-and drama, at the head of which stood Balakireff, Borodine, Seroff,

-Moussorgsky, Tschaikowsky and Rimsky-Korsakoff in music, and Ostrowsky,

-Turgenieff, Gogol and others in the drama, the Russian ballet is

-forced in the same channels. The Russian ballet grows gradually into

-a new nationalistic art, and separates itself altogether from the

-French-Italian aristocratic academicism. The frequent remarks of the

-foreign critics, suggesting that the Russian ballet was and is a

-direct offspring and copy of the classic French-Italian schools, are

-absolutely wrong. It is true that the Russians borrowed from the French

-the skeleton and from the Italians the mechanic contrivances, but they

-built up the body themselves and created something entirely different

-from what Western Europe knew of the ballet.

-

-A born dancer, the Russian could never stand the prescribed poses,

-smiles, tears, steps and gestures, that were and are still practised

-outside. He is ready to undergo the most strenuous training, and

-follows microscopically the instructions of the teachers, in order to

-acquire the necessary technique; but when it comes to a performance,

-he will put his spontaneous ideas and impulses above the technique and

-act according to his emotions and inspiration. This is a peculiarity of

-the Russian. He is and remains an individual. No school can put him on

-the same level with his fellow-students. Is not Pavlova quite different

-from Fokina or Karsavina?

-

-No other nation cares so much for racial beauty as the Russian. And

-in this it is essentially democratic. All Russian art is based on

-the peasant, and not on aristocratic ideals. It expresses this by

-being simple, direct, spontaneous and rugged. The greatest factor

-in separating the Russian ballet from the western, is the Russian

-folk-dance. It owes everything to folk-art. No outside influence

-has ever been able to change the Russian æsthetic taste. In art,

-particularly in the ballet, the peasant ideals force themselves upon

-all aristocratic and bureaucratic classes. Already as a youth he sucks

-from the atmosphere the innumerable forms of dance expression. In

-his blood lives unconsciously the whole choreographic code, as his

-ancestors have known and practised it for centuries. The design of a

-peasant is the æsthetic scale of a Russian artist, particularly of

-a dancer. Aristocratic ideals never amounted to anything in Russia.

-The fact is, the nobleman follows in matters of æsthetic taste the

-_moujik_, but never _vice versa_. The benefit of this has been that

-neither the court nor foreign academicism could influence the Russian

-art of dancing.

-

-Besides the racial motives, the question of scientific education has

-been a hobby with the Russian art pedagogues since the early part of

-the last century. The Russians are almost fanatic in this respect

-and have specialized their educational institutions to such a degree

-that they stand unique. The method of training the dancers in other

-countries was centred mainly in training the step technique and was, so

-to speak, purely choreographic. The Russians took into consideration

-all the arts that are related to dancing, and made a rule that all

-pupils in the dancing schools should have at least an elementary

-training in human anatomy, in sculpture, drama, architecture, painting,

-music and in general educational subjects. To know every branch of art

-correspondingly well--this made it necessary that children be educated

-in an institute from their childhood on. Thus the education for the

-Russian ballet is given in the two Imperial Ballet Schools, one in

-Petrograd, the other in Moscow, both being connected with the dramatic

-departments in which children are trained for the stage. The course

-in the school lasts eight years, with an extra one or two years’

-post-graduate practice at some opera stage, after which a graduate

-receives his ‘Free Artist’ degree which places him on an equal rank

-with the graduates of a college, university or musical conservatory.

-

-Marius Petipa, the director and leading spirit of the Petrograd ballet

-school, has, upon one occasion, said to the writer: ‘We employ the

-French, the Italian, the Danish and the Russian instructors in order

-to give the best of every school and style to our pupils. We teach

-things that no other school would teach. For instance, our pupils must

-know psychology, which is supposed to be unnecessary for a dancer. But

-I say, no. How can a girl personify the Snow Maiden when she does not

-know the psychology of a fairy? It’s ridiculous, you might think, as

-fairies are only legendary figures. But the very fact that they are

-imaginary makes it necessary for a girl to know how to avoid showing

-any human characteristics.

-

-‘The foreign schools do not care in what steps a dancer should express

-such subtle emotions as jealousy, longing, bliss and sorrow. Abroad

-they prescribe pirouettes for joy and happiness. They prescribe acting

-in this, dancing in that phrase. It is not so with us. We teach the

-pupil to see the various human emotions in historic sculpture and

-painting. We show them the attitudes of various celebrated actresses in

-this or that emotion. Then, we go back to psychology and leave it to

-the artist to formulate the position that he would occupy in various

-emotions. So you see psychology is very important to a dancer.

-

-‘Dancing is the cream of architecture and sculpture. We teach our

-future dancers to know the difference between architecture and

-sculpture and then between a dance and a dramatic pose, which are

-just as different as opera singing and concert singing. All our

-graduates must be accomplished dancers, actors, acrobats, architects

-and designers. We teach the difference between a Gothic and Byzantine

-line, a Moorish and Romanesque design. We have to analyze music and

-sculpture to their elementary parts in order to be able to show the

-manifold manifestations of the human soul, and the manifold forms of

-beauty. It is in this way that a dancer comes to know which step or

-gesture corresponds to the emotions of a Romanesque Italian, Gothic

-German or Byzantine Russian.

-

-‘I have been assailed by our critics and composers as being too

-strict in demanding technique from our dancers. But tell me, please,

-can any talent make a man an artist without technical ability, where

-mathematical laws are required as in dancing and in music? Can there

-ever be a Rubinstein, Paderewski or Kubelik without the acquired

-harmonic and melodic skill on the instrument which I call technique?

-Just as little chance has a man of being a great dancer if he does not

-possess the ability to control his body, though he be the greatest

-choreographic genius in the world. Art is technique plus talent. No

-great artist in dancing was ever produced without technique.

-

-‘Do you know what Lubke said in his immortal History of Sculpture, that

-applies also to a dancer? I am telling all my pupils when they leave

-the institution that, like sculptor in the clay, a dancer in himself

-must seek the “Image of God,” the spark of divine life. When he fails

-to find this in separate lines, poses, gestures, attitudes and mimic

-expressions, he must search for it in the whole, and, by thoughtful

-study and thinking, he will certainly attain the reflex of immortal

-beauty--the image of deity. This I call artistic creation. In sculpture

-as in dancing the divine and heroic are the aims of the artistic

-achievements. Without this striving after the divine spark nothing is

-produced but lifeless figures and dead forms. A dancer, like any other

-artist, should aspire after spirit-breathing beauty.’

-

-[Illustration: Pavlowa

-

-_a painting by John Lavery_]

-

-This briefly expresses the fundamental traditions of the Russian

-ballet school. To a certain extent it is academic, but it has never

-interfered with the racial and the individual tendencies of the

-artists. Though there are only three large independent ballet corps in

-Russia, those of Petrograd, Moscow, and Warsaw, yet nearly every one of

-the sixty or more provincial opera houses keeps its local ballet corps

-in connection with the operatic and dramatic staff. While in foreign

-countries ballet has been appreciated mainly as an accessory to the

-opera for its spectacular effects, its æsthetic appeal being regarded

-as not possessing a high order of merit, in Russia it is considered a

-great and independent art of the stage, standing on a plane with opera,

-both musically and dramatically. When a few years ago the Russian

-dancers made their appearance abroad the public was startled, as no one

-could imagine that any good thing could come out of Czardom. It is a

-great mistake to suppose that the Russian ballet is an aristocratic or

-autocratic institution. By no means. Like Russian drama and music the

-Russian ballet is a national institution and a national achievement.

-

-In how far the Russian ballet differs from her sister institutions

-outside is best to be seen in such old-fashioned ballets as _Les

-Sylphides_, which was danced by Taglioni, and is danced by the artists

-of the French-Italian schools and figures in the repertoires of the

-Russian ballet. Another work of similar nature is the _Coppélia_.

-Not only are these two time-worn ballets wholly changed in their

-thematic and musical sense but in the very form of conception. The

-Russian _Sylphides_ and _Coppélia_ are old scenes in modern light,

-the French-Italian _Sylphides_ and _Coppélia_ are pitiable museum

-shows. Where a French-Italian _ballerina_ would leap and whirl, a

-Russian acts and poses. Like the art of an actress that of a Russian

-_ballerina_ is in the first place a personification of the character

-in whose rôle she is dancing. Pavlova as she depicts the incomparable

-fury of Glazounoff’s _L’Autômne Bacchanale_, could not by any means

-be a Cleopatra as personified by Astafieva. Karsavina with all her

-dramatic thrill and _arabesques_ is a mediocrity in the rôles in which

-Pavlova excels. The dramatic issue is the foremost question in the

-Russian ballet, often to such an extent that it minimizes the musical

-significance. The most talented of the foreign ballet dancers do not

-begin to go into the dramatic details of a dance as the Russians do.

-

-To get an idea of the Russian ballet with all its true atmosphere one

-must go to Russia. The performances of the Diaghileff company which

-foreign audiences have seen, belong to the revolutionary school, but

-not to the typical classic dance of Russia, which we shall discuss

-later. The Russian ballet dancer is free from all the stiffness,

-decadent artificiality, preconceived emotions, and fossilized

-formalities of the French-Italian ballet dancers. This freedom he owes,

-in the first place, to the thorough training in the school; second,

-to the distinctly racial traditions of the Russian drama and art; and

-third, to the serious critical attitude of the audiences. To say that

-the Russian ballet has not travelled in ideals far from those of Milan

-in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, as a foreign dance

-critic has said, is untrue. The difference between these two schools is

-just as real as that between the Catholic and the Protestant church:

-the one believes in the form, the other in the spirit.

-

-

-II

-

-How much the Russian ballet has influenced drama, opera, painting and

-music can be judged from the fact that almost without an exception all

-the Russian operas require dancing; thus there are several dramas and

-orchestra works interwoven with the ballet. On the other hand the

-dancer has made use of themes and compositions that had been created

-for other purposes; for all such ballets as the _Scheherezade_,

-_Prince Igor_, _Baba Yaga_ and many others, were written as orchestral

-suites, symphonic poems or parts of operas. But the choric imagination

-discovered in them latent music dramas adapted for dancing. We are

-inclined to think that the Moscow ballet, but not that of Petrograd,

-is a thoroughly Russian institution, since Begutcheff, who was a

-director of the Moscow Opera and Ballet at the time of Tschaikowsky and

-Ostrowsky, banished all foreign influence from that stage, more so than

-has ever happened in Petrograd.

-

-In 1873 Begutcheff asked Ostrowsky, one of the foremost Russian

-dramatists, to write a fairy ballet for performance at the Imperial

-Opera in St. Petersburg, exacting that it should be free from any

-satirical or politically undesirable element. Begutcheff asked the

-dramatist to submit the scenario to him for approval. Ostrowsky was

-noted for his bitter sarcasm anent the Russian bureaucracy and for

-his idealization of the peasants. This he was told he should avoid in

-the ballet, ‘for such would be not pleasing to the imperial family.’

-Ostrowsky smiled, grunting: ‘God be thanked, the imperial family

-has no business to interfere with the imagination of an artist.’ He

-finished his libretto without consulting Begutcheff and entitled

-it _Snegourotchka_--‘Snow Maiden.’ The director of the Petrograd

-ballet did not like Ostrowsky’s libretto and refused to consider it.

-Begutcheff, however, turned the libretto over to Tschaikowsky to

-compose the music and it was performed with great success in Moscow.

-

-One of the special features of the Russian ballet is its _chorovody_

-character--that is, the musical accompaniment, on many occasions,

-is supplied by the singing of the dancers themselves. This species

-of vocal ballets evidently originated in the choral dances of

-the peasants. The Russian ballet is, in fact, an outgrowth of the

-folk-dance just as Russian music emanates from the folk-song. While

-watching the Russian ballet, you see glimpses of the racial traits.

-It is not like the music, however, a picture of the gloom of lonely

-_moujik_ life, in which only here and there a beam of light breaks

-through the melancholy. It is a succession of brilliant pictures of the

-mediæval Boyars, the semi-barbaric nobility. Every part of the ballet

-is meant to show the rich Byzantine colors, and primitive passions as

-set forth in a half-civilized garb.

-

-It is true the Russian ballet is controlled by the court and therefore

-is forced to be aristocratic in appearance. The composers and the

-ballet-masters have been strictly instructed to avoid all undesirable

-themes; but, strange to say, the ballet is just as much a mirror of

-the hospitable, good natured, naïve and emotional peasant as it is of

-a spoiled Boyar. It is not that all the ballet dancers are children of

-peasants, educated for the stage by the court, but because the Russian

-dramatists and composers have unconsciously put their own _moujik_

-souls in their creations, for, though most of the Russian composers and

-dramatists are descendants of the aristocracy, yet in their hearts they

-have remained one with the people, whose life they live in thought and

-feeling.

-

-In its principles the ballet is the most aristocratic and the oldest of

-all Russian arts of the stage. The unwritten history of the enchanting

-Russian dance would make a thrilling record of more than two centuries.

-The romances, tragedies, mysteries, and intrigues connected with this

-sealed drama have often played a decisive rôle in the affairs of the

-country. As the result of a romance with pretty Teleshova Griboyedoff,

-a famous Russian dramatist was killed in Teheran. For having dedicated

-his ‘Eugene Onyegin’ to the fascinating Istomina, prima _ballerina_ of

-the Imperial Opera, Poushkin, the poet, lost the love of his wife and

-was subsequently shot in a duel. The Czar Paul fell in love with Eugeny

-Kolossova and in consequence was strangled at his palace in Petrograd.

-Before the present Czar ascended the throne he was said to have been so

-much in love with Mathilda Kshesinskaya that he made plans to renounce

-his throne and marry her.

-

-The ballet was introduced in Russia as early as 1672. Czar Alexis

-Mihailowitch ordered his aid-de-camp, Colonel Van Staden, to have a

-troupe of Dutch comedians brought to Moscow. Van Staden made a contract

-with a ballet manager in Brussels, but the foreigner was frightened

-into giving up the venture because of a rumor that he and his troupe

-might eventually land in Siberia. After this a German pastor, the

-Rev. Johann Gregory, undertook the management of the troupe, hiring

-sixty-four German and Italian dancers and producing in 1673 the first

-ballet, ‘Orpheus and Euridice,’ with great success. Peter the Great was

-so fascinated with the ballet that he himself took part and for this

-purpose received lessons from the ballet-master.

-

-The ballet of this time was, of course, Italian-French in conception

-and music. But the early foreign masters soon produced a school of

-native instructors who gradually made use of the peculiarities of

-national dances. Many Russian ballets were already at this time of

-national color, one of them, _Baba Yaga_, having been written by the

-Czar himself. _Baba Yaga_ is a Russian fairy tale. Like the English

-‘Witch on a Broomstick,’ _Baba Yaga_ rides through the sky on a huge

-mortar, propelling herself with a pestle, while her great tongue licks

-up the clouds as she passes. The dancers were trained in various

-military or municipal schools and the teaching was unsystematic in

-every respect.

-

-The first impetus to a national dancing academy was given by Empress

-Anna Ivanovna, the sister of Peter the Great, who felt that the

-education of the dancers was not systematic enough, and regretted

-that the best dancers had to be hired from abroad. In 1735, she asked

-Christian Wellmann, a teacher of gymnastics in the Cadet Corps, to

-found a dramatic dancing school in which girls and boys could be

-educated for the ballet. The Italian composer Francesca Areja was

-employed to take care of the music, while Lande, a pupil of Noverre,

-was to act as ballet director. As the newly formed school could not

-get children of the nobility to learn dancing, Lande trained a number

-of poor city boys and girls free of any charge, and with them gave

-a performance at the palace. The Empress was so pleased with their

-dance that she instructed that the pupils be educated in the Imperial

-Dramatic Dancing School free of charge.

-

-

-III

-

-The most conspicuous figures in the development of the early Russian

-ballet were Locatelli, Hilferding and Lessogoroff. To the latter’s

-efforts are due the reforms that made the Russian school independent

-from French-Italian influences. But to Charles Louis Didelot is due

-the thorough and many sided system of training that makes the School a

-unique institution in Europe. He may be considered the real father of

-all the pedagogic technical perfection, for it was he who emphasized

-the importance of a systematic training in a true dramatic spirit,

-contending that a good ballet dancer should also be a good actress and

-an artist and a poet at heart. Up to his time lessons had consisted

-mostly of physical training, fencing and gymnastics, but he insisted

-that the ballet be put on the same basis as drama. Whereas the dance

-had been merely a spectacular part of opera he intended that it should

-become an independent production. This brought upon him a storm of

-indignation on the part of the clergy and their supporters, the quarrel

-becoming so intense that in 1801, as one of its effects, the Czar Paul

-was acclaimed a heretic and was combatted by the ecclesiastic powers

-until he was strangled in his palace and his son, Alexander I, ascended

-the throne. The young Czar was religious, but so much an admirer of the

-ballet that he did not interfere with the plans of Didelot and gave him

-a still greater authority.

-

-It is strange how Didelot, a rather small, insignificant, pock-marked

-and deformed Frenchman, who had been for some time a ballet teacher

-in Stockholm, could play a dominating rôle during the twenty-five

-years that he was director of the Imperial Ballet School. The best

-known dancers of his school were Istomina, Teleshova and the uncle of

-Taglioni, who later undertook the training of Maria Taglioni. Miss

-Novitzkaya was a celebrated pupil of Didelot, but her career was soon

-destroyed by an affair of the heart. Gedeonoff, the director who

-followed Didelot, fell madly in love with Novitzkaya and proposed

-to her, but the dancer, having given her heart to a poor composer,

-remained true to him and became his wife. This was the end of her art,

-though critics claimed her superior to Taglioni and Elssler.

-

-By 1847 the Russian ballet had taken a leading place in Europe, but

-in a purely artistic sense it was still foreign in character, the

-librettos being built mainly on foreign themes or constructed to

-foreign music. With the advent of the composers Glinka, Dargomijsky,

-Seroff, Balakireff and Moussorgsky, it was evident that ballet faced a

-reform similar to that which music had undergone. The ballets of the

-old school had usually been divided into several acts and figures,

-each of which had _entrées_ and strictly prescribed rules for using

-various gestures, steps, etc., in certain places. They, however,

-failed to define the relation of emotion and acting to the plot and

-made dancing a complicated artificial salon-plant. An uninitiated logic

-could hardly grasp the hieroglyphic meaning of all the queer gymnastic

-tricks. With the engagement of Marius Petipa, in 1849, there came a

-change. Although a Frenchman by birth Petipa was just such a reformer

-in the ballet as Michelangelo was in sculpture. More powerful than any

-other master, he entered the sphere of choreographic art, transforming

-it completely, and assigning it new limits. Petipa was the master

-of a new ballet, an idealist in the strictest sense of the word. He

-sought for a universally available expression, and often even ignored

-questions of racial beauty. He gave himself up for many years to an

-anatomical study of the dance and the human body. By him the human form

-in all its majesty was valued for its own sake. To exhibit it in all

-conceivable attitudes and poses, to display it freely and grandly after

-the principles of classic beauty, was the aim of his endeavor. The weak

-decadent movements and the forced forms of the Paris and Milan schools

-were irritable to his broad views of the art of dancing. Unfettered

-subjectivity prevailed in his efforts, which admitted no objective

-realism in their absolute sway. All his method betrays an eternal

-struggle to introduce into dancing the most sublime ideas, the sway

-of idea over form. Whether a figure was natural or not interested him

-little, if it only expressed what was floating before his mind. Petipa

-infused a new life into Russian ballet. Nevertheless he could not

-wholly free himself from the mannerism of the time, nor could he yet

-find the path to perfect purity and naïveté of conception.

-

-Petipa surrounded himself with the best dance authorities of the

-time. Felix Kshesinsky, Leggatt, Schirjajeff and Bekeffy became his

-associates in the task he had undertaken. Coöperating in harmony and

-inspired by the new tendency of nationalism in music and drama, they

-made the ballet typically national by introducing a long repertoire

-of national themes in the dance. With pretty Kshesinskaya, Bogdanova,

-Breobrashenskaya, Sokolova, Pavlova, Karsavina, Lopokova and Fokina

-as the _prima ballerinas_ many new ballets became thrilling novelties

-to the Russian audiences. The ballet in the eyes of the Petipa school

-became a mute drama with music, and at once took a high position

-artistically and poetically. People grew to find the ballet far more

-alluring than the pessimistic drama.

-

-What Petipa did pedagogically for the uplifting of the Russian ballet,

-Vsevoloshky did scenically and industrially. Vsevoloshky made himself

-the spirit of the nationalistic movement by combining with the purely

-choreographic part the creations of the new school of painters and

-composers in a highly artistic manner. Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky,

-Rimsky-Korsakoff, Arensky and Glazounoff in music, Bilibin, Benois and

-Bakst in painting, contributed their best works to the ballet. On the

-other hand, while the West European ballets cared little for training

-the male dancers, the Russians laid a special stress on training an

-equal number of boys with the girls in all their ballet schools. The

-training of a boy is different from that of a girl in that it teaches

-chiefly those traits that lend virility and strength to expression. A

-weak masculine element deprives the ballet of its natural effect. A

-Pavlova, Karsavina or Fokina without a Nijinsky, Mordkin or Volinin,

-would be like an orchestra without the bass. How repulsive it is to see

-the ‘boy’ dancer of the English stage, who is always a girl!

-

-

-IV

-

-The most typical of the early purely Russian native ballets was the

-_Snegourotchka_--‘The Snow Maiden’--which was first performed in

-1876 in Moscow. Tschaikowsky took for his musical themes half a dozen

-folk-songs from Brokunin’s collection, and a few from the lips of the

-village people near Kieff. This ballet has been of the greatest success

-on the Russian stage thus far. This is musically and choreographically

-a dramatized fairy tale. The Snow Maiden is the issue of the union of

-the gladsome fairy, Spring, with the grim old geni, Winter. The father

-jealously guards her from the courting Sun-God, who is eager to pour

-upon her his scorching and destructive rays. Winter would like to

-keep her in the forest, but the mother, proud of her child’s beauty,

-wants to send her into the busy world to charm its inhabitants. After

-a serious conflict of the parents the father yields. The girl feels

-the strange emotions of love and trembles, singing a thrilling melody.

-She wanders from village to village in search of a lover, but her

-numerous admirers are unable to stir her heart, because snow circulates

-through her veins. She realizes that she is void of real passion.

-Spring appears to her and endows her with the tenderness of a lily, the

-languor of a poppy and the desire of a rose. The Snow Maiden’s heart

-is touched at last, but in the moment when she wishes to fall on her

-lover’s neck a brilliant sun ray pours its Summer heat on her. She

-dissolves in vapor and floats into the skies.

-

-The score is wholly Russian in mood and color. The dramatic treatment

-of the subject is the best that Tschaikowsky has ever done. The

-Snow Maiden’s theme is very sad and beautiful in the last movement.

-The pantomime and steps are excellent, and seem to melt into one

-magic whole. Tschaikowsky, with his peculiar genius for evolving

-floating, curving dance rhythms and his remarkable gift for lyrical

-characterization, made ‘The Snow Maiden’ a great success.

-

-Of less success was Tschaikowsky’s second ballet, ‘Swan Lake,’ though

-it has been in recent years a favorite ballet with the Petrograd

-audiences. Like the first, it was built on a fairy tale and an old

-folk legend theme. It was performed in 1876. Another ballet full of

-imaginary episodes and pretty music is ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ The

-finest pages of this score are found in the _Adagio misterioso_,

-describing the sleep of the princess. But choreographically the best

-part is the _Pas d’action_, in which the _prima ballerina_ seems to

-melt into one audio-visible beauty that thrills the utmost depths of

-the soul. The ‘Nut Cracker’ has had less success than the others,

-yet it is a magnificent work of art. It probably lacks the feminine

-sentimentality that is always sure of a stage success.

-

-To our knowledge none of Tschaikowsky’s ballets has been given in

-America. Whether the Diaghileff company ever gave any of them in

-Paris and London, we have been unable to learn. The Russian ballets

-that the foreign audiences have thus far seen abroad, are nearly

-without exception musical patch-works. Neither the Rimsky-Korsakoff

-_Scheherezade_ nor _Prince Igor_ nor _Cleopatra_ was ever written for

-dancing. The _Scheherezade_, for instance, is an orchestral suite of

-Rimsky-Korsakoff. He never meant it for a ballet. Of all the real

-ballets that the Diaghileff troupe has given only those composed by

-Stravinsky and a few by Tcherepnin are meant to be danced.

-

-Among the best Russian ballet dancers of the strictly classic or, as we

-should say, of the Petipa school, are Kshesinskaya, Breobrashenskaya,

-Geltzer, Pavlova, Mordkin, Novikoff, Volinin, Kyasht and Lopokova,

-most of whom are known abroad. But there are quite a number of Russian

-_prima ballerinas_, who, for some reason or other, have not been able

-to display their art abroad, yet who rival the best we know. As with

-other artists, dancers all have their individual traits of superiority

-and weakness. In some dances we have seen Kshesinskaya superior to all

-the rest, in other rôles she is just a mediocrity. We can imagine

-nothing more inspiring and beautiful than Pavlova and Mordkin in

-Glazounoff’s _L’Autômne Bacchanale_. No Russian ballet dancers have

-surpassed them in this. In the same way we consider Pavlova a goddess

-of grace and beauty in Drigo’s _Papillon_ and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’

-We measure her one of the most lyric artists of the Russian classic

-ballet.

-

-Mme. Pavlova is a graduate of the Petrograd Ballet School and was for

-years a _prima ballerina_ at the Mariensky Theatre in that city before

-she made a tour to Riga, Warsaw and Helsingfors. Having been received

-with greatest enthusiasm on her provincial tour she decided to try her

-luck abroad and made her London début in 1910, where she immediately

-had the city at her feet. It is only in recent years that Pavlova

-has danced in her own regular ballet, whereas before she appeared

-exclusively in solo dances, either with Mordkin, Novikoff or Volinin.

-In our judgment she has not added anything to her reputation or success

-by her patchy ballet, particularly in America, where the public is

-least impressed by pantomimic art of the kind they can see with more

-advantage in the moving-picture show. It is Pavlova’s art that the

-people admire, not the ballets that are concocted for her. It must be

-said that the ballets recently produced by her possess little dramatic

-or choreographic appeal.

-

-In questions pertaining to her dancing Pavlova has been broad and

-tolerant, and has listened quietly to every eulogistic or critical

-remark. She has not remained indifferent to the latest choreographic

-movements but has adapted herself to many suggestions, particularly to

-those of the movement of the naturalistic school of Isadora Duncan. In

-spite of the growing influence of the revolutionary new ballet of the

-Fokine-Diaghileff group, and while keeping in view the changing taste

-and requirements of the public, Pavlova should, we believe, guard

-against too great a compromise. She surpasses in her magic swiftness,

-delicacy, bird-like agility, floating grace and lyric pirouettes all

-her living rivals. One can see that she has tuned her body to the most

-delicate _pianissimi_ and the most powerful _forti_. But when she

-attempts to use her arms too conspicuously, or produce Greek poses,

-she is a disappointing failure. We must admit with an English critic

-that ‘in Pavlova’s dancing we are no longer aware of the conscious and

-painful obedience of the body to the dictates of a governing mind. It

-is as though the spirit itself had left its central citadel and, by

-some unwonted alchemy becoming dissolved in the blood and fibres of her

-being, had penetrated to the extremities of the limbs. Soul from body

-is no longer distinguishable, and which is servant to the other none

-can tell.’

-

-Mordkin and Volinin stand by no means beyond the dynamic beauty of

-Pavlova. In their virilly graceful gestures and poses lies something

-heroic and strong, something beast-like in its beauty. Mordkin perhaps

-more than Volinin is endowed with a robust, massive and splendid

-physique, qualities which leave some of his less critical admirers

-blind to the deficiencies of his art. Both dancers have acquired most

-of their pliancy and manliness by a course of systematic and rigorous

-training which gives to their dance an unusual _abandon_ and loftiness.

-Their dancing has a tendency to give a semblance of repose to their

-quickest motions. They seem to avoid the conventional whirls and pivots

-with intention, and to prefer the lion-like leaps and _chassées_. Their

-reckless swing in _L’Autômne Bacchanale_ is just as much an expression

-of manly vigor as Pavlova’s _pirouette_ and _rond de jambe_ is one of

-feminine grace.

-

-The ranks of the Russian ballet dancers are of a peculiar bureaucratic

-order, beginning with the simple _danseuse_ and ending with the _prima

-ballerina_, which is a rank similar in the hierarchy to that of a full

-general. Lydia Kyasht, for instance, is a lieutenant in her rank of

-_première sujet_. Pavlova and Karsavina are _ballerinas_, while only

-Kshesinskaya and Breobrashenskaya are _prima ballerinas_. Among the

-Russian dancers known abroad, Lydia Kyasht and Lydia Lopokova are next

-to Pavlova brilliant exponents of the Russian classic or so called ‘Old

-Ballet.’ They have both impressed us as sincere and eloquent artists

-of their school, the one romantic, the other extremely poetic. The

-ethereal twists and glides of Lopokova surpass by far those of Pavlova

-in their peculiar fairy-like lines and poses. Kyasht appeals to us

-immensely on account of her absolutely classic plastic and enchanting

-poses, which add an exotic air to her enchanting expressions.

-

-In introducing Pavlova, Mordkin and other more or less prominent

-exponents of the Russian classic ballet to America and England Max

-Rabinoff has been the practical spirit behind the scenes. An authority

-on the dance, Mr. Rabinoff had the conviction, even when the Russian

-dancers were yet unknown in America, that they would ultimately triumph

-as they did. To his persistent efforts the Russian ballet owes its

-success in America.

-

-The classic Russian ballet is a pure Byzantine piece of stage art.

-It mirrors the bizarre glow and colors of the cathedrals, the mystic

-romanticism of the Kremlin walls and cupolas, the Tartar minarets, the

-vaulted _teremas_ (Boyar houses), the lonely steppes, the gloomy penal

-colonies, the luxurious palaces and twisted towers of a semi-Oriental

-country. Strongly replete with the character of the passing Boyar life,

-it is an era in itself.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XV

-

-THE ERA OF DEGENERATION

-

-  Nineteenth century decadence; sensationalism--Loie Fuller and the

-  Serpentine dance--Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.

-

-

-During the last half of the nineteenth century the art of dancing

-reached such a low level that Max Nordau said: ‘It is a fleeting

-pastime for women and youths, and later on its last atavistic survival

-will be the dancing of children.’ An English writer of that time wrote

-aptly: ‘In these days of culture, when the public mind is being trained

-to perceive and appreciate whatever is lovely in nature and art, when

-music is universally studied, when there is ample evidence of general

-improvement in taste and design in our streets, our buildings, on the

-walls and in the furniture of our homes, is it not strange that a

-single art, one which was in classic times deemed worthy to rank with

-poetry and painting--the art of dancing--has degenerated to such an

-extent that its practice, as frequently exhibited both in public and

-in private, is a positive disgrace to the age? This is no exaggerated

-statement. It is one which I think any competent critic is hardly

-likely to deny.’

-

-The Skirt Dance, the Serpentine Dance, the High Kickers, the Nude

-Bayaderes were the sensations of the day. Here Lottie Collins, there

-Loie Fuller, now Letti Lind, then again Connie Gilchrist, figured as

-the greatest dance attractions of the day. London blamed Paris, Paris

-blamed New York. How much the craze for such an art had cast its spell

-on the public of that period is best illustrated by the immense sums

-of money that the theatrical managers paid for their shows. The gross

-receipts during one season in New York of ‘Humpty Dumpty,’ a celebrated

-ballet of that time, amounted to $1,406,000. It brought in a similar

-sum, if not more, outside.

-

-

-I

-

-A brilliant star of the sensational school of dancing was Loie Fuller,

-of Chicago. She made her New York début in ‘Jack Sheppard,’ with a

-salary of seventy-five dollars a week. While rehearsing a new play,

-she received from an English officer a present of an extremely fine

-Oriental robe that floated gracefully in the air. This gave her the

-idea of using it for her dancing. While making some experiments before

-the mirror, she noticed the effects brought about by the then newly

-invented electric light. She tried innumerable variations of poses

-and all were delightful. This was the birth process of the Serpentine

-Dance. J. E. Crawford Flitch writes of the incident:

-

-‘The invention of the Serpentine Dance coincided with the discovery

-of electricity as a method of lighting the stage. Until that time gas

-alone had been used. Loie Fuller immediately saw the possibilities of

-the new scientific illumination, and with the aid of a few friends

-she devised a means by which the effect of the vivid sunshine could

-be obtained through the use of powerful electric lights placed in

-front of reflectors. Then various experiments with color were tried;

-for the white light of electricity were substituted different shades

-of reds, greens, purples, yellows, blues, by the combinations of

-which innumerable and wonderful rainbow-like effects of color were

-obtained. Played upon by the multitudinous hues, the diaphanous silk

-gave an impression of startling originality and beauty. Coming at the

-time when the artistic lighting of the stage was scarcely studied at

-all, the riot of color created a sensation. Nothing like it had been

-seen before. The old-fashioned limelight, the flickering gas-jets,

-the smoking red and blue flames dear to the Christmas pantomime,

-paled before this discovery of science which apparently possessed

-inexhaustible possibilities of a stage illuminant.’

-

-Loie Fuller made a sensation in America, particularly in New York and

-Chicago. But her success was much greater when she gave spectacular

-performances to the morbid Berlin, Paris and London audiences. Her

-début at Folies Bergères was more than a triumph. She became the rage

-of France. The management of the Folies Bergères engaged her for three

-years at a salary of one thousand dollars a week. How greatly ‘_La

-Loie_,’ as she was called in Paris, impressed the French audiences is

-best to be seen in what one of the French critics writes of her: ‘We

-shall not easily forget the Serpentine Dance, undulating and luminous,

-full of weird grace and originality, a veritable revelation! By means

-of a novel contrivance, the gauzy iridescent draperies in which Loie

-Fuller swathes herself were waved about her, now to form huge wings,

-now to surge in great clouds of gold, blue, or crimson, under the

-colored rays of the electric light. And in the flood of this dazzling

-or pallid light the form of the dancer suddenly became incandescent,

-or moved slowly and spectrally in the diaphanous and ever-changing

-coloration cast upon it. The spectator never wearied of watching the

-transformations of these tissues of living light, which showed in

-successive visions the dreamy dancer, moving languidly in a chaos of

-figured draperies--in a rainbow of brilliant colors or a sea of vivid

-flames. And after having roused us to a pitch of enthusiasm by this

-luminous choreography, she appeared triumphant in the pantomime-ballet

-_Salome_, reproducing the gloomy episode of the death of John the

-Baptist.’

-

-Among the dances that Loie Fuller had in her repertoire, besides

-the Serpentine Dance, were the Rainbow Dance, the Flower Dance,

-the Butterfly Dance, the Mirror Dance, and the Fire Dance. It is

-only natural that all her dances of this kind made necessary a vast

-paraphernalia of accessories and an army of assistants. The Fire Dance

-she performed in the centre of a darkened stage before an opening

-in the floor through which a powerful electric reflector threw up

-intensely brilliant rays. None of her dances had any classified steps,

-any poses, gestures of the kind employed by dancers of various other

-schools and different ages. The function of the limbs and arms was

-merely to put veils and draperies into motion.

-

-

-II

-

-Of somewhat the same class were the entertainments given by Louise

-Weber or ‘La Goulu,’ another American girl of the type of Loie Fuller.

-Occasionally she exhibited some skill in her kicking scenes. It is

-said that she never made pretension to rhythm and grace. Her ‘art’ was

-a negation of every beauty. It was a frenzied delirious gymnastic.

-An American critic says that her legs were agitated like those of

-a marionette, they pawed the air, jerked out in the manner of a

-pump-handle, and menaced the hats of the spectators.

-

-Lottie Collins was a favorite of the English, French and American

-audiences, though she was little more than a jumper of a new style.

-The watchword of the ballet _habitués_ of this time was novelty at

-any price. It is extremely amusing to read a Kansas City criticism of

-Miss Collins’ performance in that city: ‘Lottie Collins has the stage

-all to herself and she bounces and dances and races all over it in the

-most reckless and irresponsible way, precisely as if she were a happy

-child so full of health and spirits that she couldn’t keep still if

-she wanted to. Sometimes she simply runs headlong all the way round

-the stage, finishing the lap with perhaps a swift whirl or two, or a

-whisk and kick. Sometimes she simply jumps and bounces, and sometimes

-she doubles up like a pen-knife with the suddenness of a springlock to

-emphasize the “boom.” She is invariably in motion except when she stops

-to chant the gibberish that passes for verses, but the wonder is that

-she has breath enough to sing after the first cyclonic interlude.’

-

-Still more debased were the performances of Olga Desmond, Villiani

-and others, who made erotic gestures and nude dances a fad of many

-European capitals. The argument of these dancers was that dancing,

-like sculpture, is predominantly an art of nudes. Only the naked body

-could show the perfect plastic lines and graceful poses. They strove

-to dance slow music, sonatas and symphonic poems, in order to display

-the effects of certain pretty poses and arabesques. They put a special

-stress upon the rhythm, but their interpretation was morbidly perverse.

-

-The best figure of this decadent school of dancing was Kate Vaughan,

-who strove to follow the style and manners of Taglioni’s dance. But the

-sensation and novelty-loving public of England found her art too tame

-and old-fashioned, so she died in poverty and broken health in South

-Africa. Mr. Crawford Flitch says of her: ‘Although of course she never

-reached the perfection of her predecessor [Taglioni], 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 steps. She danced not

-only with her feet, but with every limb of her frail body. She depended

-not merely upon the manipulation of the skirt for her effect, but upon

-her facility of balance and the skillful use of arms and hands. Her

-andante movements in particular were a glorious union of majesty and

-grace. It is true that she condescended at times to introduce into her

-dance some of those hideous steps which vulgarized the dancing of the

-period--in particular that known as the “high kick”; but even this

-unpleasant step she accomplished with a certain sense of elegance and

-refinement which disguised its essential ugliness and suggestion of

-contortion. She danced with a distinct inspiration, and upon her style

-was built up all that was best in the dancing of her time.’

-

-This new dance hysteria seemed to be of an epidemic nature. The

-vogue for crude and sensational dances held the whole western world

-for nearly half a century in its iron grip. With the exception of

-Scandinavia and Russia, all Europe and America were affected by a

-decadent dance taste. Novelty was reckoned far superior to beauty.

-Cleverness was placed high above talent and genius. It was seemingly a

-prelude to a subsequent effeminacy that was to spread over Occidental

-art and life.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVI

-

-THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING

-

-  The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan--Duncan’s influence: Maud

-  Allan; Duncan’s German followers--Modern music and the dance; the

-  Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’--Pictorial nationalism:

-  Ruth St. Denis--Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the

-  naturalistic idea.

-

-

-I

-

-During the last part of the past and the beginning of the present

-century, when the outside world was ignorant of the existence of the

-Russian ballet, circles of more serious-minded students of art began to

-voice protest against the cult of skirt and fire dancers, jongleurs and

-kickers, and the time was ripe for any movement that would bring relief

-from the prevailing deterioration of such a noble art as dancing. Even

-the general public grew bored of acrobatic performances and as during

-every period of decadence ‘there were a few teachers who consistently

-resolved to impart to their pupils only what was good and beautiful

-in dancing, whose voices, feeble as they sounded, were nevertheless

-strong enough to carry weight and rescue their art from the deplorable

-condition into which it had for the time fallen,’ as a dancing critic

-of that time aptly writes. One of the most ardent advocates of a new

-classic art of dancing during this time was Mrs. Richard Hovey. In

-all her teaching and preaching Mrs. Hovey based the principles of the

-prospective style upon the plastic art of the ancient Greeks. She made

-a vigorous propaganda for this in New York, Boston and California.

-Whether directly or indirectly Miss Isadora Duncan, who had been

-interested in initiating a reform of human life in its least details

-of costume, of hygiene and of morals, felt the impulse of Mrs. Hovey’s

-propaganda and joined the worthy movement.

-

-The fundamental principle of Mrs. Hovey’s propaganda was the return

-to nature. According to the theory of this new movement, dancing was

-declared an expression of nature. Water, wind, birds and all forces

-of nature are subject to a law of rhythm and gravity. Not the tricky,

-broken lines, spinning whirls and toe gymnastics, but soft, curved

-undulations of nature, are close to Mother Earth. Thus also man in

-his normal life and savage state, moved rather in slow curves than in

-quick broken lines. This, briefly, was the principal argument of the

-few reformers who inspired Miss Duncan. Already Noverre and Petipa had

-emphasized the fact that ancient Greek sculpture and Greek designs gave

-the best ideas of graceful lines and pleasing human forms. But the

-votaries of the new school explained that in a return to the natural

-gesture of human life Greek art was the only logical criterion. Miss

-Duncan in her essay, ‘The Dance,’ says:

-

-‘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 dancer. It is

-from nature alone that the dancer must draw his inspirations, in the

-same manner as the sculptor, with whom he has so many affinities. Rodin

-has said: “To produce good sculpture it is not necessary to copy the

-works of antiquity; it is necessary first of all to regard the works of

-nature, and to see in those of the classics only the method by which

-they have interpreted nature.” Rodin is right; and in my art I have

-by no means copied, as has been supposed, the figures of Greek vases,

-friezes and paintings. From them I have learned to regard nature, and

-when certain of my movements recall the gestures that are seen in works

-of art, it is only because, like them, they are drawn from the grand

-natural source.

-

-‘My inspiration has been drawn from trees, from waves, from clouds,

-from the sympathies that exist between passion and the storm, between

-gentleness and the soft breeze, and the like, and I always endeavor to

-put into my movements a little of that divine continuity which gives to

-the whole of nature its beauty and its life.’

-

-Thus Miss Duncan started her career by interpreting natural qualities

-by means of natural movements. ‘I have closely studied the figured

-documents of all ages and of all the great masters, but 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 head. These

-ugly and false positions in no way express that state of unconscious

-Dionysiac delirium which is necessary to the dancer. Moreover,

-movements, just like harmonies in music, are not invented; they are

-discovered,’ writes Miss Duncan. To her the only mode of dancing is

-barefoot. According to her ‘the dancer must choose above all the

-movements which express the strength, the health, the grace, the

-nobility, the languor or the gravity of living things.’ Gravity to Miss

-Duncan is natural and right. A ballet dancer, a Pavlova, Nijinsky and

-Karsavina, eager to defy the laws of gravity, is to her a freak.

-

-Prince Serge Volkhonsky, who has been a conspicuous figure in the

-Russian dance reform-movement, writes of Miss Duncan’s school in

-comparison with that of Jacques-Dalcroze: ‘Her dance is a result

-of personal temperament, his movements are the result of music;

-she draws from herself, he draws from rhythm; her psychological

-basis is subjective; his rhythmical basis is objective; and, in

-order to characterize her in a few words, I may say Isadora is the

-dancing “ego.” This subjective psychological basis of Isadora’s

-art I find clearly emphasized by Mr. Levinsohn’s words: “The

-images or moods (_Stimmungen_) created in our mind by the rational

-element--music--cannot be identical with every one, and therefore

-cannot be compulsory. Just in that dissimilitude of moods and

-uncompulsoriness of images resides the best criterion for the

-appreciation of Isadora Duncan as a founder of a system. Her dance

-is precisely not a system, cannot found what is called a ‘school’;

-it needs another similar ‘ego’ to repeat her. And according to this

-it seems quite incomprehensible that some people should see in Miss

-Duncan’s art ‘a possibility for all of us being beautiful.’ No, not at

-all for all of us; for not every temperament, while embodying ‘images

-or moods’ called forth by music, will necessarily create something

-beautiful; one cannot raise the exceptional into rule. In order to be

-certain of creating something beautiful, no matter whether in the moral

-or the æsthetical domain, it is not in ourselves that we shall find

-the law, but in subjecting ourselves to another principle which lives

-outside of ourselves. For the plastic (choreographic), this principle

-is Music. It is not instinct expressing itself under the influence

-of music--which with every man is different, and only in few chosen

-natures beautiful in itself--but the rhythm of music, which in every

-given composition is an unchangeable element subjecting our ‘ego.’

-This is the basis of living plastic art. And in this respect Isadora’s

-art satisfies the double exigencies of the visible and the audible art

-as little as the ballet. Her arms are certainly more rhythmical than

-her legs, but as a whole we cannot call her rhythmical in the strict

-sense of the word, and this appears especially in the slow movements:

-her walk, so to speak, does not keep step with music; she often steps

-on the weak part of the bar and often between the notes. In general

-it is in the examples of slow tempo that the insufficiency of the

-principle may be observed. The slower a tempo the more she ‘mimics,’

-and the farther, therefore, she strays from the music. If we look at

-the impression on the spectators we shall see that all in the paces of

-the quick tempos the movement must enter into closer connection with

-the music; in cases of very minute divisions of the bar the simple

-coincidence of the step with the first ‘heavy’ part already produces a

-repeated design which makes ear and eye meet in one common perception.

-If the representatives of that particular kind of dance were to realize

-this they would endeavor to introduce into slow tempos the rhythmical

-element instead of the mimic, which leads them out of the music and

-converts the dance into a sort of acting during the music, a sort of

-plastic melo-declamation.”’

-

-These critics have pointed out the subjective nature of Miss Duncan’s

-dance and her impatience of rules and formal technique. They believe

-that because of these two qualities of her art it cannot be repeated,

-except by ‘another similar ego.’ But as if in direct answer to these

-charges come Miss Duncan’s pupils. They are by no means highly selected

-material or ‘similar egos,’ but each (among the more mature pupils)

-is a beautiful and individual dancer. To each she has transmitted her

-spirit; in each she has preserved the native personality. They are

-the best evidence thus far obtained of the truth of Miss Duncan’s

-dictum of the ‘possibility for all of us being beautiful.’ Moreover we

-must not suppose that Miss Duncan’s contempt for _formal_ technique

-is a contempt for technical ability. She herself is a marvellously

-plastic and exact dancer, and she demands, ultimately, no less of

-her pupils. The limited range of her technique, so often complained

-of, is the deliberate result of her belief that the only movements

-proper to the dance are the _natural_ movements of the human body.

-She stakes the success of her art upon the proposition that these

-movements alone are capable of the highest absolute and interpretive

-beauty. As to the truth of this proposition each observer must judge

-for himself from the results. Again, Miss Duncan does not always ‘dance

-the music’ literally, note for note, according to the theory of the

-Jacques-Dalcroze system. Her interpretation is frankly emotional and

-subjective, but it does not pretend to transcend the music.

-

-In further justice to her efforts we should consider Isadora Duncan

-as much a prophet of a new movement, as a dancer of a new school. Her

-influence has been more far-reaching in Russia than anywhere else.

-She practically brought about a serious revolution among the Russian

-dancers, of whom we shall speak in another chapter. She influenced

-the art of dancing in Germany, France, Italy and England. She was the

-striking contrast to all the deteriorated stage dances of the early

-twentieth century in America. She has given a powerful impulse to all

-dance reforms by counteracting the academic and time-worn views. She

-is the indirect motive of the Diaghileff-Fokine break with the old

-Russian ballet and their striving for new rules and ideas in the art

-of dancing. To her is due the gradual increase of refined taste and

-higher respect for the stage dance. Personally we have found that her

-dances failed to tell the phonetic story of the music. Her selection

-of the compositions of Gluck, Schubert, Chopin and Beethoven has not

-been uniformly successful, since most of them were never meant by the

-composer to be danced. Compositions of this kind lack the necessary

-choreographic episodes and often even the plastic symbols. No genius,

-we believe, could visualize the slow cadences and solemn images of any

-symphonic music of those German classics, whose works have been the

-choice of Miss Duncan. With a few exceptions, such as the _Moments

-Musicals_ and some other pieces, we have never been able to grasp

-the meaning of the phonetoplastic images of Isadora Duncan’s dances.

-

-[Illustration: Duncan]

-

-

-II

-

-It was only natural that Miss Duncan’s laureated appearances in various

-European cities quickly found followers and imitators. The best known

-exponent of Duncan’s naturalism has been Miss Maud Allan, a talented

-Canadian girl, whose dancing in England has made her a special favorite

-of the London audiences, before whom she first appeared in 1908. How

-favorably she was received by the English audiences is evident from

-the fact that the late King Edward invited her to dance for him at

-Marienbad. Like Miss Duncan, Maud Allan has danced mostly barefoot, her

-body slightly clothed in a loose Greek drapery. The most sensational

-in Miss Allan’s repertoire has been the ‘Vision of Salome,’ compiled

-from passages from Richard Strauss’ opera, in which she has tried to

-give the impression of the ghastly Biblical tragedy by means of plastic

-pantomime and dancing. Among her artistically successful dances has

-been the Grieg _Peer Gynt_ suite, of which the London critics speak

-as of ‘a beautiful art of transposition.’ ‘The faithfulness with

-which her movements follow the moods of the composer is probably only

-fully realized by those who are musicians as well as connoisseurs of

-dance. Her translation of music has not seldom the rare quality of

-translations of being finer than the original, and there are not a few

-who, when they hear again, unaccompanied, the music which her dancing

-has ennobled, will be conscious of a sense of incompleteness and loss,’

-writes an English dance authority of her art.

-

-Isadora Duncan’s naturalism has probably made the most powerful direct

-impression upon German aspirants, first, through the school of dancing

-of Isadora’s sister, Elisabeth, and second, through the pretended

-appeal to the moods by means of classic ideals, and yet requiring

-comparatively little technique. Assiduously as a German student will

-practice in order to acquire the most perfect technique for being

-an artist, musician, singer or architect, he lacks the painstaking

-persistency of a Russian, Hungarian, Bohemian or Spaniard in acquiring

-a thorough technique for his dance. He is inclined to interpret music

-by means of the most easily acquired technique, such as seemingly the

-naturalistic school requires. For this very reason, Miss Duncan has

-been the greatest dance genius for the Germans, as that is so clearly

-to be seen in the excellent work of Brandenburg, _Der moderne Tanz_.

-This book from the beginning to the end, written in a fine poetic

-prose, is a eulogy of Duncan’s naturalism, and an elaborate display

-of the minutest pretty moves of the German exponents of the movement.

-Among the praised geniuses of Brandenburg are the sisters Wiesenthal,

-who attracted widespread attention in some of Max Reinhardt’s

-productions.

-

-The sisters Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, were received with unparalleled

-enthusiasm at home and in consequence made a tour abroad, on which

-occasion one of them danced in New York. How little she impressed the

-New York audience, can be judged from what one of the most favorable

-critics wrote of her as having ‘a pretty fluttering, tottering

-marionette manner of her own.’ Our impression is that the sisters

-Wiesenthal proved most successful in the quaint, naïve and simple

-ensemble performances which they gave in Germany. They displayed

-some excellent _ritartandos_ and a few successful _adagio_ figures.

-One could see that their steps and arm twists were not a result of

-systematic studies but of spontaneous impulses, since in repetitions of

-the music there was no sign of a well trained art, the wing-like arms

-of the first phrase being arabesque-like in the repetition, etc. They

-showed that they possessed a poetic conception of the dance, but failed

-to grasp and express its intrinsic meaning. They were rather poets

-than dancers, rather actresses than designers in the choreographic

-sense. Their acting often interfered with dancing and brought about an

-unpleasant disharmony with the musical rhythm. They may have danced

-better on other occasions, but what a number of impartial connoisseurs

-of the dance saw of them stamps them as talented dilettantes rather

-than accomplished artists of a school.

-

-A girl who enjoyed a great reputation in Vienna, Munich and in other

-German cities in the first decade of this century, but of whom was

-heard nothing later, was Miss Gertrude Barrison, an Anglo-Viennese.

-Her art was more clever and more in style with the principles of the

-naturalistic than that of the sisters Wiesenthal. She won the ear of

-Austria for the new message. With a certain assurance in the conviction

-of her individuality, Miss Barrison treated her art with freedom

-and loftiness. She enforced her personality more than her art upon

-the spectators, and this was, to a great extent, the secret of her

-phenomenal success.

-

-The best of all the German dancers of this century thus far has been

-Rita Sacchetto, a pretty Bavarian girl, who made her début in Munich,

-and was at once recognized as an artist of much talent. Though the

-Berlin critics did not receive her with the enthusiasm that they had

-shown to the Wiesenthals, she was by far the biggest artist of all.

-Her slighter recognition was possibly due to her lighter style of work

-and an unfavorable repertoire, lacking in music that was of timely

-importance. This withholding of recognition has always been peculiar

-to Berlin. Tired out by hundreds of aspiring virtuosi and artists of

-every description, an average Berlin critic, like one of New York,

-grows at the end of a season nervous in the presence of the vast

-majority of mediocrities and press-agented celebrities, so that he is

-likely to ignore or tear down the serious beginner, if her performance

-coincides with his ‘blue’ moods. This is what probably happened to

-Miss Sacchetto. The connoisseurs and authorities of other countries

-who have seen her dances speak of them in highest terms as pretty and

-exceedingly graceful exhibitions of poetic youthful soul. What has

-become of Miss Sacchetto lately the writer has been unable to learn.

-

-

-III

-

-Though none of the above mentioned dancers of Germany has pretended

-to be a follower of Miss Duncan, yet all belong to the new movement

-that was brought into being by her persistent efforts. They all defy

-the principle of the classic ballet, they all pretend to interpret

-music in their ‘plastic art,’ as they have preferred to term the

-dance. Traditionally the German music has been either inclined to

-classic abstraction, or to strictly operatic lines. The spectacular

-ballet of Richard Strauss, ‘The Legend of Joseph,’ belongs more to

-pantomimic pageantries than a class of actual dance dramas, of which

-we shall speak in another chapter. The music of a foreign school and

-race is always lacking in that natural stimulating vigor that it

-gives to those who are absolutely at home with racial peculiarities

-choreographically. In this the Russians have been lately more fortunate

-than other nations. A great number of talented young Russian composers

-have written an immense amount of admirable dance music, ballets and

-instrumental compositions that could be danced. They have an outspoken

-rhythmic character, which is the first requirement of the dance. In

-this the recent German composers have remained behind the Russians.

-The compositions of Richard Strauss, Reger, Schönberg and the other

-distinguished musical masters of modern Germany offer nothing that

-would inspire a new school of the art of dancing. In the first place

-they lack the instinct for rhythm, and in the second, they lack the

-plastic sense so essential for the dance. This circumstance has been

-most detrimental to those of the young German dancers who attempted to

-follow the naturalistic movement.

-

-How much better than the German Duncanites have been those of

-Scandinavia, Finland and France in this direction is difficult to say

-authentically, though they have had the advantage over the Germans, of

-having at their disposal the works of some of the most talented young

-composers of dance music. Grieg, Lange-Müller, Svendsen and many others

-have written music with strong rhythmic and choreographic images. But

-superior to all the Scandinavian composers, in the modern dance music

-or music that could be danced, are the Finns: Sibelius, Jaernefelt,

-Melartin, Merikanto and Toiwo Kuula. Many of Sibelius’s smaller

-instrumental compositions offer excellent themes and music for dancing.

-A few of them are real masterpieces of their kind. But the Finns have

-shown up to this time little interest for the modern dance movements.

-The Danes, Swedes and Norwegians have been more affected by the new

-ideas that are connected with the stage, though none of them has shown

-any marked achievement that would be known in wider circles. Ida

-Santum, a young Scandinavian girl in New York, has given evidence of

-some graceful plastic forms and idealized folk-dances. Thus far she has

-not shown anything strikingly appealing to the audiences. Aino Akté’s

-Salome Dances are purely operatic and have no bearing upon our subject.

-

-Among English and American girls who have followed the footsteps

-of Miss Duncan are Gwendoline Valentine, Lady Constance

-Stewart-Richardson, Beatrice Irvin, and a number of others, but the

-writer has been unable to gather any sufficient data for critical

-arguments.

-

-Undoubtedly the most talented dancer of the naturalistic school whom we

-have known among the Russians is Mlle. Savinskaya of Moscow. In power

-of expressing depth and subtlety of dramatic emotions Savinskaya is

-supreme. She is an actress no less than a dancer. Her conception of

-naturalistic dancing is so deeply rooted in her soul and temperament

-that it often acts against the plastic rules and grace, often displayed

-by the dancers for the sake of pleasing effects. Miss Duncan herself

-strives to create moods by means of classic poses, but Savinskaya’s

-ideal is to express the plastic forms of music in her art. She is

-romantically dramatic, more a tragedian than anything else. Her dance

-in the graphically fascinating ballet _Chrisis_ by Reinhold Glière, in

-Moscow, revealed her as an artist of the first rank, and perhaps the

-first thoroughly trained Duncanite whose technique and dramatic talent

-rival with any _ballerina_, of the new school or the old.

-

-Probably the lack of suitable music has been thus far the greatest

-obstacle in the way of the naturalistic dancers, though they pretend to

-find their ideals in the eighteenth and nineteenth century’s classic

-compositions. No doubt some of the old music can be aptly danced, such

-as the light instrumental works of Grieg, Mozart, Chopin and Schumann,

-but the proper music has yet to be composed. The phonetic thinking of

-past music was involved, hazy in closed episodes and often disconnected

-in structural form. There is one single theme of a poem in a whole

-symphony. To illustrate this plastically is a physical impossibility.

-Maud Allan’s and Isadora Duncan’s attempts to dance symphonies of

-Beethoven and other classic idealists have been miserable failures.

-Those who pretend to see in such dances any beauty and idea, are

-ignorant of musical and choreographic principles.

-

-To our knowledge Reinhold Glière, the genial young Russian composer and

-director of the Kieff Symphony Society, is the first successful musical

-artist in the field of naturalistic ballets. His ballet _Chrisis_,

-based on an Egyptian story by Pierre Louis, is a rare masterpiece in

-its line.

-

-Though built on the style of the conventional ballets, its music is

-meant for naturalistic interpretation and lacks all the _pirouette_,

-_chassée_, and other semi-acrobatic ballet music forms. Like the

-principles laid down by Delsarte and his followers, Glière’s music

-‘moves with the regular rhythm, the freedom, the equipoise, of nature

-itself.’ It has for the most part a slow ancient Egyptian measure,

-breathing the air of the pleasant primitive era. It suggests the even

-swing of the oar, the circular sweep of the sling, the rhythmic roar

-of the river, and all such images that existed before our boasted

-civilization. It gives a chance for the dancer of the naturalistic

-school to display pretty poses, primitive gestures and ‘sound’ steps.

-Like all Glière’s compositions this is exceedingly lyric, full of

-charming old melodies and curved movements that occasionally call to

-mind Schumann, Schubert and Chopin. The ballet begins with Chrisis in

-the majestic valley of the Nile spinning cotton on a spinning-wheel,

-which she stops when a soft music, coming from a far-away temple,

-comes to her ears. It is the music of the morning-prayer. She prays,

-dancing to the trees and the clouds. At this time Kise, another little

-maiden, is passing with food for her parents and _Chrisis_ calls her.

-They dance together and spin for a while. There is in the background

-a sacred tree. _Chrisis_ approaches it in slow dance and utters her

-secret wish. During this time Kise meets on the river shore a blind

-musician carrying a lyre. He plays a gay dance to the girls, to which

-they dance so exquisitely that phantom-like nymphs and fawns emerge

-from the river, and stop to watch. Finally a shepherd, who has been

-looking on from the top of the hill, becomes interested in the dance

-and makes friends with the girls. There ensues a passionate love scene

-and dramatic climax for the first act, _Chrisis_ going into a convent.

-The second act takes place in an ancient convent, _Chrisis_ as a

-dancing priestess. The last act takes place with _Chrisis_ as a courtly

-lady with every luxury around her. It is a magnificent piece of work

-musically and choreographically, and should find widespread appeal.

-

-We may count as belonging to the naturalistic school of dancing the

-exponents of idealized and imitative national dances, though they

-do not belong among the Duncanites. Particularly we should mention

-Ruth St. Denis, who is widely known through her skilled imitation and

-idealization of the Oriental dances. As Isadora Duncan sought by the

-ancient Greeks the ideal of her ‘natural’ dances, so Ruth St. Denis

-attempted to find choreographic beauties in the art of the East. In

-this she has been strikingly successful. Her Japanese dances can

-be considered as real gems of the Orient in which she has made the

-impression as if an exotic old print of the empire of the Mikado became

-alive by a miracle, though it was in the Indian sacred dances that she

-made her reputation. This is what a dance critic writes of her:

-

-‘Clad in a dress of vivid green spangled with gold, her wrists

-and ankles encased in clattering silver bands, surrounded by the

-swirling curves of a gauze veil, the dancer passed from the first

-slow languorous movements into a vertiginous whirl of passionate

-delirium. Alluring in every gesture, for once she threw asceticism

-to the winds, and yet she succeeded in maintaining throughout that

-difficult distinction between the voluptuous and the lascivious. The

-mystic Dance of the Five Senses was a more artificial performance and

-only in one passage kindled into the passion of the Nautch. As the

-goddess Radha, she is dimly seen seated cross-legged behind the fretted

-doors of her shrine. The priests of the temple beat gongs before the

-idol and lay their offerings at her feet. Then the doors open, and

-Radha descends from her pedestal to suffer the temptation of the five

-senses. The fascination of each sense, suggested by a concrete object,

-is shown forth in the series of dances. Jewels represent the desire

-of the sight, of the hearing the music of bells, of the smell of the

-scent of flower, of the taste of wine, and the sense of touch is fired

-by a kiss. Her dancing was inspired by that intensity of sensuous

-delight which is refined to its farthest limit probably only in the

-women of the East. She rightly chose to illustrate the delicacy of the

-perceptions not by abandon but by restraint. The dance of touch, in

-which every bend of the arms and the body described the yearning for

-the unattainable, was more freely imaginative in treatment. And in the

-dance of taste there was one triumphant passage, when, having drained

-the wine-cup to the dregs, she burst into a Dionysiac Nautch, which

-raged ever more wildly until she fell prostrate under the maddening

-influence of the good wine. Then by the expression of limbs and

-features showing that the gratification of the senses leads to remorse

-and despair, and that only in renunciation can the soul realize the

-attainment of peace, she returns to her shrine and the doors close upon

-the seated image, resigned and motionless. So she affirmed in choice

-and explicit gesture the creed of Buddha.’

-

-Very strange yet effective are the dances of Ruth St. Denis in which

-she exhibits the marvellous twining and twisting art of her arms,

-which act as if they had been some ghastly snakes. Her arms possess

-an unusual elasticity and sinuous motion which cannot be seen better

-displayed by real Oriental dancers. The hands, carrying on the first

-and fourth finger two huge emerald rings, give the impression of

-gleaming serpents’ eyes. Miss St. Denis is apparently a better musician

-than Miss Duncan, while in her poetic sense and in the sense of beauty

-she remains behind. However, as a musician she is excellent, and always

-acts in perfect rhythm with the composition. But unfortunately all

-her dance music is just as little Oriental as Miss Duncan’s is Greek.

-Ruth St. Denis seemingly is ignorant of the numerous Russian Oriental

-compositions which would suit her art a thousand times better than the

-works of the Occidental classics. In justice to her efforts it must

-be said that she is a thorough artist in spite of the fact that she

-has never studied her dances in the East. Her slender tall figure and

-semi-Oriental expression give her the semblance of an Indian Bayadere.

-It has always impressed us that she minimizes her art by affected

-manners and an air that lacks sincerity. We believe her to have very

-great talent, but for some reason or other, she has failed to display

-it fully.

-

-

-IV

-

-The modern Spanish dances as performed by Rosario Guerrero, La Otero

-and La Carmencita, are in fact a perfected type of Spanish folk-dances.

-The Kinneys write of them as follows: ‘So gracious, so stately, so rich

-in light and shade is the _Sevillanas_, that it alone gives play to

-all the qualities needed to make a great artist. When, a few summers

-ago, Rosario Guerrero charmed New York with her pantomime of “The Rose

-and the Dagger,” it was the first two _coplas_ of this movement-poem

-that charmed the dagger away from the bandit. The same steps glorified

-Carmencita in her day and Otero, now popular as a singer in

-the opera in Paris. All three of these goddesses read into their

-interpretation a powerful idea of majesty, which left it none the less

-seductive.’ It is clear that none but a Spaniard could perform the more

-or less perfected folk-dances of the country. It requires a physique

-with born talent and traditions to give the dance its proper fire and

-brutal elegance.

-

-[Illustration: Maud Allan

-

-_After a painting by Otto Marcus_]

-

-Havelock Ellis gives a graphic picture of the Spanish dance. ‘One

-of the characteristics of Spanish dancing,’ he writes, ‘lies in

-its accompaniments, and particularly in the fact that under proper

-conditions all the spectators are themselves performers. In flamenco

-dancing, among an audience of the people, every one takes a part by

-rhythmic clapping and stamping, and by the occasional prolonged “oles”

-and other cries by which the dancer is encouraged or applauded. Thus

-the dance is not the spectacle for the amusement of a languid and

-passive public, as with us. It is rather the visible embodiment of an

-emotion in which every spectator himself takes an active and helpful

-part; it is, as it were, a vision evoked by the spectators themselves

-and upborne on the continuous waves of rhythmical sound which they

-generate. Thus it is that at the end of a dance an absolute silence

-often falls, with no sound of applause; the relation of performer and

-public has ceased to exist. So personal is this dancing that it may be

-said that an animate association with the spectators is necessary for

-its full manifestation. The finest Spanish dancing is at once killed or

-degraded by the presence of an indifferent or unsympathetic public, and

-that is probably why it cannot be transplanted but remains local.’

-

-The naturalistic school of dancing is by no means an invention of

-Isadora Duncan, though she has been one of its most persistent

-preachers. The true psychological origin belongs to Delsarte, whose

-method of poetic plasticism inspired Mrs. Hovey to give lessons and

-lectures on the subject. It branched out like a tree. Every country

-was interested in the new idea in its own way. America, having no

-æsthetic traditions whatsoever, found the pioneers in Isadora Duncan

-and Ruth St. Denis; Germany found hers in the sisters Wiesenthal, Miss

-Rita Sacchetto and others; France, in Mme. Olga Desmond; Spain, in

-the refined and talented folk-dancers; Russia, in the rise of a new

-ballet, and so on. Like a magic message, the idea filled the air and

-was inhaled by special minds. There was a strong argument in favor

-of its development, and that argument was the spiritual yeast that

-set the world into a ferment. The more it was opposed and fought the

-more it spread and grew. The naturalistic dance has been thus far

-more an awakening than a mature art. As such it is apt to be crude

-and imperfect. There is no reason to fear that a fate like that which

-befell the Skirt Dance may overtake the ‘classical’ dancing of the

-naturalistic school. It has accomplished a great service in bringing

-the audiences to realize that the argument of natural plasticism is

-based on philosophical truth. Soon the ranks of those who believe

-that ‘natural’ dancing is that which requires the least technique

-will decrease in favor of those serious minded artists, who seek the

-solution in technique plus talent. ‘The theory that a dancer can ignore

-with impunity the restrictions of technique, that she is bound to

-please if only she is natural and happy and allows herself to follow

-the momentary inspiration of the music and dances with the same gleeful

-spontaneity as a child dancing to a barrel-organ is a doctrine as

-seductive as it is fatal.’ The future solution of the movement lies

-in perfection of the technique and in grasping the deeper depths of

-musical relation to the art of dancing.

-

-‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative destructive

-element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for instance, we had never seen

-the old ballet, with its stereotyped character, I do not think that the

-appearance of Isadora Duncan would have called forth such enthusiasm.

-In Isadora we greeted the deliverance. Yet in order to appreciate

-liberty we must have felt the chains. She liberated, and her followers

-seek to exploit that liberty.’

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVII

-

-THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET

-

-  The old ballet: arguments _pro_ and _con_--The new movement:

-  Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company;

-  the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’

-  ‘Cleopatra,’ _Le Pavillon d’Armide_, ‘Scheherezade’--Nijinsky and

-  Karsavina--Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The Fire-Bird,’

-  etc.; other ballets and arrangements.

-

-

-I

-

-Gordon Craig very aptly characterized the French ballet as the most

-deliciously artificial impertinence that ever turned up its nose at

-Nature. Commenting on this Prince Volkhonsky says: ‘Seldom one meets

-in a short definition with such an exhausting acknowledgment of the

-positive and negative sides of the question. How easy and pleasant it

-is to agree with a judgment which is penetrated with such impartiality.

-Who will not acknowledge that that powdered Marquise is charming,

-and yet who will not acknowledge that that huge pile of false hair

-sprinkled with powder is against Nature?’ Magnificent as the old

-Russian ballet has been dramatically and acrobatically, yet it failed

-to acknowledge the artificialities of its form and the deficiencies

-of its phonetic conceptions. It failed to see what Delsarte, Mrs.

-Hovey, Isadora Duncan and the partisans of the naturalistic school had

-grasped: the call of Nature. Though it banished the powdered Marquise

-of the French school from the stage, yet it did not banish the creed

-from the ballerina’s toe--the unmusical acting, the spectacular leaps

-and pirouettes, the umbrella-like tunics, the acrobatic stunts, the

-fossilized forms of the dead ages. In praise of the old ballet Mr.

-A. Levinsohn has written in a Russian magazine of the dance: ‘When a

-ballerina rises on the tips of her toes (_pointés_), she frees herself

-of a natural movement and enters a region of fantastic existence.’

-The principal meaning of all the ballet technique in preaching the

-toe-dance is to defy the laws of gravity and give the dance the

-semblance of a flight, or floating in the air. There is no question

-that a few musical phrases require such plastic, particularly in such

-compositions as Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan,’ or Drigo’s _Papillons_, which

-Pavlova has visualized so magnificently. But to apply the same style to

-express the romantic, poetic, tragic and other human emotions, to apply

-the toe-technique to every form of dancing, is really abnormal. Prince

-Volkhonsky, who has contributed so much to the Russian ballet reform,

-writes with striking argument and vigor: ‘Movement cannot be an aim in

-itself; such a movement would be nonsense. What does a dancer express

-when he imitates a spinning-top? What does the ballerina express when

-with a fascinating smile she regards caressingly her own toe, as she

-toe-dances over the smooth floor? What does her body express, the human

-body--the most wonderful instrument of expression on earth--when,

-carried away by gymnastic enthusiasm in an acrobatic ecstasy, with

-panting chest and terror in her open eyes, she crosses the stage

-diagonally, whirling on one toe, while with the other she executes the

-famous “thirty-two fouettés”?’ ‘Gymnastics transform themselves into

-fantastics,’ exclaims Levinsohn; ‘but I assure you, when in the circus

-the man-serpent, all dressed in green scales, puts his legs behind

-his shoulder, this is no less fantastic.’ The so-called tunic (the

-French _tutu_)--a light short garment of pleated gauze--has, with Mr.

-Levinsohn, not only a physical justification from the point of view of

-comfort but a logical explanation, an æsthetic sanction; it ‘lends

-to the body a seeming stability.’ ‘Do you catch this?’ he continues.

-‘The perpendicularity of the human figure in our eyes is, so to speak,

-balanced by the horizontality of the skirt; just the principle of the

-spinning-top. Now, is it possible to invent a more deplorable formula

-for transforming man into a machine? Is it possible to give a more

-definite expression to the principle of eliminating one’s “ego”? Is

-not art the expression, the manifestation, the blossoming of man? And

-what, finally, shall we say from the purely æsthetic point of view

-of that exaltation of a costume which by its umbrella-like stiffness

-cuts the human body into two? Shall we remain indifferent to the

-beauty of folds, to the obedience of the flowing veils, to the plastic

-injunctions of the living movement?

-

-‘The theory of mechanisation of the human body could not but lead

-to the panegyric of the “flat-toed” ballet slipper. The simple sad

-necessity of giving to the ballerina a point of support receives

-a philosophico-æsthetic interpretation: this slipper “generalises

-the contour of the foot” and “makes the impression of the movement

-clearer and more finished.” In the name of all--I won’t say of all

-that is sacred--but of all that is beautiful, is it possible to say

-such things? You have never admired a foot; you do not know what it

-is--a foot that slowly rises from the ground, first with the heel,

-then with the sole; you do not know the beauty of supple toes; you

-evidently never saw the foot of Botticelli’s “Pallas,” the foot of

-Houdon’s “Diana.” If it is so valuable to “generalise” the contour

-of the foot by the flat-toed slipper, why not, then, “generalise”

-the contour of the hand and give to the ballerinas boxing-gloves?

-Art is an exteriorisation of man, a spreading of one’s self outside

-the limits of one’s ego, and here we are asked to cut, to shorten,

-to hide: a principle which is exactly the contrary of art. It was

-also a “generalisation” of the human figure when Niobe was being

-metamorphosed into a rock, but it remains till the end of time the

-expression of grief; the Greeks have not found a more eloquent myth for

-the eternalisation of human sorrow than the return of form into that

-which is not formed. They knew that all process of creation goes from

-the general to the particular. When the musician shapes the musical

-material accessible to everybody into a particular musical melody, he

-goes from the general to the particular. When the sculptor takes away

-piece by piece from the block of marble, he goes from the general to

-the particular. If, out of the shapeless mass of the human family, the

-great types could detach themselves and crystallise themselves into

-definite characters, it is only thanks to their particularities that

-they conquer and receive their universal value. The direction of the

-artist is from the shapeless, from the abstract, into the concrete;

-the process of art is a process of individualisation. It is easy to

-understand, therefore, the instinctive hostility which is provoked in

-a man who loves art, by all attempts at “generalisation”: it is the

-infiltration into art of that which is not art, it is that which in the

-course of centuries has deserved the appellation of “routine.” This

-crust of uniformity and impersonality which spreads over art is nothing

-but an infiltration of the generalising principle into that which is

-and ought to remain the sacred domain of personality. It is the desert

-under whose breath fades and withers the beauty of the oasis.

-

-‘No wonder that a reaction should set in against an art which seeks its

-justification in such theories; the reaction against the stereotyped

-ballet is a direct act of logic--it is the voice of common sense:

-it would be impossible that a form of art should live which is in

-contradiction to the principle of art. When I say “live,” I do not mean

-the right of existence; I take the word in its most real sense: to

-live, that is, to possess the elements of development. In the form into

-which it has developed the “classical” ballet lacks these elements--it

-cannot evolve; as Mr. Svetloff judiciously remarked, if every ballerina

-could execute seventy-five instead of “thirty-two fouettés,” it would

-be a greater difficulty to overcome, it would not be art developed.

-Thus I repeat, when I say that such a form of art as the old ballet

-cannot live I am not denying its right to exist, but I am indicating

-the absence of elements of development, the atrophy of the principle of

-vitality.

-

-‘There is one point of view possible as to the “classical ballet”; it

-is the one form in which we see the established forms of old dances.

-Who will deny the charm of the minuet, of the gavotte, of the pavane?

-But, on the other hand, who ever will dare to say that this is the

-final word of plastic art? Miniature painting is a lovely art, is it

-not? Yet equally wrong are those who would assert that the miniature

-has expressed all that painting is capable of, and those who would

-say that miniature is “all right, but it needs enlarging.” And when

-we consider the ballet from the only possible point of view, from the

-point of view of the crystallised dance, how offensive will appear

-to us “gymnastics that transform themselves into fantastics.” On the

-other hand, we shall not be astonished when we hear the regrets of some

-adherents of the old “dance” in the presence of the “Scythian invasion”

-on that same stage where the plastic formulas of the Latin race have

-blossomed; only imagine it--where the gavotte and sarabanda used to

-reign there now bursts out the tempest of the “Tartar hordes”!’

-

-

-II

-

-The appearance of Isadora Duncan and her pupils in Russia was truly a

-high explosive bomb. Her art startled the Russian dancers and public.

-It was the very opposite of what everybody had been accustomed to

-see, and what everybody imagined the dance to be. Though the limited

-character of her technique decreased the effect, yet the truth of

-her principle was what caused the greatest discussion and made the

-deepest impression. In the fundamentals of her dance were that freedom,

-individuality and relief which the Russian mind had missed in the old

-ballet. It was this theoretical argument that made Miss Duncan’s art

-such a factor in Russia. Marius Petipa had been an excellent scholar

-and academician in his days, but he had grown old and his views had

-become obsolete. His genius saw the evolution of the ballet only in the

-conventional channels. Among his assistants were a group of talented

-young dancers and teachers, some of whom were dissatisfied with the old

-order, yet found themselves forced to follow the time-worn rules. One

-of the young students of this type was M. Fokine, a very intelligent

-student and gifted artist, who was particularly electrified by Miss

-Duncan’s art. He saw the shortcomings of Miss Duncan’s school and

-realized that here he, with his thorough understanding of the ballet

-and its technique, could do much that she had been unable to do.

-

-With all the best will Fokine found himself bound to the old order of

-things. But it was at this very juncture that M. Diaghileff, who had

-been successfully editing the annual Reviews of the Imperial Ballet,

-laid the foundation for a new art magazine on radical principles.

-Having been a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Petrograd and

-a connoisseur of the art of dancing, he was just the man to gather

-a group of radical dance and music students and artists of every

-description around his venture and attempt to accomplish something

-radically modern in all the fields of stage art. His efforts found a

-quick response among the various artists of the ballet, who already

-knew of his work and tendencies. One of them was Fokine, and with him

-came many of his talented pupils and friends. Like with every other new

-movement this needed crystallization theoretically and practically. For

-some reason or other Diaghileff’s magazine failed. But it had already

-accomplished its evolutionary task: a group of artists was ready to

-join any leaders of revolution who would be worthy of their confidence.

-

-The next move from the revolutionary Diaghileff and his general Fokine

-was their unexpected appearance in Paris. Here they had surrounded

-themselves with a few genial ballet dancers of Petrograd and Moscow.

-The announcement of an appearance of the Russian ballet in Paris,

-under the management of Diaghileff and Fokine and with stars like

-Nijinsky, Mmes. Fokina, Karsavina and Astafieva, marks the first

-revolutionary move in Russian dance history. It was undoubtedly the

-phenomenal success that Pavlova and Mordkin had had outside of Russia,

-particularly in Paris and London, which actuated and encouraged the

-rebels. They argued, ‘If Pavlova and Mordkin had such phenomenal

-success as solo dancers, in the old classic style, we are more sure

-of a success in real modern ballets.’ And they proved that they had.

-Here is what a London critic writes of the appearance of the Diaghileff

-company:

-

-‘For the unknown to be successful in London it is always necessary to

-create what is called a boom--marvelous clothes or the lack of them;

-a terrifying top note; a tame lion; a Star that has been shining with

-unparalleled brilliancy in another city. But we were told nothing about

-the Russian dancers when they arrived in 1909--some half dozen of them

-only--and so we expected nothing. And it is to be feared that some of

-us found what we expected. Now, two years later, we are slowly opening

-our eyes.

-

-‘There is no need to describe either Karsavina or Pavlova. If there

-were, indeed, pen and ink would be incapable of the task, for they both

-typify and express the woman of all ages, and ageless.

-

-‘*** For many it was as if they understood life for the first time,

-had entered a chamber in the castle Existence which hitherto had been

-hidden from them. They gave us thoughts, these Russian magicians, for

-which we have been unconsciously seeking and travailing many years.

-They gave us knowledge we thought to buy in a huckster’s shop, steal

-from a bottle of wine, or find in a bloodless novel or in the crude

-stage play of the average theatre, bearing little or no relation to

-life. Now here it was, all expressed in dances men and women danced

-thousands of years ago: music of face and body, of muscle and brain,

-which stirred and sang in our hearts like wind in the trees.

-

-‘The elusive spirit of youth she (Karsavina) most eloquently expresses

-in _Les Sylphides_, the music by Chopin, which is described as a

-_Rêverie Romantique_. The sex of the dancer, instead of dominating,

-disappears. And so, of all the good things the Russian Dancers have

-given us, the Spirit of Youth of Tamara Karsavina comes first and

-foremost.

-

-‘The men of the Russian Ballet possess the same technical perfection,

-the same marvelous grace, as the women. Whether their bodies be as

-slim and light as Nijinsky’s and Kosloff’s, or as massive and muscular

-as Mordkin’s and Tichomiroff’s, makes no difference: they can be as

-graceful, as supple, as tender as a girl, without losing a scrap of

-their superb masculinity.’

-

-Among the most conspicuous Russian dancers who followed the

-revolutionary call of Diaghileff and Fokine, were Vera Fokina,

-Tamara Karsavina, Sophie Feodorova, Seraphime Astafieva, Nijinsky,

-and Kosloff. The real drawing cards of the revolutionary group were

-Karsavina and Nijinsky, one more genial than the other, the one the

-very type of the Russian youthful poetic and passionate girl, the other

-that of masculine virility and grace. The leaping of Nijinsky and the

-darting of Karsavina will remain as the most effective symbols in the

-mind of those who have witnessed their inspiring dances. In _Le Spectre

-de la Rose_, danced by Karsavina and Nijinsky, we can best compare

-their individualities. ‘Their bodies, flower-like, representing the

-spirit of flowers, weave dreams with silent and graceful movements,’

-writes a critic. ‘We are altogether removed from the world of flesh

-and blood to a kingdom of enchantment.’ Nijinsky and Karsavina are the

-two talented exponents of the New Russian Ballet, in the same sense as

-Pavlova and Mordkin belong to the Old Ballet.

-

-The question arises in what respect Nijinsky differs from Mordkin and

-Karsavina from Pavlova? If we could see illustrative performances by

-these four greatest figures of the two Russian schools the difference

-would be immediately evident, in spite of their individual traits.

-Where Pavlova concentrates attention on her conventional toe-dancing,

-Karsavina employs conspicuously the naturalistic steps and strives to

-display the plastic lines of her beautiful body. Where Mordkin resorts

-to pantomime, Nijinksy finds his expression through the movements of

-the dance. However, the difference between the two ballets is not

-so clearly cut with the men as with the women dancers. Fokine has

-introduced a great deal of the plastic element that has actuated the

-partisans of the naturalistic school. We find the acrobatic stunts

-of the old ballet almost lacking in the new. You will hardly see

-Karsavina, Fokina or Astafieva performing the leg-bending tricks of

-the followers of the old school. If they resort to pirouettes and leg

-agility, they do so in a different sense than the others.

-

-

-III

-

-A highly praised dance of Karsavina and Nijinsky is _Le Spectre de

-la Rose_ (with music arranged from the compositions of Weber), which

-takes place in a summer night in old aristocratic France. The music,

-though old-fashioned, is soft and tender. Karsavina represents a young

-sentimental girl who has just returned from the ball. She is thinking

-of her lover, while raising to her lips a red rose which he gave her at

-the ball. Going through a pantomimic scene of her sentimental dreams

-Karsavina depicts the romantic prelude of a young girl until Nijinsky,

-representing her visionary lover, leaps in. ‘The spirit of the garden

-and the song of the night have entered her bedroom, and the wind blows

-this rose-spirit to and fro. It is love in human shape: now he hovers

-above the sleeping figure, caressing: now he is dancing just in front

-of the window. And we dare not breathe lest by so doing the air is

-stirred to drive him back into the moving shapes outside. But he rises

-on the arms of the wind, he crouches beside the girl. She falls into

-his arms and the love dream of a ballroom is realized. The music of the

-night has entered the room, languid music like water which these two

-spill as they dance to and fro, until, our eyes being opened, we can

-see as well as hear music. The miracle is so brief that we scarcely

-realize it before it has gone. But they were chords and harmonies,

-these two spirit shapes floating on the implacable air: hands and feet,

-arms and legs, lips and eyes spilling and spelling each note of music.

-The hour has passed. Jealous dawn lays his fingers on the night.... The

-girl is in her chair again. The spirit of the rose hovers like love

-with trembling wings above her.’

-

-A favorite ballet of the Diaghileff company is _Cléopatre_, arranged

-by Fokine to music by Arensky, Taneieff, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Glinka,

-Glazounoff, and Moussorgsky. The chief characters of this ballet are

-Seraphime Astafieva, as Cleopatra, Sophie Feodorova, as Ta-Hor, Vera

-Fokina, as a Greek woman, and Nijinsky, as the favorite of Cleopatra.

-It has been declared the most popular of all Fokine’s ballets. It

-describes the well-known love drama of the great Egyptian queen. The

-first scene is laid on the shores of the Nile. There is just visible

-the arch of an ancient temple and its entrance with great figures of

-stone. The ground on which it stands is flanked by pillars which tower

-towards the sky. The waters of the river gleam between these pillars.

-The sun is sinking into the hot desert. The first character of the

-dance is Ta-Hor, a priestess; the second Amoun, a warrior, her beloved.

-She emerges through the dark curtain of the night and meets him in the

-silent precincts of the temple. Music quivers from hands and feet, lips

-and eyes. We feel an impending danger. The silence is broken with the

-sudden appearance of the High Priest. Cleopatra is coming. But Ta-Hor

-clings to the lips of Amoun. When the Queen appears the lovers shrink

-back into the shadows of the temple. She is a voluptuous beauty. We see

-her resting, her limbs tangled in a mass of color, her eyes fixed like

-serpent’s, staring into the hot night of the desert while she waits

-for what it will bring her. She is tired of the wealth the world has

-poured at her feet. There is but one thing that never tires her and is

-ever new. Her subtle limbs uncurl from the tangled colors, open like a

-rose at a breath of warm wind--to close again with a little shiver of

-ecstasy. Love is always new and beautiful. Of love she has never tired,

-only of lovers.

-

-Cleopatra finally sees Amoun dancing, and falls madly in love with him.

-There are many passionate and dramatic scenes. ‘Like the sea-foam, her

-body is tempest-tossed. Her eyes burn into his soul. The music sings

-songs of the desert, invocations to the Nile, hymns to the god of

-love. Around the royal divan of Cleopatra we see a medley of men and

-women, twining and grouping themselves. The music sounds like a gentle

-breeze, full of love and enchantment, which longs yet fears to slake

-its thirst. We see Egyptian dancers moving slowly and quietly. String

-instruments are thrumming like nightingales. We see a whole company

-of men and women dancing in the torchlight. The sight of the costumes

-pours a spell of the Nile upon us. The stars of the desert and the

-passionate music of string instruments, the beautiful girls and the

-black virile bodies of the slaves, the waves of light and the distant

-wall of soldiers and priests, fill the air with something tragic and

-black. We get a glimpse of Cleopatra and Amoun, he standing beside her

-couch. The high priest of the temple holds between his hands the sacred

-cup filled with the poisonous wine that Amoun must drink. He takes the

-cup firmly and looks into her eyes, and smiling he drinks. She smiles,

-too. At this moment Amoun drops the cup to the ground. Death lays hands

-upon him. His agony is brief. Cleopatra stands waiting. When he falls

-his fingers clutch the air. A shiver shakes the Queen’s body. Cleopatra

-goes out from the night passing through the vast pillars of the temple

-into the dawn of the desert. After her comes Ta-Hor, looking for her

-lover. But she finds the dead body. We see her warm brown body shiver

-and shrink. She would tear out her heart. A soft wind comes whispering

-over the desert bringing with it the red of the rising sun. It is the

-end of a ghastly picture.’

-

-Impressive as _Cléopatre_ is in its scenic and pantomimic vigor and

-tragic atmosphere, yet it is hardly a ballet in the modern sense.

-There is no unity of music, this being altogether a patch-work. It

-may sound exceedingly pretty and appropriate occasionally to the

-accompaniment of the mute drama, yet it is by no means dance music.

-This is an example of the patchy ballet music that the Diaghileff

-company is continually trying to employ. Musically less patchy is _Le

-Pavillon d’Armide_, with music by Tcherepnin and setting by Benois. But

-the theme is old-fashioned and over-perfumed. The story takes place in

-mediæval France at the castle of a certain Marquis, a magician. It is

-night. Winds blow, rain pours down and thunder rolls. A nobleman is

-to meet his sweetheart near the Marquis’ castle and takes refuge from

-the bad weather. The Marquis places his _Pavillon d’Armide_ at his

-disposal. In the pavilion he sees an old Gobelin tapestry representing

-the beautiful Armide, beneath it, a great clock supported by Love and

-Time. The nobleman goes to sleep and at midnight sees the figures of

-Love and Time step down from the clock. Armide becomes alive. The

-nobleman falls in love with her and Armide embraces him. This is the

-beginning of an animated dance. It is a fantastic scene, the old

-Marquis taking part in the feast. Finally Time triumphs over Love and

-they return to their places. It is an interesting short phantasy, a

-poem in pantomime.

-

-A ballet which has created the greatest comment and discussion in

-its dramatic and scenic beauty is the _Scheherezade_, with music by

-Rimsky-Korsakoff. This is a symphonic suite of which Bakst and Fokine

-have manufactured a kind of pantomime-ballet. Though the music is

-magnificent as an orchestra piece by itself, yet it is a perversion to

-employ it to accompany a queer pantomimic drama. Rimsky-Korsakoff had

-no idea of a Zobeide played by Karsavina, of her negro lover, danced

-by Nijinsky, of Schariar, the Grand Eunuch, and of the Odalisque, who

-are the characters of the ballet. This again is a patch-work and not a

-dance in its real sense. If it is a dance, it is such that only one

-artist or at most two could depict. According to the scenario writers

-it draws the story of a Sultan’s harem from ‘The Arabian Nights.’ All

-the harem beauties are dancing with their lovers and slaves. Among them

-we find the pretty Sultana. The Sultan enters and suspects that Zobeida

-has betrayed him. He finds her lover. We see death and passion. It is

-picturesque, but the dance is only an incidental affair. _Scheherezade_

-without Karsavina’s vivid mimicry and youthful beauty, and Nijinsky’s

-agility, would be nothing. In the words of a Russian critic, ‘Nijinsky

-makes us understand that a gesture is, as Blake said of a tear,

-an intellectual thing. His gestures, by which I do not mean the

-technical steps, are different in manner and in spirit from those of

-the traditional Italian school. With the conventional gestures of the

-academies, which mimic such attitudes as men are supposed naturally to

-adopt when they perform certain actions or experience certain emotions,

-he will have nothing to do. Nijinsky’s gestures mimic nothing. They are

-not the result of a double translation of idea into words, and words

-into dumb show. They are the mood itself. His limbs possess a faculty

-of speech. Wit is expressed in his Arlequin dance as lucidly as in an

-epigram. His genius consists in a singular pliancy of the body to the

-spirit.’[C]

-

-    [C] S. Hudekoff: ‘History of Dancing’ (in Russian).

-

-If Karsavina had not joined the choreographic revolutionists her

-dramatic talent would have had little or no opportunity to express

-itself, for the exponents of the old classic ballets are strictly

-opposed to display of natural gestures and acting. While she now

-exhibits a talent equal to Pavlova’s, in the old ballet she would be

-only half of what she is. Although her excellent dramatic sense is

-displayed in _Le Spectre de la Rose_, _Scheherezade_ and in several of

-Stravinsky’s ballets, still we have not had a chance yet to become

-enthusiastic over any of her abstract dances. This view we notice also

-expressed by many French and English critics. ‘Of her performances at

-Covent Garden, all were marked by such rare technique and instructed

-grace that it is difficult to put any one before another; but certainly

-she never surpassed her achievement in _Le Spectre de la Rose_. Her

-dancing caught the very spirit of a maiden’s revery, and nothing could

-have been more finely imagined than those transitions from languor

-into quick rushes of darting movement, which illustrate the abrupt and

-irrational episodes of a troubled dream. She was the very embodiment

-of faint desire. We felt, as it were, a breath of perfume, and were

-troubled in spite of ourselves. Moreover, the long partnership between

-the two performers seemed to have resulted in a very special and

-intimate harmony. For the most part they simply floated about the stage

-as though borne upon a common current of emotion. There was a marriage,

-not only between their bodily movements, but between their spirits,

-such as I have never noted in the union of any other dancers.’

-

-Like the ballet _Prince Igor_, music by Borodine, scenario by Fokine,

-_Le Carneval_, music from Schumann, Liadoff, Glazounoff, Tcherepnine

-and various other sources, are nothing but dances from an opera, dances

-taken here and there. Neither is there any unity of theme or style in

-these trimmed-up panoramas. The Polovetsi dances of Borodine’s opera

-_Prince Igor_ are magnificent examples of savage Tartar art. The music

-is the very image of the hot and restless Mongolian temperament, the

-very breath of battle lust, the exaltation of victory. Fokine has taken

-a scene from the second act of the opera and patched a story together

-with some characters of the opera. The dance in the opera itself is

-wonderful. But in the ballet form, as arranged by Fokine, it is a

-mediocrity.

-

-

-IV

-

-In the repertoire of Diaghileff’s company there have been, thus far,

-only two more or less satisfactory ballets, _Le Pavilion d’Armide_,

-by Benois and Tcherepnin, and _Le Spectre de la Rose_ by Weber and

-Vaudoyer. But both might be termed choreographic sketches in one scene

-rather than ballets. Without Nijinsky and Karsavina even these would

-not be very charming. The aristocratic sentimentality and poetic pathos

-of the two dance pantomimes are perfectly displayed by these two most

-talented artists of the revolutionary group, as their miming and

-dancing are characterized by a certain natural softness of movement,

-the quality of languor and passion. But it was the music of Igor

-Stravinsky, a young Russian composer working in the impressionistic

-style, that saved the situation of the new ballet. Stravinsky has

-a genius for the ballet, such as perhaps the world has never seen

-before. However, he seems to be greatly hampered by lack of proper

-conception of what constitutes the modern ballet. It is evident that

-he is influenced in his compositions too much by the Diaghileff-Fokine

-tendencies, as most of his ballets are built up in the old form of

-construction, though the phonetic images and spirit are new. His

-music is graphically vivid, as it should be, has a strong rhythm and

-inspiring modern spirit. It is the form of construction that he has not

-grasped yet fully, except in his _Petrouchka_.

-

-This _Petrouchka_, Stravinsky’s masterpiece, is a Russian burlesque

-taken from an old fairy-story of Harlequin in love with the Clown’s

-wife. In this ballet the scenes are splendidly arranged by Fokine and

-the music is thrilling. The puppet has always exercised a curious

-fascination upon the human mind. The animated doll is a fantastic and

-yet pathetic symbol of our emotions. _Petrouchka_ is the Russian

-counterpart of English ‘Punch and Judy,’ though differing in its more

-sentimental character. _Petrouchka_ represents the character of a real

-puppet. Stravinsky has woven a dramatic plot around the puppet stage.

-‘To take us behind the scenes and show the mingled comedy and tragedy

-of the puppet world, was a true and dramatic inspiration’ of the

-composer. The scenic effect of _Petrouchka_ is calculated to create a

-melancholy feeling in the spectator with its bleak gray background and

-dull frigidity. It gives a striking contrast to the barbaric colors of

-the crowd on the stage. One has the feeling of opaque leaden skies,

-of snow and gay people at a fair. The costumes and scenery designed

-by Benois are true to Russian life and strikingly in harmony with

-the dance. In every phrase of the music the composer shows himself a

-master of the art of writing ballet music. ‘Throughout the four scenes

-he displays not only a nice sense of dramatic firmness, but a shrewd

-appreciation of character. In the treatment his humorous percept is of

-large assistance. In the trumpet dance by which the Blackamoor is first

-lured into the fair one’s toils or in the slower _pas de fascination_,

-by which the conquest of him is completed, Stravinsky’s sense of the

-ludicrous has turned two slender occasions to most diverting account. A

-piece of clever orchestration is a passage at the outset of the opening

-scene where the composer succeeds not only in reproducing the peculiar

-sounds of an old hurdy-gurdy, but weaves the opposition between two

-such competing instruments into a most entertaining and harmonious

-discord.’

-

-As in all the other Stravinsky ballet compositions, the orchestration

-of _Petrouchka_ is realistically true to the action and the characters

-of the play. It is full-blooded and modern. It breathes an air of the

-unsophisticated joy of a simple people who attend to their affairs

-regardless of conventional restrictions. Nijinsky, with his dramatic

-flexibility and vigor, makes the play a vivid fairy tale in actuality,

-or rather gives life to a dream of a fairy tale. ‘That the ballet

-is thereby endowed with meaning, an inwardness, which it might not

-otherwise possess, must be accounted as a tribute to the dancer’s

-genius,’ writes an English critic.

-

-Another splendid Stravinsky ballet performed by the Diaghileff company

-is _L’Oiseau de Feu_. Fokine has arranged the music successfully in

-this ballet. Like _Petrouchka_, it is based upon a folk-tale. The

-overture of the play indicates that a fantastic story is to follow.

-Strange mutterings and unexpected harmonies dispose the hearer to an

-atmosphere of another world. The adventurous pantomime opens in a

-gloomy forest emanating an air of midnight mysteries. But the music

-glows gradually like the magic glow in the forest. One sees the

-spectacular Fire Bird floating downward toward the stage. Now dancing

-and music melt into one fascinating picture of two dimensions, to which

-the brilliant scenic effects add a special spiritual note. Performed by

-Karsavina, as the Fire Bird, the ballet is excellent.

-

-But Stravinsky has succeeded less well in his post-impressionistic _Le

-Sacre du Printemps_. This consists of two tableaux of ancient pagan

-Russia. The first scene is the adoration of the earth; the second, the

-adoration of the sun. The music is less spontaneous and less graphic

-than that in Stravinsky’s other ballets. But, all in all, Stravinsky

-remains the greatest drawing card and the greatest æsthetic factor in

-the art of the Russian ballet rebels.

-

-A charming number in the repertoire of the Diaghileff company is

-Balakireff’s _Thamar_. Balakireff wrote this as a symphonic poem on

-an Oriental theme, but Bakst has manufactured out of it a ballet.

-The music is very beautiful and typically Russian. The story is a

-thrilling tale of Caucasian life, which takes place at an ancient

-castle built in a gorge of romantic mountains. But because it is

-an artificial construction, it is less interesting musically and

-choreographically than the Stravinsky ballets.

-

-The Russian new ballet has attempted to perform Claude Debussy’s

-_L’Après-Midi d’un Faun_, and Richard Strauss’ _La Légende de Joseph_.

-In the latter ballet a new Russian dancer, Leonide Miassine, was

-introduced in the title rôle. Neither Miassine nor _La Légende de

-Joseph_ proved great attractions. Magnificent as Strauss and Debussy

-are in their modern compositions otherwise, in ballet music they remain

-mediocrities. Their rhythm is so anæmic, their images so hazy and their

-episodes so disconnected that not even a Nijinsky or a Karsavina could

-put life into them.

-

-In criticising the new Russian ballet of Diaghileff and Fokine,

-Prince Volkhonsky writes: ‘Their main defect is that they develop

-[the dance] independently from the music; they are a design by

-themselves--complicated, interesting, very often pleasing to the eye,

-yet independent of the music. And we have already seen when we spoke

-of the old codas that the most unpretentious figure, even when banal,

-becomes inspiring when it coincides with the musical movement, and, on

-the contrary, the most interesting “picturesque” figure loses meaning

-when it develops in discord with music. Look at some dance, definite,

-exact, that has crystallized itself within well-established limits;

-you may look at it even without music. But try to watch a pantomime

-without music. In the first place, it will be a design without color,

-quite an acceptable form; in the second it will be a body without

-skeleton--something unacceptable.’

-

-The Russian new ballet is an interesting proof of the far-reaching

-effect that the naturalistic school of dancing indirectly exercised

-upon the development of the art of dancing. The efforts of the reform

-that Fokine is attempting to achieve are admirable and show the great

-possibilities that the revolutionists face in the immediate future.

-Their whole drawback has been in their conception of the form and

-music. Even Stravinsky has not been able to shake himself loose from

-the old pantomimic form. But sooner or later they will see the new

-point of view and acknowledge the mistake that every reformer is apt

-to make in his first step. The Russians have the technique, the music,

-the innate talent and the traditions for all future choreographic

-inspiration. The solution lies, to a great extent, in the coöperative

-work of their composers, writers, critics, painters, designers,

-teachers and dancers.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XVIII

-

-THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE

-

-  Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’

-  system--Body-rhythm; the plastic expression of musical ideas;

-  merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze system--Speculation on the

-  value of Eurhythmics to the dance.

-

-

-I

-

-What apparently proves to be the elementary step in building up a

-new school of choreography--perhaps that which some of the younger

-dancers have chosen either by accident or by roundabout ways--are the

-Jacques-Dalcroze Rhythmic Gymnastics or ‘Eurhythmics’ on the order

-of the ancient Greeks. Thus far this style of dancing is merely in

-its preliminary form. Therefore it is now as difficult to draw any

-definite conclusion, as it was about 1905, when the Swiss composer

-Dalcroze, who had been since 1892 a professor of harmony at the Geneva

-Conservatoire, first launched the movement. However, the systematic

-work of instruction by Dalcroze began in 1910, when the brothers Wolf

-and Harald Dohrn invited him to come to Dresden, where, in the suburb

-of Hellerau, they built for him a College of Rhythmic Gymnastics. From

-this time on the inventor of the new method began a systematic training

-of young men and women.

-

-Ethel Ingham writes of the life at the college at Hellerau: ‘The day

-commences with the sounding of a gong at seven o’clock; the house

-is immediately alive, and some are off to the College for a Swedish

-gymnastic lesson before breakfast, others breakfast at half-past seven

-and have their lesson later. There is always a half hour of ordinary

-gymnastics to begin with. Then there will be a lesson in _Solfège_,

-one in Rhythmic Gymnastics, and one in Improvisation, each lasting for

-fifty minutes, with an interval of ten minutes between lessons.’

-

-‘One of the most marked tendencies of the modern æsthetic theory is to

-break down the barriers that convention has created between the various

-arts,’ writes Michael T. H. Sadler of the value of Jacques-Dalcroze’s

-eurhythmics to art. ‘The truth is coming to be realized that the

-essential factor of poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture and music

-is really of the same quality, and that one art does not differ from

-another in anything but the method of its expression and the conditions

-connected with that method.

-

-‘The common basis to the arts is more easily admitted than defined,

-but one important element in it--perhaps the only element that can be

-given a name--is rhythm. Rhythm of bodily movement, the dance, is the

-earliest form of artistic expression known. It is accompanied in nearly

-every case with rude music, the object being to emphasize the beat and

-rhythmic movement with sound. The quickness with which children respond

-to simple repetition of beat, translating the rhythm of the music into

-movement, is merely the recurrence of historical development.

-

-‘To speak of the rhythm of painting may seem fanciful, but I think

-that is only lack of familiarity. The expression is used here with

-no intention of metaphor. Great pictures have a very marked and real

-rhythm, of color, of line, of feeling. The best prose-writing has

-equally a distinct rhythm.

-

-‘There was never an age in the history of art when rhythm played a more

-important part than it does to-day. The teaching of M. Dalcroze at

-Hellerau is a brilliant expression of the modern desire for rhythm in

-its most fundamental form--that of bodily movement. Let it be clearly

-understood from the first that the rhythmic training at Hellerau has

-an importance far deeper and more extended than is contained in its

-immediate artistic beauty, its excellence as a purely musical training,

-or its value to physical development. The beauty of the classes is

-amazing; the actor as well as the designer of stage-effects will come

-to thank M. Dalcroze for the greatest contribution to their art that

-any age can show. He has recreated the human body as a decorative unit.

-He has shown how men, women and children can group themselves and can

-be grouped in designs as lovely as any painting design, with the added

-charm of movement. He has taught the individuals their own power of

-gracious motion and attitude. Musically and physically the results

-are equally wonderful. But the training is more than a mere musical

-education; it is also emphatically more than gymnastics.

-

-‘To take a joy in the beauty of the body, to train his mind to move

-graciously and harmoniously both in itself and in relation to those

-around him, finally, to make his whole life rhythmic--such an ideal

-is not only possible but almost inevitable to the pupil at Hellerau.

-The keenness which possesses the whole College, the delight of every

-one in his work, their comradeship, their lack of self-consciousness,

-their clean sense of the beauty of natural form, promise a new and more

-harmonious race, almost a realization of Rousseau’s ideals, and with it

-an era of truly artistic production.’

-

-Dalcroze’s school has emphasized that its purpose is not merely to

-train dancers but to educate for life generally. His theory is that

-all the people should be raised to feel and appreciate the intrinsic

-value of the rhythm, which is best proven in M. Dalcroze’s own essay,

-_Le Rhythme_, which was published in 1909. ‘Schools of Music,’

-he says, ‘formerly frequented only by born musicians, gifted from

-birth with unusual powers of perception for sound and rhythm, to-day

-receive all who are fond of music, however little Nature may have

-endowed them with the necessary capacity for musical expression and

-realization. The number of solo players, both pianists and violinists,

-is constantly increasing, instrumental technique is being developed to

-an extraordinary degree, but everywhere, too, the question is being

-asked whether the quality of the instrumental players is equal to their

-quantity, and whether the acquirement of extraordinary technique is not

-joined to musical powers, if not of the first rank, at least normal.

-

-‘Of ten certified pianists of to-day, at the most one, if indeed one,

-is capable of recognizing one key from another, of improvising four

-bars with character or so as to give pleasure to the listener, of

-giving expression to a composition without the help of the more or less

-numerous annotations with which present-day composers have to burden

-their work, of experiencing any feeling whatever when they listen to,

-or perform, the composition of another. The solo players of older

-days were without exception complete musicians, able to improvise and

-compose, artists driven irresistibly towards art by a noble thirst for

-æsthetic expression, whereas most young people who devote themselves

-nowadays to solo playing have the gifts neither of hearing nor of

-expression, are content to imitate the composer’s expression without

-the power of feeling it, and have no other sensibility than that of the

-fingers, no other motor faculty than an automatism painfully acquired.

-Solo playing of the present day has specialized in a finger technique

-which takes no account of the faculty of mental expression. It is no

-longer a means, it has become an end.

-

-‘There are two physical agents by means of which we appreciate music.

-These two agents are the ear as regards sound, and the whole nervous

-system as regards rhythm. Experience has shown me that the training of

-these two agents cannot easily be carried out simultaneously. A child

-finds it difficult to appreciate at the same time a succession of notes

-forming a melody and the rhythm which animates them.

-

-‘Before teaching the relation which exists between sound and movement,

-it is wise to undertake the independent study of each of these two

-elements. Tone is evidently secondary, since it has not its origin

-and model in ourselves, whereas movement is instinctive in man and

-therefore primary. Therefore I begin the study of music by careful and

-experimental teaching of movement. This is based in earliest childhood

-on the automatic exercise of marching, for marching is the natural

-model of time measure.

-

-‘By means of various accentuations with the foot, I teach the different

-time measures. Pauses (of various length) in the marching teach the

-children to distinguish duration of sound; movements to time with the

-arms and the head preserve order in the succession of the time measures

-and analyze the bars and pauses.

-

-‘Unsteady time when singing or playing, confusion in playing, inability

-to follow when accompanying, accentuating too roughly or with lack of

-precision, all these faults have their origin in the child’s muscular

-and nervous control, in lack of coördination between the mind which

-conceives, the brain which orders, the nerve which transmits and the

-muscle which executes. And still more, the power of phrasing and

-shading music with feeling depends equally upon the training of the

-nerve-centres, upon the coördination of the muscular system, upon rapid

-communication between brain and limbs--in a word, upon the health of

-the whole organism; and it is by trying to discover the individual

-cause of each musical defect, and to find a means of correcting it,

-that I have gradually built up my method of eurhythmics.

-

-‘The object of the method is, in the first instance, to create by the

-help of rhythm a rapid and regular current of communication between

-brain and body; and what differentiates my physical exercises from

-those of present-day methods of muscular development is that each of

-them is conceived in the form which can most quickly establish in the

-brain the image of the movement studied.

-

-‘It is a question of eliminating in every muscular movement, by the

-help of will, the untimely intervention of muscles unless for the

-movement in question, and thus developing attention, consciousness and

-will-power. Next must be created an automatic technique for all those

-muscular movements which do not need the help of the consciousness, so

-that the latter may be reserved for those forms of expression which are

-purely intelligent. Thanks to the coördination of the nerve-centres, to

-the formation and development of the greatest possible number of motor

-habits, my method assures the freest possible play to subconscious

-expression.

-

-‘The first result of a thorough rhythmic training is that the pupil

-sees clearly in himself what he really is, and obtains from his powers

-all the advantage possible. * * * The education of the nervous system

-must be of such a nature that the suggested rhythms of a work of art

-induce in the individual analogous vibrations, produce a powerful

-reaction in him and change naturally into rhythms of expression.

-In simpler language the body must become capable of responding to

-artistic rhythms and of realizing them quite naturally without fear of

-exaggeration.

-

-‘Gestures and attitudes of the body complete, animate and enliven any

-rhythmic music written simply and naturally without special regard

-to tone, and, just as in painting there exist side by side a school

-of the nude and a school of the landscape, so in music there may be

-developed, side by side, plastic music and music pure and simple.

-In the school of landscape painting emotion is created entirely by

-combinations of moving light and by the rhythms thus caused. In the

-school of the nude, which pictures the many shades of expression of

-the human body, the artist tries to show the human soul as expressed

-by physical forms, enlivened by the emotions of the moment, and at the

-same time the characteristics suitable to the individual and the race,

-such as they appear through momentary physical modifications.

-

-‘At the present day plastic stage music is not interpreted at all, for

-dramatic singers, stage managers and conductors do not understand the

-relation existing between gesture and music, and the absolute ignorance

-regarding plastic expression which characterizes the lyric actors of

-our day is a real profanation of scenic musical art. Not only are

-singers allowed to walk and gesticulate on the stage without paying

-any attention to the time, but also no shade of expression, dynamic

-or motor, of the orchestra--crescendo, decrescendo, accelerando,

-ralletando--finds in their gestures adequate realization. By this I

-mean the kind of wholly instinctive transformation of sound movements

-into bodily movements such as my method teaches.’

-

-

-II

-

-This is briefly the essential part of the Jacques-Dalcroze school

-of Eurhythmics. The method falls into three main divisions: (1)

-ear training; (2) rhythmic gymnastics; and (3) improvisations. The

-ear method is nothing but the training of the pupil in an accurate

-sense of pitch and a grasp of tonality. However, the system of

-teaching rhythmic gymnastics is based upon two different methods:

-_time_ and _time-values_. Time is expressed by movements of the arms;

-time-values--note durations--by movements of the feet and body. A

-combination of these two methods is called the plastic counterpoint,

-in which the actual notes played are represented by movements of the

-arms, while the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers or semi-quavers, is

-given by the feet. The crotchet as the unit of note-values is expressed

-by means of a step. Thus for each note in the music there is one step.

-Notes of shorter duration than the crotchet are also expressed by

-steps, only they are quicker in proportion to their frequency. ‘When

-the movements corresponding to the notes from the crotchet to the whole

-note of twelve beats have, with all their details, become a habit,

-the pupil need only make them mentally, contenting himself with one

-step forward. This step will have the exact length of the whole note,

-which will be mentally analyzed into its various elements. Although

-these elements are not individually performed by the body, their images

-and the innervations suggested by these images take the place of the

-movements.’

-

-The first training of a pupil in the Dalcroze school consists of steps

-only. Simple music is played to which the pupils march. After the pupil

-has an elementary command of his legs the rhythmic training of his

-arms and body begins. At this stage the simple movements to indicate

-rhythms and notes are made a second nature of the pupil. This can be

-compared to the pupil’s learning of the alphabet. Plastic reading

-consists of composing more or less definite images from the elementary

-rhythm-units. This is done either individually or in groups. The pupil

-is taught to form clear mental images of the movements corresponding

-to the rhythm in question and then give physical expression to those

-images. As a child learns to compose letters and syllables to words

-and words to phrases, a Dalcroze pupil is taught to understand the

-elementary parts of the music and the rules of its composition and to

-recompose it into a lengthy series of body movements.

-

-The main object of Dalcroze’s method is to express by rhythmic

-movements rhythms perceived by the ear. The exactness of such

-expression is the main aim of the school. The body must react

-momentarily to the time and sound-units of the music that the ear

-perceives. As the wind creates waves in the sea, music is meant

-to create motion in the human body. Percy B. Ingham writes that

-characteristic exercises of this group are ‘beating the same time with

-both arms but in canon, beating two different tempi with the arms while

-the feet march to one or perhaps march to yet a third time, e. g.,

-the arms 3/4 and 4/4, the feet 5/4. There are, also, exercises in the

-analysis of a given time unit into various fractions simultaneously, e.

-g., in a 6/8 bar one arm may beat three to the bar, the other arm two,

-while the feet march six.’

-

-According to Dalcroze’s plastic theory the arms should express the

-theme in making as many movements as there are notes, while the feet

-should mark the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers, triplets or

-semi-quavers. A compound rhythm can be expressed by the arms taking one

-rhythm, the feet, another. This is meant to correspond to the technical

-exercises of orchestral music, by training the body to react to the

-various tones of different instruments. The general purpose, however,

-is and remains the development of feeling for rhythm by teaching the

-physical expression of body rhythms. There is no doubt that shades

-of crescendos and decrescendos, fortes and pianissimos are achieved

-by this method, yet the question remains: how near does the Dalcroze

-school come to visualizing the music in all its symbolic and spiritual

-depths?

-

-Music is more than rhythm; it is a subjective symbolic language of

-our soul and the universe. It is a mystic factor of life, human and

-cosmic. There is an unaccentuated language in every genial and great

-composition, an æsthetic image and philosophic meaning that we can

-grasp not by means of the intellect but mostly through the emotions,

-and it is in expressing this that Dalcroze’s school has failed in

-so far. Dalcroze has aimed to express the elemental factors of the

-music, and in this he has succeeded. The performances given by Mr. T.

-Jarecki, one of the most talented of the graduates of Hellerau, are

-sufficient proof of the fact that the school has its shortcomings in

-the above-mentioned directions. He performed a Prelude by Chopin, a

-composition of Rachmaninoff, one by Schubert, and several numbers of

-other classics in a costume that looked like a bathing suit. Powerful

-as he was in all his rhythmic grace, he yet failed to translate the

-musical language of the compositions by means of bodily plasticity.

-Chopin’s and Rachmaninoff’s preludes possess distinct tonal expressions

-and designs of something very human and emotional that lies beyond mere

-rhythm. Poetry is based on the laws of rhythm, yet it is not alone the

-rhythm that makes a poem beautiful, but the image that it creates. Thus

-in the art of dance it is not only the rhythm but the æsthetic episode

-that concerns a dancer most of all. It is the transformation of this

-phonetic episode into plastic forms, the visualization of the audible

-beauty, that lies at the bottom of every great dance. This requires

-certain symbols and those lie beyond the achievements of the Dalcroze

-graduates.

-

-

-III

-

-The great value of Dalcroze’s method lies in his insistence on perfect

-rhythm as an elementary training upon which the coming art of dancing

-can be based. The various folk-dances are outspokenly rhythmic, but

-they contain that peculiar racial flavor which is very difficult to

-keep outside its proper atmosphere and race. We have found that the

-best Russian dancers could not give the simple folk-dances of another

-race with the racial perfection which a native untrained folk-dancer

-would have imparted to it. In the same way foreign dancers with their

-best efforts fail in trying to dance what a Russian dances. The

-national dances can be employed as valuable bases for the individual

-art, but that is all. They lack the cosmic element, the language of

-the world. An Italian understands his _Tarantella_, a Spaniard his

-_Fandango_, a Russian his _Trepak_ best of all. The future art of

-dancing needs a universal element of choreographic design and it is

-in this that the Dalcroze school may be of immense value. It bases

-everything on rhythm only, which is very significant, but its aim

-should lie far beyond that. Rhythm is the syllable and the word, but

-words must be combined into phrases and phrases into paragraphs before

-we can read a story. It is after all the story in which the mind is

-interested, not the words and phrases.

-

-We have seen in previous chapters that the foundation of the ballet

-lacks the firmness and soundness of a natural art. It is decadent and

-altogether shaky. No genius could build anything lasting unless the

-foundation is firm. The aim of dancing is not acrobatic nor gymnastic

-effect, but plasticity. Symmetry is the chief element of architecture,

-rhythm that of music. If we can combine the symmetric rules with those

-of the rhythmic we have the basis upon which a new choreography can be

-built. Isadora Duncan, Fokine, Lada, Trouhanova and many others are

-trying to grasp the truth in their individual ways, but the elemental

-truth lies in Dalcroze’s system. That Dalcroze has not aimed to train

-any stage artists is evidenced by the bathing-suit-like costume

-that his pupils wear, which in itself is unæsthetic and objectionable

-to our eye, though it may fit well for regular class-room work. It is

-at illusion that the stage aims, and this is not to be found in naked

-realism but in something else.

-

-[Illustration]

-

-[Illustration: A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)]

-

-Some writers and critics seem to think that the great importance of

-Dalcroze’s system lies in his Neo-Hellenism, in that it is so close

-to the ancient Greek ideas. This view is particularly widespread in

-Germany, the country of classic adoration. But Greek spirit and ideals

-cannot help but only mislead a modern man. We have our problems, so

-many thousand years of evolution after the Greek civilization, that

-differ fundamentally from those of the bygone centuries. It is not in

-looking backward, but in looking forward that we have to find the great

-cosmic ideal of beauty. Dalcroze is by no means an imitator of the

-Greeks, but a man of to-day. He maintains emphatically that his method

-of eurhythmics is meant to be a general educational subject in all the

-schools--an elementary rhythmic training for life.

-

-It is to be hoped that the Dalcroze system of training dancers will

-be employed as the elementary step in all the dancing schools, for

-only then we may hope to see the rise of a new art of dancing.

-Without learning the alphabet thoroughly or without knowing the most

-elementary rules of a science nothing could be obtained by a pupil in

-his later studies. Here is the elementary system in all its primitive

-simplicity and truth. All we need is to adapt it to the higher

-schools of choreography. What the Dalcroze schooling of to-day gives

-is insufficient for a stage art. But it is by far a more thorough

-elementary training than any ballet, naturalistic or individual school

-can give, as it makes a student feel the music in his body and soul

-before he expresses it in his plastic forms. Then again, there is a

-strict system, a method of gradual development of those essentials

-which lie at the bottom of every art dance.

-

-In spite of the many shortcomings the Jacques-Dalcroze school can be

-considered as the first move towards a new stage art. It means the

-beginning of a new school of dancing altogether. However, it needs

-another reformer to begin where Dalcroze ended. Can we expect this of

-Fokine, Volkhonsky or some one else? Dance in its highest sense is

-symbolic. The symbols that it expresses should not be others than those

-of music. We know only that they should form images of the symmetric

-and rhythmic elements, but their exact nature remains either for an

-individual artist or a future school to determine.

-

-

-

-

-CHAPTER XIX

-

-PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY

-

-  The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new

-  ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories--Lada and choreographic

-  symbolism--The question of appropriate music.

-

-

-I

-

-We have witnessed the various phases and changes which the art of

-dancing has undergone during the past centuries. The ancient Egyptians

-danced the movements of astral bodies, the Greeks danced the hymns of

-their mythology, the Romans their war songs, the Middle Ages danced

-the aristocratic etiquette of gilded ball-rooms, the French Ballet

-danced to stereotyped tunes with marionette-like manners, the Russian

-Ballet danced to dramatic scenarios that had musical accompaniment,

-the various nations danced to their simple tunes, the Duncanites to

-the mood-creating elements of the music, the Jacques-Dalcrozists to

-the rhythm of a composition only. It is inconceivable that none of the

-reformers, none of the new schools, danced the music itself. Those

-among the partisans of ‘natural’ or ‘classic’ dancing who claim to

-interpret the music have given us thus far supposed imitations of the

-Greek, Oriental or fantastic styles of some kind, based upon hazy

-rhythmic mood-producing forms of a composition. We have seen only

-fragmentary passages here and there, single numbers of the celebrated

-dancers, which expressed the phonetic designs of the music in true

-plastic lines. Pavlova has certainly succeeded in expressing all the

-emotional fury of Glazounoff’s _L’Autômne Bacchanale_, the grace of

-Drigo’s _Papillons_, and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’ We must give all due

-credit to Karsavina, for her dancing of Stravinsky’s _L’Oiseau de Feu_,

-and half a dozen others of her repertoire depict truly the very soul

-of the music. The child pupils of Miss Duncan dance all the ethereal

-grace of Schubert’s _Moments Musicals_. In the same way we find in

-one or several dances of Mordkin, Nijinsky and Volinin, of Lopokova,

-Fokina and Kyasht that they have succeeded in dancing the music. We are

-pretty safe to say that each of the celebrated dancers of history has

-probably been able to translate into visible ‘plasticism’ only a few of

-the phonetic forms of one or another composition of his repertoire. And

-this is what we may term ‘dancing the music.’

-

-We have attended innumerable dance performances, have seen many new and

-old ballets, in Russia and abroad, have seen the new and ultra-modern

-dancers, yet we have so far seen but a microscopic fragment of what

-we here call ‘dancing the music.’ Certainly the greatest part of the

-repertoire of all the celebrated dancers has been the dancing of

-something else than the music. All the Pavlova ballets that have been

-given in America, all the elaborate ballets of the Russian classic

-school, all the ballets of the Diaghileff-Fokine group, are and remain

-dances to preconceived plots, dances to a style or a mood, but rarely

-dances of the music. We should like to have any of the celebrated

-dancers show us where there is expression of the music in all the

-spectacular pirouettes of Pavlova, Karsavina, Nijinsky and Fokina, in

-their dramatic acting to a musical composition, even in the most modern

-ballets of Stravinsky. The dancing that they perform during the whole

-ballet is pantomimic acting to a certain plot, arranged to music. We

-are not by any means biased in making the statement, but make it with

-deliberation.

-

-Dancers of various schools and ages have failed to see the point.

-Though Prince Volkhonsky is preaching exclusively the Jacques-Dalcroze

-rhythmic gymnastics as the basis of a new school of dance and therefore

-sees nothing more in a dance than the rhythmic expression, yet he has

-described aptly the defects of the Russian ballets, old and new, of

-the Duncanites and other modern schools of dancing. ‘Their main defect

-is that they develop independently of the music,’ he writes; ‘they are

-a design by themselves--complicated, interesting, very often pleasing

-to the eye, yet independent of the music. And we have already seen

-when we spoke of the old _codas_ that the most unpretentious figure,

-even when banal, becomes inspiring when it coincides with the musical

-movement, and, on the contrary, the most interesting picturesque

-figure loses meaning when it develops in discord with music. Look at

-some dance, definite and exact, which has crystallized itself within

-well-established limits; you may look at it even without music, but try

-to watch a pantomime without music. In the first place, it will be a

-design without color, quite an acceptable form; in the second, it will

-be a body without skeleton--something unacceptable.

-

-‘The main fault of the leaders of the modern ballet is that they put

-the centre of gravity of the ballet in the plot, in the event, in the

-story: what in painting is called literature. Whereas the subject

-of the ballet is not in the plot, the subject is in the music. Any

-picture which is not dictated by music, any independent movement, is

-synonymous with abandonment of the subject, the essence; it is in

-the end an interruption of art, an interruption caused by a rupture

-between the two equivalent elements of the visuo-audible art--sound

-and movement. This rupture with music is all the more felt the more

-participants there are in the picture, and the more markedly it tends

-towards “realism.” Only look at them when they represent scenes of

-disorder; and by and by we lose the impression of “art”; we see real,

-not represented, disorder; and finally we are turned to the dramatic

-point of view, and we are called upon to admire the “acting crowd.”

-And if you are musical, if you live in the movement of sound, this

-independent visible movement cannot but appear as a sort of unasked-for

-interference of some intruder. The acting crowd is not admissible where

-a rhythmically moving crowd is required. Acting leads the artist out

-of music and conducts him into the plot; and the subject of ballet, I

-repeat, is not in the plot, it is in the music; the plot is but the

-pretext.

-

-‘Only through the rhythm will the ballet come back to music and

-accomplish the fusion which has been destroyed by independent acting.

-Schopenhauer said that music is a melody to which the universe serves

-as a text; take away the music from the ballet--it will have nothing

-to say. There is quite a clear parallel here with the vocal art. The

-musician composes a song; he puts words to music. Imagine a singer

-coming out and telling us only the words; he will be far from the

-fulfillment of his task; he will have accomplished but the half of it,

-the lesser part of it. It is the same with the ballet; the musician

-composes the ballet, he puts the plot to music. Imagine a dancer coming

-out and acting the plot alone; he will be far from the fulfillment of

-his task; he will have accomplished but the lesser part of it. For the

-ballet does not relate how the Sleeping Beauty, for instance, fell

-asleep and awoke (this is the business of literature, declamation

-and drama); the ballet relates how music tells it. Music is the only

-real essence in that which forms the subject of the ballet. All the

-remaining “reality,” the real man with his real movement, is nothing

-but a means of expression, nothing but artistic material. It is evident

-how wrong, how offensive it is (for a musician) when this material

-of living movement embodies a new moving formula which is not implied

-in the music. Have you seen those “processions” of maidens, slaves,

-priests, etc.? Have you ever been shocked by the discord of their walk

-with music? Have you noticed that the pace which you see is quite

-different from the one you hear? Have you ever felt offended on seeing

-that they step between the notes and thus give you the impression of

-syncopes which are in no way justified by music? I am afraid you have

-not. Few are those who realize the importance of the accord of movement

-and sound, who long for its realization, and, together with Schiller,

-desire that “Music in its ascendant ennoblement shall become Image.”

-

-‘The music we hear is the subject of the image we see. And in fact the

-singer sings music, the dancer dances music, and cannot dance anything

-else; he cannot “dance” jealousy or grief or fright, but he can and

-must dance the music which expresses the feeling of jealousy, grief or

-fright. And when he has rendered the music he will, by the same means,

-have rendered its contents, and naturally the silly question will

-be dropped: “How is it possible that on the stage the people should

-dance everything, whereas in life only dances are danced, or, at the

-utmost, joy?” The question is strange, to be sure, yet no less strange

-are those who forget that the only thing they may dance is music, and

-think they may dance a “rôle.” The dramatic principle based upon an

-arbitrary division of time is directly opposed to the choreographic

-principle, which is wholly founded on the musical, consequently

-regulated, division of time. Therefore the introduction of the element

-of “personal feeling,”[D] of individual choice, and even more, destroys

-the very essence of the choreographic art, and eats away its very

-texture.

-

-    [D] As the Duncanites do.--Editor.

-

-I do not speak against the working out of such; I speak against an

-independent working out--that is, a separate one running a course other

-than that in which music is the greatest essential. I remember one of

-the best _ballerinas_ contorting herself in wild movements of anguish

-while the notes of the violin were dying away in one long sound of a

-trill. She “acted,” and there is, of course, no harm in this, but she

-acted according to her ideas, instead of acting according to music. It

-is just the same sin against art as if a singer were to execute a lyric

-song with bravado. Would you forgive him? Why, then, do we not forgive

-a singer, yet forgive a mimic, even admire his “acting”? Why is it

-every one understands that singing must agree with music, and so few,

-almost nobody, feel the offensiveness of movement which disagrees with

-music? And yet how sensitive to the observation of the musico-plastic

-principle are those who are so indifferent to its non-observation. How

-much they enjoy, though unconsciously, every manifestation of that

-concordance! We may say with certitude that for the best moments,

-the moments of greatest satisfaction in the living art--that is, the

-musico-plastic art combining the visible with the audible--we are

-indebted to the simultaneous concurrence of the plastic movement with

-the musical; in other words, to the equality in division of space and

-time. In an old French treatise on the dance, published in the year

-1589, the author says among other bits of advice: “It is wrong for

-the foot to say one thing and the instrument the other.” In its naïve

-conciseness this sentence represents the germ of all that has been

-said, perhaps with some prolixity, in these pages.

-

-‘Space and time are the fundamental conditions of all material

-existence--and for that same reason the inevitable conditions of all

-material manifestation of man within the limits of his earthly being.

-If we agree that art is the highest manifestation of order in matter,

-and order in its essence nothing but division of space and time, we

-shall understand the fullness of artistic satisfaction which man must

-feel when both his organs of perfection, eye and ear, convey to him not

-only each separate enjoyment, but the enjoyment of fusion; when all his

-æsthetic functions are awakened in him not separately but collectively,

-in one unique impression: the visible rhythm penetrated by the audible,

-the audible realized in the visible, and both united in movement. This

-is the combination of the spacial order with the temporal. And when

-this combination is accomplished, and still more when it is animated

-with expression, then no chord of human impressionability is left

-untouched, no category of human existence is neglected; space and time

-are filled with art, the whole man is but one æsthetic perception.

-

-‘And, once we have understood all that, how is it possible not to

-express the wish that the leaders of the art of the ballet should

-assimilate the principle of concordance of motion and music? Without

-this there is no art in movement, and all our old “pointés” and

-“fouettés,” all those records of rapidity and difficulties are nothing

-but words without significance, whereas the new “choreographical”

-pictures are but a dramatization of movement to the sound of an

-accompanying music.’

-

-

-II

-

-One of the first among living dancers to realize the truth of the

-above-described lack of concordance between motion and music in all the

-ancient and new schools, and to devise, intuitively, a method of her

-own in expressing only the music, is Lada, a young American girl, who

-had been assiduously studying dancing in Europe and in Russia. She felt

-so keenly the discord in the ballet, in the art of Isadora Duncan,

-in the dances of so many modern celebrities, that she was led to draw

-her inspiration from the folk-dances of various European countries.

-Here was something simple and primitive, the simple and naïve harmonic

-relation between the audible, and the visible, the plastic, conception.

-It was the concordance of motion and music.

-

-Lada’s New York début in the late spring of 1914 was, in spite of so

-many unfavorable circumstances, a choreographic triumph such as few

-dancers have achieved under similar conditions. The New York musical

-and dramatic critics, though unfamiliar with subtle choreographic

-issues, declared her an artist of the foremost rank. Yet this girl

-has not had yet the chance to display the best of her art. Her art

-may be divided into three different categories: those based on the

-racial, on the dramatic and on the symbolic principles. Her Brahms’

-Hungarian Dance, Glinka’s _Kamarienskaya_, and Schubert’s _Biedermayer_

-are distinct ethnographic plastic panoramas; her Sibelius’ _Valse

-Triste_ is a masterpiece among her dramatic and realistic dances, while

-MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance,’ Sibelius’ ‘Swan of Tuonela,’ Glière’s

-_Lada_, and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s _Antar_ are perfect choreographic gems

-of unusual symbolic breadth. In the _Valse Triste_ the sad majesty, as

-if absorbed in infinite grief, overcomes the spectator so irresistibly

-that he almost forgets the morbidly beautiful music of Sibelius.

-On occasions, impressively executed with unsurpassed loftiness and

-freedom, she places before us a visionary being, though on the verge of

-death, in whose presence everything low falls from us, and our feelings

-express the same elevation that they do in genuine tragedy.

-

-But, however excellently Lada may interpret the sentimental issues

-of various ethnographic compositions and how well she may portray

-the tragic vigor of the dramatic music, the best of her art lies

-in the symbolic visualization of phonetic beauties. In these she

-appears like a supernatural being raised above common humanity. Her

-rendering of Gretchaninoff’s ‘Bells,’ which we have seen so far only in

-rehearsals, makes an impression as if she were lost in sacred revery.

-A touch of religious feeling pervades the beautiful panorama. In other

-dances of similar religious character she seems floating in mid-air,

-unsubstantial as the moon whose pale beams pour a magic beauty over

-sleeping Nature--and yet so far removed. Her art is an absolute image

-of the music. Lada is by no means a mood creator or a believer in

-genial spontaneity that requires nothing but a stage and orchestra. She

-possesses in her simplest folk-dance-like choreographic sketches the

-same technical perfection, the same strenuous practice, as the most

-accomplished ballet dancer. This is what makes her body seem like a

-highly strung instrument, whose strings the slightest breath of wind

-can set quivering. Let us hope that she will not change her views and

-aspirations for the sake of managerial or timely requirements, as so

-many successful dancers have done. It would be a loss to the evolution

-of the art of dancing.

-

-To this school of dancing belongs also Natasha Trouhanova, a

-fascinatingly beautiful Caucasian girl, whose appearances in Russia and

-Paris have attracted great attention. Being of semi-Oriental descent

-herself, Trouhanova’s art has verged on Oriental conceptions. Russian

-music is rich in excellent Oriental themes; Borodine, Rubinstein,

-Balakireff, Ippolitoff-Ivanoff and Spendiaroff have written a large

-number of instrumental works of Oriental cast, which adapt themselves

-magnificently to dancing. Indeed, the composers of other countries

-have not been able to approach the Russians in the treatment of

-Oriental subjects. Mlle. Trouhanova has specialized in a romantic

-Oriental symbolism, in which she has succeeded more than any of the

-other living dancers. There is an enchanting, exotic atmosphere in

-Trouhanova’s plastic expressions, something that breathes of the

-Thousand and One Nights, seductive and saturated with passion, yet

-beautiful in every detail. Her best performances have been those which

-she has given in Oriental surroundings, in the atmosphere to which

-such expressions belong. Like Lada, Trouhanova seeks the solution of

-choreography in the music itself. She has been inclined to a kind

-of symbolism that pertains to the romantic emotions, and in this

-particular field she stands supreme.

-

-

-III

-

-How important Lada’s illustration of the theory of concordance of

-motion and music is at this time of dancing evolution can be more

-concretely grasped by the coming generations than by an average

-dance-lover to-day. It is perspective that gives the true visual

-impression of a mountain. ‘In the unison of plasticity and music,

-of the visible with the audible, of the spacial with the temporal,

-lies the guarantee of that new art which we so ardently desire and so

-unsuccessfully seek,’ writes a celebrated dance authority. But here

-comes the question of music, the phonetic image that should guide

-the choreographic artist. Lada complains that she has a very limited

-choice of compositions that can be danced. The problem of proper dance

-music is more serious than one would think. Sibelius’ _Valse Triste_

-is perhaps the best sample of dramatic dance music that corresponds

-perfectly to a dancer’s requirements. MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance’ is

-another gem of this kind. There are quite a few by other composers.

-The sum is slight. But the dancer can hardly blame the composer alone,

-for the latter knows only the old ballet, the naturalistic school or

-folk-dance themes. He has never heard of any other dance music than the

-one which has been danced, either socially or on the stage.

-

-Dancing to music requires short phonetic episodes with sufficient

-poetic, symbolic or dramatic element, and images clearly depicted in

-strong rhythmic measure and sufficient background for the story. The

-more variety of figures, the greater contrasts and the more ‘chapters’

-in such a composition, the better for the dancer. The modern decadent,

-unrhythmic, vague mood music of the radical French and German schools

-is of little appeal and practically impossible to render in plastic

-forms. It is the Russian school of music, as also the works of modern

-Finnish composers, that have all the rich, clear and powerfully vivid

-magic of the north, and appeal so strongly to a dancer’s imagination.

-Sibelius’ _En Saga_, a tone-poem for full orchestra, would be the most

-grateful composition for this purpose had it not been written in the

-old symphonic form. It belongs to that baffling and unsatisfactory

-class of symphonic poems to which Sibelius has failed to give a clear

-literary basis. The music suggests the recital of some old tale in

-which the heroic and pathetic elements are skillfully blended. The

-music is vigorous and highly picturesque, but its interest would be

-greatly enhanced by a more definite program. Again, the same composer’s

-‘Lemminkainen’s Home-Faring’ would make an excellent dance for a man

-dancer, had the composer rearranged it for a smaller orchestra and

-for dancing. It is an episode from the _Kalevala_. Sibelius’ Fourth

-Symphony is a composition that could be danced, being based on a series

-of single episodes of extremely imaginary character. But the score

-is written for a large symphony orchestra, therefore unpractical for

-dancing in a general way. Sibelius’ incidental music to Adolf Paul’s

-tragedy, ‘King Christian II,’ and the other to Maeterlinck’s ‘Pelléas

-and Mélisande’ are large ballets rather than music that could be

-performed without any particular difficulties by dancers of Lada’s type.

-

-The question of appropriate music for the latest phase of the art

-of dancing is so serious that it requires earnest consideration. In

-considering the best dances of all the great dancers of all ages and

-schools we find that among the phonetic images the symbolic element

-renders itself most gratefully to plastic transformation. By its

-very nature dancing is the symbolic rendering of music. The more

-symbolic the subject of a composition the better chance it has of

-being transmitted into a visible language. A dancer represents in his

-vibrating body lines the symbolic complex of all the phonetic unities

-of a composition. He is, so to speak, the unset type. Music is the text

-that he has to print in such pictorial forms, in such symbols that our

-mind can grasp it. Throughout his dance, he remains a kaleidoscopic

-tracer of the musical designs of the composition. The plastic positions

-of the human body, the mimic expression of the face, the gestures and

-the steps, are the mediums that can suggest certain phases of emotion

-and feeling, certain ideas and impressions of soul and body. There

-is a certain tonal and pictorial ‘logic,’ a kind of unarticulated

-thinking, in music as well as in dancing. But this cannot be depicted

-in any other than symbolic form. Essentially both arts are composed

-of a succession of peculiar emotional symbolic images. Music is the

-vibration of the sound, dancing the vibration of the form. Both arts

-appeal directly to our emotions, music more than dancing, the latter

-being more mixed with our intellectual processes. Dancing may be termed

-the translating of the absolutely subjective language into a more

-objective one. According to this theory all the ballets in the old

-form of drama, where the characters dance their rôles, is against the

-principle of pure art dancing. It is impossible to imagine that there

-is any music on the order of our conventional dramas, of so or so many

-characters. At the utmost there can be only two dancing figures, two

-characters that we could imagine in a tone-drama of this kind; but even

-so, the other could be only the acting, the pantomimic character, while

-only one dancer at a time can render the real transformation process of

-the musical theme.

-

-To comply with the requirements of the above-described theory of

-musical dancing, the writer has composed a scenario, ‘The Legend of

-Life,’ to which Reinhold Glière is composing the music. In this ballet,

-or more correctly _plastomime_, which is arranged in three scenes,

-there is only one single dancer throughout the whole performance, and

-she is the symbolic image, the visualized imagination of a young monk,

-who is sitting in the evening before the festival of ordainment in his

-gloomy cell and thinking of the girl he used to love outside. Here he

-begins to hear the worldly music that is interrupted by the chimes

-and the choir of the church. The girl of whom he is thinking appears

-before him and dances romantic episodes--dances, so to speak, his vivid

-reminiscences. The monk is the realistic figure, the dancing girl the

-symbolic image of the music. It is a whole drama, which takes place in

-the monk’s mind. The drama is in music, and is his love, his romantic

-emotion, which is often interrupted by ecclesiastic surroundings. The

-second scene is the dream of the monk at night in a beautiful garden.

-The vision of the dancing girl. The third scene depicts him watching

-his own ordination in the church and the people arriving solemnly

-through the courtyard to witness the ceremony. Among them he sees his

-beloved. This scene is laid in the monastery’s courtyard. The charm

-of the dancing girl here becomes so overwhelming to the monk that

-he throws off his robe and rushes to her. Here she vanishes like a

-phantom and the plastomime ends. This, briefly, is an attempt at the

-sort of literary basis upon which the author considers dance music can

-be constructed in concordance with the new symbolic ideals.

-

-The above-described scenario is merely one of the innumerable dance

-themes that modern composers could employ in their future dance music.

-It is to be hoped that composers will grasp the idea and enrich musical

-literature with works that adapt themselves to the requirements of a

-new choreography.

-

-

-

-

-EPILOGUE

-

-FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE ART OF DANCE

-

-

-As in the physical so in the spiritual world there prevails a kind

-of circulation of energies and life; growth, maturity and decline.

-Individuals seem nothing but the beginnings where the universes

-end, and _vice versa_. As a man mirrors the world in his soul, so a

-protoplasm mirrors the man. An invisible hand pushes a worm along the

-same road of evolution as it does an imperious Cæsar. One and the same

-feeling heart seems to beat in the breast of man that beats in the

-action of the constellations. Yet the hand of evolution that tends to

-adjust the equilibrium between the individual and the cosmic will gives

-by every new turn a new touch of perfection to the subjective and the

-objective parties. This tendency manifests itself in the history of

-individuals and races, and also in the history of art. The greatest

-genius of to-day is surpassed by another to-morrow.

-

-The art of dancing, as it stands to-day, promises much encouragement

-for to-morrow. It is near the beginning of a new era--the era of the

-cosmic ideals. The past belongs to the aristocratic ideals, in which

-the Russian ballet reached the climax. The French were the founders

-of aristocratic choreography; the Russians transformed it into an

-aristocratic-dramatic art; to the Americans belongs the attempt at a

-democratic school.

-

-‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative, destructive

-element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for instance, we had never seen

-the old ballet, with its stereotype, I do not think that the appearance

-of Isadora Duncan would have called forth such enthusiasm. In Isadora

-we greeted the deliverance.’ The chief merit of Duncan lies in

-destroying the aristocratic foundation of the ballet, and in attempting

-to find a democratic expression. She meant to find the solution in

-ancient Greek ideas and tried to imitate them. But she forgot that she

-was an outspoken American individualist and grasped only the democratic

-principles of a young race. All she achieved was to prove that the

-democratic essentials are no more satisfactory in the future æsthetic

-evolution of the dance than were the aristocratic traditions of the

-bygone centuries. The question remains, where is to be found the true

-basis of the coming choreography?

-

-It is strange to contemplate what different directions the development

-of the dance in various countries and in various ages has taken.

-In ancient Egypt and Greece the primitive folk-dances developed

-into spectacular religious ballets, in Japan they assumed the same

-impressionistic character as the rest of the national art, in

-aristocratic France the folk-dances grew to a gilded salon art, in

-Italy they became acrobatic shows, while in Russia they transformed

-themselves into spectacular racial pantomimes. In every age and

-country the art of dancing followed the strongest æsthetic motives of

-the time. If a nation worshipped nobility it danced the aristocratic

-ideals, if it worshipped divine ideas it danced them accordingly. The

-social-political democratic ideals of the New World have exercised

-a great influence in this direction upon the art of the Old. Though

-imitating aristocratic Europe, America has not failed to add an element

-of its own to the æsthetic standards of the former. But had America

-been only democratic there would be little hope left that it could

-attribute anything to the future beauty, particularly to the future

-dance. There are, however, other elements that give encouragement to

-something serious and lasting, and this is the cosmic tendency in

-American life and art.

-

-The chief characteristics of the American mind are to condense

-expressions and ideas into their shortest forms. This is most evident

-in the syncopated style of its music, in its language and in its

-architecture. Like the American ‘ragtime’ tune, an American skyscraper

-is the result of an impressionistic imagination. Both are crude in

-their present form, yet they speak a language of an un-ethnographic

-race and form the foundation of a new art. Instead of having a

-floating, graceful and, so to speak, a horizontal tendency like the

-æsthetic images of the Old World, the American beauty is dynamic,

-impressionistic and perpendicular. It shoots directly upwards and

-denies every tradition. The underlying motives of such a tendency are

-not democratic but cosmic. While a nationalistic art is always based on

-something traditional, something that belongs to the past evolution of

-a race, the cosmic art strives to unite the emotions of all humanity.

-The task of the latter is very much more difficult. It requires a

-universal mind to grasp and express what appeals to the whole world.

-It requires a Titanic genius to condense the æsthetic images so that

-in their shortest form they may say what the others would express in

-roundabout ways. This gives to beauty a dynamic vigor and makes it so

-much more universal than the art of any nation or age could be. But

-this requires the use of symbols, and tends to subjectivism. However,

-the symbols employed in this case are fundamentally different from

-those employed by the Orientals. Since the earliest ages the Orient has

-made use of symbols in art and religion. But the Oriental symbols have

-been mystic or philosophic in their nature. The American symbols will

-either be purely intellectual or they will be poetic.

-

-The future of the art of dancing belongs to America, the country of

-the cosmic ideals. This is evident from its evolution since Isadora

-Duncan’s début. The Russian New Ballet (of Diaghileff’s group) is the

-best proof that the traditional racial plasticism is being transformed

-into a cosmic one. Compare the steps and gestures of Karsavina and

-Nijinsky with those of Pavlova and Volinin. Where the former have

-become realistically dramatic, the latter remain acrobatically

-academic. There is more symbolism in Karsavina’s and Nijinsky’s art

-than in that of Pavlova and the followers of the old ballet. But the

-plastic symbols of Lada are far more condensed than those of Karsavina.

-This is what we have termed the essential of a cosmic choreography.

-

-The tendency of every art is from the simple to the complex and then

-again from the complex to the simple. The greatest dancer is the one

-who can express the most complex musical images in the simplest plastic

-forms. Dancing in the future will be nothing but a transformatory

-process of the time-emotions in the space-emotions. ‘Rhythm is in time

-what symmetry is in space--division into equal parts corresponding to

-each other,’ said Schopenhauer. Arthur Symons called dancing ‘thinking

-overheard.’ ‘It begins and ends before words have formed themselves, in

-a deeper consciousness than that of speech. * * * It can render birth

-and death, and it is always going over and over the eternal pantomime

-of love; it can be all the passions, all the languors; but it idealizes

-these mere acts, gracious or brutal, into more than a picture; for it

-is more than a beautiful reflection, it has in it life itself, as it

-shadows life; and it is farther from life than a picture. Humanity,

-youth, beauty, playing the part of itself, and consciously, in a

-travesty, more natural than nature, more artificial than art: but we

-lose ourselves in the boundless bewilderment of its contradictions.’

-It follows that a neo-symbolism is the logical outcome of the future

-dance. Dancing will become an independent stage art and take the place

-of the obsolescent opera. But before it reaches that stage, composers

-will be compelled to realize the importance of the new choreography,

-and produce music that contains all the graphic designs, the plastic

-possibilities, the dynamic drama and, above all, that structure of

-sounds which gives ample possibility for symbolic plasticism and yet

-contains a message.

-

-The real future dance will be expressionistic and subjective. Instead

-of copying life it will suggest its deepest depths and highest heights

-by combining the plastic symbols with the musical ones. It will not

-try to imitate nature but transpose it, as a painting transposes a

-landscape. Our mind is growing tired of the prevailing naked realism

-and its photographic effects. The realistic drama is gradually losing

-its æsthetic appeal. The aristocratic opera seems to belong to past

-centuries. Opera has lost its grip on the modern mind. Our æsthetic

-conception has reached the point where our subjective mind requires not

-imitation but inspiration. Instead of traditional beauties we require

-dynamic ones. We enjoy a suggestion of an æsthetic sensation more than

-an accurate description of it. This proves that the symbolic sensations

-will sooner or later take the upper hand, and symbolic dancing will be

-the watchword of the coming age.

-

-Since, according to our theory, the future of the art of dancing

-belongs to America, we should take into consideration those primary

-elements of musical art that form the foundation of every dance.

-American art naturally lacks fundamentally national elements; it

-strives toward cosmic ideals instead. Miserable as is the syncopated

-form of American popular music it yet constitutes the musical

-_Volapük_ of all the nations. This same syncopated form of expression

-manifests itself in American architecture and in its social dancing.

-The broken lines, the irregular dynamics, and the restless corners here

-and there that we find predominant in American architecture are nothing

-but a transposed form of popular music. It is evident that neither one

-of the arts has yet found its foundation. A New York skyscraper is

-a silent ‘ragtime’ tune, and _vice versa_. But the ‘ragtime’ rhythm

-can be modulated to the same æsthetic expressions as the skyscrapers.

-Unconsciously the dance follows the patterns of architecture and music.

-The future choreography does not necessarily need to be based upon

-syncopated rhythm only, but upon the various factors of the style, the

-method of expression and the spiritual issues.

-

-The physical and spiritual bases of every folk-art lie in the rural

-life. A folk-song or a folk-dance is and remains the product of idyllic

-village atmosphere. It mirrors the joys and sorrows, hopes and passions

-of the country people. It has been molded under the blue sky, in

-sunshine and storm. The songs of birds and the voices of nature form

-its æsthetic background. A village troubadour or poet is usually its

-creator, and simplicity is its fundamental trait. It exalts the rural

-atmosphere, poetry and characteristics. The place of the birth and

-growth of syncopated rhythm and broken symmetry is exclusively the

-city. It exalts the noise, rush and triviality, also the alertness and

-forces of the street. It suggests motion and intellectual fever. It

-leaves images of something artificial and fatal in the mind. The spirit

-of the country is different in every nation; but the spirit of the city

-is a similar one all over the world. It is in this very fact that we

-have to look for the logical foundation of the future choreography. It

-will emanate from no particular race, from no particular country, nor

-from any particular element of national art. It will come from the

-artificial city, the mother of cosmic idealism. The symbolism of the

-city is destined to take the place of the symbolism of the country. The

-New York plasticism will be also the plasticism of Paris and Petrograd.

-

-The ethnographic and aristocratic era in the art of dancing has reached

-the climax of æsthetic development. We are entering the era of cosmic

-art. We begin it with the same primitive steps that our ancestors made

-so many centuries ago; only with this difference--that now we view the

-problem from a universal point of view while our forefathers beheld

-it from a nationalistic and aristocratic point of view. We are in the

-cosmic current of evolution and begin our circle where it was left by

-those who had passed the current of a certain race or class. The future

-dance will grasp beauty from a broader stretch and deeper depths than

-the greatest virtuosi of the past and present could do. The fundamental

-law of all spiritual as well as physical evolution is to bring about a

-better equilibrium between the individual and the universal powers.

-

-

-

-

-LITERATURE FOR VOLUME X

-

-

-_In English_

-

-  S. A. BARRETT: The Dream Dance of the Chippewa and Menominee Indians

-      (Milwaukee, Wis., 1911).

-

-  CAROLINE AND CHARLES CAFFIN: Dancing and Dancers of To-day (New York,

-      1912).

-

-  HAVELOCK ELLIS: The Philosophy of Dancing (Atlantic Monthly, Boston,

-      April, 1914).

-

-  J. E. CRAWFORD FLITCH: Modern Dancing and Dancers (London, 1912).

-

-  MARCELLA A. HINCKS: The Japanese Dance (London, 1910).

-

-  A. HOLT: How to Dance the Revived Ancient Dances (London, 1907).

-

-  TROY AND MARGARET WEST KINNEY: The Dance (New York, 1914).

-

-  CECIL J. SHARPE AND HERBERT C. MACILWAINE: The Morris Book (London,

-      1910).

-

-  G. VUILLIER: A History of Dancing (New York, 1898).

-

-

-_In German_

-

-  W. ANGERSTEIN: Volkstänze im deutschen Mittelalter (Berlin, 1868).

-

-  F. M. BOEHME: Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland (Leipzig, 1886).

-

-  HANS BRANDENBURG: Der Moderne Tanz (Munich, 1913).

-

-  ÉMILE JACQUES-DALCROZE: Der Eurythmus (Dresden, 1913).

-

-  H. FLACH: Der Tanz bei den Griechen (Berlin, 1880).

-

-  G. FUCHS: Der Tanz (Stuttgart, 1906).

-

-  G. MOHR: Die deutschen Volkstänze (Leipzig, 1874).

-

-  HEINZ SCHNABEL: Kordax: Archeologische Studien (Munich, 1910).

-

-  R. VOSS: Der Tanz und seine Geschichte (Erfurt).

-

-

-_In French_

-

-  CASTIL-BLAZE: Histoire littéraire, musicale, choréographique, etc.

-      (Paris, 1847).

-

-  AUGUSTE EHRHARD: Une vie de danseuse: Fanny Elssler (Paris, 1909).

-

-  MAURICE EMMANUEL: La danse grecque antique (Paris, 1896).

-

-  J. G. NOVERRE: Lettres sur les arts imitateurs en général (Paris,

-      1907).

-

-

-_In Italian_

-

-  G. B. DUFORT: Trattato del ballo nobile (Naples, 1728).

-

-

-_In Russian_

-

-  Bulletins of the Russian Imperial Ballet School (Petrograd,

-      1900–1914).

-

-  CÉSAR CUI: Istoria Russkoi Musyki (Petrograd, 1903).

-

-  S. HUDAKOV: Istoria Tanzev, 2 vols. (Petrograd, 1914).

-

-  N. RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF: Memoirs (Petrograd, 1910).

-

-  PRINCE S. VOLKHONSKY: The Ballet (Petrograd, 1913).

-

-

-_In Danish_

-

-  Bulletins of the Danish National Theatre (Copenhagen, 1910–14).

-

-  TOBIAS NORLIND: Svardsdans ock Bagdans (Copenhagen, 1911).

-

-

-_In Finnish and Esthonian_

-

-  Kalevala (Helsingfors, 1880).

-

-  Suomen Kansan Sävelmiä (Helsingfors, 1898).

-

-  DR. F. KREUTZWALD: Kaliwipoeg [in Esthonian] (Tartu, 1900).

-

-

-

-

-INDEX FOR VOLUME X

-

-

-  A

-

-  _Abdallah_ (Bournoville and Paulli), 152.

-

-  Academicism (French, Italian), 171.

-

-  Academies of dancing, 151f;

-    (Egyptian), 17;

-    (Chinese), 31f, 34;

-    (Cadiz, Spain), 46f;

-    (Greek), 71;

-    (French), 86f, 94f, 99, 105, 151;

-    (Russian), 90f, 105;

-    (Copenhagen Ballet School), 165;

-    (College of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Hellerau), 234ff.

-

-  Accentuation, 238.

-

-  Accompaniment (in Spanish dances), 211.

-

-  Accordion (in English folk-dance), 116f.

-

-  _Ach, du lieber Augustin_, 131.

-

-  Acting (in relation to ballet), 250, 252.

-

-  Adam, Charles-Adolphe (as ballet composer), 151, 152, 158.

-

-  Æschylus, 55, 66.

-

-  African Bantu, iii.

-

-  African guitar, 47.

-

-  _Ai Ouchnem_, 105.

-

-  Akté, Aino, 205.

-

-  Albinus (Roman consul), 76.

-

-  Alexander I, Czar of Russia, 131, 181.

-

-  Alexis Mihailowitch, Czar, 179.

-

-  Algiers, 21.

-

-  _All in a Garden Green_ (British folk-dance), 120.

-

-  Allan, Maud, 201, 206.

-

-  Allard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), 101.

-

-  _Allemande_, 144, 146.

-

-  Alliamatula (Roman dancer), 77.

-

-  Almeiis, 18, 21ff.

-

-  Amaterasu (Japanese deity), 35f.

-

-  America (future of dancing in), 261f.

-

-  American Indians, iv, 38f.

-

-  Ammon, Temple of (Egyptian school of dancing in), 17.

-

-  _Anabasis_ (quoted), 55f.

-

-  Andalusia (folk-dancing), 106, 107f.

-

-  Andersen, Hans Christian, 167.

-

-  Androgeonia (Greek hero), 54.

-

-  Angerstein, Wilhelm (cited), 128f.

-

-  Anglin, Mlle. (ballet dancer), 91.

-

-  Anna, Empress of Russia, 90.

-

-  Anna Ivanovna, Empress of Russia, 179.

-

-  Anne of Denmark (English Queen, patron of the masque), 83, 84, 119.

-

-  [d’]Annunzio, Gabriele, 165.

-

-  Antagonism to dancing (of Western Church), 9, 103, 129;

-    (of Roman consuls), 76.

-

-  _Antoine et Cléopatre_ (ballet), 102.

-

-  Aphrodite, 61, 67, 69, 70;

-    (compared to Venera), 24;

-    (mysteries), 61.

-

-  Apollo, 54, 56, 57, 59, 69f;

-    (mysteries), 61.

-

-  Apostles, 80.

-

-  _[L’]Après-midi d’un Faun_, (Debussy), 232.

-

-  Arabesques (in Egyptian dances), 18;

-    (in French ballet step), 95.

-

-  Arabia (_Stomach Dance_), 3, 22;

-    (_Graveyard Dance_), 21;

-    (_Axis Dance_), 22;

-    (character of dancing), 46ff;

-    (influence of, on Spanish dances), 112.

-

-  ‘Arabian Nights,’ 226.

-

-  Aragon (folk-dancing), 107f.

-

-  Arcadia, 55, 57, 60.

-

-  Architecture, 235, 265;

-    (development of, synchronous with dancing), 46;

-    (American), 263.

-

-  Areja, Francesca, 180.

-

-  Arensky, Anton Stephanovich, 183, 224.

-

-  Ariadne, 56.

-

-  Aristides, 54.

-

-  Aristophanes (cited), 52, 55, 61.

-

-  ‘Ark of the Covenant,’ iii, 10, 43.

-

-  _Arkona_ (Hartmann), 152.

-

-  Armenia (folk-dancing), 138f.

-

-  Artemis, iv, 64.

-

-  Arts (primitive, in India), 24;

-    (common basis of), 235.

-

-  Asparazases (Indian nymphs), 26.

-

-  Aspasia (Greek dancer), 54, 70, 94.

-

-  Assemblé (French ballet step), 95, 98.

-

-  Astafieva, Seraphine, 220, 221, 224.

-

-  Astral Dance (Egyptian), iv, 13f, 63.

-

-  Athenæus (quoted), 55, 60;

-    (cited), 59.

-

-  Athens (dancing at festivals), 53;

-    (theatre of Dionysius), 64f;

-    (Mænad Dance), 69.

-

-  Auber, Daniel-Esprit, 103.

-

-  Augustus (Roman Emperor), 73, 75.

-

-  Aulos (Greek flute), 58.

-

-  Austria, 102.

-

-  _L’Autômne Bacchanale_, 186, 187.

-

-  Auvergne (folk-dancing), 121.

-

-  _Axis Dance_ (Arabian), 22.

-

-

-  B

-

-  _Baba Yaga_ (Russian ballet), 152, 179.

-

-  Bacchanalian dance, 65.

-

-  Bacchus (Greek and Roman god), 54, 65, 69, 74;

-    (Roman orgies), 75f.

-

-  Bach, Johann Sebastian, v, 102f;

-    (bourrées), 121;

-    (courantes), 145.

-

-  Bacon, Sir Francis (cited on masques), 83.

-

-  Bagpipes (in Morris dance), 115;

-    (in English Sword Dance), 116;

-    (in Irish jig), 120;

-    (in Roumanian folk-dance), 137.

-

-  Baken Amen (Egyptian tablet), 20.

-

-  Bakst, Léon, 183.

-

-  Balakireff, Mily Alexejevich, 104, 152, 171, 181, 231f, 256.

-

-  Ballerina’s tunic, 215.

-

-  Ballet (origin), 8, 10;

-    (18th cent.), 14;

-    (Russian), 23, _170ff_;

-    (French), _86ff_;

-    (defined by Noverre), 89;

-    (Italian), 124;

-    (classic), 151ff;

-    (Danish), 162ff;

-    (plots), 163.

-

-  _Ballet des Ardents_ (French court dance), 81.

-

-  _Ballet du Carrousel_ (performed at Tuileries), 86f.

-

-  Ballet slipper, 216.

-

-  Ballotté, 98.

-

-  Barefoot dancing, 197, 201.

-

-  Barrett, S. A. (cited on plot of _Dream Dance_), 39.

-

-  Barrison, Gertrude, 203.

-

-  [Le] Basque (French ballet dancer), 87.

-

-  Bathyllus (Roman dancer), 73, 74f.

-

-  Battements, 95.

-

-  Bayaderes, 25, 27, 28.

-

-  _[Les] Bayederes_ (French ballet), 153.

-

-  Beauchamp (director of French Academy of Dancing), 87.

-

-  Beaugrand, Leontine (ballerina), 159f.

-

-  Beck, Hans (Danish ballet dancer), 164.

-

-  Beerbohm, Max (quoted on Genée), 167f.

-

-  Beethoven, v, 102f, 200, 206.

-

-  Begutcheff (director of Moscow ballet), 177.

-

-  Bekeffy, 182.

-

-  Belle Fatma [La] (20th cent. Egyptian dancer), 22.

-

-  Bellicrepa saltatio (Roman dance), 73.

-

-  Bells (in Morris Dance), 114.

-

-  Benares, 25.

-

-  Benois, 183, 226, 229, 230.

-

-  Benserade, 86.

-

-  Berlin, 203f.

-

-  Berlin Museum (painting of Sword Dance), 115f.

-

-  Bernay, Mlle. (ballerina), 159.

-

-  Berri, Duchess de, 81.

-

-  Bibasis (Greek dance), 61, 62.

-

-  Bible (cited), 19; (quoted), 43, 44.

-

-  Bilibin, 183.

-

-  Birds (courtship dances of), 6.

-

-  Björnson, Björnstjerne, 104.

-

-  Blache (ballet composer), 102.

-

-  Black Forest (dance of the), 130.

-

-  Blasis, 91, 102;

-    (quoted on Bolero), 109.

-

-  Bogdanova (ballerina), 151, 183.

-

-  Bohemia (folk-dancing). See Slavic folk-dances.

-

-  Bolero (Spanish folk-dance), 50, 109, 112.

-

-  Bondina (Andalusian folk-dance), 106.

-

-  Borodine, Alexander, 171, 228, 256.

-

-  Botta, Bergonzio, di, 81f.

-

-  Botticelli, 45.

-

-  Bournoville, Antoine August, 104, 151, 152, 162f, 164f, 166, 168, 169.

-

-  Bourrée, 121f.

-

-  Boyars, 141, 178.

-

-  Boys (training of, as dancers), 183.

-

-  Brahma, 25.

-

-  _Brahma und Bayaderen_ (German ballet), 164.

-

-  Brahminism (relation to dancing), 25ff.

-

-  Brahms, Johannes, 125, 254.

-

-  Brandenburg, Hans, 202.

-

-  Brass instruments (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82f.

-

-  Brass plates (Indian), 27.

-

-  Breobrashenskaya, 183, 185, 188.

-

-  Breton dances, 121.

-

-  Brisé (ballet-step), 98.

-

-  British Museum, 18, 20.

-

-  Buckingham House (British folk-dance), 120.

-

-  Buddhism, 36.

-

-  _Bugaku Dance_ (Japanese), 38.

-

-  Bulgaria (folk-dancing). See Slavic folk-dances.

-

-  Burchard, Bishop of Worms, 129.

-

-  Burette (cited on Greek dance), 63.

-

-  Buriat dances (compared to American Indian), 39.

-

-  Butterfly Dance, 192.

-

-  Byzantium (painting of Hebrew dancing), 44;

-    (influence of, in Lithuanian folk-dance), 135f;

-    (influence on Russian ballet), 188.

-

-

-  C

-

-  Cabriole (in Egyptian dance), 20;

-    (in Bibasis), 62;

-    (French ballet step), 95.

-

-  Cachucha (Spanish folk-dance), 111, 156.

-

-  Cadiz, Spain (centre of ancient dancing), 10;

-    (dancers from, in Rome), 76.

-

-  Calcutta, 25.

-

-  Caligula (Roman emperor), 76.

-

-  Calumet (American Indian), 39.

-

-  Calzvaro, 34f.

-

-  Camargo, Mlle. (French ballet dancer), 94, 99, 100.

-

-  _Canaries_ (English and German social dance), 150.

-

-  [_The_] _Caprices of Galatea_ (ballet by Noverre), 90, 99.

-

-  Carmencita (Spanish dancer), 210.

-

-  [_Le_] _Carnaval de Venise_ (French ballet), 94, 153.

-

-  Caroles (mediæval dances), 81.

-

-  Carpæa (Greek dance), 55f.

-

-  Caryatis (Spartan dance), 54f.

-

-  Castanets (in Spanish folk-dance), 106, 107, 110, 112.

-

-  Castil-Blaze, François-Henri-Josef, quoted (on mediæval strolling

-          ballet), 80f;

-    (on French ballet), 93;

-    (on Camargo), 100;

-    (on origin of waltz), 131.

-

-  Castor and Pollux, 54.

-

-  Catherine the Great, 141.

-

-  Caucasia (folk-dancing), 140.

-

-  Cerezo, Sebastian (Spanish dancer), 109.

-

-  Cerito, Fanny (ballerina), 158f.

-

-  Cervantes (cited on Chaconne), 145.

-

-  Chaconne (Italian and Spanish social dance), 145f.

-

-  Changement de pied, 98.

-

-  Charles I, King of England, 84.

-

-  Charles II, King of England, 119, 145.

-

-  Chassé (ballet step), 94, 95.

-

-  Cheremias (Spanish instruments), 79.

-

-  China, 3, 9, 30ff;

-    (attitude of moralists in, toward dancing), 30;

-    (court dancing), 32;

-    (musical instruments), 32;

-    (dancing of, adopted in Japan), 36.

-

-  _Chinese Wedding_ (ballet by Calzevaro), 34f.

-

-  Chippewas, 39.

-

-  Chironomia (in Greek choreography), 71.

-

-  Choirs (in Egyptian temples), 17.

-

-  Chopin, Frédéric, 136, 200, 206, 221.

-

-  Choral dances (of Russian peasants), 177f.

-

-  Choreographic principle (vs. dramatic), 251.

-

-  Choreography (Chinese), 30;

-    (mediæval), 78ff;

-    (in 17th cent. France), 87f;

-    (French development), 94f;

-    (influence of democracy), 102;

-    (Finnish), 133;

-    (naturalistic school), 195ff;

-    (plastomimic), 247ff.

-

-  Chorley, Henry Fothergill (quoted on Elssler), 156.

-

-  Chorovody (Russian ballad folk-dance), 140f.

-

-  _Chrisis_ (ballet), 206, 207f.

-

-  Christian moralists (antagonism to dancing), 9.

-    See also Church, Roman.

-

-  Chronos, 59.

-

-  Chrotal (Greek instrument), 58.

-

-  Church, Roman (hostility to dancing), 81, 103, 129;

-    (dancing in, during Middle Ages), 78, 79f.

-

-  Cicero (quoted), 72.

-

-  [_La_] _Cinquantaine_ (French ballet), 91.

-

-  _Clary_ (French ballet), 94.

-

-  Classics, musical (dance music by), v.

-

-  [_The_] _Clemency of Titus_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.

-

-  Cleonica (Greek dancer), 70.

-

-  Cleopatra (as dancer), 17f.

-

-  _Cleopatra_ (ballet), 23.

-

-  _Cléopatre_ (ballet), 223ff.

-

-  Clermont, Comte de, 100.

-

-  Clothing (decorative purpose of, for the dance), 6.

-

-  Collins, Lottie, 189, 192f.

-

-  Comédie Française, 101.

-

-  Confucius, 33;

-    (honored in Japanese dance), 38.

-

-  Coördination (of intellect and nerves), 238.

-

-  Copenhagen School, 151.

-

-  Coperario, John, 84.

-

-  Copiola, Galeria (Roman dancer), 77.

-

-  _Coppélia_ (ballet), 160, 166f, 175.

-

-  Cordax (Greek Satyr dance), 61, 63f.

-

-  Corkscrew (folk-dance), 134f.

-

-  Corpus Christi (festival of, with church dancing), 78f.

-

-  _Corsaire_ (French ballet), 152.

-

-  Corybantes, 54.

-

-  Cosiers (Spanish church dancers), 79f.

-

-  Cossack folk-dances, 2.

-

-  Costume. See Dress.

-

-  Cotillion, 122.

-

-  Country Dance (English), 113, 115.

-

-  Coupé (in Egyptian dance), 20.

-

-  Coupé dessous (ballet-step), 95.

-

-  Coupé lateral (ballet-step), 95.

-

-  Courante, 86, 87f, 145f.

-

-  Court ballets (French), 83.

-

-  Court dancing (in China), 32f;

-    (at Jerusalem), 43, 44;

-    (in Seville), 47;

-    (in England), 83ff;

-    (in France), 86f, 121f;

-    (in Germany), 129;

-    (in Russia), 141f.

-    See also Social dancing.

-

-  Courtship dances (of birds), 6.

-

-  Covent Garden (Mlle. Sallé at), 99.

-

-  Craig, Gordon (cited on French ballet), 214.

-

-  _Crane Dance_ (Greek), 69.

-

-  Crete, 54.

-

-  Crimea (folk-dancing), 140.

-

-  Crowne, John, 83.

-

-  _Cupid and Bacchus_ (French ballet), 87.

-

-  Curetes (Cretan dancers), 54.

-

-  Cybele, 54.

-

-  Cyclops, 59.

-

-  Cymbals (in Greek dances), 71.

-

-  Czardas (Hungarian folk-dance), 125f.

-

-

-  D

-

-  Daedulus, 53.

-

-  Dalcroze. See Jacques-Dalcroze.

-

-  Daldans (Swedish folk-dance), 134.

-

-  Dance music (classical), v.

-

-  Dance of Baskets (in Eleusinian mysteries), 68.

-

-  Dance of Feathers (Chinese court dance), 33.

-

-  Dance of the Five Senses (modern Indian dance), 209.

-

-  Dance of the Flag (Chinese dance), 33.

-

-  Dance of the Four Dimensions (Egyptian dance), 16.

-

-  Dance of the Glasses (pseudo-Egyptian dance), 22.

-

-  Dance of the Golden Calf, 44.

-

-  Dance of Greeting (Arabian), 49.

-

-  Dance of Humanity (Chinese dance), 33.

-

-  _Dance of Innocence_ (Greek), iv.

-

-  Dance of the Knees (in Dionysian Mysteries), 68f.

-

-  Dance of the Mystic Bird (Chinese), 33.

-

-  Dance principles, 2.

-

-  Dancing defined, 2.

-

-  Dancing girls (Greek), 57.

-

-  Dancing Mandarins, 34.

-

-  ‘Dancing the music,’ 248.

-

-  Danish ballet (influence on Russian), 164f.

-

-  _Dansomanie_ [_La_] (French ballet), 92, 131.

-

-  Dante (cited), iii.

-

-  _Daphnis and Chloë_, 68.

-

-  Dargason (British folk-dance), 120.

-

-  Dargomijsky, Alexander Sergeyevitch, 104, 181.

-

-  Dauberval, 89, 91, 101.

-

-  _Daughter of the Pharaoh_ (ballet), 21.

-

-  Davenant, Sir William, 84.

-

-  David, King of Israel, 10, 43, 44.

-

-  Davillier, Baron, quoted (on mediæval church dance), 79;

-    (on Spanish folk-dance), 106;

-    (on Seguidilla), 110f.

-

-  Death Dance (Fakir dance compared to), 28.

-

-  [_The_] _Death of Ajax_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.

-

-  Debussy, Claude, 232.

-

-  Degeneration (of ballet), 189ff.

-

-  Delians, 59.

-

-  Delibes, Léo, 151, 152, 167.

-

-  Delicias caditanas (Cadiz dancers in Rome), 77.

-

-  Delphic Festivals, 69.

-

-  Delsarte, François Alexandre, 207, 211f, 214.

-

-  Demetrius, 67, 69;

-    (Mysteries), 61.

-

-  Demi-cabriole (ballet-step), 95.

-

-  Demi-coupé (ballet-step), 95.

-

-  Democracy (effect of, on choreography), 102.

-

-  Democratic basis of dancing, 171.

-

-  Denmark (folk-dancing), 134;

-    (ballet), 162ff;

-    (influence on Russian ballet), 169.

-

-  [_Le_] _Déserteur_ (French ballet), 92.

-

-  Desmond, Olga, 22, 193, 212.

-

-  Despreaux (Parisian ballet dancer), 101.

-

-  Desrat (cited on Eleusinian Mysteries), 67.

-

-  Devadazis (Indian temple dancers), 26.

-

-  Devil’s Dance (Finnish folk-dance), 133

-

-  Diaghileff, Warslof, 219f.

-

-  Diaghileff ballet, 176, 185, 200.

-

-  Diana (Greek goddess), 54.

-

-  Didelot, Charles-Louis, 151, 154, 161, 164f, 180f.

-

-  Diodorus (cited), 13.

-

-  Dionysian Mysteries, 61, 68.

-

-  Dionysius of Syracuse, 54.

-

-  Dionysos, 56, 67, 69, 74.

-

-  Dipoda (Greek dance), 61.

-

-  Dohnányi, Ernst von, 166.

-

-  Dohrn, Wolf and Harald, 234.

-

-  Dolci (painting of Salome dance), 45.

-

-  Dominique (Parisian harlequin), 100.

-

-  _Don Juan_ (French ballet), 102.

-

-  ‘Don Quixote,’ 145.

-

-  Doré (painting of church dancing in Seville), 79.

-

-  Dorians, 60.

-

-  Dostoievsky, 104.

-

-  Drama (influenced by Russian ballet), 176.

-

-  Dramatic principle (against choreographic), 251.

-

-  _Dream Dance_ (American Indians), 38ff.

-

-  Drehtanz, 129.

-

-  Dresden, 234.

-

-  Dress (in Greek dancing), 66;

-    (of dancers in Seville Cathedral), 79;

-    (in English masques), 84;

-    (in 18th cent. ballet), 89f;

-    (in ballet during French Revolution), 94;

-    (in Spanish folk-dances), 112f;

-    (of Morris dancers), 115;

-    (in English Sword dance), 116;

-    (in Hungarian folk-dance), 125;

-    (in Esthonian folk-dance), 127f;

-    (in Dutch folk-dances), 135;

-    (in Slavic dances), 137;

-    (in Minuet), 147.

-

-  Drigo, 186.

-

-  Drum (Egyptian), 22;

-    (Indian), 27;

-    (Chinese), 32;

-    (Japanese), 38;

-    (American Indian), 39f;

-    (in _Lou Gue_), 81;

-    (in Armenian folk-dance), 138.

-

-  Drury Lane, 102.

-

-  _Dryad_ [_The_] (ballet), 167.

-

-  Dryads, 80.

-

-  Dubois, Théodore, 151.

-

-  Duncan, Elizabeth, 201.

-

-  Duncan, Isadora, 22, 187, _197ff_, 204, 206, 211, 212, 213, 214,

-          244, 247;

-    (quoted), 196f;

-    (compared with St. Denis), 210;

-    (influence in Russia), 218f;

-    (pupils), 248.

-

-  Duncan School, 197f, 248.

-

-  Duport (Paris ballet dancer), 91, 101f.

-

-  Dupré (French ballet dancer), 87.

-

-  Dutch folk-dancing, 135.

-

-  Dynamic expression, 240.

-

-

-  E

-

-  Ear-training (in Jacques-Dalcroze School), 240.

-

-  Education (necessity of, for Greek dancers), 65;

-    (liberal, of ballet dancers), 172f.

-

-  Edward VII, King of England, 201.

-

-  Egg Dance (Dutch folk-dance), 135.

-

-  Egypt (temple dancing), iv, 8, 15ff;

-    (musical instruments), 8;

-    (relation of dancing and religion), 9, 247, 262;

-    (secular dancing), 15ff, 20f;

-    (influence of, in modern choreography), 22;

-    (influence of, on Hebrew dancing), 43f;

-    (worship of Pan), 57;

-    (strophic principle in choreography of), 63;

-    (history of, in Greek education), 65;

-    (influence of, on Spanish dances), 112.

-

-  Egyptian Wedding Scenes (pseudo-Egyptian dance), 22.

-

-  Electricity, 190.

-

-  Eleusinian Mysteries, 67f.

-

-  Elisseieff, Prof, (cited on Egyptian dancing), 21.

-

-  Elizabeth, Queen of England, 84, 145, 150.

-

-  Ellis, Havelock, quoted (on American Indian dances), iv;

-    (on relation of rhythm to life), vi;

-    (on modern Spanish dances), 211.

-

-  Elssler, Fanny, 151, 155ff.

-

-  Emerson, Ralph Waldo (quoted on Elssler), 155.

-

-  Emmanuel (cited on Greek choreography), 70.

-

-  Emmeleia (Greek dance), iv, 61, 62f.

-

-  Endymatia (Greek dance), 61.

-

-  England (folk-dancing), 113;

-    (waltz), 131f;

-    (social dancing), 150.

-

-  English Cathedrals (rhythmic ritual used in), viii.

-

-  Entrechat, 98;

-    (in Egyptian dance), 20.

-

-  Erfurt, 129.

-

-  Esclatism (Greek gymnastics), 71.

-

-  [_La_] _Esmeralda_ (Perrot and Pugni), 152.

-

-  Esthonian folk-dances, 121, 126f.

-

-  Eugenius IV, 78f.

-

-  Eurhythmics (of Jacques-Dalcroze), 234ff.

-

-  _Excelsior_ (ballet), 152.

-

-

-  F

-

-  Fabiol (in Spanish dance), 79f.

-

-  Fackeltanz, 128, 130.

-

-  Fakir dances, 28f.

-

-  Falkenfleth, Haagen (quoted on Jörgen-Jensen), 165.

-

-  Fandango (Spanish folk-dance), 50, 105, 106f, 112.

-

-  Farandole (French folk-dance), 121;

-    (as court dance), 122.

-

-  [_La_] _Farandole_ (Dubois), 152.

-

-  [La] Farruca (Spanish folk-dance), 111.

-

-  Fauns, 80.

-

-  _Faust_ (ballet by Perrot), 158.

-

-  Feodorova, Sophie, 221, 224.

-

-  Ferrabosco, Alfonso, 84.

-

-  _Festen i Albano_ (Danish ballet), 163.

-

-  Festival of the Sacred Bull (Egyptian), 15f.

-

-  Festival of the Supreme Being (French strolling ballet), 93f.

-

-  Festivals (Roman), 74, 75f.

-

-  Finland (folk-dances), 2, 121, 132;

-    (compared to American Indian dances), 39;

-    (rune tunes), 63;

-    (horn dance), 117;

-    (naturalistic school), 205.

-

-  _Fiorella_ (ballet), 163f.

-

-  _Fire Bird_ [_The_], 231.

-

-  Fire Dance, 192.

-

-  Fleure (ballet step), 98.

-

-  Fleury (quoted), 101.

-

-  Flitch, J. E. Crawford, quoted (on Fuller), 190f.

-

-  Floralia (Roman festivals), 75.

-

-  _Flore et Zéphire_ (French ballet), 152, 154.

-

-  Florence (court ballet), 90;

-    (folk-dance), 124.

-

-  Flower Dance, 192.

-

-  Flute (in Egyptian dance music), iv, 8;

-    (in Indian dance music), 27;

-    (in Chinese dance music), 32;

-    (in Japanese dance music), 38;

-    (in American Indian dance music), 41;

-    (in Arabian dance music), 49;

-    (in Greek dance music), 56, 58f, 61, 70;

-    (in Roman dance music), 74, 76;

-    (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82.

-

-  Fokina, Vera, 171, 220, 221, 224.

-

-  Fokine, vi, 219f, 220, 228, 231, 244.

-

-  Folk-dances, 266;

-    (rel. to sex instinct), v;

-    (Spanish), 105ff;

-    (Italian), 122ff;

-    (German), 128f;

-    (Finnish), 132f;

-    (Scandinavian), 133;

-    (Dutch), 135;

-    (Lithuanian), 135f;

-    (Polish), 136;

-    (Slavic), 136ff;

-    (Armenian), 138f;

-    (Russian), 139ff, 171.

-

-  Folk-songs, 265;

-    (Russian), 183.

-

-  Forlana (Italian folk-dance), 124.

-

-  Fouetté (French ballet step), 97.

-

-  Fouetté pirouette (in Egyptian dances), 18.

-

-  Fountain of Magic Dances (in Eleusinian Mysteries), 67.

-

-  Fox Dance (Greek), 69.

-

-  France (rhythmic church ritual), iii-f, 81;

-    (folk-dancing), 2, 121ff, 262;

-    (court dancing), 10;

-    (grand court ballets), 83, 86ff, 247;

-    (democratic influence), 102;

-    (waltz), 131;

-    (influence of, on Russian ballet), 171;

-    (naturalistic school), 205.

-

-  French Academy of Dancing, 94f, 99, 105.

-

-  French ballet, 86ff;

-    (modern criticism of), 214ff.

-

-  French Revolution, 92, 93f, 148.

-

-  Froehlich (Danish composer), 163.

-

-  Fuentes (cited on Seguidilla), 109f.

-

-  Fuller, Loie, 189, 190ff.

-

-  Fuller, Margaret (quoted on Elssler), 155.

-

-  Funeral dances (Japanese), 36;

-    (Greek), 54.

-

-

-  G

-

-  Gade, Niels W., 133, 151.

-

-  Gaita (Spanish instrument), 106.

-

-  Galcotti (ballet composer), 152.

-

-  Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, 10, 81.

-

-  Galen (quoted), 54.

-

-  Galeotti, Vincenzo Tomaselli, 162.

-

-  Galicia (church dancing), 78;

-    (folk-dancing), 106.

-

-  Galliard, 149f.

-

-  Gardel, Maximilian (ballet composer), 14, 89, 91, 131, 148, 151, 162.

-

-  [El] Garrotin (Spanish folk-dance), 111.

-

-  Gautier, Théophile, 152, 158;

-    (quoted on Elssler), 157.

-

-  Gavotte, 70, 86, 148.

-

-  Gedeonoff, 181.

-

-  Geltzer (Russian ballet dancer), 185.

-

-  Genée, Adeline, 151, 167.

-

-  Generalization, theory of (in ballet), 216f.

-

-  Germany, v;

-    (folk-dancing), 128f;

-    (the waltz), 131f;

-    (social dancing), 150;

-    (influence of Duncan), 201.

-

-  Gesture (relation between, and music), 240.

-    See also Pantomime.

-

-  _Ghiselle_ (French ballet), 152, 158.

-

-  Ghost Dance (American Indian dance), 38, 40f.

-

-  Gia (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Gilchrist, Connie, 189.

-

-  Glazounoff, Alexander Constantovich, 183, 186, 224.

-

-  Glière, Reinhold, 206, 207, 254, 259.

-

-  Glinka, Mikail Ivanovich, 104, 181, 224, 254.

-

-  Glissade (ballet-step), 97f.

-

-  Gluck, Christoph Willibald, 102f, 121, 148, 152, 200.

-

-  Gogol, 104, 171.

-

-  Golden Calf (in mediæval ballet), 80.

-

-  Goulu [La] (ballet dancer), 192.

-

-  Grahn, Lucile (ballerina), 163f.

-

-  Grand ballets (of French court), 83, 86ff.

-

-  _Gratiereness Hulding_ (Danish ballet), 162.

-

-  _Graveyard Dance_ (Oriental), 21f.

-

-  Gravity (in naturalistic dancing), 196f, 215.

-

-  Greece (philosophers of, quoted on dancing), iii;

-    (religious dancing), iv, 9, 10, 52ff, 59;

-    (writers of, cited on Spanish dancing), 46f;

-    (its choreography), _52–71_;

-    (festival dancing), 54f;

-    (folk-dancing), 121.

-

-  Greek dancing (modern ‘revivals’ of), 195f;

-    (Jacques-Dalcroze system), 245, 247.

-

-  Greek Church (dancing in), iii.

-

-  Greek Mysteries, 61.

-

-  Gregory, Johann (ballet master in Russia), 179.

-

-  Gretchaninoff, Alexander, 255.

-

-  _Gretna Green_ (ballet), 152.

-

-  Grétry, André Erneste Modeste, 148.

-

-  Griboyedoff, Teleshova, 178.

-

-  Grieg, Edvard, 104, 133, 201, 205, 206.

-

-  Grisi, Carlotta, 151, 158.

-

-  Grouping (decorative), 235.

-

-  Guerrero, Rosario, 210.

-

-  Guild dances (German), 129.

-

-  _Guillaume Tell_ (French ballet), 92.

-

-  Guimard, Madeleine (French ballet dancer), 91, 94, 99, 100f.

-

-  Guitar (Egyptian), 8;

-    (African), 47;

-    (in Spanish folk-dance), 107, 110.

-

-  _Gustave Vasa_ (French ballet), 102.

-

-  Gymnastics (rhythmic), 234ff.

-

-  Gymnopædia, 59f.

-

-

-  H

-

-  Hailii (Finnish folk-dance), 133.

-

-  Handel, George Frederick, 99;

-    (bourées), 121;

-    (courantes), 145.

-

-  Harlequin, Parisian (Dominique), 100.

-

-  Harp (in Egyptian dance music), 8;

-    (in American Indian dance music), 41;

-    (in Greek dance music), 53, 56;

-    (in Roman dance music), 76;

-    (in Esthonian folk-dance music), 127;

-    (in Finnish dance music), 133.

-

-  Hartmann, Johann Peter Emil, 133, 151, 152, 163.

-

-  Hatton (English dancer), 150.

-

-  Hawasis, 20f.

-

-  Haydn, Joseph, v.

-

-  Hebrews, iii, 43ff.

-    See also Jewish Marriage Dances, etc.

-

-  Helen of Sparta, iv.

-

-  Hellerau (College of Rhythmic Gymnastics), 234ff.

-

-  Hempua (Finnish folk-dance), 133.

-

-  Henri IV, King of France (patron of dancing), 86.

-

-  Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, 84.

-

-  Henry VII, King of England, 84.

-

-  Herculaneum, 57.

-

-  _Hercules in Love_ (French ballet), 87.

-

-  Hermes, Egyptian god (Thoth), 13.

-

-  _Héro et Leandre_ (French ballet), 94.

-

-  Herodotus (cited), 13.

-

-  Hesiod (cited), 52, 65.

-

-  Heteræ (Greek), 69, 70.

-

-  Hieroglyphs, 12ff.

-

-  High Kickers, 189.

-

-  Highland Fling (Scotch folk-dance), 118.

-

-  Hilferding, 180.

-

-  Hincks, Marcella A. (cited on Japanese dancing), 35.

-

-  Historical Ballet (Chinese), 33.

-

-  Homer (cited), 52, 53f, 56f, 57, 65.

-

-  Hoppe, Johann Ferdinand, 164.

-

-  Hora (Roumanian folk-dance), 137f.

-

-  Horace (cited), 72.

-

-  _Horatii_ (French ballet), 90.

-

-  Hormos (Greek dance), 61, 64.

-

-  Horn (in Finnish dance music), 133.

-

-  Horn Dance (English folk-dance), 117f.

-

-  Hornpipe (Scotch folk-dance), 119.

-

-  Hovey, Mrs. Richard, 195f, 212, 214.

-

-  Huang-Ta, 30.

-

-  _Humpty-Dumpty_ (ballet), 190.

-

-  Hungary (folk-dancing), 2, 124ff.

-

-  _Hymn to Apollo_, 56.

-

-  _Hymnea_ (Greek dance), 61.

-

-  _Hyporchema_ (Greek dance), 55, 59.

-

-

-  I

-

-  Ibsen, Henrik, 104.

-

-  Idealism (classic), 157.

-

-  Ilia Murometz (Russian folk-dance), 140.

-

-  Iliad (cited), 53f, 127.

-

-  Impatiencem (17th-cent. ballet), 87.

-

-  Imperial Ballet School (Russian), 90f, 105, 172, 181.

-

-  Imperial Dramatic Dancing School (Russian), 180.

-

-  Improvisation (course in Jacques-Dalcroze school), 240.

-

-  India (relation of dancing and religion), 9;

-    (choreographic art), 24ff;

-    (effect of music on dancing), 25;

-    (dances of, in European imitation), 209.

-

-  Indians. See American Indian.

-

-  Indulgences (sold by clergy for dancing), 81.

-

-  Ingham, Ethel (quoted), 234f.

-

-  Ingham, Percy B. (quoted), 242.

-

-  Innocence, Dance of (Egyptian), iv.

-

-  Innsbruck, 129.

-

-  Instruments (in Egyptian dance music), 8, 16.

-

-  Ionic Movements, 56.

-

-  _Iphigenia in Aulis_ (Gluck), 152.

-

-  Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, Mikail Mikailovitch, 256.

-

-  Ireland (folk-dancing), 119f.

-

-  Irvin, Beatrice, 206.

-

-  Isabella of Aragon, 81.

-

-  Isis cult, 15f.

-

-  Istomina (Russian ballerina), 178, 181.

-

-  Italy, v, 102;

-    (folk-dances), 2, 122ff;

-    (court dancing), 10;

-    (mediæval strolling ballets), 80f;

-    (influence on Russian ballet), 171.

-

-  ‘Ivan the Terrible’ (Russian folk-dance), 140, 141.

-

-  Ives, Simon (composer of masque music), 83.

-

-  Ivi-Men (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-

-  J

-

-  _Jack Sheppard_ (ballet), 190.

-

-  Jacques-Dalcroze, Émile, 234ff, 247, 249;

-    (eurhythmics of, compared with Greek dancing), 71.

-

-  Jacques-Dalcroze School, 197f, 200.

-

-  Jaernefelt, Armas, 205.

-

-  [_El_] _Jaleo_ (Spanish folk-dance), 111.

-

-  James I, King of England, 84.

-

-  Japan (pantomimic character of dancing), 3;

-    (dance of, adopted in China), 33f;

-    (funeral dances), 35ff;

-    (European choreographic imitations), 208;

-    (folk-dances), 262.

-

-  [_de_] _Jaulnaye_ (cited on Roman dancers), 73.

-

-  Java (pantomimic choreography), 3.

-

-  Jerusalem, Temple of, 44.

-

-  Jeté, 94, 95;

-    (in Egyptian dance), 20;

-    (in Bibasis), 62.

-

-  Jewish marriage dances (in Morocco), 44.

-

-  Jewish moralists (antagonism to dancing), 9.

-

-  Jig (Irish folk-dance), 119f.

-

-  Jota (Spanish dance), 50, 105, 107f.

-

-  Jones, Inigo, English architect, 83, 84.

-

-  Jonson, Ben, 83, 84.

-

-  Jörgen-Jensen, Elna (ballet dancer), 165ff.

-

-  _Judgment of Paris_ [_The_] (ballet by Noverre), 90.

-

-  Jupiter, 54.

-

-  Juvenal, 74.

-

-

-  K

-

-  Kaakuria (Finnish folk-dance), 133.

-

-  Kaara Jaan (Esthonian folk-dance), 126f.

-

-  Kagura (Japanese dance), 38.

-

-  Kaiterma (Cossack dance), 140.

-

-  Kalevala, 257.

-

-  Kalewipoeg, 121, 127.

-

-  Kalmuk dances (compared to American Indian dances), 39.

-

-  Kamarienskaya (Russian folk-dance), 140, 142.

-

-  Karsavina, Tamara, 171, 176, 183, 188, 220, 221, 222, 226, 227f,

-          229, 231, 248.

-

-  Kasatchy (Russian folk-dance), 140, 141f.

-

-  _Kia-King_ (ballet by Titus), 34.

-

-  Kinney, Troy and Margaret West (quoted on Arabian dances), 47ff;

-    (quoted on _Fandango_), 107f;

-    (quoted on _La Farruca_), 111;

-    (quoted on modern Spanish dances), 210f.

-

-  Kirchoff (cited on Greek dance), 63.

-

-  Kolla (Slavic folk-dance), 137.

-

-  Kolossova, Eugeny, 179.

-

-  Kon-Fu-Tse (Chinese moralist), 30.

-

-  Kosloff (Russian ballet dancer), 221.

-

-  Kostroma (folk-dancing in), 140.

-

-  Kreutzer, Rodolphe, 102.

-

-  Krohn, [Dr.] Ilmari, 132.

-

-  Kshesinskaya, Mathilda, 151, 179, 183, 185, 188.

-

-  Kshesinsky, Felix, 182.

-

-  Kuljak (Esthonian folk-dance), 126f.

-

-  Kuula, Toiwo, 205.

-

-  Kyasht, Lydia, 185, 188.

-

-

-  L

-

-  Lacedæmonian dance, 59f.

-    See also Spartan dance.

-

-  Lada, 244, 253ff.

-

-  Lancelot (quoted), 137f.

-

-  Lande (ballet director), 180.

-

-  Lange-Müller, Wilhelm, 205.

-

-  Laniere, Nicholas, 84.

-

-  Lanner, Katty, 159.

-

-  Lantern Festival (in China), 35.

-

-  Larcher, Pierre J., 163.

-

-  _Laurette_ (ballet), 152.

-

-  Lawes, William, 83.

-

-  ‘Leap with Torches’ (in Eleusinian mysteries), 67.

-

-  _Légende de Joseph_ (Strauss), 232.

-

-  Leggatt, 182.

-

-  Leicester, Earl of, 150.

-

-  Lesginka (Cossack dance), 140.

-

-  Lessing, 161.

-

-  Lessogoroff, 180.

-

-  Lettish folk-dances, 121.

-

-  Levinsohn, A. (quoted on Duncan School), 198;

-    (quoted on the old ballet), 215.

-

-  Liadova (ballerina), 151.

-

-  Ligne, Princess de, 100.

-

-  Li-Kaong-Ti (Chinese monarch), 31.

-

-  _Lily_ (ballet by San-Leon), 34f.

-

-  Lind, Letti, 189.

-

-  Liszt, Franz, 125.

-

-  Lithuania (folk-dancing), 121, 135f.

-

-  _Little Mermaid_ [_The_] (ballet), 167.

-

-  Littré (cited), 88.

-

-  Livingston (cited), iii.

-

-  Livry, Emma, 159.

-

-  Livy (cited), 74.

-

-  Locatelli, Pietro, 180.

-

-  Lopokova, Lydia, 183, 185, 188.

-

-  Loti, Pierre (cited on Indian dancing), 28.

-

-  _Lou Gue_ (mediæval ballet), 80f.

-

-  Louis XIV, 86f, 145.

-

-  Louis XV, 86f, 88, 145, 147, 148.

-

-  Louis, Pierre, 207.

-

-  _Love’s Triumph Callipolis_ (masque by Ben Jonson), 84.

-

-  Lubke (cited on ballet dancing), 173.

-

-  _Lucas et Laurette_ (French ballet), 94.

-

-  Lucceia (Roman dancer), 77.

-

-  Lucian (quoted), iii;

-    (cited), 14, 52, 54, 63, 64, 65.

-

-  Ludiones (Roman bards), 74.

-

-  Lully, Jean-Baptiste, 86, 87;

-    (sarabandes), 147;

-    (gavottes), 148.

-

-  Lupercalia (Roman festival), 75.

-

-  Lutes (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82

-

-  Lyre, iv;

-    (Egyptian), 8, 13;

-    (Hebrew), 44;

-    (in Greek dance music), 57, 58;

-    (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82.

-

-  ‘Lysistrata’ (comedy by Aristophanes), 61.

-

-  Lysistrata (Greek dance), 61.

-

-

-  M

-

-  MacDowell, Edward, 254, 256.

-

-  MacDowell Festival (Peterboro, N. H.), 117.

-

-  Mænad Dance (Greek), 69.

-

-  Maeterlinck, Maurice, 257f.

-

-  Mahabharata (Indian epic), 127.

-

-  Maillard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), 92.

-

-  _Malakavel_ (French ballet), 102.

-

-  [La] Mancha (its folk-dances), 109.

-

-  Mandarin dances (Chinese), 34.

-

-  Maneros (dancing Pharaoh), 13.

-

-  Marathon games, 54.

-

-  Marie Antoinette, 148.

-

-  Marriage ceremonies, masques performed at, 83.

-    See also Jewish marriage dances.

-

-  Mars, 74.

-

-  _Mars et Venus_ (French ballet), 153.

-

-  _Marseillaise_ (ballet), 92f.

-

-  Martial (cited), 77.

-

-  Masai (war dancing), 5.

-

-  _Masque of Beauty_ (Ben Jonson), 83.

-

-  _Masque of Blackness_ (Ben Jonson), 83.

-

-  _Masque of Cassandra_, 86.

-

-  _Masque of Castillo_ (John Crowne). 83

-

-  _Masque of Owles_, 84.

-

-  Masques (English), 83.

-

-  Mathematics (relation of, to dancing and architecture), vi.

-

-  Mauri, Rosetta (ballerina), 159.

-

-  Mazurka, 136.

-

-  Mediævalism (relation to dancing), v.

-    See also Middle Ages.

-

-  Medici, Catherine de’, 10, 86, 121.

-

-  Mek na snut (Egyptian pirouette), 20.

-

-  Melartin, Erik, 205.

-

-  Melkatusta (Finnish folk-dance), 132.

-

-  Memphis (temple dances to Osiris), 15f.

-

-  Merchant Taylor’s Hall (masques performed at), 83.

-

-  Merikanto, 205.

-

-  Messertanz (of Nuremberg), 129.

-

-  Mexicans, iii.

-

-  Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 103, 151.

-

-  Miassine, Leonide, 232.

-

-  Middle Ages (choreography of), 78ff, 247.

-

-  Milan School, 151.

-

-  Military dance. See War dance.

-

-  Milon (French composer and ballet master), 91, 94, 101.

-

-  Mimii (Roman dancers), 74.

-

-  Minerva, 54.

-

-  Minuet (comparison of, to Greek dances), 70;

-    (in _Lou Gue_), 80;

-    (in 17th-cent. French court), 86, 147f.

-

-  Miriam (Biblical character), 19.

-

-  Mirror Dance, 192.

-

-  Mohammedans, 21.

-

-  Molière, 86.

-

-  Mongolian tribes (dancing of, compared with Indians), 28;

-    (use of Pyrrhic dance by), 60.

-

-  Monteverdi, 82.

-

-  Moors, 46;

-    (influence of, on Spanish dances), 50f, 105, 106, 112.

-

-  Mordkin, Mikail, 185, 187, 220, 221, 222, 248.

-

-  Moreau (painting of Salome dance), 45.

-

-  Morocco (Almeiis dancing), 21.

-

-  Morris Dances, 113ff.

-

-  Moscow (Imperial Ballet School), 172;

-    (opera house), 175.

-

-  Moses, 43, 44.

-

-  Moujiks, 172, 178.

-

-  Mount Ida, 54.

-

-  Moussorgsky, Modest, 104, 171, 181, 224.

-

-  Movement (rel. to sound), 238.

-

-  Mozart, v, 101, 102f, 206.

-

-  Müller, Max (cited), 60, 62.

-

-  Munich (guild dance), 129.

-

-  Muravieva (ballerina), 151.

-

-  Murcia (folk-dances of), 106.

-

-  Muses (Egyptian), 13;

-    (Greek), 10, 54, 57.

-

-  Museums. See British Museum, Petrograd Museum, Naples Museum.

-

-  Music (of Japanese), 38;

-    (in Greek dances), 58;

-    (influenced by Russian ballet), 176;

-    (as underlying principle of dancing), 198;

-    (in relation to eurhythmics), 235, 236f, 242;

-    (relation to gesture), 240, 248;

-    (in rel. to modern ballet), 249ff;

-    (syncopated, of America), 265.

-

-  Musical notation (Arabic), 17, 47;

-    (Egyptian), 17;

-    (Spanish), 17;

-    (Chinese), 33.

-

-  Muyniera (Galician folk-dance), 106.

-

-  Mysteries. See Eleusinian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries.

-

-  Mysteries of Demetrius, 69.

-

-

-  N

-

-  Naples Museum, 69.

-

-  Napoleon, 102, 148.

-

-  Nationalism (expressed in folk-dancing), 3, 113;

-    (rel. to arts), 104ff;

-    (in Scandinavia), 104;

-    (in Russia), 104f;

-    (in Irish folk-dance), 119f;

-    (in Finnish folk-dances), 132f.

-

-  Naturalistic School, 195ff, 232f.

-

-  Nature (expression of, in dancing), 196.

-

-  Nausicaa, 52.

-

-  Nautch Dance, 209.

-

-  Nautch girls, 26.

-

-  Naxos, 54.

-

-  Neo-Hellenism, 245.

-

-  Neoptolemus, 60.

-

-  Nero, 74, 75.

-

-  Nicomedes of Pithynia, 55.

-

-  Nielsen, Augusta, 164.

-

-  Nijinsky, Waslaw, 220, 221, 222, 224, 226, 229, 248.

-

-  Nijny Novgorod, 140.

-

-  Nile (centre of ancient dancing), 10.

-

-  _Nina_ (French ballet), 94.

-

-  Notation. See Musical notation.

-

-  Noverre, Jean Georges, vi, 10, 87, 89, 91, 99, 151, 152, 180, 196.

-

-  Novikoff (Russian ballet dancer), 185.

-

-  Novitzkaya (ballerina), 151, 181.

-

-  Nude Bayaderes, 189.

-

-  Nudity (in Egyptian dances), 18;

-    (in Greek dances), 54f;

-    (in modern degenerate dances), 193.

-

-  Nuitter, Charles Louis Étienne (as ballet composer), 151, 152.

-

-  Numa (mythical founder of Roman sacred dance), 10, 73.

-

-  Nuremberg (its guild dance), 129.

-

-  _Nut Cracker Suite_ (Tschaikowsky), 185.

-

-  Nymphs, dances of (in Dionysian Mysteries), 68f.

-

-

-  O

-

-  Oberammergau Passion Play (comparison with Chinese ‘Historical

-          Ballet’), 33.

-

-  Obertass (Polish dance), 136.

-

-  Oboe (in Indian dance), 27.

-

-  Odyssey (cited), 52.

-

-  [_L’_]_Oiseau de Feu_ (ballet), 231.

-

-  Ojibways, 39.

-

-  _Olaf den Hellige_ (Danish ballet), 163.

-

-  Olympic games, 54.

-

-  Opera (influenced by Russian ballet), 176;

-    (in rel. to modern ballet), 265.

-

-  Opera houses, 175.

-    See also Paris Opéra; Moscow (opera house).

-

-  [_L’_]_Oracle_ (ballet), 92.

-

-  ‘Oranges and Lemons’ (British folk-dance), 120.

-

-  ‘Orchestra’ (in Greek dance), 63.

-

-  Orchestration (in 15th-cent. ballets), 82.

-

-  Orient, dancing in, 3.

-    See also China, India, Japan, etc.

-

-  Oriental dances (European imitations), 208f.

-

-  _Orpheus’ Descent into Hell_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.

-

-  _Orpheus and Euridice_ (17th-cent. ballet), 179.

-

-  Osiris cult, 15f.

-

-  Ostrovsky, 104f, 171, 177.

-

-  [La] Otero (Spanish dancer), 210, 211.

-

-  Owl Dance (Greek), 69.

-

-

-  P

-

-  Paësiello, Giovanni, v.

-

-  Paimensoitaja (Finnish folk-dance), 133.

-

-  Painting, 235;

-    (influenced by Russian ballet), 176;

-    (in relation to eurhythmics), 239.

-

-  Pallas, 74, 75.

-

-  Pan (Greek and Egyptian deity), 57;

-    (Roman), 74.

-

-  Pantin (amateur stage at), 101.

-

-  Pantomime (in Chinese dancing), 31ff;

-    (in Japanese dancing), 36ff;

-    (in American Indian dances), 41f;

-    (Arabian), 47f;

-    (Roman), 74, 76f;

-    (mediæval sacred), 81;

-    (in Spanish folk-dance), 111;

-    (in Roumanian folk-dance), 138;

-    (in Salome dance), 191;

-    (used by Duncan), 199;

-    (in rel. to music), 249.

-

-  [_Le_] _Papillon_ (ballet), 159, 186.

-

-  Paris (Italian court pantomime introduced), 10;

-    (‘Fatima’ sensation), 22;

-    (ecclesiastical attitude toward dancing), 81;

-    (18th-cent. ballet), 91;

-    (popularity of the _Psyche_ ballet), 92;

-    (Camargo), 100;

-    (Taglioni), 153.

-

-  Paris Opéra, 91, 100.

-

-  Paris School, 151.

-

-  Pas bourrée, 97.

-

-  Pas coupé, 95.

-

-  Pas d’allemande, 20.

-

-  Pas de basque, 97;

-    (in Passepied), 149.

-

-  Pas de bourrée emboîté, 97.

-

-  Pas de cheval (in Egyptian dances), 18.

-

-  Pas marché, 95.

-

-  Pas sauté, 98.

-

-  Passepied, 149.

-

-  Paul, Adolf, 257.

-

-  Paul, Czar, 178f, 181.

-

-  _Paul et Virginie_ (French ballet), 92.

-

-  Paulli, Simon Holger, 152.

-

-  Pavana (Murcian folk-dance), 106.

-

-  Pavane, 70;

-    (characteristics), 87;

-    (in 17th-cent. French court), 86, 144.

-

-  _Pavilion d’Armide_ (ballet), 226, 229.

-

-  Pavlowa, Anna, vi, 171, 175f, 183, 185, 186f, 187, 215, 220, 222, 247.

-

-  Pecour (ballet dancer), 87, 88.

-

-  _Peer Gynt Suite_ (as ballet), 201.

-

-  [_La_] _Peri_ (ballet), 158.

-

-  Pericles, 70.

-

-  Perrot (ballet dancer and composer), 152, 154, 158.

-

-  Persian Graveyard Dance, 21.

-

-  Peter the Great, 179.

-

-  Petipa, Marius, vi, 21, 151, 159, 182f, 196, 219;

-    (quoted on Petrograd Imperial Ballet School), 173f.

-

-  Petipa school, 185.

-

-  Petit battements, 95.

-

-  [_Les_] _Petits Riens_ (Noverre and Mozart), 91.

-

-  Petrograd (Museum), 13;

-    (Imperial Ballet School), 172;

-    (opera house), 175.

-

-  _Petrouchka_ (Stravinsky), 229ff.

-

-  Pharaohs (dancing in the court of), 17.

-

-  Philip of Macedonia, 55.

-

-  Philippus (Roman consul), 76.

-

-  Philosophic symbolism (in Indian dance), 29.

-

-  Phœnicians, 57.

-

-  Physical exercises, 239.

-

-  Pipe (Egyptian), 8, 18.

-

-  Pipes (in _Graveyard Dance_), 22;

-    (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), 82.

-

-  Pirouette, 94, 97, 150, 163;

-    (in Egyptian dancing), 18, 20.

-

-  Plaasovaya (Russian folk-dance), 140.

-

-  Plastomimic choreography, 247ff.

-

-  Plato (quoted), iv;

-    (cited), 52, 58, 67, 69.

-

-  Plots (for ballets), 250.

-

-  Plutarch (cited), iv, 14, 45, 67.

-

-  Poetry, 235.

-

-  Pointes, 163, 215.

-

-  Poland (folk-dancing), 136.

-

-  Pollux, 54.

-

-  Polo (Moorish dance), 106.

-

-  Polonaise (Polish folk-dance), 136.

-

-  Polowetsi dance (Cossack), 140.

-

-  Portugal (mediæval strolling ballets), 80f.

-

-  Positions. See Steps.

-

-  Poushkin, 178.

-

-  Prévost, Mme., 100.

-

-  Priapus, 54.

-

-  Price, Waldemar (Danish ballet dancer), 164.

-

-  Primitive dances (rel. to sexual selection), 6.

-

-  Primitive peoples, 3ff.

-

-  _Prince Igor_, 228.

-

-  Professional dancing, 7;

-    (Egyptian), 18.

-

-  Provence, 80f, 122, 131.

-

-  Prussia (_Fackeltanz_), 128.

-

-  Pskoff, 140.

-

-  _Psyche_ (French ballet), 92.

-

-  Psychology, 1ff, 24, 45, 136, 139.

-

-  Pugni, Cesare (ballet composer), 152.

-

-  _Pygmalion and Galatea_ (ballet), 99.

-

-  Pylades (Roman dancer), 73, 74f.

-

-  Pyrrhic dance, 60f.

-

-  Pythian games, 54.

-

-

-  Q

-

-  Quadrille (French social dance), 122.

-

-  Quintilian (quoted), 72.

-

-

-  R

-

-  Rabinoff, Max, 188.

-

-  Racial characteristics, 11.

-

-  ‘Ragtime,’ 263.

-

-  Rainbow Dance, 192.

-

-  Ramble (Indian goddess of dancing), 24f.

-

-  Realism, 157, 249f.

-

-  _Réception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore_, 152.

-

-  Reed pipes. See Pipes.

-

-  Reger, Max, 205.

-

-  Regnard (quoted), 88.

-

-  Reinach, Théodore (cited on Greek arts), 69.

-

-  René of Provence (author of mediæval ballet), 80.

-

-  Reno (painter of Salome dance), 45.

-

-  Rheinländer (German dance), 131.

-

-  Rhythm, 1, 2;

-    (in naturalistic dancing), 196, 198;

-    (as basis of all arts), 235;

-    (in Jacques-Dalcroze system), 239, 244;

-    (in ballet), 250.

-

-  Rhythmic gymnastics, 234ff, 240, 249.

-

-  Richelieu, 86, 100.

-

-  Rigaudon, 148f.

-

-  Rimsky-Korsakoff, Nicolai, 151, 152, 171, 183, 224, 226, 254.

-

-  _Rinaldo and Armida_ (ballet by Noverre), 90, 99.

-

-  Risti Tants (Esthonian folk-dance), 126ff.

-

-  _Robert of Normandie_ (ballet), 164.

-

-  Robespierre, 93.

-

-  Robinson, Louis (cited on dance instinct), 3.

-

-  Rodin (quoted), 196.

-

-  Romaika (Slavic folk-dance), 137.

-

-  Rome (dancing in), 3, 72ff, 247;

-    (sacred dancing), 9;

-    (imitation of Greek dances), 10;

-    (Pyrrhic dance), 60.

-

-  Roman Church. See Church.

-

-  Romulus, 73.

-

-  Rondes (similarity to Eleusinian Mysteries), 67;

-    (French folk-dance), 121.

-

-  _Roses of Love_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.

-

-  Rossini, 101, 103, 151.

-

-  Rouen, 100.

-

-  Roumania (folk-dance), 137f.

-

-  Round. See Ronde.

-

-  Royal Academy of Dancing (French), 86.

-

-  Rubinstein, Anton, 183, 256;

-    (composed ‘Tarantella’), 124.

-

-  Rubinstein, Ida, 45.

-

-  Ruggera (Italian folk-dancing), 124.

-

-  Rune tunes (Finnish), 63.

-

-  Russia (Imperial Ballet), 92;

-    (influence of, on choreography), 102;

-    (nationalistic tendencies), 104f;

-    (folk-dancing), 139ff, 262;

-    (influences on ballet), 169;

-    (ballets of opera house), 175;

-    (influence of Duncan school), 200, 206, 218f.

-

-  Russian Imperial Ballet School, 90f, 105, 172.

-

-  Russian Imperial Dramatic Dancing School, 180.

-

-  Ruthenia (folk-dancing). See Slavic folk-dances.

-

-

-  S

-

-  Sacchetto, Rita, 203, 212.

-

-  _Sacre du Printemps_ (Stravinsky), 231.

-

-  Sacred dancing (in rel. to folk-lore), 9;

-    (Egyptian), 15;

-    (Indian), 26;

-    (Japanese), 38;

-    (American Indian), 39, 41f;

-    (Greek), 59, 67ff;

-    (Roman), 73f.

-

-  Sadler, Michael T. H. (quoted on Jacques-Dalcroze School), 235f.

-

-  Sahara Graveyard Dance, 21.

-

-  Sailor’s Dance (Dutch), 135.

-

-  St. Basil (cited), iii.

-

-  St. Carlos (celebrated by strolling ballet), 80.

-

-  St. Denis, Ruth, 208, 212.

-

-  Saint-Léon, 159.

-

-  St. Matthew (quoted), 44.

-

-  St. Petersburg (court ballet), 90, 161.

-    See also Petrograd.

-

-  Saint-Saëns, Camille, 186.

-

-  St. Vitus’ Dance, 129.

-

-  _Sakuntala_ (French ballet), 152.

-

-  Sallé, Mlle., 94, 99, 100.

-

-  _Salmacida Spolia_ (Sir William Davenant), 84.

-

-  Salome dances, 44f, 191.

-

-  _Salome_ (Richard Strauss), 45.

-

-  _Saltarello_ (Italian folk-dance), 124.

-

-  Sangalli, Rita, 159.

-

-  Sappho, 70, 94.

-

-  Sarabande, 146.

-

-  Sarasate, Pablo, 108.

-

-  Satyr Dance (in Dionysian Mysteries), 68, 69.

-

-  _Sauvages de la Mer du Sud_, [_Les_] (French ballet), 94.

-

-  Savage peoples. See Primitive peoples.

-

-  Savinskaya, 206.

-

-  Saxony (folk-dancing), 130.

-

-  Scaliger, Joseph Justa (cited), 54.

-

-  Scandinavia (folk-dances), 2, 133;

-    (nationalistic tendencies), 104f;

-    (waltz), 131;

-    (naturalistic school), 205.

-

-  Schafftertanz (of Munich), 129.

-

-  _Scheherezade_ (Rimsky-Korsakoff), 152, 226.

-

-  Schiller, 166, 250.

-

-  Schirjajeff, 182.

-

-  Schliemann (Egyptologist), cited, 17.

-

-  Schmoller (Saxonian folk-dance), 130.

-

-  Schnitzler, Arthur, 166.

-

-  Schönberg, Arnold, 205.

-

-  Schools of dancing, (Petipa), 185;

-    (Duncan), 197;

-    (Jacques-Dalcroze), 197f.

-    See Academies.

-

-  Schopenhauer (cited), 250;

-    (quoted), 64.

-

-  Schleiftänze, 129.

-

-  Schreittänze. 129.

-

-  Schubert, Franz, 103f, 254.

-

-  Scotch Reel, 118f.

-

-  Scotland (folk-dancing), 118f.

-

-  Scribe, Eugène. 103.

-

-  Schuhplatteltanz (Bavarian folk-dance), 129f.

-

-  Schumann, Robert, 206.

-

-  Sculpture (in rel. to dancing), 173, 196, 235.

-

-  Seguidilla (Spanish dance), 50.

-

-  Sensationalism, 190.

-

-  Seroff, Alexander Nikolayevitch, 104, 171, 181.

-

-  Serpentine Dance, 189, 190f.

-

-  Servia (folk-dancing).

-    See Slavic folk-dances.

-

-  Setche, Egyptologist (cited), 14.

-

-  Seville (church dancing), iv, 78;

-    (court dancing), 47.

-

-  Sex instinct (in rel. to folk-dancing), v, 11, 134, 139.

-

-  Shakespeare (cited on the jig), 119.

-

-  Sharp, Cecil (quoted on Morris dances), 113f.

-

-  Shean Treuse (Scotch folk-dance), 118.

-

-  Shintoism (Japanese religion), 36.

-

-  Shirley, James, 83.

-

-  Sibelius, Jean, 205, 254, 256, 257f.

-

-  Siberia (folk-dancing), 140.

-

-  Siciliana (Italian folk-dance), 124.

-

-  [_Le_] _Sicilien_ (ballet), 153.

-

-  _Sieba_ (ballet), 152.

-

-  Siebensprung (Swabian folk-dance), 130.

-

-  Singing (in Finnish dances), 133.

-

-  Singing ballet, 177f.

-

-  Singing Sirens, 57.

-

-  Skirt Dance, 189, 212.

-

-  Skoliasmos (in Dionysian mysteries), 68f.

-

-  Skralat (Swedish folk-dance), 133.

-

-  Slavic folk-dances, 136ff.

-

-  _Sleeping Beauty_ (Tschaikowsky), 152, 185.

-

-  Snake dances (Lithuanian), 135;

-    (American Indian), 38, 41, 135.

-

-  _Snegourotchka_ (Rimsky-Korsakoff). See _Snow Maiden_.

-

-  _Snow Maiden_ (Rimsky-Korsakoff), 152, 177, 183f.

-

-  Social dancing (Greek), 54f;

-    (Polish), 136;

-    (in 17th cent.), 144ff.

-    See also Court dancing.

-

-  Socrates, 54, 56.

-

-  Sokolova (ballerina), 151, 183.

-

-  Solomon, Hebrew king, 43, 44.

-

-  Sophocles, 62.

-

-  Sound (in relation to movement), 238

-

-  [_La_] _Source_ (Delibes), 152.

-

-  Spain (religious dancing), iv;

-    (folk-dancing), 2, 105ff, 210ff;

-    (choreographic art of Moors), 46, 50f;

-    (mediæval strolling ballets), 80f.

-

-  Spartan dance, 54f, 60.

-

-  _Spectre de la Rose_ (ballet), 221, 223, 229.

-

-  Spendiaroff, 256.

-

-  Spinning top principle, 216.

-

-  Stage dancing (in Middle Ages), 81, 148.

-    See also Professional dancing.

-

-  Steps, 2;

-    (in American Indian dances), 42;

-    (in courante), 88;

-    (in classic French ballet), 95f;

-    (Bolero), 109;

-    (Seguidilla), 110;

-    (Hungarian folk-dances), 125f;

-    (Rigaudon), 149;

-    (Bournoville’s reform), 163.

-

-  Stephania (Roman dancer), 77.

-

-  Stewart-Richardson, Lady Constance, 206.

-

-  Stockholm (ballet dancing), 161.

-

-  Stockholm school, 151.

-

-  _Stomach Dance_ (Arabian dance), 3, 21, 22.

-

-  Stone Age, 5.

-

-  Stramboe, Adolph F., 164.

-

-  Strassburg, 129.

-

-  Strauss, Johann, 132.

-

-  Strauss, Richard, 204f, 232.

-

-  Stravinsky, Igor, 185, 229ff.

-

-  Strindberg, August, 165.

-

-  String instruments (Indian), 27.

-

-  Strolling ballets (mediæval), 80f;

-    (in French Revolution), 93f.

-

-  Strophic principle, 63.

-

-  Stuck (painter of Salome dance), 45.

-

-  Stuttgart (court), 90, 153.

-

-  Subra, Mlle. (ballerina), 159.

-

-  Su-Chu-Fu (dancing academy), 34.

-

-  Suetonius (cited), 76.

-

-  _Sun’s Darling_ (English masque), 84.

-

-  Svendsen, Johann, 133, 205.

-

-  Svetloff (cited), 218.

-

-  _Swan, The_ (Saint-Saëns), 186.

-

-  _Swanhilde_ (ballet), 167.

-

-  _Swan Lake_ (Russian ballet), 152, 184f.

-

-  Swabia (folk-dancing), 130.

-

-  Sweden (influence on Russian ballet), 169.

-    See also Scandinavia.

-

-  Sword Dance (English), 21, 33, 113, 115ff.

-

-  _La Sylphide_ (Delibes), 152, 153, 154, 156, 163.

-

-  [_Les_] _Sylphides_, 175, 221.

-

-  _Sylvia_ (Delibes), 152.

-

-  Symbolism (in Indian dancing), 29, 263f;

-    (in Hungarian folk-dancing), 126;

-    (in Lada’s dances), 254f;

-    (in modern ballet), 258, 265.

-

-  Symons, Arthur (quoted), 264f.

-

-  Symphonic music (as basis for dancing), 200, 206.

-

-  Syrinx (Egyptian instrument), iv.

-

-  Szolo (Hungarian folk-dance), 126.

-

-

-  T

-

-  Tabor (in Morris dance), 115.

-

-  Tacitus (cited), 76.

-

-  Taglioni, Maria, 11, 151, 152ff, 156, 157, 193.

-

-  Taglioni, Salvatore, 151, 152, 161.

-

-  Ta-gien (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Ta-gu (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Ta-knen (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Talmud, 43.

-

-  Ta-mao (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Tambourine (in Hebrew dance), 19;

-    (in Indian dance), 27;

-    (with bells, Chinese), 32;

-    (in Greek dances), 71;

-    (in Spanish dance), 79f, 106;

-    (in Tarantella), 122.

-

-  Taneieff, Sergei Ivanovich, 224.

-

-  Tarantella (Italian folk-dance), 122ff.

-

-  Tartar tribes, 140.

-

-  Tascara (Spanish folk-dance), 111f.

-

-  Taubentanz (Black Forest), 130.

-

-  Ta-u (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Tcherepnin, 185, 226, 229.

-

-  Technique (Duncan), 199;

-    (instrumental), 237;

-    (eurhythmic), 239.

-

-  Telemachus, 53.

-

-  _Telemaque_ (French ballet), 92.

-

-  Teleshova (ballerina), 151, 181.

-

-  Telethusa (Roman dancer), 77.

-

-  _Tempe Restored_ (Aurelian Townsend), 84f.

-

-  Temple dancing (Hebraic), 43, 44;

-    (Greek), 54f;

-    (Esthonian), 127.

-    See also Sacred dancing.

-

-  Terpsichore, 10, 57.

-

-  _Terpsichore_ (ballet by Handel), 99.

-

-  Teu-Kung (Chinese dancing teacher), 31.

-

-  Thackeray (quoted on Taglioni), 154.

-

-  Thales, 59.

-

-  Théatre des Arts, 92.

-

-  Theatre of Dionysius, 64f.

-

-  Thebes, 19.

-

-  Theseus, iv, 54, 69.

-

-  They (Chinese monarch), 30.

-

-  Tiberius (Roman emperor), 76.

-

-  Tichomiroff, 221.

-

-  Time, 240f.

-

-  Time-marker (in Greek dancing), 70f.

-

-  Time-values, 241.

-

-  Titans, 59.

-

-  Titus (Roman emperor), 34.

-

-  Toe-dance, 215.

-

-  Toledo (church dancing), iv, 78.

-

-  _Toreadoren_ (ballet), 164.

-

-  Torra (Murcian folk-dance), 106.

-

-  Tourdion (social dance), 150.

-

-  Townsend, Aurelian, 84f.

-

-  Trepak (Russian folk-dance), 140.

-

-  Trescona (Florentine folk-dance), 124.

-

-  Triangle (in English Horn dance), 117.

-

-  Tripoli (Almeiis dancers in), 21.

-

-  _Triumph of Love_, 87.

-

-  _Triumph of Peace_ (James Shirley), 83.

-

-  Trouhanova, Natasha, 45, 244, 256f.

-

-  Trumpets (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), 82.

-

-  Tschaikowsky, Peter Ilyitch, 104, 151, 152, 171, 177, 183, 184, 185.

-

-  Tshamuda (Indian goddess), 26.

-

-  Tuileries, 87.

-

-  Tunic, ballerina’s, 215.

-

-  Tunis (Almeiis dancers in), 21.

-

-  Turgenieff, 104, 171;

-    (quoted on Elssler), 155f.

-

-  Tuta, 215.

-

-

-  U

-

-  Uchtomsky, Prince (cited), 28.

-

-  U-gientze (Chinese dance), 32.

-

-  Ulysses, 52.

-

-  Urbino, Duke of, 80.

-

-

-  V

-

-  Vafva Vadna (Swedish folk-dance), 133f.

-

-  _Valdemar_ (Danish ballet), 163, 164.

-

-  Valencia, iv, 78, 107f.

-

-  Valencian Bishop (advocate of dancing), 78.

-

-  Valentine, Gwendoline (ballet dancer), 206.

-

-  Vanka (Cossak dance), 140.

-

-  Van Staden (Colonel), 179.

-

-  Vaudoyer, J. L., 229.

-

-  Vaughan, Kate (ballet dancer), 193.

-

-  _Veie de Noue_ (in _Lou Gue_), 80.

-

-  Veils (used in Greek dancing), 66, 70.

-

-  Venera (Indian goddess), 24.

-

-  [_La_] _Ventana_ (ballet), 166.

-

-  Venus of Cailipyge, 76f.

-

-  _Verbunkes_ (Hungarian folk-dance), 126.

-

-  [_La_] _Vestale_ (ballet), 153.

-

-  Vestris brothers, 91, 101, 148, 151, 162.

-

-  Viennese court, 90.

-

-  Viennese School, 151.

-

-  Villiani, Mme. (ballet dancer), 22, 193.

-

-  Vingakersdans (Swedish folk-dance), 134.

-

-  Violin (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), 82;

-    (in Spanish folk-dance), 107.

-

-  Vision of Salome (ballet), 201.

-

-  Vocal ballets, 177f.

-

-  Vocal music (dependence of dancing upon), 8;

-    (in Greek dances), 58.

-

-  Voisins, Comte Gilbert des, 154.

-

-  Volga, 140.

-

-  Volinin (Russian ballet dancer), 185, 187, 248.

-

-  Volkhonsky, Prince Serge (quoted), 197f, 212f, 215ff, 232, 249.

-

-  Voltaire (cited), 99.

-

-  _Volte_ (French folk-dance), 131.

-

-  Vuillier (quoted on Spanish temple dancing), 79f.

-

-  Vulcan, 53.

-

-  Vulture Dance (Greek), 69.

-

-

-  W

-

-  Wagnerian operas, 63.

-

-  Waldteufel, 132.

-

-  Waltz, 131f.

-

-  Walzer, 131.

-

-  War-dances (primitive), 5f;

-    (Pyrrhic), 60;

-    (Roman), 73;

-    (Hungarian), 126.

-

-  Warsaw (opera house), 175.

-

-  Weber, Carl Maria von, 91, 103, 229.

-

-  Weber, Louise, 192.

-

-  Weiss, Mme., 159.

-

-  Wellman, Christian, 180.

-

-  Whistles (in American Indian dances), 41;

-    (in Morris dance), 115.

-

-  Whitehall (masques performed at), 83.

-

-  Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, 202f, 212.

-

-  Wilhelm II, 130.

-

-  Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, on Egypt (cited), 18f;

-    (quoted), 20f.

-

-  Women (earliest appearance of, in ballet), 87.

-

-  Wood-wind instruments (Indian), 27.

-

-  Wsevoloshky, 183.

-

-  Würtemberg (folk-dancing), 130.

-

-

-  X

-

-  Xenophon (quoted), 55f.

-

-  Xeres, iv.

-

-

-  Y

-

-  Yorkshire (English sword dance of), 116.

-

-  Yu-Wang (Chinese emperor), 33.

-

-

-  Z

-

-  Zarzuela (Spanish comic opera), 63f, 106.

-

-  Zeus, 59.

-

-  Zorongo (Spanish folk-dance), 111.

-

-  Zulus (war dances of), 5.

-

-  Zunfttänze, 129.

-

-  Zwölfmonatstanz (Würtemberg), 130.

-

-

-

-

-Transcriber’s Notes

-

-

-Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a

-predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they

-were not changed.

-

-Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation

-marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left

-unbalanced.

-

-The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page

-references, with this exception: all references to pages iii–vi should

-be to pages vii–x. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks,

-the links have been corrected, but the displayed page numbers have not

-been changed in any version of this eBook.

-

-Page 110: “Albacetex” was printed that way; probably is a misprint for

-“Albacete”.

-

-Page 131: “3/4 rhythm” was printed as “3-4 rhythm” but changed here to

-conform with the predominant form of notation throughout the original

-book.

-

-Page 275: “English Cathedrals” reference to page viii was printed as

-“iii-f”; changed here.

-

-

-

-

-

-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason

-

-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***

-

-***** This file should be named 59104-0.txt or 59104-0.zip *****

-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:

-        http://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/1/0/59104/

-

-Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

-file was produced from images generously made available

-by The Internet Archive)

-

-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will

-be renamed.

-

-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright

-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,

-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United

-States without permission and without paying copyright

-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part

-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm

-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,

-and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive

-specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this

-eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook

-for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,

-performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given

-away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks

-not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the

-trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

-

-START: FULL LICENSE

-

-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

-

-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free

-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project

-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full

-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at

-www.gutenberg.org/license.

-

-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-

-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or

-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your

-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a

-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound

-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the

-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph

-1.E.8.

-

-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be

-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few

-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See

-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this

-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

-

-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the

-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection

-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual

-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United

-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the

-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not

-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,

-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as

-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope

-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting

-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm

-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the

-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily

-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the

-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when

-you share it without charge with others.

-

-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are

-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,

-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this

-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,

-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any

-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no

-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any

-country outside the United States.

-

-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

-

-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear

-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work

-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the

-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,

-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

-

-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no

-  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it

-  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this

-  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the

-  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you

-  are located before using this ebook.

-

-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is

-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not

-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the

-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in

-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are

-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project

-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply

-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or

-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm

-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted

-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any

-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms

-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works

-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the

-beginning of this work.

-

-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm

-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

-

-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm License.

-

-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including

-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access

-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format

-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official

-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site

-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense

-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means

-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain

-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the

-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

-

-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works

-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-provided that

-

-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method

-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed

-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has

-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid

-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are

-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty

-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in

-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg

-  Literary Archive Foundation."

-

-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm

-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all

-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue

-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm

-  works.

-

-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of

-  receipt of the work.

-

-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

-

-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than

-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing

-from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The

-Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm

-trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

-

-1.F.

-

-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project

-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may

-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate

-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or

-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or

-cannot be read by your equipment.

-

-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right

-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

-DAMAGE.

-

-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you

-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium

-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you

-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in

-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person

-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second

-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If

-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing

-without further opportunities to fix the problem.

-

-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO

-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

-

-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of

-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement

-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the

-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or

-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or

-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the

-remaining provisions.

-

-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in

-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the

-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,

-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of

-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this

-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or

-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any

-Defect you cause.

-

-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of

-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of

-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It

-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations

-from people in all walks of life.

-

-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's

-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will

-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future

-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see

-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at

-www.gutenberg.org

-

-

-

-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

-

-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit

-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification

-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by

-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

-

-The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the

-mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its

-volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous

-locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt

-Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to

-date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and

-official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

-

-For additional contact information:

-

-    Dr. Gregory B. Newby

-    Chief Executive and Director

-    gbnewby@pglaf.org

-

-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg

-Literary Archive Foundation

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide

-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of

-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest

-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations

-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

-status with the IRS.

-

-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations

-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND

-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular

-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

-approach us with offers to donate.

-

-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

-

-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation

-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To

-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.

-

-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be

-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and

-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of

-volunteer support.

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed

-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in

-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not

-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper

-edition.

-

-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search

-facility: www.gutenberg.org

-

-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,

-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

-

+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Dance
+
+Author: Daniel Gregory Mason
+
+Editor: Ivan Narodny
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2019 [EBook #59104]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note: The List of Illustrations was added by Transcriber
+and placed into the Public Domain.
+
+
+
+
+THE ART OF MUSIC
+
+
+
+
+  The Art of Music
+
+  A Comprehensive Library of Information
+  for Music Lovers and Musicians
+
+  Editor-in-Chief
+  DANIEL GREGORY MASON
+  Columbia University
+
+  Associate Editors
+
+  EDWARD B. HILL          LELAND HALL
+  Harvard University      Past Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin
+
+  Managing Editor
+  CÉSAR SAERCHINGER
+  Modern Music Society of New York
+
+  In Fourteen Volumes
+
+  Profusely Illustrated
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC
+
+
+[Illustration: Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)
+
+_Design by Léon Bakst_]
+
+
+
+
+  THE ART OF MUSIC: VOLUME TEN
+
+  The Dance
+
+  Department Editor:
+  IVAN NARODNY
+
+  Introduction by
+  ANNA PAVLOWA
+  Ballerina, Imperial Russian Ballet
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1916, by
+  THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC, Inc.
+  [All Rights Reserved]
+
+
+
+
+THE DANCE
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+‘The gods themselves danced, as the stars dance in the sky,’ is a
+saying of the ancient Mexicans. ‘To dance is to take part in the cosmic
+control of the world,’ said the ancient Greek philosophers. ‘What do
+you dance?’ asks the African Bantu of a member of another tribe after
+his greeting. Livingston said that when an African wild man danced,
+that was his religion. It is said that the savages do not preach their
+religion but dance it. According to the Bible, the ancient Hebrews
+danced before their Ark of the Covenant. St. Basil describes the angels
+dancing in Heaven. According to Dante, dancing is the real occupation
+of the inmates of Heaven, Christ acting as the leader of a celestial
+ballet. ‘Dancing,’ said Lucian, ‘is as old as love.’ Dance had a sacred
+and mystic meaning to the early Christians upon whom the Bible had made
+a deep impression: ‘We have piped unto you and ye have not danced.’
+
+The service of the Greek Church--even to-day--is for the most part
+only a kind of sacred dance, accompanied by chants and singing. The
+priest, walking and gesturing with an incense-pan up and down before
+the numerous ikons, kneeling, bowing to the saints, performing queer
+cabalistic figures with his hands in the air, and following always
+a certain rhythm, is essentially a dancer. It is said that dancing
+of a similar kind was performed in the English cathedrals until the
+fourteenth century. In France the priests danced in the choir at the
+Easter Mass up to the seventh century. In Spain similar religious
+dancing took deepest root and flourished longest. In the Cathedrals of
+Seville, Toledo, Valencia and Xeres the dancing survives and is the
+feature at a few special festivals.
+
+‘The American Indian tribes seem to have had their own religious
+dances, varied and elaborate, often with a richness of meaning which
+the patient study of the modern investigators has but slowly revealed,’
+writes Havelock Ellis. It is a well-known fact that dancing in ancient
+Egypt and Greece was an art that was practiced in their temples. ‘A
+good education,’ wrote Plato, ‘consists in knowing how to sing well
+and how to dance well.’ According to Plutarch, Helen of Sparta was
+practicing the Dance of Innocence in the Temple of Artemis when she was
+surprised and carried away by Theseus. We are told by Greek classics
+that young maidens performed dances before the altars of various
+goddesses, consisting of ‘grave steps and graceful, modest attitudes
+belonging to that order of choric movement called _emmeleia_.’ The
+ancient Egyptian Astronomic Dance can be considered the sublimest of
+all dances; here, by regulated figures, steps, and movements, the order
+and harmonious motion of the celestial bodies was represented to the
+music of the flute, lyre and syrinx. Plato alludes to this dance as ‘a
+divine institution.’
+
+In spite of the high status of dancing in the ancient civilizations,
+it has not progressed steadily, as have the other arts. It has
+remained the least systematized and least respected of arts, generally
+considered as lacking in seriousness of intention, fitness to express
+grave emotions, and power to touch the heights and depths of the
+intellect. Being an art that expresses itself first in the human body,
+the dance has aroused reprobation in certain pious, puritanical minds
+of mediæval type, who have considered it a collection of ‘immodest and
+dissolute movements by which the cupidity of the flesh is aroused.’
+It is this particular view that has damned dance with bell, book and
+candle. The main reason for this has been the hostile attitude of the
+church to all folk-arts which manifested a more or less conspicuous
+ethnographic individuality--that is, were stamped as of Pagan and not
+Christian origin. All folk-dancing, broadly speaking, is a natural
+form of æsthetic courtship. The male intends to win the female by his
+beauty, grace and vigor, or vice versa. From the point of view of
+sexual selection we can understand, on the one hand, the immense ardor
+with which every sensuous part of the human body has been brought
+into the play of the dance, and, on the other, the arguments of the
+pseudo-moralists to classify it with the frivolous and least tolerated
+arts.
+
+The stamp of frivolity, put upon the dance by the Christian clergy,
+has retarded its natural development for several centuries. Italy and
+Germany, having been the cradles of all modern music and stage arts,
+have given little inspiration to a systematic development of the art
+of dancing. The seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, that
+have meant so much to the perfection of the opera, vocal and orchestra
+technique, gave nothing of any significance to choreography. The church
+that tolerated Bach, Paësiello, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, put an
+open ban upon everything that had any relation to the dance. The
+great musical classics of the past centuries have treated dance as an
+insignificant side issue, thereby putting a label of inferiority upon
+this loftiest of arts. All the dance music of the great classics sounds
+naïve and lacking in choreographic images. Yet dance and music are like
+light and shadow, each depending upon the other. As canvas is to a
+painter, so is music to a dancer the essential element upon which he
+can draw his picture. The fact that the art of dancing has not evolved
+into its normal state of equality with the other arts, is wholly due
+to the lack of musical leadership. Neither the reforms of Noverre
+nor those of Fokine nor Marius Petipa can be of fundamental value if
+they lack the phonetic designs which alone a choreographic artist can
+transform into plastic events. Essentially, and æsthetically speaking,
+dancing should be the elemental expression alike of symbolic religion
+and love, as it used to be from the earliest human times.
+
+Dancing and architecture are the two primary and plastic arts: the
+one in Time, the other in Space; the one expressing the soul directly
+through the medium of the human body, the other giving only an outline
+of the soul through the medium of fossilized forms. The origin of these
+two arts is earlier than man himself. Both require mathematics, the one
+rhythmically, the other symmetrically. For dancing the mathematical
+forms are to be found in music, for architecture, in geometry. ‘The
+significance of dancing, in the wide sense, thus lies in the fact that
+it is simply an intimate concrete appeal of that general rhythm which
+marks all the physical and spiritual manifestations of life,’ writes
+Havelock Ellis. ‘The art of dancing moreover is intimately entwined
+with all human traditions of war, of labor, of pleasure, of education,
+while some of the wisest philosophers and ancient civilizations have
+regarded the dance as the pattern in accordance with which the moral
+life of man must be woven. To realize therefore what dance means for
+mankind--the poignancy and the many-sidedness of its appeal--we must
+survey the whole sweep of human life, both at its highest and at its
+deepest moments.’
+
+                        ANNA PAVLOWA.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME TEN
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+  INTRODUCTION BY ANNA PAVLOWA                                       vii
+
+
+ CHAPTER
+  I. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING                                         1
+
+  Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed
+  in dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive
+  dance and sexual selection; professionalism in dancing--Music
+  and the dance; religion and the dance; historic analysis
+  of folk-dancing and ballet.
+
+
+  II. DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT                                        12
+
+  Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence;
+  the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals;
+  festival of the Sacred Bull--Music of the Egyptian dances;
+  Egyptian dance technique; points of similarity between
+  Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the
+  Graveyard Dance; modern imitations.
+
+
+  III. DANCING IN INDIA                                               24
+
+  Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the
+  Brahmin religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis;
+  Hindoo music and the dance; dancing in modern
+  India; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism of the Indian
+  dance.
+
+
+  IV. DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS    30
+
+  Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics
+  of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of
+  ancient China; Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese
+  dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern imitations; the
+  Lantern Festival--Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional
+  variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry;
+  general characteristics and classification of Japanese
+  dances--The American Indians: The Dream dance; the
+  Ghost dance; the Snake dance.
+
+
+  V. DANCES OF THE HEBREWS AND ARABS                                  43
+
+  Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode
+  and its modern influence--The Arabs; Moorish florescence
+  in the Middle Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances;
+  the dance in daily life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting;
+  pictorial quality of the Arab dances.
+
+
+  VI. DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE                                       52
+
+  Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek
+  life; Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance;
+  Terpsichore--Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek
+  dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the
+  Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia;
+  The Cordax; the Hormos--Greek theatres; comparison of
+  periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries;
+  the Heteræ; technique.
+
+
+  VII. DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE                                    72
+
+  Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus;
+  the _Bellicrepa saltatio_; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime;
+  the Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the
+  Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.
+
+
+  VIII. DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES                                    78
+
+  The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain;
+  the strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of
+  dancing by the church; dances of the mediæval nobility;
+  Renaissance court ballets; the English masques; famous
+  masques of the seventeenth century.
+
+
+  IX. THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE                                      86
+
+  Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante;
+  reforms under Louis XV; Noverre and the _ballet d’action_;
+  Auguste Vestris and others; famous ballets of the period--the
+  Revolution and the Consulate; the French technique,
+  the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five positions’;
+  the ballet steps--Famous _danseuses_; Sallé, Camargo;
+  Madeleine Guimard; Allard.
+
+
+  X. THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE                                       104
+
+  The rise of nationalism--The Spanish folk-dances: the
+  Fandango; the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish
+  folk-dances; general characteristics; costumes--England:
+  the Morris dance; the Country dance; the Sword dance; the
+  Horn dance--Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.--Ireland:
+  the Jig; British social dances--France: Rondo, Bourrée and
+  Farandole--Italy: the Tarantella, etc.--Hungary: the Czardas,
+  Szolo and related dances; the Esthonians--Germany:
+  the _Fackeltanz_, etc.--Finland; Scandinavia and Holland--The
+  Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs; the Roumanians
+  and Armenians--The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy
+  and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.
+
+
+  XI. THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST                       144
+
+  The _Pavane_ and the _Courante_; the _Allemande_ and the
+  _Sarabande_; the _Minuet_ and the _Gavotte_; the _Rigaudon_ and
+  other dances--The Waltz.
+
+
+  XII. THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY                  151
+
+  Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century--Maria
+  Taglioni--Fanny Elssler--Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito;
+  decadence of the classic ballet.
+
+
+  XIII. THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA                                    161
+
+  The Danish ballet and Boumoville’s reform; Lucile
+  Grahn, Augusta Nielsen, etc.--Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline
+  Genée; the mission of the Danish ballet.
+
+
+  XIV. THE RUSSIAN BALLET                                            170
+
+  Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles
+  of the Russian school; French and Russian schools compared--
+  Begutcheff and Ostrowsky; history of the Russian
+  ballet--Didelot and the Imperial ballet school; Petipa and
+  his reforms--Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets;
+  Pavlowa and other famous _ballerinas_; Mordkin;
+  Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.
+
+
+  XV. THE ERA OF DEGENERATION                                        189
+
+  Nineteenth-century decadence; sensationalism--Loie
+  Fuller and the Serpentine Dance--Louise Weber, Lottie Collins
+  and others.
+
+
+  XVI. THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING                            195
+
+  The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan--Duncan’s influence:
+  Maud Allan; Duncan’s German followers--Modern music
+  and the dance; the Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’--
+  Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St. Denis--Modern Spanish
+  dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.
+
+
+  XVII. THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET                                       214
+
+  The old ballet arguments _pro_ and _con_--The new movement:
+  Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s
+  company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of
+  the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ _Le Pavilion d’Armide_, ‘Scheherezade’--
+  Nijinsky and Karsavina--Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’
+  ‘The Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.
+
+
+  XVIII. THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE                         234
+
+  Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the
+  ‘Eurhythmic’ system--Body-rhythm; the plastic expression
+  of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze
+  system--Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics to the
+  dance.
+
+
+  XIX. PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY                                      247
+
+  The defects of the new Russian and other modern
+  schools; the new ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories--Lada
+  and choreographic symbolism--The question of appropriate
+  music.
+
+
+  EPILOGUE: FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE DANCE                              261
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)              Frontispiece
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+  Egyptian women dancing with cymbals                                 21
+
+  Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases                 68
+
+  Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)                                    102
+
+  The Ball                                                           150
+
+  Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet                                156
+
+  Pavlowa                                                            174
+
+  Duncan                                                             200
+
+  Maud Allan                                                         211
+
+  A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)                         245
+
+
+
+
+THE DANCE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING
+
+  Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in
+  dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual
+  selection; professionalism in dancing--Music and the dance;
+  religion and the dance; historic analysis of folk-dancing and
+  ballet.
+
+
+I
+
+Every true art is a direct and immediate act of life. As in music and
+dancing, so in life, rhythm is the skeleton of tone and movement and
+also the basis of existence. We breathe rhythmically and our heart
+beats rhythmically. We walk, laugh and weep rhythmically. Rhythm is the
+only frame to the moving material of the visuo-audible art. What except
+rhythm can unite living men in order to convert them from a chaotically
+moving crowd into a work of art? It was undoubtedly the innate feeling
+for rhythm that actuated the primitive man to dance. All existing races
+show a strong tendency to dance, as well in their primitive as in the
+more or less civilized state. The plastic forms of the human body lend
+themselves more to an æsthetic expression that contains architecture,
+sculpture, painting, poetry, drama and music, than anything else in
+creation. The mimic expressions of the face, the agility of the steps,
+the grace of gestures and poses are all natural means which a man can
+employ in his dance. The symmetric lines of the body that are produced
+after the melodic patterns of the music form the æsthetic basis of the
+art of dancing. The ability to give a living meaning to these lines is
+what makes a dance beautiful and divine. Although frequently the beauty
+of a line and movement can be observed in animals and birds, yet there
+it is an unconscious act, lacking in that individual and subjective
+feeling that we call inspiration.
+
+The foremost element in every dance is--the step. Step is also,
+practically speaking, the first movement of life. In consequence of
+pure physical laws each step requires a new impulse and thus divides
+it into two periods: motion and repose. The continuance of these two
+rhythmic periods produces the feeling of symmetry and joy, which in
+its turn creates the various combined movements that again are divided
+into various sub-motions and partial measures. The development of
+steps in a dance is based on two principles: the movement of the feet,
+and the combined movement of the body and hands for grace or mimicry.
+Consequently dance is nothing but a chain of bodily movements that
+are subjected to a certain musical rhythm and follow the emotional
+expressions of the dancer. According to an innate principle dance,
+like speech, was practiced by the primitive races as a medium of
+the most vital expressions. By means of a dance the savages express
+their joy, sorrow, anger, tenderness and love. Dance has its peculiar
+psychology, which varies according to racial temperament, climate
+and other conditions. This is best illustrated in the various styles
+of the folk-dance. To the vigorous races of Northern Europe in their
+cold and damp climate dancing became naturally a function of the
+legs. The Scandinavian and Finnish folk-dances betray more heavy and
+massive motion, while those of Spain, Hungary and Italy or France give
+an impression of romantic grace, coquettish agility and fire. The
+folk-dances of the Cossacks are usually violent and acrobatic, as is
+their life. Energy or dreaminess, fire or coolness, and a multitude
+of other racial qualities assert themselves automatically in a
+folk-dance. The list of forces that make and preserve a nation’s dances
+is incomplete without the addition of the powerful element of national
+pride, weakness or other peculiarities. On the contrary, in the Far
+East, in Japan, Java, China, etc., dancing is exclusively a motion of
+the hands and fingers alone. In ancient Rome dancing was predominantly
+the rhythmic motion of the body, with vibratory or rotatory movements
+of breast or flanks. The Stomach Dance of the Arabians betrays the wild
+passion of a nomadic desert race.
+
+According to Louis Robinson, dancing is an innate instinct that has an
+indirect bearing upon the existence of the human race. Robinson argues
+that throughout Nature instincts, like the organs of our bodies, are
+the product of the strict laws of evolution, and have been built up to
+meet some need. At some critical time in the past they had a certain
+survival value--i. e., they were capable of determining in the struggle
+for existence which individuals or tribes should go under and which
+should survive. This principle can be taken as one of the axioms which
+must be our pilots in every attempt to account for the faculties which
+each of us brings into the world, as distinct from those acquired in
+the life of the individual.
+
+Practically every savage people has elaborate dances and spends a good
+deal of time in such exercises. Among adults dancing takes the place
+of the play of children. When we come to analyze the play of all young
+creatures from the historical standpoint we find it forms part of an
+elaborate natural system of physical training. The perpetual motion
+of the kitten while it is awake is obviously a training for those
+accomplishments which in later life mean a livelihood. Such astonishing
+skill and agility as are shown by the cats in securing prey cannot be
+attained by any ready-made machinery like that of the dragon-fly or the
+mantis: they must be built up and manufactured. Herein the nervous
+mechanism of the mammalia has prevailed over the limited mechanical
+perfection of lower things such as reptiles, fish, and insects. Most of
+them can do some one thing or other supremely well, but the mammalia,
+with their better nervous system and receptive brains, can excel in
+many things. We, with our greater gifts of the same sort, are the
+most versatile and teachable of all; hence we prevail over the rest
+of creation. The kitten, the puppy, and the young savage, by their
+continual restless and organized activity, gain great advantage in
+certain movements necessary in after life, and foster the growth of
+the particular muscles which later on will be absolutely requisite in
+the serious business of holding their place in the world. Obviously
+such instincts would become out of date and inappropriate should the
+general manner of living undergo a complete change. Hence we find that
+much of the play of young children in civilized lands has little or no
+reference to the serious life which comes afterwards. Such instincts,
+however, were developed during or before the long stretch of time
+of the Stone Age, when all men played hide and seek, and chased one
+another, and threw things, and ran, and jumped, and wrestled for
+exactly the same reason that makes us scan commercial articles, attend
+markets, and work in our studies or offices. What is observable in any
+nursery or playground affords a good illustration of the persistence
+of instincts long after the need which created them has passed away.
+For some reason the play instinct in most creatures tends to lapse
+at the time of full bodily maturity. It does not cease entirely, but
+apparently it no longer suffices as an incentive for the battle of life.
+
+Man in the savage state is naturally lazy and does not like to exert
+himself when food comes easily. When no urgent need or human authority
+is pushing him, he prefers to eat to repletion and then to lie in
+the sun or loaf. We even find this primitive habit cropping up in
+strenuous lands where the stimulus of moral education and competition
+has been at work for generations.
+
+We are all aware that, when we are lazy for any length of time, we
+get slack and soft. The primitive savage who lives by hunting and is
+in continual danger of raids from his neighbors, cannot afford to get
+slack. He must keep himself fit every day of life. How was this to be
+managed by our prehistoric forefathers when there was no fighting,
+with the weather soft, and a delicious fish easily to be caught quite
+near the dwelling? It is pretty safe to say that, owing to the want
+of condition--if they were not dancing tribes--they did not leave
+descendants which are among us in the twentieth century.
+
+It seems strange how readily a group of negroes who are apparently
+exhausted after a long day’s work will join in dance with their
+fellows, and how, when not very tired, they will in their laziest
+moments spring up and take vigorous exercise of this kind. Every doctor
+will tell you that there are plenty of women to-day who have not the
+strength nor the energy to do any work or to walk a couple of miles,
+but who will dance from evening till morning without showing any
+great fatigue. Among such Pagans as the Zulus and Masai, who organize
+themselves for war almost as well as has ever been done by the most
+civilized Christians, there is practically no distinction between
+military exercises and dancing. This is proof enough to show that
+dancing had a survival value throughout the long stretch of the Stone
+Age. Dancing taught primitive men to move in compact bodies without
+confusion, and especially without getting so bunched together that they
+could not use their weapons.
+
+To-day the true war-dance only persists among us in the form of
+military marchings, but the other primitive dances have left numerous
+descendants of all kinds and degrees, down to the modern tango. Among
+these non-military dances the survival value, apart from the healthy
+exercise which they provided and their general disciplinary effects,
+worked through the agency of sexual selection.
+
+In the case of the primitive dances the working of sexual selection was
+beneficial as conducive to racial fitness. The dances in which women
+took part gave opportunity for appraisement of exactly the kind needed
+for a sound choice of mates under savage conditions. It afforded the
+chance, so lacking in our present civilization, of advertising any
+admirable qualities which might be possessed. It was a test not only of
+physical grace and perfection, but of activity, taste and temper. It
+contributed to honest matrimonial dealing--especially when danced in
+the approved ballroom costumes of savage times.
+
+There have been many discussions as to why clothes were first
+worn--whether for ornament, warmth, or decency--but one may fairly
+say without any doubt whatever that, from the first ages until now,
+dance clothing has been mainly decorative. Here we find an ethical
+justification of matters connected with dancing dress, which has often
+provoked severe criticism among puritans. Without a doubt from the
+earliest times until now the dance has been a chief purifying agent
+in the marriage market--has played the part, in fact, of those market
+inspectors appointed to guard against adulteration.
+
+It is a most extraordinary thing, when we come to consider man’s place
+in Nature, that he ever began to dance. Not that dancing is uncommon
+in Nature; many birds, especially those of the crane tribe, execute
+elaborate dances during their season of courtship, and as a mere
+pastime when they have nothing else to do. Few, if any, of the mammalia
+appear to indulge in organized dances, unless we give such a name to
+the frisking of young lambs and the prancing evolutions of horses and
+antelopes. Assuredly, in our direct line of descent nothing of the kind
+could have existed as far back as our knowledge and imagination will
+carry us. You cannot very well dance in the trees, which, according to
+Darwin, were the real nurseries of our species; and when you come down
+to solid earth your weak prehensile lower members would only make you
+ridiculous and contemptible if they attempted any performance of the
+kind.
+
+Mother Nature, however, is a dame of infinite varieties, and seems
+continually to be trying the most bizarre experiments apparently
+without the least prompting or justification. The products of these
+experiments are called ‘sports,’ and there seems no limit to their
+possibilities. Chimpanzees delight in thumping hollow trees and
+knocking pieces of wood together, while it is said that the gorilla
+waddles to war to the sound of the drum, improvising a substitute by
+beating his hands against his brawny chest.
+
+In the Western world professionalism in dancing has happily not had the
+blighting effect on the pursuit that it seems to have had on some other
+forms of pastime. But if we go to the East we find that practically all
+other forms of dancing have ceased to exist. We see the effect of this
+tendency most fully developed in China, where the recreative dancing
+of European society seems to be quite beyond the comprehension of a
+well-bred Chinese, who naïvely asks the question: ‘Why do you not pay
+people to dance for you?’
+
+Stage dancing seems to be an interesting instance of the degeneration
+into pure luxury or something which was at one time a helpful influence
+to the race. This is a tendency observable in many phases of life
+when the pressure of evolutionary forces is somewhat relaxed. Most
+of the luxuries pertain to matters which at one time had a survival
+value, and it cannot be said that they have retired from among the
+evolutionary forces even to-day; but their effect, if still beneficial
+to the race, lies in aiding Nature to eliminate the unfit.
+
+
+II
+
+From the earliest times on dancing has been dependent upon music of
+some kind. The question whether music is older than dancing has not
+been answered satisfactorily by academic anthropologists yet. However,
+all scholars agree that the appearance of these two arts must have
+been more or less simultaneous, the one influencing the other. But
+undoubtedly the first dance music was not instrumental but vocal. The
+savages to-day dance most of their sexual dances to rhythmic recitation
+of certain words. Music is in every phase of evolution the only true
+essence of that which forms the subject of the dance.
+
+To the transformation of more or less primitive folk-dances into those
+of strictly religious character is due the principal idea of the
+modern ballet. In the Oriental temples dancing underwent a strange
+transformation. While dancing was made the basis of dramatic and
+symbolic ideas, yet this very fact became detrimental to the musical
+influence upon the choreography. The Egyptians, whom we consider the
+pioneers in religious dances, originated elaborate temple ballets,
+which were based more upon a dramatic than a musical theme. Though the
+tradition speaks of rounds, of symbolic and sidereal motions, and the
+instruments chiefly employed, as the Egyptian guitar, used both by men
+and women, the single and double pipe, the harp, lyre, and flute, yet
+essentially this all resembled a pantomime rather than actual dance.
+
+It is very likely that all the ancient sacred dances originated with
+the subconscious idea of counteracting the sensuous or strictly
+playful influence of the social dances. The whole pedigree of our
+Western religions seems to show a remarkable absence of this method of
+encouraging religious feeling. The reasons why such manifestations were
+discouraged by Jewish and Christian moralists pertains to physiology
+rather than theology. As already said, man’s nature is compounded of
+many diverse elements, and the machinery of emotion at present at work
+within us dates back to our animal past. Our most refined and exalted
+feelings spring from the same nervous reservoirs and pass through
+the very channels which were at one time solely occupied by grosser
+passions. The Egyptian church that grew directly of the folk-art of
+the country was a stranger to Greece and Rome, and still more so to
+our Christian religion. The ethical ideals that actuated the Egyptian
+priests in introducing dancing at the altar, sprang directly from the
+soil and meant, in bringing the better part of human nature to the top,
+to act as a kind of separator. The priests discovered that the higher
+emotions, with the help of sacred dancing, can be put to excellent
+service as impulses to improved conduct. The Christian missionaries,
+coming from the East, found nothing elevating and ennobling in our
+Western dancing, which did not appeal to them on account of the very
+differences of the style and racial character. It is due to their
+opposition that the religious dances have faded out under the Western
+civilization. The warfare against dancing generally, on the part of the
+Apostles of Christianity, dates back to the fanatic era of theological
+and nationalistic differences. In all countries where the religion
+descends directly from a racial folk-lore, dancing has remained in high
+esteem at home and in the temples. This we find true in Egypt, Greece,
+India and China. In the Jewish form of worship there seems to have been
+no formally recognized dancing, although we have records of several
+displays of this kind, as in the case of King David, when, ‘clothed in
+a linen ephod, he danced before the Ark of the Lord with all his might.’
+
+In Greece, cradle of the arts, the Muses manifested themselves to man
+as a dancing choir, led by Terpsichore. The Romans imitated the Greeks
+in all their arts and imported with the Greek slaves Greek dances. But
+Rome was too barbaric to appreciate the full value of Greece’s poetic
+arts. The solemn religious dance instituted by Numa and practiced by
+the Salian priests soon degenerated into ceremonial march that was
+abolished when Rome became Christian, through a papal decree in 744.
+Darkness of night fell on the development of secular and religious
+dancing, a darkness that endured for centuries. The influence of the
+Nile in Egypt and Cadiz in Spain, which for centuries had been the two
+great centres of the ancient dancing and supplied their dancers to the
+Roman potentates, faded out slowly in the history of European nations.
+The folk-dances were labelled as low and undignified amusements of
+Pagan peasants. Dance in every form remained an outcast, despised and
+condemned until the court circles of Italy and France distorted it
+to an amusement at domestic gatherings and masquerades. It is said
+that the modern ballet had its origin in the spectacular masquerades
+arranged for the marriage of Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, in
+1489. The impression of this performance spread to the Court of
+Florence. Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France, brought the Italian
+court pantomime to Paris, where the French kings and queens grew to
+admire dancing and took actual part in it. The attempts of Noverre to
+elevate the art of dancing to what it had been in ancient Egypt and
+Greece, were successful only externally. Music, the soul of dancing in
+the modern sense, was lacking, and without this soul the art of plastic
+form is incomplete. Though the Russian reformers elevated dancing from
+a domestic amusement to a serious and lofty stage art, they did not
+succeed wholly in giving to it the foundation that it deserves among
+the other arts. All the past and living goddesses of choreography have
+not had the freedom, the phonetic means and dramatic threads to thrill
+their audiences as they would, if man had not distorted and hidden the
+natural meaning of the dance that inspired his barbaric ancestors.
+
+The philosophical conclusion of our historic analysis of dance leads
+back to the same axioms that actuated the savage in his practice of
+agility: the sexual selection and primitive sport, both necessary for
+evolution and the existence of the race. However, there is neither
+sexual motive nor instinct for ‘physical culture’ in the ‘Heavenly
+Alchemy’ of evolution that has created the poetic movements of Taglioni
+and her successors. The ancient racial propensities have developed into
+more spiritual ideas. Like the tendency of evolution generally, to
+universalize an individual and individualize the universe, so in dance
+the racial characteristics are transformed into cosmic motives. In this
+stage beauty becomes symbolic and concrete emotions take on a more and
+more abstract form. The survival value of the greatest art of the dance
+lies in ennobling the intellect and soul, which has necessarily an
+indirect bearing upon the physical. Ultimately this means perfection of
+the whole human organism. It inspires the mind and influences the body.
+
+Civilization has brought humanity to a state where the physical needs
+depend upon the psychical. We have devised a more complicated form
+of sexual selection and more complicated means of existence than the
+primitive dances employed in our animal past. Beauty in the long course
+of evolution has grown more spiritual, accordingly dancing as an art
+has become an evolutionary medium of the intellect.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT
+
+  Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence;
+  the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival
+  of the Sacred Bull--Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian
+  dance technique; points of similarity between Egyptian and
+  modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the Graveyard dance; modern
+  imitations.
+
+
+I
+
+Long before the rest of the world had emerged from barbarism Egypt
+had reached a high state of civilization. But the history of Egyptian
+civilization was hidden behind a curtain of mysteries, until the
+key to the hieroglyphs was discovered. Then, the imposing pyramids
+opened suddenly their sealed lips and the world stood aghast at
+their revelations. The ruins of Memphis and Thebes became books of
+interesting reading. The discovered inscriptions and papyri revealed
+the high state of development that the dance had reached in the ancient
+Egyptian temples. The first dancing in Egyptian history is recorded
+by Manetho, the priest of Heliopolis who lived in 5004 B. C.,--which
+is approximately one thousand years before the creation of the world,
+according to Biblical chronology. Plato alludes to Egyptian art and
+dancing performed ten thousand years before his time. Schliemann, the
+great archeologist, maintained that the history of Egypt was written
+in various dance-phases, as can be seen from the inscriptions of their
+ancient sarcophagi and pyramids.
+
+Scarce as are the hieroglyphic materials, nevertheless they reveal to
+us that the Egyptians, during the reign of the Pharaohs, highly admired
+the art of dancing. Most of the Egyptian documents or inscriptions
+begin with dancing figures. These figures are to be found in the most
+ancient records, which proves that dancing must have been known as
+an art to the Egyptians not for hundreds but for thousands of years.
+Herodotus, ‘the father of history,’ tells us that the dances performed
+to Osiris were as elaborate as the music of a hundred instruments and
+a chorus of three hundred singers. According to Diodorus, Hermes gave
+to mankind the first laws of eurhythmics. ‘Hermes taught the Egyptians
+the art of graceful body movements.’ A fragmentary inscription of a
+sarcophagus in the Museum of Petrograd describes that Maneros, ‘who
+conquered so many nations, did this not by means of torch and sword
+but by teaching the divine art of music and dancing.’ The ancient
+Egyptian legend surrounds Maneros with nine dancing Muses, which
+the Greeks probably copied from Egypt later. Music and dancing were
+employed by the Egyptians at home, in social festivals, on the occasion
+of marriage, birth and death, and in the temples. Their folk-dances
+were as gay and fiery as the temperament of the race. This is best
+illustrated in the recently discovered frescoes of peasants dancing,
+evidently after their daily work in the fields.
+
+Being worshippers of all the celestial bodies, the Egyptians practiced
+in their temples certain astronomical ballets. It is said that Hermes,
+the inventor of the lyre, produced from his instrument as many tones
+as there were stars in the sky. The three strings of his lyre meant
+Winter, Summer and Spring. This gives an idea to what an extent
+astronomy and nature figured in all their dancing and music. The Astral
+Dance was an imitation of the movement of the various constellations.
+In this their imagination knew no limit. The altar, around which most
+of the astral dances were performed, represented the sun. According to
+the descriptions of Plutarch, the dancers made with their hands the
+signs of the zodiac in the air, while dancing rhythmically from the
+east to the west, in imitation of the movement of various planets.
+After every circle the dancers stopped for a few moments as if
+petrified, which was meant to represent the immovability of the earth.
+By means of combined gestures and mimic expressions, the priests gave
+intelligible pantomimic stories of the astral system and the harmony of
+eternal motion. Lucian called this one of the most divine inventions.
+
+It is a pity that all the hieroglyphic records known to us do not
+give any adequate explanation of the ancient Egyptian Astral Dance.
+The descriptions left by Greek writers are too general and are
+frequently incorrect. Various scholars have made efforts to discover
+the mystic meaning of the dance of the ‘Seven Moving Planets,’ but in
+vain. How much the idea of an astral dance has impressed the European
+ballet-masters is proved in that Dauberval and Gardel produced in the
+eighteenth century ballets of this character. However, in this case the
+performers were not priests but fantastically dressed ballet dancers
+who, representing various stars and planets, jumped and turned around
+the _prima ballerina_, who represented the sun.
+
+To what an extent the love of pantomime and dancing prevailed in Egypt
+can be judged from the recently made decipherings by Setche of the
+inscriptions of the sarcophagus of a prime minister which describes
+the code of an elaborate court ritual. The inscription tells how a
+newly-appointed minister should meet his ruler. He should enter the
+imperial hall, dancing so that from his gestures, poses and miming
+could be read devotion, loyalty, chivalry, grace, tenderness, vigor
+and energy. Pharaoh, in his turn, would meet the minister with a
+different sort of dance. The reception would end with the joining
+of all the court functionaries, musicians and priests in a great
+procession.
+
+The Egyptian clergy exercised a great influence upon the people.
+Imitating the court of the Pharaohs, they surrounded the religious
+rituals with unnecessary secrets. The more mysterious they made
+the ceremonies the more they impressed the people. In consequence
+of such an attitude on the part of the clergy, a large majority of
+religious dances grew so complicated in their symbolic details that
+they degenerated into nonsense. A large number of the Egyptian sacred
+dances were based on the cult of Isis and Osiris, the one a feminine,
+the other a masculine divinity. This gave the fundamental idea of
+maintaining a large number of the so-called ‘sacred’ courtesans, who
+took an active part in most of the temple dances. Herodotus tells us
+that the presence of these ‘sacred’ courtesans in the Egyptian temple
+ceremonies during the last Dynasties is responsible for the downfall of
+this ancient civilization.
+
+Most of the Egyptian temple dances were performed by men and women
+alike. On the other hand, there existed special feminine and strictly
+masculine ballets. Of the feminine dances, the most known is the dance
+which was performed during the celebrated sacrificial festival of the
+sacred bull Apis. After the black bull on whose back grew naturally
+the figure of a white eagle was found, forty temple maidens were
+selected to feed it forty days on the shores of the Nile. All this
+time the maidens had to practice the great ballet that they were to
+perform thereafter. The Festival of the Sacred Bull was opened with a
+solemn dance of the priests in the temple of Osiris at Memphis. Then
+the bull was carried through the city by the maidens in a spectacular
+procession, accompanied by singing and dancing. When the bull was
+brought before the huge statue of Osiris the real ballet was performed
+by priests and maidens together. The ballet, which lasted for half a
+day, was opened with a slow introduction in march form. In this the
+dancers personified the birth process of divinities, particularly of
+Osiris. In the second movement, which probably resembled a modern
+_allegro energico_, were depicted the youth and romantic adventures of
+Osiris with the goddess Isis. Priests in fantastic costumes represented
+Osiris and his warriors, while the maidens played the rôle of Isis and
+her companions. The last movement of the ballet closed with a festival
+_finale_, which meant the victory of Osiris in conquering India. When
+the sacred bull was drowned in the Nile a violent funeral ballet was
+performed by the priests. As the recently discovered bas-reliefs
+illustrate, the dancing priests wore costumes consisting of a yellow
+tunic and round caps.
+
+While some of the Egyptologues maintain that dancing was performed only
+on special occasions such as the above, others are of the opinion that
+every Egyptian temple service contained some kind of dance. However,
+the hieroglyphic inscriptions of various periods prove that there were
+hundreds of different temple dances. Of particular interest is the
+recently discovered ‘Dance of Four Dimensions,’ which was performed in
+the temple of Isis. In this both priests and priestesses participated.
+It differed from the other dances in that the dancers carried along
+their musical instruments.
+
+
+II
+
+Since the art of dancing had reached such a high degree of culture
+in Egypt it is evident that the people must have possessed a highly
+developed form of music. Though musical history denies the fact
+that harmony was known to the ancient civilization, yet the recent
+archeologic discoveries and hieroglyphic decipherings speak eloquently
+of the use of various instruments in a kind of orchestra, and there are
+frequent allusions to temple choirs of a hundred and more singers. Dr.
+Schliemann even believes that the Egyptians had their specific musical
+notation which was still in use by the Arabs when they came to Spain.
+It is only natural to believe that an art of such a high standard
+was taught in a school, as the technique that they evidence is the
+result of long and systematic studies. ‘It is very likely,’ a Russian
+archeologist writes, ‘that the Egyptian academy of music and dancing
+was connected with the temple of Ammon.’
+
+It is evident that the Egyptians knew practically every choreographic
+rule and possessed a technique which our most celebrated dancers have
+not yet reached. Their mimic expressions are superb, as are their
+eurhythmic gestures and poses. Since the temple in Egypt united under
+its supreme patronage all the arts, it is only natural that dancing
+and music knew no other forms of expression, except the home. However,
+the court of Pharaohs played a big rôle in stimulating a secular style
+of dance, which the Greeks later performed in a modified form on their
+stage. Various inscriptions and sarcophagus bas-reliefs depict a corps
+of several hundred dancers that was maintained by the ruler. The Queen
+Cleopatra was so fond of dancing that she herself gave performances
+in a specially constructed hall, dimly lighted and richly decorated.
+Here she danced nude to her guests behind numerous gauze curtains,
+using constantly the effects of fused light produced by different
+colored lanterns. She had a well trained and beautiful voice and played
+masterfully on various instruments. Also, in connection with her
+dances, Cleopatra used heavy redolescent perfumes by means of which
+she put her audience into a ‘passionate trance.’
+
+That the Egyptian dancers knew _pirouettes_, _fouetté pirouettes_,
+_arabesques_, _pas de cheval_, and other modern ballet tricks 5,000
+years ago is proven by the dancing figures that can be seen at the
+sarcophagi at Beni Hassan. These figures illustrating ballet corps are
+usual. A common style of Egyptian dancing was the peculiar reverse
+movement of the two dancers which reached a rhythmic perfection,
+particularly in dances where many participated, that is absolutely
+unknown to our choreographic artists. Some dances show great
+architectural beauty in their pyramidic combinations. The use of the
+hands at the same time with the use of the legs is evidently more in
+keeping with a certain style and harmony of line, than that employed by
+our ballet or classic dancers.
+
+There is in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum a wall painting
+taken from a tomb at Thebes. The painting is supposed to have been
+executed during the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, and in it are
+depicted two dancing girls facing in opposite directions. There is
+plenty of action and agility depicted in these figures. In one the
+hands are raised high above the head; in the other they are lowered.
+One female not dancing is represented playing a double pipe, and others
+are clapping their hands. The accompanists are dressed, but the dancers
+wear only a gauze tunic.
+
+All Egyptian professional dancers are represented either nude or
+very slightly dressed and the performances were given by the people
+of highest respectability. All Egyptologues are of the opinion that
+the outline of the transparent robe worn by these dancing girls may,
+in certain instances, have become effaced; but others say that it is
+certain they danced naked, as their successors, the Almeiis, do. The
+view of Sir Gardner Wilkinson that the Egyptians forbade the higher
+classes to learn dancing as an amusement or profession, because they
+dreaded the excitement resulting from such an occupation, the excess
+of which ruffled and discomposed the mind, contradicts the opinions of
+other scholars on the same subject. We read in the Bible that after
+the Israelites had safely accomplished the passage across the Red Sea,
+Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, herself a prophetess, took a
+tambourine in her hand, and danced with other women to celebrate the
+overthrow of their late task-masters. There are other instances in
+the Bible which tend to show that among the Jews, who were reared on
+Egyptian civilization, it was customary for people of the most exalted
+rank to dance. There is a reproduction of Amenophis II. from one of
+the oldest tombs of Thebes that goes to show that Egyptians of all
+classes were highly proficient in the art of dancing. Four upper class
+women are represented as playing and dancing at the same time, but
+their instruments are for the most part obliterated. A fifth figure
+is resting on one knee, with her hands crossed before her breast. The
+posing of the heads in these figures is masterful. In another painting
+from Beni Hassan, executed about three thousand five hundred years
+ago, a dancer is represented in the act of performing a _pirouette_
+in the extended fourth position. The arms are fully outstretched,
+and the general attitude of the figure is precisely what it might
+be in executing a similar movement at the present day. It is also
+noticeable that the angle formed by the upper part of the foot and fore
+part of the leg is obtuse, which is quite in accordance with modern
+choreographic rules, while the natural inclination of an inexperienced
+and untrained dancer when holding the limb in such a position would be
+to bend the foot towards the shin, or at least to keep it in its normal
+position at right angles.
+
+From many paintings and sculptures that have been discovered, we may
+gather that the primary rules by which the movements of the dancers
+are governed have not altered since the time of the Pharaohs. The
+first thing the Egyptian dancers were taught was evidently to turn
+their toes outward and downward, and special attention was paid to the
+positions of their arms, which were gracefully extended and raised
+high, with the hands almost joining above the head. In the small tablet
+of Baken Amen representing the adoration of Osiris, now in the British
+Museum, all arm positions of the dancing figures are excellent. In
+one of the sculptures from Thebes a figure is unmistakably performing
+an _entrechât_. Other figures go to show that the Egyptians employed
+frequently _jetés_, _coupés_, _cabrioles_, toe and finger tricks.
+There are reproductions representing dance figures for two performers,
+executing apparently a kind of minuet. Between the dancers in each
+figure are inscriptions which refer to the name of the dance. Thus, for
+instance, one was called mek na snut, or making a _pirouette_. This
+appears to have been a movement in which the dancers turned each other
+under the arms, as in the _pas d’Allemande_.
+
+Besides the temple dances, Egypt had travelling ballet companies,
+giving their performances in the open air gardens of towns and
+villages. The nomadic Hawasis whose profession to-day is chiefly
+dancing, are undoubtedly barbarized descendants of the Hawasis that
+entertained the Pharaohs with their passionate and fiery social
+dances. Most of the Hawasi dances were of a sensuous nature, performed
+exclusively by girls, either naked or in light gauze dresses. The
+themes of all these dances were often so distinctly feminine, depicting
+the romantic nature of a woman so graphically, that they were performed
+only as a part of wedding ceremonies. In regard to this style of dance
+Sir Gardner Wilkinson expresses the conviction ‘that there is reason to
+believe that dances representing a continuous action or argument
+of a story were in use privately and were executed by ladies attached
+to the harem or household.’
+
+[Illustration: Egyptian women dancing with cymbals
+
+_From an ancient fresco (in the original colors)_]
+
+Another secular class of Egyptian dances was that performed by Almeiis.
+While the style and subject of the Hawasi dances tended to express the
+sexual passions, the Almeiis had learned to be ‘classic’ and scholarly.
+The Almeiis of to-day maintain that they descend directly from the
+dancing Pharaohs. The romantic element in the Almeii dances remains
+within the limits of a strict code of propriety. For that reason the
+dancing Almeiis, like the clergy, enjoyed an immunity from the common
+law. The Almeiis of to-day enjoy the same ancient reputation throughout
+the East and are invited by the Mohammedan chiefs to teach dancing
+to their harems. They can be seen dancing in the Arabian desert and
+in Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli and Morocco. But their present-day dances
+lack the subtleties and technique that their ancestors possessed five
+thousand years ago. Their celebrated Sword and Stomach Dances have
+degenerated into deplorable vaudeville shows. Petipa, the celebrated
+Russian ballet master, has succeeded in composing a brilliant ballet
+on the theme of Almeii dances, called ‘The Daughter of the Pharaoh.’
+However, excellent as the Russian ballet dancers are, they have never
+performed it to the satisfaction of its author.
+
+One of the weird ancient Egyptian dances that has survived and is
+practiced by several Oriental races, particularly in Arabia, Persia
+and Sahara, is the Graveyard Dance. It is known that the Almeiis used
+to perform this dance at midnight on the graveyards of rich Egyptians,
+frequently around the pyramids. Though semi-religious, it did not
+belong to the classified sacred dances performed under the supervision
+of the clergy. Prof. Elisseieff thinks that this dance probably
+originated in lower Egypt and belonged there to a recognized temple
+ceremony, but the priests in upper Egypt failed to recognize it, so the
+Almeiis monopolized it with great advantage.
+
+The Graveyard Dance performed in the East to-day is wild, weird and
+ghastly. It is performed by women, dressed in long robes, which cover
+even their heads. It is danced on moonlight nights by professional
+Almeiis. These are hired by the relatives or descendants of the rich
+dead to accompany the wandering soul until it reaches that sphere which
+belongs to it. There is much strange symbolism and morbid beauty in
+the Graveyard Dance. Just as weird as the dance is the music, produced
+from pipes and drums, often accompanied by hooting or sobbing voices.
+It begins in a slow measure, the dancers marching like spectral shadows
+in a circle around the musicians. Gradually the music grows quicker,
+as does the dance. It ends in a wild fury after which the dancers drop
+unconscious to the ground.
+
+The dances of the living Almeiis and Hawasis and their imitators give
+little idea of the high art of dancing that was practiced thousands of
+years ago in ancient Egypt. The modern axis and stomach dances that
+are practiced by the daughters of the various tribes of the desert
+are crude acrobatic feats and vulgar degenerations of the graceful
+and highly developed art that has vanished with the whole ancient
+civilization of Egypt. In 1900 there appeared in Paris a supposed-to-be
+descendant of the celebrated ancient Almeiis, _La belle, unique et
+incomparable Fatma_, giving performances of ‘Egyptian Wedding Scenes’
+and a ‘Dance of Glasses,’ which created a sensation among the decadent
+artists and writers. However, her success was more due to her beautiful
+body and its vivid gestures in suggesting certain erotic emotions, than
+to any real art. On the other hand, Isadora Duncan, Mme. Villiani and
+Desmond have attempted to arouse interest in the Egyptian dances by
+giving performances that they have claimed to be the genuine classic
+art of the Nile. According to them, all that a modern dancer needs in
+becoming Egyptian is to dress as the Egyptians did and produce poses,
+if possible, with the fewest possible garments, that are to be seen in
+the ancient fresco paintings, sculptures and hieroglyphs. Then again,
+the Russian ballet, touring in Europe, announced in its repertoire an
+Egyptian ballet _Cleopatra_, which was to be a revelation of unseen
+beauties of the lost ancient civilization. However, all efforts of the
+modern imagination are unable to lift the veil of the ages.
+
+Though posterity can catch more accurate fragments in the degenerated
+dances of Almeiis, Hawasis and the few folk-dances of Young Egypt than
+in the artificial imitations of various choreographic modernists, as
+a whole we know but a microscopic part of the vanished age of the
+Pharaohs. The few scarce records that we possess of the Egyptian
+dancing speak eloquently of an art far superior to anything which our
+boasted civilization has yet reached.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+DANCING IN INDIA
+
+  Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin
+  religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music
+  and the dance; dancing in modern Indian; Fakir dances; philosophic
+  symbolism of the Indian dance.
+
+
+The civilization of ancient India was, with the exception of China,
+the only rival to that of Egypt. But it is remarkable that the Indian
+mind took a totally different direction from the Egyptian. The tendency
+towards spiritual expansion that manifested itself in Egypt and
+Greece became in India a tendency towards concentration. The Indian
+mind lacked the gift of observation and mathematical proportions, so
+essential in art, that was possessed by the subjects of the Pharaohs.
+For this reason we find a magnificent Indian philosophy and mystic
+science, but an undeveloped feeling for æsthetic values. With the
+exception of weird and bizarre architecture, that manifested itself
+most powerfully in the pagodas and temples, the Indian sculpture,
+painting, music and dancing are too primitive for our taste, as they
+probably were for that of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.
+
+In all the Indian constructive arts, in their temple decorations and
+frescoes, we find very few dancing figures, still fewer graceful
+reproductions of the human body. Their gods and goddesses look to
+us like monsters. The Indian Venera, to be seen in the Pagoda of
+Bangilore, looks like a caricature, as compared with the Greek
+Aphrodite. The Indian goddess of dancing, Ramble, who, according to
+the legend, was a courtesan of Indra, and gave birth to two daughters,
+Nandra (Luxury) and Bringa (Pleasure), lacks all the loftiness and
+charm which surrounded the dancing goddesses of Egypt and Greece.
+There is neither life nor grace in any of the Indian temple art. Even
+the smile of Indian gods is stupid and inexpressive. The lack of
+humor and joy mirrors itself best in the art of the Bayaderes, the
+celebrated dancers of India. Their gestures and movements are void of
+that exultant gaiety and optimism that predominates in dances of other
+nations. An air of gloom and pessimism emanates from all the Indian art.
+
+There is no doubt that the peculiarities of Indian music have been
+obstacles to the development of the national dance. Although it is full
+of color and feeling, yet the division of their scale into so many more
+tone units than ours makes it extremely difficult for a dancer to catch
+the delicate nuances and lines and reproduce them in movement. A few
+dancing designs here and there give the impression that this art has
+not changed during the four thousand years of the nation’s existence.
+Since the whole Indian civilization is the same to-day that it was
+thousands of years ago, we are pretty safe in our assumption that the
+dances of the Bayaderes exhibited at Calcutta or Benares now were
+pretty nearly the same during the life of Buddha. The modern dances,
+like the old ones, show similarity in the fact that the Indian dancers
+stand nearly at one spot and hardly move their feet, while mimicking,
+and moving their body, arms, hands and fingers. The individual
+peculiarity of all Indian dances lies in the impressionistic poses of
+their hands and the body.
+
+India deserves to be called the Land of a Thousand Religions. Religion
+to an Indian represents everything. Like wisdom and life, dance is of
+divine origin. From time immemorial dancing has been a part of Indian
+temple ceremonies. The Brahmin religion is interwoven with beautiful
+legends and myths, according to which dancing was the first blessing
+that Brahma gave to mankind. One of the legends tells us that the
+divine Tshamuda danced to music while standing on an egg and holding
+a huge turtle on her back. In such a position she is to-day giving
+performances to Brahma in the Nirvana. Such a magic Paradise, with
+plenty of dancing and music, lasting from early morning till late in
+evening, is promised after death to all faithful souls.
+
+A widespread Indian legend is that which describes the magic dancing of
+the Apsarazases, or divine nymphs, with which the Indian imagination
+has populated every hill and brook. The only occupation of the
+Apsarazases is singing and aerial dancing. For this purpose these
+sacred nymphs are supplied with feathery wings which enable them to
+fly freely in the air. Dancers who reach the very climax of their art
+get magic wings like every Apsarazas and vanish alive from the earth.
+This legend laid the foundation of the Indian sacred dances, which
+were taught by the priests to young maidens kept specially for that
+purpose near the temples. While the European tourist calls all Indian
+dancers Bayaderes, regardless whether they give their performances
+on the streets or in the temples, an Indian calls the temple dancers
+Devadazis, or the ‘slaves of God.’ The common street or social dancer
+is called Nautch Girl. The Indian Devadazis are raised and educated
+much as are the Christian nuns. After being graduated from a dancing
+school, the girls are taken by the priests to the temples in which they
+give daily performances to the pilgrims and live as sacred courtesans
+with the clergy.
+
+The main function of the Devadazis consists in giving performances,
+either singly or in groups, to the priests and the pilgrims. Some of
+their dances take place in front of the pagodas, others inside. The
+dancers always wear a long garment, covering their body and legs,
+leaving only the hands and arms bare. Rich people can hire these
+temple dancers to give performances in their homes, otherwise they
+never appear outside the temple atmosphere. To an Indian dancer the
+most important parts of her body are her breasts and fingers. Though
+she appears in dance barefoot, frequently with rings in her toes, she
+pays comparatively little attention to her feet. Many of the modern
+Bayaderes wear an elaborate costume of yellow with wide pantalettes and
+richly embroidered wraps around the shoulders, leaving arms and breasts
+bare.
+
+The music accompanying the dances of the Indian Bayaderes is produced
+by an orchestra consisting of wood wind instruments similar to our
+flute and oboe, a few string instruments, two different drums and a
+few tambourines. The leader of the orchestra gives a sign by striking
+certain brass plates and the Bayaderes, lifting their veils, advance
+in front of the musicians and begin the dance. The dance, consisting
+usually only of mimic expressions of two dancers, has a strange melody
+and a stranger rhythm. Neither the music nor the dance can be compared
+with anything known in our Western art. Now and then the feet beat
+measure, otherwise there is little display of leg agility. The face,
+particularly the eyes, of the Indian dancers are very expressive.
+But the alphabet of the dance mimicry is so large that it requires a
+special study in order to understand and appreciate the fine movements
+of an artist.
+
+All the Indian social ceremonies, such as marriage, birth and burial,
+are celebrated with dancing and music. This is particularly true of
+the social ceremonies of the rich. The standing of the dancers is high
+in India, so that even in the palace of the Rajah dancers are treated
+like the guests. In certain parts of India the Bayaderes have the
+right to live as guests at any house without paying. Prince Uchtomsky,
+who made a special study of Indian life and art, writes that in cities
+visited by the European tourists one rarely gets a glimpse of the real
+Bayaderes. According to him there are many Indian Bayadere dancers that
+surpass in their suggestive power our most passionate ballets. Every
+line of their miniature impressionism in dance has an exotic beauty
+which implies more than it expresses.
+
+The Indian dancers are usually women, though Pierre Loti writes that he
+witnessed several dances performed by men. These dances, as described
+by him, tally closely with those which the writer saw frequently
+performed by various Mongolian tribes in South-Eastern Russia. But we
+are inclined to think that these, being wild in their character, could
+not be classified as dances of Indian origin.
+
+To a certain class of Indian dancing belong the well-known fakir
+dances, performed by begging pilgrims at public gatherings. These
+represent the surviving fanaticism of an ancient sect. Their strange
+performances are to be seen everywhere in Northern India. Absolutely
+naked and with dishevelled hair, they moan, shriek and groan, jumping
+wildly up and down and shaking their hands convulsively. When the
+fanatical execution has reached its climax the fakirs stab themselves
+with knives or hot irons until they fall into a trance. It is a kind
+of Oriental ‘Death Dance.’ To an outsider it is unexplainable how they
+can endure such self-torture for any length of time. In most cases the
+knives that the fakirs use are so constructed that they do not go deep
+into the body but scratch only the skin and produce slight wounds.
+Though their bloody performances make a deep and shocking impression
+upon the onlookers, yet dances of this kind cannot be classified as an
+art.
+
+The best dancers that India has ever produced are those who resembled
+brooding philosophers and prophetic priestesses rather than pleasing
+artists. The Indian conception of beauty lies in the spiritual and
+intellectual and but little in the physical and æsthetic forms. The
+main purpose of the great Indian _ballerinas_ is to inspire their
+audiences to thought and meditation upon the great powers of nature
+and the mystic purposes of human life. Their art is exotic and
+introspective and lacks absolutely the element of purely beautiful
+inspiration, produced by the great Western dancers. Those of our
+Western students of art who make us believe that they can perform
+genuine Indian dances are grossly mistaken, simply because the real
+Indian dance is not an art and amusement, but the preaching of a
+certain philosophy. Our materialistic logic is unable to catch the
+subtle philosophic symbolism that appeals to an Indian mind. We are
+brought up to enjoy the positive and not the negative plane of life.
+For us beauty is joy, for the Hindus it is sorrow. An Indian dancer who
+can move her audience to tears with her dancing will fail to make the
+least impression upon our audiences.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS
+
+  Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics
+  of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China;
+  Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing
+  Mandarins; modern imitations; the Lantern Festival--Japan: the
+  legend of Amaterasu; emotional variety of the Japanese dance;
+  pantomime and mimicry; general characteristics and classification
+  of Japanese dances--The American Indians: The Dream dance; the
+  Ghost dance; the Snake dance.
+
+
+I
+
+In China the art of dancing was in full bloom for centuries before
+the Christian era. The great Chinese historians tell us that music
+and dancing were developed and stood in high esteem in China from the
+dynasty of Huang-Ta till the rule of They, which is a period of not
+less than 2450 years. Europe with its civilization did not yet exist
+when choreography was publicly taught in China. Like every other form
+of Chinese evolution, dancing thus fell into a state of spiritual
+torpidity. Forbearance, the foremost virtue of the Chinese race, that
+was preached by their ancient moralists, like Kon-Fu-Tse and others,
+stifled in the long run all the passionate emotions of the people
+and exerted a most detrimental influence upon the arts. Under such
+conditions the Chinese view of life grew materialistic and dry, the
+very opposite of the Indian. This peculiarity did not fail to make
+itself felt in Chinese dancing. The gradual killing of passionate
+emotions killed also the tendency to imagination in the race. The
+fantasy that populated the air and water, the mountains and forests of
+other nations with myths, legends, gods and goddesses, was transformed
+in China into the most realistic reasonings and mechanical dexterity.
+The industrial spirit of the great nation killed all romantic and
+poetic aspirations in art, religion and literature. The music of China
+is as syncopated and monotonous as her views of life. The only poetry
+that the Chinese possess is that which was written 4000 years ago.
+
+_You_, which means in Chinese language ‘dance,’ lacks the principal
+forms of agility of our choreography. _Pirouettes_, _jetés_,
+_cabrioles_ and _pas’s_ are unknown terms to a Chinese _ballerina_.
+Their dancing, consisting of slow gestures of the arms, the shaking of
+head, bowing to the ceiling, and other similar manipulations, makes
+at the first glance an impression that suggests to our imagination
+the officiating of Greek priests. The power of a dancer lies in the
+atmosphere that she creates and the peculiar imitating poses of the
+body. Chinese dance music is correspondingly slow of rhythm and reminds
+us in many ways of our ultra-modern orchestral music. However, we read
+in the works of the Chinese classics that their art of dancing was much
+higher about two and three thousand years ago.
+
+The ancient Chinese philosophers recommended dancing to strengthen the
+human body and mind. They emphasized the mimic expressions which all
+races of the world should learn as an unspoken and universal language.
+It is written that the great ruler Li-Kaong-Ti took dancing and music
+lessons from the great teacher of music, Teu-Kung, so that he was able
+to give entertainments in these arts to his family and guests. He
+founded a dancing academy at the court and invited learned Mandarins to
+take charge of the institution. Gradually dancing was introduced in all
+the colleges and public schools. All Chinese educated classes had to
+be good dancers at that time. The rulers used to dance to the public at
+great annual festivals to express their gratitude or dissatisfaction.
+The receptions of various Viceroys at the national capital were opened
+with dancing performed by the great functionaries and statesmen of the
+empire. People judged the characteristics of their newly appointed
+officials and judges from the individual peculiarities of their dance.
+The Chinese court kept regularly 64 sworn dancers, who were obliged
+to give historic ‘ballets’ to the rulers. The orchestra was composed
+of flutes, a drum, one or several tambourines with bells, and a queer
+instrument in the shape of the figure ‘2.’ About a thousand years
+before Christ an imperial decree was issued for the purpose of limiting
+the number of dancers that one or another of the statesmen could employ.
+
+Eight different dances were performed at the Chinese court and
+eight dancers participated in each dance. The first dance was
+_Ivi-Men_--Moving Clouds; this was given in honor of the celestial
+spirits. The second dance was the _Ta-knen_--Great Circle; this was
+performed when the Emperor brought sacrifice at a round votive altar.
+The third dance was _Ta-gien_--General Motion; this was performed
+during the sacrificial festival at the square altar. The fourth
+dance was _Ta-mao_--Dance of Harmony; this was the most graceful
+dance and was dedicated to the Four Elements. The fifth dance was
+_Gia_--Beneficial Dance; this dance was dedicated to the spirits of
+the mountains and rivers, and was slow and majestic. The sixth dance
+was _Ta-gu_--Dance of Gratitude; this was dedicated to women. The
+seventh dance was _Ta-u_--Great War Dance; this was dedicated to the
+spirit of Man. The eighth dance was _U-gientze_--Dance of Waves; this
+was dedicated to the ancestors and was of elaborate form, containing
+nine different movements and nine different rhythms. These were all
+long ‘ballets’ and lasted for several hours each. But besides these
+there were six smaller dances. One of these was called the Dance of
+the Mystic Bird; another the Dance of Oxtail; another the Dance of the
+Flag; another the Dance of Feathers; another the Sword Dance; and the
+last the Dance of Humanity. This was performed only by the Mandarins.
+
+The Chinese historians write that Confucius did not like the Sword
+Dance, but highly praised the others. Confucius describes the Emperor
+Yu-Vang, who lived 1100 years before Christ, as the author of many
+new dances and composer of music to accompany them. One of his dances
+was a great historical ballet, which must have resembled the Roman
+pantomimes. This ballet has been performed in a distorted form in the
+nineteenth century and is mentioned by several Russian writers who
+lived or travelled in China. Judging from the Chinese writers, the
+historical ballet must have been a spectacular performance in the style
+of the Oberammergau Passion Play. It opened with the creation of the
+world and sea and ended with the latest phase of national history. Some
+of the dancers represented fish, animals and birds; others, monsters,
+spirits, rulers and social classes. The music of this ballet was of
+peculiar symphonic form, very melodious and dramatic. Only fragmentary
+records of the ancient notation had been preserved in the imperial
+palace at Pekin, but during recent political disturbances even these
+vanished and the world has thus been deprived of one of the most
+valuable of musical documents.
+
+In China the social and religious dancers were one and the same. The
+touring dancing companies to be seen to-day in China give a faint
+idea of the ancient choreography. Japanese dancing has made a deep
+impression upon the Chinese dancers, so that there is a marked element
+of mixture in the performances that one sees in the present Chinese
+towns. The Chinese dancers from olden times on have been men and
+women. It seems as if men predominated before, while now the feminine
+element is in majority. The Chinese dancing costumes are bizarre and
+picturesque. There are no barefoot dancers among them and their bodies
+are heavily covered with garments. Nude dancers are unknown in China.
+
+An odd class of Chinese dancers are the dancing Mandarins. In Su-Chu-Fu
+there exists still an old school that was founded 2500 years ago for
+the purpose of teaching dancing to the Mandarins. They presumably
+learned with the idea of using the art in religious rituals. The style
+of their dancing differs slightly from that of the professional class.
+Dancing Mandarins can be seen now in China, but their cabalistic
+gestures and queer mimic expressions are unintelligible to the Western
+mind. There are no folk or national dances in China and the people do
+not dance in the same sense as we in our social dances. The idea of
+a social dance is a torture to an average Chinaman. He enjoys seeing
+dancing, but never takes part in it. The rich Chinese frequently hire
+professional dancers and let them give performances at their houses.
+The Chinese wedding dances are never performed by the bride, groom, or
+their guests, but by hired professional dancers or dancing Mandarins.
+The historians tell us that this was not so in remote antiquity.
+There was a time when the Chinese people danced, though their dances
+were mostly slow and pantomimic. The Russian ballet dancers, who have
+toured in China, have told that their performances filled the Chinese
+audiences with horror and disgust, as our Western acrobatic technique
+makes them afraid of possible neck-breaking accidents.
+
+The attempts of Europeans to create Chinese ballets for our Western
+stage have been in so far miserable failures. ‘Kia-King’ by Titus,
+‘Chinese Wedding’ by Calzevaro, and ‘Lily’ by San-Leon give no true
+impression of Chinese choreography of any age. Nor are their music
+or their scenarios similar to any genuine Chinese ballets of the
+above-named titles.
+
+In our story of Chinese dancing it is worth while to mention the
+celebrated ‘Lantern Festival’ that is performed every New Year night.
+It is very likely that the Chinese had once long ago a lantern dance,
+which has degenerated now into a simple marching procession, in which
+the people participate in the same sense as the Italians do in their
+carnival. Confucius writes of it as of a festival in honor of the sun,
+the source of the light and life. This festival is celebrated three
+nights continually. Everything considered, we come to the conclusion
+that the art of dancing of the land of Mandarins has been of little
+influence and significance to our choreography. The reason for this
+lies partly in the racial morale, partly in a national psychology that
+breathes peace and externalism.
+
+
+II
+
+Of a quite different character are the dances of Japan, of which
+Marcella A. Hincks gives to us a comprehensive picture. According to
+her, dancing in Japan is an essential part of religion and national
+tradition. In one of the oldest Japanese legends we are told that the
+Sun Goddess Amaterasu, being angry, hid herself in a cave, so that the
+world was plunged in darkness and life on earth became intolerable. The
+eight million deities of the Japanese heaven, seeing the sorrow and
+destruction wrought by Amaterasu’s absence from the world, sought by
+every means possible to coax her from her retreat. But nothing could
+prevail on her to leave it, until one god, wiser than the others,
+devised a plan whereby the angered goddess might be lured from her
+hiding place. Among the immortals was the beautiful Ame-No-Azume, whom
+they sent to dance and sing at the mouth of the cave, and the goddess,
+attracted by the unusual sound of music and dancing, and unable to
+withstand her curiosity, emerged from the concealment, to gaze upon the
+dancer. So once more she gave the light of her smile to the world. The
+people never forgot that dancing had been the means of bringing back
+Amaterasu to Japan, therefore from time immemorial the dance has been
+honored as a religious ceremony and practiced as a fine art throughout
+the Land of the Rising Sun.
+
+Dancing in Japan is not associated with pleasure and joyful feeling
+alone; every emotion, grave or gay, may become the subject of a dance.
+Some time ago funeral dances were performed around the corpse, which
+was placed in a building specially constructed for that purpose, and
+though it is said that originally the dancers hoped to recall the dead
+to life by the power and charm of their dance, later the measures were
+performed merely as a farewell ceremony.
+
+The Japanese dance is of the greatest importance and interest
+historically. Like her civilization, and the greater number of her
+arts, Japan borrowed many of her dance ideas from China, though the
+genius of the people very soon developed many new forms of dance, quite
+distinct from the Chinese importation. From the earliest times dancing
+has been closely associated with religion: in both the Shinto and the
+Buddhist faiths we find it occupying foremost place in worship. The
+Buddhist priests of the thirteenth century made use of dancing as a
+refining influence, which helped to refine the uncultured military
+class by which Japan was more or less ruled during the early Middle
+Ages.
+
+The Japanese dance, like that of the ancient Greeks, is predominantly
+of a pantomimic nature, and strives to represent in gesture a historic
+incident, some mythical legend, or a scene from folk-lore; its chief
+characteristic is always expressiveness, and it invariably possesses
+a strong emotional tendency. The Japanese have an extraordinary mimic
+gift which they have cultivated to such an extent that it is doubtful
+whether any other people has ever developed such a wide and expressive
+art of gesture. Dancing in the European sense the Japanese would call
+_dengaku_ or acrobatic.
+
+Like the tea ceremony, the Japanese dance is esoteric as well as
+exoteric, and to apprehend the meaning of every gesture is no easy task
+to the uninitiated. Thus to arch the hand over the eyes conveys that
+the dancer is weeping; to extend the arms while looking eagerly in the
+direction indicated by the hand suggests that the dancer is thinking
+of some one in a far-away country. The arms crossed at the chest mean
+meditation, etc. There is, for instance, a set of special gestures
+for the _No_ dances, divided first of all into a certain number of
+fundamental gestures and poses, and then into numerous variations of
+these, and figures devised from them, much as the technique of the
+European ballet dancing consists of ‘fundamental positions’ and endless
+less important ‘positions.’
+
+The conventional gestures, sleeve-waving and fan-waving movements,
+constitute the greatest difficulty in the way of an intelligent
+interpretation of the Japanese dance. The technique is also elaborate
+and the vocabulary of the dancing terms large, but the positions and
+the attitudes of the limbs are radically different from those of the
+European dance, the feet being little seen, and their action considered
+subordinate, though the stamping of the feet is important in some
+cases. The ease of movement, the smoothness and the legato effect of
+a Japanese dance can only be obtained by the most rigorous physical
+training. The Japanese strive to master the technique so thoroughly
+that every movement of the body is produced with perfect ease and
+spontaneity; their ideal is art hidden by its own perfection.
+
+The dances of Japan may be grouped under three broad divisions of equal
+importance: Religious, classical, and popular. The last vestiges of a
+religious dance of great antiquity may still be seen at the half-yearly
+ceremonials of Confucius, when eight pairs of dancers in gorgeous
+robes, each holding a triple pheasant’s feather in one hand and a
+six-holed flute in the other, posture and dance as an accompaniment to
+the Confucian hymn. It is said that the _Bugaku_ dance was introduced
+2000 years ago.
+
+The Japanese history of dancing begins from the eighth to twelfth
+centuries. The _Bugaku_ and the _Kagura_, another ancient Japanese
+sacred dance, are considered the bases of all the other dances. The
+movements in both dances strive to express reverence, adoration and
+humility. The music of the old Japanese dances is solemn, weird and
+always in a minor key, and the instruments used are flutes and a drum.
+Stages were erected at all the principal Shinto temples and each temple
+had its staff of dancers. The _Kagura_ dance can still be seen at the
+temple of Kasuga at Nara. Like the Chinese, the Japanese lack dances
+known to us as folk-dancing. In the art of dancing Japan far surpasses
+China, this being due to the more emotional and poetic character of
+the race. The dancing of Japan, like its other arts, is outspokenly
+impressionistic and symbolic. It is graceful and dainty and gives
+evidence of thorough refinement.
+
+Dances of pungent racial tinge are those of the American Indians. The
+best known of the Indian pantomimes are the Ghost, Snake, and Dream
+Dances. Very little observed and recorded are their various war dances;
+still less their social dances. Stolid, impassive and stoic as is
+the man himself, so are his dances and other æsthetic expressions.
+Void of frivolous gaiety and passionate joy as an Indian remains in
+his life, so is his dance. His dance turns more about some mystic or
+religious idea than about a sexual one. There is that peculiar heavy
+and secretive trait in an Indian folk-dance that manifests itself so
+conspicuously in the dances of the Siberian Mongolians, as the Buriats,
+Kalmuks, and particularly the Finns. Though our space is limited, we
+shall here attempt to give an outline of the better known peculiarities
+of Indian folk-dances, particularly of the Dream Dance of the Chippewa
+tribe.
+
+The Chippewas or Ojibways were, at the arrival of the whites, one of
+the largest of the tribes of North America. They originally occupied
+the region embracing both shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron. We
+owe the description of the Dream Dance to S. A. Barrett, according to
+whose view it is based on the story of an Indian girl who escaped into
+the lake upon the arrival of the white men and hid herself among the
+lilies, thinking they would soon leave. She remained in the lake for
+ten days without food or sleep, until the Great Spirit from the clouds
+rescued her miraculously and carried her back to her people. In memory
+of this event the ceremony of the Dream Dance was instituted and is
+performed annually in the open air, about the first of July. A special
+dance ground, from fifty to eighty feet in diameter, was prepared and
+marked off by a circle of logs or by a low fence. This circle was
+provided with an opening toward the west and one toward the east.
+
+The objects about which this whole ceremony centres are a large drum
+and a special calumet, the former elaborately decorated with strips of
+fur, beadwork, cloth, coins, etc. It is hung by means of loops upon
+four elaborately decorated stakes. Often they are provided with bells.
+To this the greatest reverence is paid throughout the dance, a special
+guard being kept for it. The calumet serves as a sacrificial altar,
+the function of which is the burning of sacred tobacco, in order that
+its incense may be carried to the particular deity in whose honor the
+offering is made. The drum is beaten by ten to fifteen drummers, each
+beating it with a stick two feet long, as an accompaniment to the
+song which serves as the dance tune. Each song lasts from five to ten
+minutes, and is repeated for several hours continually.
+
+The drum-strokes are beaten in pairs, which gives the impression of
+difference in the interval of time between the two strokes of one pair
+and the initial stroke of the next. In this dance, which is always
+performed by a man of highest standing in the community, a dancer may
+go through the necessary motions with the feet without moving from the
+position in which he is standing, or he may dance one or more times
+around the circle. Frequently the dancers take at first a complete
+turn around the circle and come back to the vicinity of the original
+seats and dance here until the tune is finished. The movement is of
+a skipping step, from the east to the west. Perfect time is kept in
+the music no matter what movement may be employed by the dancer. Two
+motions up and down are first made with one heel and then two motions
+with the other, these being in perfect unison with the double strokes
+of the drum sticks. The position assumed in the dancing is perfectly
+erect, the weight of the body being rapidly shifted from one foot to
+the other, as the dancing proceeds. The foot is kept in a position
+which is nearly horizontal, the toe just touching the ground at each
+stroke of the drum. The dance begins at eleven o’clock in the morning
+and lasts until four in the afternoon. A special festival meal is
+served during the dance in the circle.
+
+Of somewhat different nature is the Ghost Dance, which is performed
+in the unclosed area, the ground being consecrated by the priests
+before the beginning of the ceremony. The features of this are the
+sacred crow, certain feathers, arrows, and game sticks, and a large
+pole which is placed in the centre of the dancing area. About this the
+dancers circle in a more lively motion and with lighter steps than the
+dancers in the Dream Dance. In this there are no musical instruments
+used. The men, women and children take part in the Ghost Dance, their
+faces painted with symbolic designs. The participants form a circle,
+each person grasping the hand of his adjacent neighbor, and all moving
+sidewise with a dragging, shuffling step, in time to the songs which
+provide the music. The purpose of the Dream Dance is to communicate
+with the Great Spirit of Life. The Ghost Dance has for its object the
+communication of the participants with the spirits of the departed
+relatives and friends, this being accomplished by hypnotic trances
+induced through the agency of the medicine man.
+
+The Snake Dance is a ceremony performed by the Indians of the
+southern states. This is of a ghastly nature, as the dancer holds two
+rattlesnakes in his mouth while executing his evolutions. Not only must
+the dancer be an artist who can manage the movement of his face so that
+the heads of the deadly snakes cannot touch his face or bare upper
+body, but he has to know the secret words that neutralize the poison
+of the snake, in case he should be bitten. This dance, like the two
+above named, is executed in a circle to the chant of special singers.
+Though the Indian uses musical instruments for his social ceremonies,
+such as the turtle-shell harp, wooden flute and whistles, he never
+applies their tunes to the dances that have a more serious or religious
+meaning. The Snake Dance, like the Dream Dance, is based on a legend,
+but the story of it is more involved, tragic and mystic, therefore
+its ghastly nature and weird symbolic gestures appear more vivid and
+direct than the themes of any other of the Indian folk-dances. But
+the steps and poses of every Indian dance are similar to each other,
+slow, compact, impassive and dignified. A strong mystic and symbolic
+feeling pervades the limited gestures and mimic expressions. Æsthetic
+ideas with the Indian are closely interwoven with those of ethics and
+religion. There is nothing graceful, amusing, delicate or charming in
+an Indian dance, therefore our dance authorities have ignored them.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+DANCES OF HEBREWS AND ARABS
+
+  Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its
+  modern influence--The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle
+  Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily
+  life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the
+  Arab dances.
+
+
+I
+
+That dancing was practiced in temples and homes of the ancient Hebrews
+is evident from numerous Biblical allusions, and is only natural when
+we consider that they were educated in Egypt, the cradle of dancing.
+Some scholars maintain that dancing was a part of Hebrew worship,
+pointing as a proof of their theory to David’s dancing before the Ark
+of the Covenant and the fact that Moses, after the crossing of the
+Red Sea, bade the children of Israel to dance. Others, basing their
+arguments on the Talmud, deny this. It is very likely that the dancing
+which the Hebrews had learned in Egypt soon degenerated into crude
+shows, due to their long nomadic desert life, far from civilization.
+Only now and then did some of their kings indulge in dancing and try
+to revive the vanishing art. David and Solomon introduced dancing at
+their courts and in the temple, as we can see in the Bible: ‘Praise
+the Lord--praise him with timbrel and dance.’ ‘Then shall the virgin
+rejoice in the dance.’ ‘Thou shalt be again adorned with thy tabrets,
+and shalt go forth in the dances,’ etc. On another occasion we read
+how the sons of Benjamin were taught to capture their wives. ‘If the
+daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of
+the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife.--And the children of
+Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number of them
+that danced, whom they caught.’
+
+The Dance of the Golden Calf, which was plausibly an imitation of
+the Egyptian Apis Dance, was most severely forbidden by Moses. Since
+this dance was one of the principal ceremonial dances of Egypt, it is
+evident that it had rooted deep into the soul of the people and Moses
+had to resort to violent methods in order to abolish it entirely.
+We read in the Bible that to honor the slayer of Goliath, the women
+came out from all the cities of Israel and received him with singing
+and dancing. Other historic sources tell us that the ancient Hebrews
+frequently hired dancers and musicians for their social ceremonies.
+There are various Byzantine designs and inscriptions of the fifth and
+sixth centuries, in which King David is depicted as a ballet master,
+with a lyre in his hand, surrounded by dancing men and women. We read
+that when Solomon finished the New Temple in Jerusalem it was dedicated
+with singing and dancing. It is evident that the ancient Hebrew sacred
+dances were performed by men, while women figured exclusively in the
+social dancing. The Jews in Morocco employ professional dancers for the
+celebration of the marriage ceremony to-day.
+
+The best known of the ancient Hebrew dances is that of the celebrated
+Salome. Thus we read in a chapter of St. Matthew of the beheading of
+John the Baptist: ‘But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of
+Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised
+with an oath to give her whatever she would ask.’ These short remarks
+of the New Testament describe a gruesome tragedy that has inspired
+hundreds of artists to amplify with their imagination what has been
+left unsaid in the Gospel. Moreau, Botticelli, Dolci, Reno and Stuck
+have produced immortal paintings of Salome. Some of them have depicted
+her as a stately society lady of her times, the others show her either
+frivolous, abnormal or under the spell of narcotics and wine. Many
+gruesome legends have risen about the death of Salome, according to
+which she committed suicide by drowning. But an accurate historic
+investigation has revealed that she was married to the Tetrarch Philip,
+after whose death she became the wife of Aristobul, the son of Herod,
+and died at the age of 54.
+
+Be that as it may, the Salome episode is an eloquent proof that dancing
+was cultivated by the Hebrews and that their daughters were educated in
+this art either by Egyptian or Greek masters. Several other historic
+allusions show that Greek dancers went often to Jerusalem to give there
+performances during the national festivals. Plutarch writes that rich
+Hebrews came to the Olympic and Dionysian Festivals and were eager to
+learn Greek music and dancing. But evidently the Greek arts had the
+least influence upon the Hebrews, whose minds had been trained in the
+strict Mosaic code of morals to follow only the autocratic commandments
+of the Lord, and to leave all the arts of other races alone. Like the
+Confucian philosophy in China, the Mosaic ethics in Palestine put a
+stamp of æsthetic stagnation on Hebrew national life. For this very
+reason the Hebrews never developed a national art, particularly a
+national music or national dance.
+
+The _Salome_ of Richard Strauss has inspired many of our Western
+dancers to personify the ancient heroine. With the exception of Ida
+Rubinstein and Natasha Trouhanova, the Salome dances of all the
+European or American aspirants have been of no importance. There are
+characteristics to be seen in a few old inscriptions of dancing Hebrew
+priests which express most forcibly their peculiar nervous poses and
+quick gestures. European choreography has for the most part failed to
+grasp the principal features of the vanished Hebrew dances.
+
+
+II
+
+Of all living Oriental races the Arabs show the most innate instinct
+for dancing. Judging from the ruins of the architecture that the
+Moors have left in Spain we can see that they knew more than the mere
+elementary rules of æsthetic line and form, which is the very essential
+of a dance. The ruins of the majestic Alhambra speak a language that
+fills us with an awe. No architects of other races, either dead or
+living, have reached that harmony of line which is plainly visible in
+this structural masterpiece of humanity. Since, according to the views
+of all æsthetic psychologists, dancing and architecture develop as
+allied arts, the Moors must have developed a high degree of dancing in
+the Middle Ages, when the rest of the world was shaken by barbaric wars
+and ruled by ecclesiastic fanaticism. However, the Mohammedan religion
+prohibits painting and sculpture, therefore we find no frescoes or
+decorations in the walls of the Moorish castles or Mosques that could
+give an idea of the style and perfection of the dancing that was taught
+in Cadiz.
+
+The Greek and Roman writers allude frequently to the fiery and
+passionate dances that were exhibited by the graduates of Cadiz, ‘which
+surpassed anything the people had seen before.’ We know that the Moors
+taught dancing to their boys and girls alike. Furthermore, we know
+that their dances differed distinctly from those of the Greeks and
+Egyptians. The dancing teachers at Cadiz emphasized agility of legs,
+softness and grace of the body and a vivid technique of imitation.
+Passion was the principal theme of their feminine dances, and was
+expressed with the technique of virtuosity. It is said that the Califs
+of Seville kept a staff of fifty trained dancers at their court.
+
+The essential feature of Arabian dancing was the graphic production
+of pictorial episodes, in rich harmonious lines of the body, sensuous
+grace of the poses and sinuous elegance of movement. A special emphasis
+was placed upon the exhibition of the most perfect womanly beauty. To
+complete the task of architectural perfection an Arabic dancer was
+taught to study carefully the geometric laws of nature and eliminate
+the crudities acquired in everyday life. The principal musical
+instrument of the Moorish dancers was the African guitar, which was
+their national invention. Most of the great Arab dancers were women,
+who preferred to dance without a masculine partner. Ordinarily they
+danced to the music of two or three differently tuned guitars, and only
+on festival occasions or in appearances at court was the music supplied
+by an orchestra of ten or more. Already the Arabs had their musical
+notation, set in three colors: red, green, and blue. Fragments of their
+mediæval music notation were recently discovered by a French scholar
+and were successfully deciphered. It appears that many of the dance
+melodies still in use in Spain are of Moorish descent. The Kinneys,[A]
+who seemingly have made a study of Spanish and modern Arab dancing,
+write of it graphically, as follows:
+
+    [A] Troy and Margaret West Kinney: The Dance (New York, 1914).
+
+‘Of formulated dances the Arab has few, and those no more set than are
+the words of our stories: the point must not be missed, but we may
+choose our own vocabulary. In terms of the dance, the Arab entertainer
+tells stories; in the case of known and popular stories she follows
+the accepted narrative, but improvises the movements and poses that
+express it, exactly as though they were spoken words instead of
+pantomime. Somewhat less freedom necessarily obtains in the narration
+of dance-poems than in the recital of trifling incidents; but within
+the necessary limits, originality is prized. In the mimetic vocabulary
+are certain phrases that are depended upon to convey their definite
+meanings. New word-equivalents, however, are always in order, if they
+can stand the searching test of eyes educated in beauty and minds
+trained to exact thinking.
+
+‘Nearly unlimited as it is in scope, delightful as it unfailingly is
+to those who know it, Arabic dancing suits occasions of a variety of
+which the dances of Europe never dreamed. In the café it diverts and
+sometimes demoralizes. In his house the master watches the dancing
+of his slaves, dreaming under the narcotic spell of rhythm. On those
+rare occasions when the demands of diplomacy or business compel him to
+bring a guest into his house, the dancing of slaves is depended upon
+to entertain. His wives dance before him to please his eye, and to
+cajole him into conformity with their desires. Even the news of the
+day is danced, since the doctrines of Mohammed deprecate the printing
+of almost everything except the Koran. Reports of current events reach
+the male population in the market and the café. At home men talk little
+of outside affairs, and women do not get out except to visit others of
+their kind, as isolated from the world as themselves. But they get all
+the news that is likely to interest them, none the less; at least the
+happenings in the world of Mohammedanism.
+
+‘As vendors of information of passing events, there are women that
+wander in pairs from city to city, from harem to harem, like bards of
+the early North. As women they are admitted to women’s apartments.
+There, while one rhythmically pantomimes deeds of war to the cloistered
+ones that never saw a soldier, or graphically imitates the punishment
+of a malefactor in the market place, her companion chants, with
+falsetto whines, a descriptive and rhythmic accompaniment. Thus is the
+harem protected against the risk of narrowness.
+
+‘In the daily life of the harem, dancing is one of the favored
+pastimes. Women dance to amuse themselves and to entertain one another.
+In the dance, as in music and embroidery, there is endless interest,
+and a spirit of emulation usually friendly.
+
+‘One of the comparatively formalized mimetic expressions is the
+“Dance of Greeting,” the function of which is to honor a guest when
+occasion brings him into the house. Let it be imagined that coffee
+and cigarettes have been served to two grave gentlemen; that one has
+expressed bewilderment at the magnificence of the establishment, and
+his opinion that too great honor has been done him in permitting him
+to enter it; that the host has duly made reply that his grandchildren
+will tell with pride of the day when the poor house was so honored that
+such a one set his foot within it. After which a sherbet, more coffee
+and cigarettes. When the time seems propitious, the host suggests to
+the guest that if in his great kindness he will look at her, he--the
+host--would like permission to order a slave to try to entertain with a
+dance.
+
+‘The musicians squatting against the wall begin the wailing of the
+flute, the hypnotic throb of “darabukkeh.” She who is designed to dance
+the Greeting enters holding before her a long scarf that half conceals
+her; the expression on her face is surprise, as though honor had fallen
+to her beyond her merits or expectation. Upon reaching her place she
+extends her arms forward, then slowly moves them, and with them the
+scarf, to one side, until she is revealed. When a nod confirms the
+command to dance, she quickly drops the scarf to the floor, advances to
+a place before the guest and near him, and honors him with a slave’s
+salutation. Then arising she proceeds to her silent Greeting. * * *
+
+‘The Arabian dance is not a dance of movement; it is a dance of
+pictures, to which movement is wholly subordinate. Each bar of the
+music accompanies a picture complete in itself. Within the measure
+of each bar the dancer has time for the movements leading from one
+picture to the next, and to hold the picture for the instant necessary
+to give emphasis. At whatever moment she may be stopped, therefore,
+she is within less than a moment’s pose so perfectly balanced that it
+appears as a natural termination of the dance. The Oriental’s general
+indifference to the forces of accumulation and climax are consistent
+with such a capricious ending. In his dance each phrase is complete
+in itself; it may be likened to one of those serial stories in our
+magazines, in which each installment of the story is self-sufficient.
+
+‘To the Occidental unused to Oriental art, the absence of crescendo
+and climax, and the substituted iteration carried on endlessly,
+is uninteresting. Nevertheless, a few days of life among Oriental
+conditions suffice to throw many a scoffer into attunement with the
+Oriental art idea, which is to soothe, not to stimulate. Moorish
+ornament is an indefinitely repeated series of marvellously designed
+units, each complete in itself, yet inextricably interwoven with its
+neighbors. In music the beats continue unchanging through bar after
+bar, phrase after phrase. The rhythmic repetition of the tile-designs
+on the wall, the decorative repetition of the beats of music, produce a
+spell of dreamy visioning comparable only to the effect of some potent
+but harmless narcotic.’
+
+From all modern observations and ancient records it is evident that
+the Arabs’ dances differed essentially from their Eastern neighbors.
+Spain undoubtedly is the only Occidental country that has preserved
+in its vivid national dances, _Jotas_, _Boleros_, _Seguidillas_ and
+_Fandangos_, the mutilated and deformed elements of the vanished
+choreography of Cadiz. Though the Moor has left so few records of
+his highly cultivated art of dancing, yet his spectral shadow hangs
+over the race beyond the Pyrenees. Of all the living civilized nations
+the Spaniards, more than any others, are justly the very incarnation
+of the vanished magic Arabs in dance. A studious observer finds in
+Spanish dances all the hysteria, magic, seductiveness and softness that
+was practiced by mediæval Arab dancers. And then the costumes--most
+picturesque and romantic--that the Spanish women use in their dances
+are similar in their lines and colors to those that were worn by the
+Moorish girls who entertained with their magic dances a Cleopatra and a
+Cæsar.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE
+
+  Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life;
+  Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance;
+  Terpsichore--Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek dance
+  music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the
+  Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia; the Cordax; the Hormos--Greek
+  theatres; comparison of periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the
+  Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.
+
+
+I
+
+Best known to us of all the ancient and exotic dances are those of the
+Greeks. In Greece dancing was an actual language, interpreting all
+sentiments and passions. Aristotle speaks of Saltators whose dances
+mirrored the manners, the passions and the actions of men. About three
+hundred years before the Augustan era dancing in Greece had reached
+an apotheosis that it has never reached in any other country in the
+history of ancient civilization. Accurate information about the ancient
+Greek dances is given not only in numerous fresco paintings, reliefs
+and sculptures, but in the works of Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Lucian,
+Aristophanes, Hesiod and many others.
+
+That dancing was highly esteemed as an accomplishment for young
+ladies in the Heroic Age we may gather from the sixth book of the
+Odyssey, when gentle white-armed Nausicaa, the daughter of a king, is
+represented as leading her companions in the choral lay after they had
+washed their linen in the stream, and amused themselves awhile with
+a game of ball. Ulysses compliments her especially upon her choric
+skill, saying that if she should chance to be one of those mortals
+who dwell on earth her brother and venerable mother must be ever
+delighted when they behold her entering the dance. We read how Ulysses
+was entertained at the court of Alcinous, the father of the young lady
+who had befriended him, and whose dancing he had so greatly admired.
+The admiration of the wanderer was excited by the rapid and skillful
+movements of the dancers, who were not maidens only, but youths in the
+prime of life. Presently two of the most accomplished youths, Halius
+and Laodamus, were selected by Alcinous to exhibit their skill in a
+dance, during which one performer threw a ball high in the air while
+the other caught it between his feet before it reached the ground. From
+the further description it appears that this was a true dance and not
+a mere acrobatic performance, and that the purple ball was used by the
+participants simply as an accessory.
+
+The twenty-third book of the same poem tells us that dancing among the
+guests at wedding festivals formed in these early times an essential
+part of the ceremonies. The wanderer, having been recognized by the
+faithful Penelope, tells his son, Telemachus, to let the divine bard
+who has the tuneful harp lead the sportive dance, so that anyone
+hearing it from without may say it is a marriage. Homer thought so
+highly of dancing that in the ‘Iliad’ he calls it ‘irreproachable.’
+In describing various scenes which Vulcan wrought on the shield of
+Achilles, he associates dancing with hymeneal festivities. No Athenian
+festivals were ever celebrated without dancing. The design with which
+the gods used to adorn the shields of heroes represented the dance
+contrived by Dædalus for fair-haired Ariadne. In this dance youths
+with tunics and golden swords suspended from silver belts, and virgins
+clothed in fine linen robes and wearing beautiful garlands, danced
+together, holding each other by the wrists. They danced in a circle,
+bounding nimbly with skilled feet, as when a potter, sitting, shall
+make trial of a wheel fitted to his hands, whether it will run; and at
+other times they ran back to their places between one another.
+
+Galen complained that ‘so much do they give themselves up to this
+pleasure, with such activity do they pursue it, that the necessary arts
+are neglected.’ The Greek festivals in which dancing was a feature
+were innumerable. The Pythian, Marathon, Olympic and all other great
+national games opened with and ended with dancing. The funeral feats
+of Androgeonia and Pollux, the festivals of Bacchus, Jupiter, Minerva,
+Diana, Apollo, and the Feasts of the Muses and of Naxos were celebrated
+predominantly with dancing ceremonies. According to Scaliger dancing
+played an important part in the Pythian games, representations which
+may be looked upon as the first utterances of the dramatic Muse, as
+they were divided into five acts, and were composed of poetic narrative
+with imitative music performed by choruses and dances. Lucian assures
+us that if dancing formed no part of the program in the Olympian games,
+it was because the Greeks thought no prizes could adequately reward it.
+Socrates danced with Aspasia and Aristides danced at a banquet given by
+Dionysius of Syracuse.
+
+The Greeks danced always and everywhere. They danced in the temples,
+in the woods and in the fields. Every social or family event, birth,
+marriage and death, gave occasion for a dance. Cybele, the mother of
+the Immortals, taught dancing to the Corybantes upon Mount Ida and
+to the Curetes in the island of Crete. Apollo dictated choreographic
+laws through the mouths of his priestesses. Priapus, one of the
+Titans, taught the god of war how to dance before instructing him
+in strategics. The heroes followed the example of the gods. Theseus
+celebrated his victory over the Minotaur with dances. Castor and Pollux
+created the Caryatis, a nude dance performed by Spartan maids on the
+banks of the Eurotas.
+
+It is written that Æschylus and Aristophanes danced in public in their
+own plays. Philip of Macedonia married a dancer by whom he had a son
+who succeeded Alexander. Nicomedes, King of Pithynia, was the son of a
+dancing girl. This art was so esteemed that great dancers and ballet
+masters were chosen to act as public men. The best Greek dancers came
+from the Arcadians. The main aim of the Greek dancers was to contrive
+the most perfect plastic lines in the various poses of the human body,
+and in this sculpture was their ideal. It is said that the divine
+sculpture of Greece was inspired by the high standard of national
+choreography.
+
+Though we know little of the Greek dance music, yet occasional
+allusions inform us that it was instrumental and vocal. Thus Athenæus
+says: ‘The Hyporchematic Dance is that in which the chorus dances while
+singing.’ Xenophon writes in his sixth book of ‘Anabasis’ as follows:
+‘After libations were made, and the guests had sung a pæan, there rose
+up first the Thracians, and danced in arms to the music of a flute,
+and jumped up very high with light jumps, and used their swords. And
+at last one of them strikes another, so that it seemed to everyone
+that the man was wounded; and he fell down in a very clever manner,
+and all the bystanders raised an outcry. And he who struck him, having
+stripped him of his arms, went out singing _sitacles_; and others of
+the Thracians carried out his antagonist as if he were dead, but in
+reality he was not hurt. After this some Ænianians and Magnesians rose
+up, who danced the dance called Carpæa, they, too, being in armor. And
+the fashion of the dance was like this: One man, having laid aside his
+arms, is sowing and driving a yoke of oxen, constantly looking around,
+as if he were afraid. Then comes up a robber; but the sower, as soon
+as he sees him, snatches up his arms, and fights in defence of his
+team in regular time to the music of the flute, and at last the robber,
+having bound the man, carries off the team; but sometimes the sower
+conquers the robber, and then, binding him alongside his oxen, he ties
+his hands behind him and drives him forward.’
+
+Another ancient Greek dance is graphically described by Xenophon as it
+was given by Callias to entertain his guests, among whom was Socrates.
+The dance represented the marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne. ‘Ariadne,
+dressed like a bride, comes in and takes her place. Dionysos enters,
+dancing to the music. The spectators did all admire the young man’s
+carriage, and Ariadne herself is so affected with the sight that
+she may hardly sit. After a while Dionysos, beholding Ariadne, and,
+incensed with love, bowing to her knees, embraces and kisses her first,
+and kisses her with grace. She embraces him again, and kisses him with
+the like affection.’
+
+The nature of the Greek religion was such that many of their sacred
+dances would, according to our conventions, be far more shocking than
+those which they performed socially. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo we
+read how the Ionians with their wives and children were accustomed to
+assemble in honor of the god, and delight him with their singing and
+dancing. The poet describes that dancing was at that time an art in
+which everybody could join, and that it was by no means cultivated only
+by professional artists. Though the Ionians contributed much to the
+development of the art of dancing, yet in later years these degenerated
+into voluptuous gesticulations and sensuous poses known by the Romans
+as ‘Ionic Movements.’ In another part of the same poem Homer depicts
+‘the fair-haired Graces, the wise Hours and Harmony, and Hebe and
+Venus, the daughter of Jove, dance, holding each other by the wrists.
+Apollo strikes the harp, taking grand and lofty steps, and a shining
+haze surrounds him, and the light glitters on his feet and on his
+well-fitted tunic.’ Pan, who was considered by the Greeks as well as by
+the Egyptians one of the greater gods, is represented by Homer as going
+hither and thither in the midst of the dancers moving rapidly with his
+feet. However, his dancing must have been singularly devoid of grace,
+as most of the designs known to us depict him as a patron of shepherds
+in Arcadia, gay and old-fashioned. All other gods and goddesses of the
+first order were supposed to be accomplished artists in dancing. The
+recently found bronze vase in a Phœnician sarcophagus, on the island of
+Crete, contains designs of unusually soft forms of naked dancing girls
+following Apollo. This best illustration of the Apollo ceremony goes
+to show that the Phœnicians had learned dancing from the Greeks and
+imitated them successfully.
+
+As thorough as were all the Greek gods and goddesses in their knowledge
+and talent of dancing, yet they were far surpassed by Terpsichore, the
+real goddess of dancing and one of the nine Muses who always surrounded
+Apollo. Most of the recovered Greek drawings and sculptures represent
+Terpsichore either sitting or standing, but always with a lyre in her
+hand. The invention of the lyre was attributed to her. A painting,
+discovered in the excavated city, Herculaneum, represents her standing
+with the lyre in her uplifted hand. Another smaller drawing describes
+her with a wreath on her head while executing a graceful dance with
+other Muses. Various mediæval artists represented in their works
+Terpsichore dancing with a flower in her hand and an ethereal veil
+floating around her head. One of the Greek legends tells us that she
+was the mother of the singing Sirens.
+
+
+II
+
+All records indicate that dances in Greece were performed by men and
+women alike. In some of these dances they wore a loose garment, keeping
+their arms and legs bare; in others they danced perfectly naked. Some
+dances were performed by girls alone and others by boys, but often
+they mingled freely. The Greek customs generally permitted the freest
+intercourse between young people of both sexes, who were specially
+brought into contact at the great religious festivals and choruses. It
+seems that the youths who had distinguished themselves at the public
+dances expected no other reward than smiles of appreciation from the
+girls present, and dreaded nothing so much as their indifference.
+The constant practice of dancing by youths of both sexes from their
+earliest years was meant to impart to them precision of movement,
+suppleness of body, pliant and firm action of limbs, celerity of
+motion and all those physical qualities that would be advantageous in
+warfare and elevating or ennobling in everyday life. Plato praises
+the quickness of the body as the most reliable medium of warfare. The
+Greeks developed such beautiful bodies that they disliked to hide their
+plastic lines with any garments, therefore they preferred to appear
+naked, and more so in the temples and theaters than in their homes
+or in society. The fact that all the Greek sculpture is nude can be
+attributed, not to any abstract art ideals, but to the actual custom of
+the time.
+
+The first form of the Greek dance music was vocal, sung by a chorus;
+in later times they began to use as accompaniment to singing certain
+_chrotals_, or castañets. During the Homeric era, the lyre was used
+predominately. In later centuries the flute (_aulos_) was introduced.
+The vocal music was produced by soloists and by male or mixed
+choruses. Frequently the dancers themselves sang or played the music
+and danced at the same time. However, the dancers of the fourth century
+never furnished their own music. According to the three principal
+divisions of the Greek mythology (the cult of Earth and Heaven, the
+cult of Chronos, Titans and Cyclops, and the cult of Zeus and the 12
+Olympic divinities) the sacred dances of Greece can be divided into
+similar groups. All the Greek deities, even Zeus, were considered
+accomplished dancers. Since they enjoyed dancing themselves it was only
+natural that they should like to see dancing included as part of their
+worship. Cupid, the naughty little god of love, is depicted in most
+cases dancing. The fourth century figurine of a Bacchante in thin and
+supple draperies, whirling around on one foot, looks very much like a
+ballet dancer of to-day.
+
+The oldest of the Greek dances was probably the _Hyporchema_, which
+was accompanied by the chorus. Though developed in different styles,
+it always kept a religious character and was looked upon as the first
+Greek attempts at saltation, in which, as the name betrays, song and
+dance were intermingled. The earliest use made of saltation was in
+connection with poetry. Athenæus says, however, that the early poets
+had resource to the figures of saltation only as symbols of images and
+ideas depicted in their verse. All dances of the _Hyporchema_ class
+were dignified and elevated, men and women alike taking part in them.
+Some attribute their origin to the Delians, who sang them around the
+altars of Apollo. Others ascribe their invention to the Cretans, taught
+by Thales.
+
+Of later descent, but more practiced than the _Hyporchema_, were
+the _Gymnopædia_, favored especially by the Lacedæmonians in their
+festivals of Apollo. This was considered one of the most noble and
+praiseworthy of the ancient dances. At the festivals the Gymnopædias
+were at first performed by large choruses of men and boys, but later
+the maidens were permitted to join them also. Then the men and women
+danced in separate choirs. The _choragus_, or leader, was crowned with
+palm leaves, and it was his privilege to defray the expenses of the
+chorus. All who took part in this had to be well-trained dancers, as it
+was the custom in Sparta that all children should commence to receive
+choreographic instruction from the age of five. Max Müller says, though
+this dance was performed perfectly nude, it enjoyed a high reputation.
+Müller is of opinion that music was generally cultivated by the Dorians
+and Arcadians owing to the circumstance that ‘women took part in it,
+and sang and danced in public, both with men and by themselves.’ Music
+and dancing were taught to the females at the Laconian capital, while
+housekeeping was regarded as a degrading occupation.
+
+One of the public dances most favored by the Lacedæmonians was the
+Pyrrhic Dance. Lucian attributes its invention to Neoptolemus, the son
+of Achilles, who so much excelled in this that he enriched it with a
+fine new species, which from his surname Pyrrhicus received its title.
+The influence of this dance must have extended to the remotest and most
+barbarous nations, for not only the Romans but the Mongolians practiced
+it. That it underwent considerable modification in later times is
+evident from what Athenæus says: ‘The Pyrrhic Dance as it exists in
+our own time appears to be a sort of Bacchic dance, and a little
+more pacific than the old one; for the dancers carry thyrsi instead
+of spears, and they point and dart canes at one another, and carry
+torches. And they dance figures having reference to Bacchus and the
+Indians, and to the story of Pentheus; and they require for the Pyrrhic
+Dance the most beautiful airs.’
+
+The Pyrrhic Dance in its early stage was a kind of war dance, as
+the performers employed every type of arms. The figures of the dance
+represented a kind of mimic battle, and the movements of the dancers
+were generally light, rapid, and eminently characteristic. There were
+figures representing the pursuit or retreat of an enemy; then again
+there were movements and positions of the body by which spear thrusts,
+darts, and wounds generally could be avoided. Other kind of movements
+suggested aggressive actions, striking with the sword or using the
+arrow. All these movements were performed in the most accurate rhythm
+to the music of flutes.
+
+The number of the ancient Greek dances is so large that we can count on
+this occasion only those which are already known more or less through
+classic literature. Wide popularity was enjoyed by the _Lysistrata_,
+_Dipoda_, _Bibasis_, _Hymnea_, and the stage dances, _Cordax_,
+_Emmeleia_, _Hormos_, _Endymatia_ and the celebrated religious
+Mysteries of Aphrodite, Apollo, Demetrius, Dionysius, etc.
+
+Most of those elegant female dancers whom we find represented on
+ancient bas-reliefs, with their heads crowned, reeds in their hands
+raised above them, are executing the _Dipoda_, which Aristophanes has
+used as the climax in his celebrated comedy _Lysistrata_. This is what
+the author himself writes of the dance: ‘Come here to celebrate Sparta,
+where there are choruses in honor of the gods and the noise of dancing,
+where, like young horses, the maidens on the banks of the Eurotas
+rapidly move their feet, and their dresses are agitated like those
+of bacchanals, brandishing the thyrsus and sporting, and the chaste
+daughter of Leda, the lovely leader of the chorus, directs them. Now
+come, bind up your hair, and leap like fawns; now strike the measured
+tune which cheers the chorus.’ It is said that the simple, flowing
+chitons which they wore as garments flowed freely with the movements of
+their limbs, or fell in naturally graceful lines appropriate to the
+poses they assumed.
+
+A dance of wonderful agility was that of the _Bibasis_. According to
+Max Müller, a Laconian maiden danced the _Bibasis_ a thousand times
+more than any other girl had done. The peculiarity of this dance was
+to spring upward from the ground and perform a _cabriole en arrière_,
+striking the feet together behind before alighting. The _cabriole_ is
+executed by the modern dancers with both feet in the air; and both legs
+act in the beating movement, rapidly separating and closing. To this a
+leap, called _jetté_, in the modern terminology, was probably added.
+The upward spring was made first from one foot and then from the other
+and striking the heels behind. The number of the successful strokes was
+counted, and the most skillful performer received the prize. It is said
+that Æschylus and Sophocles improved considerably the _Bibasis Dance_,
+musically and choreographically, for both authors were accomplished
+musicians and dance authorities.
+
+The _Emmeleia_ was one of the most respected and popular dramatic
+dances of the Greek stage. Plato speaks of it as a dance of
+extraordinary gentleness, gravity and nobility, appropriate to the
+highest sentiments. It possessed extraordinary mobility and dramatic
+vigor, and yet was graceful, majestic and impressive. This dance, as it
+was produced on the Athenian stage, is said to have been so terribly
+realistic that many of the spectators rushed shocked from the theatre,
+imagining that they really beheld the incarnated sisters of sorrow
+whose very names they did not dare to mention. These awful ministers
+of divine vengeance, who were supposed to punish the guilty both on
+earth and in the infernal regions, appeared in black and blood-stained
+garments. Their aspect was frightful and their poses emanated an air of
+death. On their heads they carried wreathed serpents, while in their
+hands were wriggling scorpions and a burning torch.
+
+The music used for the _Emmeleia_ was supplied by an ‘orchestra’[B]
+and chorus. Both the musicians and the singers were divided into
+two groups, one of which was to the right, the other to the left
+of the dancers. This gives an idea of the so-called ‘strophic’
+principle. There are allusions to the fact that the Egyptians used
+music to the Astral Dances in this form. Though we do not know the
+character of the Greek dance music, particularly of the _Emmeleia_,
+yet fragmentary allusions here and there give an idea that they were
+mostly in a minor key and of very changeable measure. Kirchoff, who
+made a special study of this dance, came to the theoretic conclusion
+that this was predominantly recitative and resembled partly the later
+operas of Wagner--of course, only melodically--and partly the Finnish
+_Rune_ tunes. As there was much action that could not be danced, the
+_Emmeleia_ required a perfect mimic technique and thorough knowledge of
+‘eurhythmic’ rules. A few of the old Greek writers speak of dance music
+as dignified and stately, which attributed seriousness or sorrow to the
+grave steps, gracefulness and modesty to the gay and joyful poses.
+
+    [B] As to the significance of this word, see Vol. I, pp. 120ff.
+
+Of a very opposite character was the _Cordax_ Dance. According to most
+accounts it lacked in respectability and some writers speak of it as an
+‘indecorous dance.’ Lucian says it was considered a shame to dance it
+when sober. In some parts of Greece it took a comic character and was
+often marred by buffoonery. According to Burette, people had recourse
+to this dance when excited by wine. _Cordax_ was a Satyr who gave his
+name to it. Since it was frivolous and comic, it was performed only
+by less reputable female dancers. It is said that in its first phase
+the _Cordax_ was an extremely comic dance and the people enjoyed its
+refreshing humor and burlesque style. Like the Spanish _Zarzuelas_,
+the _Cordax_ dances were small local comic pantomimes. In it the
+dancers ridiculed public men whom no one dared to criticize otherwise.
+Like every other stage art of this kind the _Cordax_ dances grew
+indecent and were later abolished.
+
+A dance of distinctly sexual nature was the _Hormos_, which was
+dedicated to Artemis. Lucian tells us that the _Hormos_ was commenced
+by a youth, absolutely unclad, and started with steps in military
+nature, such as he was afterwards to practice in the field. Then
+followed a maiden, who, leading up her companions, danced in a gentle
+and graceful manner. Finally, ‘the whole formed a chain of masculine
+vigor and feminine modesty entwined together.’ Sometimes the dance went
+in a circle, sometimes in pairs of a maiden and a youth. Sometimes
+passionate and sensuous gestures were made by both sexes, though only
+for a moment, and the dance ended with a floating, graceful adagio.
+It was an allegorical playlet in dance of human passions and their
+control. The music for the youths was twice as rapid as that for the
+maidens.
+
+Lucian writes that at some of the festivals three great choruses
+were formed for the dancers: of boys, of young men, and of old men.
+The old men danced, singing of their life of valor and wisdom. The
+chorus of the young men took up the theme and answered that they could
+accomplish deeds greater than any that had been achieved. The boys
+finished the song boasting that they would surpass both in deeds of
+glory. The _choragos_, who acted at the same time as a conductor and
+ballet-master, was regarded a man of the highest standing.
+
+
+III
+
+The Greek theatres, in which the dances and dramas were performed
+regularly, were of vast dimensions. The Theatre of Dionysius at
+Athens, being built in the shape of a horseshoe, could accommodate an
+audience of 30,000 spectators. A deep and wide stage was constructed
+for the dramatic performances. The theatre was not merely, as with
+us, a place of entertainment, but also a temple of the god whose
+altar was the central part of the semicircle of seats, where the
+worshippers sat, during the festival days, from sunrise to sunset. The
+stage decorations were of three sorts: for tragedies, the front of a
+palace, with five doors; for comedy, a street with houses; for satire,
+rocks and trees. There were no accessories of any kind on the stage.
+Instead of a roof there was the blue sky. The front part of the stage
+was used for the chorus, instruments and dancing. Lucian mentions how
+even the Bacchanalian dance was treated so seriously on the stage that
+the people would sit whole days in the theatre to view the Titans and
+Corybantes, Satyrs and shepherds. ‘The most curious part of it is,’ he
+writes, ‘that the noblest and greatest personages in every city are
+the dancers, and so little are they ashamed of it that they applaud
+themselves more upon their dexterity in that species of talent than
+on their nobility, their posts of honor, or the dignities of their
+forefathers.’
+
+How learned the public dancers were in Greece is best illustrated by
+a dialogue that occurred between Lucian and Croton. In this one of
+the speakers maintains that any person desiring to become a public
+dancer should know by heart Homer and Hesiod, should know the national
+mythology and legends, should be acquainted with the history of Egypt,
+should have a good voice and know how to sing well, and should be a man
+of high personal character. A dancer should be neither too tall or too
+short, too thin or too fat. If a dancer ever failed in his efforts to
+please the audience he ran the risk of being pelted with stones. The
+Greek audiences were accustomed to express their disapprobation in a
+very decided manner.
+
+It is interesting to compare the Greek dancing figures of various
+periods, which actually give an idea of the development of their
+choreography, and also of the change which took place in their costumes
+and styles. In the first half of the sixth century the Ionic style
+prevailed in garments. The feminine body was heavily draped. Later,
+until the Persian War, a costume of a chiton, with wide sleeves and
+sharply cut was in fashion. This century is rich in reproductions of
+dancing figures, which have a tendency to keep one another’s hands and
+strive to be decorative. The fifth century figures give an impression
+of poised grace and plastic perfection of the body. The fourth century
+figures show dancers with great individuality and perfection in the use
+of the arms. Numerous bas-reliefs of this era represent women dancing
+with veils which give to them a peculiar magic of motion. Like all the
+Orientals, the Greek women used to wear veils while outside of their
+homes. The veil was a natural medium of decoration and a symbol for the
+pantomime of the dance. Frequently the dancing garments of this era
+are so slight that they add only a mystifying charm to the apparently
+nude dancers. The poses of their limbs and arms give evidence of rhythm
+and technique. The mimic expressions play seemingly a foremost rôle,
+as their smiling faces and bashful looks betray the power of their
+fascination. They show expert skill in the use of the veils, with which
+they now seemingly cover their bodies, opening them again to give a
+glimpse of their great beauty. The exquisitely artistic statuettes
+found at Tanagra give some idea of the beauty of motion as practised
+by young women dancers, when, in the marvellous setting of the antique
+theatres, under the blue skies of Greece, they gave performances to
+audiences with whom the love of beauty was a passion.
+
+At some of the religious ceremonial dances only boys and girls
+appeared, at others young men or girls, or both together, danced. Of
+a rather voluptuous nature were the dances performed in the temples of
+Aphrodite and Dionysos. Of special importance were the dances connected
+with the Eleusinian Mysteries, always celebrated in Athens. Their
+performance and the form of their construction were surrounded with
+greatest secrecy. Plato, who was initiated into them, spoke very highly
+of their meaning. It is evident that their real influence upon the
+people began in the sixth century. In the beginning the Mysteries were
+performed once every five years. Later they became annual performances.
+According to Desrat, they had much in common with the _Rondes_ of the
+Middle Ages. The procession of the Mysteries proceeded from the temple
+of Demetrius, in Attica, and passed along a wooded road to Athens.
+A special resting place was the Fountain of Magic Dances, where the
+girls performed dances of unusual poetic grace. Late in the evening the
+procession entered the temple with a dance of torches. Here, on a stage
+specially erected for this purpose, were performed the dances of the
+Mysteries. Very little is known of the character of these dances. It is
+likely that they were dramatized legends of Demetrius, who was depicted
+as a pilgrim, wandering from place to place, in search of his lost
+daughter. Another phase of the Mysteries was to produce in symbolic
+gestures and poses and by proper staging, episodes of the life beyond.
+The performance began in twilight, the first scene being the pantomime
+in Hell, whither the soul of Demetrius was carried by infernal powers.
+It represented the utmost horror. During all the performance no word
+was spoken. After the scene in Hell came another in Heaven. The most
+impressive of all the dances was the ‘Leap with Torches,’ in which only
+the women appeared. It was said to be the most fantastic and acrobatic
+of all the Greek religious dances. Plutarch says that the impression
+was that of spectral ghosts playing perpetually with flames. It was
+meant to act as a purgatory fire that cleansed all the souls from their
+wickedness. The Mysteries ended in the night of the fourth day with a
+Dance of Baskets, in which the women appeared with covered baskets on
+their heads in a solemn march rhythm and vanished into the darkening
+temple. The Eleusinian Mysteries were abolished by an imperial decree
+in 381 A. D.
+
+Not less popular than the Eleusinian were the Dionysian Mysteries.
+It is said that these developed as the festival of the first-fruits,
+but were later dedicated to the god Dionysos, the patron of wine and
+pleasure. To him is ascribed the invention of enthusiasm and ecstasy,
+the essential element of all beauty. The symbol of all the Dionysian
+dances was the goat, which also figured in the Mysteries. It was one
+of the most sensuous performances that imagination could invent. In
+it men and women took part, but men wore usually women’s dresses and
+the women men’s. In the centre of the dancers, before the statue of
+Dionysos, stood a huge cup filled with wine. The ceremony lasted
+three days and was performed in every town and hamlet of the country.
+According to the Greek mythology, Dionysos is represented in a group of
+dancing women and men. As Satyrs were supposed to be daily companions
+of Dionysos, the Satyr Dance was a feature of the Mysteries. Of one of
+the Dionysian dances we read in ‘Daphnis and Chloë’: ‘Meanwhile Dryas
+danced a vintage dance, making believe to gather grapes, to carry them
+in baskets, to tread them down in the vat, to pour the juice into tubs,
+and then to drink the new wine: all of which he did so naturally and so
+featly that they deemed they saw before their eyes the vines, the vats,
+the tubs, and Dryas drinking in good health.’
+
+[Illustration: Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases]
+
+Other features of the Dionysian Mysteries were the Dances of Nymphs,
+the Dances of the Knees, and the _Skoliasmos_, in the nature of
+gymnastics, in which the performers hopped on inflated wine-skins,
+rubbed over with oil to make them slippery. The ancient writers
+describe these dances as lascivious and comic. In the Satyr Dance
+the dancers wore goat-skins and appeared as Satyrs. Several of these
+dances consisted of graceful and more modest movements, measured to the
+sound of flutes. Some of them were accompanied by light songs, daring
+sarcasm, and licentiously suggestive poems. Dances in which animals
+were imitated were numerous. There was a Crane Dance, supposed to be
+invented by Theseus, and Owl, Vulture, and Fox Dances.
+
+The Mysteries of Demetrius took a more centralized form than the
+Mysteries of Dionysos. Each town had its individual secrets of romantic
+mysteries. In Athens the cult of love turned very much around the
+legend of Mænads, which, like little devils, shadowed the people day
+and night. In the Museum of Naples can be seen a vase with dancing
+Mænads, which represents best the ancient spirits of love. Plato
+says that the Mænad Dance consisted principally of the embracing and
+caressing of men and women.
+
+Reinach believes that all Greek mythology, art and science grew out
+of the Greek folk-songs and folk-dances. According to him, the rhythm
+and melody of dance music changed in strict correspondence with the
+theme. All the sacred dances dedicated to Demetrius and Apollo, or
+to Aphrodite, were in legato form, graceful, melodious and full of
+color; on the other hand, those dedicated to Bacchus and Dionysos
+were of quicker tempo, syncopated style and less melodious. Reinach
+succeeded in deciphering the words and music of an ancient Greek dance
+song that was discovered in the ruins of the temple of Delphi. This
+was presumably danced at the Delphic festivals and is dedicated to
+Apollo. Since the cult of Apollo was widespread in Greece there were
+not a few dances dedicated and performed to this god. We are told that
+palm-leaves were given as prizes for the best of the Apollo dancers.
+
+Besides the artists who appeared either in sacred or classic dances,
+there existed in Greece a class of professional dancers called Heteræ.
+These were women of flirting and coquettish type. In our sense, they
+must have been a kind of _Varieté_ or professional social dancers.
+During the time of Pericles there were 500 Heteræ in Athens. Thus
+Sappho, Aspasia and Cleonica were trained to be Heteræ dancers. At
+one time in Greek history the Heteræ became a danger to the family.
+Aspasia was the mistress of Pericles until she became his wife. Being
+well educated, the Heteræ were women of attractive type and most of
+the great Greek thinkers, artists or statesmen felt the spell of their
+charm. Sappho called her house the ‘home of the Muses,’ where plastic
+beauty rivalled with poetry and music. The tragedy of Sappho has
+inspired many writers, ancient and modern, to immortalize her in their
+works, particularly the story according to which she sang and flung
+herself down into the sea. Performed by great celebrities the dances
+of the Heteræ were by no means vulgar, but lyric and suggestively
+sensuous. They were performed with garments or without, with floating
+veils and to the music of a flute. The dancers of this class used to
+give performances at their homes or in specially established gardens.
+All the Hetera dances were dedicated to Aphrodite and the ambition
+of the performers was to imitate the lovely poses of the celebrated
+goddess. According to most descriptions they resembled our past
+century’s _minuets_, _gavottes_ and _pavanes_.
+
+Emmanuel, who has written an interesting work on the Greek
+choreography, maintains that the accuracy of rhythm was of foremost
+importance. A choreographic time-marker was attached to sandals that
+produced sounds modified to the changing sentiments of the action.
+A little tambourine or cymbals were occasionally employed. A special
+branch of dance instruction was the _Chironomia_, or the art of using
+the hands. Greek dancing was by no means predominantly gesturing with
+hands, as some people think, but it was the harmonious use of every
+limb of the human body, in connection with the corresponding art of
+pantomime. There were numerous dancing schools in Greece, and each of
+them had its particular method of instruction. The first exercise in a
+school was the learning of flexibility of the body, which lasted a few
+years. A special school dance was the _Esclatism_, which was chiefly
+a rhythmic gymnastic, on the order of Jaques-Dalcroze’s method at
+Hellerau. We know comparatively little of the details of the ancient
+technical mechanism of choreography. Unfortunately all the ancient
+dancing figures represent merely one moment of a dance, therefore it is
+extremely difficult to grasp the principal points of the vanished art.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
+
+  Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the
+  _Bellicrepa saltatio_; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the
+  Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age;
+  importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.
+
+
+As with all their arts, the ancient Romans borrowed their dancing from
+the Greeks. A nation raised in adoration of military and aristocratic
+ideals, conceited, and with a strong tendency to materialism and
+formalities, the Romans contributed little to choreography. Their
+civilization was imitative rather than creative. Their art is void
+of ethnographic characteristics and a kind of artificial stiffness
+breathes from their best achievements. The only conspicuous
+contribution of the Roman dancers to the evolution of dance lies in
+their unique dramatic and ecclesiastic pantomimes and their celebrated
+masque dances. But it seems surprising that dancing was far more highly
+developed and esteemed in the earlier period of Roman history than
+in those days of luxury and vice which preceded the downfall of the
+empire. Under the republic, dancing was considered one of the foremost
+factors in education, and the children of patricians and statesmen were
+obliged to take lessons in Greek dancing. But of the social views of
+later centuries we read from Quintilian that ‘it disgraced the dignity
+of a man,’ or as Cicero said, ‘No sober man dances, unless he is mad.’
+Horace rebukes the Romans for dancing as for an infamy. Various other
+Roman writers tell us how much the women of standing were criticized
+for their lack of virtue if they entertained a dancer at their house or
+shook hands with him.
+
+On the other hand, we have an eloquent proof of the Roman frenzy for
+the stage dance in the exciting intrigues of Pylades and Bathyllus,
+which set the whole Republic in a ferment. De Jaulnaye, the great
+historian, writes that the rivalries of Pylades and Bathyllus occupied
+the Romans as much as the gravest affairs of state. Every citizen
+was a Bathyllian or a Pyladian. Glancing over the history of the
+disturbances created by these two mummers, we seem to be reading that
+of the volatile nation whose quarrels about music were so prolonged, so
+obstinate, and, above all, so senseless that no one knew what were the
+real points of dispute, when the philosopher of Geneva wrote the famous
+letter to which no serious reply was ever made. Augustus (the Emperor)
+reproved Pylades on one occasion for his perpetual quarrels with
+Bathyllus. ‘Cæsar,’ replied the dancer, ‘it is well for you that the
+people are engrossed by our disputes; their attention is thus diverted
+from your actions!’ While Pylades is described as a great tragic actor
+and dancer, Bathyllus is represented as having been endowed not only
+with extraordinary talent, but also with great personal beauty, and
+is said as having been the idol of the Roman ladies. It is said that
+the banishment of Pylades from Rome almost brought about a serious
+revolution, that was prevented by the recall of the imperial decree.
+
+One of the most interesting ancient dances practised by the Romans
+was _Bellicrepa saltatio_, a military dance, instituted by Romulus
+after the seizure of the Sabine women, in order that a similar
+misfortune might never befall his own country. To Numa Pompilius, the
+gentle Sabine, who became king after the mysterious disappearance of
+Romulus, is ascribed the origin of Roman religious dances. Especially
+celebrated were the dancing priests of Mars, and the order of Salien
+priests, numbering twelve, who were selected from citizens of first
+rank. Their mission was to worship the gods by dances. As a sign of
+special distinction they wore in their ceremonials richly embroidered
+purple tunics, brazen breastplates and their heads covered with gilded
+helmets. In one hand they held a javelin, while the other carried the
+celestial shield called the _ancilia_. They beat the time with their
+swords upon this _ancilia_, and marched through the city singing hymns
+to the time of their solemn dancing.
+
+According to Livy, pantomimes were invented to please the gods and to
+distract the people, horrified by the plague that created havoc in the
+sacred city of Rome. The _Ludiones_, the celebrated Roman bards, are
+said to have performed their dances first before the houses of the
+rich to the music of the flute, but later appeared in the circuses and
+in special show tents. Their example found followers among the Roman
+youth. All the Roman dancers gave performances masqued, and it was the
+custom that in the sacred, as well as in the great dramatic pantomimes
+women were excluded, though during the later period of the Empire,
+particularly during the reign of Nero, women dancers appeared.
+
+The best known of the ancient Roman pantomimes were those performed
+at the festival of Pallas, of Pan and of Dionysus or Bacchus. Juvenal
+writes that Bathyllus, having composed a pantomime on the subject of
+Jupiter, performed it with such realism that the Roman women were
+profoundly moved. The same is said of the dances invented and performed
+by Pylades, some of which were later given by the priests of Apollo.
+The art of Roman pantomime developed gradually to classic standards and
+ranged over the whole domain of mythology, poetry and drama. Dancers,
+called _Mimii_, like Bathyllus and Pylades, translated the most subtle
+emotions by gestures and poses of extreme graphic power so that their
+audiences understood every meaning of their mute language. This plastic
+form of mute drama made the dancing of the Romans a great art. The
+Emperor Augustus is said to have been a great admirer of Bathyllus, and
+so also was Nero. It is said that an African ruler, while the guest
+of Nero, was so impressed by the dancer that he said to Nero that he
+would like to have such an artist for his court. ‘And what would you
+do with him?’ asked the Emperor. ‘I have around me,’ said the other,
+‘several neighboring tribes who speak different languages, and as they
+are unable to understand mine, I thought, if I had this man with me, it
+would be quite possible for him to explain by gesture all that I wished
+to express.’
+
+Very unusual was the Roman festival of Pan, or the _Lupercalia_, at
+which half-naked youths danced about the streets with whips in their
+hands, lashing freely everyone whom they chanced to meet. The Roman
+women liked to be lashed on this occasion, as they believed it would
+keep them young. Another kind of Pan festival was celebrated by the
+peasants in the spring at which the young men and maidens joined in
+the dances, which took place in the woods or on the fields. They wore
+garlands of flowers and wreaths of oak on their heads. Similar dances,
+only more solemn and magnificent, were performed at the festival of
+Pallas by shepherds. Dancing and singing around blazing bonfires in
+a circle they worshipped the goddess of fruitfulness. Frequently the
+officiators were disreputable women who appeared dressed in long white
+robes, symbolic of chastity. Then there were the great _Floralia_
+or May Day festivals which in the beginning were of sufficiently
+decent manner but eventually degenerated into scenes of unbounded
+licentiousness. Still wilder than these were the orgies of Bacchus,
+which contributed greatly to the demoralization of the people until
+the consuls Albinus and Philippus banished them from Rome by a decree
+of the Senate.
+
+On account of their sensuous character the Romans were unable to keep
+their art of dancing in such poetic and yet simple æsthetic frames
+as did the Greeks, for which reason all the Roman women characters
+in a pantomime were disguised young men. They lacked the ability of
+self-control in the stage art which in Greece had reached a standard of
+classic perfection. It is sufficient to say that they must have been
+wicked enough when a ruler like Tiberius commanded the dancers to be
+expelled from Rome. But Tacitus relates that, while publicly Tiberius
+reprimanded Sestius Gallus for the elaborate balls given at his house,
+privately he made arrangements to be his guest on the condition that he
+should himself be entertained in the usual manner. Of his successor,
+Caligula, Suetonius writes: ‘So fond was the emperor of singing and
+dancing that he could not refrain from singing with the tragedians and
+imitating the gestures of the dancers either by way of applause or
+correction.’
+
+During the reign of Augustus the art of pantomime reached its zenith.
+The dances of this time were more spectacular and impressive on
+account of their carefully executed stage effects. As far as music
+was concerned, this was produced by flutes and harps, sometimes by
+singing voices. The Romans never cared for dancing itself, but they
+were fond of it as a spectacle. A great rôle in Roman life at this
+juncture was played by the female dancers from Cadiz, which were said
+to be so brilliant and passionate that poets declared it impossible to
+withstand the great charm these women exercised over the spectators.
+Some one says ‘they were all poetry and voluptuous charm.’ An English
+writer maintains that the famous Venus of Cailipyge was modelled from a
+Caditian dancer in high favor at Rome. Another noted writer calls the
+_delicias caditanas_ the most fascinating performances that ever could
+be seen, and calls all other dances of the Romans and even the Greeks
+amateurish puerilities.
+
+Of great Roman female dancers we know by name Lucceia, who was said to
+give performances when she was one hundred years old; Stephania, ‘the
+first to dance on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners’;
+Galeria Copiola, who danced before Emperor Augustus ninety-one years
+after her first appearance; and Alliamatula, who danced before Nero
+at the age of one hundred and twenty. The most known of all the great
+women dancers in ancient Rome was Telethusa, a fascinating girl from
+Cadiz, to whose extraordinary beauty and art the poet Martial dedicated
+many of his songs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES
+
+  The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the
+  strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the
+  church; dances of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets;
+  the English masques; famous masques of the seventeenth century.
+
+
+There is a lapse of time, nearly a thousand years, from the fall of the
+ancient civilization of Greece and Rome to the Grand Ballet of France,
+when the art of dancing was almost stifled by the Mediæval ecclesiastic
+scholasticism. Since we have practically no records of the dancing that
+was fostered in Cadiz, which was probably the most conspicuous at that
+time, we must confess that the greatly esteemed art of the ancients
+nearly came to a ruin. If it had not been for Spain, where dancing
+was introduced even into the churches, it might have taken centuries
+longer to revive the vanishing ideas of the ancient choreography and
+keep alive the plastic religion. We are told that a bishop of Valencia
+adopted certain sacred dances in the churches of Seville, Toledo and
+Valencia, which were performed before the altar. In Galicia a slow
+hymn-dance was performed by a tall priest, while carrying a gorgeously
+dressed boy on his shoulders, at the festival of Corpus Christi.
+
+Much as the church fathers fought dancing in other countries, they
+had to admit it in Spain. It is said that the choir-boys of Seville
+Cathedral executed _danzas_ during a part of the religious processions
+in mediæval Spain, and that this practice was authorized in 1439 by a
+Bull of Pope Eugenius IV. Of these choir-boy dancers Baron Davillier
+writes: ‘They are easily to be recognized in the streets of Seville by
+their red caps, their red cloaks adorned with red neckties, their black
+stockings, and shoes with rosettes and metal buttons. The hat (worn
+during the dance), slightly conical in shape, is turned up on one side,
+and fastened with a bow of white velvet, from which rises a tuft of
+blue and white feathers. The most characteristic feature of the costume
+is the _golilla_, a sort of lace ruff, starched and pleated, which
+encircles the neck. Lace cuffs, slashed trunk-hose or _galzoncillo_
+blue silk stockings and white shoes with rosettes, complete the costume
+of which Doré made a sketch when he saw it in Seville Cathedral, on
+the _octave_ of the Conception. The dance of the boys attracts as many
+spectators to Seville as the ceremonies of Holy Week, and the immense
+cathedral is full to overflowing on the days when they are to figure in
+a function.’
+
+Vuillier writes of another occasion of the Spanish temple dances: ‘One
+of these festivals is celebrated on the 15th of August, the day of the
+Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the other on the following day, the
+feast of the patron of the village of Alaro. On these occasions a body
+of dancers called _Els Cosiers_ play the principal part. It consists
+of six boys dressed in white, with ribbons of many colors, wearing
+on their heads caps trimmed with flowers. One of them, _La Dama_,
+disguised as a woman, carries a fan in one hand and a handkerchief in
+the other. Two others are dressed as demons with horns and cloven feet.
+The party is followed by some musicians playing on the _cheremias_, the
+_tamborino_, and the _fabiol_. After vespers the _Cosiers_ join the
+procession as it leaves the church. Three of them take up positions on
+either side of the Virgin, who is preceded by a demon; every few yards
+they perform steps. Each demon is armed with a flexible rod with which
+he keeps off the crowd. The procession stops in all the squares and
+principal places, and there the _Cosiers_ perform one of their dances
+to the sound of the _tamborino_ and the _fabiol_. When the procession
+returns to the church they dance together round the statue of the
+Virgin.’
+
+Of a very primitive but unique nature were the mediæval strolling
+ballets of Spain and Italy. Some old writers assert that they
+originated in Italy and passed later into Spain, but others tell
+the contrary. Later the Portuguese organized a strolling ballet in
+adoration of St. Carlos. Castil-Blaze writes of a strolling ballet that
+was instituted by the King René of Provence, in 1462, called the _Lou
+Gue_. This consisted of allegorical scenes of the Bible and was danced
+in the style of Roman mythological pantomimes. Most of the conspicuous
+characters of the Bible and history were enacted in this ballet.
+The procession of the ballet went through a city to the square of a
+garden before some cathedral or castle. Fame headed the march, blowing
+a trumpet and carrying a gorgeous shield on a winged horse. He was
+followed by the rest of the company in various comic and spectacular
+costumes. There were the Duke of Urbino, King Herod, Fauns, Dryads, and
+Apostles, and finally the Jews, dancing round a Golden Calf.
+
+‘King René wrote this religious ballet in all its details,’ writes
+Castil-Blaze. ‘Decorations, dance music, marches, all were of his
+invention, and his music has always been faithfully preserved and
+performed. The air of _Lou Gue_ has some curious modulations; the
+minuet of the Queen of Sheba, the march of the Prince of Love, upon
+which so many _noëls_ have been founded, and, above all the _Veie de
+Noue_, are full of originality. But the wrestler’s melody is good
+René’s masterpiece, if it be true that he is its author, as tradition
+affirms. This classic air has a pleasing melody with gracefully written
+harmonies; the strolling minstrels of Provence play it on their flutes
+to a rhythmical drum accompaniment, walking round the arena where the
+wrestlers are competing.’
+
+Some queer religious pantomimes came into vogue in France about the
+twelfth century, and of these the torch dances, executed on the
+first Sunday in Lent, enjoyed the greatest popularity; but they were
+all suppressed by the clergy and later became degenerate. In Paris
+the clergy sold dancing indulgences to the rich patricians for a
+considerable sum of money. The high society was taught to despise
+dancing as an amusement unworthy of its position. It remained only a
+popular diversion among the middle class. The theatrical ballets and
+strolling pantomimes disappeared altogether. The theatre was declared
+by the clergy a Pagan institution and every art connected with the
+stage of infernal origin. But, strange to say, mediæval stage dancing
+was first introduced by women. Men appeared only as spectators of such
+performances. Thus we read in a ballad of the twelfth century that the
+_damosels_ arranged a grand ball and the knights came to look on.
+
+The first dances that the mediæval nobility introduced at their
+castles, in which they themselves participated, were the famous
+_Caroles_. These were performed to the vocal accompaniment of the
+dancers themselves, although sometimes a strolling band was hired.
+Out of these grew gradually the various mediæval social dances and
+the court ballets and gay masquerades, which reached a climax during
+the middle of the seventeenth century. The most celebrated of this
+kind were the _Ballets des Ardents_, arranged by the Duchess de Berri
+and attended by the whole court. However, the most conspicuous of the
+mediæval attempts in this respect was the _Fête_ given in 1489 by
+Bergonzio di Botta of Tortona, in honor of Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, on
+the occasion of his marriage of Isabella of Aragon. Of this we read:
+
+‘The Amphitryon chose for his theatre a magnificent hall surrounded
+by a gallery, in which several bands of music had been stationed; an
+empty table occupied the middle. At the moment when the Duke and the
+Duchess appeared, Jason and Argonauts advanced proudly to the sound of
+martial music. They bore the Golden Fleece; this was the tablecloth,
+with which they covered the table, after having executed a stately
+dance, expressive of their admiration of so beautiful a princess and of
+a sovereign to possess her. Next came Mercury, who related how he had
+been clever enough to trick Apollo, shepherd of Admetus, and rob him
+of a fat calf, which he returned to present to the newly married pair,
+after having had it nobly trussed and prepared by the best cook of
+Olympus. While he was placing it upon the table, three quadrilles that
+followed him danced round the fatted calf, as the Hebrews had formerly
+capered round that of gold.’
+
+The writer describes how Diana, Mercury and the Nymphs followed the
+first scene. Then Orpheus appears to the music of flutes and lutes.
+‘Each singer, each dancer had his special orchestra, which was arranged
+for him according to the sentiments expressed by his song or by his
+dance. It was an excellent plan, and served to vary the symphonies;
+it announced the return of a character who had already appeared, and
+produced a varied succession of trumpets, of violins with their sharp
+notes, of the arpeggios of lutes, and of the soft melodies of flutes
+and reed pipes. The orchestrations of Monteverdi prove that composers
+at that time varied their instrumentation thus, and this particular
+artifice was not one of the least causes of the prodigious success of
+opera in the first years of its creation.’
+
+This was followed by a solo singer accompanied by a lyre, after whose
+aria Atlanta and Theseus appeared to the sound of brass instruments.
+After this appeared a ballet of Tritons. During the intermission
+refreshments were served and the spectacle ended with the scenes
+of Orpheus, Hymen and Cupid. Finally, Lucretia, Penelope, Thomyris,
+Judith, Portia, and Sulpici advanced and laid at the feet of the
+Duchess the palms of virtue that they had won during their lives.
+
+There is no doubt that this spectacular fête of the Duke of Milan gave
+the initial impetus to the following Grand Ballets at the French Court,
+which in turn became the embryos of the modern stage dances. It is also
+very likely that the well-known masques, so much in vogue during the
+seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were an outcome of the original
+Milan pageant. In particularly high favor stood the masques at the
+English court. Thus we read that in 1605 ‘The Masque of Blackness’ was
+given at Whitehall, in which Queen Anne and her ladies blackened their
+skins and appeared as blackamoors. The Spanish Ambassador, having to
+kiss Her Majesty’s hand, gave voice to his fears that the black might
+come off. Three years later ‘The Masque of Beauty’ was given. Both
+were written by Ben Jonson. The speeches of the masques were mostly in
+verse, but sometimes in prose. In the ‘Masque of Castillo,’ written by
+John Crowne in 1675, the Princess Anne and Mary took part at St. James’
+Palace and the performance was a great success. Though Bacon designated
+masques as mere toys, nevertheless he enjoyed them as spectacles on
+account of their rich colors and costumes. In 1632 James Shirley wrote
+‘The Triumph of Peace,’ upon which production a sum of £21,000 was
+expended. This was given for the first time before the king and queen
+at Whitehall and was repeated in Merchant Tailors’ Hall. The music
+to this was composed by William Lawes and Simon Ives. The scenes and
+costumes were designed and superintended by the famous architect Inigo
+Jones.
+
+Nearly all the masques of olden times were written in honor of the
+marriage of royalty or of some great nobleman and were mostly given at
+Christmastide Twelfth Night. They were said to be many-sided in their
+construction, music and themes. For the most part they were dramatic,
+festive and gay, the allegorical characters giving them an element
+of poetic charm. Dancing was one of their most potent elements, and
+this was graceful, dainty and lively. The dancers called maskers were
+a special feature in the masques, though they had nothing to do with
+speech or song. The dresses in these masques were not always accurate,
+for the parts were sometimes acted by women in farthingales, though
+they impersonated classic goddesses. Masques were patronized in England
+for only two centuries, Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I
+being their main sponsors. Queen Anne of Denmark was so much delighted
+with them that she acted one of the characters.
+
+Alfonso Ferrabosco, a noted musician of Italian descent, was the
+composer of many masques during the reign of James I. Other composers
+were Nicholas Laniere and John Coperario. ‘Salmacida Spolia’ by Sir
+William Davenant, with music by Ferrabosco, was said to be one of the
+most spectacular masques of the seventeenth century. It consisted of
+pretty scenes and songs between the dances, so full of allegory and
+devices, and so gay in costumes and light that it was a favorite of
+English nobility for three generations. The most popular of the English
+masques were ‘Love’s Triumph Callipolis’ by Ben Jonson and Inigo
+Jones, which was performed at the court in 1630; the ‘Sun’s Darling,’
+performed in 1623; the ‘Masque of Owles,’ performed for King Charles
+I; and ‘Tempe Restored’ by Aurelian Townsend, performed in 1632, with
+Queen Henrietta Maria and fourteen ladies as the leading characters.
+In the last-named masque the beasts form a procession, fourteen stars
+descend to the music of the spheres, and Tempe is restored to the true
+followers of the Muses. Large figures were posted on either side of
+the stage, one a winged woman, the other a man, with the lighted torch
+of Knowledge and Ignorance. Women with snaky locks mingled with Harmony
+in the songs of the chorus of Circe. Dances by the queen and her ladies
+added to the spectacular character of the scene.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE
+
+  Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms
+  under Louis XV; Noverre and the _ballet d’action_; Auguste Vestris
+  and others; famous ballets of the period--the Revolution and the
+  Consulate; the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic
+  grammar’; the ‘five positions’; the ballet steps--Famous
+  _danseuses_: Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine Guimard; Allard.
+
+
+I
+
+Though Catherine de Medici, Henri IV, and Cardinal Richelieu are
+often quoted as the first rulers who enabled and encouraged their
+subjects to revive the ancient dances and thus lay the foundation of
+the modern ballet, the honor really belongs to Louis XIV. His love for
+dancing was so vital that he himself figured frequently on the stage,
+and emphasized the fact that the theatre was not a Pagan or immoral
+institution. He personally inspired Lully, Benserade and Molière to
+devote their genius to the stage. He introduced Minuets, Gavottes,
+Pavanes and Courantes at his court functions and they were copied by
+all the other rulers and by the nobility. In 1661 the Royal Academy of
+Dancing was founded. To its graduates were given the privileges that
+were enjoyed only by the highest officers of the empire. It is said
+that the king danced in the Masque of Cassandra when he was thirteen
+years of age. The French historians write that Louis XIV danced in
+twenty-seven grand ballets, not to mention the intermezzi of lyrical
+tragedies and comedy-ballets. In the _Ballet du Carrousel_, given in
+1662 on a large open space before the Tuileries, the king danced in the
+rôle of a Roman emperor and his brother in that of a Turkish sultan.
+On the occasion of the king’s marriage in 1660 the ballet ‘Hercules in
+Love’ was given at the palace.
+
+Lully’s ballet, ‘Cupid and Bacchus,’ was said to be a piece full
+of imagination, dramatic, vigorous and rich in timely mood. ‘The
+Triumph of Love,’ performed in 1681, being the first ballet in which
+women appeared, is considered one of the best creations of this time
+musically and scenically. One of the most popular comic ballets of
+that era was _Impatiencem_, composed of series of disconnected scenes
+of extremely humorous nature. Pecour and Le Basque were the two
+celebrated dancers of those days, while Beauchamp, a talented composer
+and artist of considerable imaginative power, acted as Director of the
+Academy of Dancing and ballet-master in the Opéra. All his ballets
+were distinguished by their extraordinary complexity of mechanical
+contrivances, by imposing effects and their allegorical character.
+However, towards the end of the century Dupré appeared on the stage and
+soon far surpassed all his predecessors. Noverre speaks of him as the
+god of dancing, whose harmony of movements was of marvellous perfection.
+
+The principal tendency of dancing of this era was to be magnificent and
+noble, but it lacked individuality and failed to stir the emotions. The
+best examples of this kind of stateliness and stiffness are offered
+by the Pavane and Courante, which still survive. The gentleman, with
+hat in one hand, a gilded sword at his side, an imposing cloak thrown
+over his arm, gravely bowed before his partner, stiff and statuesque in
+her long train, and began the dance walking gravely around the room.
+The Pavane was ridiculously ceremonial and conventional. The Courante
+was different, somewhat resembling the Minuet. It was rather graceful,
+consisting of backward and forward steps. How fond the king was of the
+Courante is evident of what Regnard writes: ‘Pecour gives him lessons
+in the Courante every morning.’ Littré says that the Courante began by
+bows and courtseys, after which the dancer and the partner performed
+a set figure, which formed a sort of elongated ellipse. This step was
+in two parts: the first consisted in making _plié relevé_, at the same
+time bringing the foot from behind into the fourth position in front
+by a _pas glissé_; the second consisted of a _jetté_ with one foot,
+and a _coupé_ with the other. The dancers performed the back stay step
+twice, returning to position, and turned, beginning the movement again
+by repeating the first springing step and the back stay step, so that
+the partners changed places and turn. All these three figures were then
+repeated, commencing with the opposite foot. Eight bars of music were
+always occupied with the slow _pas de basque_ in a circle. This briefly
+shows the same designs and forms in the dance of this era that we find
+in the Rococco style of architecture.
+
+But the beginning of the eighteenth century shows a marked reaction
+against the statuesque solemnity, the dead stiffness and merciless
+etiquette that had prevailed. An era of artificial reforms begins
+with Louis XV. To this period belongs the origin of our modern
+industrialism. The views and feelings of the feudal system begin to
+give place to those of coming realism and individualism. But the change
+is insignificant, as the art of dancing lacks in this as it did in the
+other, energy, feeling and soul. The one was more impressive through
+its grand outlines, the other excelled through its dainty charm, like
+the fashions, decorations and other arts of that time. Long, gilded
+mirrors, gay garlands of flowers, frail elliptic carvings, graceful
+designs, gauzy tissues, mauve ribbons, painted faces and hands,
+perfumed atmosphere, these and numerous other impressions emanate
+of the art of dancing of the first part of the eighteenth century,
+although to this era belong the vigorous attempts of Jean-Georges
+Noverre, the greatest of all the dance authorities of the past
+centuries.
+
+Noverre, the celebrated ballet-master of France, is considered the
+father of the ballet and classic dancing generally. The brothers Gardel
+and Dauberval based their ideas upon the principles of Noverre. It was
+he who drove the masks, paniers, and padded coat-skirts from the stage
+and made it human. ‘A ballet,’ he said, ‘is a picture, or rather a
+series of pictures, connected by the action which forms the subject of
+the ballet. To me the stage is a canvas on which the composer paints
+his ideas, notes his music and displays scenery colored by appropriate
+costumes. A picture is an imitation of Nature; but a good ballet is
+Nature itself, ennobled by all the charms of art. The music is to
+dancing what the libretto is to the music.’ According to his theory
+the action of the dancer should be an instrument for the rendering of
+the written idea. Before Noverre laid the foundation to his _ballet
+d’action_, dancing had existed as an auxiliary form to opera and was
+lacking in any signs of life. The dancers wearing powdered hair piled
+up a foot on their heads, and the men in their long-skirted coats
+made the impression more of a big puppet-show than of a living dance.
+This made the use of intricate and plastic movements of the body
+and, moreover, of mimic expressions, absolutely impossible. This is
+Noverre’s argument:
+
+‘I wish to reduce by three-quarters the ridiculous paniers of our
+danseuses. They are opposed equally to freedom, to quickness and to the
+prompt and animated action of the dance. They deprive the figure of its
+elegance and of the just proportions which it ought to possess. They
+diminish the beauty of the arms; they bury, so to speak, the graces.
+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 limbs.’
+
+In spite of his great reputation and influence, Noverre found it
+difficult to reform the stage fundamentally. He failed to perform
+his own ballets in the way he wished. Thus in the ‘Horatii’ Camilla
+appeared in hooped petticoat, her hair piled up and decorated with
+fantastic ribbons and flowers. However, his reforms gained ground
+little by little. Much as he tried, he failed in reforming the stage
+celebrities of his time. This actuated the great reformer to say, ‘what
+we lack is not talent, but emulation. It almost seems, in fact, as if
+this were deliberately repressed. How I should rejoice to see a great
+dancer performing some noble part without plumes or wig or masks! I
+should then be able to applaud his sublime talent with satisfaction to
+myself; and I could then justly apply the term “great” to him, whereas
+now the most I say is: “_Ah la bella gamba!_” It is evident, therefore,
+that theatrical dancing demands many reforms. They cannot, of course,
+all be carried out at once; but we might at least begin. Let us do away
+with those gold painted masks, which deprive us of what would be one of
+the most interesting features of a _pas-de-deux_, the expressions of
+the performers’ faces. The disappearance of the periwig would follow of
+itself, and a shepherd would no longer dance in a plumed helmet.’
+
+It is said that the Noverre’s ballets reached the number of fifty. But
+most known of them are ‘The Death of Ajax,’ ‘The Clemency of Titus,’
+‘The Caprices of Galatea,’ ‘Orpheus’ Descent Into Hell,’ ‘Rinaldo and
+Armida,’ ‘The Roses of Love,’ ‘The Judgment of Paris,’ etc. Several of
+these he produced at the courts of Stuttgart, Vienna, St. Petersburg
+and Florence. It was through his influence upon the Empress Anna of
+Russia that the great Russian Imperial Ballet School was founded,
+whose graduates have been electrifying the European audiences during
+the present and past decades.
+
+Noverre’s reform ideas were much perfected by the French composers
+and dancers of the following generation, men whom we have previously
+mentioned--Gardel, Dauberval, the Vestris brothers, and, in addition,
+Duport, Blasis and Milon. Auguste Vestris was twelve years old when he
+made his début in Paris, in 1772, in the ballet _La Cinquantaine_, and
+aroused the wildest enthusiasm in the audience. His high leaps were so
+popular that his father used to boast, ‘If Auguste does not stay up in
+the air, it is because he is unwilling to humiliate his comrades.’ For
+thirty-six years he was _premier danseur_ of the Opéra of Paris, and
+preserved his popularity till the age of sixty-six, when he retired
+to give lessons in dancing at the Academy. Of an eighteenth-century
+performance Weber writes graphically:
+
+‘On June 11, 1778, Mile. Guimard and the younger Vestris danced in the
+new ballet, _Les Petits Riens_, with Dauberval and Mlle. Anglin. The
+performance was a great success. The only author mentioned was Noverre,
+the celebrated ballet-master. It was he who had imagined the three
+scenes, which were in fact the groundwork of his ballet. The first
+scene represented Love, caught in a net and put in a cage; the second,
+a game of blind-man’s buff; and in the third, which was the greatest
+success, Love led two shepherdesses up to a third, disguised as a
+shepherd, who discovered the trick by unveiling her bosom. “Encore!”
+cried the audience. Mlle. Guimard, the younger Vestris, and Noverre
+were heartily applauded, but not one “bravo!” was given to the composer
+of the music--who was no other than the divine Mozart. Mozart, who,
+fifteen years before, had been acclaimed in Paris as an infant prodigy
+and an inspired composer, was vegetating in the city in poverty and
+obscurity. The success of _Les Petits Riens_ apparently made little
+difference to him, for a few days after the performance we find him
+leaving Paris, and seeking employment as an organist to ensure his
+daily bread.’
+
+This sad episode of the treatment of one of the greatest musical
+geniuses of his time is partly proof of how little valued was the
+musical side of a ballet at that time, yet it is also a graphic picture
+of the mental level of audiences of any time--ours not excluded--who
+judge a genius by public sentiment artificially aroused, either by
+means of some press-agent or by incidental novelty.
+
+Of the Gardel ballets the most popular were _Paul et Virginie_, _La
+Dansomanie_, _Psyche_, _L’Oracle_, _Telemaque_, and _Le Déserteur_.
+The writer witnessed a performance of _Psyche_ given by the Russian
+Imperial Ballet with all the true atmosphere of its age, and it made
+a peculiar impression, similar to that which we get in visiting
+ethnographic museums of Europe. It was performed in Paris first time
+on December 14, 1790, at the Théâtre des Arts and pleased the people
+so immensely that it has been repeated not fewer than a thousand times
+since. The _Dansomanie_, which was given during the Revolution, was
+less effective and the author was apparently depressed, though he had
+chosen a subject of timely character--peasants, villagers and Savoyard
+farmers acting as the heroes. His ballet, _Guillaume Tell_, promised
+to be more successful, as the Committee of Public Safety had ordered
+its performance, but the money granted for its staging was stolen by
+politicians and Gardel took back his manuscript. It was given after his
+death. But his spectacular ballet _Marseillaise_ created a furore when
+it was given at the Opéra. The ballet opened with a blast of trumpets,
+and was executed by dancers dressed as warriors and participants in
+a hungry mob. Mlle. Maillard, personifying Liberty, took her rôle so
+well that the actors on the stage and the audience fell on their
+knees before her, as though in prayer. The solemn hymn passage of this
+part of the opera, and the slow, majestic dance of the artist were so
+impressive that the audience burst into sobs.
+
+
+II
+
+Though the ballet lost its previous splendor under the Revolution, yet
+it became more vigorous in its enforced simplicity. The French writers
+admit that the ballets performed in connection with the _fêtes_ of the
+Republic were marked by more serious tendencies and possessed certain
+profound emotional qualities. Actors and dancers soon accommodated
+themselves to the new ideals of social life. The Festival of the
+Supreme Being, conducted by Robespierre himself, was the most important
+of the itinerant ballets of that time. It was a ceremony of classic
+nature, performed with slow and march-like steps. Special ceremonial
+dances were also performed by the colossal statue of Wisdom to the
+accompaniment of an orchestra. The members of the Convention had their
+places on a specially erected platform, while choirs chanted a hymn
+to the Supreme Being. The President set fire with a torch to an image
+of Atheism. ‘An immense mountain,’ writes Castil-Blaze, ‘symbolized
+the national altar; upon its summits rises the tree of Liberty, the
+Representatives range themselves under its protective branches, fathers
+with their sons assemble on the part of the mountain set aside for
+them; mothers with their daughters place themselves on the other side;
+their fecundity and the virtues of their husbands are their sole titles
+to a place there. A profound silence reigns all around; touching
+strains of harmonious melody are heard: the fathers and their sons
+sing the first strophe; they swear with one accord that they will not
+lay down their arms until they have annihilated the enemies of the
+Republic, and all the people take up the finale.’
+
+This short picture gives a fairly clear idea of the Revolutionary
+period, which laid a new foundation to the French arts, including the
+art of dancing. The historians tell us that scarcely was the Terror
+at an end when twenty-three theatres and eighteen hundred dancing
+salons were open every evening in Paris. The costumes worn by the
+dancers under the first Republic were more or less imitations of those
+of the ancient Greeks. The women arranged their hair in imitation of
+the coiffures of Aspasia and Sappho, and appeared with bare arms,
+bare bosoms, sandalled feet, and hair bound in plaits round their
+heads. Even during the Terror people danced in every restaurant on the
+boulevards, in the Champs Élysées, and along the quays. It is said the
+people danced in order to forget the tragedies of the day. Milon was
+a celebrated composer and ballet-master under the Consulate. The most
+popular of his ballets during this period were _Les Sauvages de la Mer
+du Sud_, _Lucas et Laurette_, _Héro et Leandre_, _Clary_, _Nina_, _Le
+Carnaval de Venise_, etc. As in their dress and their ideals, so also
+in their dancing the people showed an outspoken tendency to appear _à
+la sauvage_. However, the political turmoils that shook France in these
+centuries, when the art of ballet crystallized into a systematic shape,
+assisted its natural development, chiefly by forcing it to swing from
+one extreme to the other.
+
+The foundation which the French grand ballet laid for the art of
+dancing still prevails in all the dancing schools of Europe. The
+ballet codes of all the modern nations use the same French grammar
+of technique as that which was taught to Mlles. Sallé, Camargo, and
+Guimard during the past centuries. To the French Academy of Dancing the
+world owes the principles of the ballet-technique, the _pirouettes_,
+_jetés_, _chassés_, etc. The French ballet-masters found it necessary
+to divide dancing into five different positions, which formed the
+foundation of all dancing; and then classified the various styles of
+steps. In describing first, the positions, we begin with the right
+foot, but the movements would be the same if we would choose the left
+foot. First position: place the heels against each other, the knees
+and toes turned well out, the legs firm and straight, the body erect
+and well balanced, standing equally on the two feet. Second position:
+pass the right foot to the side to the length of the foot, the weight
+of the body resting on both feet, the right heel turned forward. Third
+position: bring the heel of the extended foot close to the hollow of
+the other instep, in the middle. Fourth position: move the right toe to
+the front, the toe pointed, the heel forward. Fifth position: let the
+feet be completely crossed, the heel of one foot brought to the toe of
+the other.
+
+In systematizing the dance steps the French based their technique upon
+the ancient method. Here we find the _pas marché_, or the walking step,
+in which the toe is pointed and is accompanied by a springy gait, for
+it is often combined with a _jeté_ and a _demi coupé_, as the primary
+steps of the ballet. This is followed by the _jeté_, which means,
+spring forward on the pointed toe of the front foot so that the weight
+is thrown on it. To perform this it is necessary first to bend the knee
+and jump on the foot; second, to bring the toe of the right foot into
+the above-described third position; third, advance the right foot in
+small steps; fourth, bring the left foot behind into the fifth position
+and raise the right.
+
+The _pas coupé_ is a step that requires the raising of one foot to the
+second position, then bringing it quickly to the other foot, which is
+then raised. Literally it means a step cut short. A step to the side is
+called _coupé lateral_, it is a _coupé dessous_ if the same movement
+is executed in front or behind. Then there is a _demi coupé_, in
+which the step is half made. The _chassé_ is a step in which the feet
+appear to be chasing each other close to the ground. It requires the
+advancing of the front foot, bringing the other close to it behind,
+then advancing the hind foot to the front, with an _assemblé_ round the
+other foot. The first movement requires a step forward with right foot,
+bringing the toe of the left to the heel of the front foot. Then step
+forward, bring the foot back to third position with an _assemblé_, and
+let the other foot take the fifth position in front.
+
+The _battements_ is balancing on one foot, while the other is extended
+to the side, front or back, and returning to the fifth position, in
+front or at the back. In the _petit battements_ the movements are made
+with the toe on the ground. For theatrical dancing the leg is raised as
+high as possible. The _arabesque_ is a step that requires the placing
+of the foot in the third position, then a slide of the left foot to
+the second position, turning the face and body in the same direction,
+the left hand curved above the head. In the second movement the right
+foot should be well extended behind, and the right hand stretched out
+behind. Of a quite different nature is the _cabriole_, which means
+striking the feet or calves of the legs together in the course of a
+leap. A _demi-cabriole_ is a leap from one foot to the other, striking
+the feet while aloft. It requires the feet to be in the third position,
+sliding the right foot to the side, passing the left foot to the back,
+springing on the right foot, and turning and leaving the left foot
+still behind; the fourth movement brings the left foot forward with the
+right knee to the third position. Executed by trained ballet dancers
+with both feet in the air while the legs are rapidly separated and
+brought together, it is an effective trick.
+
+Well known even to social dancers, as the basis of the polka-step, is
+the _pas bourrée_. This requires the dancer to stand on the front foot
+while the back one is raised. In the first movement the back foot is
+brought into the third position on the toes. The second movement is the
+beating of the front foot, and third movement the beating of back and
+front feet. To this step belongs the _pas de bourrée emboîté_, which
+requires the advancing of the right foot to the fourth position, the
+toe pointed and the knee straight, the bringing up of the left foot
+to the fourth position with the toe pointed behind the right, and the
+advancing of the right foot with the toe pointed to the fourth position
+without any raising or sinking of the body; it is all performed on the
+toes.
+
+Quite acrobatic in character are the celebrated _pirouettes_--movements
+composed of a _demi-coupé_ and two steps on the points of the toes. The
+_pirouette_ starts by bringing one foot to the fifth position behind,
+the toe touching the heel, then raising both heels and turning on the
+toe, reversing the position of the feet, and revolving on the toe. A
+_pirouette_ used in the old dances consists of a turn on one foot and
+the raising of the heel of the other, stepping with the toe of this
+foot four times and so getting around the other one. In some of the
+slow _pirouettes_ the movement seems to consist of the raising of the
+foot and jumping round as in some of the country dances. To this class
+belongs the _fouetté_, which gives a fluid, swinging impression.
+
+Of ancient French origin is the _pas de basque_, which starts in the
+fifth position with the bringing of the right foot forward with pointed
+toe, and passing in a semi-circle to the second position with the
+weight on the right foot, then with a _glissade_ through the third
+position into the fourth. The _glissade_ is a slide. Slide the front
+foot from the third position with pointed toe slightly raised to the
+right; then bring the left toe to the right heel, and _vice versa_. The
+first movement is the sliding of the foot from the third to the second
+position; the second, the left foot is drawn into the third position
+forward and repeats.
+
+The _fleuret_ is a movement composed of a _demi-coupé_ and two steps on
+the points of the toes. Start in the fourth position without touching
+the ground, bend the knees equally and pass the right foot in front in
+the fourth position, and so rise on the points of the toes and walk two
+steps on the toes, letting the heel be firm as you finish. This can be
+done also at the back and sides. The ‘balance’ is performed by rising
+and falling on the side of one foot, while the other is brought up
+close. The _brisé_ and _entre-chat_ are related movements. They occur
+during the spring while in the air. The feet cross and recross, and
+assume various positions. The _changement de pied_ is a conventional
+step. In the first movement the dancer springs upward from the third
+position with the right foot forward; in the second, he throws this
+foot back and the left forward, dropping down into the third position,
+the situation of the feet being changed; this can be done in the same
+manner starting from the fifth position. The _pas sauté_ is a jumping
+step, performed by bending the knee and leaping on one foot while the
+other is raised. Of more or less importance are the _assemblé_ and the
+_ballotté_. The movement in the former is that of bringing the foot
+from an open to a closed position, as from the second position to the
+fifth. The latter is a crossing of the feet alternately before and
+behind. Then there is the _pivot_, in which the dancer revolves on one
+foot while the other beats time in turning around.
+
+This is briefly the elementary grammar of the French ballet technique,
+upon which the mechanical part of the art of dancing has been based.
+This was thought to be of essential value for a dancer in producing
+the most effective lines of the various positions and gestures of the
+body. According to the views of the authorities of the French Academy,
+mental application to physical effort were the chief requirements of
+a dancer. The gymnastic, and particularly the acrobatic, features
+occupied the foremost place in the ballet performances. Thus dancers
+in a ballet were not considered human beings but rather moving figures
+in a decorative design. Even the celebrated _prima ballerinas_,
+Mlles. Sallé, Camargo and Guimard, who are considered as the first
+accomplished women dancers on the European stage, with their ‘ravishing
+figures,’ and ‘enchanting appearances’ as Voltaire praised them in
+his poems, remained acrobatic puppets, as compared with our modern
+terpsichorean celebrities.
+
+
+III
+
+The advent of the above-named three French ballet dancers was due to
+the genial reforms of Noverre, the Shakespeare of the dance, in the
+eighteenth century. We know very little of the principal qualities
+of Mlle. Sallé’s art, except that she disliked rapid measures and
+choreographic eccentricities. She was the principal dancer in many of
+Noverre’s ballets, especially in ‘The Caprices of Galatea’ and ‘Rinaldo
+and Armida,’ and in several Gardel ballets. In 1734 she appeared at
+Covent Garden in London, in the ballet of ‘Pygmalion and Galatea,’ and
+seemed to electrify her audiences so much that Handel wrote for her the
+ballet ‘Terpsichore,’ and at the close of the ballet purses filled with
+jewels were showered on the stage at her feet.
+
+The real favorite of the eighteenth century opera habitués was Mlle.
+Camargo. Her success is said to have been so sensational that the
+crowds around the doors of the theatre in London fought for the mere
+privilege of seeing her. She was also famous for her enchanting body
+and fascinating personality. Though born in Brussels, she was the
+daughter of a Spanish ballet-master, therefore she had at her command
+all the impassioned art of the ancient Caditians. At the age of ten
+she was sent by the Princess de Ligne to Paris and became a pupil of
+Madame Prévost, the foremost dancing teacher of that time. At the age
+of eleven she made her début at Rouen; but she continued her study
+until she was sixteen when she appeared for the first time at the Opera
+in Paris with unparalleled success. ‘Nimble, coquettish, and light as a
+sylph, she sparkled with intelligence,’ writes Castil-Blaze. ‘She added
+to distinction and fire of execution a bewitching gayety which was all
+her own. Her figure was very favorable to her talent: hands, feet,
+limbs, stature, all were perfect. But her face, though expressive, was
+not remarkably beautiful. And as in the case of the famous harlequin
+Dominique, her gayety was a gayety of the stage only; in private life
+she was sadness itself.’
+
+Camargo is credited with having brought about an absolute revolution
+in opera by her fanciful and ingenious improvisations. In spite of
+the prevailing stiffness and rigid rules in the ballet she made a
+special place for herself by depicting the characters that she had to
+personify on the stage. She delighted in the conquering of technical
+difficulties. Stormy love affairs affected her so much that for six
+years she retired from the stage. But she quitted public life in 1741
+and lived in seclusion the rest of her life. She left two children with
+the Duc de Richelieu and Comte de Clermont. She died at sixty years of
+age and ‘was remembered as the grave, sweet woman whose last years had
+been spent in loneliness and meditation.’
+
+Madeleine Guimard, whose fame loomed up soon after the retirement
+of Camargo, remained for forty years a commanding figure in the
+French ballet. Born in Paris in 1743, she made her début at the age
+of eighteen and was acclaimed as an artist of exquisite figure,
+marvellous grace, and extremely distinguished manners. She knew how to
+make money out of her rich patrons but she was also most reckless in
+the expenditure of her wealth and her affections. She possessed two
+elaborate villas, one at Pantin, the other in the Chaussée d’Antin,
+in both of which she had built little stages on which she and her
+contemporary stage celebrities gave performances to the high society
+of Paris. Fleury says that ‘it was a gala day for one of our actors
+when he could escape from the desert of the _Comédie Française_ and
+disport himself on the boards of a theatre so perfectly arranged.’ She
+entertained the guests of the court at her houses and loved to make
+her arrangements to clash with those given at the court. She was said
+to be pensioned by a Royal prince, a banker and a bishop, but lost
+nearly everything in the revolutionary storms. Retiring from the Opéra
+in 1789, she married the dancer Despreaux, who died soon after. Her
+old age was verging on misery and she died neglected in a miserable
+three-room apartment in the Rue Menars, at the age of seventy-three.
+
+A great dramatic _ballerina_ after Camargo was Mlle. Allard, whose
+partners were Vestris, Dauberval and Gardel. Her frenzied admirers
+claimed that she far surpassed Camargo because of her added fire, her
+unusual agility and the expressive beauty of her poses. At one time
+she would be an ideal Sylvia, gentle and graceful to her finger-tips,
+then again she was the terrible Medea; now she personified the ethereal
+charms of a goddess of youth, then the voluptuous passions of a
+sultana. She figured as the _prima ballerina_ in many of the ballets
+written by Maximilian Gardel, Milon, Mozart and Rossini.
+
+Of other dancers of the French school who enjoyed public favor
+under the Republic and the early Napoleonic era Duport is the only
+conspicuous figure. Being a special favorite with Napoleon, he
+was the star in the ballets of Blasis and Blache. He composed some
+ballets himself in which he played the leading rôles. But these gained
+little success. Napoleon wrote to Cambaceres from Lyons that it was
+inconceivable to him why Duport had been allowed to compose ballets.
+‘This young man has not been in vogue a year. When one has made such
+a marked success in a particular line, it is a little precipitate to
+invade the specialty of other men, who have grown gray at their work.’
+This clearly shows how much the great emperor was interested in the
+ballet, and how well he could criticize its artistic values.
+
+The Napoleonic era stopped temporarily the development of the ballet.
+Pieces composed during this time gained production more easily on
+foreign stages than at home. Thus the brilliant _Antoine et Cléopatre_,
+with music by Kreutzer, lived a few performances at home, whereas it
+became one of the most successful ballets abroad. The same was the
+case with Blache’s ballets ‘Don Juan,’ ‘Gustave Vasa’ and ‘Malakavel,’
+which became the favorites of the St. Petersburg audiences, while
+they remained unknown at home. It seems as if the political events
+which marked such a great step towards democratic ideas in France and
+Europe became a serious stumbling-stone to the evolution of the dance.
+Democratic England always relied on autocratic France, Italy, Austria
+and Russia for stimulation in dancing. All the great ballet celebrities
+of continental Europe found in England responsive and generous
+audiences, but never any serious rivals. Who of the great French _prima
+ballerinas_ or male dancers, from Mlle. Sallé till Carlotta Grisi, did
+not make pilgrimages to Drury Lane?
+
+[Illustration: Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)
+
+_Painting by E. Degas_]
+
+Though to the period of the Renaissance and the European national
+awakening belong all the immortal musical geniuses, like Bach, Mozart,
+Gluck, Beethoven, Schubert and others, who laid the foundations
+of the opera and symphony, yet these men seemed to ignore the ballet
+(if we leave out of consideration their inferior or incidental works).
+Gluck wrote a few pieces of this order, and so did Mozart; but they are
+not the works of their inspiration. Scribe, Rossini, Auber, Weber and
+Meyerbeer gave occasional expression to ballet music, particularly in
+connection with their operas, but they regarded these works as inferior
+to their operas. There are two reasons for this: ecclesiastical
+prejudice and the revolutionary mob. Just as a fanatical clergy branded
+the dance as Pagan and immoral, so the mob has always regarded the
+ballet as an aristocratic luxury. Science seems to us essentially
+democratic; but from the arts there breathes an air of snobbishness
+and luxury. The history of civilization has not yet recorded a truly
+democratic art, particularly a democratic ballet.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE
+
+  The rise of nationalism--The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango;
+  the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances;
+  general characteristics; costumes--England: the Morris dance;
+  the Country dance; the Sword dance; the Horn dance--Scotland:
+  Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.--Ireland: the Jig; British social
+  dances--France: Rondé, Bourrée and Farandole--Italy: the
+  Tarantella, etc.--Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related dances;
+  the Esthonians--Germany: the _Fackeltanz_, etc.--Finland;
+  Scandinavia and Holland--The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs;
+  the Roumanians and Armenians--The Russians: ballad dances; the
+  Kasatchy and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.
+
+
+The greatest factor in the stimulation of European art, particularly
+music, drama and ballet after the bloody Napoleonic wars, was the
+rise of nationalism, vigorously manifested in the folk-art--dresses,
+customs, decorations, buildings, songs and dances--of various nations.
+The first steps in this direction were taken by the Scandinavians:
+Grieg, Ibsen, Björnson and August Bournoville. What Noverre was to
+aristocratic France that Bournoville was to Scandinavia. Instead of
+searching for models and inspiration in the aristocratic traditions of
+the past centuries, these men turned to the inexhaustible treasuries of
+the national folk-art. And they truly discovered new beauties in the
+simple racial traits of the people. In the previously despised peasant
+art they found unexpected æsthetic gems, out of which they began to
+form the individual beauties of their new art.
+
+The Scandinavians were soon followed by the young Russian dreamers:
+Glinka, Dargomijsky, Seroff, Balakireff, Moussorgsky and Tschaikowsky
+in music and also in ballet; Gogol, Turgenieff, Dostoievsky and
+Ostrovsky in drama and literature, turned in their creations to the
+rich and unexploited folk-lore of the people. Russian music, perhaps
+more than any other, is a true mirror of the racial soul. There is
+fire, gloom, sorrow and joy, remodelled and expressed in the same
+racial spirit as that in which the moujik sings his _Ai Ouchnem_, or
+builds his _izba_.
+
+The electrifying effect of the Russian dancers upon the European
+audiences is not due to the influence of the French Academy, on the
+model of which the Russian Imperial Ballet School was formed, as many
+music and dance critics of the old and new worlds seem to think, but to
+the primitive racial spirit, to the great stage geniuses of the Russian
+Empire, who began their work on the basis of ethnographic principles.
+It is therefore in the folk-dances that we must look for the solution
+of future dance problems, it is in the ethnographic element that is
+laid the foundation of the modern art dance.
+
+
+I
+
+While taking into consideration the folk-dances of various European
+nations, we find that those of Spain are the richest in racial
+individuality, most passionate in their æsthetic conception, and most
+powerful in their dynamic language. With their mediæval mystery, magic
+passion, merciless fury, angelic grace and seductive plastic forms the
+Spanish folk-dances remain the most impressive examples of folk-art.
+The centuries of Inquisition, romantic tragedies of the Moors and the
+silhouettes of an Alhambra are all expressed in the voluptuous lines of
+a _Jota_ or _Fandango_, regardless of whether they are performed by an
+Andalusian or an Aragon beauty.
+
+So manifold is the Spanish folk-dance and so rich the Spanish
+imagination that each province has its own peculiar dance, of which,
+as in the case of the _Zarzuelas_, the inhabitants are immensely
+proud, and which they dance on the occasion of the fêtes of their
+patron-saints. The Andalusians boast of their _Bondinas_, the Galicians
+of their _Muynieras_, the Murcians of their _Torras_ and _Pavanas_,
+etc. Dancing is the great pastime of a Spaniard. A dance of distinctly
+Moorish traits is the _Polo_. This is performed to the music of the
+_gaita_, a kind of bagpipe, and to the songs accompanying it. Devilier
+tells us how the male dancer looks over the girls present and, smiling
+on one of them, sings: ‘Come hither, little one, and we’ll dance a
+_Polo_ that’ll shake down half Seville.’ ‘The girl so addressed was
+perhaps twenty years of age, plump, robust, strapping and supple.
+Stepping proudly forward, with that easy swaying of the hips which is
+called the _meneo_, she stood in the centre of the court awaiting her
+cavalier. Then castañets struck up, accompanied by the gay jingle of
+tambourines and the bystanders kept time by tapping the flags of the
+yard with their heels or their sword-canes, or by slapping the backs
+of the fingers of the right hand, and then striking the two palms
+together. The dancer, marvellously seconded by her partner, had little
+need of these incitements; now she twisted this way, and now that, as
+if to escape the pursuit of her cavalier; again she seemed to challenge
+him, lifting and lowering to right and to left the flounced skirt of
+her calico dress, showing a white starched petticoat and a well-turned,
+nervous leg. The spectators grew more and more excited. Striking a
+tambourine, some one cast it down at the girl’s feet; and she danced
+round it with redoubled animation and agility. But soon the exhausted
+dancers had to sink upon a bench of the courtyard.’
+
+One of the most typical of the Spanish folk-dances is the celebrated
+_Fandango_, that surpasses in its wild passions and vulcanic vigor
+everything of its kind. If you see it performed in the shadows of the
+ruined Moorish castles and mosques to a measure in rapid triple time,
+and hear the sharp clank of ebony or ivory castañets beating strange,
+throbbing rhythms, you stand spellbound and electrified, a mute witness
+of striking ethnographic magic. You seem to feel the pulse of the
+semi-tropical, semi-African race. The flutter and glitter, passion and
+quivering seductiveness, are a glimpse into the æsthetic depths of a
+national soul. The dance seems to inflame the dancers as well as the
+spectators. A Spanish poet speaks of the _Fandango_ as of an electric
+shock that animates all hearts. ‘Men and women,’ he writes, ‘young
+and old, acknowledge the power of the Fandango air over the ears and
+soul of every Spaniard. The young men spring to their places, rattling
+castañets, or imitating their sound by snapping their fingers. The
+girls are remarkable for the willowy languor and lightness of their
+movements, the voluptuousness of their attitudes--beating the exactest
+time with tapping heels. Partners tease and entreat and pursue each
+other by turns. Suddenly the music stops, and each dancer shows his
+skill by remaining absolutely motionless, bounding again into the full
+life of the _Fandango_ as the orchestra strikes up. The sound of the
+guitar, the violin, the rapid tic-tac of the heels (_taconeos_), the
+crack of fingers and castañets, the supple swaying of the dancers, fill
+the spectators with ecstasy.’
+
+An equally well known of the Spanish folk-dances is the _Jota_, which
+is said to have originated in the province of Aragon, though the
+inhabitants of Valencia and Andalusia claim that the _Jota_ is the
+invention of their ancestors centuries before the Aragonians knew
+of it. It is a more ceremonial and less passionate dance than the
+_Fandango_, as it is performed on Christmas Eve and at other festivals
+with the purpose of invoking the favor of the Virgin. The Kinneys write
+of it: ‘It is a good, sound fruit of the soil, full of substance, and
+inviting to the eye as good sound fruit may be. No academy’s hothouse
+care has been needed to develop or protect it; the hand of the peasant
+has cultivated without dirtying it. And that, when you look over the
+history of dancing in some more progressive nations, is a pretty
+significant thing. The people of Aragon are not novelty-hunters.
+Perhaps that is why they have been satisfied while perfecting the dance
+of their province not to pervert it from its proper motive--which is to
+express in terms of poetry both the vigor and the innocence of rustic,
+romping, boy-and-girl courtship.’
+
+‘A trace of stiffness of limb and angularity of movement, proper to the
+_Jota_, imbued it with a continuous hint of the rural grotesque. Yet,
+as the angular spire of the Gothic cathedral need be no less graceful
+than the rounded dome of the mosque, so the _Jota_ concedes nothing
+in beauty to the more rolling movement of the dance of Andalusia. It
+is broad and big of movement; the castañets most of the time are held
+strongly out at arm’s length. One of its many surprises is the manner
+of the pauses: the movement is so fast, the pauses are so electrically
+abrupt, and the group in which the dancers hold themselves statue-like
+through a couple of measures is so suddenly formed, that a layman’s
+effort to understand the transition would be like trying to analyze the
+movements of the particles in a kaleidoscope.’
+
+The _Jotas_ of the other provinces, particularly of Andalusia and
+Valencia, are less racial than _la Jota Aragonesa_, but nevertheless
+they are true to the spirit of their localities. Thus the Andalusian
+_Jota_ breathes mystery and romantic gloom, while that of Valencia is
+fluid and graceful in every movement. The great violinist Sarasate was
+so fond of the _Jota_ that he made special trips after his concert
+season in the capitals of the world to his home town in Spain, and
+immensely enjoyed dancing with his old friends and the townspeople or
+playing the violin to them free of charge.
+
+An extremely graceful and dignified Spanish folk-dance is the _Bolero_.
+This dance more than any other resembles the general architectonic and
+decorative style of the Spanish middle class. It has round and fluid
+lines, rich, soft forms, and graceful poses. In many respects it rather
+suggests a mediæval ballroom than a simple folk-dance. Some authors
+say that it is an invention of Sebastian Cerezo, a celebrated dancer
+of the eighteenth century, but the Spaniards themselves maintain that
+it dates back to the Arab rule or before. Blasis writes of it: ‘The
+_Bolero_ consists of five parts: the _paseo_, or promenade, which is
+introductory; the _differencia_, in which the step is changed; the
+_traversia_, in which places are changed; then the so-called _finale_;
+followed in conclusion by the _bien parado_, distinguished by graceful
+attitudes, and a combined pose of both the dancers. The _Bolero_ is
+generally in duple time, though some _Boleros_ are written in triple
+time. Its music is varied and abounds in cadences. The tune or air may
+change, but the peculiar rhythm must be preserved, as well as the time
+and the preludes, otherwise known as feigned pauses--_feintes pauses_.
+The _Bolero_ step is low and gliding, _battu_ or _coupé_, but always
+well marked.’
+
+A folk-dance of great antiquity, according to Fuentes, is the
+_Seguidilla_, which has certain affinities with the _Bolero_. It is a
+spirited, gay and modest country dance of the Andalusian peasants. The
+_Seguidillas_ of some provinces have a rapid rhythm and are accompanied
+by humorous recitative songs. It is said that in La Mancha, whose
+inhabitants are famous for their passionate love of dancing, verses to
+_Seguidillas_ are improvised by popular poets to suit every occasion.
+The _Seguidillas_ are dances that you see performed on any occasion at
+country inns and at social festivals. Though requiring less physical
+strength and dynamic technique than many others, nevertheless the
+_Seguidilla_ is difficult to untrained aspirants. But like most of the
+Spanish folk-dances it betrays caprice, coquettishness and romantic
+tendencies of some sort. The theme of the _Seguidilla_ poems is always
+love. Davillier says that the _Seguidilla_ that he saw at Albacetex
+‘began in a minor key with some rapid _arpeggios_; and each dancer
+chose his partner, the various couples facing each other some three or
+four paces apart. Presently, two or three emphatic chords indicated to
+the singers that their turn had come, and they sang the first verse of
+the _copla_ (the song that accompanies a dance); meanwhile the dancers,
+toes pointed and arms rounded, waited for their signal. The singers
+paused, and the guitarist began the air of an old _Seguidilla_. At
+the fourth bar the castañets struck in, the singers continued their
+_copla_, and all the dancers began enthusiastically turning, returning,
+following and fleeing from each other. At the ninth bar, which
+indicates the finish of the first part, there was a slight pause; the
+dancers stood motionless and the guitar twanged on. Then, with a change
+of step, the second part began, each dancer taking his original place
+again. It was then we were able to judge of the most interesting and
+graceful part of the dance--the _bien parado_--literally: well stopped.
+The _bien parado_ in the _Seguidillas_ is the abrupt breaking off of
+one figure to make way for a new one. It is a very important point that
+the dancers should stand motionless, and, as it were, petrified, in the
+position in which they are surprised by the final notes of the air.
+Those who managed to do this gracefully were applauded with repeated
+cries of _bien parado_!
+
+‘Such are the classic lines upon which the dance is regulated, but
+how shall we describe its effect upon the dancers? The ardent melody,
+at once voluptuous and melancholy, the rapid clank of castañets, the
+melting enthusiasm of the dancers, the suppliant looks and gestures of
+their partners, the languorous grace and elegance of the impassioned
+movements--all give to the picture an irresistible attraction only to
+be appreciated to the full by Spaniards. They alone have the qualities
+necessary for the performance of their national dance; they alone have
+the special fire that inspires its movements with passion and with
+life.’
+
+Noteworthy among the other Spanish folk-dances is _El Jaleo_, a wild
+and animated dance, consisting of acrobatic leaping and bounding,
+pirouet wheeling and fury-like fleeing and rushing. It needs a strong
+and experienced gypsy girl or a seasoned country dancer to give it
+its peculiar electrifying quality. _El Garrotin_ is described as a
+pantomimic dance, in which the gesture of the hands and arms plays a
+leading rôle. The Kinneys write that _La Farruca_ is an interesting
+folk-dance. ‘After one becomes accustomed to it sufficiently to be able
+to dominate one’s own delight and astonishment, one may look at it as a
+study of contrasts. Now the performers advance with undulation so slow,
+so subtle that the Saracenic coquetry of liquid arms and feline body
+is less seen than felt. Mystery of movement envelops their bodies like
+twilight. Of this perhaps eight measures, when--crash! Prestissimo!
+Like gatling-fire the volley of heel-tapping. The movements have become
+the eye-baffling darting of swallows. No preparation for the change, no
+crescendo nor accelerando; in the matter of abruptness one is reminded
+of some of the effects familiar in the playing of Hungarian orchestras.’
+
+The _Cachucha_, _Tascara_ and _Zorongo_ are Spanish folk-dances of more
+or less local color. While the _Zorongo_ is a rapid dance, performed
+in backwards and forwards movements, the dancer beating time with his
+hands, the _Cachucha_ is danced by a single dancer of either sex, in
+triple time. Its steps are gay, graceful and impassionate, head and
+bust playing a conspicuous rôle. The _Tascara_ dance is more fantastic
+and symbolic than hardly any other of Spain. The movements are slow
+and languorous. It requires more backward curving and strange posing
+than agility and grace. In olden times Tascara was imagined as a dragon
+with an enormous mouth and fantastic wings. The slow movements of the
+dance grow gradually in speed and near the end the castañets strike,
+for without them a Spanish dancer seems to feel uneasy.
+
+The choreographic designs of all the Spanish folk-dances are rich
+in graceful curves, with abrupt sharp corners here and there, like
+the national architecture. They speak of a sweet glow of emotion and
+make a direct appeal to the passions. In dances of certain provinces
+and certain ages we discern the influence of Egypt, particularly of
+the Arabs. They give evidence of an ancient training which has grown
+into the blood and bones of the nation. They betray more the forms of
+Moorish arabesques than the clear-cut images of the Roman, Greek, or
+Gothic style. You can feel in their vigorous rhythm and colorful tunes
+simple, unspoiled souls, filled with energy and hope. To this the
+picturesque and romantic dresses of their women add that atmosphere and
+background which the individual stage dance seeks in proper scenery
+and costumes. In this the Spaniards are born masters. Take, for
+instance, the black velvet bodice, golden-yellow satin skirt, net-work
+dotted with little black balls, draped over the hips of an Andalusian
+belle, and you have a combination of colors and designs that so aptly
+fit a _Fandango_ or _Bolero_ that it seems as if a genius had been
+at work in this harmonious combination. Not less effective are the
+silver-spangled costume of an Aragonian dancing girl, and the costume
+of Spanish male dancers, which is suggestive of humor, brilliancy and
+simple strength. The laced black breeches lashed at the knee, the black
+velvety waist-coat, broad blue sash, and the red handkerchief tied
+around the head, and you have the most harmonious counterpart to the
+picturesque woman dancer. The music, steps, gestures, poses, dress and
+choreographic figures of the dance melt into a grandiose masterpiece
+of some gigantic yet unknown genius. The colors, the wide skirt, the
+light sandals, the comfortable costumes and the animated gestures fit
+so perfectly together and produce in the symbolic lines of the movement
+a language that speaks so clearly of the æsthetic peculiarities of
+the nation that we are convinced we have here the best lesson in the
+fundamental principles of a new art dance.
+
+
+II
+
+How true a mirror the folk-dances and the folk-songs have been and
+are in showing the racial differences in regard to beauty, is best
+to be seen if we take the reader from semi-tropical Spain into
+cold, conventional England, where æsthetic views have developed so
+differently. In this field we owe much to Cecil Sharp, whose careful
+works on English folk-dances are of exceptional service to the student
+of choreography.
+
+The most typical of English folk-dances are the Morris Dances, the
+Country Dances, and the Sword Dances. All three lack the fire and
+boisterous passions of the Spanish _Jotas_, _Boleros_ and _Fandangos_.
+They betray the traits of a more phlegmatic and more critical, perhaps
+more intellectual, but less emotional race. Take, for instance,
+the Morris Dance, and you find it to be a manifestation of vigor
+rather than of grace. The same you will find true of all the other
+English folk-dances. They are, in spirit, the organized, traditional
+expressions of virility and sound health--they smack of cudgel-play, of
+wrestling and of honest fisticuffs. There is nothing dreamy, nothing
+romantic, nothing coquettish about them. Speaking particularly of the
+Morris Dance, Mr. Sharp writes:
+
+‘It is a formula based upon and arising out of the life of man, as
+it is lived by men who hold much speculation upon the mystery of our
+whence and whither to be unprofitable; by men of meagre fancy, but of
+great kindness to the weak; by men who fight their quarrels on the spot
+with naked hands, drink together when the fight is done, and forget
+it, or, if they remember, then the memory is a friendly one. It is the
+dance of folk who are slow to anger, but of great obstinacy--forthright
+of act and speech; to watch it in its thumping sturdiness is to hold
+such things as poniards and stilettos, the swordsman with the domino,
+the man who stabs in the back--as unimaginable things. The Morris
+Dance is a perfect expression in rhythm and movement of the English
+character.’
+
+The Morris dancers wear bells strapped to their shins, and properly
+to ring them requires considerable kicking and stamping. This ringing
+is done to emphasize the _fortissimo_ part of the music. The foot,
+when lifted, is never drawn back, but always thrust forward. The toe
+is never pointed in line with the leg, but held at a right angle to
+it, as in the standing position. The stepping foot is lifted as in
+walking, as if to step forward, then the leg is vigorously straightened
+to a kick, so as to make the bells ring. At the same instant that
+the forward leg is straightened, a hop is made on the rear foot; the
+dancer alights upon the toe, but lets the heel follow immediately and
+firmly, so that he stands upon the flat foot. The dancer jumps as high
+as his own foot, holding his legs and body straight while he is in
+the air, alighting upon the toes (but only so as to break the shock
+sufficiently), then letting the heels come firmly down. In alighting
+from the jump, the knees are bent just enough to save the dancer from
+injurious shock, and are straightened immediately. The Morris Dance
+is danced by men, usually six. Occasionally, but rarely, women have
+figured as performers. The music in early times was furnished by the
+bagpipe, whistle and tabor; but for a century or so a fiddle did the
+service. The dress of the dancers was a tall hat with a band of red,
+green and white ribbons, an elaborately frilled and pleated white
+shirt, fawn-shaded breeches with braces of white webbing, blue tie
+with the ends long and loose, substantial boots, and rough, gray wool
+stockings. All dancers carry a white handkerchief, the middle finger
+thrust through a hole in one corner.
+
+Of somewhat different type is the Country Dance, which is performed
+by men and women together. Though less of a festival nature than
+the Morris, the Country Dance has been practised as the ordinary,
+every-day dance of the people. It is performed in couples and contains
+gestures that suggest flirtation. For this no special dress is needed.
+The figures and steps are simple and more graceful than those of the
+Morris Dance. Its step is of a springy walking nature, two to each bar,
+executed by women with a natural unaffected grace, and on the part of
+men with a complacent bearing and a certain jauntiness of manner. Like
+the Morris, the Country Dance never requires pointed toes, arched legs
+or affected swayings. The galop, waltz and polka steps are occasionally
+used. The movements are performed smoothly and quietly, the feet
+more sliding than walking. The figures are numerous and involve many
+repetitions.
+
+Of a very spectacular character are the Sword Dances, which bear a
+stamp of high antiquity. During the mythologic era they may have been
+practised as war dances, as we find similar ones practised by all
+primitive tribes. The history of all nations speaks of sword dances of
+some kind. There is to be seen in the Berlin Museum a picture from the
+seventeenth century that shows two double rings of dancers in white
+shirts, holding up on a frame of interlaced swords two swordsmen clad
+entirely in colors. There are also, separately, seven sword-dancers,
+six in white shirts, the first only clothed in red, like one of the
+swordsmen. They dance in file toward the left, each sloping his own
+sword back over his left shoulder and grasping the sword-point of the
+men next in front of him. The last man only shoulders his sword.
+
+In England there seem to have been six principal sword dances, three
+long and three short. The long-sword dance of Yorkshire requires six
+men dancers, the Captain, and the Fool. These are accompanied by a
+musician who plays either a fiddle, bagpipe or accordion. The dancers
+wear red tunics, cut soldier fashion and trimmed with white braid down
+the front and around the collar and sleeves; white trousers with a red
+stripe an inch or more wide down the side of each leg; brown canvas
+shoes, and tightly fitting cricket caps, quartered in red and white.
+Each dancer carries a sword; the leader, an ordinary military weapon,
+and the others swords forged by a village blacksmith. The Captain wears
+a blue coat of flowered cloth, ordinary trousers and a peaked cap of
+white flannel. He used to carry a drum, slung round his waist, upon
+which he accompanied the dance tunes. The Fool used to wear a cocked
+hat, decorated with peacock feathers. He wore a dinner-bell and a fox’s
+tail attached to the back buckle of his trousers, and he used to run
+among the spectators making humorous exclamations. The steps, a kind
+of leisurely tramp, or jog-trot, fall on the first and middle beats of
+each bar of the music, and the tramp of the feet should synchronize
+with the rhythm of the tune. The dancers move slowly round in a ring,
+clockwise, stepping in time with the music and clashing their swords
+together on the first and middle beats of each bar of the first strain
+of the music. The swords are held points up, hilts level with the chin,
+the blades nearly vertical, forming a cone immediately above the centre
+of the circle. Each dancer places his sword over his left shoulder
+and grasps the sword-point belonging to the dancer in front of him. He
+then faces the centre of the ring, passes his sword over his head and
+lets his arms fall naturally to his sides. The dance consists of eight
+different figures. In the last figure the dancers draw close together,
+linked by their swords, each crossing his right hand well over his
+head. Each man then drops the tip of his neighbor’s sword and, using
+both his hands, presses the hilt of his own sword under the point of
+the sword adjacent to it. In this way the swords are tightly meshed
+together in the form of a double triangle, or six-pointed star. The
+process of fastening the swords together is carried out as quickly and
+smartly as possible.
+
+The writer saw a series of English folk-dances given at the MacDowell
+Festival at Peterboro, N. H., in 1914, among them the sword-dance
+described. The performance was exceedingly effective, though the
+instructor had only inexperienced young amateurs at his disposal. The
+character of the English folk-dances made rather the impression of a
+wholesome sport than of a social ceremonial. It seemed as if they were
+void of all emotional suggestions and their language was clever and
+realistic rather than fanciful and imaginative.
+
+Though of the same order as the previously described Morris, Country
+and Sword Dances, yet of a more fantastic appearance is the Horn
+Dance, which the English have borrowed from the Finns, and greatly
+changed after their own taste. The English Horn Dance requires ten
+performers, six dancers, a fool, Maid Marian, a hobby-horse, and a boy
+carrying a bow and arrow. These are accompanied by a musician, who
+plays an accordion, and a boy with a triangle. Each dancer carries a
+pair of reindeer horns. The antlers borne by the first three dancers
+are painted a white or cream color, the remaining three a dark blue.
+The horns are set in a wooden counterfeit skull, from which depends
+a short wooden pole or handle about eighteen inches long. Each dancer
+bears the head in front of him, and supports it by grasping the handle
+with his right hand and balancing the horn with his left. The fool has
+a stick with a bladder attached to it; Maid Marian is impersonated by
+a man dressed in woman’s clothes and carries a wooden ladle which is
+used to collect money. The boy holds a bow and arrow which he clicks
+together in time with the music. The step is similar to the country
+dance step, an easy, rhythmical, graceful and springy walking movement.
+
+
+III
+
+The Scotch folk-dances, which surpass the English by their more
+rigorous movement and spirited steps, picture graphically the simple,
+industrious traits of a thrifty race. The most characteristic of the
+Scotch folk-dances are the _Highland Fling_, the _Scotch Reel_, and the
+_Shean Treuse_. All the Scotch dances are more or less variants of the
+previously described English ones. They have the same strong, sporty
+rhythm and jaunty bearing as the others. Their choreographic figures
+are so closely related to the English, and the English to theirs, that
+it were superfluous to give a detailed description of them on this
+occasion. Perhaps the _Scotch Reel_ shows most typical traits of the
+Scottish race. This dance requires four ladies and four gentlemen, who
+all join hands, forming a circle. Then the gentlemen and ladies cross
+their hands and move eight steps forward and eight steps back in the
+style of a promenade. The gentleman balances his partner, swinging his
+right and left arms alternately and proceeds through the chain, the
+ladies separating left, the gentlemen right, until all arrive at their
+previous positions. The first lady goes into the centre of the ring
+while others hop around her until they reach their original position,
+after which the lady in the centre balances to her partner and back to
+the opposite gentleman in a half-swing, forming occasionally a chain
+of three. Thus it goes on until all the four ladies have done, after
+which the gentlemen follow the same figures and steps. All their steps
+are of a sharp, skipping nature and the lines of their poses remind
+one of the designs on their checked decorations and on the patterns of
+their bright and plain dresses. Noteworthy among the Scotch folk-dances
+is the _Hornpipe_, which has been a favored dance of the sailors and
+peasants. Its lively, rapid measure, so far as the feet are concerned,
+the folded arms, the firm and stiff body are typical characteristics
+of a Scotchman’s manners. The dance owes its name to the fact that it
+is performed to the music of a pipe with a horn rim at the open end.
+There are an infinite variety of _Hornpipes_ and of music to which they
+can be danced, either in common or triple time, the final note having a
+special stress laid on it.
+
+Of somewhat different character than the English and Scotch folk-dances
+are those of Ireland. The Irish _Jig_ enjoys a popularity throughout
+the world. Already the name suggests a light, frolicking and airy
+movement. Since the days of Charles II and Queen Anne, this dance has
+been associated with humorous verses. The _Jigs_ were already in vogue
+at the time of Shakespeare, who speaks of them as leading pieces in
+the theatrical repertoires. A dancing or singing _Jig_ was the real
+climax of a piece, often being given as an entertainment during the
+intermissions. Audiences were accustomed to call for a _Jig_ as a happy
+ending to a show. The Irish people, possessing a natural love for music
+and dancing, have put their soul into the _Jig_. It mirrors best the
+semi-sentimental, the semi-adventurous racial traits of an Irishman.
+
+There are single and double _Jigs_; the distinction rests on the
+number of beats in the bar and they have often enough been danced to
+the strains of the bagpipe. As a rule, the foot should strike six times
+to a bar, and it needs a certain amount of enthusiasm to get into
+the spirit of the thing, the music thereof being most exhilarating.
+It adds to the charm if the dancers appear as Paddy in a brown coat,
+green breeches, and the soft hat with the pipe in it, and his partner
+in emerald green stockings and skirt, with a red kerchief about her
+head. The music of a _Jig_ is usually an old Irish ditty, and anything
+more spirited or more in tune to the step could not be found. The first
+sixteen bars of the dance are occupied with the pitch in which the
+leg is thrown out. Sixteen bars are given to the toe and heel step.
+Thirty-two bars are occupied with the diagonal cock-step, supposed
+to represent the strutting of a cock. Sixteen bars are danced to a
+rocking-step, in which the legs are crossed. Eight bars are given to
+pointing; sixteen to stamping firmly with both feet, then the dancers
+advance and pivot. Finally, sixteen bars are given to a round and round
+movement. It requires a great deal of hand movement and body vivacity.
+It has been said by certain Irishmen that a _Jig_ is in its apparent
+fun and fury a short symbolic drama of Irish life. The first figures
+mean love making, wooing, wedding and marriage. Then come the troubles
+of married life, the repentance and sinking into the grave.
+
+To old Irish, Scotch and English folk-dances belong the ‘All in a
+Garden Green,’ ‘Buckingham House,’ ‘Dargason,’ ‘Heartsease,’ and
+‘Oranges and Lemons.’ They are all graceful and dignified, but depict
+more the English middle class or nobility than the people. Thus in
+the ‘All in a Garden Green’ the man begins by shaking the hand of his
+lady partner and kissing her twice, which was rather the custom of
+the fashionable ballroom than of a puritan people. They all give the
+impression of a refinement of manners that belongs more to the early
+French social dances than to the folk-dances of a heavy and realistic
+race. We know how the English high society and court imitated the
+French in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so it is only
+natural that it accepted with certain modifications the French social
+dances.
+
+
+IV
+
+It seems like a paradox that a country which gave to the world the
+classic ballet in the modern sense, Noverre, Blasis and Vestris, never
+produced any folk-dances of such racial flavor as we find in many
+other nations. The old French Rustic Dances, ‘Rounds,’ _Bourrées_, the
+Breton Dances, and the _Farandole_, betray only in certain figures the
+characteristics of the French race; otherwise they make the impression
+of a pleasing and polished bourgeois art. The _Ronde_, considered as
+the first form of French folk-dances, being performed in circles by
+taking each other by the hand, is to be found among races like the
+Finns, Esthonians, Letts and Lithuanians, as we read from the old
+epics of these nations. Thus we read in the _Kalewipoeg_ that ring
+dances--_ringi tants_--of eleventh-century Esthonians were practically
+of the same order as the French _Rondes_. The Greeks had ‘Rounds,’ so
+had other ancient civilized races.
+
+An old French dance is the _Bourrée_ of Auvergne. It is said to be a
+shepherd dance originally; but Catherine de Medici introduced it at
+court and polished out all the heavy, simple and characteristic traits
+of the people. From that time it has figured as a semi-fashionable
+dance danced in the society. Bach, Gluck, Handel, and many others since
+have either composed _Bourrées_ or treated _Bourrée_ themes in their
+orchestral compositions. Originally the _Bourrée_ was a simple mimic
+dance of the peasants. The woman moved round the man as if to tease
+him. He advanced and returned, glanced at her and ignored her. In the
+meanwhile she continued her flirting. Then the man snapped his finger,
+stamped his foot and gave an expression of his masculinity. That
+induced her to yield, and the dance stopped--only to begin anew.
+
+Like the _Bourrée_, the _Farandole_, which originated in Southern
+France, was concocted into a dance of the _Beaux Monde_ and deprived of
+its racial language. The _Farandole_ that one sees danced in Provence
+is only a pretty social dance and has little of the old flavor. The
+dancers performing it stand in a long line, holding the ends of each
+other’s handkerchiefs and winding rapidly under each other’s arms
+or gyrating around a single couple in a long spiral. The modern
+‘Cotillions’ and ‘Quadrilles’ are based on the old French _Farandole_.
+
+It is likely that the idolized French ballet killed the interest of
+the people in their simple and idyllic folk-dances. The peasant going
+to the town felt the contempt that a patrician had for the country art
+and naturally grew to dislike his traditional old-fashioned village
+dance. The music that he heard in the city cafés cast its spell upon
+him, as did the city dances. Urban ideals have been of great influence
+upon the French country people, upon their traditional folk-dances and
+folk-songs, and this has deprived the race of valuable ethnographic
+reserve capital, in which many other nations excel. The French, like
+the English, have been strong in cosmic tendencies but weak in ethnic.
+While science grows out of the cosmic principles, art’s vigor lies
+in those of ethnographic nature. An average Frenchman is a great
+connoisseur of dancing and indulges in it with a particular pleasure.
+But his love of the refined and most accomplished impressions puts him
+naturally outside a simple and coarse peasant art.
+
+The Italian is less pretentious in his taste than the former. But an
+average Italian, regardless of whether he be a peasant from the most
+secluded corner of the country or a citizen of Naples, lives and dies
+in music, particularly in song. The predilection that a Frenchman shows
+for the ballet transforms itself in the case of an Italian into a love
+for the opera. Italy has produced great composers, great musicians and
+singers, but only a few great dancers. An Italian dancer is either
+acrobatic or blunt. She seems to lack the more subtle qualities of
+plastic expression, the ability to speak in gestures and mimic forms.
+This is best illustrated in the celebrated folk-dance, the _Tarantella_.
+
+The _Tarantella_ owes its name to a great poisonous spider, whose bite
+was supposed to be cured only by dancing to the point of exhaustion.
+The Italians perform it to the music of a tambourine, which in the
+hands of an expert gives an amazing variety of tones. Like the skirt,
+apron and the head-dress of the dancing girl, the tambourine is
+adorned with glaring red, white and green colored ribbons. The white
+under-bodice of the Italian peasant dress is capable of any amount
+of embroidery, the hair intertwisted and interplaited with ribbons,
+the aprons interwoven with colors, and, instead of the usual square
+head-dress, with its hard oblong board resting on the head, a scarf
+is gracefully folded over the foundation and caught back with bright
+ribbons; this is the special Tarantella dress of a girl. The Italian
+costumes, both ancient and modern, are full of grace and beauty and
+give the appropriate atmosphere to a dance.
+
+The _Tarantella_, being a tragic dance, demands considerable
+temperament, fire and dramatic gift. It begins with the dancers
+saluting each other, and dancing a while timidly. Then they withdraw,
+return, stretch out their arms and whirl vehemently in a giddy circle.
+It has many surprising and acrobatic turns. Towards the middle the
+partners turn their backs on each other in order to take up new
+figures. It ends with a tragic, whirling collapse of the girl and
+the man looking sadly on. It is typical of hysteric fury, revenge,
+superstition, hatred, fanaticism, passion and agony. It speaks of a
+quick and sanguine temperament. An Englishman, Scandinavian or Dutchman
+could never dance a _Tarantella_. It is the dance of a temperamental
+race.
+
+Like the ancient Romans, the Italians are fond of pantomimes and
+spectacular effects, with little discrimination for poetry and poise.
+We can see the same traits in the Italian ballet, which has an
+outspoken tendency to the acrobatic. All the Italian ballet teachers in
+Russia are kept there only for their acrobatic specialties. You find
+in Italy everywhere singing parties, but comparatively little dancing.
+Some provinces may be more inclined to dancing than those around Naples
+and Rome. We have heard of a pretty dance, called _Trescona_, that the
+people dance in Florence, but we have never seen it performed. Other
+Italian folk-dances are the _La Siciliana_, _Saltarello_, _Ruggera_
+and _Forlana_. Some of them are more graceful and less dramatic than
+the _Tarantella_, but they have comparatively little racial vigor,
+little original appeal. They are either pantomimic or imbued with
+gymnastic tricks, and with a strong tendency towards the extravagant or
+the grotesque. However, the _Tarantella_ is and remains the crown of
+Italian folk-dances. How much it has impressed the Italian and foreign
+composers is evident in the numerous compositions that they have
+devoted to this theme. Rubinstein’s ‘Tarantella’ is one of the best.
+
+
+V
+
+We find a remarkable contrast to the Italian style and spirit in
+the folk-dances of the Hungarians, whose popular themes have been
+successfully employed by Liszt and Brahms in their instrumental and
+orchestral compositions. A nation of Mongolian descent, of impassionate
+and virile temperament, living its own life, isolated from the æsthetic
+influence of their European neighbors, little conventional, optimistic,
+fantastic and lovers of adventure, the Hungarians are born dancers.
+True to the quick and fiery temperament of the race, the Hungarian
+dances are vivid sketches, full of action and color. Music and dancing
+have been for centuries past the foremost recreations of the race.
+Their ancient legends speak of worship that consisted only of music and
+dancing. Unlike other nations, their dance music is exceedingly pretty,
+melodious and full of imaginary beauty. The Hungarian folk-dance is
+expressive, rich in pictorial episodes, symbolic and elevating.
+
+The Hungarian costume for a _Czardas_ is singularly effective, the
+petticoat of cloth of gold, the red velvet bodice opening over a
+stomacher of gold and precious stones, crimson and green blending in
+the sash which surrounds the waist. It is said that the name _Czardas_
+is derived from an inn where it was danced by the peasants in past
+centuries. In every _Czardas_ the music governs the dance, which is
+romantic, full of lyric beauty and very changeable. It is mostly
+written in 2/4 time, in the major mode. The dance consists of a slow
+and quick movement, the music beginning with _andante maesteso_,
+changing gradually to _allegro vivace_. It is of ancient origin and
+was probably used as a worship dance. It is danced to different tunes
+of one and the same character, as far as the figures are concerned.
+Six, eight, ten, or more couples place themselves in a circle, the
+dancer passing his arm round the waist of his partner. As long as the
+_andante_ movement is given, he turns his partner to the right and
+left, clapping his spurred heels together and striking the ground with
+his toe and heel, and then they continue the step as a round dance. In
+some provinces the women put their hands on their partners’ shoulders
+and jump high from the ground with their assistance. So fond is the
+Hungarian of his _Czardas_ that, as soon as he hears the stirring tunes
+of the dance played by a gypsy band or fiddler, it seems to electrify
+him so that he can hardly listen to it without dancing. As the music
+continues, the dance gets wilder and wilder until it ends abruptly.
+The steps of the Hungarian folk-dances are as varied as the music. Now
+they are gliding and sharp, then again graceful and curved. Some of the
+dances are quiet and of seductive nature, others of involved steps and
+tricky tempo.
+
+The _Szolo_ is said to be a semi-acrobatic dance, in which the woman
+is swung through the air in a horizontal position from which she
+descends as if she were coming down from a flight. The _Verbunkes_ is a
+dance of military character, performed mostly by men (ten or twelve),
+each dancer being provided with a bottle of wine which he swings
+as he dances, singing in between a patriotic song as an additional
+accompaniment to the occasional gypsy band. Unlike the English
+folk-dances, the Hungarian are mostly built upon some romantic theme,
+either legendary or symbolic. Being a nation with rural traditions and
+rural ideas, Hungary has no sport spirit in any of her folk-dances.
+There is a strong feeling for Bohemianism and nomadic abandon in their
+mute language. Mostly the Hungarian dances are gay, sparkling with life
+and fantasy. They suggest Oriental designs mixed with Occidentalism, a
+world of queer dreams and sentimentalism.
+
+Folk-dances related to those of Hungary, that deserve to be known, are
+the Esthonian _Kuljak_, _Kaara Jaan_, and _Risti Tants_. Descendants
+from the same stock as the Hungarians and the Finns, the Esthonians
+settled down in the Russian Baltic Provinces about the seventh or
+eighth centuries and since that time have formed their independent
+racial art and traditions, which they have cultivated and preserved
+till to-day. The great Esthonian epic _Kalewipoeg_, known so little
+to the outside world, remains, like Homer’s _Iliad_, and the Indian
+_Mahabarata_, a valuable treasury of ethnographic art, and it is from
+this book that we have gained an authentic knowledge of the character
+of the Esthonian folk-dances, though the writer has seen some of them
+performed in the country.
+
+The _Kuljak_, like many other Esthonian folk-dances, is performed
+to the accompaniment of a harp--_kannel_--and the singing voices of
+the dancers themselves. It is danced by men and women alike, in a
+similar formation as the Irish _Jig_. But the _Kuljak_ tempo is very
+similar to that of the _Czardas_, with the exception of the latter’s
+tune and the formation of the figures. Like the national costumes of
+the Esthonians, their folk-art is more sombre and poetic than the
+Hungarian, but less romantic and less fiery. The _Kuljak_ steps are
+sharp, angular and timid, without that boisterous and jaunty expression
+which is so conspicuously evident in the dances of the southern
+nations. The peculiarity of the _Kuljak_ is that it is performed around
+a bonfire or kettle filled with burning substance. Sometimes the
+dancers circle round the fire holding each other’s hands, sometimes
+they go in gliding promenade step, sometimes they dance singly, as
+if challenging or fearing the cracking and high-leaping flame. There
+is no doubt that this is a rare survival of the ancient sacrificial
+temple dance. The legendary and mythologic element is the unique
+peculiarity of the Esthonian folk-dances. The _Risti-Tants_--‘Cross
+Dance’--which is performed by men and women, first, in crossing the
+hands, then in making the cross designs with the steps, is of great
+antiquity and many of its cabalistic figures are incomprehensible to
+the modern mind. Like the designs of the Esthonian national dress, the
+figures of their primitive and simple folk-dances have a tendency of
+never-ending lines. The colors, white, black and red--the symbols of
+red blood, white light and black earth--suggest dreamy, melancholy, but
+determined traits of a semi-Oriental race. Dance here is not a sport,
+not an amusement, not a medium of love-making, not a social function,
+but a magic motion to influence the great powers of Nature, and a
+semi-mythologic ceremony for the purpose of future joy and happiness.
+On this occasion the æsthetic element is interwoven with the ethical,
+the art is at the same time religion.
+
+
+VI
+
+The German mind has not been strikingly original or racial in
+folk-dances. It has taken more an abstract and purely musical direction
+and paid little attention to the dance. If we leave out the dances
+of the Bavarians, Saxons and Tyroleans, there is little that is of
+any ethnographic interest in this respect. The Prussian _Fackeltanz_
+belongs more to the elaborate pantomimes of the order of ancient Rome,
+rather than to regular dances. The mediæval Germany that was ruled
+politically and ecclesiastically from Rome never felt the influence
+of the rural country people, but, on the contrary, was mostly under
+the æsthetic and intellectual influence of the feudal barons and urban
+middle class. Under the influence of these two classes, German music,
+poetry, drama and literature came into existence. The German classic
+art is predominantly aristocratic and ecclesiastic. The early German
+artists were constrained to gather in the aristocratic salons of
+the rich patricians. The peasant was rarely a model of early German
+artists, but a German _Freiherr_, _Bürger_ or _Handwerker_ has been the
+subject of many German dramas, operas and musical compositions, and of
+much painting, sculpture and dancing. Wilhelm Angerstein tells us in
+his interesting book _Volkstänze in deutschen Mittelalter_ that already
+in 1300 there existed German guild dances--_Zunfttänze_--such as the
+_Messertanz_ (‘knife dance’) in Nürnberg, _Schafftertanz_ (‘cooper’s
+dance’) in Munich, etc. Besides these there were the aristocratic
+_Schreittänze_ and _Schleiftänze_. The _Drehtanz_, out of which
+originated the later _Walzer_, was an aristocratic and patrician, but
+never a truly rural folk-dance.
+
+There is no question that the German people has always been interested
+in dancing, a fact which is best illustrated in the frequent outbursts
+of mediæval _Tanzwuth_--‘dance craze’--that affected the population of
+various cities. These phenomena became occasionally so threatening to
+the public morality that in 1024 the Bishop Burchard von Worms issued
+a special decree putting dancing under the ban of the church. In 1237
+over two thousand children left Erfurt, dancing. In 1418 an epidemic
+rage for dancing manifested itself in Strassburg. The well-known
+_Veitstanz_--St. Vitus’ dance--originated in mediæval Germany and
+spread itself all over the world. The _Schuhplatteltanz_ of Bavaria
+is a real folk-dance and contains in its gay and grotesque figures
+characteristic spiritual traits of the Tyrolean peasants. Most of
+the tunes of the _Schuhplatteltänze_ are gay, joyful and bubbling
+with mountainous brilliancy, as is the dance. Though played in the
+waltz-rhythm, the dance is by no means a waltz, but a pretty, quaint
+little ballet of the people. There are some six to eight different
+figures in the dance as one can best see it performed in some villages
+near Innsbruck. It is danced by a man and girl, and begins with a
+graceful, slow promenade of the couple. Then she starts to flirt with
+him by spinning coquettishly round and round until he is enchanted
+and puts his hand gracefully round her waist. Now they dance together
+awhile, seemingly in love. But suddenly she seems to have changed her
+mind and tries to turn him down. The dance is full of buoyant joy and
+clever mimic expressions. It gives the impression of a healthy mountain
+race, optimistic, simple and humorous. Though occasionally rough, there
+are passages of sweet and sentimental grace which convey the impression
+of an old-fashioned Minuet.
+
+The _Schmoller_ is a characteristic dance of the Saxonian peasants,
+in which the man never reaches his hand to the lady, though they
+perform the four or five movements in the rhythm of the _Mazurka_ with
+considerable turning and stamping the heels. A quaint old dance is
+the _Siebensprung_ of Schwaben which is danced to the accompaniment
+of a song with humorous verses. The _Taubentanz_ of the Black Forest
+region is a very graceful and simple dance with distinct mazurka
+steps, in which the gentleman reaches only his right hand to the lady.
+The _Zwölfmonatstanz_ of Wurtemberg is a semi-social dance, which is
+performed by twelve couples. The _Fackeltanz_ has been for centuries a
+ceremonial display of Prussian nobility and the court. The following
+is a short account, from the _Figaro_, of a Torch Dance as it was
+performed at the marriage of the sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II:
+
+‘Twelve youthful pages, pretty and dainty as the pages of opera,
+slowly entered by a side door under the direction of the chamberlains.
+They carried torch-holders in wrought silver, containing thick white
+wax-candles, which they handed to the twelve ministers. The marshal
+raised his _bâton_, the orchestra from the gallery opposite the emperor
+slowly began a tuneful _Polonaise_. The bride and bridegroom placed
+themselves after the ministers, who made the tour of the room, the
+chamberlain completed the _cortège_, which stopped before the emperor.
+The bride made a slight curtsey, the emperor rose and offered his
+arm, the _cortège_ again passed in procession around the room. On
+returning, the bride invited the empress and made the tour with her.
+Then the twelve pages approached and took the torches again. The dance
+continued. The ceremony might have been monotonous but for the infinite
+variety and richness of the costumes and uniforms, and the liveliness
+of the music. The twelve pages were quite delicious and marched with
+all the enthusiasm of youth.’
+
+The German _Rheinländer_ and the _Walzer_ are both dances of the middle
+class and the city. Whether they ever were danced as folk-dances by
+the German peasants, we do not know. They probably originated in the
+mediæval guild circles and spread gradually over the country. The
+Waltz, as we know it to-day, originated in the eighteenth century in
+Germany, though the French claim that it is a development of _Volte_,
+which originally was an old folk-dance of Provence. The _Volte_ was in
+vogue in France in the sixteenth century. Castil-Blaze writes that ‘the
+waltz which we again took from the Germans in 1795 had been a French
+dance for four hundred years.’ The German waltz originated from the
+widespread folk-song, ‘_Ach du lieber Augustin!_’ which dates back to
+the middle of the eighteenth century. Gardel introduced it first in his
+ballet _La Dansomanie_ in 1793 in Paris. But the real vogue for the
+waltz began after the Czar Alexander the First danced it at his court
+ball in 1816. Until the masses began to imitate the nobility it was a
+‘high society’ dance and such it remained fully half a century, if not
+longer.
+
+The waltz is written in 3/4 rhythm and in eight-bar phrases. It has a
+gliding step in which the movements of the knees play a conspicuous
+rôle. Each country developed its particular style of waltz. The Germans
+and French treated it as a dainty and graceful courtship play. In
+Scandinavia it grew more heavy and theatrical. In the English waltz
+the dancers walked up and down the room, occasionally breaking into
+the step and then pushing the partner backward along the room. The
+German rule was that the dancers should be able to waltz equally well
+in all directions, pivoting and crossing the feet when necessary in the
+reverse turn but the feet should never leave the floor. Waldteufel and
+Johann Strauss may be considered as the master-composers of the waltz
+as a social dance.
+
+
+VII
+
+As elaborate as the Finnish folk music is in racial color and line,
+the Finns have few interesting and original folk-dances. Dr. Ilmari
+Krohn has hundreds of Finnish folk-dance tunes, but they reveal
+musical rather than choreographic vigor. A large number of graceful
+Finnish folk-dances are imitations of the Swedish or Norwegian style.
+In their own dances the figures and steps are heavy, languorous and
+compact as the rocky semi-arctic nature. Like the Finnish sculpture,
+the Finnish folk-dance has a tendency to the mysterious, grotesque and
+unusual line. Some of their folk-dances are as daring and unusual as
+the Finnish architectural forms. You find in the Finnish architecture
+that straight lines are broken up in the most extraordinary manner,
+projecting gables, turrets and windows are used to avoid the monotony
+of gray, expansive and flat walls. It falls into no category of known
+styles. Like fantastically grown rocks, it compels your attention.
+There is something disproportionate yet fascinating in the Finnish
+style and folk-dance.
+
+The most racial of the Finnish folk-dances are not the pleasing village
+_Melkatusta_ and other types of this kind, but the ‘Devil’s Dance,’
+_Paimensoitaja_ (‘Shepherd Tune’), _Hempua_, _Hailii_ and _Kaakuria_.
+Like the Finnish _Rune_, Finnish dancing shows an unusual tendency to
+the magical, the mystic and the fantastic in emotions and ideas. It
+is less the graceful and quick, fiery style that appeals to a Finn
+than heavy, rugged and compact beauty. The ‘Devil’s Dance’ is weird,
+ceremonial and mystical. It is performed by a single woman inside of a
+ring of spectators, who are chanting to her a rhythmic and alliterative
+hymn of mythologic meaning. The hands are crossed on the breast and
+take no part of any kind in the display, while there are slight
+mimic changes to convey the more subtle meaning of the performance.
+Like the other northern races, the Finns make their dancing a
+function of the body and the legs. The Finns dance to the music of a
+harp--_kantele_--horn--_sarwi_--and to the singing voices. It is never
+the dancer who sings, but the spectators or special singers.
+
+More picturesque and graceful than the Finnish are the Swedish,
+Norwegian and Danish folk-dances. Grieg, Svendsen, Gade, Hartmann and
+the modern Scandinavian composers have made successful use of the old
+folk-themes for their individual orchestral compositions. Though simple
+in step, the Scandinavian folk-dances are complicated in figure, lively
+and gay in manner, and rich in pantomime. They seem to have a strong
+predilection to square figures and sharp lines. The Swedish dancers are
+fond of arabesques, minuet grace and dainty poses. The Norwegian dance
+is more rugged and imaginary, the Danish and Swedish more refined and
+delicate. While the Norwegian is a naturally gifted singer, the Swede
+is a born dancer. There is a strong feeling in Sweden for reviving
+their old _Skralat_, _Vafva Vadna_, and other old national dances.
+The latter is a weaver dance and imitates the action of the loom. The
+girl, representing the movements of the shuttle, flashes back and forth
+through the lines of other performers, who are imitating the stretched
+threads. It is a clever piece of folk-art showing the vivid and quick
+temperament of the race. There are quite a few such symbolic country
+dances in Sweden, of which the harvest dances take the first place.
+The _Daldans_ and _Vingakersdans_ are pantomimic dances of humorous
+character, both themes dealing with the social-sexual relations in
+a rather satirical way. In the latter two women are endeavoring to
+gain the affection of a man. The favored one seats herself a moment
+on the man’s knee and finishes the number by waltzing with him, while
+the other bites her nails with vexation. In Sweden, as in France, the
+sexual elements play a conspicuous rôle in the folk-dance and render it
+sweetly graceful, seductive and sensuous by turns.
+
+The Danes, being a race of industry and agriculture from the earliest
+times on, have followed the lead of Norway in ethnographic matters, but
+of Paris and Vienna in artistic manners. While they have developed the
+national art of the ballet to a high degree, their folk-dances have
+impressed me more by their cosmopolitan and imitative nature than by
+any original and racial traits they may have. There are certain plastic
+traits, certain soft nuances in the Danish mimicry, that speak of
+something racial, yet they melt in so much with the universal art that
+it is hard to analyze the national elements. Whether the ‘Corkscrew’
+is a Norwegian, Danish or Swedish folk-dance, we have been unable to
+learn, but it is a charming piece of folk-art. In this the couples form
+in two lines. The top couple join hands, go down the middle and up
+again, and turn each other by the right arm once; then the gentleman
+turns the next lady, the lady the next gentleman, then each other again
+to the end, when the other couples kneel and clap their hands; and the
+first couple, joining hands, dance up one line and down the other, the
+lady inside. Then follows the corkscrew: all join hands outstretched
+with their vis-à-vis, the leading couple thread their way in and out
+of the other couples, the ladies backing, taking the lead, and then
+the gentlemen. All hands are raised when they reach the bottom, and,
+passing under the archway thus formed, they give place to the next
+couple.
+
+The Dutch had previously many characteristic and racial folk-dances, as
+their great painters have handed down to us in their numerous works,
+but they have mostly died out. A Dutch folk-dance, with the performers
+dressed in long brocaded gowns and close-fitting caps of the same
+material, the face framed with small roses edging the cap, makes a most
+quaint and charming impression. The best known of the Dutch folk-dances
+is the Egg Dance, which was given with eggs beneath the feet. Another
+very effective dance, though slightly coarse in conception, is their
+Sailor’s Dance. The latter is danced by a couple in wooden-shoes, man
+and woman with their backs to each other and faces turned away. The
+dance has some eight figures and only at the end of each figure the
+dancers turn swiftly around to get a glimpse of each other, and turn
+back in the original position. If well executed this is an exceedingly
+humorous dance.
+
+
+VIII
+
+The Lithuanians had in olden times snake dances and dances somewhat
+related to the legendary and mystic themes of the American Indians.
+Even in the folk-dances of the modern Lithuanians there are elements to
+be found that show relation to the ancient American tribes. An average
+Lithuanian folk-dance, as known and danced to-day is simple but pretty,
+and is either mixed with Byzantine or with Romanesque designs. But the
+legendary ideas still prevail, even in the picturesque wedding dances.
+
+The Polish folk-dances, the _Polonaise_, _Mazurka_, _Krakoviak_, and
+_Obertass_, contribute their quota of originality. The _Krakoviak_ is
+a circular dance with singing interspersed; lively graceful poses,
+soft delicate lines and gliding steps make it look like a refined
+salon dance of mediæval nobility. The _Polonaise_ and _Mazurka_ have
+spread as social dances in numerous variations throughout the world.
+Chopin used the themes of many Polish folk-dances for his individual
+compositions, as they are exceedingly sweet, romantic, and delicate in
+their melodic structure. The _Obertass_ is a real gymnastic performance
+with occasional polka-steps and wild turns. It is danced by a couple
+with such velocity towards the end that the woman must hold strongly
+to the shoulders of her partner in order to keep from reeling off
+towards the spectators. Delicate, temperamental, with occasional
+traits of melancholy and softly graceful line, the Polish folk-dances
+are characteristic of the racial soul. In many respects the Poles
+resemble the French in racial qualities. The debonair manners of the
+French, their tendency toward romantic emotions, are to be noticed in
+the Polish national dance. The qualities give it an air of seeming
+refinement and make it a distinct social amusement, and nothing else.
+
+The Bohemian, Ruthenian, Servian and Bulgarian folk-dances are each
+typical of their race. A tendency of most of the Slavic folk-dances is
+that the two sexes should mingle as little as possible. Men and women
+join hands in certain figures, emphasizing the dramatic meaning of the
+dance, otherwise they remain separated. They rarely dance in couples
+as the other European races do. They make promenades, march or gallop;
+they leap and bound in such a manner that the woman faces the man but
+rarely touches him. The woman’s movements are distinctly feminine, the
+man’s masculine. The Slav feels that the mixing of the sexes, or the
+putting of woman on the same plane with man, is detrimental to the
+æsthetic emotions, particularly to the romantic feelings.
+
+The _Romaika_ and _Kolla_ are both picturesque circle dances of the
+Southern Slavs. In the latter the man does not take the hand of the
+woman next to him, but passes his arm under hers to clasp the hand of
+her neighbor. The whole ring circles round in skipping step to the
+accompaniments of melancholy songs. The women are adorned with glass
+beads, huge gowns, artificial flowers and false jewelry of the most
+fantastic colors. The men wear richly embroidered bright-colored shirts
+and wide trousers. Sometimes a special woman dancer enters the ring and
+executes a dramatic pantomime, reflecting somehow a local affair. On
+other occasions man and woman go through a vivid pantomimic performance
+in the circle, while the rest circle around them singing.
+
+The Roumanians have a strange folk-dance called the _Hora_ which is
+performed by the youth in languishing cadence to the long drawn notes
+of the bagpipes. This consists of a prelude and a real dance. At first,
+the dancers advance to the left five steps, stamping the ground and
+stopping suddenly, after which they repeat the same motions for a few
+times. Of this M. Lancelot writes: ‘Gradually the mandolins strike in
+to enliven the solemn strain, and seem desirous to hurry it, emitting
+two or three sonorous notes, but nothing moves the player of the
+bagpipes; he perseveres in his indolent rhythm. At last a challenging
+phrase is thrice repeated; the dancers accompany it by stamping thrice
+on the ground, and looking back at the girls grouped behind them. The
+latter hesitate; they look at each other, as if consulting together;
+then they join hands and form a second circle round the first. Another
+call, more imperious still, is sounded, they break from each other, and
+mingle in the round of young men.
+
+‘At this moment the old gypsy opens his keen little eyes, showing
+his sharp white teeth in a sudden smile, shaking out a shower of
+joyous, hurried notes over the band, he expresses by means of an
+agitated harmony the tender thrill that must be passing through all
+the clasped hands. The _Hora_ proper now begins. It lasts a long time,
+but retains throughout the character of languor that characterized
+its commencement. Its monotony is varied, however, by a pretty bit of
+pantomime. After dancing round with arms extended, the men and their
+partners turn and face each other in the middle of the circle they have
+been describing. This circle they reduce by making a few steps forward;
+then, when their shoulders are almost touching, they bend their heads
+under their uplifted arms, and look into each other’s eyes. This figure
+loses something of its effect from the frequency with which it is
+repeated; and the cold placidity with which the dancers alternately
+gaze at their right-hand and left-hand neighbors is disappointing, and
+robs the pantomime of its classic aroma.’
+
+
+IX
+
+Of Oriental flavor are the Armenian folk-dances, which the writer saw
+many years ago performed by Armenian students to the music of a queer
+mandolin-like instrument and the rhythmic beats of the drum played
+by the dancer with his fingers. This drum gives a register of six or
+seven different tones and adds its peculiar effect to the whole. It
+seems that most of the Armenian dances are executed by a single dancer,
+either man or woman, in bent, erect, arched and twisted positions,
+often standing on a single spot for minutes. Though languorous and
+weird, they possess a grace of their own.
+
+In no other country have the folk-dances reached such a variety of
+forms, such a high degree of development and an individuality so
+distinctly racial and rich in dramatic and imaginary poses, steps,
+gestures and mimic expressions as in Russia. In the Russian dances
+we can trace the elements of all the hundreds of ancient and modern
+tribes and nationalities who have been molten in one homogeneous
+mass of people, a world in itself. Here the Orient and Occident have
+found a united form for their æsthetic expressions, with no relation
+to those of the West-European nations. The Russian dances, like the
+country itself, are a mixture of contrasts and extremes: melancholy
+and yet gay, simple and even sweet; ghastly yet fascinating and
+seductive; mysterious and yet open as the prairies of its own boundless
+steppes; old and yet young. All these contrasts and contradictions
+may be found reflected in the essentials of the Russian folk-dance.
+Like the semi-Oriental style of architecture, now curved and gloomy,
+then suddenly straight and dazzlingly brilliant, occasionally bizarre
+and fantastic, but strongly inclined to the romantic and the mystic
+forms, are the innumerable figures and steps of the Russian dances.
+In Russia more than in any other country the sexual diversity in the
+style of the steps, poses and mimic display is subjected to a most
+careful consideration. The woman is neither equal nor inferior to the
+man. She occupies her dignified position in the slightest move, by
+remaining more subtle, tender and passively fascinating, while the
+man’s rôle often is extravagantly masculine, sometimes even rough.
+No Russian dance puts the two sexes on the same level æsthetically
+and dramatically. The couple dance is an unknown, or at best a rather
+crude, conception to a Russian.
+
+Up to this time no one has yet made a thorough study of all the
+Russian folk-dances, as each province and district has its particular
+traditions and dances. The Volga region, having once been inhabited
+by Bulgarian and Tartar tribes, has a more nomadic and adventurous
+dance style than the dreamy peasants of Kostroma and Nijny Novgorod.
+The dances of the Little Russians are more joyful and humorous than
+those of more northern regions, but they are also less elaborate and
+less dramatic. The dances of the provinces of Novgorod and Pskoff
+possess an unusual tendency towards the legendary and towards free
+forms of plastic expression, as if meaning to express tales of a golden
+age in the past when they had a republican form of government and a
+democratic evolution. The dances of the Caucasian and Crimean regions
+are outspokenly romantic and epic, those of Siberia tragic and heroic.
+
+Fundamentally, the Russian folk-dances can be divided into four
+different groups: the ballad dances, or _Chorovody_; the romantic
+dances of the _Kamarienskaya_ type; the dramatic dances of the
+_Kasatchy_ type; the bacchanalian dances of the _Trepak_ type; and
+the unlimited number of humorous, gay, amusing and entertaining
+country dances--the so-called _Pliasovaya_--of purely local flavor.
+Besides these there are the historic ballad dances, such as ‘Ivan the
+Terrible’, ‘Ilia Murometz,’ and others. The Cossack dance, _Lesginka_,
+the _Kaiterma_, the _Polowetsi_ dances, the _Vanka_, and others of this
+kind, are dances of a rather local character, though they have spread
+all over the country.
+
+The oldest and most varied of Russian folk-dances are the _Chorovody_,
+or the ballad dances, performed only to the singing voices of the
+dancers themselves. This is a kind of ring dance like the old French
+Round. In some dances the men reach their hands to the girls, in
+others they touch each other with their elbows only, as the girls
+keep their hands on their hips, while the men cross them on their
+breast. The real dance is performed inside the ring, usually by a
+girl, who sometimes has a man partner; this dance may be pantomimic,
+humorous or full of wildest joy and agility. The writer has witnessed
+some _Chorovody_ which were performed with such skill and finesse of
+plastic pose and mimic art as to leave many ballet celebrities far in
+the background. The Russian folk-dancer employs every inch of his body,
+his hands, legs, toes, heels, hips, shoulders, head and the mimic art
+so masterfully and correctly that you must often marvel his born talent
+and lively interest in dancing. However, in all folk-dances the women
+seem to play the leading rôle, the men merely supporting them with the
+contrasted figures.
+
+The _Chorovody_ were used by the mediæval _Boyars_ in a more refined
+and poetic style for their social functions and the entertainment of
+their guests. Later they were introduced to the court and finally they
+were employed in the Russian ballets and operas. Ivan the Terrible
+was fond of _Chorovody_ dances and often danced them himself, as did
+also other Russian rulers. The aristocratic _Chorovody_, however, grew
+more stately and artificial and lost their racial freshness. Catherine
+the Great sent her chamberlains to every province to invite the best
+folk-dancers to come to the court, which they did. All dances of
+this type are picturesque, romantic, poetic and restrained in their
+expression.
+
+An entirely different dance is the _Kasatchy_, danced by a man and a
+woman at the same time. This is more a man’s than a woman’s dance.
+He selects his partner and proceeds to execute a series of seductive
+motions around her, while she demurely hangs her head, refusing for a
+while to be seduced by his allurements. At length she thaws and begins
+to sway in harmony with his manly but graceful movement. Now they bend
+and bow together, and swerve from side to side, the while performing
+a multitude of gestures depicting timidity and embarrassment, till
+finally from shy, half-tearful expression of love and flirting glances
+they proceed with gay eyes expressive of the most burning devotion.
+Now the dance waxes fierce and fast, in and out they circle, turn
+and twist, ever now and then reverting to that crouching posture,
+so commonly seen in the Russian folk-dances. Finally they meet in
+close embrace and whirl with incredible rapidity round and round,
+till thoroughly out of breath and dizzy from their effort, they sink
+exhausted on a friendly bench.
+
+The _Kamarienskaya_ is a bride’s dance, in which the girl symbolizes
+all the imaginary bliss and happiness of her future married life.
+In the first part, which consists of a soft _legato_, she dances
+dreamily but dramatically, using conspicuously every muscle of her
+body and her arms to express the imagined love motions that she will
+perform in meeting her beloved. Thus the pantomime continues on to the
+blissful moment of meeting, which she performs like a whirlwind, until,
+unexpectedly stopping, she ends the dance with a slightly disappointed,
+humorous expression.
+
+Since our space is limited, the writer must refrain from more detailed
+and further description of the previously mentioned types of the
+Russian folk-dances. He need only repeat that they surpass by far
+the folk-dances of all the rest of the world, in that they are so
+much more racial, so rich in plastic lines, and so perfect in their
+artistic appeal; it seems as if a remarkable genius had presided over
+their invention and execution. They are masterfully original from the
+beginning and continually furnish new ideals of choreographic beauty.
+They draw their inspiration from some rich fountain unknown to the
+Occidentals. They are too fresh, vigorous and alive to be perverse.
+
+Thus having drawn kaleidoscopic sketches of the primitive racial
+choreographic impulses of a number of the civilized and barbaric
+races, we can come to the conclusion that in these alone are to be
+found the sound and virile germs of lasting individual or highly
+developed national art-dance. Ethnographic essentials are the next
+stepping-stones to a more developed future cosmic choreography, and in
+this the folk-dances give the most eloquent elementary lessons. As from
+a mute conversation we learn from the ethnic dances in what manifold
+forms one and the same beauty can manifest itself to the human mind.
+The ethnic symbols are graphic and true to the spirit of the thing
+expressed; for this reason a folk-dance, no matter how coarse, how
+grotesque and how strange it seems, is yet sincere and intelligible to
+the open-hearted observer. It always impresses one as something manly
+and direct, sound and firm.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST
+
+  The _Pavane_ and the _Courante_; the _Allemande_ and the
+  _Sarabande_; the _Minuet_ and the _Gavotte_; the _Rigaudon_ and
+  other dances.
+
+
+Since we have devoted a chapter to the folk-dances, it will be fitting
+to describe a few of the most noted dances of the nobility in order
+to complete our comparative treatment of such a vast subject, so
+little systematized and so much ignored. While the general tone of
+all the folk-dances is masculine, that of all the social dances seems
+predominantly effeminate, rather soft and delicate. Their exceedingly
+graceful plastic lines, shaded movements, soft forms and subtilized
+gestures speak of gilded ball-rooms, silk and perfume, affected manners
+and the artificial air of a Rococo style. It seems as if a woman’s mind
+had worked out their embroidered figures and timid steps. They belonged
+to no particular nation, but to the rich class of all the world. The
+same _Allemande_ that was danced by the French nobility was copied at
+the castles of the German barons, English lords, Italian and Russian
+counts.
+
+The oldest and most ceremonial of the Middle Ages’ social dances was
+the _Pavane_, the celebrated peacock dance, in which kings and princes,
+lords and ladies took part, the men wearing gorgeous uniforms, the
+ladies flowery trains. It was distinguished by rhythmic grace, and
+by slow and stately measure. The dancers attempted to enshroud their
+very souls in majestic dignity, gracefully rounding their arms, while
+crossing and recrossing, keeping their heads away from each other. One
+big step and two small ones accompanied one bar of the music, which was
+sung by a chorus of hidden singers. Beginning side by side, hand in
+hand, with a curtsey and bow, the couple started with a _pas marché_
+down the floor, making four steps, the cavalier taking the lady’s left
+hand. After making a turn with four steps, they danced backward with
+four steps. He took her right hand and turned with four steps. Thus
+it went on in four different movements. The _Pavane_ was a dance for
+cortèges and processions, and the lady’s trains were spread out like
+the tail of a peacock.
+
+The next most conspicuous nobility dance was the _Courante_, which
+was practised for nearly three centuries at the European castles and
+courts. It was a great favorite of Louis XIV, and no one else danced
+it so well as he. It was danced at the court of Charles II and Queen
+Elizabeth was fond of it. The ladies danced it in short soft velvet
+skirt; bodice with basques and lace berthes. It had three movements
+and started usually with a deep curtsey, a springing step forward and
+back, both arms raised and each dancer turning outward. These movements
+occupied four double bars of the music. Handel and Bach wrote many
+_Courantes_, but they were too elaborate and quick, therefore they were
+used only by professional dancers.
+
+Bach and Handel have also written numerous _Chaconnes_, which were
+dances in slow triple time, of a stately character, light and graceful.
+In the _Chaconne_ two or three people could participate. This dance was
+said to be of Spanish origin, though the Italians claim that one of
+their blind musicians composed it in the sixteenth century. Cervantes
+writes in ‘Don Quixote’ that it was a mulatto dance for negroes and
+negresses, imported by the French. It is composed of a springing and
+walking step on the toes, at the end of which the heels must be so
+placed that the body is firm. The rhythm is slow and well marked. The
+dance has seven different movements. The fourth and sixth movements are
+in Mazurka steps, the fifth in skating steps and the last in bourrée
+step. In the third movement the lady turns under her partner’s arm.
+
+A celebrated dance of more than four centuries was the _Allemande_, in
+which the head and arm movements played the foremost rôle. It had five
+movements, danced by any number of couples, placing themselves behind
+each other. The _Allemande_ step is three _pas marchés_ and the front
+foot raised. The lady stands in front of the gentleman and he holds her
+left hand with his left and her right with his right hand. For four
+bars they go forward and pose, repeat this four times and turn. The
+second movement has four steps around, after which the gentleman turns
+the lady with arms over head, and the lady turns the gentleman. The
+third movement is a polka step backward and forward and turned. In the
+fourth the lady takes four steps in front of the gentleman and turns.
+In the last they take four steps across the room, turn and pose; two
+steps back and pose, and repeat.
+
+A dance of pretty music and more original design was the _Sarabande_
+of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which was danced as a solo
+by a man or a woman, although later it was danced by couples. It had a
+slow and stately step and consisted of four different figures. In the
+first figure the dancer raised the right foot and took a step forward,
+turned to the right and posed, and repeated to the left and the right.
+The second figure was a _pas bourrée_ to the left and the right, with
+some turning in between. The third figure consisted of an accentuated
+hip movement, _coupé_, a pose with head movement, and a repetition to
+the opposite direction. The last figure consisted of springing on the
+left foot, stretching the right leg to the back, and bowing. This was
+carried on in several repetitions. The most effective _Sarabande_ music
+was composed by Lully. For this the ladies wore a picturesque dress of
+cloth of gold, the sleeves and tunic in the form of gigantic oak leaves
+of red and gold, tipped with sequins; red shoes and stockings.
+
+Probably the most celebrated and widespread of old social dances was
+the _Minuet_, which demanded much repose and dignity on the part of
+the dancers. It was performed by men and women, but was given also by
+ladies only. It began with a deep reverence on the part of the lady
+and a bow on the part of the man, the dancers turning towards each
+other at right angles to the audience, the lady with her left hand
+holding her dress, the elbow prettily rounded. They advanced, the lady
+turning around and assuming the position in which they started. This
+was repeated, and the dance ended with a bow and a curtsey. Then the
+lady held her dress in both hands, her head being turned over her right
+shoulder, while her partner’s head was turned to the left. A favorite
+step was that of lifting the foot high, rising on the toes, and then
+taking three little steps on tip-toes to the next bar. The _Minuet_
+requires much grace and deliberation, with every movement thought out
+and studied. The main rule is that in passing each other the partners
+should make a deep curtsey and bow. The fingers of the hand should be
+moderately open, the arms curved and graceful. The women often carried
+a feather fan. Louis XV was a virtuoso in the _Minuet_. The English
+kings used to take lessons in the dance. It is the one dance that
+England has looked on kindly. It created a perfect sensation in France
+and was in vogue until the Revolution swept it away. Many celebrated
+composers have written fine _Minuet_ music, Lully’s being probably the
+best. It had nine different movements. The ladies wore for the minuet
+a satin petticoat, bordered with a deep flounce. The bodice had a
+pleating round _à la veille_, which was carried down to the open front
+of the skirt, on either side of the bodice, and round the back, which
+left a plain pointed front with a rosette in the centre of the neck.
+The sleeves were elbow length, the hair powdered and worn very high, a
+ribbon tied across the back from which rose three large bows of white
+plumes, the shoes pointed.
+
+A dance as distinguished as the minuet was the _Gavotte_, performed
+by couples in joyous, sparkling little steps. Its foundation was
+three steps and an _assemblé_ in quadruple time, commencing on the
+fourth beat of the bar. It starts in a line or a circle, one couple
+separating themselves from the rest. It has six figures. The first
+figure consists of four gavottes forward, four gavottes round, four
+back, four around again, the dancers hand in hand, the figures always
+accompanied by graceful head movements, the partners turning towards
+each other or apart. The following three movements are nearly the same,
+with slight variations. The fifth consists of four skating steps and
+gavotting around the partner. The sixth figure consists of gavotting
+forward three times, pirouetting back, raising the foot up to the heel,
+and advancing four times. In the _Gavotte_ the partners generally
+kissed each other, as they did in so many other dances. In later days
+the cavalier presented a flower in the course of the figure instead.
+The _Gavotte_ was a favorite dance of Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and
+Napoleon. Lully, Gluck and Grétry composed pretty gavottes, and it was
+frequently performed on the stage by Gardel and Vestris.
+
+The _Rigaudon_, which enjoyed a great popularity at all the European
+castles and courts till the French Revolution, was rather intricate. In
+it each figure occupied eight bars and both dancers started together
+without taking hands. The dance consisted of seven figures, the first
+being a sliding step and four running steps, turning, posing and
+repeating with the opposite foot. The second consisted of turning to
+left and right alternately four times, and sliding backwards. The third
+figure was danced diagonally to the right with running steps, turning,
+posing and repeating. The fourth figure was a graceful hopping and
+turning, repeating, running diagonally to the right and turning with
+the arms out straight. The fifth was in two half turns, one turn and
+repetition. The sixth was three steps left with arms over the head,
+hopping around, turning to left and right, posing with right hand down
+and the left hand above the head. The seventh consisted of balancing
+four times on the left foot and four times on the right and posing.
+Like the music of so many other old social dances, that of the Rigaudon
+was of extremely gracious cadences, with sentimental pathos and sweet,
+gay melodic turns. Music combined with dancing carried gladness and joy
+into the soft-shaded ball-rooms, bringing smiles and laughter to the
+lips of the picturesque gatherings.
+
+Somewhat resembling the Minuet, but with quicker steps, was the
+celebrated French _Passepied_, with which most of the balls began,
+all the guests dancing around hand in hand. It originated many other
+old-time social dances with song. It opened with the dancers joining
+hands and facing each other, then setting to each other with the
+_pas de Basque_, bringing the first left shoulder forward and then
+the right, and changing their places with a waltz step. The partners
+cross hands, placing the arms round each other’s neck and making the
+pirouette with eight pony steps, pawing the ground and then turning.
+The dance consists of ten figures, each of which demands some dramatic
+talent.
+
+Other celebrated old dances were the _Galliard_, consisting of five
+figures, that require some pirouettes, _pas de bourrées_, _coupés_,
+_dessous_ and springing. Similar to this was the _Tourdion_, which
+was more of a _glissade_ movement. The _Canaries_ was a queer old
+dance, very popular in England and Germany. It had seven figures and
+started with a _pas jeté_, by throwing the right foot over the left,
+and the left over the right. In the last movement the partners held
+hands vis-à-vis, turning each other without separating hands, posing
+vis-à-vis one bar and repeating four bars. History tells us how in
+former times queens and princesses often fell in love with graceful
+male dancers as did their husbands with the pretty women dancers. Queen
+Elizabeth fell in love with young Hatton, an insignificant London
+lawyer, whom she first met at a ball dancing the _Galliard_. Sir Perro
+used to say that Hatton danced into the court by the _Galliard_. It is
+said that the favors which the virgin monarch extended to the young
+lawyer excited the jealousy of the whole court, especially that of the
+Earl of Leicester, who, thinking to depreciate the accomplishment of
+his rival, offered to introduce to Her Majesty a professional dancer
+whose performances were considered far more wonderful than those of
+Hatton. To this the royal lady exclaimed: ‘Pish! I will not see your
+man; it is his trade!’
+
+A languishing eye and a smiling mouth were considered indispensable
+accessories to a fashionable society dance. Like the prevailing style
+of dress and manners, the dances were too delicate and artificial to
+last. The high-heeled shoes, the elaborately piled-up structures of
+powdered hair and ornament, and the dresses with long trains were by no
+means favorable to virility and sincerity. Like all effeminate art, the
+nobility dances of the past lacked spontaneity and inspiration.
+
+[Illustration: The Ball
+
+_After a painting by Auguste de Saint-Aubin_]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
+
+  Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century--Maria
+  Taglioni--Fanny Elssler--Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence
+  of the classic ballet.
+
+
+The end of the Napoleonic wars marks the beginning of a new era of
+European art, particularly of the ballet. To this period belong the
+great ballet masters, Taglioni, Bournoville, Didelot, and the greatest
+of all, Marius Petipa; the great ballet composers, Meyerbeer, Rossini,
+Adam, Delibes, Nuitter, Dubois, Hartmann, Gade, Tschaikowsky, and
+Rimsky-Korsakoff; the celebrated _ballerinas_, Taglioni, Grisi,
+Elssler, Genée, Teleshova, Novitzkaya, Liadova, Muravieva, Bogdanova,
+Sokolova and Kshesinskaya. It seems as if the evolution of the art of
+dancing is always stopped by political disturbances; during the middle
+of the past century, which was marked by revolutionary movements, in
+which even Wagner participated, we notice a sudden indifference to
+dancing ideals on the part of the public. The history of evolution
+seems to proceed in certain cosmic waves of public sentiment and
+ideals. They grow, reach their climax and die.
+
+The foundation that the French Academy, particularly Noverre, Vestris
+and Gardel, had laid for the ballet, developed during the nineteenth
+century into a solid and essential stage art. We find the beginning
+of a rivalry among the various schools, of which those of Paris,
+Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg stand in the
+first rank. Like music and drama, the ballet strives either towards
+the classic or romantic. The most conspicuous ballets of this period
+are _La Sylphide_ by Léo Delibes, _Corsaire_ by Adam, _Sakuntala_ by
+Gautier, _La Source_ by Delibes, _La Farandole_ by Dubois, _Sylvia_
+by Delibes, _Gretna Green_ by Nuitter, _Excelsior_ and _Sieba_ by
+Manxotti, _Flore et Zephire_ by Didelot, _La Esmeralda_ by Perrot
+and Pugni, _Iphigenia in Aulis_ by Gluck, _Laurette_ by Galcotti,
+_Ghiselle_ by Gautier and Adam, _Abdallah_ by Bournoville and Paulli,
+_Arkona_ by Hartmann, _Swan Lake_, _Sleeping Beauty_ and _The Snow
+Maiden_ by Tschaikowsky, _Baba Yaga_ by Balakireff, _Scheherezade_ by
+Rimsky-Korsakoff, etc.
+
+The main tendency of the nineteenth century ballet is to get rid of the
+mechanical contrivances, the monstrous etiquette and majestic solemnity
+and, like music, give it more coherence and better harmony with the
+plot. Between 1820 and 1850 it became an inseparable accompaniment
+to the opera to such an extent that the occupants of the gilded
+boxes preferred the thrill of the dancing to the music. The ballet
+represented at that time more than a stage filled with masses of
+elegant _coryphées_ and a magnificent spectacle. The public interest
+began to centre in a few great dancers whose names were as familiar to
+the audiences as those of the prima donnas. The first phenomenon of
+this kind was the cult of Taglioni that spread with miraculous rapidity
+throughout the Occidental world.
+
+
+I
+
+Maria Taglioni was born at Stockholm in 1804 of an Italian father and
+Swedish mother and made her début in Vienna in 1822, in the ballet
+_Reception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore_, written by
+her father, M. Taglioni, who was a ballet master in the Swedish Royal
+Opera. Inspired by the ideas of Noverre, M. Taglioni laid a solid
+foundation for his daughter’s training in dancing. Though she was
+successful in her début in Vienna, the father did not think that she
+was sufficiently ripe for public appearances in a larger style, so he
+continued to instruct the girl himself and secured for her education
+other celebrities of the time. Even when she appeared five years later
+in _Le Sicilien_, in Paris, she did not arouse any enthusiasm. It was
+only in _Les Bayaderes_ and, above all, in _La Sylphide_, that her art
+attained the utmost limits of spirituality and she was hailed as one of
+the most ethereal appearances that the European stage had ever seen.
+
+Taglioni appeared in Paris in _La Vestale_, _Mars et Venus_, _Le
+Carnaval de Venise_, and many other ballets, which marked the beginning
+of her career. A French critic of that time writes: ‘Her talent, so
+instinct with simple grace and modesty, her lightness, the suppleness
+of her attitudes, at once voluptuous and refined, made a sensation at
+once. She revealed a new form of dancing, a virginal and diaphanous
+art, instinct with an originality all her own, in which the old
+traditions and time-honored rules of choreography were merged. After
+an appearance of a few days only on our boards, this charming mirage
+vanished to shine in great triumph at Munich and Stuttgart. But she
+came back, and an enthusiastic reception awaited her. And in the midst
+of these brilliant successes, taking the hearts of the people by storm,
+admitted to the intimate friendship of the Queen of Wurtemberg, she
+remained sweet, simple and reserved.’
+
+Besides her choreographic training, Taglioni was a highly educated girl
+in every other respect, and was of the most charming personality and
+manners. The people, and even her many rivals, loved and adored her
+as a great artist and great woman. Though not pretty in any sense, as
+so many other dancers were, she was fascinating through her distinct
+spiritual appeal. This same note of spirituality manifested itself in
+her dance. Her admirers used to say that she looked in _La Sylphide_
+like some supernatural being always ready to take wing and soar up in
+the air. Her steps were pure and innocent, as were all her gestures and
+mimic expressions. Even in her romantic dances she failed to suggest
+any symptoms of voluptuous or sensual emotions. Throughout her life she
+remained as poetic as she was in her art.
+
+In London she appeared first in 1830 in Didelot’s ballet _Flore
+et Zéphire_ and made an instantaneous success. On nights when she
+was announced to appear the London theatre was literally besieged.
+Thackeray immortalized her in his ‘The Newcomes,’ saying, ‘you can
+never see anything so graceful as Taglioni.’ She received in London
+£100 a night, and insisted on handsome sums for her family, as well
+as £600 for her father as ballet master, £900 to her brother and
+sister-in-law, together with two benefit performances. She was so much
+the fashion of the hour that women wore Taglioni hats, gowns, and
+coats, and even a stage coach was called after her.
+
+With all her charm and refinement, Taglioni was in many respects
+an undeveloped girl emotionally, capricious and sentimental to her
+finger-tips. It is said that one evening when Perrot, her partner,
+happened to receive a greater amount of applause than she, she refused
+to continue the performance, and accused her surrounding stage people
+of having intrigued against her for malicious reason. She received
+immense sums of money, but she spent everything just as lavishly as
+it was received, not so much on herself as for her relatives, friends
+and the poor. She married Comte Gilbert des Voisins in 1832, but their
+married life was of short duration. There is a story that she met him
+some years later at a dinner at the Comte de Morny’s, when he had the
+effrontery to ask to be introduced to Maria Taglioni. She replied that
+she thought she had made the gentleman’s acquaintance in 1832, the year
+of her marriage. In 1837 she went to Russia and remained there for five
+years as prima _ballerina_ of the Imperial Ballet.
+
+Taglioni’s freedom and style had a great influence upon the development
+of the ballet at that juncture. Her dress, a long tunic of white silk
+muslin which reached almost to her ankles and fell in graceful folds
+from her figure, was the first of this kind. Through this she was able
+to reveal the plastic lines of her body, and thus made her movements
+free from the artificial stiffness that had prevailed before her. She
+was a reformer in many ways, and in this her father, as a practical
+ballet-master, was of material help. It was not until Fanny Elssler
+appeared in 1847 that Taglioni began to lose her hold upon the public.
+Little by little her art grew old-fashioned to the novelty-loving
+audiences, as the dancing of Elssler brought a new note of more
+romantic nature to the stage. Actually this change was nothing but a
+turn of public sentiment indicative of some new social fad. Trying
+to maintain her living by giving dancing lessons in various European
+capitals, she died in Marseilles in 1884, in great poverty, forsaken by
+all her previous adorers and frenzied audiences.
+
+
+II
+
+Of a very different nature were the art and personality of Fanny
+Elssler, the pretty Viennese girl, who in many respects followed the
+example of Taglioni. Emerson, who saw her dancing in Boston, exclaimed,
+‘that is poetry!’ But Margaret Fuller, who sat next to him, replied,
+‘Ralph, it’s religion.’ Turgenieff was so impressed by her art that
+he wrote to Balzac: ‘Her dance is the most magic novel that I have
+ever read. What a mystery of beauty! Her every step and gesture is a
+line of unwritten verse. Her lines are accentuated phrases, her poses
+illustrations to the intoxicating text. Her art haunts me.’
+
+Born in Vienna in 1810, Elssler received an early and thorough musical
+education from her father, who was a copyist to Haydn. Her ballet
+training, which she received partly in Vienna, partly in Italy, was of
+the old order. It was the _Cachucha_ that made her a favorite of the
+Milan and Naples audiences, but, as with Taglioni, it was _La Sylphide_
+that made Elssler’s final reputation. Elssler saw _La Sylphide_ danced
+by Taglioni in Munich and it electrified her so that she made it a main
+aim of her ambition to surpass Taglioni, which she did.
+
+A girl of receptive mind, good education and great talent, Elssler took
+notice of all the critical views of her future rival, as expressed by
+her contemporary ballet-masters, composers and dance critics. This
+enabled her to embody in her art and style the features which were
+less developed and most disliked by Taglioni. Taglioni was said to be
+poetic, but lacking in romantic warmth and dramatic sentiment. In this
+latter quality Elssler excelled. She made a special study of those
+gestures, poses and steps, which express by passionate emotions, and
+made appropriate use of them. The mechanical features of the dance
+interested her little, though occasionally she indulged in acrobatic
+tricks. Chorley, the English critic, writes of her: ‘The exquisite
+management of her bust and arms set her apart from everyone whom I have
+ever seen before or since. Nothing in execution was too daring for
+her, nothing too pointed. If Mademoiselle Taglioni flew, she flashed.
+The one floated on the stage like a nymph, the other showered every
+sparkling fascination round her like a sorceress. There was more,
+however, of the Circe than of the Diana in her smile.’
+
+[Illustration: Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet]
+
+A graphic description of Elssler is given by Gautier. ‘Clad in a skirt
+of rose-colored satin clinging closely to the hips, adorned with deep
+flounces of black lace, she came forward with a bold carriage of her
+slender body, and a flashing of diamonds on her breast. Her leg, like
+polished marble, gleams through the frail net of the stocking. Her
+small foot is at rest, only awaiting the signal of the music to start
+into motion. How charming she is with the large comb in her hair, the
+rose behind her ear, her flame-like glance, and her sparkling smile! At
+the extremity of her rose-dipped fingers tremble the ebony castañets.
+Now she darts forward; the castañets commence their sonorous clatter;
+with her hands she seems to shake down clusters of rhythm. How she
+twists! how she bends! what fire! what voluptuousness of motion! what
+eager zest! Her arms seem to swoon, her head droops, her body curves
+backward until her white shoulders almost graze the ground. What charm
+of gesture! And with that hand which sweeps over the dazzle of the
+footlights would not any one say that she gathered all the desires and
+all the enthusiasm of those who watch her?’
+
+It was a pity that such a bitter rivalry was created between Elssler
+and Taglioni by theatrical managers, which became a source of fierce
+controversy throughout Europe. We are told by the writers of that
+time that a veritable war of sentiments between the Taglionists and
+Elsslerists lasted for years. Now the one, now the other party claimed
+victory. Each party claimed to have the highest art in the individual
+style of its idolized dancer. It was a conflict between two movements
+rather than two artists: here the classic idealism, there the romantic
+realism. Elssler at the end remained the winner, but not for a long
+time, as the political unrest that swept Europe in the middle of the
+nineteenth century distracted the public attention from the ballet.
+After a successful tour in America, Elssler returned to Milan, when
+the La Scala opera, which was supported by the Austrian government,
+began to feel keenly the political pulse of the time. Elssler was to
+appear in Perrot’s ballet _Faust_, when she beheld the members of the
+ballet wearing a medal that represented the new liberal Pope, who was
+strongly pro-Italian, while Elssler was an Austrian. To her it seemed a
+demonstration directed against her fatherland and she refused to go on
+the stage unless the demonstration stopped. The audience was informed
+of the trouble behind the scenes, and from this time on Elssler’s
+career was finished. Vainly trying her luck in Russia and England till
+1851, she realized the sentimental opposition of all the audiences to
+her art and retired forever. She spent her life in comfort, as the
+American tour alone had netted her a sum of five hundred thousand
+dollars. She died in 1884 in Vienna, a few months after the death of
+her rival, Taglioni.
+
+
+III
+
+The star that followed Taglioni and Elssler was Carlotta Grisi, born in
+a village of Istria and educated in Milan by Perrot. She was a medium
+between the poetic Taglioni and romantic Elssler. Her favorite ballets
+were _La Peri_ and _Ghiselle_ (the libretto of the latter by Théophile
+Gautier and the music by Adolphe Adam). She was excellent in fairy
+rôles, in which she showed a marvellous conception of imaginary motions
+and gestures. Her fragile figure was favorable to similar rôles and in
+these her mimic expressions were superb. She danced in England with
+success, but somehow failed to arouse the enthusiasm that greeted her
+contemporary Fanny Cerito. Grisi married her former teacher Perrot, who
+composed for her many ballets.
+
+Cerito distinguished herself in _Ondine_ and _La Vivandière_, and was
+for a long time a favorite of the French audiences. A French critic
+writes of her: ‘A good many of our readers will probably remember
+Saint-Léon, the distinguished and popular ballet-master. Originally an
+eminent violinist, it was out of love for the fairy-like Cerito, whom
+he married, that he first gave himself up to the enthusiastic study of
+dancing. Mme. Cerito bewitched the public with her exquisite dancing,
+while Saint-Léon delighted them with his skill upon the violin and the
+dignity and distinction of his compositions.’
+
+There were several French, Italian or Austrian ballet dancers who
+distinguished themselves at home, but none of them succeeded in
+attracting much the English or American public’s attention. Katty
+Lanner and Madame Weiss danced with some success in London, and enjoyed
+a high reputation in Vienna. The characteristics of all the Vienna
+dancers of this age were their decadent manners and their pretty,
+plastic poses. Vienna developed more conspicuous operetta dancers than
+real ballet dancers. Katty Lanner achieved a particular grace and
+agility in the _Le Papillon_, by Emma Livry.
+
+Of the French and Italian ballet dancers that appeared during the
+second half of the nineteenth century most conspicuous are Leontine
+Beaugrand, Mlle. Subra, Rosetta Mauri, Mlle. Bernay, Mlle. Petipa, and
+Rita Sangalli. Though local critics praised one or other of these as
+rivals of Taglioni and Elssler, the fact is they were all either mere
+acrobatic imitators, decadent impressionists, or conventional figures.
+The ballet shrinks into a secondary position, as the vogue for opera
+and orchestral music occupies the foremost attention of the public.
+Stage dancing degenerates into shows of insignificant meaning. With our
+best will we can find nothing that would seem worthy of the attention
+of the French critic who writes of Beaugrand:
+
+‘Before long the public will learn to love this strange profile--so
+like a frightened bird’s--and criticism will have to reckon with this
+aspiring talent. She has not yet put forth all her strength. It was not
+until she appeared in the part of _Coppélia_ that she wholly revealed
+what was in her, and that the full extent of her grace and poetic
+feeling was unfolded to the public.’
+
+One season later the expected virtuoso vanishes from the public
+eye and a new aspirant takes her place. Considering one after the
+other, one finds little crisp and spontaneous beauty in the steps and
+gestures of the _ballerinas_ of the last part of the past century. The
+umbrella-like stiff dress of the classic ballet has only a momentary
+semi-sensuous appeal. In the long run it becomes unæsthetic and
+unpractical, since it hides the natural lines of the human body.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA
+
+  The Danish ballet and Bournoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta
+  Nielsen, etc.--Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission
+  of the Danish ballet.
+
+
+I
+
+The French ballet dominated civilized Europe for centuries, as did the
+French fashions, manners, language, art and social traditions. The high
+society of every country was outspokenly French, and so were its views
+and entertainments. How much even Germany was in the grip of French
+ideals can be seen best from the efforts of her eighteenth-century
+writers and reformers on behalf of their own national traditions.
+Lessing was most bitterly fighting the French influence in German
+life and art. It was only natural that semi-aristocratic Sweden
+and Denmark felt the French sway. Stockholm introduced the ballet
+during the last part of the eighteenth century, but used it for the
+most part as an accessory of the opera. Taglioni, the father of the
+celebrated _ballerina_, was employed as a ballet-master in Stockholm
+where, in addition to his actual stage work, he was training dancers
+for the ballet corps. He was succeeded by no one else than the great
+Didelot, who later became a director of the ballet and ballet school
+in Petrograd. But Sweden strictly followed the footsteps of France
+and Italy and never took another direction. The Swedish ballet of the
+nineteenth century was strictly French-Italian.
+
+But the Danish ballet, which had been founded at the same time with
+the Swedish, took a different turn. The early part and middle of the
+nineteenth century mark a great turning point in the history of the
+Danish stage dance. This is wholly due to the patriotic efforts of
+its great reformer, Bournoville, who did not like the foreign flavor
+of such an important art as dancing, and, moreover, found the stiff
+style, artificial manners and the incoherent relation between the music
+and dancing too crude and outmoded for a new era. On the other hand,
+the method of training the dancers was lacking in system and seemed
+too insufficient to make any thorough artists of the young men and
+women who wished to make their career as dancers. Vincenzo Tomaselli
+Galeotti, who had been for half a century an autocratic figure and
+ballet-master of Denmark, emphasized either the acrobatic Italian or
+the stereotyped French styles. For Galeotti the Danish ballet was
+perfection itself, but not so for Bournoville.
+
+Antoine Auguste Bournoville was born in 1805 in Copenhagen, where
+his father had been a dancer and assistant conductor under Galeotti.
+Already at the age of eight he danced in small parts in Copenhagen.
+But it was not until 1829 that he made his real début in _Gratiereness
+Hulding_. In 1824 he made a trip with Orloff to Paris where he saw
+Vestris and Gardel, whose instruction and art inspired him to do for
+the Danish ballet what they had done for the French. After a tour in
+Austria and Italy, Bournoville settled down in Copenhagen and began to
+reform the stage of his native land.
+
+Bournoville’s main reformative idea was that a dancer should first of
+all have a perfect technique, and then be an individual and not a dead
+figure in a spectacular design. The technique of the Milan school was
+to him one-sided, striving for gymnastic effects at the expense of the
+musical and thematic requirements of a composition. Taglioni had just
+made her reputation on the foundations that Bournoville had laid for
+the Danish ballet. Virtuosity had been the danger of the old school.
+Admiration was centred exclusively in the difficulty of the execution
+of the steps. The _pointes_ and _pirouettes_ had been regarded as
+the highest form of accomplishment. Bournoville realized that this
+step, when it is abused, becomes the curse of ballet dancing. While
+recognizing that it was absolutely necessary for momentary use, when
+completing an attitude or giving a suggestion of ethereal lightness (as
+of the poise of a winged being alighting for an instant upon the earth)
+he combated the tendency to base the significance of the dance only on
+this. On other occasions, one quick passage across the stage, the tips
+of the toes scarcely brushing the dust of the carpet, the dancer may
+make the impression of the grace of a bird’s flight. But if this trick
+is displayed constantly during a performance the effect is lost in the
+ugliness of the effort.
+
+Bournoville was also dissatisfied with the ballet compositions and
+plots. He remodelled many French ballets and wrote some himself. In
+many things Bournoville coöperated with Pierre J. Larcher. The most
+conspicuous of their works was _Valdemar_, which was first performed
+in 1835, with music by Froehlich. Not less successful was the _Festen
+i Albano_, an idyllic ballet in one act with music by Froehlich. This
+was first performed in 1839. A very popular ballet that Bournoville
+arranged to the music of Hartmann was _Olaf den Hellige_.
+
+The most conspicuous pupil of Bournoville and the foremost of his prima
+_ballerinas_ was Lucile Grahn, a girl of outspoken individuality,
+temperament and dramatic force. She was a rival of Taglioni and
+Elssler, not only in Denmark, but in France, England and in other
+European countries. Grahn’s favored ballet was _La Sylphide_, though
+she danced superbly in the _Fiorella_, and _Brahma und Bayaderen_. The
+Danish critics wrote that the Copenhagen audience fairly went wild over
+her dancing in the _Robert af Normandie_. Grahn differed from Taglioni
+in her individual style, which was more romantic and lofty, and in her
+dramatic talent. Besides being a great dancer she was an excellent
+actress. The London and Petrograd audiences were particularly fond
+of her _divertissement_ numbers, mostly written by Danish composers.
+She was born in 1819 and died in Munich in 1875, after having lived
+nineteen years of happy married life with Friedrich Young, a celebrated
+opera singer of that time.
+
+Next to Lucile Grahn in the Danish ballet stands Augusta Nielsen, born
+in 1823 in Copenhagen. As a girl of fifteen, she danced in _Valdemar_.
+But her real career began with _Toreadoren_, in which she danced for
+the first time in 1840. Nielsen’s tendency in dancing was to be natural
+rather than acrobatic. Her mimic and rhythmic talent surpassed by far
+that of Grahn, Taglioni and Elssler. But since she strove less for
+gymnastic effects than her celebrated contemporaries, she failed to
+arouse the enthusiasm that greeted the others. She came close to the
+modern natural dancers, since dancing was for her an individual art
+like singing, in which each artist should express only the best of his
+inner self. Like many other Danish dancers, Nielsen was a born actress
+and emphasized the dramatic features as the most important ones in the
+ballet.
+
+Among Danish ballet dancers the most conspicuous figures are Adolph
+F. Stramboe, Johann Ferdinand Hoppe, Waldemar Price and Hans Beck.
+They all follow the footsteps of Bournoville, whose reforms in Danish
+dancing are equal to those of Noverre in France, or Petipa in Russia.
+Bournoville’s main efforts were to make dancing a serious dramatic
+art. In this he succeeded. The influence of the Danish ballet upon
+the Russian is of far-reaching extent. Didelot, having been a
+ballet-master in Stockholm, was inspired by Bournoville’s attempts,
+and followed his example after becoming a ballet director in Russia.
+But the art of dancing has its period of youth, maturity, decay and
+rebirth. The Danish ballet stopped its evolution after Bournoville. It
+has remained what it was half a century ago. It is sound, classic, and
+noble in its spirit, but it lacks the fire and soul of youth.
+
+
+II
+
+The writer has a record of the young living solo dancer of the
+Danish Royal Ballet, Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen, whose exquisite
+delicate plastic art in Strindberg’s _Brott och Brott_, and Gabriele
+d’Annunzio’s _Gioconda_ aroused stormy enthusiasm among Copenhagen’s
+audiences. Haagen Falkenfleth, the celebrated ballet critic of
+the _Nationaltidende of Copenhagen_, writes of her; ‘Mrs. Elna
+Jörgen-Jensen, the _prima ballerina_ of the Danish Royal Ballet,
+entered the Copenhagen Ballet School as a child, as the result of
+an episode that is still little known. Her parents knew that little
+Elna was passionately fond of dancing, but their surprise was great
+when one day she disappeared from her home. It appeared that she had
+run after a street organ-grinder to whose screaming tune she was
+dancing in the middle of the street to the surprise of the occasional
+spectators. At the age of seven she became a pupil of the Royal Ballet
+School in Copenhagen, where the children are taught not only dancing
+and _calisthenics_, but also the general school subjects, in the same
+way as the dancers are educated in the Russian Imperial Ballet School
+in Petrograd. As a pupil she was favored with small dancing parts in
+certain ballets. She was excellent for little fairy rôles. In this way
+she received a gradual training for the stage and had already mastered
+her routine when she made her real début in Drigo’s “Harlequin’s
+Millions.” She had personified Sylvia’s child in d’Annunzio’s
+_Gioconda_ and the page in Schiller’s _Don Carlos_. Her dancing was so
+sure, her movements so graceful and her mimicry so true to life that
+her reputation was instantly established; but how versatile she was
+became known only later.
+
+‘No one who saw her during her début in the rôle of the gay Pierrette,
+with frolic-humorous eyes and graceful juvenile steps, could imagine
+that on the next occasion she would be so easily transformed into a
+tragedienne in Schnitzler’s and Dohnányi’s “Veil of Pierrette.” She
+practically created her rôle. Her romantic eyes, so full of sorrow and
+despair, added a magic gloom to her dramatic dance, in which she stands
+so high above her many contemporaries. She is realistically gripping.
+Already at the age of nineteen she was an accomplished mute actress of
+the modern type, and a great solo dancer. Dohnányi, who attended the
+performance, told me that he had not supposed she could possibly add
+such a tragic fire to the rôle that he wrote for untrained theatrical
+dancers. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen proved in this rôle that she had broken
+loose from all the traditions of the Bournoville school in which she
+was trained. You could not see a line of the conventional ballet style.
+
+‘Bournoville, the reformer of the Danish ballet, introduced a
+strong dramatic element into the national art. Yet his tendency was
+outspokenly romantic. In this he aimed to be classic and strictly
+choreographic. In many of his ballets the romantic and the realistic
+issues are closely interwoven. In these Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen sometimes
+has gone against the Bournoville principles and used her own judgment.
+She has figured as the principal dancer in the “Flower Festival
+at Genzano,” _La Ventana_, “Far from Danemark,” _Coppélia_ and
+_Swanhilde_. But in “The Little Mermaid,” a ballet based on Hans
+Andersen’s fairy-tale, she is best of all. While dancing in the rôle
+of the Mermaid, she makes the impression of a magic creature of a
+different world, with grace and charms that we have never known, yet
+which cast a spell upon us. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen’s repertoire is large,
+but still larger is the range of her dramatic personifications. The
+Copenhagen audiences are sorry to see her so little, but the stage of
+our National Theatre is more adapted to the opera and drama than to the
+ballet.’
+
+Perhaps the best known of the living Danish dancers is Adeline Genée,
+whose name has figured during the past twenty years in the ballet
+repertoires of all the more or less known opera houses. She has been
+a special favorite of the London public, where she made her début in
+_Monte Cristo_ in November, 1897. She has shown her best in Delibes’
+_Coppélia_, though some critics maintain that her triumph in the
+_Dryad_ is even greater. But what _La Sylphide_ was to Taglioni,
+_Ghiselle_ to Grisi and _Éoline_ to Lucile Grahn, that is _Coppélia_
+to Genée. She is a true exponent of the Bournoville school of ballet,
+though she claims that she owes her brilliant technique to some
+other sources. Though she studied dancing with her uncle in Denmark,
+yet the method, style and technique originate from Bournoville. Max
+Beerbohm has given a pretty characteristic account of her appearance
+in _Coppélia_ in London. ‘No monstrous automaton is that young lady.
+Perfect though she be in the _haute école_, she has by some miracle
+preserved her own self. She was born a comedian and a comedian she
+remains, light as foam. A mermaid were not a more surprising creature
+than she--she of whom one half is that of an authentic _ballerina_,
+whilst the other is that of a most intelligent, most delightful human
+actress. A mermaid were, indeed, less marvellous in our eyes. She
+would not be able to diffuse any semblance of humanity into her tail.
+Madame Genée’s intelligence seems to vibrate in her very toes. Her
+dancing, strictly classical though it is, is a part of her acting. And
+her acting, moreover, is of so fine a quality, that she makes the old
+ineloquent conventions of gesture tell meanings to me, and tell them so
+exquisitely that I quite forget my craving for words.--Taglioni in _Les
+Arabesques_? I suspect in my heart of hearts, she was no better than
+a doll. Grisi in _Ghiselle_? She may or may not have been passable.
+Genée! It is a name our grandchildren will cherish, even as we cherish
+now the names of those bygone dancers. And alas! our grandchildren will
+never believe, will never be able to imagine, what Genée was.’
+
+The writer has attended a number of Genée’s performances in Europe and
+in America, and does not agree entirely with Mr. Beerbohm’s eulogy. As
+already explained above, Bournoville’s method was a great improvement
+over the French-Italian schools of dancing, in that it emphasized
+the dramatic issues and individual traits in the ballet, which Genée
+has exactly followed; but unfortunately the evolution of the Danish
+ballet stopped with Bournoville. The art remained in its preliminary
+state of development and ended with the Dresden-china steps. It is
+this very style that makes Genée an attractive museum figure. In this
+she stands unrivalled. She exhibits an art of the past, with every
+detail sedulously studied. You can see how mathematically exact is the
+position of the fingers, the attitude of the head, the lines of the
+arms and limbs, and so on. ‘Every step has its name, every gesture
+belongs to its code; there is only one way and no other of executing
+them rightly, and that way is Madame Genée’s,’ writes one of her
+admirers. But the dance is more than an exhibition of mathematical
+figures. The studied smile and sorrow fail to arouse the emotions of
+the audience. The Dresden-china step is a fossilized thing of bygone
+centuries. It somehow does not belong to the stage.
+
+The significance of the Danish ballet, and its influence upon the
+evolution of the art of dancing is greater than it is universally
+admitted. The Danes introduced the element of drama into the ballet in
+order to make the dancing a kind of mute acting. They were the first
+to revolt against many time-worn rules of the old schools. They were
+the first to advocate the imitation of nature to a certain extent.
+Bournoville said ‘as nature moves in curves and gradations rather than
+by leaps and turns, dancing should take that into consideration.’ The
+Russian ballet was influenced through the Danish and Swedish. The
+Danish ballet was a stepping-stone between the academic French-Italian
+and ethno-dramatic Russian schools. It has accomplished a great task
+in the evolution of the art of dancing by making the ballet a dramatic
+expression on academic lines.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE RUSSIAN BALLET
+
+  Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the
+  Russian school; French and Russian schools compared--Begutcheff and
+  Ostrowsky; history of the Russian ballet--Didelot and the Imperial
+  ballet school; Petipa and his reforms--Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’
+  and other ballets; Pavlova and other famous _ballerinas_; Mordkin;
+  Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.
+
+
+I
+
+The celebrated saying of the German poet, ‘_Und neues Leben blüht aus
+den Ruinen_’ applies better than anything else to the Russian ballet,
+which has risen out of the West European choreographic ruins. The
+Russian ballet marks a new era in the history of the art of dancing.
+The Russian ballet is a new word in the dance world. It brings the
+smell of trees and flowers, the songs of birds, the leaps of gazelles
+and lions and the very soil of nature to the stage. It breathes the
+spectral shadows of the trees and mountains; it begins with the
+simplest mushroom and ends with the most complicated hot-house plant.
+It emanates nature with all its uncouthness and grace. Like the Russian
+composers and poets, the Russian dancers strive to echo Nature with all
+its majesty and mystery.
+
+Even with the beginning of the nineteenth century the Russian ballet
+begins a course entirely different from that which the schools of
+Western Europe were preaching and teaching. Though the ballet-masters
+and instructors are foreigners, yet they are actuated by outward
+circumstances to apply their academic theories to the conditions of
+a different school. With the advent of a national school of music
+and drama, at the head of which stood Balakireff, Borodine, Seroff,
+Moussorgsky, Tschaikowsky and Rimsky-Korsakoff in music, and Ostrowsky,
+Turgenieff, Gogol and others in the drama, the Russian ballet is
+forced in the same channels. The Russian ballet grows gradually into
+a new nationalistic art, and separates itself altogether from the
+French-Italian aristocratic academicism. The frequent remarks of the
+foreign critics, suggesting that the Russian ballet was and is a
+direct offspring and copy of the classic French-Italian schools, are
+absolutely wrong. It is true that the Russians borrowed from the French
+the skeleton and from the Italians the mechanic contrivances, but they
+built up the body themselves and created something entirely different
+from what Western Europe knew of the ballet.
+
+A born dancer, the Russian could never stand the prescribed poses,
+smiles, tears, steps and gestures, that were and are still practised
+outside. He is ready to undergo the most strenuous training, and
+follows microscopically the instructions of the teachers, in order to
+acquire the necessary technique; but when it comes to a performance,
+he will put his spontaneous ideas and impulses above the technique and
+act according to his emotions and inspiration. This is a peculiarity of
+the Russian. He is and remains an individual. No school can put him on
+the same level with his fellow-students. Is not Pavlova quite different
+from Fokina or Karsavina?
+
+No other nation cares so much for racial beauty as the Russian. And
+in this it is essentially democratic. All Russian art is based on
+the peasant, and not on aristocratic ideals. It expresses this by
+being simple, direct, spontaneous and rugged. The greatest factor
+in separating the Russian ballet from the western, is the Russian
+folk-dance. It owes everything to folk-art. No outside influence
+has ever been able to change the Russian æsthetic taste. In art,
+particularly in the ballet, the peasant ideals force themselves upon
+all aristocratic and bureaucratic classes. Already as a youth he sucks
+from the atmosphere the innumerable forms of dance expression. In
+his blood lives unconsciously the whole choreographic code, as his
+ancestors have known and practised it for centuries. The design of a
+peasant is the æsthetic scale of a Russian artist, particularly of
+a dancer. Aristocratic ideals never amounted to anything in Russia.
+The fact is, the nobleman follows in matters of æsthetic taste the
+_moujik_, but never _vice versa_. The benefit of this has been that
+neither the court nor foreign academicism could influence the Russian
+art of dancing.
+
+Besides the racial motives, the question of scientific education has
+been a hobby with the Russian art pedagogues since the early part of
+the last century. The Russians are almost fanatic in this respect
+and have specialized their educational institutions to such a degree
+that they stand unique. The method of training the dancers in other
+countries was centred mainly in training the step technique and was, so
+to speak, purely choreographic. The Russians took into consideration
+all the arts that are related to dancing, and made a rule that all
+pupils in the dancing schools should have at least an elementary
+training in human anatomy, in sculpture, drama, architecture, painting,
+music and in general educational subjects. To know every branch of art
+correspondingly well--this made it necessary that children be educated
+in an institute from their childhood on. Thus the education for the
+Russian ballet is given in the two Imperial Ballet Schools, one in
+Petrograd, the other in Moscow, both being connected with the dramatic
+departments in which children are trained for the stage. The course
+in the school lasts eight years, with an extra one or two years’
+post-graduate practice at some opera stage, after which a graduate
+receives his ‘Free Artist’ degree which places him on an equal rank
+with the graduates of a college, university or musical conservatory.
+
+Marius Petipa, the director and leading spirit of the Petrograd ballet
+school, has, upon one occasion, said to the writer: ‘We employ the
+French, the Italian, the Danish and the Russian instructors in order
+to give the best of every school and style to our pupils. We teach
+things that no other school would teach. For instance, our pupils must
+know psychology, which is supposed to be unnecessary for a dancer. But
+I say, no. How can a girl personify the Snow Maiden when she does not
+know the psychology of a fairy? It’s ridiculous, you might think, as
+fairies are only legendary figures. But the very fact that they are
+imaginary makes it necessary for a girl to know how to avoid showing
+any human characteristics.
+
+‘The foreign schools do not care in what steps a dancer should express
+such subtle emotions as jealousy, longing, bliss and sorrow. Abroad
+they prescribe pirouettes for joy and happiness. They prescribe acting
+in this, dancing in that phrase. It is not so with us. We teach the
+pupil to see the various human emotions in historic sculpture and
+painting. We show them the attitudes of various celebrated actresses in
+this or that emotion. Then, we go back to psychology and leave it to
+the artist to formulate the position that he would occupy in various
+emotions. So you see psychology is very important to a dancer.
+
+‘Dancing is the cream of architecture and sculpture. We teach our
+future dancers to know the difference between architecture and
+sculpture and then between a dance and a dramatic pose, which are
+just as different as opera singing and concert singing. All our
+graduates must be accomplished dancers, actors, acrobats, architects
+and designers. We teach the difference between a Gothic and Byzantine
+line, a Moorish and Romanesque design. We have to analyze music and
+sculpture to their elementary parts in order to be able to show the
+manifold manifestations of the human soul, and the manifold forms of
+beauty. It is in this way that a dancer comes to know which step or
+gesture corresponds to the emotions of a Romanesque Italian, Gothic
+German or Byzantine Russian.
+
+‘I have been assailed by our critics and composers as being too
+strict in demanding technique from our dancers. But tell me, please,
+can any talent make a man an artist without technical ability, where
+mathematical laws are required as in dancing and in music? Can there
+ever be a Rubinstein, Paderewski or Kubelik without the acquired
+harmonic and melodic skill on the instrument which I call technique?
+Just as little chance has a man of being a great dancer if he does not
+possess the ability to control his body, though he be the greatest
+choreographic genius in the world. Art is technique plus talent. No
+great artist in dancing was ever produced without technique.
+
+‘Do you know what Lubke said in his immortal History of Sculpture, that
+applies also to a dancer? I am telling all my pupils when they leave
+the institution that, like sculptor in the clay, a dancer in himself
+must seek the “Image of God,” the spark of divine life. When he fails
+to find this in separate lines, poses, gestures, attitudes and mimic
+expressions, he must search for it in the whole, and, by thoughtful
+study and thinking, he will certainly attain the reflex of immortal
+beauty--the image of deity. This I call artistic creation. In sculpture
+as in dancing the divine and heroic are the aims of the artistic
+achievements. Without this striving after the divine spark nothing is
+produced but lifeless figures and dead forms. A dancer, like any other
+artist, should aspire after spirit-breathing beauty.’
+
+[Illustration: Pavlowa
+
+_a painting by John Lavery_]
+
+This briefly expresses the fundamental traditions of the Russian
+ballet school. To a certain extent it is academic, but it has never
+interfered with the racial and the individual tendencies of the
+artists. Though there are only three large independent ballet corps in
+Russia, those of Petrograd, Moscow, and Warsaw, yet nearly every one of
+the sixty or more provincial opera houses keeps its local ballet corps
+in connection with the operatic and dramatic staff. While in foreign
+countries ballet has been appreciated mainly as an accessory to the
+opera for its spectacular effects, its æsthetic appeal being regarded
+as not possessing a high order of merit, in Russia it is considered a
+great and independent art of the stage, standing on a plane with opera,
+both musically and dramatically. When a few years ago the Russian
+dancers made their appearance abroad the public was startled, as no one
+could imagine that any good thing could come out of Czardom. It is a
+great mistake to suppose that the Russian ballet is an aristocratic or
+autocratic institution. By no means. Like Russian drama and music the
+Russian ballet is a national institution and a national achievement.
+
+In how far the Russian ballet differs from her sister institutions
+outside is best to be seen in such old-fashioned ballets as _Les
+Sylphides_, which was danced by Taglioni, and is danced by the artists
+of the French-Italian schools and figures in the repertoires of the
+Russian ballet. Another work of similar nature is the _Coppélia_.
+Not only are these two time-worn ballets wholly changed in their
+thematic and musical sense but in the very form of conception. The
+Russian _Sylphides_ and _Coppélia_ are old scenes in modern light,
+the French-Italian _Sylphides_ and _Coppélia_ are pitiable museum
+shows. Where a French-Italian _ballerina_ would leap and whirl, a
+Russian acts and poses. Like the art of an actress that of a Russian
+_ballerina_ is in the first place a personification of the character
+in whose rôle she is dancing. Pavlova as she depicts the incomparable
+fury of Glazounoff’s _L’Autômne Bacchanale_, could not by any means
+be a Cleopatra as personified by Astafieva. Karsavina with all her
+dramatic thrill and _arabesques_ is a mediocrity in the rôles in which
+Pavlova excels. The dramatic issue is the foremost question in the
+Russian ballet, often to such an extent that it minimizes the musical
+significance. The most talented of the foreign ballet dancers do not
+begin to go into the dramatic details of a dance as the Russians do.
+
+To get an idea of the Russian ballet with all its true atmosphere one
+must go to Russia. The performances of the Diaghileff company which
+foreign audiences have seen, belong to the revolutionary school, but
+not to the typical classic dance of Russia, which we shall discuss
+later. The Russian ballet dancer is free from all the stiffness,
+decadent artificiality, preconceived emotions, and fossilized
+formalities of the French-Italian ballet dancers. This freedom he owes,
+in the first place, to the thorough training in the school; second,
+to the distinctly racial traditions of the Russian drama and art; and
+third, to the serious critical attitude of the audiences. To say that
+the Russian ballet has not travelled in ideals far from those of Milan
+in the earlier part of the nineteenth century, as a foreign dance
+critic has said, is untrue. The difference between these two schools is
+just as real as that between the Catholic and the Protestant church:
+the one believes in the form, the other in the spirit.
+
+
+II
+
+How much the Russian ballet has influenced drama, opera, painting and
+music can be judged from the fact that almost without an exception all
+the Russian operas require dancing; thus there are several dramas and
+orchestra works interwoven with the ballet. On the other hand the
+dancer has made use of themes and compositions that had been created
+for other purposes; for all such ballets as the _Scheherezade_,
+_Prince Igor_, _Baba Yaga_ and many others, were written as orchestral
+suites, symphonic poems or parts of operas. But the choric imagination
+discovered in them latent music dramas adapted for dancing. We are
+inclined to think that the Moscow ballet, but not that of Petrograd,
+is a thoroughly Russian institution, since Begutcheff, who was a
+director of the Moscow Opera and Ballet at the time of Tschaikowsky and
+Ostrowsky, banished all foreign influence from that stage, more so than
+has ever happened in Petrograd.
+
+In 1873 Begutcheff asked Ostrowsky, one of the foremost Russian
+dramatists, to write a fairy ballet for performance at the Imperial
+Opera in St. Petersburg, exacting that it should be free from any
+satirical or politically undesirable element. Begutcheff asked the
+dramatist to submit the scenario to him for approval. Ostrowsky was
+noted for his bitter sarcasm anent the Russian bureaucracy and for
+his idealization of the peasants. This he was told he should avoid in
+the ballet, ‘for such would be not pleasing to the imperial family.’
+Ostrowsky smiled, grunting: ‘God be thanked, the imperial family
+has no business to interfere with the imagination of an artist.’ He
+finished his libretto without consulting Begutcheff and entitled
+it _Snegourotchka_--‘Snow Maiden.’ The director of the Petrograd
+ballet did not like Ostrowsky’s libretto and refused to consider it.
+Begutcheff, however, turned the libretto over to Tschaikowsky to
+compose the music and it was performed with great success in Moscow.
+
+One of the special features of the Russian ballet is its _chorovody_
+character--that is, the musical accompaniment, on many occasions,
+is supplied by the singing of the dancers themselves. This species
+of vocal ballets evidently originated in the choral dances of
+the peasants. The Russian ballet is, in fact, an outgrowth of the
+folk-dance just as Russian music emanates from the folk-song. While
+watching the Russian ballet, you see glimpses of the racial traits.
+It is not like the music, however, a picture of the gloom of lonely
+_moujik_ life, in which only here and there a beam of light breaks
+through the melancholy. It is a succession of brilliant pictures of the
+mediæval Boyars, the semi-barbaric nobility. Every part of the ballet
+is meant to show the rich Byzantine colors, and primitive passions as
+set forth in a half-civilized garb.
+
+It is true the Russian ballet is controlled by the court and therefore
+is forced to be aristocratic in appearance. The composers and the
+ballet-masters have been strictly instructed to avoid all undesirable
+themes; but, strange to say, the ballet is just as much a mirror of
+the hospitable, good natured, naïve and emotional peasant as it is of
+a spoiled Boyar. It is not that all the ballet dancers are children of
+peasants, educated for the stage by the court, but because the Russian
+dramatists and composers have unconsciously put their own _moujik_
+souls in their creations, for, though most of the Russian composers and
+dramatists are descendants of the aristocracy, yet in their hearts they
+have remained one with the people, whose life they live in thought and
+feeling.
+
+In its principles the ballet is the most aristocratic and the oldest of
+all Russian arts of the stage. The unwritten history of the enchanting
+Russian dance would make a thrilling record of more than two centuries.
+The romances, tragedies, mysteries, and intrigues connected with this
+sealed drama have often played a decisive rôle in the affairs of the
+country. As the result of a romance with pretty Teleshova Griboyedoff,
+a famous Russian dramatist was killed in Teheran. For having dedicated
+his ‘Eugene Onyegin’ to the fascinating Istomina, prima _ballerina_ of
+the Imperial Opera, Poushkin, the poet, lost the love of his wife and
+was subsequently shot in a duel. The Czar Paul fell in love with Eugeny
+Kolossova and in consequence was strangled at his palace in Petrograd.
+Before the present Czar ascended the throne he was said to have been so
+much in love with Mathilda Kshesinskaya that he made plans to renounce
+his throne and marry her.
+
+The ballet was introduced in Russia as early as 1672. Czar Alexis
+Mihailowitch ordered his aid-de-camp, Colonel Van Staden, to have a
+troupe of Dutch comedians brought to Moscow. Van Staden made a contract
+with a ballet manager in Brussels, but the foreigner was frightened
+into giving up the venture because of a rumor that he and his troupe
+might eventually land in Siberia. After this a German pastor, the
+Rev. Johann Gregory, undertook the management of the troupe, hiring
+sixty-four German and Italian dancers and producing in 1673 the first
+ballet, ‘Orpheus and Euridice,’ with great success. Peter the Great was
+so fascinated with the ballet that he himself took part and for this
+purpose received lessons from the ballet-master.
+
+The ballet of this time was, of course, Italian-French in conception
+and music. But the early foreign masters soon produced a school of
+native instructors who gradually made use of the peculiarities of
+national dances. Many Russian ballets were already at this time of
+national color, one of them, _Baba Yaga_, having been written by the
+Czar himself. _Baba Yaga_ is a Russian fairy tale. Like the English
+‘Witch on a Broomstick,’ _Baba Yaga_ rides through the sky on a huge
+mortar, propelling herself with a pestle, while her great tongue licks
+up the clouds as she passes. The dancers were trained in various
+military or municipal schools and the teaching was unsystematic in
+every respect.
+
+The first impetus to a national dancing academy was given by Empress
+Anna Ivanovna, the sister of Peter the Great, who felt that the
+education of the dancers was not systematic enough, and regretted
+that the best dancers had to be hired from abroad. In 1735, she asked
+Christian Wellmann, a teacher of gymnastics in the Cadet Corps, to
+found a dramatic dancing school in which girls and boys could be
+educated for the ballet. The Italian composer Francesca Areja was
+employed to take care of the music, while Lande, a pupil of Noverre,
+was to act as ballet director. As the newly formed school could not
+get children of the nobility to learn dancing, Lande trained a number
+of poor city boys and girls free of any charge, and with them gave
+a performance at the palace. The Empress was so pleased with their
+dance that she instructed that the pupils be educated in the Imperial
+Dramatic Dancing School free of charge.
+
+
+III
+
+The most conspicuous figures in the development of the early Russian
+ballet were Locatelli, Hilferding and Lessogoroff. To the latter’s
+efforts are due the reforms that made the Russian school independent
+from French-Italian influences. But to Charles Louis Didelot is due
+the thorough and many sided system of training that makes the School a
+unique institution in Europe. He may be considered the real father of
+all the pedagogic technical perfection, for it was he who emphasized
+the importance of a systematic training in a true dramatic spirit,
+contending that a good ballet dancer should also be a good actress and
+an artist and a poet at heart. Up to his time lessons had consisted
+mostly of physical training, fencing and gymnastics, but he insisted
+that the ballet be put on the same basis as drama. Whereas the dance
+had been merely a spectacular part of opera he intended that it should
+become an independent production. This brought upon him a storm of
+indignation on the part of the clergy and their supporters, the quarrel
+becoming so intense that in 1801, as one of its effects, the Czar Paul
+was acclaimed a heretic and was combatted by the ecclesiastic powers
+until he was strangled in his palace and his son, Alexander I, ascended
+the throne. The young Czar was religious, but so much an admirer of the
+ballet that he did not interfere with the plans of Didelot and gave him
+a still greater authority.
+
+It is strange how Didelot, a rather small, insignificant, pock-marked
+and deformed Frenchman, who had been for some time a ballet teacher
+in Stockholm, could play a dominating rôle during the twenty-five
+years that he was director of the Imperial Ballet School. The best
+known dancers of his school were Istomina, Teleshova and the uncle of
+Taglioni, who later undertook the training of Maria Taglioni. Miss
+Novitzkaya was a celebrated pupil of Didelot, but her career was soon
+destroyed by an affair of the heart. Gedeonoff, the director who
+followed Didelot, fell madly in love with Novitzkaya and proposed
+to her, but the dancer, having given her heart to a poor composer,
+remained true to him and became his wife. This was the end of her art,
+though critics claimed her superior to Taglioni and Elssler.
+
+By 1847 the Russian ballet had taken a leading place in Europe, but
+in a purely artistic sense it was still foreign in character, the
+librettos being built mainly on foreign themes or constructed to
+foreign music. With the advent of the composers Glinka, Dargomijsky,
+Seroff, Balakireff and Moussorgsky, it was evident that ballet faced a
+reform similar to that which music had undergone. The ballets of the
+old school had usually been divided into several acts and figures,
+each of which had _entrées_ and strictly prescribed rules for using
+various gestures, steps, etc., in certain places. They, however,
+failed to define the relation of emotion and acting to the plot and
+made dancing a complicated artificial salon-plant. An uninitiated logic
+could hardly grasp the hieroglyphic meaning of all the queer gymnastic
+tricks. With the engagement of Marius Petipa, in 1849, there came a
+change. Although a Frenchman by birth Petipa was just such a reformer
+in the ballet as Michelangelo was in sculpture. More powerful than any
+other master, he entered the sphere of choreographic art, transforming
+it completely, and assigning it new limits. Petipa was the master
+of a new ballet, an idealist in the strictest sense of the word. He
+sought for a universally available expression, and often even ignored
+questions of racial beauty. He gave himself up for many years to an
+anatomical study of the dance and the human body. By him the human form
+in all its majesty was valued for its own sake. To exhibit it in all
+conceivable attitudes and poses, to display it freely and grandly after
+the principles of classic beauty, was the aim of his endeavor. The weak
+decadent movements and the forced forms of the Paris and Milan schools
+were irritable to his broad views of the art of dancing. Unfettered
+subjectivity prevailed in his efforts, which admitted no objective
+realism in their absolute sway. All his method betrays an eternal
+struggle to introduce into dancing the most sublime ideas, the sway
+of idea over form. Whether a figure was natural or not interested him
+little, if it only expressed what was floating before his mind. Petipa
+infused a new life into Russian ballet. Nevertheless he could not
+wholly free himself from the mannerism of the time, nor could he yet
+find the path to perfect purity and naïveté of conception.
+
+Petipa surrounded himself with the best dance authorities of the
+time. Felix Kshesinsky, Leggatt, Schirjajeff and Bekeffy became his
+associates in the task he had undertaken. Coöperating in harmony and
+inspired by the new tendency of nationalism in music and drama, they
+made the ballet typically national by introducing a long repertoire
+of national themes in the dance. With pretty Kshesinskaya, Bogdanova,
+Breobrashenskaya, Sokolova, Pavlova, Karsavina, Lopokova and Fokina
+as the _prima ballerinas_ many new ballets became thrilling novelties
+to the Russian audiences. The ballet in the eyes of the Petipa school
+became a mute drama with music, and at once took a high position
+artistically and poetically. People grew to find the ballet far more
+alluring than the pessimistic drama.
+
+What Petipa did pedagogically for the uplifting of the Russian ballet,
+Vsevoloshky did scenically and industrially. Vsevoloshky made himself
+the spirit of the nationalistic movement by combining with the purely
+choreographic part the creations of the new school of painters and
+composers in a highly artistic manner. Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky,
+Rimsky-Korsakoff, Arensky and Glazounoff in music, Bilibin, Benois and
+Bakst in painting, contributed their best works to the ballet. On the
+other hand, while the West European ballets cared little for training
+the male dancers, the Russians laid a special stress on training an
+equal number of boys with the girls in all their ballet schools. The
+training of a boy is different from that of a girl in that it teaches
+chiefly those traits that lend virility and strength to expression. A
+weak masculine element deprives the ballet of its natural effect. A
+Pavlova, Karsavina or Fokina without a Nijinsky, Mordkin or Volinin,
+would be like an orchestra without the bass. How repulsive it is to see
+the ‘boy’ dancer of the English stage, who is always a girl!
+
+
+IV
+
+The most typical of the early purely Russian native ballets was the
+_Snegourotchka_--‘The Snow Maiden’--which was first performed in
+1876 in Moscow. Tschaikowsky took for his musical themes half a dozen
+folk-songs from Brokunin’s collection, and a few from the lips of the
+village people near Kieff. This ballet has been of the greatest success
+on the Russian stage thus far. This is musically and choreographically
+a dramatized fairy tale. The Snow Maiden is the issue of the union of
+the gladsome fairy, Spring, with the grim old geni, Winter. The father
+jealously guards her from the courting Sun-God, who is eager to pour
+upon her his scorching and destructive rays. Winter would like to
+keep her in the forest, but the mother, proud of her child’s beauty,
+wants to send her into the busy world to charm its inhabitants. After
+a serious conflict of the parents the father yields. The girl feels
+the strange emotions of love and trembles, singing a thrilling melody.
+She wanders from village to village in search of a lover, but her
+numerous admirers are unable to stir her heart, because snow circulates
+through her veins. She realizes that she is void of real passion.
+Spring appears to her and endows her with the tenderness of a lily, the
+languor of a poppy and the desire of a rose. The Snow Maiden’s heart
+is touched at last, but in the moment when she wishes to fall on her
+lover’s neck a brilliant sun ray pours its Summer heat on her. She
+dissolves in vapor and floats into the skies.
+
+The score is wholly Russian in mood and color. The dramatic treatment
+of the subject is the best that Tschaikowsky has ever done. The
+Snow Maiden’s theme is very sad and beautiful in the last movement.
+The pantomime and steps are excellent, and seem to melt into one
+magic whole. Tschaikowsky, with his peculiar genius for evolving
+floating, curving dance rhythms and his remarkable gift for lyrical
+characterization, made ‘The Snow Maiden’ a great success.
+
+Of less success was Tschaikowsky’s second ballet, ‘Swan Lake,’ though
+it has been in recent years a favorite ballet with the Petrograd
+audiences. Like the first, it was built on a fairy tale and an old
+folk legend theme. It was performed in 1876. Another ballet full of
+imaginary episodes and pretty music is ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’ The
+finest pages of this score are found in the _Adagio misterioso_,
+describing the sleep of the princess. But choreographically the best
+part is the _Pas d’action_, in which the _prima ballerina_ seems to
+melt into one audio-visible beauty that thrills the utmost depths of
+the soul. The ‘Nut Cracker’ has had less success than the others,
+yet it is a magnificent work of art. It probably lacks the feminine
+sentimentality that is always sure of a stage success.
+
+To our knowledge none of Tschaikowsky’s ballets has been given in
+America. Whether the Diaghileff company ever gave any of them in
+Paris and London, we have been unable to learn. The Russian ballets
+that the foreign audiences have thus far seen abroad, are nearly
+without exception musical patch-works. Neither the Rimsky-Korsakoff
+_Scheherezade_ nor _Prince Igor_ nor _Cleopatra_ was ever written for
+dancing. The _Scheherezade_, for instance, is an orchestral suite of
+Rimsky-Korsakoff. He never meant it for a ballet. Of all the real
+ballets that the Diaghileff troupe has given only those composed by
+Stravinsky and a few by Tcherepnin are meant to be danced.
+
+Among the best Russian ballet dancers of the strictly classic or, as we
+should say, of the Petipa school, are Kshesinskaya, Breobrashenskaya,
+Geltzer, Pavlova, Mordkin, Novikoff, Volinin, Kyasht and Lopokova,
+most of whom are known abroad. But there are quite a number of Russian
+_prima ballerinas_, who, for some reason or other, have not been able
+to display their art abroad, yet who rival the best we know. As with
+other artists, dancers all have their individual traits of superiority
+and weakness. In some dances we have seen Kshesinskaya superior to all
+the rest, in other rôles she is just a mediocrity. We can imagine
+nothing more inspiring and beautiful than Pavlova and Mordkin in
+Glazounoff’s _L’Autômne Bacchanale_. No Russian ballet dancers have
+surpassed them in this. In the same way we consider Pavlova a goddess
+of grace and beauty in Drigo’s _Papillon_ and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’
+We measure her one of the most lyric artists of the Russian classic
+ballet.
+
+Mme. Pavlova is a graduate of the Petrograd Ballet School and was for
+years a _prima ballerina_ at the Mariensky Theatre in that city before
+she made a tour to Riga, Warsaw and Helsingfors. Having been received
+with greatest enthusiasm on her provincial tour she decided to try her
+luck abroad and made her London début in 1910, where she immediately
+had the city at her feet. It is only in recent years that Pavlova
+has danced in her own regular ballet, whereas before she appeared
+exclusively in solo dances, either with Mordkin, Novikoff or Volinin.
+In our judgment she has not added anything to her reputation or success
+by her patchy ballet, particularly in America, where the public is
+least impressed by pantomimic art of the kind they can see with more
+advantage in the moving-picture show. It is Pavlova’s art that the
+people admire, not the ballets that are concocted for her. It must be
+said that the ballets recently produced by her possess little dramatic
+or choreographic appeal.
+
+In questions pertaining to her dancing Pavlova has been broad and
+tolerant, and has listened quietly to every eulogistic or critical
+remark. She has not remained indifferent to the latest choreographic
+movements but has adapted herself to many suggestions, particularly to
+those of the movement of the naturalistic school of Isadora Duncan. In
+spite of the growing influence of the revolutionary new ballet of the
+Fokine-Diaghileff group, and while keeping in view the changing taste
+and requirements of the public, Pavlova should, we believe, guard
+against too great a compromise. She surpasses in her magic swiftness,
+delicacy, bird-like agility, floating grace and lyric pirouettes all
+her living rivals. One can see that she has tuned her body to the most
+delicate _pianissimi_ and the most powerful _forti_. But when she
+attempts to use her arms too conspicuously, or produce Greek poses,
+she is a disappointing failure. We must admit with an English critic
+that ‘in Pavlova’s dancing we are no longer aware of the conscious and
+painful obedience of the body to the dictates of a governing mind. It
+is as though the spirit itself had left its central citadel and, by
+some unwonted alchemy becoming dissolved in the blood and fibres of her
+being, had penetrated to the extremities of the limbs. Soul from body
+is no longer distinguishable, and which is servant to the other none
+can tell.’
+
+Mordkin and Volinin stand by no means beyond the dynamic beauty of
+Pavlova. In their virilly graceful gestures and poses lies something
+heroic and strong, something beast-like in its beauty. Mordkin perhaps
+more than Volinin is endowed with a robust, massive and splendid
+physique, qualities which leave some of his less critical admirers
+blind to the deficiencies of his art. Both dancers have acquired most
+of their pliancy and manliness by a course of systematic and rigorous
+training which gives to their dance an unusual _abandon_ and loftiness.
+Their dancing has a tendency to give a semblance of repose to their
+quickest motions. They seem to avoid the conventional whirls and pivots
+with intention, and to prefer the lion-like leaps and _chassées_. Their
+reckless swing in _L’Autômne Bacchanale_ is just as much an expression
+of manly vigor as Pavlova’s _pirouette_ and _rond de jambe_ is one of
+feminine grace.
+
+The ranks of the Russian ballet dancers are of a peculiar bureaucratic
+order, beginning with the simple _danseuse_ and ending with the _prima
+ballerina_, which is a rank similar in the hierarchy to that of a full
+general. Lydia Kyasht, for instance, is a lieutenant in her rank of
+_première sujet_. Pavlova and Karsavina are _ballerinas_, while only
+Kshesinskaya and Breobrashenskaya are _prima ballerinas_. Among the
+Russian dancers known abroad, Lydia Kyasht and Lydia Lopokova are next
+to Pavlova brilliant exponents of the Russian classic or so called ‘Old
+Ballet.’ They have both impressed us as sincere and eloquent artists
+of their school, the one romantic, the other extremely poetic. The
+ethereal twists and glides of Lopokova surpass by far those of Pavlova
+in their peculiar fairy-like lines and poses. Kyasht appeals to us
+immensely on account of her absolutely classic plastic and enchanting
+poses, which add an exotic air to her enchanting expressions.
+
+In introducing Pavlova, Mordkin and other more or less prominent
+exponents of the Russian classic ballet to America and England Max
+Rabinoff has been the practical spirit behind the scenes. An authority
+on the dance, Mr. Rabinoff had the conviction, even when the Russian
+dancers were yet unknown in America, that they would ultimately triumph
+as they did. To his persistent efforts the Russian ballet owes its
+success in America.
+
+The classic Russian ballet is a pure Byzantine piece of stage art.
+It mirrors the bizarre glow and colors of the cathedrals, the mystic
+romanticism of the Kremlin walls and cupolas, the Tartar minarets, the
+vaulted _teremas_ (Boyar houses), the lonely steppes, the gloomy penal
+colonies, the luxurious palaces and twisted towers of a semi-Oriental
+country. Strongly replete with the character of the passing Boyar life,
+it is an era in itself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE ERA OF DEGENERATION
+
+  Nineteenth century decadence; sensationalism--Loie Fuller and the
+  Serpentine dance--Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.
+
+
+During the last half of the nineteenth century the art of dancing
+reached such a low level that Max Nordau said: ‘It is a fleeting
+pastime for women and youths, and later on its last atavistic survival
+will be the dancing of children.’ An English writer of that time wrote
+aptly: ‘In these days of culture, when the public mind is being trained
+to perceive and appreciate whatever is lovely in nature and art, when
+music is universally studied, when there is ample evidence of general
+improvement in taste and design in our streets, our buildings, on the
+walls and in the furniture of our homes, is it not strange that a
+single art, one which was in classic times deemed worthy to rank with
+poetry and painting--the art of dancing--has degenerated to such an
+extent that its practice, as frequently exhibited both in public and
+in private, is a positive disgrace to the age? This is no exaggerated
+statement. It is one which I think any competent critic is hardly
+likely to deny.’
+
+The Skirt Dance, the Serpentine Dance, the High Kickers, the Nude
+Bayaderes were the sensations of the day. Here Lottie Collins, there
+Loie Fuller, now Letti Lind, then again Connie Gilchrist, figured as
+the greatest dance attractions of the day. London blamed Paris, Paris
+blamed New York. How much the craze for such an art had cast its spell
+on the public of that period is best illustrated by the immense sums
+of money that the theatrical managers paid for their shows. The gross
+receipts during one season in New York of ‘Humpty Dumpty,’ a celebrated
+ballet of that time, amounted to $1,406,000. It brought in a similar
+sum, if not more, outside.
+
+
+I
+
+A brilliant star of the sensational school of dancing was Loie Fuller,
+of Chicago. She made her New York début in ‘Jack Sheppard,’ with a
+salary of seventy-five dollars a week. While rehearsing a new play,
+she received from an English officer a present of an extremely fine
+Oriental robe that floated gracefully in the air. This gave her the
+idea of using it for her dancing. While making some experiments before
+the mirror, she noticed the effects brought about by the then newly
+invented electric light. She tried innumerable variations of poses
+and all were delightful. This was the birth process of the Serpentine
+Dance. J. E. Crawford Flitch writes of the incident:
+
+‘The invention of the Serpentine Dance coincided with the discovery
+of electricity as a method of lighting the stage. Until that time gas
+alone had been used. Loie Fuller immediately saw the possibilities of
+the new scientific illumination, and with the aid of a few friends
+she devised a means by which the effect of the vivid sunshine could
+be obtained through the use of powerful electric lights placed in
+front of reflectors. Then various experiments with color were tried;
+for the white light of electricity were substituted different shades
+of reds, greens, purples, yellows, blues, by the combinations of
+which innumerable and wonderful rainbow-like effects of color were
+obtained. Played upon by the multitudinous hues, the diaphanous silk
+gave an impression of startling originality and beauty. Coming at the
+time when the artistic lighting of the stage was scarcely studied at
+all, the riot of color created a sensation. Nothing like it had been
+seen before. The old-fashioned limelight, the flickering gas-jets,
+the smoking red and blue flames dear to the Christmas pantomime,
+paled before this discovery of science which apparently possessed
+inexhaustible possibilities of a stage illuminant.’
+
+Loie Fuller made a sensation in America, particularly in New York and
+Chicago. But her success was much greater when she gave spectacular
+performances to the morbid Berlin, Paris and London audiences. Her
+début at Folies Bergères was more than a triumph. She became the rage
+of France. The management of the Folies Bergères engaged her for three
+years at a salary of one thousand dollars a week. How greatly ‘_La
+Loie_,’ as she was called in Paris, impressed the French audiences is
+best to be seen in what one of the French critics writes of her: ‘We
+shall not easily forget the Serpentine Dance, undulating and luminous,
+full of weird grace and originality, a veritable revelation! By means
+of a novel contrivance, the gauzy iridescent draperies in which Loie
+Fuller swathes herself were waved about her, now to form huge wings,
+now to surge in great clouds of gold, blue, or crimson, under the
+colored rays of the electric light. And in the flood of this dazzling
+or pallid light the form of the dancer suddenly became incandescent,
+or moved slowly and spectrally in the diaphanous and ever-changing
+coloration cast upon it. The spectator never wearied of watching the
+transformations of these tissues of living light, which showed in
+successive visions the dreamy dancer, moving languidly in a chaos of
+figured draperies--in a rainbow of brilliant colors or a sea of vivid
+flames. And after having roused us to a pitch of enthusiasm by this
+luminous choreography, she appeared triumphant in the pantomime-ballet
+_Salome_, reproducing the gloomy episode of the death of John the
+Baptist.’
+
+Among the dances that Loie Fuller had in her repertoire, besides
+the Serpentine Dance, were the Rainbow Dance, the Flower Dance,
+the Butterfly Dance, the Mirror Dance, and the Fire Dance. It is
+only natural that all her dances of this kind made necessary a vast
+paraphernalia of accessories and an army of assistants. The Fire Dance
+she performed in the centre of a darkened stage before an opening
+in the floor through which a powerful electric reflector threw up
+intensely brilliant rays. None of her dances had any classified steps,
+any poses, gestures of the kind employed by dancers of various other
+schools and different ages. The function of the limbs and arms was
+merely to put veils and draperies into motion.
+
+
+II
+
+Of somewhat the same class were the entertainments given by Louise
+Weber or ‘La Goulu,’ another American girl of the type of Loie Fuller.
+Occasionally she exhibited some skill in her kicking scenes. It is
+said that she never made pretension to rhythm and grace. Her ‘art’ was
+a negation of every beauty. It was a frenzied delirious gymnastic.
+An American critic says that her legs were agitated like those of
+a marionette, they pawed the air, jerked out in the manner of a
+pump-handle, and menaced the hats of the spectators.
+
+Lottie Collins was a favorite of the English, French and American
+audiences, though she was little more than a jumper of a new style.
+The watchword of the ballet _habitués_ of this time was novelty at
+any price. It is extremely amusing to read a Kansas City criticism of
+Miss Collins’ performance in that city: ‘Lottie Collins has the stage
+all to herself and she bounces and dances and races all over it in the
+most reckless and irresponsible way, precisely as if she were a happy
+child so full of health and spirits that she couldn’t keep still if
+she wanted to. Sometimes she simply runs headlong all the way round
+the stage, finishing the lap with perhaps a swift whirl or two, or a
+whisk and kick. Sometimes she simply jumps and bounces, and sometimes
+she doubles up like a pen-knife with the suddenness of a springlock to
+emphasize the “boom.” She is invariably in motion except when she stops
+to chant the gibberish that passes for verses, but the wonder is that
+she has breath enough to sing after the first cyclonic interlude.’
+
+Still more debased were the performances of Olga Desmond, Villiani
+and others, who made erotic gestures and nude dances a fad of many
+European capitals. The argument of these dancers was that dancing,
+like sculpture, is predominantly an art of nudes. Only the naked body
+could show the perfect plastic lines and graceful poses. They strove
+to dance slow music, sonatas and symphonic poems, in order to display
+the effects of certain pretty poses and arabesques. They put a special
+stress upon the rhythm, but their interpretation was morbidly perverse.
+
+The best figure of this decadent school of dancing was Kate Vaughan,
+who strove to follow the style and manners of Taglioni’s dance. But the
+sensation and novelty-loving public of England found her art too tame
+and old-fashioned, so she died in poverty and broken health in South
+Africa. Mr. Crawford Flitch says of her: ‘Although of course she never
+reached the perfection of her predecessor [Taglioni], 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 steps. She danced not
+only with her feet, but with every limb of her frail body. She depended
+not merely upon the manipulation of the skirt for her effect, but upon
+her facility of balance and the skillful use of arms and hands. Her
+andante movements in particular were a glorious union of majesty and
+grace. It is true that she condescended at times to introduce into her
+dance some of those hideous steps which vulgarized the dancing of the
+period--in particular that known as the “high kick”; but even this
+unpleasant step she accomplished with a certain sense of elegance and
+refinement which disguised its essential ugliness and suggestion of
+contortion. She danced with a distinct inspiration, and upon her style
+was built up all that was best in the dancing of her time.’
+
+This new dance hysteria seemed to be of an epidemic nature. The
+vogue for crude and sensational dances held the whole western world
+for nearly half a century in its iron grip. With the exception of
+Scandinavia and Russia, all Europe and America were affected by a
+decadent dance taste. Novelty was reckoned far superior to beauty.
+Cleverness was placed high above talent and genius. It was seemingly a
+prelude to a subsequent effeminacy that was to spread over Occidental
+art and life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING
+
+  The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan--Duncan’s influence: Maud
+  Allan; Duncan’s German followers--Modern music and the dance; the
+  Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’--Pictorial nationalism:
+  Ruth St. Denis--Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the
+  naturalistic idea.
+
+
+I
+
+During the last part of the past and the beginning of the present
+century, when the outside world was ignorant of the existence of the
+Russian ballet, circles of more serious-minded students of art began to
+voice protest against the cult of skirt and fire dancers, jongleurs and
+kickers, and the time was ripe for any movement that would bring relief
+from the prevailing deterioration of such a noble art as dancing. Even
+the general public grew bored of acrobatic performances and as during
+every period of decadence ‘there were a few teachers who consistently
+resolved to impart to their pupils only what was good and beautiful
+in dancing, whose voices, feeble as they sounded, were nevertheless
+strong enough to carry weight and rescue their art from the deplorable
+condition into which it had for the time fallen,’ as a dancing critic
+of that time aptly writes. One of the most ardent advocates of a new
+classic art of dancing during this time was Mrs. Richard Hovey. In
+all her teaching and preaching Mrs. Hovey based the principles of the
+prospective style upon the plastic art of the ancient Greeks. She made
+a vigorous propaganda for this in New York, Boston and California.
+Whether directly or indirectly Miss Isadora Duncan, who had been
+interested in initiating a reform of human life in its least details
+of costume, of hygiene and of morals, felt the impulse of Mrs. Hovey’s
+propaganda and joined the worthy movement.
+
+The fundamental principle of Mrs. Hovey’s propaganda was the return
+to nature. According to the theory of this new movement, dancing was
+declared an expression of nature. Water, wind, birds and all forces
+of nature are subject to a law of rhythm and gravity. Not the tricky,
+broken lines, spinning whirls and toe gymnastics, but soft, curved
+undulations of nature, are close to Mother Earth. Thus also man in
+his normal life and savage state, moved rather in slow curves than in
+quick broken lines. This, briefly, was the principal argument of the
+few reformers who inspired Miss Duncan. Already Noverre and Petipa had
+emphasized the fact that ancient Greek sculpture and Greek designs gave
+the best ideas of graceful lines and pleasing human forms. But the
+votaries of the new school explained that in a return to the natural
+gesture of human life Greek art was the only logical criterion. Miss
+Duncan in her essay, ‘The Dance,’ says:
+
+‘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 dancer. It is
+from nature alone that the dancer must draw his inspirations, in the
+same manner as the sculptor, with whom he has so many affinities. Rodin
+has said: “To produce good sculpture it is not necessary to copy the
+works of antiquity; it is necessary first of all to regard the works of
+nature, and to see in those of the classics only the method by which
+they have interpreted nature.” Rodin is right; and in my art I have
+by no means copied, as has been supposed, the figures of Greek vases,
+friezes and paintings. From them I have learned to regard nature, and
+when certain of my movements recall the gestures that are seen in works
+of art, it is only because, like them, they are drawn from the grand
+natural source.
+
+‘My inspiration has been drawn from trees, from waves, from clouds,
+from the sympathies that exist between passion and the storm, between
+gentleness and the soft breeze, and the like, and I always endeavor to
+put into my movements a little of that divine continuity which gives to
+the whole of nature its beauty and its life.’
+
+Thus Miss Duncan started her career by interpreting natural qualities
+by means of natural movements. ‘I have closely studied the figured
+documents of all ages and of all the great masters, but 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 head. These
+ugly and false positions in no way express that state of unconscious
+Dionysiac delirium which is necessary to the dancer. Moreover,
+movements, just like harmonies in music, are not invented; they are
+discovered,’ writes Miss Duncan. To her the only mode of dancing is
+barefoot. According to her ‘the dancer must choose above all the
+movements which express the strength, the health, the grace, the
+nobility, the languor or the gravity of living things.’ Gravity to Miss
+Duncan is natural and right. A ballet dancer, a Pavlova, Nijinsky and
+Karsavina, eager to defy the laws of gravity, is to her a freak.
+
+Prince Serge Volkhonsky, who has been a conspicuous figure in the
+Russian dance reform-movement, writes of Miss Duncan’s school in
+comparison with that of Jacques-Dalcroze: ‘Her dance is a result
+of personal temperament, his movements are the result of music;
+she draws from herself, he draws from rhythm; her psychological
+basis is subjective; his rhythmical basis is objective; and, in
+order to characterize her in a few words, I may say Isadora is the
+dancing “ego.” This subjective psychological basis of Isadora’s
+art I find clearly emphasized by Mr. Levinsohn’s words: “The
+images or moods (_Stimmungen_) created in our mind by the rational
+element--music--cannot be identical with every one, and therefore
+cannot be compulsory. Just in that dissimilitude of moods and
+uncompulsoriness of images resides the best criterion for the
+appreciation of Isadora Duncan as a founder of a system. Her dance
+is precisely not a system, cannot found what is called a ‘school’;
+it needs another similar ‘ego’ to repeat her. And according to this
+it seems quite incomprehensible that some people should see in Miss
+Duncan’s art ‘a possibility for all of us being beautiful.’ No, not at
+all for all of us; for not every temperament, while embodying ‘images
+or moods’ called forth by music, will necessarily create something
+beautiful; one cannot raise the exceptional into rule. In order to be
+certain of creating something beautiful, no matter whether in the moral
+or the æsthetical domain, it is not in ourselves that we shall find
+the law, but in subjecting ourselves to another principle which lives
+outside of ourselves. For the plastic (choreographic), this principle
+is Music. It is not instinct expressing itself under the influence
+of music--which with every man is different, and only in few chosen
+natures beautiful in itself--but the rhythm of music, which in every
+given composition is an unchangeable element subjecting our ‘ego.’
+This is the basis of living plastic art. And in this respect Isadora’s
+art satisfies the double exigencies of the visible and the audible art
+as little as the ballet. Her arms are certainly more rhythmical than
+her legs, but as a whole we cannot call her rhythmical in the strict
+sense of the word, and this appears especially in the slow movements:
+her walk, so to speak, does not keep step with music; she often steps
+on the weak part of the bar and often between the notes. In general
+it is in the examples of slow tempo that the insufficiency of the
+principle may be observed. The slower a tempo the more she ‘mimics,’
+and the farther, therefore, she strays from the music. If we look at
+the impression on the spectators we shall see that all in the paces of
+the quick tempos the movement must enter into closer connection with
+the music; in cases of very minute divisions of the bar the simple
+coincidence of the step with the first ‘heavy’ part already produces a
+repeated design which makes ear and eye meet in one common perception.
+If the representatives of that particular kind of dance were to realize
+this they would endeavor to introduce into slow tempos the rhythmical
+element instead of the mimic, which leads them out of the music and
+converts the dance into a sort of acting during the music, a sort of
+plastic melo-declamation.”’
+
+These critics have pointed out the subjective nature of Miss Duncan’s
+dance and her impatience of rules and formal technique. They believe
+that because of these two qualities of her art it cannot be repeated,
+except by ‘another similar ego.’ But as if in direct answer to these
+charges come Miss Duncan’s pupils. They are by no means highly selected
+material or ‘similar egos,’ but each (among the more mature pupils)
+is a beautiful and individual dancer. To each she has transmitted her
+spirit; in each she has preserved the native personality. They are
+the best evidence thus far obtained of the truth of Miss Duncan’s
+dictum of the ‘possibility for all of us being beautiful.’ Moreover we
+must not suppose that Miss Duncan’s contempt for _formal_ technique
+is a contempt for technical ability. She herself is a marvellously
+plastic and exact dancer, and she demands, ultimately, no less of
+her pupils. The limited range of her technique, so often complained
+of, is the deliberate result of her belief that the only movements
+proper to the dance are the _natural_ movements of the human body.
+She stakes the success of her art upon the proposition that these
+movements alone are capable of the highest absolute and interpretive
+beauty. As to the truth of this proposition each observer must judge
+for himself from the results. Again, Miss Duncan does not always ‘dance
+the music’ literally, note for note, according to the theory of the
+Jacques-Dalcroze system. Her interpretation is frankly emotional and
+subjective, but it does not pretend to transcend the music.
+
+In further justice to her efforts we should consider Isadora Duncan
+as much a prophet of a new movement, as a dancer of a new school. Her
+influence has been more far-reaching in Russia than anywhere else.
+She practically brought about a serious revolution among the Russian
+dancers, of whom we shall speak in another chapter. She influenced
+the art of dancing in Germany, France, Italy and England. She was the
+striking contrast to all the deteriorated stage dances of the early
+twentieth century in America. She has given a powerful impulse to all
+dance reforms by counteracting the academic and time-worn views. She
+is the indirect motive of the Diaghileff-Fokine break with the old
+Russian ballet and their striving for new rules and ideas in the art
+of dancing. To her is due the gradual increase of refined taste and
+higher respect for the stage dance. Personally we have found that her
+dances failed to tell the phonetic story of the music. Her selection
+of the compositions of Gluck, Schubert, Chopin and Beethoven has not
+been uniformly successful, since most of them were never meant by the
+composer to be danced. Compositions of this kind lack the necessary
+choreographic episodes and often even the plastic symbols. No genius,
+we believe, could visualize the slow cadences and solemn images of any
+symphonic music of those German classics, whose works have been the
+choice of Miss Duncan. With a few exceptions, such as the _Moments
+Musicals_ and some other pieces, we have never been able to grasp
+the meaning of the phonetoplastic images of Isadora Duncan’s dances.
+
+[Illustration: Duncan]
+
+
+II
+
+It was only natural that Miss Duncan’s laureated appearances in various
+European cities quickly found followers and imitators. The best known
+exponent of Duncan’s naturalism has been Miss Maud Allan, a talented
+Canadian girl, whose dancing in England has made her a special favorite
+of the London audiences, before whom she first appeared in 1908. How
+favorably she was received by the English audiences is evident from
+the fact that the late King Edward invited her to dance for him at
+Marienbad. Like Miss Duncan, Maud Allan has danced mostly barefoot, her
+body slightly clothed in a loose Greek drapery. The most sensational
+in Miss Allan’s repertoire has been the ‘Vision of Salome,’ compiled
+from passages from Richard Strauss’ opera, in which she has tried to
+give the impression of the ghastly Biblical tragedy by means of plastic
+pantomime and dancing. Among her artistically successful dances has
+been the Grieg _Peer Gynt_ suite, of which the London critics speak
+as of ‘a beautiful art of transposition.’ ‘The faithfulness with
+which her movements follow the moods of the composer is probably only
+fully realized by those who are musicians as well as connoisseurs of
+dance. Her translation of music has not seldom the rare quality of
+translations of being finer than the original, and there are not a few
+who, when they hear again, unaccompanied, the music which her dancing
+has ennobled, will be conscious of a sense of incompleteness and loss,’
+writes an English dance authority of her art.
+
+Isadora Duncan’s naturalism has probably made the most powerful direct
+impression upon German aspirants, first, through the school of dancing
+of Isadora’s sister, Elisabeth, and second, through the pretended
+appeal to the moods by means of classic ideals, and yet requiring
+comparatively little technique. Assiduously as a German student will
+practice in order to acquire the most perfect technique for being
+an artist, musician, singer or architect, he lacks the painstaking
+persistency of a Russian, Hungarian, Bohemian or Spaniard in acquiring
+a thorough technique for his dance. He is inclined to interpret music
+by means of the most easily acquired technique, such as seemingly the
+naturalistic school requires. For this very reason, Miss Duncan has
+been the greatest dance genius for the Germans, as that is so clearly
+to be seen in the excellent work of Brandenburg, _Der moderne Tanz_.
+This book from the beginning to the end, written in a fine poetic
+prose, is a eulogy of Duncan’s naturalism, and an elaborate display
+of the minutest pretty moves of the German exponents of the movement.
+Among the praised geniuses of Brandenburg are the sisters Wiesenthal,
+who attracted widespread attention in some of Max Reinhardt’s
+productions.
+
+The sisters Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, were received with unparalleled
+enthusiasm at home and in consequence made a tour abroad, on which
+occasion one of them danced in New York. How little she impressed the
+New York audience, can be judged from what one of the most favorable
+critics wrote of her as having ‘a pretty fluttering, tottering
+marionette manner of her own.’ Our impression is that the sisters
+Wiesenthal proved most successful in the quaint, naïve and simple
+ensemble performances which they gave in Germany. They displayed
+some excellent _ritartandos_ and a few successful _adagio_ figures.
+One could see that their steps and arm twists were not a result of
+systematic studies but of spontaneous impulses, since in repetitions of
+the music there was no sign of a well trained art, the wing-like arms
+of the first phrase being arabesque-like in the repetition, etc. They
+showed that they possessed a poetic conception of the dance, but failed
+to grasp and express its intrinsic meaning. They were rather poets
+than dancers, rather actresses than designers in the choreographic
+sense. Their acting often interfered with dancing and brought about an
+unpleasant disharmony with the musical rhythm. They may have danced
+better on other occasions, but what a number of impartial connoisseurs
+of the dance saw of them stamps them as talented dilettantes rather
+than accomplished artists of a school.
+
+A girl who enjoyed a great reputation in Vienna, Munich and in other
+German cities in the first decade of this century, but of whom was
+heard nothing later, was Miss Gertrude Barrison, an Anglo-Viennese.
+Her art was more clever and more in style with the principles of the
+naturalistic than that of the sisters Wiesenthal. She won the ear of
+Austria for the new message. With a certain assurance in the conviction
+of her individuality, Miss Barrison treated her art with freedom
+and loftiness. She enforced her personality more than her art upon
+the spectators, and this was, to a great extent, the secret of her
+phenomenal success.
+
+The best of all the German dancers of this century thus far has been
+Rita Sacchetto, a pretty Bavarian girl, who made her début in Munich,
+and was at once recognized as an artist of much talent. Though the
+Berlin critics did not receive her with the enthusiasm that they had
+shown to the Wiesenthals, she was by far the biggest artist of all.
+Her slighter recognition was possibly due to her lighter style of work
+and an unfavorable repertoire, lacking in music that was of timely
+importance. This withholding of recognition has always been peculiar
+to Berlin. Tired out by hundreds of aspiring virtuosi and artists of
+every description, an average Berlin critic, like one of New York,
+grows at the end of a season nervous in the presence of the vast
+majority of mediocrities and press-agented celebrities, so that he is
+likely to ignore or tear down the serious beginner, if her performance
+coincides with his ‘blue’ moods. This is what probably happened to
+Miss Sacchetto. The connoisseurs and authorities of other countries
+who have seen her dances speak of them in highest terms as pretty and
+exceedingly graceful exhibitions of poetic youthful soul. What has
+become of Miss Sacchetto lately the writer has been unable to learn.
+
+
+III
+
+Though none of the above mentioned dancers of Germany has pretended
+to be a follower of Miss Duncan, yet all belong to the new movement
+that was brought into being by her persistent efforts. They all defy
+the principle of the classic ballet, they all pretend to interpret
+music in their ‘plastic art,’ as they have preferred to term the
+dance. Traditionally the German music has been either inclined to
+classic abstraction, or to strictly operatic lines. The spectacular
+ballet of Richard Strauss, ‘The Legend of Joseph,’ belongs more to
+pantomimic pageantries than a class of actual dance dramas, of which
+we shall speak in another chapter. The music of a foreign school and
+race is always lacking in that natural stimulating vigor that it
+gives to those who are absolutely at home with racial peculiarities
+choreographically. In this the Russians have been lately more fortunate
+than other nations. A great number of talented young Russian composers
+have written an immense amount of admirable dance music, ballets and
+instrumental compositions that could be danced. They have an outspoken
+rhythmic character, which is the first requirement of the dance. In
+this the recent German composers have remained behind the Russians.
+The compositions of Richard Strauss, Reger, Schönberg and the other
+distinguished musical masters of modern Germany offer nothing that
+would inspire a new school of the art of dancing. In the first place
+they lack the instinct for rhythm, and in the second, they lack the
+plastic sense so essential for the dance. This circumstance has been
+most detrimental to those of the young German dancers who attempted to
+follow the naturalistic movement.
+
+How much better than the German Duncanites have been those of
+Scandinavia, Finland and France in this direction is difficult to say
+authentically, though they have had the advantage over the Germans, of
+having at their disposal the works of some of the most talented young
+composers of dance music. Grieg, Lange-Müller, Svendsen and many others
+have written music with strong rhythmic and choreographic images. But
+superior to all the Scandinavian composers, in the modern dance music
+or music that could be danced, are the Finns: Sibelius, Jaernefelt,
+Melartin, Merikanto and Toiwo Kuula. Many of Sibelius’s smaller
+instrumental compositions offer excellent themes and music for dancing.
+A few of them are real masterpieces of their kind. But the Finns have
+shown up to this time little interest for the modern dance movements.
+The Danes, Swedes and Norwegians have been more affected by the new
+ideas that are connected with the stage, though none of them has shown
+any marked achievement that would be known in wider circles. Ida
+Santum, a young Scandinavian girl in New York, has given evidence of
+some graceful plastic forms and idealized folk-dances. Thus far she has
+not shown anything strikingly appealing to the audiences. Aino Akté’s
+Salome Dances are purely operatic and have no bearing upon our subject.
+
+Among English and American girls who have followed the footsteps
+of Miss Duncan are Gwendoline Valentine, Lady Constance
+Stewart-Richardson, Beatrice Irvin, and a number of others, but the
+writer has been unable to gather any sufficient data for critical
+arguments.
+
+Undoubtedly the most talented dancer of the naturalistic school whom we
+have known among the Russians is Mlle. Savinskaya of Moscow. In power
+of expressing depth and subtlety of dramatic emotions Savinskaya is
+supreme. She is an actress no less than a dancer. Her conception of
+naturalistic dancing is so deeply rooted in her soul and temperament
+that it often acts against the plastic rules and grace, often displayed
+by the dancers for the sake of pleasing effects. Miss Duncan herself
+strives to create moods by means of classic poses, but Savinskaya’s
+ideal is to express the plastic forms of music in her art. She is
+romantically dramatic, more a tragedian than anything else. Her dance
+in the graphically fascinating ballet _Chrisis_ by Reinhold Glière, in
+Moscow, revealed her as an artist of the first rank, and perhaps the
+first thoroughly trained Duncanite whose technique and dramatic talent
+rival with any _ballerina_, of the new school or the old.
+
+Probably the lack of suitable music has been thus far the greatest
+obstacle in the way of the naturalistic dancers, though they pretend to
+find their ideals in the eighteenth and nineteenth century’s classic
+compositions. No doubt some of the old music can be aptly danced, such
+as the light instrumental works of Grieg, Mozart, Chopin and Schumann,
+but the proper music has yet to be composed. The phonetic thinking of
+past music was involved, hazy in closed episodes and often disconnected
+in structural form. There is one single theme of a poem in a whole
+symphony. To illustrate this plastically is a physical impossibility.
+Maud Allan’s and Isadora Duncan’s attempts to dance symphonies of
+Beethoven and other classic idealists have been miserable failures.
+Those who pretend to see in such dances any beauty and idea, are
+ignorant of musical and choreographic principles.
+
+To our knowledge Reinhold Glière, the genial young Russian composer and
+director of the Kieff Symphony Society, is the first successful musical
+artist in the field of naturalistic ballets. His ballet _Chrisis_,
+based on an Egyptian story by Pierre Louis, is a rare masterpiece in
+its line.
+
+Though built on the style of the conventional ballets, its music is
+meant for naturalistic interpretation and lacks all the _pirouette_,
+_chassée_, and other semi-acrobatic ballet music forms. Like the
+principles laid down by Delsarte and his followers, Glière’s music
+‘moves with the regular rhythm, the freedom, the equipoise, of nature
+itself.’ It has for the most part a slow ancient Egyptian measure,
+breathing the air of the pleasant primitive era. It suggests the even
+swing of the oar, the circular sweep of the sling, the rhythmic roar
+of the river, and all such images that existed before our boasted
+civilization. It gives a chance for the dancer of the naturalistic
+school to display pretty poses, primitive gestures and ‘sound’ steps.
+Like all Glière’s compositions this is exceedingly lyric, full of
+charming old melodies and curved movements that occasionally call to
+mind Schumann, Schubert and Chopin. The ballet begins with Chrisis in
+the majestic valley of the Nile spinning cotton on a spinning-wheel,
+which she stops when a soft music, coming from a far-away temple,
+comes to her ears. It is the music of the morning-prayer. She prays,
+dancing to the trees and the clouds. At this time Kise, another little
+maiden, is passing with food for her parents and _Chrisis_ calls her.
+They dance together and spin for a while. There is in the background
+a sacred tree. _Chrisis_ approaches it in slow dance and utters her
+secret wish. During this time Kise meets on the river shore a blind
+musician carrying a lyre. He plays a gay dance to the girls, to which
+they dance so exquisitely that phantom-like nymphs and fawns emerge
+from the river, and stop to watch. Finally a shepherd, who has been
+looking on from the top of the hill, becomes interested in the dance
+and makes friends with the girls. There ensues a passionate love scene
+and dramatic climax for the first act, _Chrisis_ going into a convent.
+The second act takes place in an ancient convent, _Chrisis_ as a
+dancing priestess. The last act takes place with _Chrisis_ as a courtly
+lady with every luxury around her. It is a magnificent piece of work
+musically and choreographically, and should find widespread appeal.
+
+We may count as belonging to the naturalistic school of dancing the
+exponents of idealized and imitative national dances, though they
+do not belong among the Duncanites. Particularly we should mention
+Ruth St. Denis, who is widely known through her skilled imitation and
+idealization of the Oriental dances. As Isadora Duncan sought by the
+ancient Greeks the ideal of her ‘natural’ dances, so Ruth St. Denis
+attempted to find choreographic beauties in the art of the East. In
+this she has been strikingly successful. Her Japanese dances can
+be considered as real gems of the Orient in which she has made the
+impression as if an exotic old print of the empire of the Mikado became
+alive by a miracle, though it was in the Indian sacred dances that she
+made her reputation. This is what a dance critic writes of her:
+
+‘Clad in a dress of vivid green spangled with gold, her wrists
+and ankles encased in clattering silver bands, surrounded by the
+swirling curves of a gauze veil, the dancer passed from the first
+slow languorous movements into a vertiginous whirl of passionate
+delirium. Alluring in every gesture, for once she threw asceticism
+to the winds, and yet she succeeded in maintaining throughout that
+difficult distinction between the voluptuous and the lascivious. The
+mystic Dance of the Five Senses was a more artificial performance and
+only in one passage kindled into the passion of the Nautch. As the
+goddess Radha, she is dimly seen seated cross-legged behind the fretted
+doors of her shrine. The priests of the temple beat gongs before the
+idol and lay their offerings at her feet. Then the doors open, and
+Radha descends from her pedestal to suffer the temptation of the five
+senses. The fascination of each sense, suggested by a concrete object,
+is shown forth in the series of dances. Jewels represent the desire
+of the sight, of the hearing the music of bells, of the smell of the
+scent of flower, of the taste of wine, and the sense of touch is fired
+by a kiss. Her dancing was inspired by that intensity of sensuous
+delight which is refined to its farthest limit probably only in the
+women of the East. She rightly chose to illustrate the delicacy of the
+perceptions not by abandon but by restraint. The dance of touch, in
+which every bend of the arms and the body described the yearning for
+the unattainable, was more freely imaginative in treatment. And in the
+dance of taste there was one triumphant passage, when, having drained
+the wine-cup to the dregs, she burst into a Dionysiac Nautch, which
+raged ever more wildly until she fell prostrate under the maddening
+influence of the good wine. Then by the expression of limbs and
+features showing that the gratification of the senses leads to remorse
+and despair, and that only in renunciation can the soul realize the
+attainment of peace, she returns to her shrine and the doors close upon
+the seated image, resigned and motionless. So she affirmed in choice
+and explicit gesture the creed of Buddha.’
+
+Very strange yet effective are the dances of Ruth St. Denis in which
+she exhibits the marvellous twining and twisting art of her arms,
+which act as if they had been some ghastly snakes. Her arms possess
+an unusual elasticity and sinuous motion which cannot be seen better
+displayed by real Oriental dancers. The hands, carrying on the first
+and fourth finger two huge emerald rings, give the impression of
+gleaming serpents’ eyes. Miss St. Denis is apparently a better musician
+than Miss Duncan, while in her poetic sense and in the sense of beauty
+she remains behind. However, as a musician she is excellent, and always
+acts in perfect rhythm with the composition. But unfortunately all
+her dance music is just as little Oriental as Miss Duncan’s is Greek.
+Ruth St. Denis seemingly is ignorant of the numerous Russian Oriental
+compositions which would suit her art a thousand times better than the
+works of the Occidental classics. In justice to her efforts it must
+be said that she is a thorough artist in spite of the fact that she
+has never studied her dances in the East. Her slender tall figure and
+semi-Oriental expression give her the semblance of an Indian Bayadere.
+It has always impressed us that she minimizes her art by affected
+manners and an air that lacks sincerity. We believe her to have very
+great talent, but for some reason or other, she has failed to display
+it fully.
+
+
+IV
+
+The modern Spanish dances as performed by Rosario Guerrero, La Otero
+and La Carmencita, are in fact a perfected type of Spanish folk-dances.
+The Kinneys write of them as follows: ‘So gracious, so stately, so rich
+in light and shade is the _Sevillanas_, that it alone gives play to
+all the qualities needed to make a great artist. When, a few summers
+ago, Rosario Guerrero charmed New York with her pantomime of “The Rose
+and the Dagger,” it was the first two _coplas_ of this movement-poem
+that charmed the dagger away from the bandit. The same steps glorified
+Carmencita in her day and Otero, now popular as a singer in
+the opera in Paris. All three of these goddesses read into their
+interpretation a powerful idea of majesty, which left it none the less
+seductive.’ It is clear that none but a Spaniard could perform the more
+or less perfected folk-dances of the country. It requires a physique
+with born talent and traditions to give the dance its proper fire and
+brutal elegance.
+
+[Illustration: Maud Allan
+
+_After a painting by Otto Marcus_]
+
+Havelock Ellis gives a graphic picture of the Spanish dance. ‘One
+of the characteristics of Spanish dancing,’ he writes, ‘lies in
+its accompaniments, and particularly in the fact that under proper
+conditions all the spectators are themselves performers. In flamenco
+dancing, among an audience of the people, every one takes a part by
+rhythmic clapping and stamping, and by the occasional prolonged “oles”
+and other cries by which the dancer is encouraged or applauded. Thus
+the dance is not the spectacle for the amusement of a languid and
+passive public, as with us. It is rather the visible embodiment of an
+emotion in which every spectator himself takes an active and helpful
+part; it is, as it were, a vision evoked by the spectators themselves
+and upborne on the continuous waves of rhythmical sound which they
+generate. Thus it is that at the end of a dance an absolute silence
+often falls, with no sound of applause; the relation of performer and
+public has ceased to exist. So personal is this dancing that it may be
+said that an animate association with the spectators is necessary for
+its full manifestation. The finest Spanish dancing is at once killed or
+degraded by the presence of an indifferent or unsympathetic public, and
+that is probably why it cannot be transplanted but remains local.’
+
+The naturalistic school of dancing is by no means an invention of
+Isadora Duncan, though she has been one of its most persistent
+preachers. The true psychological origin belongs to Delsarte, whose
+method of poetic plasticism inspired Mrs. Hovey to give lessons and
+lectures on the subject. It branched out like a tree. Every country
+was interested in the new idea in its own way. America, having no
+æsthetic traditions whatsoever, found the pioneers in Isadora Duncan
+and Ruth St. Denis; Germany found hers in the sisters Wiesenthal, Miss
+Rita Sacchetto and others; France, in Mme. Olga Desmond; Spain, in
+the refined and talented folk-dancers; Russia, in the rise of a new
+ballet, and so on. Like a magic message, the idea filled the air and
+was inhaled by special minds. There was a strong argument in favor
+of its development, and that argument was the spiritual yeast that
+set the world into a ferment. The more it was opposed and fought the
+more it spread and grew. The naturalistic dance has been thus far
+more an awakening than a mature art. As such it is apt to be crude
+and imperfect. There is no reason to fear that a fate like that which
+befell the Skirt Dance may overtake the ‘classical’ dancing of the
+naturalistic school. It has accomplished a great service in bringing
+the audiences to realize that the argument of natural plasticism is
+based on philosophical truth. Soon the ranks of those who believe
+that ‘natural’ dancing is that which requires the least technique
+will decrease in favor of those serious minded artists, who seek the
+solution in technique plus talent. ‘The theory that a dancer can ignore
+with impunity the restrictions of technique, that she is bound to
+please if only she is natural and happy and allows herself to follow
+the momentary inspiration of the music and dances with the same gleeful
+spontaneity as a child dancing to a barrel-organ is a doctrine as
+seductive as it is fatal.’ The future solution of the movement lies
+in perfection of the technique and in grasping the deeper depths of
+musical relation to the art of dancing.
+
+‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative destructive
+element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for instance, we had never seen
+the old ballet, with its stereotyped character, I do not think that the
+appearance of Isadora Duncan would have called forth such enthusiasm.
+In Isadora we greeted the deliverance. Yet in order to appreciate
+liberty we must have felt the chains. She liberated, and her followers
+seek to exploit that liberty.’
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET
+
+  The old ballet: arguments _pro_ and _con_--The new movement:
+  Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company;
+  the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’
+  ‘Cleopatra,’ _Le Pavillon d’Armide_, ‘Scheherezade’--Nijinsky and
+  Karsavina--Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The Fire-Bird,’
+  etc.; other ballets and arrangements.
+
+
+I
+
+Gordon Craig very aptly characterized the French ballet as the most
+deliciously artificial impertinence that ever turned up its nose at
+Nature. Commenting on this Prince Volkhonsky says: ‘Seldom one meets
+in a short definition with such an exhausting acknowledgment of the
+positive and negative sides of the question. How easy and pleasant it
+is to agree with a judgment which is penetrated with such impartiality.
+Who will not acknowledge that that powdered Marquise is charming,
+and yet who will not acknowledge that that huge pile of false hair
+sprinkled with powder is against Nature?’ Magnificent as the old
+Russian ballet has been dramatically and acrobatically, yet it failed
+to acknowledge the artificialities of its form and the deficiencies
+of its phonetic conceptions. It failed to see what Delsarte, Mrs.
+Hovey, Isadora Duncan and the partisans of the naturalistic school had
+grasped: the call of Nature. Though it banished the powdered Marquise
+of the French school from the stage, yet it did not banish the creed
+from the ballerina’s toe--the unmusical acting, the spectacular leaps
+and pirouettes, the umbrella-like tunics, the acrobatic stunts, the
+fossilized forms of the dead ages. In praise of the old ballet Mr.
+A. Levinsohn has written in a Russian magazine of the dance: ‘When a
+ballerina rises on the tips of her toes (_pointés_), she frees herself
+of a natural movement and enters a region of fantastic existence.’
+The principal meaning of all the ballet technique in preaching the
+toe-dance is to defy the laws of gravity and give the dance the
+semblance of a flight, or floating in the air. There is no question
+that a few musical phrases require such plastic, particularly in such
+compositions as Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan,’ or Drigo’s _Papillons_, which
+Pavlova has visualized so magnificently. But to apply the same style to
+express the romantic, poetic, tragic and other human emotions, to apply
+the toe-technique to every form of dancing, is really abnormal. Prince
+Volkhonsky, who has contributed so much to the Russian ballet reform,
+writes with striking argument and vigor: ‘Movement cannot be an aim in
+itself; such a movement would be nonsense. What does a dancer express
+when he imitates a spinning-top? What does the ballerina express when
+with a fascinating smile she regards caressingly her own toe, as she
+toe-dances over the smooth floor? What does her body express, the human
+body--the most wonderful instrument of expression on earth--when,
+carried away by gymnastic enthusiasm in an acrobatic ecstasy, with
+panting chest and terror in her open eyes, she crosses the stage
+diagonally, whirling on one toe, while with the other she executes the
+famous “thirty-two fouettés”?’ ‘Gymnastics transform themselves into
+fantastics,’ exclaims Levinsohn; ‘but I assure you, when in the circus
+the man-serpent, all dressed in green scales, puts his legs behind
+his shoulder, this is no less fantastic.’ The so-called tunic (the
+French _tutu_)--a light short garment of pleated gauze--has, with Mr.
+Levinsohn, not only a physical justification from the point of view of
+comfort but a logical explanation, an æsthetic sanction; it ‘lends
+to the body a seeming stability.’ ‘Do you catch this?’ he continues.
+‘The perpendicularity of the human figure in our eyes is, so to speak,
+balanced by the horizontality of the skirt; just the principle of the
+spinning-top. Now, is it possible to invent a more deplorable formula
+for transforming man into a machine? Is it possible to give a more
+definite expression to the principle of eliminating one’s “ego”? Is
+not art the expression, the manifestation, the blossoming of man? And
+what, finally, shall we say from the purely æsthetic point of view
+of that exaltation of a costume which by its umbrella-like stiffness
+cuts the human body into two? Shall we remain indifferent to the
+beauty of folds, to the obedience of the flowing veils, to the plastic
+injunctions of the living movement?
+
+‘The theory of mechanisation of the human body could not but lead
+to the panegyric of the “flat-toed” ballet slipper. The simple sad
+necessity of giving to the ballerina a point of support receives
+a philosophico-æsthetic interpretation: this slipper “generalises
+the contour of the foot” and “makes the impression of the movement
+clearer and more finished.” In the name of all--I won’t say of all
+that is sacred--but of all that is beautiful, is it possible to say
+such things? You have never admired a foot; you do not know what it
+is--a foot that slowly rises from the ground, first with the heel,
+then with the sole; you do not know the beauty of supple toes; you
+evidently never saw the foot of Botticelli’s “Pallas,” the foot of
+Houdon’s “Diana.” If it is so valuable to “generalise” the contour
+of the foot by the flat-toed slipper, why not, then, “generalise”
+the contour of the hand and give to the ballerinas boxing-gloves?
+Art is an exteriorisation of man, a spreading of one’s self outside
+the limits of one’s ego, and here we are asked to cut, to shorten,
+to hide: a principle which is exactly the contrary of art. It was
+also a “generalisation” of the human figure when Niobe was being
+metamorphosed into a rock, but it remains till the end of time the
+expression of grief; the Greeks have not found a more eloquent myth for
+the eternalisation of human sorrow than the return of form into that
+which is not formed. They knew that all process of creation goes from
+the general to the particular. When the musician shapes the musical
+material accessible to everybody into a particular musical melody, he
+goes from the general to the particular. When the sculptor takes away
+piece by piece from the block of marble, he goes from the general to
+the particular. If, out of the shapeless mass of the human family, the
+great types could detach themselves and crystallise themselves into
+definite characters, it is only thanks to their particularities that
+they conquer and receive their universal value. The direction of the
+artist is from the shapeless, from the abstract, into the concrete;
+the process of art is a process of individualisation. It is easy to
+understand, therefore, the instinctive hostility which is provoked in
+a man who loves art, by all attempts at “generalisation”: it is the
+infiltration into art of that which is not art, it is that which in the
+course of centuries has deserved the appellation of “routine.” This
+crust of uniformity and impersonality which spreads over art is nothing
+but an infiltration of the generalising principle into that which is
+and ought to remain the sacred domain of personality. It is the desert
+under whose breath fades and withers the beauty of the oasis.
+
+‘No wonder that a reaction should set in against an art which seeks its
+justification in such theories; the reaction against the stereotyped
+ballet is a direct act of logic--it is the voice of common sense:
+it would be impossible that a form of art should live which is in
+contradiction to the principle of art. When I say “live,” I do not mean
+the right of existence; I take the word in its most real sense: to
+live, that is, to possess the elements of development. In the form into
+which it has developed the “classical” ballet lacks these elements--it
+cannot evolve; as Mr. Svetloff judiciously remarked, if every ballerina
+could execute seventy-five instead of “thirty-two fouettés,” it would
+be a greater difficulty to overcome, it would not be art developed.
+Thus I repeat, when I say that such a form of art as the old ballet
+cannot live I am not denying its right to exist, but I am indicating
+the absence of elements of development, the atrophy of the principle of
+vitality.
+
+‘There is one point of view possible as to the “classical ballet”; it
+is the one form in which we see the established forms of old dances.
+Who will deny the charm of the minuet, of the gavotte, of the pavane?
+But, on the other hand, who ever will dare to say that this is the
+final word of plastic art? Miniature painting is a lovely art, is it
+not? Yet equally wrong are those who would assert that the miniature
+has expressed all that painting is capable of, and those who would
+say that miniature is “all right, but it needs enlarging.” And when
+we consider the ballet from the only possible point of view, from the
+point of view of the crystallised dance, how offensive will appear
+to us “gymnastics that transform themselves into fantastics.” On the
+other hand, we shall not be astonished when we hear the regrets of some
+adherents of the old “dance” in the presence of the “Scythian invasion”
+on that same stage where the plastic formulas of the Latin race have
+blossomed; only imagine it--where the gavotte and sarabanda used to
+reign there now bursts out the tempest of the “Tartar hordes”!’
+
+
+II
+
+The appearance of Isadora Duncan and her pupils in Russia was truly a
+high explosive bomb. Her art startled the Russian dancers and public.
+It was the very opposite of what everybody had been accustomed to
+see, and what everybody imagined the dance to be. Though the limited
+character of her technique decreased the effect, yet the truth of
+her principle was what caused the greatest discussion and made the
+deepest impression. In the fundamentals of her dance were that freedom,
+individuality and relief which the Russian mind had missed in the old
+ballet. It was this theoretical argument that made Miss Duncan’s art
+such a factor in Russia. Marius Petipa had been an excellent scholar
+and academician in his days, but he had grown old and his views had
+become obsolete. His genius saw the evolution of the ballet only in the
+conventional channels. Among his assistants were a group of talented
+young dancers and teachers, some of whom were dissatisfied with the old
+order, yet found themselves forced to follow the time-worn rules. One
+of the young students of this type was M. Fokine, a very intelligent
+student and gifted artist, who was particularly electrified by Miss
+Duncan’s art. He saw the shortcomings of Miss Duncan’s school and
+realized that here he, with his thorough understanding of the ballet
+and its technique, could do much that she had been unable to do.
+
+With all the best will Fokine found himself bound to the old order of
+things. But it was at this very juncture that M. Diaghileff, who had
+been successfully editing the annual Reviews of the Imperial Ballet,
+laid the foundation for a new art magazine on radical principles.
+Having been a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Petrograd and
+a connoisseur of the art of dancing, he was just the man to gather
+a group of radical dance and music students and artists of every
+description around his venture and attempt to accomplish something
+radically modern in all the fields of stage art. His efforts found a
+quick response among the various artists of the ballet, who already
+knew of his work and tendencies. One of them was Fokine, and with him
+came many of his talented pupils and friends. Like with every other new
+movement this needed crystallization theoretically and practically. For
+some reason or other Diaghileff’s magazine failed. But it had already
+accomplished its evolutionary task: a group of artists was ready to
+join any leaders of revolution who would be worthy of their confidence.
+
+The next move from the revolutionary Diaghileff and his general Fokine
+was their unexpected appearance in Paris. Here they had surrounded
+themselves with a few genial ballet dancers of Petrograd and Moscow.
+The announcement of an appearance of the Russian ballet in Paris,
+under the management of Diaghileff and Fokine and with stars like
+Nijinsky, Mmes. Fokina, Karsavina and Astafieva, marks the first
+revolutionary move in Russian dance history. It was undoubtedly the
+phenomenal success that Pavlova and Mordkin had had outside of Russia,
+particularly in Paris and London, which actuated and encouraged the
+rebels. They argued, ‘If Pavlova and Mordkin had such phenomenal
+success as solo dancers, in the old classic style, we are more sure
+of a success in real modern ballets.’ And they proved that they had.
+Here is what a London critic writes of the appearance of the Diaghileff
+company:
+
+‘For the unknown to be successful in London it is always necessary to
+create what is called a boom--marvelous clothes or the lack of them;
+a terrifying top note; a tame lion; a Star that has been shining with
+unparalleled brilliancy in another city. But we were told nothing about
+the Russian dancers when they arrived in 1909--some half dozen of them
+only--and so we expected nothing. And it is to be feared that some of
+us found what we expected. Now, two years later, we are slowly opening
+our eyes.
+
+‘There is no need to describe either Karsavina or Pavlova. If there
+were, indeed, pen and ink would be incapable of the task, for they both
+typify and express the woman of all ages, and ageless.
+
+‘*** For many it was as if they understood life for the first time,
+had entered a chamber in the castle Existence which hitherto had been
+hidden from them. They gave us thoughts, these Russian magicians, for
+which we have been unconsciously seeking and travailing many years.
+They gave us knowledge we thought to buy in a huckster’s shop, steal
+from a bottle of wine, or find in a bloodless novel or in the crude
+stage play of the average theatre, bearing little or no relation to
+life. Now here it was, all expressed in dances men and women danced
+thousands of years ago: music of face and body, of muscle and brain,
+which stirred and sang in our hearts like wind in the trees.
+
+‘The elusive spirit of youth she (Karsavina) most eloquently expresses
+in _Les Sylphides_, the music by Chopin, which is described as a
+_Rêverie Romantique_. The sex of the dancer, instead of dominating,
+disappears. And so, of all the good things the Russian Dancers have
+given us, the Spirit of Youth of Tamara Karsavina comes first and
+foremost.
+
+‘The men of the Russian Ballet possess the same technical perfection,
+the same marvelous grace, as the women. Whether their bodies be as
+slim and light as Nijinsky’s and Kosloff’s, or as massive and muscular
+as Mordkin’s and Tichomiroff’s, makes no difference: they can be as
+graceful, as supple, as tender as a girl, without losing a scrap of
+their superb masculinity.’
+
+Among the most conspicuous Russian dancers who followed the
+revolutionary call of Diaghileff and Fokine, were Vera Fokina,
+Tamara Karsavina, Sophie Feodorova, Seraphime Astafieva, Nijinsky,
+and Kosloff. The real drawing cards of the revolutionary group were
+Karsavina and Nijinsky, one more genial than the other, the one the
+very type of the Russian youthful poetic and passionate girl, the other
+that of masculine virility and grace. The leaping of Nijinsky and the
+darting of Karsavina will remain as the most effective symbols in the
+mind of those who have witnessed their inspiring dances. In _Le Spectre
+de la Rose_, danced by Karsavina and Nijinsky, we can best compare
+their individualities. ‘Their bodies, flower-like, representing the
+spirit of flowers, weave dreams with silent and graceful movements,’
+writes a critic. ‘We are altogether removed from the world of flesh
+and blood to a kingdom of enchantment.’ Nijinsky and Karsavina are the
+two talented exponents of the New Russian Ballet, in the same sense as
+Pavlova and Mordkin belong to the Old Ballet.
+
+The question arises in what respect Nijinsky differs from Mordkin and
+Karsavina from Pavlova? If we could see illustrative performances by
+these four greatest figures of the two Russian schools the difference
+would be immediately evident, in spite of their individual traits.
+Where Pavlova concentrates attention on her conventional toe-dancing,
+Karsavina employs conspicuously the naturalistic steps and strives to
+display the plastic lines of her beautiful body. Where Mordkin resorts
+to pantomime, Nijinksy finds his expression through the movements of
+the dance. However, the difference between the two ballets is not
+so clearly cut with the men as with the women dancers. Fokine has
+introduced a great deal of the plastic element that has actuated the
+partisans of the naturalistic school. We find the acrobatic stunts
+of the old ballet almost lacking in the new. You will hardly see
+Karsavina, Fokina or Astafieva performing the leg-bending tricks of
+the followers of the old school. If they resort to pirouettes and leg
+agility, they do so in a different sense than the others.
+
+
+III
+
+A highly praised dance of Karsavina and Nijinsky is _Le Spectre de
+la Rose_ (with music arranged from the compositions of Weber), which
+takes place in a summer night in old aristocratic France. The music,
+though old-fashioned, is soft and tender. Karsavina represents a young
+sentimental girl who has just returned from the ball. She is thinking
+of her lover, while raising to her lips a red rose which he gave her at
+the ball. Going through a pantomimic scene of her sentimental dreams
+Karsavina depicts the romantic prelude of a young girl until Nijinsky,
+representing her visionary lover, leaps in. ‘The spirit of the garden
+and the song of the night have entered her bedroom, and the wind blows
+this rose-spirit to and fro. It is love in human shape: now he hovers
+above the sleeping figure, caressing: now he is dancing just in front
+of the window. And we dare not breathe lest by so doing the air is
+stirred to drive him back into the moving shapes outside. But he rises
+on the arms of the wind, he crouches beside the girl. She falls into
+his arms and the love dream of a ballroom is realized. The music of the
+night has entered the room, languid music like water which these two
+spill as they dance to and fro, until, our eyes being opened, we can
+see as well as hear music. The miracle is so brief that we scarcely
+realize it before it has gone. But they were chords and harmonies,
+these two spirit shapes floating on the implacable air: hands and feet,
+arms and legs, lips and eyes spilling and spelling each note of music.
+The hour has passed. Jealous dawn lays his fingers on the night.... The
+girl is in her chair again. The spirit of the rose hovers like love
+with trembling wings above her.’
+
+A favorite ballet of the Diaghileff company is _Cléopatre_, arranged
+by Fokine to music by Arensky, Taneieff, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Glinka,
+Glazounoff, and Moussorgsky. The chief characters of this ballet are
+Seraphime Astafieva, as Cleopatra, Sophie Feodorova, as Ta-Hor, Vera
+Fokina, as a Greek woman, and Nijinsky, as the favorite of Cleopatra.
+It has been declared the most popular of all Fokine’s ballets. It
+describes the well-known love drama of the great Egyptian queen. The
+first scene is laid on the shores of the Nile. There is just visible
+the arch of an ancient temple and its entrance with great figures of
+stone. The ground on which it stands is flanked by pillars which tower
+towards the sky. The waters of the river gleam between these pillars.
+The sun is sinking into the hot desert. The first character of the
+dance is Ta-Hor, a priestess; the second Amoun, a warrior, her beloved.
+She emerges through the dark curtain of the night and meets him in the
+silent precincts of the temple. Music quivers from hands and feet, lips
+and eyes. We feel an impending danger. The silence is broken with the
+sudden appearance of the High Priest. Cleopatra is coming. But Ta-Hor
+clings to the lips of Amoun. When the Queen appears the lovers shrink
+back into the shadows of the temple. She is a voluptuous beauty. We see
+her resting, her limbs tangled in a mass of color, her eyes fixed like
+serpent’s, staring into the hot night of the desert while she waits
+for what it will bring her. She is tired of the wealth the world has
+poured at her feet. There is but one thing that never tires her and is
+ever new. Her subtle limbs uncurl from the tangled colors, open like a
+rose at a breath of warm wind--to close again with a little shiver of
+ecstasy. Love is always new and beautiful. Of love she has never tired,
+only of lovers.
+
+Cleopatra finally sees Amoun dancing, and falls madly in love with him.
+There are many passionate and dramatic scenes. ‘Like the sea-foam, her
+body is tempest-tossed. Her eyes burn into his soul. The music sings
+songs of the desert, invocations to the Nile, hymns to the god of
+love. Around the royal divan of Cleopatra we see a medley of men and
+women, twining and grouping themselves. The music sounds like a gentle
+breeze, full of love and enchantment, which longs yet fears to slake
+its thirst. We see Egyptian dancers moving slowly and quietly. String
+instruments are thrumming like nightingales. We see a whole company
+of men and women dancing in the torchlight. The sight of the costumes
+pours a spell of the Nile upon us. The stars of the desert and the
+passionate music of string instruments, the beautiful girls and the
+black virile bodies of the slaves, the waves of light and the distant
+wall of soldiers and priests, fill the air with something tragic and
+black. We get a glimpse of Cleopatra and Amoun, he standing beside her
+couch. The high priest of the temple holds between his hands the sacred
+cup filled with the poisonous wine that Amoun must drink. He takes the
+cup firmly and looks into her eyes, and smiling he drinks. She smiles,
+too. At this moment Amoun drops the cup to the ground. Death lays hands
+upon him. His agony is brief. Cleopatra stands waiting. When he falls
+his fingers clutch the air. A shiver shakes the Queen’s body. Cleopatra
+goes out from the night passing through the vast pillars of the temple
+into the dawn of the desert. After her comes Ta-Hor, looking for her
+lover. But she finds the dead body. We see her warm brown body shiver
+and shrink. She would tear out her heart. A soft wind comes whispering
+over the desert bringing with it the red of the rising sun. It is the
+end of a ghastly picture.’
+
+Impressive as _Cléopatre_ is in its scenic and pantomimic vigor and
+tragic atmosphere, yet it is hardly a ballet in the modern sense.
+There is no unity of music, this being altogether a patch-work. It
+may sound exceedingly pretty and appropriate occasionally to the
+accompaniment of the mute drama, yet it is by no means dance music.
+This is an example of the patchy ballet music that the Diaghileff
+company is continually trying to employ. Musically less patchy is _Le
+Pavillon d’Armide_, with music by Tcherepnin and setting by Benois. But
+the theme is old-fashioned and over-perfumed. The story takes place in
+mediæval France at the castle of a certain Marquis, a magician. It is
+night. Winds blow, rain pours down and thunder rolls. A nobleman is
+to meet his sweetheart near the Marquis’ castle and takes refuge from
+the bad weather. The Marquis places his _Pavillon d’Armide_ at his
+disposal. In the pavilion he sees an old Gobelin tapestry representing
+the beautiful Armide, beneath it, a great clock supported by Love and
+Time. The nobleman goes to sleep and at midnight sees the figures of
+Love and Time step down from the clock. Armide becomes alive. The
+nobleman falls in love with her and Armide embraces him. This is the
+beginning of an animated dance. It is a fantastic scene, the old
+Marquis taking part in the feast. Finally Time triumphs over Love and
+they return to their places. It is an interesting short phantasy, a
+poem in pantomime.
+
+A ballet which has created the greatest comment and discussion in
+its dramatic and scenic beauty is the _Scheherezade_, with music by
+Rimsky-Korsakoff. This is a symphonic suite of which Bakst and Fokine
+have manufactured a kind of pantomime-ballet. Though the music is
+magnificent as an orchestra piece by itself, yet it is a perversion to
+employ it to accompany a queer pantomimic drama. Rimsky-Korsakoff had
+no idea of a Zobeide played by Karsavina, of her negro lover, danced
+by Nijinsky, of Schariar, the Grand Eunuch, and of the Odalisque, who
+are the characters of the ballet. This again is a patch-work and not a
+dance in its real sense. If it is a dance, it is such that only one
+artist or at most two could depict. According to the scenario writers
+it draws the story of a Sultan’s harem from ‘The Arabian Nights.’ All
+the harem beauties are dancing with their lovers and slaves. Among them
+we find the pretty Sultana. The Sultan enters and suspects that Zobeida
+has betrayed him. He finds her lover. We see death and passion. It is
+picturesque, but the dance is only an incidental affair. _Scheherezade_
+without Karsavina’s vivid mimicry and youthful beauty, and Nijinsky’s
+agility, would be nothing. In the words of a Russian critic, ‘Nijinsky
+makes us understand that a gesture is, as Blake said of a tear,
+an intellectual thing. His gestures, by which I do not mean the
+technical steps, are different in manner and in spirit from those of
+the traditional Italian school. With the conventional gestures of the
+academies, which mimic such attitudes as men are supposed naturally to
+adopt when they perform certain actions or experience certain emotions,
+he will have nothing to do. Nijinsky’s gestures mimic nothing. They are
+not the result of a double translation of idea into words, and words
+into dumb show. They are the mood itself. His limbs possess a faculty
+of speech. Wit is expressed in his Arlequin dance as lucidly as in an
+epigram. His genius consists in a singular pliancy of the body to the
+spirit.’[C]
+
+    [C] S. Hudekoff: ‘History of Dancing’ (in Russian).
+
+If Karsavina had not joined the choreographic revolutionists her
+dramatic talent would have had little or no opportunity to express
+itself, for the exponents of the old classic ballets are strictly
+opposed to display of natural gestures and acting. While she now
+exhibits a talent equal to Pavlova’s, in the old ballet she would be
+only half of what she is. Although her excellent dramatic sense is
+displayed in _Le Spectre de la Rose_, _Scheherezade_ and in several of
+Stravinsky’s ballets, still we have not had a chance yet to become
+enthusiastic over any of her abstract dances. This view we notice also
+expressed by many French and English critics. ‘Of her performances at
+Covent Garden, all were marked by such rare technique and instructed
+grace that it is difficult to put any one before another; but certainly
+she never surpassed her achievement in _Le Spectre de la Rose_. Her
+dancing caught the very spirit of a maiden’s revery, and nothing could
+have been more finely imagined than those transitions from languor
+into quick rushes of darting movement, which illustrate the abrupt and
+irrational episodes of a troubled dream. She was the very embodiment
+of faint desire. We felt, as it were, a breath of perfume, and were
+troubled in spite of ourselves. Moreover, the long partnership between
+the two performers seemed to have resulted in a very special and
+intimate harmony. For the most part they simply floated about the stage
+as though borne upon a common current of emotion. There was a marriage,
+not only between their bodily movements, but between their spirits,
+such as I have never noted in the union of any other dancers.’
+
+Like the ballet _Prince Igor_, music by Borodine, scenario by Fokine,
+_Le Carneval_, music from Schumann, Liadoff, Glazounoff, Tcherepnine
+and various other sources, are nothing but dances from an opera, dances
+taken here and there. Neither is there any unity of theme or style in
+these trimmed-up panoramas. The Polovetsi dances of Borodine’s opera
+_Prince Igor_ are magnificent examples of savage Tartar art. The music
+is the very image of the hot and restless Mongolian temperament, the
+very breath of battle lust, the exaltation of victory. Fokine has taken
+a scene from the second act of the opera and patched a story together
+with some characters of the opera. The dance in the opera itself is
+wonderful. But in the ballet form, as arranged by Fokine, it is a
+mediocrity.
+
+
+IV
+
+In the repertoire of Diaghileff’s company there have been, thus far,
+only two more or less satisfactory ballets, _Le Pavilion d’Armide_,
+by Benois and Tcherepnin, and _Le Spectre de la Rose_ by Weber and
+Vaudoyer. But both might be termed choreographic sketches in one scene
+rather than ballets. Without Nijinsky and Karsavina even these would
+not be very charming. The aristocratic sentimentality and poetic pathos
+of the two dance pantomimes are perfectly displayed by these two most
+talented artists of the revolutionary group, as their miming and
+dancing are characterized by a certain natural softness of movement,
+the quality of languor and passion. But it was the music of Igor
+Stravinsky, a young Russian composer working in the impressionistic
+style, that saved the situation of the new ballet. Stravinsky has
+a genius for the ballet, such as perhaps the world has never seen
+before. However, he seems to be greatly hampered by lack of proper
+conception of what constitutes the modern ballet. It is evident that
+he is influenced in his compositions too much by the Diaghileff-Fokine
+tendencies, as most of his ballets are built up in the old form of
+construction, though the phonetic images and spirit are new. His
+music is graphically vivid, as it should be, has a strong rhythm and
+inspiring modern spirit. It is the form of construction that he has not
+grasped yet fully, except in his _Petrouchka_.
+
+This _Petrouchka_, Stravinsky’s masterpiece, is a Russian burlesque
+taken from an old fairy-story of Harlequin in love with the Clown’s
+wife. In this ballet the scenes are splendidly arranged by Fokine and
+the music is thrilling. The puppet has always exercised a curious
+fascination upon the human mind. The animated doll is a fantastic and
+yet pathetic symbol of our emotions. _Petrouchka_ is the Russian
+counterpart of English ‘Punch and Judy,’ though differing in its more
+sentimental character. _Petrouchka_ represents the character of a real
+puppet. Stravinsky has woven a dramatic plot around the puppet stage.
+‘To take us behind the scenes and show the mingled comedy and tragedy
+of the puppet world, was a true and dramatic inspiration’ of the
+composer. The scenic effect of _Petrouchka_ is calculated to create a
+melancholy feeling in the spectator with its bleak gray background and
+dull frigidity. It gives a striking contrast to the barbaric colors of
+the crowd on the stage. One has the feeling of opaque leaden skies,
+of snow and gay people at a fair. The costumes and scenery designed
+by Benois are true to Russian life and strikingly in harmony with
+the dance. In every phrase of the music the composer shows himself a
+master of the art of writing ballet music. ‘Throughout the four scenes
+he displays not only a nice sense of dramatic firmness, but a shrewd
+appreciation of character. In the treatment his humorous percept is of
+large assistance. In the trumpet dance by which the Blackamoor is first
+lured into the fair one’s toils or in the slower _pas de fascination_,
+by which the conquest of him is completed, Stravinsky’s sense of the
+ludicrous has turned two slender occasions to most diverting account. A
+piece of clever orchestration is a passage at the outset of the opening
+scene where the composer succeeds not only in reproducing the peculiar
+sounds of an old hurdy-gurdy, but weaves the opposition between two
+such competing instruments into a most entertaining and harmonious
+discord.’
+
+As in all the other Stravinsky ballet compositions, the orchestration
+of _Petrouchka_ is realistically true to the action and the characters
+of the play. It is full-blooded and modern. It breathes an air of the
+unsophisticated joy of a simple people who attend to their affairs
+regardless of conventional restrictions. Nijinsky, with his dramatic
+flexibility and vigor, makes the play a vivid fairy tale in actuality,
+or rather gives life to a dream of a fairy tale. ‘That the ballet
+is thereby endowed with meaning, an inwardness, which it might not
+otherwise possess, must be accounted as a tribute to the dancer’s
+genius,’ writes an English critic.
+
+Another splendid Stravinsky ballet performed by the Diaghileff company
+is _L’Oiseau de Feu_. Fokine has arranged the music successfully in
+this ballet. Like _Petrouchka_, it is based upon a folk-tale. The
+overture of the play indicates that a fantastic story is to follow.
+Strange mutterings and unexpected harmonies dispose the hearer to an
+atmosphere of another world. The adventurous pantomime opens in a
+gloomy forest emanating an air of midnight mysteries. But the music
+glows gradually like the magic glow in the forest. One sees the
+spectacular Fire Bird floating downward toward the stage. Now dancing
+and music melt into one fascinating picture of two dimensions, to which
+the brilliant scenic effects add a special spiritual note. Performed by
+Karsavina, as the Fire Bird, the ballet is excellent.
+
+But Stravinsky has succeeded less well in his post-impressionistic _Le
+Sacre du Printemps_. This consists of two tableaux of ancient pagan
+Russia. The first scene is the adoration of the earth; the second, the
+adoration of the sun. The music is less spontaneous and less graphic
+than that in Stravinsky’s other ballets. But, all in all, Stravinsky
+remains the greatest drawing card and the greatest æsthetic factor in
+the art of the Russian ballet rebels.
+
+A charming number in the repertoire of the Diaghileff company is
+Balakireff’s _Thamar_. Balakireff wrote this as a symphonic poem on
+an Oriental theme, but Bakst has manufactured out of it a ballet.
+The music is very beautiful and typically Russian. The story is a
+thrilling tale of Caucasian life, which takes place at an ancient
+castle built in a gorge of romantic mountains. But because it is
+an artificial construction, it is less interesting musically and
+choreographically than the Stravinsky ballets.
+
+The Russian new ballet has attempted to perform Claude Debussy’s
+_L’Après-Midi d’un Faun_, and Richard Strauss’ _La Légende de Joseph_.
+In the latter ballet a new Russian dancer, Leonide Miassine, was
+introduced in the title rôle. Neither Miassine nor _La Légende de
+Joseph_ proved great attractions. Magnificent as Strauss and Debussy
+are in their modern compositions otherwise, in ballet music they remain
+mediocrities. Their rhythm is so anæmic, their images so hazy and their
+episodes so disconnected that not even a Nijinsky or a Karsavina could
+put life into them.
+
+In criticising the new Russian ballet of Diaghileff and Fokine,
+Prince Volkhonsky writes: ‘Their main defect is that they develop
+[the dance] independently from the music; they are a design by
+themselves--complicated, interesting, very often pleasing to the eye,
+yet independent of the music. And we have already seen when we spoke
+of the old codas that the most unpretentious figure, even when banal,
+becomes inspiring when it coincides with the musical movement, and, on
+the contrary, the most interesting “picturesque” figure loses meaning
+when it develops in discord with music. Look at some dance, definite,
+exact, that has crystallized itself within well-established limits;
+you may look at it even without music. But try to watch a pantomime
+without music. In the first place, it will be a design without color,
+quite an acceptable form; in the second it will be a body without
+skeleton--something unacceptable.’
+
+The Russian new ballet is an interesting proof of the far-reaching
+effect that the naturalistic school of dancing indirectly exercised
+upon the development of the art of dancing. The efforts of the reform
+that Fokine is attempting to achieve are admirable and show the great
+possibilities that the revolutionists face in the immediate future.
+Their whole drawback has been in their conception of the form and
+music. Even Stravinsky has not been able to shake himself loose from
+the old pantomimic form. But sooner or later they will see the new
+point of view and acknowledge the mistake that every reformer is apt
+to make in his first step. The Russians have the technique, the music,
+the innate talent and the traditions for all future choreographic
+inspiration. The solution lies, to a great extent, in the coöperative
+work of their composers, writers, critics, painters, designers,
+teachers and dancers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE
+
+  Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’
+  system--Body-rhythm; the plastic expression of musical ideas;
+  merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze system--Speculation on the
+  value of Eurhythmics to the dance.
+
+
+I
+
+What apparently proves to be the elementary step in building up a
+new school of choreography--perhaps that which some of the younger
+dancers have chosen either by accident or by roundabout ways--are the
+Jacques-Dalcroze Rhythmic Gymnastics or ‘Eurhythmics’ on the order
+of the ancient Greeks. Thus far this style of dancing is merely in
+its preliminary form. Therefore it is now as difficult to draw any
+definite conclusion, as it was about 1905, when the Swiss composer
+Dalcroze, who had been since 1892 a professor of harmony at the Geneva
+Conservatoire, first launched the movement. However, the systematic
+work of instruction by Dalcroze began in 1910, when the brothers Wolf
+and Harald Dohrn invited him to come to Dresden, where, in the suburb
+of Hellerau, they built for him a College of Rhythmic Gymnastics. From
+this time on the inventor of the new method began a systematic training
+of young men and women.
+
+Ethel Ingham writes of the life at the college at Hellerau: ‘The day
+commences with the sounding of a gong at seven o’clock; the house
+is immediately alive, and some are off to the College for a Swedish
+gymnastic lesson before breakfast, others breakfast at half-past seven
+and have their lesson later. There is always a half hour of ordinary
+gymnastics to begin with. Then there will be a lesson in _Solfège_,
+one in Rhythmic Gymnastics, and one in Improvisation, each lasting for
+fifty minutes, with an interval of ten minutes between lessons.’
+
+‘One of the most marked tendencies of the modern æsthetic theory is to
+break down the barriers that convention has created between the various
+arts,’ writes Michael T. H. Sadler of the value of Jacques-Dalcroze’s
+eurhythmics to art. ‘The truth is coming to be realized that the
+essential factor of poetry, painting, sculpture, architecture and music
+is really of the same quality, and that one art does not differ from
+another in anything but the method of its expression and the conditions
+connected with that method.
+
+‘The common basis to the arts is more easily admitted than defined,
+but one important element in it--perhaps the only element that can be
+given a name--is rhythm. Rhythm of bodily movement, the dance, is the
+earliest form of artistic expression known. It is accompanied in nearly
+every case with rude music, the object being to emphasize the beat and
+rhythmic movement with sound. The quickness with which children respond
+to simple repetition of beat, translating the rhythm of the music into
+movement, is merely the recurrence of historical development.
+
+‘To speak of the rhythm of painting may seem fanciful, but I think
+that is only lack of familiarity. The expression is used here with
+no intention of metaphor. Great pictures have a very marked and real
+rhythm, of color, of line, of feeling. The best prose-writing has
+equally a distinct rhythm.
+
+‘There was never an age in the history of art when rhythm played a more
+important part than it does to-day. The teaching of M. Dalcroze at
+Hellerau is a brilliant expression of the modern desire for rhythm in
+its most fundamental form--that of bodily movement. Let it be clearly
+understood from the first that the rhythmic training at Hellerau has
+an importance far deeper and more extended than is contained in its
+immediate artistic beauty, its excellence as a purely musical training,
+or its value to physical development. The beauty of the classes is
+amazing; the actor as well as the designer of stage-effects will come
+to thank M. Dalcroze for the greatest contribution to their art that
+any age can show. He has recreated the human body as a decorative unit.
+He has shown how men, women and children can group themselves and can
+be grouped in designs as lovely as any painting design, with the added
+charm of movement. He has taught the individuals their own power of
+gracious motion and attitude. Musically and physically the results
+are equally wonderful. But the training is more than a mere musical
+education; it is also emphatically more than gymnastics.
+
+‘To take a joy in the beauty of the body, to train his mind to move
+graciously and harmoniously both in itself and in relation to those
+around him, finally, to make his whole life rhythmic--such an ideal
+is not only possible but almost inevitable to the pupil at Hellerau.
+The keenness which possesses the whole College, the delight of every
+one in his work, their comradeship, their lack of self-consciousness,
+their clean sense of the beauty of natural form, promise a new and more
+harmonious race, almost a realization of Rousseau’s ideals, and with it
+an era of truly artistic production.’
+
+Dalcroze’s school has emphasized that its purpose is not merely to
+train dancers but to educate for life generally. His theory is that
+all the people should be raised to feel and appreciate the intrinsic
+value of the rhythm, which is best proven in M. Dalcroze’s own essay,
+_Le Rhythme_, which was published in 1909. ‘Schools of Music,’
+he says, ‘formerly frequented only by born musicians, gifted from
+birth with unusual powers of perception for sound and rhythm, to-day
+receive all who are fond of music, however little Nature may have
+endowed them with the necessary capacity for musical expression and
+realization. The number of solo players, both pianists and violinists,
+is constantly increasing, instrumental technique is being developed to
+an extraordinary degree, but everywhere, too, the question is being
+asked whether the quality of the instrumental players is equal to their
+quantity, and whether the acquirement of extraordinary technique is not
+joined to musical powers, if not of the first rank, at least normal.
+
+‘Of ten certified pianists of to-day, at the most one, if indeed one,
+is capable of recognizing one key from another, of improvising four
+bars with character or so as to give pleasure to the listener, of
+giving expression to a composition without the help of the more or less
+numerous annotations with which present-day composers have to burden
+their work, of experiencing any feeling whatever when they listen to,
+or perform, the composition of another. The solo players of older
+days were without exception complete musicians, able to improvise and
+compose, artists driven irresistibly towards art by a noble thirst for
+æsthetic expression, whereas most young people who devote themselves
+nowadays to solo playing have the gifts neither of hearing nor of
+expression, are content to imitate the composer’s expression without
+the power of feeling it, and have no other sensibility than that of the
+fingers, no other motor faculty than an automatism painfully acquired.
+Solo playing of the present day has specialized in a finger technique
+which takes no account of the faculty of mental expression. It is no
+longer a means, it has become an end.
+
+‘There are two physical agents by means of which we appreciate music.
+These two agents are the ear as regards sound, and the whole nervous
+system as regards rhythm. Experience has shown me that the training of
+these two agents cannot easily be carried out simultaneously. A child
+finds it difficult to appreciate at the same time a succession of notes
+forming a melody and the rhythm which animates them.
+
+‘Before teaching the relation which exists between sound and movement,
+it is wise to undertake the independent study of each of these two
+elements. Tone is evidently secondary, since it has not its origin
+and model in ourselves, whereas movement is instinctive in man and
+therefore primary. Therefore I begin the study of music by careful and
+experimental teaching of movement. This is based in earliest childhood
+on the automatic exercise of marching, for marching is the natural
+model of time measure.
+
+‘By means of various accentuations with the foot, I teach the different
+time measures. Pauses (of various length) in the marching teach the
+children to distinguish duration of sound; movements to time with the
+arms and the head preserve order in the succession of the time measures
+and analyze the bars and pauses.
+
+‘Unsteady time when singing or playing, confusion in playing, inability
+to follow when accompanying, accentuating too roughly or with lack of
+precision, all these faults have their origin in the child’s muscular
+and nervous control, in lack of coördination between the mind which
+conceives, the brain which orders, the nerve which transmits and the
+muscle which executes. And still more, the power of phrasing and
+shading music with feeling depends equally upon the training of the
+nerve-centres, upon the coördination of the muscular system, upon rapid
+communication between brain and limbs--in a word, upon the health of
+the whole organism; and it is by trying to discover the individual
+cause of each musical defect, and to find a means of correcting it,
+that I have gradually built up my method of eurhythmics.
+
+‘The object of the method is, in the first instance, to create by the
+help of rhythm a rapid and regular current of communication between
+brain and body; and what differentiates my physical exercises from
+those of present-day methods of muscular development is that each of
+them is conceived in the form which can most quickly establish in the
+brain the image of the movement studied.
+
+‘It is a question of eliminating in every muscular movement, by the
+help of will, the untimely intervention of muscles unless for the
+movement in question, and thus developing attention, consciousness and
+will-power. Next must be created an automatic technique for all those
+muscular movements which do not need the help of the consciousness, so
+that the latter may be reserved for those forms of expression which are
+purely intelligent. Thanks to the coördination of the nerve-centres, to
+the formation and development of the greatest possible number of motor
+habits, my method assures the freest possible play to subconscious
+expression.
+
+‘The first result of a thorough rhythmic training is that the pupil
+sees clearly in himself what he really is, and obtains from his powers
+all the advantage possible. * * * The education of the nervous system
+must be of such a nature that the suggested rhythms of a work of art
+induce in the individual analogous vibrations, produce a powerful
+reaction in him and change naturally into rhythms of expression.
+In simpler language the body must become capable of responding to
+artistic rhythms and of realizing them quite naturally without fear of
+exaggeration.
+
+‘Gestures and attitudes of the body complete, animate and enliven any
+rhythmic music written simply and naturally without special regard
+to tone, and, just as in painting there exist side by side a school
+of the nude and a school of the landscape, so in music there may be
+developed, side by side, plastic music and music pure and simple.
+In the school of landscape painting emotion is created entirely by
+combinations of moving light and by the rhythms thus caused. In the
+school of the nude, which pictures the many shades of expression of
+the human body, the artist tries to show the human soul as expressed
+by physical forms, enlivened by the emotions of the moment, and at the
+same time the characteristics suitable to the individual and the race,
+such as they appear through momentary physical modifications.
+
+‘At the present day plastic stage music is not interpreted at all, for
+dramatic singers, stage managers and conductors do not understand the
+relation existing between gesture and music, and the absolute ignorance
+regarding plastic expression which characterizes the lyric actors of
+our day is a real profanation of scenic musical art. Not only are
+singers allowed to walk and gesticulate on the stage without paying
+any attention to the time, but also no shade of expression, dynamic
+or motor, of the orchestra--crescendo, decrescendo, accelerando,
+ralletando--finds in their gestures adequate realization. By this I
+mean the kind of wholly instinctive transformation of sound movements
+into bodily movements such as my method teaches.’
+
+
+II
+
+This is briefly the essential part of the Jacques-Dalcroze school
+of Eurhythmics. The method falls into three main divisions: (1)
+ear training; (2) rhythmic gymnastics; and (3) improvisations. The
+ear method is nothing but the training of the pupil in an accurate
+sense of pitch and a grasp of tonality. However, the system of
+teaching rhythmic gymnastics is based upon two different methods:
+_time_ and _time-values_. Time is expressed by movements of the arms;
+time-values--note durations--by movements of the feet and body. A
+combination of these two methods is called the plastic counterpoint,
+in which the actual notes played are represented by movements of the
+arms, while the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers or semi-quavers, is
+given by the feet. The crotchet as the unit of note-values is expressed
+by means of a step. Thus for each note in the music there is one step.
+Notes of shorter duration than the crotchet are also expressed by
+steps, only they are quicker in proportion to their frequency. ‘When
+the movements corresponding to the notes from the crotchet to the whole
+note of twelve beats have, with all their details, become a habit,
+the pupil need only make them mentally, contenting himself with one
+step forward. This step will have the exact length of the whole note,
+which will be mentally analyzed into its various elements. Although
+these elements are not individually performed by the body, their images
+and the innervations suggested by these images take the place of the
+movements.’
+
+The first training of a pupil in the Dalcroze school consists of steps
+only. Simple music is played to which the pupils march. After the pupil
+has an elementary command of his legs the rhythmic training of his
+arms and body begins. At this stage the simple movements to indicate
+rhythms and notes are made a second nature of the pupil. This can be
+compared to the pupil’s learning of the alphabet. Plastic reading
+consists of composing more or less definite images from the elementary
+rhythm-units. This is done either individually or in groups. The pupil
+is taught to form clear mental images of the movements corresponding
+to the rhythm in question and then give physical expression to those
+images. As a child learns to compose letters and syllables to words
+and words to phrases, a Dalcroze pupil is taught to understand the
+elementary parts of the music and the rules of its composition and to
+recompose it into a lengthy series of body movements.
+
+The main object of Dalcroze’s method is to express by rhythmic
+movements rhythms perceived by the ear. The exactness of such
+expression is the main aim of the school. The body must react
+momentarily to the time and sound-units of the music that the ear
+perceives. As the wind creates waves in the sea, music is meant
+to create motion in the human body. Percy B. Ingham writes that
+characteristic exercises of this group are ‘beating the same time with
+both arms but in canon, beating two different tempi with the arms while
+the feet march to one or perhaps march to yet a third time, e. g.,
+the arms 3/4 and 4/4, the feet 5/4. There are, also, exercises in the
+analysis of a given time unit into various fractions simultaneously, e.
+g., in a 6/8 bar one arm may beat three to the bar, the other arm two,
+while the feet march six.’
+
+According to Dalcroze’s plastic theory the arms should express the
+theme in making as many movements as there are notes, while the feet
+should mark the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers, triplets or
+semi-quavers. A compound rhythm can be expressed by the arms taking one
+rhythm, the feet, another. This is meant to correspond to the technical
+exercises of orchestral music, by training the body to react to the
+various tones of different instruments. The general purpose, however,
+is and remains the development of feeling for rhythm by teaching the
+physical expression of body rhythms. There is no doubt that shades
+of crescendos and decrescendos, fortes and pianissimos are achieved
+by this method, yet the question remains: how near does the Dalcroze
+school come to visualizing the music in all its symbolic and spiritual
+depths?
+
+Music is more than rhythm; it is a subjective symbolic language of
+our soul and the universe. It is a mystic factor of life, human and
+cosmic. There is an unaccentuated language in every genial and great
+composition, an æsthetic image and philosophic meaning that we can
+grasp not by means of the intellect but mostly through the emotions,
+and it is in expressing this that Dalcroze’s school has failed in
+so far. Dalcroze has aimed to express the elemental factors of the
+music, and in this he has succeeded. The performances given by Mr. T.
+Jarecki, one of the most talented of the graduates of Hellerau, are
+sufficient proof of the fact that the school has its shortcomings in
+the above-mentioned directions. He performed a Prelude by Chopin, a
+composition of Rachmaninoff, one by Schubert, and several numbers of
+other classics in a costume that looked like a bathing suit. Powerful
+as he was in all his rhythmic grace, he yet failed to translate the
+musical language of the compositions by means of bodily plasticity.
+Chopin’s and Rachmaninoff’s preludes possess distinct tonal expressions
+and designs of something very human and emotional that lies beyond mere
+rhythm. Poetry is based on the laws of rhythm, yet it is not alone the
+rhythm that makes a poem beautiful, but the image that it creates. Thus
+in the art of dance it is not only the rhythm but the æsthetic episode
+that concerns a dancer most of all. It is the transformation of this
+phonetic episode into plastic forms, the visualization of the audible
+beauty, that lies at the bottom of every great dance. This requires
+certain symbols and those lie beyond the achievements of the Dalcroze
+graduates.
+
+
+III
+
+The great value of Dalcroze’s method lies in his insistence on perfect
+rhythm as an elementary training upon which the coming art of dancing
+can be based. The various folk-dances are outspokenly rhythmic, but
+they contain that peculiar racial flavor which is very difficult to
+keep outside its proper atmosphere and race. We have found that the
+best Russian dancers could not give the simple folk-dances of another
+race with the racial perfection which a native untrained folk-dancer
+would have imparted to it. In the same way foreign dancers with their
+best efforts fail in trying to dance what a Russian dances. The
+national dances can be employed as valuable bases for the individual
+art, but that is all. They lack the cosmic element, the language of
+the world. An Italian understands his _Tarantella_, a Spaniard his
+_Fandango_, a Russian his _Trepak_ best of all. The future art of
+dancing needs a universal element of choreographic design and it is
+in this that the Dalcroze school may be of immense value. It bases
+everything on rhythm only, which is very significant, but its aim
+should lie far beyond that. Rhythm is the syllable and the word, but
+words must be combined into phrases and phrases into paragraphs before
+we can read a story. It is after all the story in which the mind is
+interested, not the words and phrases.
+
+We have seen in previous chapters that the foundation of the ballet
+lacks the firmness and soundness of a natural art. It is decadent and
+altogether shaky. No genius could build anything lasting unless the
+foundation is firm. The aim of dancing is not acrobatic nor gymnastic
+effect, but plasticity. Symmetry is the chief element of architecture,
+rhythm that of music. If we can combine the symmetric rules with those
+of the rhythmic we have the basis upon which a new choreography can be
+built. Isadora Duncan, Fokine, Lada, Trouhanova and many others are
+trying to grasp the truth in their individual ways, but the elemental
+truth lies in Dalcroze’s system. That Dalcroze has not aimed to train
+any stage artists is evidenced by the bathing-suit-like costume
+that his pupils wear, which in itself is unæsthetic and objectionable
+to our eye, though it may fit well for regular class-room work. It is
+at illusion that the stage aims, and this is not to be found in naked
+realism but in something else.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)]
+
+Some writers and critics seem to think that the great importance of
+Dalcroze’s system lies in his Neo-Hellenism, in that it is so close
+to the ancient Greek ideas. This view is particularly widespread in
+Germany, the country of classic adoration. But Greek spirit and ideals
+cannot help but only mislead a modern man. We have our problems, so
+many thousand years of evolution after the Greek civilization, that
+differ fundamentally from those of the bygone centuries. It is not in
+looking backward, but in looking forward that we have to find the great
+cosmic ideal of beauty. Dalcroze is by no means an imitator of the
+Greeks, but a man of to-day. He maintains emphatically that his method
+of eurhythmics is meant to be a general educational subject in all the
+schools--an elementary rhythmic training for life.
+
+It is to be hoped that the Dalcroze system of training dancers will
+be employed as the elementary step in all the dancing schools, for
+only then we may hope to see the rise of a new art of dancing.
+Without learning the alphabet thoroughly or without knowing the most
+elementary rules of a science nothing could be obtained by a pupil in
+his later studies. Here is the elementary system in all its primitive
+simplicity and truth. All we need is to adapt it to the higher
+schools of choreography. What the Dalcroze schooling of to-day gives
+is insufficient for a stage art. But it is by far a more thorough
+elementary training than any ballet, naturalistic or individual school
+can give, as it makes a student feel the music in his body and soul
+before he expresses it in his plastic forms. Then again, there is a
+strict system, a method of gradual development of those essentials
+which lie at the bottom of every art dance.
+
+In spite of the many shortcomings the Jacques-Dalcroze school can be
+considered as the first move towards a new stage art. It means the
+beginning of a new school of dancing altogether. However, it needs
+another reformer to begin where Dalcroze ended. Can we expect this of
+Fokine, Volkhonsky or some one else? Dance in its highest sense is
+symbolic. The symbols that it expresses should not be others than those
+of music. We know only that they should form images of the symmetric
+and rhythmic elements, but their exact nature remains either for an
+individual artist or a future school to determine.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY
+
+  The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new
+  ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories--Lada and choreographic
+  symbolism--The question of appropriate music.
+
+
+I
+
+We have witnessed the various phases and changes which the art of
+dancing has undergone during the past centuries. The ancient Egyptians
+danced the movements of astral bodies, the Greeks danced the hymns of
+their mythology, the Romans their war songs, the Middle Ages danced
+the aristocratic etiquette of gilded ball-rooms, the French Ballet
+danced to stereotyped tunes with marionette-like manners, the Russian
+Ballet danced to dramatic scenarios that had musical accompaniment,
+the various nations danced to their simple tunes, the Duncanites to
+the mood-creating elements of the music, the Jacques-Dalcrozists to
+the rhythm of a composition only. It is inconceivable that none of the
+reformers, none of the new schools, danced the music itself. Those
+among the partisans of ‘natural’ or ‘classic’ dancing who claim to
+interpret the music have given us thus far supposed imitations of the
+Greek, Oriental or fantastic styles of some kind, based upon hazy
+rhythmic mood-producing forms of a composition. We have seen only
+fragmentary passages here and there, single numbers of the celebrated
+dancers, which expressed the phonetic designs of the music in true
+plastic lines. Pavlova has certainly succeeded in expressing all the
+emotional fury of Glazounoff’s _L’Autômne Bacchanale_, the grace of
+Drigo’s _Papillons_, and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’ We must give all due
+credit to Karsavina, for her dancing of Stravinsky’s _L’Oiseau de Feu_,
+and half a dozen others of her repertoire depict truly the very soul
+of the music. The child pupils of Miss Duncan dance all the ethereal
+grace of Schubert’s _Moments Musicals_. In the same way we find in
+one or several dances of Mordkin, Nijinsky and Volinin, of Lopokova,
+Fokina and Kyasht that they have succeeded in dancing the music. We are
+pretty safe to say that each of the celebrated dancers of history has
+probably been able to translate into visible ‘plasticism’ only a few of
+the phonetic forms of one or another composition of his repertoire. And
+this is what we may term ‘dancing the music.’
+
+We have attended innumerable dance performances, have seen many new and
+old ballets, in Russia and abroad, have seen the new and ultra-modern
+dancers, yet we have so far seen but a microscopic fragment of what
+we here call ‘dancing the music.’ Certainly the greatest part of the
+repertoire of all the celebrated dancers has been the dancing of
+something else than the music. All the Pavlova ballets that have been
+given in America, all the elaborate ballets of the Russian classic
+school, all the ballets of the Diaghileff-Fokine group, are and remain
+dances to preconceived plots, dances to a style or a mood, but rarely
+dances of the music. We should like to have any of the celebrated
+dancers show us where there is expression of the music in all the
+spectacular pirouettes of Pavlova, Karsavina, Nijinsky and Fokina, in
+their dramatic acting to a musical composition, even in the most modern
+ballets of Stravinsky. The dancing that they perform during the whole
+ballet is pantomimic acting to a certain plot, arranged to music. We
+are not by any means biased in making the statement, but make it with
+deliberation.
+
+Dancers of various schools and ages have failed to see the point.
+Though Prince Volkhonsky is preaching exclusively the Jacques-Dalcroze
+rhythmic gymnastics as the basis of a new school of dance and therefore
+sees nothing more in a dance than the rhythmic expression, yet he has
+described aptly the defects of the Russian ballets, old and new, of
+the Duncanites and other modern schools of dancing. ‘Their main defect
+is that they develop independently of the music,’ he writes; ‘they are
+a design by themselves--complicated, interesting, very often pleasing
+to the eye, yet independent of the music. And we have already seen
+when we spoke of the old _codas_ that the most unpretentious figure,
+even when banal, becomes inspiring when it coincides with the musical
+movement, and, on the contrary, the most interesting picturesque
+figure loses meaning when it develops in discord with music. Look at
+some dance, definite and exact, which has crystallized itself within
+well-established limits; you may look at it even without music, but try
+to watch a pantomime without music. In the first place, it will be a
+design without color, quite an acceptable form; in the second, it will
+be a body without skeleton--something unacceptable.
+
+‘The main fault of the leaders of the modern ballet is that they put
+the centre of gravity of the ballet in the plot, in the event, in the
+story: what in painting is called literature. Whereas the subject
+of the ballet is not in the plot, the subject is in the music. Any
+picture which is not dictated by music, any independent movement, is
+synonymous with abandonment of the subject, the essence; it is in
+the end an interruption of art, an interruption caused by a rupture
+between the two equivalent elements of the visuo-audible art--sound
+and movement. This rupture with music is all the more felt the more
+participants there are in the picture, and the more markedly it tends
+towards “realism.” Only look at them when they represent scenes of
+disorder; and by and by we lose the impression of “art”; we see real,
+not represented, disorder; and finally we are turned to the dramatic
+point of view, and we are called upon to admire the “acting crowd.”
+And if you are musical, if you live in the movement of sound, this
+independent visible movement cannot but appear as a sort of unasked-for
+interference of some intruder. The acting crowd is not admissible where
+a rhythmically moving crowd is required. Acting leads the artist out
+of music and conducts him into the plot; and the subject of ballet, I
+repeat, is not in the plot, it is in the music; the plot is but the
+pretext.
+
+‘Only through the rhythm will the ballet come back to music and
+accomplish the fusion which has been destroyed by independent acting.
+Schopenhauer said that music is a melody to which the universe serves
+as a text; take away the music from the ballet--it will have nothing
+to say. There is quite a clear parallel here with the vocal art. The
+musician composes a song; he puts words to music. Imagine a singer
+coming out and telling us only the words; he will be far from the
+fulfillment of his task; he will have accomplished but the half of it,
+the lesser part of it. It is the same with the ballet; the musician
+composes the ballet, he puts the plot to music. Imagine a dancer coming
+out and acting the plot alone; he will be far from the fulfillment of
+his task; he will have accomplished but the lesser part of it. For the
+ballet does not relate how the Sleeping Beauty, for instance, fell
+asleep and awoke (this is the business of literature, declamation
+and drama); the ballet relates how music tells it. Music is the only
+real essence in that which forms the subject of the ballet. All the
+remaining “reality,” the real man with his real movement, is nothing
+but a means of expression, nothing but artistic material. It is evident
+how wrong, how offensive it is (for a musician) when this material
+of living movement embodies a new moving formula which is not implied
+in the music. Have you seen those “processions” of maidens, slaves,
+priests, etc.? Have you ever been shocked by the discord of their walk
+with music? Have you noticed that the pace which you see is quite
+different from the one you hear? Have you ever felt offended on seeing
+that they step between the notes and thus give you the impression of
+syncopes which are in no way justified by music? I am afraid you have
+not. Few are those who realize the importance of the accord of movement
+and sound, who long for its realization, and, together with Schiller,
+desire that “Music in its ascendant ennoblement shall become Image.”
+
+‘The music we hear is the subject of the image we see. And in fact the
+singer sings music, the dancer dances music, and cannot dance anything
+else; he cannot “dance” jealousy or grief or fright, but he can and
+must dance the music which expresses the feeling of jealousy, grief or
+fright. And when he has rendered the music he will, by the same means,
+have rendered its contents, and naturally the silly question will
+be dropped: “How is it possible that on the stage the people should
+dance everything, whereas in life only dances are danced, or, at the
+utmost, joy?” The question is strange, to be sure, yet no less strange
+are those who forget that the only thing they may dance is music, and
+think they may dance a “rôle.” The dramatic principle based upon an
+arbitrary division of time is directly opposed to the choreographic
+principle, which is wholly founded on the musical, consequently
+regulated, division of time. Therefore the introduction of the element
+of “personal feeling,”[D] of individual choice, and even more, destroys
+the very essence of the choreographic art, and eats away its very
+texture.
+
+    [D] As the Duncanites do.--Editor.
+
+I do not speak against the working out of such; I speak against an
+independent working out--that is, a separate one running a course other
+than that in which music is the greatest essential. I remember one of
+the best _ballerinas_ contorting herself in wild movements of anguish
+while the notes of the violin were dying away in one long sound of a
+trill. She “acted,” and there is, of course, no harm in this, but she
+acted according to her ideas, instead of acting according to music. It
+is just the same sin against art as if a singer were to execute a lyric
+song with bravado. Would you forgive him? Why, then, do we not forgive
+a singer, yet forgive a mimic, even admire his “acting”? Why is it
+every one understands that singing must agree with music, and so few,
+almost nobody, feel the offensiveness of movement which disagrees with
+music? And yet how sensitive to the observation of the musico-plastic
+principle are those who are so indifferent to its non-observation. How
+much they enjoy, though unconsciously, every manifestation of that
+concordance! We may say with certitude that for the best moments,
+the moments of greatest satisfaction in the living art--that is, the
+musico-plastic art combining the visible with the audible--we are
+indebted to the simultaneous concurrence of the plastic movement with
+the musical; in other words, to the equality in division of space and
+time. In an old French treatise on the dance, published in the year
+1589, the author says among other bits of advice: “It is wrong for
+the foot to say one thing and the instrument the other.” In its naïve
+conciseness this sentence represents the germ of all that has been
+said, perhaps with some prolixity, in these pages.
+
+‘Space and time are the fundamental conditions of all material
+existence--and for that same reason the inevitable conditions of all
+material manifestation of man within the limits of his earthly being.
+If we agree that art is the highest manifestation of order in matter,
+and order in its essence nothing but division of space and time, we
+shall understand the fullness of artistic satisfaction which man must
+feel when both his organs of perfection, eye and ear, convey to him not
+only each separate enjoyment, but the enjoyment of fusion; when all his
+æsthetic functions are awakened in him not separately but collectively,
+in one unique impression: the visible rhythm penetrated by the audible,
+the audible realized in the visible, and both united in movement. This
+is the combination of the spacial order with the temporal. And when
+this combination is accomplished, and still more when it is animated
+with expression, then no chord of human impressionability is left
+untouched, no category of human existence is neglected; space and time
+are filled with art, the whole man is but one æsthetic perception.
+
+‘And, once we have understood all that, how is it possible not to
+express the wish that the leaders of the art of the ballet should
+assimilate the principle of concordance of motion and music? Without
+this there is no art in movement, and all our old “pointés” and
+“fouettés,” all those records of rapidity and difficulties are nothing
+but words without significance, whereas the new “choreographical”
+pictures are but a dramatization of movement to the sound of an
+accompanying music.’
+
+
+II
+
+One of the first among living dancers to realize the truth of the
+above-described lack of concordance between motion and music in all the
+ancient and new schools, and to devise, intuitively, a method of her
+own in expressing only the music, is Lada, a young American girl, who
+had been assiduously studying dancing in Europe and in Russia. She felt
+so keenly the discord in the ballet, in the art of Isadora Duncan,
+in the dances of so many modern celebrities, that she was led to draw
+her inspiration from the folk-dances of various European countries.
+Here was something simple and primitive, the simple and naïve harmonic
+relation between the audible, and the visible, the plastic, conception.
+It was the concordance of motion and music.
+
+Lada’s New York début in the late spring of 1914 was, in spite of so
+many unfavorable circumstances, a choreographic triumph such as few
+dancers have achieved under similar conditions. The New York musical
+and dramatic critics, though unfamiliar with subtle choreographic
+issues, declared her an artist of the foremost rank. Yet this girl
+has not had yet the chance to display the best of her art. Her art
+may be divided into three different categories: those based on the
+racial, on the dramatic and on the symbolic principles. Her Brahms’
+Hungarian Dance, Glinka’s _Kamarienskaya_, and Schubert’s _Biedermayer_
+are distinct ethnographic plastic panoramas; her Sibelius’ _Valse
+Triste_ is a masterpiece among her dramatic and realistic dances, while
+MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance,’ Sibelius’ ‘Swan of Tuonela,’ Glière’s
+_Lada_, and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s _Antar_ are perfect choreographic gems
+of unusual symbolic breadth. In the _Valse Triste_ the sad majesty, as
+if absorbed in infinite grief, overcomes the spectator so irresistibly
+that he almost forgets the morbidly beautiful music of Sibelius.
+On occasions, impressively executed with unsurpassed loftiness and
+freedom, she places before us a visionary being, though on the verge of
+death, in whose presence everything low falls from us, and our feelings
+express the same elevation that they do in genuine tragedy.
+
+But, however excellently Lada may interpret the sentimental issues
+of various ethnographic compositions and how well she may portray
+the tragic vigor of the dramatic music, the best of her art lies
+in the symbolic visualization of phonetic beauties. In these she
+appears like a supernatural being raised above common humanity. Her
+rendering of Gretchaninoff’s ‘Bells,’ which we have seen so far only in
+rehearsals, makes an impression as if she were lost in sacred revery.
+A touch of religious feeling pervades the beautiful panorama. In other
+dances of similar religious character she seems floating in mid-air,
+unsubstantial as the moon whose pale beams pour a magic beauty over
+sleeping Nature--and yet so far removed. Her art is an absolute image
+of the music. Lada is by no means a mood creator or a believer in
+genial spontaneity that requires nothing but a stage and orchestra. She
+possesses in her simplest folk-dance-like choreographic sketches the
+same technical perfection, the same strenuous practice, as the most
+accomplished ballet dancer. This is what makes her body seem like a
+highly strung instrument, whose strings the slightest breath of wind
+can set quivering. Let us hope that she will not change her views and
+aspirations for the sake of managerial or timely requirements, as so
+many successful dancers have done. It would be a loss to the evolution
+of the art of dancing.
+
+To this school of dancing belongs also Natasha Trouhanova, a
+fascinatingly beautiful Caucasian girl, whose appearances in Russia and
+Paris have attracted great attention. Being of semi-Oriental descent
+herself, Trouhanova’s art has verged on Oriental conceptions. Russian
+music is rich in excellent Oriental themes; Borodine, Rubinstein,
+Balakireff, Ippolitoff-Ivanoff and Spendiaroff have written a large
+number of instrumental works of Oriental cast, which adapt themselves
+magnificently to dancing. Indeed, the composers of other countries
+have not been able to approach the Russians in the treatment of
+Oriental subjects. Mlle. Trouhanova has specialized in a romantic
+Oriental symbolism, in which she has succeeded more than any of the
+other living dancers. There is an enchanting, exotic atmosphere in
+Trouhanova’s plastic expressions, something that breathes of the
+Thousand and One Nights, seductive and saturated with passion, yet
+beautiful in every detail. Her best performances have been those which
+she has given in Oriental surroundings, in the atmosphere to which
+such expressions belong. Like Lada, Trouhanova seeks the solution of
+choreography in the music itself. She has been inclined to a kind
+of symbolism that pertains to the romantic emotions, and in this
+particular field she stands supreme.
+
+
+III
+
+How important Lada’s illustration of the theory of concordance of
+motion and music is at this time of dancing evolution can be more
+concretely grasped by the coming generations than by an average
+dance-lover to-day. It is perspective that gives the true visual
+impression of a mountain. ‘In the unison of plasticity and music,
+of the visible with the audible, of the spacial with the temporal,
+lies the guarantee of that new art which we so ardently desire and so
+unsuccessfully seek,’ writes a celebrated dance authority. But here
+comes the question of music, the phonetic image that should guide
+the choreographic artist. Lada complains that she has a very limited
+choice of compositions that can be danced. The problem of proper dance
+music is more serious than one would think. Sibelius’ _Valse Triste_
+is perhaps the best sample of dramatic dance music that corresponds
+perfectly to a dancer’s requirements. MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance’ is
+another gem of this kind. There are quite a few by other composers.
+The sum is slight. But the dancer can hardly blame the composer alone,
+for the latter knows only the old ballet, the naturalistic school or
+folk-dance themes. He has never heard of any other dance music than the
+one which has been danced, either socially or on the stage.
+
+Dancing to music requires short phonetic episodes with sufficient
+poetic, symbolic or dramatic element, and images clearly depicted in
+strong rhythmic measure and sufficient background for the story. The
+more variety of figures, the greater contrasts and the more ‘chapters’
+in such a composition, the better for the dancer. The modern decadent,
+unrhythmic, vague mood music of the radical French and German schools
+is of little appeal and practically impossible to render in plastic
+forms. It is the Russian school of music, as also the works of modern
+Finnish composers, that have all the rich, clear and powerfully vivid
+magic of the north, and appeal so strongly to a dancer’s imagination.
+Sibelius’ _En Saga_, a tone-poem for full orchestra, would be the most
+grateful composition for this purpose had it not been written in the
+old symphonic form. It belongs to that baffling and unsatisfactory
+class of symphonic poems to which Sibelius has failed to give a clear
+literary basis. The music suggests the recital of some old tale in
+which the heroic and pathetic elements are skillfully blended. The
+music is vigorous and highly picturesque, but its interest would be
+greatly enhanced by a more definite program. Again, the same composer’s
+‘Lemminkainen’s Home-Faring’ would make an excellent dance for a man
+dancer, had the composer rearranged it for a smaller orchestra and
+for dancing. It is an episode from the _Kalevala_. Sibelius’ Fourth
+Symphony is a composition that could be danced, being based on a series
+of single episodes of extremely imaginary character. But the score
+is written for a large symphony orchestra, therefore unpractical for
+dancing in a general way. Sibelius’ incidental music to Adolf Paul’s
+tragedy, ‘King Christian II,’ and the other to Maeterlinck’s ‘Pelléas
+and Mélisande’ are large ballets rather than music that could be
+performed without any particular difficulties by dancers of Lada’s type.
+
+The question of appropriate music for the latest phase of the art
+of dancing is so serious that it requires earnest consideration. In
+considering the best dances of all the great dancers of all ages and
+schools we find that among the phonetic images the symbolic element
+renders itself most gratefully to plastic transformation. By its
+very nature dancing is the symbolic rendering of music. The more
+symbolic the subject of a composition the better chance it has of
+being transmitted into a visible language. A dancer represents in his
+vibrating body lines the symbolic complex of all the phonetic unities
+of a composition. He is, so to speak, the unset type. Music is the text
+that he has to print in such pictorial forms, in such symbols that our
+mind can grasp it. Throughout his dance, he remains a kaleidoscopic
+tracer of the musical designs of the composition. The plastic positions
+of the human body, the mimic expression of the face, the gestures and
+the steps, are the mediums that can suggest certain phases of emotion
+and feeling, certain ideas and impressions of soul and body. There
+is a certain tonal and pictorial ‘logic,’ a kind of unarticulated
+thinking, in music as well as in dancing. But this cannot be depicted
+in any other than symbolic form. Essentially both arts are composed
+of a succession of peculiar emotional symbolic images. Music is the
+vibration of the sound, dancing the vibration of the form. Both arts
+appeal directly to our emotions, music more than dancing, the latter
+being more mixed with our intellectual processes. Dancing may be termed
+the translating of the absolutely subjective language into a more
+objective one. According to this theory all the ballets in the old
+form of drama, where the characters dance their rôles, is against the
+principle of pure art dancing. It is impossible to imagine that there
+is any music on the order of our conventional dramas, of so or so many
+characters. At the utmost there can be only two dancing figures, two
+characters that we could imagine in a tone-drama of this kind; but even
+so, the other could be only the acting, the pantomimic character, while
+only one dancer at a time can render the real transformation process of
+the musical theme.
+
+To comply with the requirements of the above-described theory of
+musical dancing, the writer has composed a scenario, ‘The Legend of
+Life,’ to which Reinhold Glière is composing the music. In this ballet,
+or more correctly _plastomime_, which is arranged in three scenes,
+there is only one single dancer throughout the whole performance, and
+she is the symbolic image, the visualized imagination of a young monk,
+who is sitting in the evening before the festival of ordainment in his
+gloomy cell and thinking of the girl he used to love outside. Here he
+begins to hear the worldly music that is interrupted by the chimes
+and the choir of the church. The girl of whom he is thinking appears
+before him and dances romantic episodes--dances, so to speak, his vivid
+reminiscences. The monk is the realistic figure, the dancing girl the
+symbolic image of the music. It is a whole drama, which takes place in
+the monk’s mind. The drama is in music, and is his love, his romantic
+emotion, which is often interrupted by ecclesiastic surroundings. The
+second scene is the dream of the monk at night in a beautiful garden.
+The vision of the dancing girl. The third scene depicts him watching
+his own ordination in the church and the people arriving solemnly
+through the courtyard to witness the ceremony. Among them he sees his
+beloved. This scene is laid in the monastery’s courtyard. The charm
+of the dancing girl here becomes so overwhelming to the monk that
+he throws off his robe and rushes to her. Here she vanishes like a
+phantom and the plastomime ends. This, briefly, is an attempt at the
+sort of literary basis upon which the author considers dance music can
+be constructed in concordance with the new symbolic ideals.
+
+The above-described scenario is merely one of the innumerable dance
+themes that modern composers could employ in their future dance music.
+It is to be hoped that composers will grasp the idea and enrich musical
+literature with works that adapt themselves to the requirements of a
+new choreography.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE
+
+FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE ART OF DANCE
+
+
+As in the physical so in the spiritual world there prevails a kind
+of circulation of energies and life; growth, maturity and decline.
+Individuals seem nothing but the beginnings where the universes
+end, and _vice versa_. As a man mirrors the world in his soul, so a
+protoplasm mirrors the man. An invisible hand pushes a worm along the
+same road of evolution as it does an imperious Cæsar. One and the same
+feeling heart seems to beat in the breast of man that beats in the
+action of the constellations. Yet the hand of evolution that tends to
+adjust the equilibrium between the individual and the cosmic will gives
+by every new turn a new touch of perfection to the subjective and the
+objective parties. This tendency manifests itself in the history of
+individuals and races, and also in the history of art. The greatest
+genius of to-day is surpassed by another to-morrow.
+
+The art of dancing, as it stands to-day, promises much encouragement
+for to-morrow. It is near the beginning of a new era--the era of the
+cosmic ideals. The past belongs to the aristocratic ideals, in which
+the Russian ballet reached the climax. The French were the founders
+of aristocratic choreography; the Russians transformed it into an
+aristocratic-dramatic art; to the Americans belongs the attempt at a
+democratic school.
+
+‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative, destructive
+element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for instance, we had never seen
+the old ballet, with its stereotype, I do not think that the appearance
+of Isadora Duncan would have called forth such enthusiasm. In Isadora
+we greeted the deliverance.’ The chief merit of Duncan lies in
+destroying the aristocratic foundation of the ballet, and in attempting
+to find a democratic expression. She meant to find the solution in
+ancient Greek ideas and tried to imitate them. But she forgot that she
+was an outspoken American individualist and grasped only the democratic
+principles of a young race. All she achieved was to prove that the
+democratic essentials are no more satisfactory in the future æsthetic
+evolution of the dance than were the aristocratic traditions of the
+bygone centuries. The question remains, where is to be found the true
+basis of the coming choreography?
+
+It is strange to contemplate what different directions the development
+of the dance in various countries and in various ages has taken.
+In ancient Egypt and Greece the primitive folk-dances developed
+into spectacular religious ballets, in Japan they assumed the same
+impressionistic character as the rest of the national art, in
+aristocratic France the folk-dances grew to a gilded salon art, in
+Italy they became acrobatic shows, while in Russia they transformed
+themselves into spectacular racial pantomimes. In every age and
+country the art of dancing followed the strongest æsthetic motives of
+the time. If a nation worshipped nobility it danced the aristocratic
+ideals, if it worshipped divine ideas it danced them accordingly. The
+social-political democratic ideals of the New World have exercised
+a great influence in this direction upon the art of the Old. Though
+imitating aristocratic Europe, America has not failed to add an element
+of its own to the æsthetic standards of the former. But had America
+been only democratic there would be little hope left that it could
+attribute anything to the future beauty, particularly to the future
+dance. There are, however, other elements that give encouragement to
+something serious and lasting, and this is the cosmic tendency in
+American life and art.
+
+The chief characteristics of the American mind are to condense
+expressions and ideas into their shortest forms. This is most evident
+in the syncopated style of its music, in its language and in its
+architecture. Like the American ‘ragtime’ tune, an American skyscraper
+is the result of an impressionistic imagination. Both are crude in
+their present form, yet they speak a language of an un-ethnographic
+race and form the foundation of a new art. Instead of having a
+floating, graceful and, so to speak, a horizontal tendency like the
+æsthetic images of the Old World, the American beauty is dynamic,
+impressionistic and perpendicular. It shoots directly upwards and
+denies every tradition. The underlying motives of such a tendency are
+not democratic but cosmic. While a nationalistic art is always based on
+something traditional, something that belongs to the past evolution of
+a race, the cosmic art strives to unite the emotions of all humanity.
+The task of the latter is very much more difficult. It requires a
+universal mind to grasp and express what appeals to the whole world.
+It requires a Titanic genius to condense the æsthetic images so that
+in their shortest form they may say what the others would express in
+roundabout ways. This gives to beauty a dynamic vigor and makes it so
+much more universal than the art of any nation or age could be. But
+this requires the use of symbols, and tends to subjectivism. However,
+the symbols employed in this case are fundamentally different from
+those employed by the Orientals. Since the earliest ages the Orient has
+made use of symbols in art and religion. But the Oriental symbols have
+been mystic or philosophic in their nature. The American symbols will
+either be purely intellectual or they will be poetic.
+
+The future of the art of dancing belongs to America, the country of
+the cosmic ideals. This is evident from its evolution since Isadora
+Duncan’s début. The Russian New Ballet (of Diaghileff’s group) is the
+best proof that the traditional racial plasticism is being transformed
+into a cosmic one. Compare the steps and gestures of Karsavina and
+Nijinsky with those of Pavlova and Volinin. Where the former have
+become realistically dramatic, the latter remain acrobatically
+academic. There is more symbolism in Karsavina’s and Nijinsky’s art
+than in that of Pavlova and the followers of the old ballet. But the
+plastic symbols of Lada are far more condensed than those of Karsavina.
+This is what we have termed the essential of a cosmic choreography.
+
+The tendency of every art is from the simple to the complex and then
+again from the complex to the simple. The greatest dancer is the one
+who can express the most complex musical images in the simplest plastic
+forms. Dancing in the future will be nothing but a transformatory
+process of the time-emotions in the space-emotions. ‘Rhythm is in time
+what symmetry is in space--division into equal parts corresponding to
+each other,’ said Schopenhauer. Arthur Symons called dancing ‘thinking
+overheard.’ ‘It begins and ends before words have formed themselves, in
+a deeper consciousness than that of speech. * * * It can render birth
+and death, and it is always going over and over the eternal pantomime
+of love; it can be all the passions, all the languors; but it idealizes
+these mere acts, gracious or brutal, into more than a picture; for it
+is more than a beautiful reflection, it has in it life itself, as it
+shadows life; and it is farther from life than a picture. Humanity,
+youth, beauty, playing the part of itself, and consciously, in a
+travesty, more natural than nature, more artificial than art: but we
+lose ourselves in the boundless bewilderment of its contradictions.’
+It follows that a neo-symbolism is the logical outcome of the future
+dance. Dancing will become an independent stage art and take the place
+of the obsolescent opera. But before it reaches that stage, composers
+will be compelled to realize the importance of the new choreography,
+and produce music that contains all the graphic designs, the plastic
+possibilities, the dynamic drama and, above all, that structure of
+sounds which gives ample possibility for symbolic plasticism and yet
+contains a message.
+
+The real future dance will be expressionistic and subjective. Instead
+of copying life it will suggest its deepest depths and highest heights
+by combining the plastic symbols with the musical ones. It will not
+try to imitate nature but transpose it, as a painting transposes a
+landscape. Our mind is growing tired of the prevailing naked realism
+and its photographic effects. The realistic drama is gradually losing
+its æsthetic appeal. The aristocratic opera seems to belong to past
+centuries. Opera has lost its grip on the modern mind. Our æsthetic
+conception has reached the point where our subjective mind requires not
+imitation but inspiration. Instead of traditional beauties we require
+dynamic ones. We enjoy a suggestion of an æsthetic sensation more than
+an accurate description of it. This proves that the symbolic sensations
+will sooner or later take the upper hand, and symbolic dancing will be
+the watchword of the coming age.
+
+Since, according to our theory, the future of the art of dancing
+belongs to America, we should take into consideration those primary
+elements of musical art that form the foundation of every dance.
+American art naturally lacks fundamentally national elements; it
+strives toward cosmic ideals instead. Miserable as is the syncopated
+form of American popular music it yet constitutes the musical
+_Volapük_ of all the nations. This same syncopated form of expression
+manifests itself in American architecture and in its social dancing.
+The broken lines, the irregular dynamics, and the restless corners here
+and there that we find predominant in American architecture are nothing
+but a transposed form of popular music. It is evident that neither one
+of the arts has yet found its foundation. A New York skyscraper is
+a silent ‘ragtime’ tune, and _vice versa_. But the ‘ragtime’ rhythm
+can be modulated to the same æsthetic expressions as the skyscrapers.
+Unconsciously the dance follows the patterns of architecture and music.
+The future choreography does not necessarily need to be based upon
+syncopated rhythm only, but upon the various factors of the style, the
+method of expression and the spiritual issues.
+
+The physical and spiritual bases of every folk-art lie in the rural
+life. A folk-song or a folk-dance is and remains the product of idyllic
+village atmosphere. It mirrors the joys and sorrows, hopes and passions
+of the country people. It has been molded under the blue sky, in
+sunshine and storm. The songs of birds and the voices of nature form
+its æsthetic background. A village troubadour or poet is usually its
+creator, and simplicity is its fundamental trait. It exalts the rural
+atmosphere, poetry and characteristics. The place of the birth and
+growth of syncopated rhythm and broken symmetry is exclusively the
+city. It exalts the noise, rush and triviality, also the alertness and
+forces of the street. It suggests motion and intellectual fever. It
+leaves images of something artificial and fatal in the mind. The spirit
+of the country is different in every nation; but the spirit of the city
+is a similar one all over the world. It is in this very fact that we
+have to look for the logical foundation of the future choreography. It
+will emanate from no particular race, from no particular country, nor
+from any particular element of national art. It will come from the
+artificial city, the mother of cosmic idealism. The symbolism of the
+city is destined to take the place of the symbolism of the country. The
+New York plasticism will be also the plasticism of Paris and Petrograd.
+
+The ethnographic and aristocratic era in the art of dancing has reached
+the climax of æsthetic development. We are entering the era of cosmic
+art. We begin it with the same primitive steps that our ancestors made
+so many centuries ago; only with this difference--that now we view the
+problem from a universal point of view while our forefathers beheld
+it from a nationalistic and aristocratic point of view. We are in the
+cosmic current of evolution and begin our circle where it was left by
+those who had passed the current of a certain race or class. The future
+dance will grasp beauty from a broader stretch and deeper depths than
+the greatest virtuosi of the past and present could do. The fundamental
+law of all spiritual as well as physical evolution is to bring about a
+better equilibrium between the individual and the universal powers.
+
+
+
+
+LITERATURE FOR VOLUME X
+
+
+_In English_
+
+  S. A. BARRETT: The Dream Dance of the Chippewa and Menominee Indians
+      (Milwaukee, Wis., 1911).
+
+  CAROLINE AND CHARLES CAFFIN: Dancing and Dancers of To-day (New York,
+      1912).
+
+  HAVELOCK ELLIS: The Philosophy of Dancing (Atlantic Monthly, Boston,
+      April, 1914).
+
+  J. E. CRAWFORD FLITCH: Modern Dancing and Dancers (London, 1912).
+
+  MARCELLA A. HINCKS: The Japanese Dance (London, 1910).
+
+  A. HOLT: How to Dance the Revived Ancient Dances (London, 1907).
+
+  TROY AND MARGARET WEST KINNEY: The Dance (New York, 1914).
+
+  CECIL J. SHARPE AND HERBERT C. MACILWAINE: The Morris Book (London,
+      1910).
+
+  G. VUILLIER: A History of Dancing (New York, 1898).
+
+
+_In German_
+
+  W. ANGERSTEIN: Volkstänze im deutschen Mittelalter (Berlin, 1868).
+
+  F. M. BOEHME: Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland (Leipzig, 1886).
+
+  HANS BRANDENBURG: Der Moderne Tanz (Munich, 1913).
+
+  ÉMILE JACQUES-DALCROZE: Der Eurythmus (Dresden, 1913).
+
+  H. FLACH: Der Tanz bei den Griechen (Berlin, 1880).
+
+  G. FUCHS: Der Tanz (Stuttgart, 1906).
+
+  G. MOHR: Die deutschen Volkstänze (Leipzig, 1874).
+
+  HEINZ SCHNABEL: Kordax: Archeologische Studien (Munich, 1910).
+
+  R. VOSS: Der Tanz und seine Geschichte (Erfurt).
+
+
+_In French_
+
+  CASTIL-BLAZE: Histoire littéraire, musicale, choréographique, etc.
+      (Paris, 1847).
+
+  AUGUSTE EHRHARD: Une vie de danseuse: Fanny Elssler (Paris, 1909).
+
+  MAURICE EMMANUEL: La danse grecque antique (Paris, 1896).
+
+  J. G. NOVERRE: Lettres sur les arts imitateurs en général (Paris,
+      1907).
+
+
+_In Italian_
+
+  G. B. DUFORT: Trattato del ballo nobile (Naples, 1728).
+
+
+_In Russian_
+
+  Bulletins of the Russian Imperial Ballet School (Petrograd,
+      1900–1914).
+
+  CÉSAR CUI: Istoria Russkoi Musyki (Petrograd, 1903).
+
+  S. HUDAKOV: Istoria Tanzev, 2 vols. (Petrograd, 1914).
+
+  N. RIMSKY-KORSAKOFF: Memoirs (Petrograd, 1910).
+
+  PRINCE S. VOLKHONSKY: The Ballet (Petrograd, 1913).
+
+
+_In Danish_
+
+  Bulletins of the Danish National Theatre (Copenhagen, 1910–14).
+
+  TOBIAS NORLIND: Svardsdans ock Bagdans (Copenhagen, 1911).
+
+
+_In Finnish and Esthonian_
+
+  Kalevala (Helsingfors, 1880).
+
+  Suomen Kansan Sävelmiä (Helsingfors, 1898).
+
+  DR. F. KREUTZWALD: Kaliwipoeg [in Esthonian] (Tartu, 1900).
+
+
+
+
+INDEX FOR VOLUME X
+
+
+  A
+
+  _Abdallah_ (Bournoville and Paulli), 152.
+
+  Academicism (French, Italian), 171.
+
+  Academies of dancing, 151f;
+    (Egyptian), 17;
+    (Chinese), 31f, 34;
+    (Cadiz, Spain), 46f;
+    (Greek), 71;
+    (French), 86f, 94f, 99, 105, 151;
+    (Russian), 90f, 105;
+    (Copenhagen Ballet School), 165;
+    (College of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Hellerau), 234ff.
+
+  Accentuation, 238.
+
+  Accompaniment (in Spanish dances), 211.
+
+  Accordion (in English folk-dance), 116f.
+
+  _Ach, du lieber Augustin_, 131.
+
+  Acting (in relation to ballet), 250, 252.
+
+  Adam, Charles-Adolphe (as ballet composer), 151, 152, 158.
+
+  Æschylus, 55, 66.
+
+  African Bantu, iii.
+
+  African guitar, 47.
+
+  _Ai Ouchnem_, 105.
+
+  Akté, Aino, 205.
+
+  Albinus (Roman consul), 76.
+
+  Alexander I, Czar of Russia, 131, 181.
+
+  Alexis Mihailowitch, Czar, 179.
+
+  Algiers, 21.
+
+  _All in a Garden Green_ (British folk-dance), 120.
+
+  Allan, Maud, 201, 206.
+
+  Allard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), 101.
+
+  _Allemande_, 144, 146.
+
+  Alliamatula (Roman dancer), 77.
+
+  Almeiis, 18, 21ff.
+
+  Amaterasu (Japanese deity), 35f.
+
+  America (future of dancing in), 261f.
+
+  American Indians, iv, 38f.
+
+  Ammon, Temple of (Egyptian school of dancing in), 17.
+
+  _Anabasis_ (quoted), 55f.
+
+  Andalusia (folk-dancing), 106, 107f.
+
+  Andersen, Hans Christian, 167.
+
+  Androgeonia (Greek hero), 54.
+
+  Angerstein, Wilhelm (cited), 128f.
+
+  Anglin, Mlle. (ballet dancer), 91.
+
+  Anna, Empress of Russia, 90.
+
+  Anna Ivanovna, Empress of Russia, 179.
+
+  Anne of Denmark (English Queen, patron of the masque), 83, 84, 119.
+
+  [d’]Annunzio, Gabriele, 165.
+
+  Antagonism to dancing (of Western Church), 9, 103, 129;
+    (of Roman consuls), 76.
+
+  _Antoine et Cléopatre_ (ballet), 102.
+
+  Aphrodite, 61, 67, 69, 70;
+    (compared to Venera), 24;
+    (mysteries), 61.
+
+  Apollo, 54, 56, 57, 59, 69f;
+    (mysteries), 61.
+
+  Apostles, 80.
+
+  _[L’]Après-midi d’un Faun_, (Debussy), 232.
+
+  Arabesques (in Egyptian dances), 18;
+    (in French ballet step), 95.
+
+  Arabia (_Stomach Dance_), 3, 22;
+    (_Graveyard Dance_), 21;
+    (_Axis Dance_), 22;
+    (character of dancing), 46ff;
+    (influence of, on Spanish dances), 112.
+
+  ‘Arabian Nights,’ 226.
+
+  Aragon (folk-dancing), 107f.
+
+  Arcadia, 55, 57, 60.
+
+  Architecture, 235, 265;
+    (development of, synchronous with dancing), 46;
+    (American), 263.
+
+  Areja, Francesca, 180.
+
+  Arensky, Anton Stephanovich, 183, 224.
+
+  Ariadne, 56.
+
+  Aristides, 54.
+
+  Aristophanes (cited), 52, 55, 61.
+
+  ‘Ark of the Covenant,’ iii, 10, 43.
+
+  _Arkona_ (Hartmann), 152.
+
+  Armenia (folk-dancing), 138f.
+
+  Artemis, iv, 64.
+
+  Arts (primitive, in India), 24;
+    (common basis of), 235.
+
+  Asparazases (Indian nymphs), 26.
+
+  Aspasia (Greek dancer), 54, 70, 94.
+
+  Assemblé (French ballet step), 95, 98.
+
+  Astafieva, Seraphine, 220, 221, 224.
+
+  Astral Dance (Egyptian), iv, 13f, 63.
+
+  Athenæus (quoted), 55, 60;
+    (cited), 59.
+
+  Athens (dancing at festivals), 53;
+    (theatre of Dionysius), 64f;
+    (Mænad Dance), 69.
+
+  Auber, Daniel-Esprit, 103.
+
+  Augustus (Roman Emperor), 73, 75.
+
+  Aulos (Greek flute), 58.
+
+  Austria, 102.
+
+  _L’Autômne Bacchanale_, 186, 187.
+
+  Auvergne (folk-dancing), 121.
+
+  _Axis Dance_ (Arabian), 22.
+
+
+  B
+
+  _Baba Yaga_ (Russian ballet), 152, 179.
+
+  Bacchanalian dance, 65.
+
+  Bacchus (Greek and Roman god), 54, 65, 69, 74;
+    (Roman orgies), 75f.
+
+  Bach, Johann Sebastian, v, 102f;
+    (bourrées), 121;
+    (courantes), 145.
+
+  Bacon, Sir Francis (cited on masques), 83.
+
+  Bagpipes (in Morris dance), 115;
+    (in English Sword Dance), 116;
+    (in Irish jig), 120;
+    (in Roumanian folk-dance), 137.
+
+  Baken Amen (Egyptian tablet), 20.
+
+  Bakst, Léon, 183.
+
+  Balakireff, Mily Alexejevich, 104, 152, 171, 181, 231f, 256.
+
+  Ballerina’s tunic, 215.
+
+  Ballet (origin), 8, 10;
+    (18th cent.), 14;
+    (Russian), 23, _170ff_;
+    (French), _86ff_;
+    (defined by Noverre), 89;
+    (Italian), 124;
+    (classic), 151ff;
+    (Danish), 162ff;
+    (plots), 163.
+
+  _Ballet des Ardents_ (French court dance), 81.
+
+  _Ballet du Carrousel_ (performed at Tuileries), 86f.
+
+  Ballet slipper, 216.
+
+  Ballotté, 98.
+
+  Barefoot dancing, 197, 201.
+
+  Barrett, S. A. (cited on plot of _Dream Dance_), 39.
+
+  Barrison, Gertrude, 203.
+
+  [Le] Basque (French ballet dancer), 87.
+
+  Bathyllus (Roman dancer), 73, 74f.
+
+  Battements, 95.
+
+  Bayaderes, 25, 27, 28.
+
+  _[Les] Bayederes_ (French ballet), 153.
+
+  Beauchamp (director of French Academy of Dancing), 87.
+
+  Beaugrand, Leontine (ballerina), 159f.
+
+  Beck, Hans (Danish ballet dancer), 164.
+
+  Beerbohm, Max (quoted on Genée), 167f.
+
+  Beethoven, v, 102f, 200, 206.
+
+  Begutcheff (director of Moscow ballet), 177.
+
+  Bekeffy, 182.
+
+  Belle Fatma [La] (20th cent. Egyptian dancer), 22.
+
+  Bellicrepa saltatio (Roman dance), 73.
+
+  Bells (in Morris Dance), 114.
+
+  Benares, 25.
+
+  Benois, 183, 226, 229, 230.
+
+  Benserade, 86.
+
+  Berlin, 203f.
+
+  Berlin Museum (painting of Sword Dance), 115f.
+
+  Bernay, Mlle. (ballerina), 159.
+
+  Berri, Duchess de, 81.
+
+  Bibasis (Greek dance), 61, 62.
+
+  Bible (cited), 19; (quoted), 43, 44.
+
+  Bilibin, 183.
+
+  Birds (courtship dances of), 6.
+
+  Björnson, Björnstjerne, 104.
+
+  Blache (ballet composer), 102.
+
+  Black Forest (dance of the), 130.
+
+  Blasis, 91, 102;
+    (quoted on Bolero), 109.
+
+  Bogdanova (ballerina), 151, 183.
+
+  Bohemia (folk-dancing). See Slavic folk-dances.
+
+  Bolero (Spanish folk-dance), 50, 109, 112.
+
+  Bondina (Andalusian folk-dance), 106.
+
+  Borodine, Alexander, 171, 228, 256.
+
+  Botta, Bergonzio, di, 81f.
+
+  Botticelli, 45.
+
+  Bournoville, Antoine August, 104, 151, 152, 162f, 164f, 166, 168, 169.
+
+  Bourrée, 121f.
+
+  Boyars, 141, 178.
+
+  Boys (training of, as dancers), 183.
+
+  Brahma, 25.
+
+  _Brahma und Bayaderen_ (German ballet), 164.
+
+  Brahminism (relation to dancing), 25ff.
+
+  Brahms, Johannes, 125, 254.
+
+  Brandenburg, Hans, 202.
+
+  Brass instruments (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82f.
+
+  Brass plates (Indian), 27.
+
+  Breobrashenskaya, 183, 185, 188.
+
+  Breton dances, 121.
+
+  Brisé (ballet-step), 98.
+
+  British Museum, 18, 20.
+
+  Buckingham House (British folk-dance), 120.
+
+  Buddhism, 36.
+
+  _Bugaku Dance_ (Japanese), 38.
+
+  Bulgaria (folk-dancing). See Slavic folk-dances.
+
+  Burchard, Bishop of Worms, 129.
+
+  Burette (cited on Greek dance), 63.
+
+  Buriat dances (compared to American Indian), 39.
+
+  Butterfly Dance, 192.
+
+  Byzantium (painting of Hebrew dancing), 44;
+    (influence of, in Lithuanian folk-dance), 135f;
+    (influence on Russian ballet), 188.
+
+
+  C
+
+  Cabriole (in Egyptian dance), 20;
+    (in Bibasis), 62;
+    (French ballet step), 95.
+
+  Cachucha (Spanish folk-dance), 111, 156.
+
+  Cadiz, Spain (centre of ancient dancing), 10;
+    (dancers from, in Rome), 76.
+
+  Calcutta, 25.
+
+  Caligula (Roman emperor), 76.
+
+  Calumet (American Indian), 39.
+
+  Calzvaro, 34f.
+
+  Camargo, Mlle. (French ballet dancer), 94, 99, 100.
+
+  _Canaries_ (English and German social dance), 150.
+
+  [_The_] _Caprices of Galatea_ (ballet by Noverre), 90, 99.
+
+  Carmencita (Spanish dancer), 210.
+
+  [_Le_] _Carnaval de Venise_ (French ballet), 94, 153.
+
+  Caroles (mediæval dances), 81.
+
+  Carpæa (Greek dance), 55f.
+
+  Caryatis (Spartan dance), 54f.
+
+  Castanets (in Spanish folk-dance), 106, 107, 110, 112.
+
+  Castil-Blaze, François-Henri-Josef, quoted (on mediæval strolling
+          ballet), 80f;
+    (on French ballet), 93;
+    (on Camargo), 100;
+    (on origin of waltz), 131.
+
+  Castor and Pollux, 54.
+
+  Catherine the Great, 141.
+
+  Caucasia (folk-dancing), 140.
+
+  Cerezo, Sebastian (Spanish dancer), 109.
+
+  Cerito, Fanny (ballerina), 158f.
+
+  Cervantes (cited on Chaconne), 145.
+
+  Chaconne (Italian and Spanish social dance), 145f.
+
+  Changement de pied, 98.
+
+  Charles I, King of England, 84.
+
+  Charles II, King of England, 119, 145.
+
+  Chassé (ballet step), 94, 95.
+
+  Cheremias (Spanish instruments), 79.
+
+  China, 3, 9, 30ff;
+    (attitude of moralists in, toward dancing), 30;
+    (court dancing), 32;
+    (musical instruments), 32;
+    (dancing of, adopted in Japan), 36.
+
+  _Chinese Wedding_ (ballet by Calzevaro), 34f.
+
+  Chippewas, 39.
+
+  Chironomia (in Greek choreography), 71.
+
+  Choirs (in Egyptian temples), 17.
+
+  Chopin, Frédéric, 136, 200, 206, 221.
+
+  Choral dances (of Russian peasants), 177f.
+
+  Choreographic principle (vs. dramatic), 251.
+
+  Choreography (Chinese), 30;
+    (mediæval), 78ff;
+    (in 17th cent. France), 87f;
+    (French development), 94f;
+    (influence of democracy), 102;
+    (Finnish), 133;
+    (naturalistic school), 195ff;
+    (plastomimic), 247ff.
+
+  Chorley, Henry Fothergill (quoted on Elssler), 156.
+
+  Chorovody (Russian ballad folk-dance), 140f.
+
+  _Chrisis_ (ballet), 206, 207f.
+
+  Christian moralists (antagonism to dancing), 9.
+    See also Church, Roman.
+
+  Chronos, 59.
+
+  Chrotal (Greek instrument), 58.
+
+  Church, Roman (hostility to dancing), 81, 103, 129;
+    (dancing in, during Middle Ages), 78, 79f.
+
+  Cicero (quoted), 72.
+
+  [_La_] _Cinquantaine_ (French ballet), 91.
+
+  _Clary_ (French ballet), 94.
+
+  Classics, musical (dance music by), v.
+
+  [_The_] _Clemency of Titus_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.
+
+  Cleonica (Greek dancer), 70.
+
+  Cleopatra (as dancer), 17f.
+
+  _Cleopatra_ (ballet), 23.
+
+  _Cléopatre_ (ballet), 223ff.
+
+  Clermont, Comte de, 100.
+
+  Clothing (decorative purpose of, for the dance), 6.
+
+  Collins, Lottie, 189, 192f.
+
+  Comédie Française, 101.
+
+  Confucius, 33;
+    (honored in Japanese dance), 38.
+
+  Coördination (of intellect and nerves), 238.
+
+  Copenhagen School, 151.
+
+  Coperario, John, 84.
+
+  Copiola, Galeria (Roman dancer), 77.
+
+  _Coppélia_ (ballet), 160, 166f, 175.
+
+  Cordax (Greek Satyr dance), 61, 63f.
+
+  Corkscrew (folk-dance), 134f.
+
+  Corpus Christi (festival of, with church dancing), 78f.
+
+  _Corsaire_ (French ballet), 152.
+
+  Corybantes, 54.
+
+  Cosiers (Spanish church dancers), 79f.
+
+  Cossack folk-dances, 2.
+
+  Costume. See Dress.
+
+  Cotillion, 122.
+
+  Country Dance (English), 113, 115.
+
+  Coupé (in Egyptian dance), 20.
+
+  Coupé dessous (ballet-step), 95.
+
+  Coupé lateral (ballet-step), 95.
+
+  Courante, 86, 87f, 145f.
+
+  Court ballets (French), 83.
+
+  Court dancing (in China), 32f;
+    (at Jerusalem), 43, 44;
+    (in Seville), 47;
+    (in England), 83ff;
+    (in France), 86f, 121f;
+    (in Germany), 129;
+    (in Russia), 141f.
+    See also Social dancing.
+
+  Courtship dances (of birds), 6.
+
+  Covent Garden (Mlle. Sallé at), 99.
+
+  Craig, Gordon (cited on French ballet), 214.
+
+  _Crane Dance_ (Greek), 69.
+
+  Crete, 54.
+
+  Crimea (folk-dancing), 140.
+
+  Crowne, John, 83.
+
+  _Cupid and Bacchus_ (French ballet), 87.
+
+  Curetes (Cretan dancers), 54.
+
+  Cybele, 54.
+
+  Cyclops, 59.
+
+  Cymbals (in Greek dances), 71.
+
+  Czardas (Hungarian folk-dance), 125f.
+
+
+  D
+
+  Daedulus, 53.
+
+  Dalcroze. See Jacques-Dalcroze.
+
+  Daldans (Swedish folk-dance), 134.
+
+  Dance music (classical), v.
+
+  Dance of Baskets (in Eleusinian mysteries), 68.
+
+  Dance of Feathers (Chinese court dance), 33.
+
+  Dance of the Five Senses (modern Indian dance), 209.
+
+  Dance of the Flag (Chinese dance), 33.
+
+  Dance of the Four Dimensions (Egyptian dance), 16.
+
+  Dance of the Glasses (pseudo-Egyptian dance), 22.
+
+  Dance of the Golden Calf, 44.
+
+  Dance of Greeting (Arabian), 49.
+
+  Dance of Humanity (Chinese dance), 33.
+
+  _Dance of Innocence_ (Greek), iv.
+
+  Dance of the Knees (in Dionysian Mysteries), 68f.
+
+  Dance of the Mystic Bird (Chinese), 33.
+
+  Dance principles, 2.
+
+  Dancing defined, 2.
+
+  Dancing girls (Greek), 57.
+
+  Dancing Mandarins, 34.
+
+  ‘Dancing the music,’ 248.
+
+  Danish ballet (influence on Russian), 164f.
+
+  _Dansomanie_ [_La_] (French ballet), 92, 131.
+
+  Dante (cited), iii.
+
+  _Daphnis and Chloë_, 68.
+
+  Dargason (British folk-dance), 120.
+
+  Dargomijsky, Alexander Sergeyevitch, 104, 181.
+
+  Dauberval, 89, 91, 101.
+
+  _Daughter of the Pharaoh_ (ballet), 21.
+
+  Davenant, Sir William, 84.
+
+  David, King of Israel, 10, 43, 44.
+
+  Davillier, Baron, quoted (on mediæval church dance), 79;
+    (on Spanish folk-dance), 106;
+    (on Seguidilla), 110f.
+
+  Death Dance (Fakir dance compared to), 28.
+
+  [_The_] _Death of Ajax_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.
+
+  Debussy, Claude, 232.
+
+  Degeneration (of ballet), 189ff.
+
+  Delians, 59.
+
+  Delibes, Léo, 151, 152, 167.
+
+  Delicias caditanas (Cadiz dancers in Rome), 77.
+
+  Delphic Festivals, 69.
+
+  Delsarte, François Alexandre, 207, 211f, 214.
+
+  Demetrius, 67, 69;
+    (Mysteries), 61.
+
+  Demi-cabriole (ballet-step), 95.
+
+  Demi-coupé (ballet-step), 95.
+
+  Democracy (effect of, on choreography), 102.
+
+  Democratic basis of dancing, 171.
+
+  Denmark (folk-dancing), 134;
+    (ballet), 162ff;
+    (influence on Russian ballet), 169.
+
+  [_Le_] _Déserteur_ (French ballet), 92.
+
+  Desmond, Olga, 22, 193, 212.
+
+  Despreaux (Parisian ballet dancer), 101.
+
+  Desrat (cited on Eleusinian Mysteries), 67.
+
+  Devadazis (Indian temple dancers), 26.
+
+  Devil’s Dance (Finnish folk-dance), 133
+
+  Diaghileff, Warslof, 219f.
+
+  Diaghileff ballet, 176, 185, 200.
+
+  Diana (Greek goddess), 54.
+
+  Didelot, Charles-Louis, 151, 154, 161, 164f, 180f.
+
+  Diodorus (cited), 13.
+
+  Dionysian Mysteries, 61, 68.
+
+  Dionysius of Syracuse, 54.
+
+  Dionysos, 56, 67, 69, 74.
+
+  Dipoda (Greek dance), 61.
+
+  Dohnányi, Ernst von, 166.
+
+  Dohrn, Wolf and Harald, 234.
+
+  Dolci (painting of Salome dance), 45.
+
+  Dominique (Parisian harlequin), 100.
+
+  _Don Juan_ (French ballet), 102.
+
+  ‘Don Quixote,’ 145.
+
+  Doré (painting of church dancing in Seville), 79.
+
+  Dorians, 60.
+
+  Dostoievsky, 104.
+
+  Drama (influenced by Russian ballet), 176.
+
+  Dramatic principle (against choreographic), 251.
+
+  _Dream Dance_ (American Indians), 38ff.
+
+  Drehtanz, 129.
+
+  Dresden, 234.
+
+  Dress (in Greek dancing), 66;
+    (of dancers in Seville Cathedral), 79;
+    (in English masques), 84;
+    (in 18th cent. ballet), 89f;
+    (in ballet during French Revolution), 94;
+    (in Spanish folk-dances), 112f;
+    (of Morris dancers), 115;
+    (in English Sword dance), 116;
+    (in Hungarian folk-dance), 125;
+    (in Esthonian folk-dance), 127f;
+    (in Dutch folk-dances), 135;
+    (in Slavic dances), 137;
+    (in Minuet), 147.
+
+  Drigo, 186.
+
+  Drum (Egyptian), 22;
+    (Indian), 27;
+    (Chinese), 32;
+    (Japanese), 38;
+    (American Indian), 39f;
+    (in _Lou Gue_), 81;
+    (in Armenian folk-dance), 138.
+
+  Drury Lane, 102.
+
+  _Dryad_ [_The_] (ballet), 167.
+
+  Dryads, 80.
+
+  Dubois, Théodore, 151.
+
+  Duncan, Elizabeth, 201.
+
+  Duncan, Isadora, 22, 187, _197ff_, 204, 206, 211, 212, 213, 214,
+          244, 247;
+    (quoted), 196f;
+    (compared with St. Denis), 210;
+    (influence in Russia), 218f;
+    (pupils), 248.
+
+  Duncan School, 197f, 248.
+
+  Duport (Paris ballet dancer), 91, 101f.
+
+  Dupré (French ballet dancer), 87.
+
+  Dutch folk-dancing, 135.
+
+  Dynamic expression, 240.
+
+
+  E
+
+  Ear-training (in Jacques-Dalcroze School), 240.
+
+  Education (necessity of, for Greek dancers), 65;
+    (liberal, of ballet dancers), 172f.
+
+  Edward VII, King of England, 201.
+
+  Egg Dance (Dutch folk-dance), 135.
+
+  Egypt (temple dancing), iv, 8, 15ff;
+    (musical instruments), 8;
+    (relation of dancing and religion), 9, 247, 262;
+    (secular dancing), 15ff, 20f;
+    (influence of, in modern choreography), 22;
+    (influence of, on Hebrew dancing), 43f;
+    (worship of Pan), 57;
+    (strophic principle in choreography of), 63;
+    (history of, in Greek education), 65;
+    (influence of, on Spanish dances), 112.
+
+  Egyptian Wedding Scenes (pseudo-Egyptian dance), 22.
+
+  Electricity, 190.
+
+  Eleusinian Mysteries, 67f.
+
+  Elisseieff, Prof, (cited on Egyptian dancing), 21.
+
+  Elizabeth, Queen of England, 84, 145, 150.
+
+  Ellis, Havelock, quoted (on American Indian dances), iv;
+    (on relation of rhythm to life), vi;
+    (on modern Spanish dances), 211.
+
+  Elssler, Fanny, 151, 155ff.
+
+  Emerson, Ralph Waldo (quoted on Elssler), 155.
+
+  Emmanuel (cited on Greek choreography), 70.
+
+  Emmeleia (Greek dance), iv, 61, 62f.
+
+  Endymatia (Greek dance), 61.
+
+  England (folk-dancing), 113;
+    (waltz), 131f;
+    (social dancing), 150.
+
+  English Cathedrals (rhythmic ritual used in), viii.
+
+  Entrechat, 98;
+    (in Egyptian dance), 20.
+
+  Erfurt, 129.
+
+  Esclatism (Greek gymnastics), 71.
+
+  [_La_] _Esmeralda_ (Perrot and Pugni), 152.
+
+  Esthonian folk-dances, 121, 126f.
+
+  Eugenius IV, 78f.
+
+  Eurhythmics (of Jacques-Dalcroze), 234ff.
+
+  _Excelsior_ (ballet), 152.
+
+
+  F
+
+  Fabiol (in Spanish dance), 79f.
+
+  Fackeltanz, 128, 130.
+
+  Fakir dances, 28f.
+
+  Falkenfleth, Haagen (quoted on Jörgen-Jensen), 165.
+
+  Fandango (Spanish folk-dance), 50, 105, 106f, 112.
+
+  Farandole (French folk-dance), 121;
+    (as court dance), 122.
+
+  [_La_] _Farandole_ (Dubois), 152.
+
+  [La] Farruca (Spanish folk-dance), 111.
+
+  Fauns, 80.
+
+  _Faust_ (ballet by Perrot), 158.
+
+  Feodorova, Sophie, 221, 224.
+
+  Ferrabosco, Alfonso, 84.
+
+  _Festen i Albano_ (Danish ballet), 163.
+
+  Festival of the Sacred Bull (Egyptian), 15f.
+
+  Festival of the Supreme Being (French strolling ballet), 93f.
+
+  Festivals (Roman), 74, 75f.
+
+  Finland (folk-dances), 2, 121, 132;
+    (compared to American Indian dances), 39;
+    (rune tunes), 63;
+    (horn dance), 117;
+    (naturalistic school), 205.
+
+  _Fiorella_ (ballet), 163f.
+
+  _Fire Bird_ [_The_], 231.
+
+  Fire Dance, 192.
+
+  Fleure (ballet step), 98.
+
+  Fleury (quoted), 101.
+
+  Flitch, J. E. Crawford, quoted (on Fuller), 190f.
+
+  Floralia (Roman festivals), 75.
+
+  _Flore et Zéphire_ (French ballet), 152, 154.
+
+  Florence (court ballet), 90;
+    (folk-dance), 124.
+
+  Flower Dance, 192.
+
+  Flute (in Egyptian dance music), iv, 8;
+    (in Indian dance music), 27;
+    (in Chinese dance music), 32;
+    (in Japanese dance music), 38;
+    (in American Indian dance music), 41;
+    (in Arabian dance music), 49;
+    (in Greek dance music), 56, 58f, 61, 70;
+    (in Roman dance music), 74, 76;
+    (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82.
+
+  Fokina, Vera, 171, 220, 221, 224.
+
+  Fokine, vi, 219f, 220, 228, 231, 244.
+
+  Folk-dances, 266;
+    (rel. to sex instinct), v;
+    (Spanish), 105ff;
+    (Italian), 122ff;
+    (German), 128f;
+    (Finnish), 132f;
+    (Scandinavian), 133;
+    (Dutch), 135;
+    (Lithuanian), 135f;
+    (Polish), 136;
+    (Slavic), 136ff;
+    (Armenian), 138f;
+    (Russian), 139ff, 171.
+
+  Folk-songs, 265;
+    (Russian), 183.
+
+  Forlana (Italian folk-dance), 124.
+
+  Fouetté (French ballet step), 97.
+
+  Fouetté pirouette (in Egyptian dances), 18.
+
+  Fountain of Magic Dances (in Eleusinian Mysteries), 67.
+
+  Fox Dance (Greek), 69.
+
+  France (rhythmic church ritual), iii-f, 81;
+    (folk-dancing), 2, 121ff, 262;
+    (court dancing), 10;
+    (grand court ballets), 83, 86ff, 247;
+    (democratic influence), 102;
+    (waltz), 131;
+    (influence of, on Russian ballet), 171;
+    (naturalistic school), 205.
+
+  French Academy of Dancing, 94f, 99, 105.
+
+  French ballet, 86ff;
+    (modern criticism of), 214ff.
+
+  French Revolution, 92, 93f, 148.
+
+  Froehlich (Danish composer), 163.
+
+  Fuentes (cited on Seguidilla), 109f.
+
+  Fuller, Loie, 189, 190ff.
+
+  Fuller, Margaret (quoted on Elssler), 155.
+
+  Funeral dances (Japanese), 36;
+    (Greek), 54.
+
+
+  G
+
+  Gade, Niels W., 133, 151.
+
+  Gaita (Spanish instrument), 106.
+
+  Galcotti (ballet composer), 152.
+
+  Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, 10, 81.
+
+  Galen (quoted), 54.
+
+  Galeotti, Vincenzo Tomaselli, 162.
+
+  Galicia (church dancing), 78;
+    (folk-dancing), 106.
+
+  Galliard, 149f.
+
+  Gardel, Maximilian (ballet composer), 14, 89, 91, 131, 148, 151, 162.
+
+  [El] Garrotin (Spanish folk-dance), 111.
+
+  Gautier, Théophile, 152, 158;
+    (quoted on Elssler), 157.
+
+  Gavotte, 70, 86, 148.
+
+  Gedeonoff, 181.
+
+  Geltzer (Russian ballet dancer), 185.
+
+  Genée, Adeline, 151, 167.
+
+  Generalization, theory of (in ballet), 216f.
+
+  Germany, v;
+    (folk-dancing), 128f;
+    (the waltz), 131f;
+    (social dancing), 150;
+    (influence of Duncan), 201.
+
+  Gesture (relation between, and music), 240.
+    See also Pantomime.
+
+  _Ghiselle_ (French ballet), 152, 158.
+
+  Ghost Dance (American Indian dance), 38, 40f.
+
+  Gia (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Gilchrist, Connie, 189.
+
+  Glazounoff, Alexander Constantovich, 183, 186, 224.
+
+  Glière, Reinhold, 206, 207, 254, 259.
+
+  Glinka, Mikail Ivanovich, 104, 181, 224, 254.
+
+  Glissade (ballet-step), 97f.
+
+  Gluck, Christoph Willibald, 102f, 121, 148, 152, 200.
+
+  Gogol, 104, 171.
+
+  Golden Calf (in mediæval ballet), 80.
+
+  Goulu [La] (ballet dancer), 192.
+
+  Grahn, Lucile (ballerina), 163f.
+
+  Grand ballets (of French court), 83, 86ff.
+
+  _Gratiereness Hulding_ (Danish ballet), 162.
+
+  _Graveyard Dance_ (Oriental), 21f.
+
+  Gravity (in naturalistic dancing), 196f, 215.
+
+  Greece (philosophers of, quoted on dancing), iii;
+    (religious dancing), iv, 9, 10, 52ff, 59;
+    (writers of, cited on Spanish dancing), 46f;
+    (its choreography), _52–71_;
+    (festival dancing), 54f;
+    (folk-dancing), 121.
+
+  Greek dancing (modern ‘revivals’ of), 195f;
+    (Jacques-Dalcroze system), 245, 247.
+
+  Greek Church (dancing in), iii.
+
+  Greek Mysteries, 61.
+
+  Gregory, Johann (ballet master in Russia), 179.
+
+  Gretchaninoff, Alexander, 255.
+
+  _Gretna Green_ (ballet), 152.
+
+  Grétry, André Erneste Modeste, 148.
+
+  Griboyedoff, Teleshova, 178.
+
+  Grieg, Edvard, 104, 133, 201, 205, 206.
+
+  Grisi, Carlotta, 151, 158.
+
+  Grouping (decorative), 235.
+
+  Guerrero, Rosario, 210.
+
+  Guild dances (German), 129.
+
+  _Guillaume Tell_ (French ballet), 92.
+
+  Guimard, Madeleine (French ballet dancer), 91, 94, 99, 100f.
+
+  Guitar (Egyptian), 8;
+    (African), 47;
+    (in Spanish folk-dance), 107, 110.
+
+  _Gustave Vasa_ (French ballet), 102.
+
+  Gymnastics (rhythmic), 234ff.
+
+  Gymnopædia, 59f.
+
+
+  H
+
+  Hailii (Finnish folk-dance), 133.
+
+  Handel, George Frederick, 99;
+    (bourées), 121;
+    (courantes), 145.
+
+  Harlequin, Parisian (Dominique), 100.
+
+  Harp (in Egyptian dance music), 8;
+    (in American Indian dance music), 41;
+    (in Greek dance music), 53, 56;
+    (in Roman dance music), 76;
+    (in Esthonian folk-dance music), 127;
+    (in Finnish dance music), 133.
+
+  Hartmann, Johann Peter Emil, 133, 151, 152, 163.
+
+  Hatton (English dancer), 150.
+
+  Hawasis, 20f.
+
+  Haydn, Joseph, v.
+
+  Hebrews, iii, 43ff.
+    See also Jewish Marriage Dances, etc.
+
+  Helen of Sparta, iv.
+
+  Hellerau (College of Rhythmic Gymnastics), 234ff.
+
+  Hempua (Finnish folk-dance), 133.
+
+  Henri IV, King of France (patron of dancing), 86.
+
+  Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, 84.
+
+  Henry VII, King of England, 84.
+
+  Herculaneum, 57.
+
+  _Hercules in Love_ (French ballet), 87.
+
+  Hermes, Egyptian god (Thoth), 13.
+
+  _Héro et Leandre_ (French ballet), 94.
+
+  Herodotus (cited), 13.
+
+  Hesiod (cited), 52, 65.
+
+  Heteræ (Greek), 69, 70.
+
+  Hieroglyphs, 12ff.
+
+  High Kickers, 189.
+
+  Highland Fling (Scotch folk-dance), 118.
+
+  Hilferding, 180.
+
+  Hincks, Marcella A. (cited on Japanese dancing), 35.
+
+  Historical Ballet (Chinese), 33.
+
+  Homer (cited), 52, 53f, 56f, 57, 65.
+
+  Hoppe, Johann Ferdinand, 164.
+
+  Hora (Roumanian folk-dance), 137f.
+
+  Horace (cited), 72.
+
+  _Horatii_ (French ballet), 90.
+
+  Hormos (Greek dance), 61, 64.
+
+  Horn (in Finnish dance music), 133.
+
+  Horn Dance (English folk-dance), 117f.
+
+  Hornpipe (Scotch folk-dance), 119.
+
+  Hovey, Mrs. Richard, 195f, 212, 214.
+
+  Huang-Ta, 30.
+
+  _Humpty-Dumpty_ (ballet), 190.
+
+  Hungary (folk-dancing), 2, 124ff.
+
+  _Hymn to Apollo_, 56.
+
+  _Hymnea_ (Greek dance), 61.
+
+  _Hyporchema_ (Greek dance), 55, 59.
+
+
+  I
+
+  Ibsen, Henrik, 104.
+
+  Idealism (classic), 157.
+
+  Ilia Murometz (Russian folk-dance), 140.
+
+  Iliad (cited), 53f, 127.
+
+  Impatiencem (17th-cent. ballet), 87.
+
+  Imperial Ballet School (Russian), 90f, 105, 172, 181.
+
+  Imperial Dramatic Dancing School (Russian), 180.
+
+  Improvisation (course in Jacques-Dalcroze school), 240.
+
+  India (relation of dancing and religion), 9;
+    (choreographic art), 24ff;
+    (effect of music on dancing), 25;
+    (dances of, in European imitation), 209.
+
+  Indians. See American Indian.
+
+  Indulgences (sold by clergy for dancing), 81.
+
+  Ingham, Ethel (quoted), 234f.
+
+  Ingham, Percy B. (quoted), 242.
+
+  Innocence, Dance of (Egyptian), iv.
+
+  Innsbruck, 129.
+
+  Instruments (in Egyptian dance music), 8, 16.
+
+  Ionic Movements, 56.
+
+  _Iphigenia in Aulis_ (Gluck), 152.
+
+  Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, Mikail Mikailovitch, 256.
+
+  Ireland (folk-dancing), 119f.
+
+  Irvin, Beatrice, 206.
+
+  Isabella of Aragon, 81.
+
+  Isis cult, 15f.
+
+  Istomina (Russian ballerina), 178, 181.
+
+  Italy, v, 102;
+    (folk-dances), 2, 122ff;
+    (court dancing), 10;
+    (mediæval strolling ballets), 80f;
+    (influence on Russian ballet), 171.
+
+  ‘Ivan the Terrible’ (Russian folk-dance), 140, 141.
+
+  Ives, Simon (composer of masque music), 83.
+
+  Ivi-Men (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+
+  J
+
+  _Jack Sheppard_ (ballet), 190.
+
+  Jacques-Dalcroze, Émile, 234ff, 247, 249;
+    (eurhythmics of, compared with Greek dancing), 71.
+
+  Jacques-Dalcroze School, 197f, 200.
+
+  Jaernefelt, Armas, 205.
+
+  [_El_] _Jaleo_ (Spanish folk-dance), 111.
+
+  James I, King of England, 84.
+
+  Japan (pantomimic character of dancing), 3;
+    (dance of, adopted in China), 33f;
+    (funeral dances), 35ff;
+    (European choreographic imitations), 208;
+    (folk-dances), 262.
+
+  [_de_] _Jaulnaye_ (cited on Roman dancers), 73.
+
+  Java (pantomimic choreography), 3.
+
+  Jerusalem, Temple of, 44.
+
+  Jeté, 94, 95;
+    (in Egyptian dance), 20;
+    (in Bibasis), 62.
+
+  Jewish marriage dances (in Morocco), 44.
+
+  Jewish moralists (antagonism to dancing), 9.
+
+  Jig (Irish folk-dance), 119f.
+
+  Jota (Spanish dance), 50, 105, 107f.
+
+  Jones, Inigo, English architect, 83, 84.
+
+  Jonson, Ben, 83, 84.
+
+  Jörgen-Jensen, Elna (ballet dancer), 165ff.
+
+  _Judgment of Paris_ [_The_] (ballet by Noverre), 90.
+
+  Jupiter, 54.
+
+  Juvenal, 74.
+
+
+  K
+
+  Kaakuria (Finnish folk-dance), 133.
+
+  Kaara Jaan (Esthonian folk-dance), 126f.
+
+  Kagura (Japanese dance), 38.
+
+  Kaiterma (Cossack dance), 140.
+
+  Kalevala, 257.
+
+  Kalewipoeg, 121, 127.
+
+  Kalmuk dances (compared to American Indian dances), 39.
+
+  Kamarienskaya (Russian folk-dance), 140, 142.
+
+  Karsavina, Tamara, 171, 176, 183, 188, 220, 221, 222, 226, 227f,
+          229, 231, 248.
+
+  Kasatchy (Russian folk-dance), 140, 141f.
+
+  _Kia-King_ (ballet by Titus), 34.
+
+  Kinney, Troy and Margaret West (quoted on Arabian dances), 47ff;
+    (quoted on _Fandango_), 107f;
+    (quoted on _La Farruca_), 111;
+    (quoted on modern Spanish dances), 210f.
+
+  Kirchoff (cited on Greek dance), 63.
+
+  Kolla (Slavic folk-dance), 137.
+
+  Kolossova, Eugeny, 179.
+
+  Kon-Fu-Tse (Chinese moralist), 30.
+
+  Kosloff (Russian ballet dancer), 221.
+
+  Kostroma (folk-dancing in), 140.
+
+  Kreutzer, Rodolphe, 102.
+
+  Krohn, [Dr.] Ilmari, 132.
+
+  Kshesinskaya, Mathilda, 151, 179, 183, 185, 188.
+
+  Kshesinsky, Felix, 182.
+
+  Kuljak (Esthonian folk-dance), 126f.
+
+  Kuula, Toiwo, 205.
+
+  Kyasht, Lydia, 185, 188.
+
+
+  L
+
+  Lacedæmonian dance, 59f.
+    See also Spartan dance.
+
+  Lada, 244, 253ff.
+
+  Lancelot (quoted), 137f.
+
+  Lande (ballet director), 180.
+
+  Lange-Müller, Wilhelm, 205.
+
+  Laniere, Nicholas, 84.
+
+  Lanner, Katty, 159.
+
+  Lantern Festival (in China), 35.
+
+  Larcher, Pierre J., 163.
+
+  _Laurette_ (ballet), 152.
+
+  Lawes, William, 83.
+
+  ‘Leap with Torches’ (in Eleusinian mysteries), 67.
+
+  _Légende de Joseph_ (Strauss), 232.
+
+  Leggatt, 182.
+
+  Leicester, Earl of, 150.
+
+  Lesginka (Cossack dance), 140.
+
+  Lessing, 161.
+
+  Lessogoroff, 180.
+
+  Lettish folk-dances, 121.
+
+  Levinsohn, A. (quoted on Duncan School), 198;
+    (quoted on the old ballet), 215.
+
+  Liadova (ballerina), 151.
+
+  Ligne, Princess de, 100.
+
+  Li-Kaong-Ti (Chinese monarch), 31.
+
+  _Lily_ (ballet by San-Leon), 34f.
+
+  Lind, Letti, 189.
+
+  Liszt, Franz, 125.
+
+  Lithuania (folk-dancing), 121, 135f.
+
+  _Little Mermaid_ [_The_] (ballet), 167.
+
+  Littré (cited), 88.
+
+  Livingston (cited), iii.
+
+  Livry, Emma, 159.
+
+  Livy (cited), 74.
+
+  Locatelli, Pietro, 180.
+
+  Lopokova, Lydia, 183, 185, 188.
+
+  Loti, Pierre (cited on Indian dancing), 28.
+
+  _Lou Gue_ (mediæval ballet), 80f.
+
+  Louis XIV, 86f, 145.
+
+  Louis XV, 86f, 88, 145, 147, 148.
+
+  Louis, Pierre, 207.
+
+  _Love’s Triumph Callipolis_ (masque by Ben Jonson), 84.
+
+  Lubke (cited on ballet dancing), 173.
+
+  _Lucas et Laurette_ (French ballet), 94.
+
+  Lucceia (Roman dancer), 77.
+
+  Lucian (quoted), iii;
+    (cited), 14, 52, 54, 63, 64, 65.
+
+  Ludiones (Roman bards), 74.
+
+  Lully, Jean-Baptiste, 86, 87;
+    (sarabandes), 147;
+    (gavottes), 148.
+
+  Lupercalia (Roman festival), 75.
+
+  Lutes (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82
+
+  Lyre, iv;
+    (Egyptian), 8, 13;
+    (Hebrew), 44;
+    (in Greek dance music), 57, 58;
+    (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), 82.
+
+  ‘Lysistrata’ (comedy by Aristophanes), 61.
+
+  Lysistrata (Greek dance), 61.
+
+
+  M
+
+  MacDowell, Edward, 254, 256.
+
+  MacDowell Festival (Peterboro, N. H.), 117.
+
+  Mænad Dance (Greek), 69.
+
+  Maeterlinck, Maurice, 257f.
+
+  Mahabharata (Indian epic), 127.
+
+  Maillard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), 92.
+
+  _Malakavel_ (French ballet), 102.
+
+  [La] Mancha (its folk-dances), 109.
+
+  Mandarin dances (Chinese), 34.
+
+  Maneros (dancing Pharaoh), 13.
+
+  Marathon games, 54.
+
+  Marie Antoinette, 148.
+
+  Marriage ceremonies, masques performed at, 83.
+    See also Jewish marriage dances.
+
+  Mars, 74.
+
+  _Mars et Venus_ (French ballet), 153.
+
+  _Marseillaise_ (ballet), 92f.
+
+  Martial (cited), 77.
+
+  Masai (war dancing), 5.
+
+  _Masque of Beauty_ (Ben Jonson), 83.
+
+  _Masque of Blackness_ (Ben Jonson), 83.
+
+  _Masque of Cassandra_, 86.
+
+  _Masque of Castillo_ (John Crowne). 83
+
+  _Masque of Owles_, 84.
+
+  Masques (English), 83.
+
+  Mathematics (relation of, to dancing and architecture), vi.
+
+  Mauri, Rosetta (ballerina), 159.
+
+  Mazurka, 136.
+
+  Mediævalism (relation to dancing), v.
+    See also Middle Ages.
+
+  Medici, Catherine de’, 10, 86, 121.
+
+  Mek na snut (Egyptian pirouette), 20.
+
+  Melartin, Erik, 205.
+
+  Melkatusta (Finnish folk-dance), 132.
+
+  Memphis (temple dances to Osiris), 15f.
+
+  Merchant Taylor’s Hall (masques performed at), 83.
+
+  Merikanto, 205.
+
+  Messertanz (of Nuremberg), 129.
+
+  Mexicans, iii.
+
+  Meyerbeer, Giacomo, 103, 151.
+
+  Miassine, Leonide, 232.
+
+  Middle Ages (choreography of), 78ff, 247.
+
+  Milan School, 151.
+
+  Military dance. See War dance.
+
+  Milon (French composer and ballet master), 91, 94, 101.
+
+  Mimii (Roman dancers), 74.
+
+  Minerva, 54.
+
+  Minuet (comparison of, to Greek dances), 70;
+    (in _Lou Gue_), 80;
+    (in 17th-cent. French court), 86, 147f.
+
+  Miriam (Biblical character), 19.
+
+  Mirror Dance, 192.
+
+  Mohammedans, 21.
+
+  Molière, 86.
+
+  Mongolian tribes (dancing of, compared with Indians), 28;
+    (use of Pyrrhic dance by), 60.
+
+  Monteverdi, 82.
+
+  Moors, 46;
+    (influence of, on Spanish dances), 50f, 105, 106, 112.
+
+  Mordkin, Mikail, 185, 187, 220, 221, 222, 248.
+
+  Moreau (painting of Salome dance), 45.
+
+  Morocco (Almeiis dancing), 21.
+
+  Morris Dances, 113ff.
+
+  Moscow (Imperial Ballet School), 172;
+    (opera house), 175.
+
+  Moses, 43, 44.
+
+  Moujiks, 172, 178.
+
+  Mount Ida, 54.
+
+  Moussorgsky, Modest, 104, 171, 181, 224.
+
+  Movement (rel. to sound), 238.
+
+  Mozart, v, 101, 102f, 206.
+
+  Müller, Max (cited), 60, 62.
+
+  Munich (guild dance), 129.
+
+  Muravieva (ballerina), 151.
+
+  Murcia (folk-dances of), 106.
+
+  Muses (Egyptian), 13;
+    (Greek), 10, 54, 57.
+
+  Museums. See British Museum, Petrograd Museum, Naples Museum.
+
+  Music (of Japanese), 38;
+    (in Greek dances), 58;
+    (influenced by Russian ballet), 176;
+    (as underlying principle of dancing), 198;
+    (in relation to eurhythmics), 235, 236f, 242;
+    (relation to gesture), 240, 248;
+    (in rel. to modern ballet), 249ff;
+    (syncopated, of America), 265.
+
+  Musical notation (Arabic), 17, 47;
+    (Egyptian), 17;
+    (Spanish), 17;
+    (Chinese), 33.
+
+  Muyniera (Galician folk-dance), 106.
+
+  Mysteries. See Eleusinian Mysteries, Dionysian Mysteries.
+
+  Mysteries of Demetrius, 69.
+
+
+  N
+
+  Naples Museum, 69.
+
+  Napoleon, 102, 148.
+
+  Nationalism (expressed in folk-dancing), 3, 113;
+    (rel. to arts), 104ff;
+    (in Scandinavia), 104;
+    (in Russia), 104f;
+    (in Irish folk-dance), 119f;
+    (in Finnish folk-dances), 132f.
+
+  Naturalistic School, 195ff, 232f.
+
+  Nature (expression of, in dancing), 196.
+
+  Nausicaa, 52.
+
+  Nautch Dance, 209.
+
+  Nautch girls, 26.
+
+  Naxos, 54.
+
+  Neo-Hellenism, 245.
+
+  Neoptolemus, 60.
+
+  Nero, 74, 75.
+
+  Nicomedes of Pithynia, 55.
+
+  Nielsen, Augusta, 164.
+
+  Nijinsky, Waslaw, 220, 221, 222, 224, 226, 229, 248.
+
+  Nijny Novgorod, 140.
+
+  Nile (centre of ancient dancing), 10.
+
+  _Nina_ (French ballet), 94.
+
+  Notation. See Musical notation.
+
+  Noverre, Jean Georges, vi, 10, 87, 89, 91, 99, 151, 152, 180, 196.
+
+  Novikoff (Russian ballet dancer), 185.
+
+  Novitzkaya (ballerina), 151, 181.
+
+  Nude Bayaderes, 189.
+
+  Nudity (in Egyptian dances), 18;
+    (in Greek dances), 54f;
+    (in modern degenerate dances), 193.
+
+  Nuitter, Charles Louis Étienne (as ballet composer), 151, 152.
+
+  Numa (mythical founder of Roman sacred dance), 10, 73.
+
+  Nuremberg (its guild dance), 129.
+
+  _Nut Cracker Suite_ (Tschaikowsky), 185.
+
+  Nymphs, dances of (in Dionysian Mysteries), 68f.
+
+
+  O
+
+  Oberammergau Passion Play (comparison with Chinese ‘Historical
+          Ballet’), 33.
+
+  Obertass (Polish dance), 136.
+
+  Oboe (in Indian dance), 27.
+
+  Odyssey (cited), 52.
+
+  [_L’_]_Oiseau de Feu_ (ballet), 231.
+
+  Ojibways, 39.
+
+  _Olaf den Hellige_ (Danish ballet), 163.
+
+  Olympic games, 54.
+
+  Opera (influenced by Russian ballet), 176;
+    (in rel. to modern ballet), 265.
+
+  Opera houses, 175.
+    See also Paris Opéra; Moscow (opera house).
+
+  [_L’_]_Oracle_ (ballet), 92.
+
+  ‘Oranges and Lemons’ (British folk-dance), 120.
+
+  ‘Orchestra’ (in Greek dance), 63.
+
+  Orchestration (in 15th-cent. ballets), 82.
+
+  Orient, dancing in, 3.
+    See also China, India, Japan, etc.
+
+  Oriental dances (European imitations), 208f.
+
+  _Orpheus’ Descent into Hell_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.
+
+  _Orpheus and Euridice_ (17th-cent. ballet), 179.
+
+  Osiris cult, 15f.
+
+  Ostrovsky, 104f, 171, 177.
+
+  [La] Otero (Spanish dancer), 210, 211.
+
+  Owl Dance (Greek), 69.
+
+
+  P
+
+  Paësiello, Giovanni, v.
+
+  Paimensoitaja (Finnish folk-dance), 133.
+
+  Painting, 235;
+    (influenced by Russian ballet), 176;
+    (in relation to eurhythmics), 239.
+
+  Pallas, 74, 75.
+
+  Pan (Greek and Egyptian deity), 57;
+    (Roman), 74.
+
+  Pantin (amateur stage at), 101.
+
+  Pantomime (in Chinese dancing), 31ff;
+    (in Japanese dancing), 36ff;
+    (in American Indian dances), 41f;
+    (Arabian), 47f;
+    (Roman), 74, 76f;
+    (mediæval sacred), 81;
+    (in Spanish folk-dance), 111;
+    (in Roumanian folk-dance), 138;
+    (in Salome dance), 191;
+    (used by Duncan), 199;
+    (in rel. to music), 249.
+
+  [_Le_] _Papillon_ (ballet), 159, 186.
+
+  Paris (Italian court pantomime introduced), 10;
+    (‘Fatima’ sensation), 22;
+    (ecclesiastical attitude toward dancing), 81;
+    (18th-cent. ballet), 91;
+    (popularity of the _Psyche_ ballet), 92;
+    (Camargo), 100;
+    (Taglioni), 153.
+
+  Paris Opéra, 91, 100.
+
+  Paris School, 151.
+
+  Pas bourrée, 97.
+
+  Pas coupé, 95.
+
+  Pas d’allemande, 20.
+
+  Pas de basque, 97;
+    (in Passepied), 149.
+
+  Pas de bourrée emboîté, 97.
+
+  Pas de cheval (in Egyptian dances), 18.
+
+  Pas marché, 95.
+
+  Pas sauté, 98.
+
+  Passepied, 149.
+
+  Paul, Adolf, 257.
+
+  Paul, Czar, 178f, 181.
+
+  _Paul et Virginie_ (French ballet), 92.
+
+  Paulli, Simon Holger, 152.
+
+  Pavana (Murcian folk-dance), 106.
+
+  Pavane, 70;
+    (characteristics), 87;
+    (in 17th-cent. French court), 86, 144.
+
+  _Pavilion d’Armide_ (ballet), 226, 229.
+
+  Pavlowa, Anna, vi, 171, 175f, 183, 185, 186f, 187, 215, 220, 222, 247.
+
+  Pecour (ballet dancer), 87, 88.
+
+  _Peer Gynt Suite_ (as ballet), 201.
+
+  [_La_] _Peri_ (ballet), 158.
+
+  Pericles, 70.
+
+  Perrot (ballet dancer and composer), 152, 154, 158.
+
+  Persian Graveyard Dance, 21.
+
+  Peter the Great, 179.
+
+  Petipa, Marius, vi, 21, 151, 159, 182f, 196, 219;
+    (quoted on Petrograd Imperial Ballet School), 173f.
+
+  Petipa school, 185.
+
+  Petit battements, 95.
+
+  [_Les_] _Petits Riens_ (Noverre and Mozart), 91.
+
+  Petrograd (Museum), 13;
+    (Imperial Ballet School), 172;
+    (opera house), 175.
+
+  _Petrouchka_ (Stravinsky), 229ff.
+
+  Pharaohs (dancing in the court of), 17.
+
+  Philip of Macedonia, 55.
+
+  Philippus (Roman consul), 76.
+
+  Philosophic symbolism (in Indian dance), 29.
+
+  Phœnicians, 57.
+
+  Physical exercises, 239.
+
+  Pipe (Egyptian), 8, 18.
+
+  Pipes (in _Graveyard Dance_), 22;
+    (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), 82.
+
+  Pirouette, 94, 97, 150, 163;
+    (in Egyptian dancing), 18, 20.
+
+  Plaasovaya (Russian folk-dance), 140.
+
+  Plastomimic choreography, 247ff.
+
+  Plato (quoted), iv;
+    (cited), 52, 58, 67, 69.
+
+  Plots (for ballets), 250.
+
+  Plutarch (cited), iv, 14, 45, 67.
+
+  Poetry, 235.
+
+  Pointes, 163, 215.
+
+  Poland (folk-dancing), 136.
+
+  Pollux, 54.
+
+  Polo (Moorish dance), 106.
+
+  Polonaise (Polish folk-dance), 136.
+
+  Polowetsi dance (Cossack), 140.
+
+  Portugal (mediæval strolling ballets), 80f.
+
+  Positions. See Steps.
+
+  Poushkin, 178.
+
+  Prévost, Mme., 100.
+
+  Priapus, 54.
+
+  Price, Waldemar (Danish ballet dancer), 164.
+
+  Primitive dances (rel. to sexual selection), 6.
+
+  Primitive peoples, 3ff.
+
+  _Prince Igor_, 228.
+
+  Professional dancing, 7;
+    (Egyptian), 18.
+
+  Provence, 80f, 122, 131.
+
+  Prussia (_Fackeltanz_), 128.
+
+  Pskoff, 140.
+
+  _Psyche_ (French ballet), 92.
+
+  Psychology, 1ff, 24, 45, 136, 139.
+
+  Pugni, Cesare (ballet composer), 152.
+
+  _Pygmalion and Galatea_ (ballet), 99.
+
+  Pylades (Roman dancer), 73, 74f.
+
+  Pyrrhic dance, 60f.
+
+  Pythian games, 54.
+
+
+  Q
+
+  Quadrille (French social dance), 122.
+
+  Quintilian (quoted), 72.
+
+
+  R
+
+  Rabinoff, Max, 188.
+
+  Racial characteristics, 11.
+
+  ‘Ragtime,’ 263.
+
+  Rainbow Dance, 192.
+
+  Ramble (Indian goddess of dancing), 24f.
+
+  Realism, 157, 249f.
+
+  _Réception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore_, 152.
+
+  Reed pipes. See Pipes.
+
+  Reger, Max, 205.
+
+  Regnard (quoted), 88.
+
+  Reinach, Théodore (cited on Greek arts), 69.
+
+  René of Provence (author of mediæval ballet), 80.
+
+  Reno (painter of Salome dance), 45.
+
+  Rheinländer (German dance), 131.
+
+  Rhythm, 1, 2;
+    (in naturalistic dancing), 196, 198;
+    (as basis of all arts), 235;
+    (in Jacques-Dalcroze system), 239, 244;
+    (in ballet), 250.
+
+  Rhythmic gymnastics, 234ff, 240, 249.
+
+  Richelieu, 86, 100.
+
+  Rigaudon, 148f.
+
+  Rimsky-Korsakoff, Nicolai, 151, 152, 171, 183, 224, 226, 254.
+
+  _Rinaldo and Armida_ (ballet by Noverre), 90, 99.
+
+  Risti Tants (Esthonian folk-dance), 126ff.
+
+  _Robert of Normandie_ (ballet), 164.
+
+  Robespierre, 93.
+
+  Robinson, Louis (cited on dance instinct), 3.
+
+  Rodin (quoted), 196.
+
+  Romaika (Slavic folk-dance), 137.
+
+  Rome (dancing in), 3, 72ff, 247;
+    (sacred dancing), 9;
+    (imitation of Greek dances), 10;
+    (Pyrrhic dance), 60.
+
+  Roman Church. See Church.
+
+  Romulus, 73.
+
+  Rondes (similarity to Eleusinian Mysteries), 67;
+    (French folk-dance), 121.
+
+  _Roses of Love_ (ballet by Noverre), 90.
+
+  Rossini, 101, 103, 151.
+
+  Rouen, 100.
+
+  Roumania (folk-dance), 137f.
+
+  Round. See Ronde.
+
+  Royal Academy of Dancing (French), 86.
+
+  Rubinstein, Anton, 183, 256;
+    (composed ‘Tarantella’), 124.
+
+  Rubinstein, Ida, 45.
+
+  Ruggera (Italian folk-dancing), 124.
+
+  Rune tunes (Finnish), 63.
+
+  Russia (Imperial Ballet), 92;
+    (influence of, on choreography), 102;
+    (nationalistic tendencies), 104f;
+    (folk-dancing), 139ff, 262;
+    (influences on ballet), 169;
+    (ballets of opera house), 175;
+    (influence of Duncan school), 200, 206, 218f.
+
+  Russian Imperial Ballet School, 90f, 105, 172.
+
+  Russian Imperial Dramatic Dancing School, 180.
+
+  Ruthenia (folk-dancing). See Slavic folk-dances.
+
+
+  S
+
+  Sacchetto, Rita, 203, 212.
+
+  _Sacre du Printemps_ (Stravinsky), 231.
+
+  Sacred dancing (in rel. to folk-lore), 9;
+    (Egyptian), 15;
+    (Indian), 26;
+    (Japanese), 38;
+    (American Indian), 39, 41f;
+    (Greek), 59, 67ff;
+    (Roman), 73f.
+
+  Sadler, Michael T. H. (quoted on Jacques-Dalcroze School), 235f.
+
+  Sahara Graveyard Dance, 21.
+
+  Sailor’s Dance (Dutch), 135.
+
+  St. Basil (cited), iii.
+
+  St. Carlos (celebrated by strolling ballet), 80.
+
+  St. Denis, Ruth, 208, 212.
+
+  Saint-Léon, 159.
+
+  St. Matthew (quoted), 44.
+
+  St. Petersburg (court ballet), 90, 161.
+    See also Petrograd.
+
+  Saint-Saëns, Camille, 186.
+
+  St. Vitus’ Dance, 129.
+
+  _Sakuntala_ (French ballet), 152.
+
+  Sallé, Mlle., 94, 99, 100.
+
+  _Salmacida Spolia_ (Sir William Davenant), 84.
+
+  Salome dances, 44f, 191.
+
+  _Salome_ (Richard Strauss), 45.
+
+  _Saltarello_ (Italian folk-dance), 124.
+
+  Sangalli, Rita, 159.
+
+  Sappho, 70, 94.
+
+  Sarabande, 146.
+
+  Sarasate, Pablo, 108.
+
+  Satyr Dance (in Dionysian Mysteries), 68, 69.
+
+  _Sauvages de la Mer du Sud_, [_Les_] (French ballet), 94.
+
+  Savage peoples. See Primitive peoples.
+
+  Savinskaya, 206.
+
+  Saxony (folk-dancing), 130.
+
+  Scaliger, Joseph Justa (cited), 54.
+
+  Scandinavia (folk-dances), 2, 133;
+    (nationalistic tendencies), 104f;
+    (waltz), 131;
+    (naturalistic school), 205.
+
+  Schafftertanz (of Munich), 129.
+
+  _Scheherezade_ (Rimsky-Korsakoff), 152, 226.
+
+  Schiller, 166, 250.
+
+  Schirjajeff, 182.
+
+  Schliemann (Egyptologist), cited, 17.
+
+  Schmoller (Saxonian folk-dance), 130.
+
+  Schnitzler, Arthur, 166.
+
+  Schönberg, Arnold, 205.
+
+  Schools of dancing, (Petipa), 185;
+    (Duncan), 197;
+    (Jacques-Dalcroze), 197f.
+    See Academies.
+
+  Schopenhauer (cited), 250;
+    (quoted), 64.
+
+  Schleiftänze, 129.
+
+  Schreittänze. 129.
+
+  Schubert, Franz, 103f, 254.
+
+  Scotch Reel, 118f.
+
+  Scotland (folk-dancing), 118f.
+
+  Scribe, Eugène. 103.
+
+  Schuhplatteltanz (Bavarian folk-dance), 129f.
+
+  Schumann, Robert, 206.
+
+  Sculpture (in rel. to dancing), 173, 196, 235.
+
+  Seguidilla (Spanish dance), 50.
+
+  Sensationalism, 190.
+
+  Seroff, Alexander Nikolayevitch, 104, 171, 181.
+
+  Serpentine Dance, 189, 190f.
+
+  Servia (folk-dancing).
+    See Slavic folk-dances.
+
+  Setche, Egyptologist (cited), 14.
+
+  Seville (church dancing), iv, 78;
+    (court dancing), 47.
+
+  Sex instinct (in rel. to folk-dancing), v, 11, 134, 139.
+
+  Shakespeare (cited on the jig), 119.
+
+  Sharp, Cecil (quoted on Morris dances), 113f.
+
+  Shean Treuse (Scotch folk-dance), 118.
+
+  Shintoism (Japanese religion), 36.
+
+  Shirley, James, 83.
+
+  Sibelius, Jean, 205, 254, 256, 257f.
+
+  Siberia (folk-dancing), 140.
+
+  Siciliana (Italian folk-dance), 124.
+
+  [_Le_] _Sicilien_ (ballet), 153.
+
+  _Sieba_ (ballet), 152.
+
+  Siebensprung (Swabian folk-dance), 130.
+
+  Singing (in Finnish dances), 133.
+
+  Singing ballet, 177f.
+
+  Singing Sirens, 57.
+
+  Skirt Dance, 189, 212.
+
+  Skoliasmos (in Dionysian mysteries), 68f.
+
+  Skralat (Swedish folk-dance), 133.
+
+  Slavic folk-dances, 136ff.
+
+  _Sleeping Beauty_ (Tschaikowsky), 152, 185.
+
+  Snake dances (Lithuanian), 135;
+    (American Indian), 38, 41, 135.
+
+  _Snegourotchka_ (Rimsky-Korsakoff). See _Snow Maiden_.
+
+  _Snow Maiden_ (Rimsky-Korsakoff), 152, 177, 183f.
+
+  Social dancing (Greek), 54f;
+    (Polish), 136;
+    (in 17th cent.), 144ff.
+    See also Court dancing.
+
+  Socrates, 54, 56.
+
+  Sokolova (ballerina), 151, 183.
+
+  Solomon, Hebrew king, 43, 44.
+
+  Sophocles, 62.
+
+  Sound (in relation to movement), 238
+
+  [_La_] _Source_ (Delibes), 152.
+
+  Spain (religious dancing), iv;
+    (folk-dancing), 2, 105ff, 210ff;
+    (choreographic art of Moors), 46, 50f;
+    (mediæval strolling ballets), 80f.
+
+  Spartan dance, 54f, 60.
+
+  _Spectre de la Rose_ (ballet), 221, 223, 229.
+
+  Spendiaroff, 256.
+
+  Spinning top principle, 216.
+
+  Stage dancing (in Middle Ages), 81, 148.
+    See also Professional dancing.
+
+  Steps, 2;
+    (in American Indian dances), 42;
+    (in courante), 88;
+    (in classic French ballet), 95f;
+    (Bolero), 109;
+    (Seguidilla), 110;
+    (Hungarian folk-dances), 125f;
+    (Rigaudon), 149;
+    (Bournoville’s reform), 163.
+
+  Stephania (Roman dancer), 77.
+
+  Stewart-Richardson, Lady Constance, 206.
+
+  Stockholm (ballet dancing), 161.
+
+  Stockholm school, 151.
+
+  _Stomach Dance_ (Arabian dance), 3, 21, 22.
+
+  Stone Age, 5.
+
+  Stramboe, Adolph F., 164.
+
+  Strassburg, 129.
+
+  Strauss, Johann, 132.
+
+  Strauss, Richard, 204f, 232.
+
+  Stravinsky, Igor, 185, 229ff.
+
+  Strindberg, August, 165.
+
+  String instruments (Indian), 27.
+
+  Strolling ballets (mediæval), 80f;
+    (in French Revolution), 93f.
+
+  Strophic principle, 63.
+
+  Stuck (painter of Salome dance), 45.
+
+  Stuttgart (court), 90, 153.
+
+  Subra, Mlle. (ballerina), 159.
+
+  Su-Chu-Fu (dancing academy), 34.
+
+  Suetonius (cited), 76.
+
+  _Sun’s Darling_ (English masque), 84.
+
+  Svendsen, Johann, 133, 205.
+
+  Svetloff (cited), 218.
+
+  _Swan, The_ (Saint-Saëns), 186.
+
+  _Swanhilde_ (ballet), 167.
+
+  _Swan Lake_ (Russian ballet), 152, 184f.
+
+  Swabia (folk-dancing), 130.
+
+  Sweden (influence on Russian ballet), 169.
+    See also Scandinavia.
+
+  Sword Dance (English), 21, 33, 113, 115ff.
+
+  _La Sylphide_ (Delibes), 152, 153, 154, 156, 163.
+
+  [_Les_] _Sylphides_, 175, 221.
+
+  _Sylvia_ (Delibes), 152.
+
+  Symbolism (in Indian dancing), 29, 263f;
+    (in Hungarian folk-dancing), 126;
+    (in Lada’s dances), 254f;
+    (in modern ballet), 258, 265.
+
+  Symons, Arthur (quoted), 264f.
+
+  Symphonic music (as basis for dancing), 200, 206.
+
+  Syrinx (Egyptian instrument), iv.
+
+  Szolo (Hungarian folk-dance), 126.
+
+
+  T
+
+  Tabor (in Morris dance), 115.
+
+  Tacitus (cited), 76.
+
+  Taglioni, Maria, 11, 151, 152ff, 156, 157, 193.
+
+  Taglioni, Salvatore, 151, 152, 161.
+
+  Ta-gien (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Ta-gu (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Ta-knen (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Talmud, 43.
+
+  Ta-mao (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Tambourine (in Hebrew dance), 19;
+    (in Indian dance), 27;
+    (with bells, Chinese), 32;
+    (in Greek dances), 71;
+    (in Spanish dance), 79f, 106;
+    (in Tarantella), 122.
+
+  Taneieff, Sergei Ivanovich, 224.
+
+  Tarantella (Italian folk-dance), 122ff.
+
+  Tartar tribes, 140.
+
+  Tascara (Spanish folk-dance), 111f.
+
+  Taubentanz (Black Forest), 130.
+
+  Ta-u (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Tcherepnin, 185, 226, 229.
+
+  Technique (Duncan), 199;
+    (instrumental), 237;
+    (eurhythmic), 239.
+
+  Telemachus, 53.
+
+  _Telemaque_ (French ballet), 92.
+
+  Teleshova (ballerina), 151, 181.
+
+  Telethusa (Roman dancer), 77.
+
+  _Tempe Restored_ (Aurelian Townsend), 84f.
+
+  Temple dancing (Hebraic), 43, 44;
+    (Greek), 54f;
+    (Esthonian), 127.
+    See also Sacred dancing.
+
+  Terpsichore, 10, 57.
+
+  _Terpsichore_ (ballet by Handel), 99.
+
+  Teu-Kung (Chinese dancing teacher), 31.
+
+  Thackeray (quoted on Taglioni), 154.
+
+  Thales, 59.
+
+  Théatre des Arts, 92.
+
+  Theatre of Dionysius, 64f.
+
+  Thebes, 19.
+
+  Theseus, iv, 54, 69.
+
+  They (Chinese monarch), 30.
+
+  Tiberius (Roman emperor), 76.
+
+  Tichomiroff, 221.
+
+  Time, 240f.
+
+  Time-marker (in Greek dancing), 70f.
+
+  Time-values, 241.
+
+  Titans, 59.
+
+  Titus (Roman emperor), 34.
+
+  Toe-dance, 215.
+
+  Toledo (church dancing), iv, 78.
+
+  _Toreadoren_ (ballet), 164.
+
+  Torra (Murcian folk-dance), 106.
+
+  Tourdion (social dance), 150.
+
+  Townsend, Aurelian, 84f.
+
+  Trepak (Russian folk-dance), 140.
+
+  Trescona (Florentine folk-dance), 124.
+
+  Triangle (in English Horn dance), 117.
+
+  Tripoli (Almeiis dancers in), 21.
+
+  _Triumph of Love_, 87.
+
+  _Triumph of Peace_ (James Shirley), 83.
+
+  Trouhanova, Natasha, 45, 244, 256f.
+
+  Trumpets (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), 82.
+
+  Tschaikowsky, Peter Ilyitch, 104, 151, 152, 171, 177, 183, 184, 185.
+
+  Tshamuda (Indian goddess), 26.
+
+  Tuileries, 87.
+
+  Tunic, ballerina’s, 215.
+
+  Tunis (Almeiis dancers in), 21.
+
+  Turgenieff, 104, 171;
+    (quoted on Elssler), 155f.
+
+  Tuta, 215.
+
+
+  U
+
+  Uchtomsky, Prince (cited), 28.
+
+  U-gientze (Chinese dance), 32.
+
+  Ulysses, 52.
+
+  Urbino, Duke of, 80.
+
+
+  V
+
+  Vafva Vadna (Swedish folk-dance), 133f.
+
+  _Valdemar_ (Danish ballet), 163, 164.
+
+  Valencia, iv, 78, 107f.
+
+  Valencian Bishop (advocate of dancing), 78.
+
+  Valentine, Gwendoline (ballet dancer), 206.
+
+  Vanka (Cossak dance), 140.
+
+  Van Staden (Colonel), 179.
+
+  Vaudoyer, J. L., 229.
+
+  Vaughan, Kate (ballet dancer), 193.
+
+  _Veie de Noue_ (in _Lou Gue_), 80.
+
+  Veils (used in Greek dancing), 66, 70.
+
+  Venera (Indian goddess), 24.
+
+  [_La_] _Ventana_ (ballet), 166.
+
+  Venus of Cailipyge, 76f.
+
+  _Verbunkes_ (Hungarian folk-dance), 126.
+
+  [_La_] _Vestale_ (ballet), 153.
+
+  Vestris brothers, 91, 101, 148, 151, 162.
+
+  Viennese court, 90.
+
+  Viennese School, 151.
+
+  Villiani, Mme. (ballet dancer), 22, 193.
+
+  Vingakersdans (Swedish folk-dance), 134.
+
+  Violin (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), 82;
+    (in Spanish folk-dance), 107.
+
+  Vision of Salome (ballet), 201.
+
+  Vocal ballets, 177f.
+
+  Vocal music (dependence of dancing upon), 8;
+    (in Greek dances), 58.
+
+  Voisins, Comte Gilbert des, 154.
+
+  Volga, 140.
+
+  Volinin (Russian ballet dancer), 185, 187, 248.
+
+  Volkhonsky, Prince Serge (quoted), 197f, 212f, 215ff, 232, 249.
+
+  Voltaire (cited), 99.
+
+  _Volte_ (French folk-dance), 131.
+
+  Vuillier (quoted on Spanish temple dancing), 79f.
+
+  Vulcan, 53.
+
+  Vulture Dance (Greek), 69.
+
+
+  W
+
+  Wagnerian operas, 63.
+
+  Waldteufel, 132.
+
+  Waltz, 131f.
+
+  Walzer, 131.
+
+  War-dances (primitive), 5f;
+    (Pyrrhic), 60;
+    (Roman), 73;
+    (Hungarian), 126.
+
+  Warsaw (opera house), 175.
+
+  Weber, Carl Maria von, 91, 103, 229.
+
+  Weber, Louise, 192.
+
+  Weiss, Mme., 159.
+
+  Wellman, Christian, 180.
+
+  Whistles (in American Indian dances), 41;
+    (in Morris dance), 115.
+
+  Whitehall (masques performed at), 83.
+
+  Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, 202f, 212.
+
+  Wilhelm II, 130.
+
+  Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, on Egypt (cited), 18f;
+    (quoted), 20f.
+
+  Women (earliest appearance of, in ballet), 87.
+
+  Wood-wind instruments (Indian), 27.
+
+  Wsevoloshky, 183.
+
+  Würtemberg (folk-dancing), 130.
+
+
+  X
+
+  Xenophon (quoted), 55f.
+
+  Xeres, iv.
+
+
+  Y
+
+  Yorkshire (English sword dance of), 116.
+
+  Yu-Wang (Chinese emperor), 33.
+
+
+  Z
+
+  Zarzuela (Spanish comic opera), 63f, 106.
+
+  Zeus, 59.
+
+  Zorongo (Spanish folk-dance), 111.
+
+  Zulus (war dances of), 5.
+
+  Zunfttänze, 129.
+
+  Zwölfmonatstanz (Würtemberg), 130.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes
+
+
+Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
+predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
+were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
+marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
+unbalanced.
+
+The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
+references, with this exception: all references to pages iii–vi should
+be to pages vii–x. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks,
+the links have been corrected, but the displayed page numbers have not
+been changed in any version of this eBook.
+
+Page 110: “Albacetex” was printed that way; probably is a misprint for
+“Albacete”.
+
+Page 131: “3/4 rhythm” was printed as “3-4 rhythm” but changed here to
+conform with the predominant form of notation throughout the original
+book.
+
+Page 275: “English Cathedrals” reference to page viii was printed as
+“iii-f”; changed here.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 59104-0.txt or 59104-0.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/1/0/59104/
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
+specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
+eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
+for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
+performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
+away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
+not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
+trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country outside the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
+  are located before using this ebook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
+Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
+mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
+volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
+locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
+Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
+date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
+official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+
+    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+    Chief Executive and Director
+    gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
diff --git a/59104-h/59104-h.htm b/59104-h/59104-h.htm
index 7948a15..c761997 100644
--- a/59104-h/59104-h.htm
+++ b/59104-h/59104-h.htm
@@ -1,13998 +1,13998 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

-    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

-  <head>

-    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />

-    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />

-    <title>

-      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason.

-    </title>

-    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />

-    <style type="text/css">

-

-body {

-    margin-left: 2.5em;

-    margin-right: 2.5em;

-}

-

-h2, h3 {

-    text-align: center;

-    clear: both;

-    margin-top: 2.5em;

-    margin-bottom: 1em;

-}

-

-h1 {text-align: center; font-size: 300%;}

-

-h2 {word-spacing: .3em;}

-h2.chap {margin-bottom: 0;}

-h2+p {margin-top: 1.5em;}

-h2+h3 {margin-top: 1.5em;}

-h2 .subhead {display: block; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;}

-

-.transnote h2 {

-    margin-top: .5em;

-    margin-bottom: 1em;

-}

-

-.subhead {

-    text-indent: 0;

-    text-align: center;

-    font-size: smaller;

-}

-

-p {

-    text-indent: 1.75em;

-    margin-top: .51em;

-    margin-bottom: .24em;

-    text-align: justify;

-}

-p.center {text-indent: 0;}

-

-.p1 {margin-top: 1em;}

-.p2 {margin-top: 2em;}

-.p4 {margin-top: 4em;}

-.vspace {line-height: 1.5;}

-

-.in1 {padding-left: 1em;}

-.in2 {padding-left: 2em;}

-.in4 {padding-left: 4em;}

-

-.small   {font-size: 70%;}

-.smaller {font-size: 85%;}

-.larger  {font-size: 125%;}

-.large   {font-size: 150%;}

-.xlarge  {font-size: 175%;}

-.xxlarge {font-size: 200%;}

-

-.center   {text-align: center;}

-

-.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}

-

-.bold {font-weight: bold;}

-

-hr {

-    width: 33%;

-    margin-top: 4em;

-    margin-bottom: 4em;

-    margin-left: 33%;

-    margin-right: auto;

-    clear: both;

-}

-hr.narrow {

-    width: 10em;

-    margin: 2em auto 1em auto;

-}

-

-table {

-    margin-left: auto;

-    margin-right: auto;

-    max-width: 100%;

-    border-collapse: collapse;

-}

-

-.tdl {

-    text-align: justify;

-    vertical-align: top;

-    padding-left: .5em;

-    padding-right: 2em;

-    text-indent: 2em;

-}

-.tdl.left {padding-left: 0; text-indent: 0;}

-

-.chap td {

-    font-size: 110%;

-    padding-top: 1.5em;

-    padding-bottom: .5em;

-}

-.chap.notpad td {padding-top: 0;}

-.chap .tdl {padding-left: 3.75em; text-indent: -2.5em;}

-.tpad td {padding-top: 1.5em; font-size: 110%;}

-.bpad td {padding-bottom: 1em; font-size: 110%;}

-

-.tdr {

-    text-align: right;

-    vertical-align: bottom;

-    padding-left: 0;

-    white-space: nowrap;

-}

-.tdr.top{vertical-align: top; padding-left: 0; padding-right: .5em;}

-

-#loi td {padding-bottom: .5em;}

-#loi .small td {padding-bottom: 0;}

-

-.pagenum {

-  position: absolute;

-  right: 4px;

-  text-indent: 0em;

-  text-align: right;

-  font-size: 70%;

-  font-weight: normal;

-  font-variant: normal;

-  font-style: normal;

-  letter-spacing: normal;

-  line-height: normal;

-  color: #acacac;

-  border: 1px solid #acacac;

-  background: #ffffff;

-  padding: 1px 2px;

-}

-

-.figcenter   {

-    margin: 2em auto 2em auto;

-    text-align: center;

-    page-break-inside: avoid;

-    max-width: 100%;

-}

-

-img {

-    padding: 0;

-    max-width: 100%;

-    height: auto;

-}

-

-.caption  {text-align: left; margin-top: 0; margin-left: .5em;}

-.caption p {padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0 auto 0 0;}

-.caption p.credit {font-weight: normal; font-size: smaller;}

-

-ul {margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 0;}

-li {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2.5em; text-align: left;}

-

-.footnote {

-    border: thin dashed black;

-    margin: 1.5em 10%;

-    padding: .5em 1em .5em 1.5em;

-}

-

-.footnote {font-size: .95em;}

-.footnote p {text-indent: 1em;}

-

-.fnanchor {

-    vertical-align: 60%;

-    line-height: .7;

-    font-size: smaller;

-    text-decoration: none;

-}

-.footnote .fnanchor {font-size: .8em;}

-

-.index {margin-left: 1em;}

-ul.index {padding-left: 0;}

-li {list-style-type: none;}

-li.indx, li.ifrst {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; padding-top: .2em;}

-li.isub1 {padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -2em;}

-li.ifrst {padding: 1.5em 0 .5em 10em; font-size: larger;}

-

-blockquote {

-    margin-left: 5%;

-    margin-right: 5%;

-    font-size: 95%;

-}

-

-h2+blockquote {

-  margin: 1em 2em 2em 2em;

-  font-size: 90%;

-}

-

-#lit blockquote p {padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}

-

-.transnote {

-    background-color: #999999;

-    border: thin dotted;

-    font-family: sans-serif, serif;

-    margin-left: 5%;

-    margin-right: 5%;

-    margin-top: 4em;

-    margin-bottom: 2em;

-    padding: 1em;

-}

-.covernote {visibility: hidden; display: none;}

-

-.sigright {

-     margin-right: 2em;

-     text-align: right;}

-

-.wspace {word-spacing: .3em;}

-

-@media print, handheld

-{

-    .chapter, .newpage {page-break-before: always;}

-    h2.nobreak, .nobreak {page-break-before: avoid; padding-top: 0;}

-    h1 {page-break-before: avoid; page-break-after: avoid;}

-

-    p {

-        margin-top: .5em;

-        text-align: justify;

-        margin-bottom: .25em;

-    }

-

-    table {width: 100%; max-width: 100%;}

-

-    .tdl {

-        padding-left: 1em;

-        text-indent: -1em;

-        padding-right: 0;

-    }

-

-}

-

-@media handheld

-{

-    body {margin: 0;}

-

-    hr {

-        margin-top: .1em;

-        margin-bottom: .1em;

-        visibility: hidden;

-        color: white;

-        width: .01em;

-        display: none;

-    }

-

-    ul {margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0;}

-    li {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1.5em;}

-

-    blockquote {margin: 1.5em 3% 1.5em 3%;}

-

-    .transnote {

-        page-break-inside: avoid;

-        margin-left: 2%;

-        margin-right: 2%;

-        margin-top: 1em;

-        margin-bottom: 1em;

-        padding: .5em;

-    }

-

-    .index {margin-left: 0;}

-

-    .covernote {visibility: visible; display: inline; text-align: justify;}

-}

-  </style>

-  </head>

-

-<body>

-

-

-<pre>

-

-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: The Dance

-

-Author: Daniel Gregory Mason

-

-Editor: Ivan Narodny

-

-Release Date: March 20, 2019 [EBook #59104]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: UTF-8

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

-file was produced from images generously made available

-by The Internet Archive)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-</pre>

-

-

-<div class="transnote">

-<p class="p1 center larger">Transcriber’s Note<span class="covernote">s</span></p>

-

-<p class="covernote">Cover created by Transcriber from content in the original book, and

-placed in the Public Domain.</p>

-

-<p>The <a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS">List of Illustrations</a> was added by Transcriber and placed into the

-Public Domain.</p>

-</div>

-

-<p class="newpage p4 center xlarge wspace">THE ART OF MUSIC</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p class="newpage p4 center xxlarge bold">The Art of Music</p>

-

-<p class="p1 center vspace">A Comprehensive Library of Information<br />

-for Music Lovers and Musicians</p>

-

-<hr class="narrow" />

-

-<p class="p2 center"><span class="smaller">Editor-in-Chief</span></p>

-<p class="center">DANIEL GREGORY MASON<br />

-<span class="small">Columbia University</span></p>

-

-<p class="p2 center smaller">Associate Editors</p>

-

-<p class="center">EDWARD B. HILL <span class="in2">LELAND HALL</span><br />

-<span class="small"><span class="in4">Harvard University</span> <span class="in2">Past Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin</span></span></p>

-

-<p class="p2 center smaller">Managing Editor</p>

-<p class="center">CÉSAR SAERCHINGER<br />

-<span class="small">Modern Music Society of New York</span></p>

-

-<p class="p2 center larger">In Fourteen Volumes<br />

-<span class="small">Profusely Illustrated</span></p>

-

-<div id="if_i_001" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 6em;">

-  <img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="83" height="82" alt="" /></div>

-

-<p class="p2 center vspace wspace smaller">NEW YORK<br />

-<span class="larger">THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC</span></p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<div id="ip_0" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 23em;">

-  <img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="365" height="764" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)</p>

-  <p class="credit"><i>Design by Léon Bakst</i></p></div></div>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p class="newpage p4 center wspace">THE ART OF MUSIC: VOLUME TEN</p>

-

-<hr class="narrow" />

-

-<h1 class="p1 wspace">The Dance</h1>

-

-<p class="p2 center vspace">Department Editor:<br />

-<span class="larger wspace">IVAN NARODNY</span></p>

-

-<p class="p2 center">Introduction by</p>

-<p class="center"><span class="wspace large">ANNA PAVLOWA</span><br />

-<span class="smaller">Ballerina, Imperial Russian Ballet</span></p>

-

-<div id="if_i_003" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 6em;">

-  <img src="images/i_003.jpg" width="83" height="82" alt="" /></div>

-

-<p class="p1 center vspace wspace">NEW YORK<br />

-THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p class="newpage p4 center smaller">

-Copyright, 1916, by<br />

-THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC, Inc.<br />

-[All Rights Reserved]

-</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">vii</span></p>

-

-<h2 id="THE_DANCE"><span class="larger wspace">THE DANCE</span></h2>

-

-<hr />

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</h2>

-</div>

-

-<p>‘<span class="smcap">The</span> gods themselves danced, as the stars dance in

-the sky,’ is a saying of the ancient Mexicans. ‘To

-dance is to take part in the cosmic control of the

-world,’ said the ancient Greek philosophers. ‘What

-do you dance?’ asks the African Bantu of a member of

-another tribe after his greeting. Livingston said that

-when an African wild man danced, that was his religion.

-It is said that the savages do not preach their

-religion but dance it. According to the Bible, the

-ancient Hebrews danced before their Ark of the Covenant.

-St. Basil describes the angels dancing in Heaven.

-According to Dante, dancing is the real occupation of

-the inmates of Heaven, Christ acting as the leader of a

-celestial ballet. ‘Dancing,’ said Lucian, ‘is as old as

-love.’ Dance had a sacred and mystic meaning to the

-early Christians upon whom the Bible had made a deep

-impression: ‘We have piped unto you and ye have

-not danced.’</p>

-

-<p>The service of the Greek Church—even to-day—is

-for the most part only a kind of sacred dance, accompanied

-by chants and singing. The priest, walking and

-gesturing with an incense-pan up and down before the

-numerous ikons, kneeling, bowing to the saints, performing

-queer cabalistic figures with his hands in the

-air, and following always a certain rhythm, is essentially

-a dancer. It is said that dancing of a similar kind<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">viii</span>

-was performed in the English cathedrals until the fourteenth

-century. In France the priests danced in the

-choir at the Easter Mass up to the seventh century.

-In Spain similar religious dancing took deepest root

-and flourished longest. In the Cathedrals of Seville,

-Toledo, Valencia and Xeres the dancing survives and

-is the feature at a few special festivals.</p>

-

-<p>‘The American Indian tribes seem to have had their

-own religious dances, varied and elaborate, often with

-a richness of meaning which the patient study of the

-modern investigators has but slowly revealed,’ writes

-Havelock Ellis. It is a well-known fact that dancing

-in ancient Egypt and Greece was an art that was

-practiced in their temples. ‘A good education,’ wrote

-Plato, ‘consists in knowing how to sing well and how

-to dance well.’ According to Plutarch, Helen of Sparta

-was practicing the Dance of Innocence in the Temple of

-Artemis when she was surprised and carried away by

-Theseus. We are told by Greek classics that young

-maidens performed dances before the altars of various

-goddesses, consisting of ‘grave steps and graceful, modest

-attitudes belonging to that order of choric movement

-called <i>emmeleia</i>.’ The ancient Egyptian Astronomic

-Dance can be considered the sublimest of all

-dances; here, by regulated figures, steps, and movements,

-the order and harmonious motion of the celestial

-bodies was represented to the music of the flute,

-lyre and syrinx. Plato alludes to this dance as ‘a divine

-institution.’</p>

-

-<p>In spite of the high status of dancing in the ancient

-civilizations, it has not progressed steadily, as have the

-other arts. It has remained the least systematized and

-least respected of arts, generally considered as lacking

-in seriousness of intention, fitness to express grave emotions,

-and power to touch the heights and depths of

-the intellect. Being an art that expresses itself first

-in the human body, the dance has aroused reprobation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">ix</span>

-in certain pious, puritanical minds of mediæval type,

-who have considered it a collection of ‘immodest and

-dissolute movements by which the cupidity of the flesh

-is aroused.’ It is this particular view that has damned

-dance with bell, book and candle. The main reason

-for this has been the hostile attitude of the church to

-all folk-arts which manifested a more or less conspicuous

-ethnographic individuality—that is, were stamped

-as of Pagan and not Christian origin. All folk-dancing,

-broadly speaking, is a natural form of æsthetic courtship.

-The male intends to win the female by his beauty,

-grace and vigor, or vice versa. From the point of view

-of sexual selection we can understand, on the one hand,

-the immense ardor with which every sensuous part of

-the human body has been brought into the play of the

-dance, and, on the other, the arguments of the pseudo-moralists

-to classify it with the frivolous and least

-tolerated arts.</p>

-

-<p>The stamp of frivolity, put upon the dance by the

-Christian clergy, has retarded its natural development

-for several centuries. Italy and Germany, having been

-the cradles of all modern music and stage arts, have

-given little inspiration to a systematic development of

-the art of dancing. The seventeenth, eighteenth and

-nineteenth centuries, that have meant so much to the

-perfection of the opera, vocal and orchestra technique,

-gave nothing of any significance to choreography. The

-church that tolerated Bach, Paësiello, Haydn, Mozart

-and Beethoven, put an open ban upon everything that

-had any relation to the dance. The great musical

-classics of the past centuries have treated dance as an

-insignificant side issue, thereby putting a label of inferiority

-upon this loftiest of arts. All the dance music

-of the great classics sounds naïve and lacking in choreographic

-images. Yet dance and music are like light

-and shadow, each depending upon the other. As canvas

-is to a painter, so is music to a dancer the essential<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">x</span>

-element upon which he can draw his picture. The fact

-that the art of dancing has not evolved into its normal

-state of equality with the other arts, is wholly due to

-the lack of musical leadership. Neither the reforms of

-Noverre nor those of Fokine nor Marius Petipa can be

-of fundamental value if they lack the phonetic designs

-which alone a choreographic artist can transform into

-plastic events. Essentially, and æsthetically speaking,

-dancing should be the elemental expression alike of

-symbolic religion and love, as it used to be from the

-earliest human times.</p>

-

-<p>Dancing and architecture are the two primary and

-plastic arts: the one in Time, the other in Space; the

-one expressing the soul directly through the medium

-of the human body, the other giving only an outline of

-the soul through the medium of fossilized forms. The

-origin of these two arts is earlier than man himself.

-Both require mathematics, the one rhythmically, the

-other symmetrically. For dancing the mathematical

-forms are to be found in music, for architecture, in

-geometry. ‘The significance of dancing, in the wide

-sense, thus lies in the fact that it is simply an intimate

-concrete appeal of that general rhythm which marks

-all the physical and spiritual manifestations of life,’

-writes Havelock Ellis. ‘The art of dancing moreover

-is intimately entwined with all human traditions of

-war, of labor, of pleasure, of education, while some of

-the wisest philosophers and ancient civilizations have

-regarded the dance as the pattern in accordance with

-which the moral life of man must be woven. To realize

-therefore what dance means for mankind—the poignancy

-and the many-sidedness of its appeal—we must

-survey the whole sweep of human life, both at its highest

-and at its deepest moments.’</p>

-

-<p class="sigright"><span class="smcap">Anna Pavlowa.</span></p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_TEN">CONTENTS OF VOLUME TEN</h2>

-

-<table border="0" id="toc" summary="Contents of Volume Ten">

-  <tr class="small">

-    <td> </td>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>

-  <tr class="bpad">

-    <td class="tdl left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Introduction by Anna Pavlowa</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a></td></tr>

-  <tr class="small">

-    <td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap notpad">

-    <td class="tdr top">I.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Psychology of Dancing</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual selection; professionalism in dancing—Music and the dance; religion and the dance; historic analysis of folk-dancing and ballet.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">II.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in Ancient Egypt</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">12</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence; the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival of the Sacred Bull—Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian dance technique; points of similarity between Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the Graveyard Dance; modern imitations.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">III.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in India</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">24</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music and the dance; dancing in modern India; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism of the Indian dance.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">IV.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dances of the Chinese, the Japanese and the American Indians</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">30</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China; Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern imitations; the Lantern Festival—Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry; general characteristics and classification of Japanese dances—The American Indians: The Dream dance; the Ghost dance; the Snake dance.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">V.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dances of the Hebrews and Arabs</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">43</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its modern influence—The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the Arab dances.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">xii</span></td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">VI.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in Ancient Greece</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">52</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life; Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance; Terpsichore—Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia; The Cordax; the Hormos—Greek theatres; comparison of periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">VII.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in the Roman Empire</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">72</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the <i>Bellicrepa saltatio</i>; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">VIII.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in the Middle Ages</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">78</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the church; dances of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets; the English masques; famous masques of the seventeenth century.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">IX.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Grand Ballet of France</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">86</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms under Louis XV; Noverre and the <i>ballet d’action</i>; Auguste Vestris and others; famous ballets of the period—the Revolution and the Consulate; the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five positions’; the ballet steps—Famous <i>danseuses</i>; Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine Guimard; Allard.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">X.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Folk-Dances of Europe</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">104</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The rise of nationalism—The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango; the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances; general characteristics; costumes—England: the Morris dance; the Country dance; the Sword dance; the Horn dance—Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.—Ireland: the Jig; British social dances—France: Rondo, Bourrée and Farandole—Italy: the Tarantella, etc.—Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related dances; the Esthonians—Germany: the <i>Fackeltanz</i>, etc.—Finland; Scandinavia and Holland—The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs; the Roumanians and Armenians—The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XI.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Celebrated Social Dances of the Past</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">144</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">xiii</span></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The <i>Pavane</i> and the <i>Courante</i>; the <i>Allemande</i> and the <i>Sarabande</i>; the <i>Minuet</i> and the <i>Gavotte</i>; the <i>Rigaudon</i> and other dances—The Waltz.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XII.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Classic Ballet of the Nineteenth Century</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">151</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century—Maria Taglioni—Fanny Elssler—Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence of the classic ballet.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XIII.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Ballet in Scandinavia</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">161</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The Danish ballet and Boumoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta Nielsen, etc.—Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission of the Danish ballet.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XIV.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Russian Ballet</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">170</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the Russian school; French and Russian schools compared—Begutcheff and Ostrowsky; history of the Russian ballet—Didelot and the Imperial ballet school; Petipa and his reforms—Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets; Pavlowa and other famous <i>ballerinas</i>; Mordkin; Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XV.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Era of Degeneration</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">189</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Nineteenth-century decadence; sensationalism—Loie Fuller and the Serpentine Dance—Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XVI.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Naturalistic School of Dancing</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">195</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan—Duncan’s influence: Maud Allan; Duncan’s German followers—Modern music and the dance; the Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’—Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St. Denis—Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XVII.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The New Russian Ballet</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">214</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The old ballet arguments <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>—The new movement: Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ <i>Le Pavilion d’Armide</i>, ‘Scheherezade’—Nijinsky and Karsavina—Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XVIII.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Eurhythmics of Jacques-Dalcroze</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">234</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’ system—Body-rhythm; the plastic expression of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze system—Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics to the dance.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">xiv</span></td></tr>

-  <tr class="chap">

-    <td class="tdr top">XIX.</td>

-    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Plastomimic Choreography</span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">247</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdl">The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories—Lada and choreographic symbolism—The question of appropriate music.</td></tr>

-  <tr class="tpad">

-    <td class="tdl left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Epilogue: <span class="in1">Future Aspects of the Dance</span></span></td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#EPILOGUE">261</a></td></tr>

-</table></div>

-

-<hr />

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>

-

-<table id="loi" summary="List of Illustrations">

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_0">Frontispiece</a></td></tr>

-  <tr class="small">

-    <td> </td>

-    <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Egyptian women dancing with cymbals</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_21">21</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_68">68</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_102">102</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">The Ball</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_150">150</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_156">156</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Pavlowa</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_174">174</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Duncan</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_201">200</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">Maud Allan</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_211">211</a></td></tr>

-  <tr>

-    <td class="tdl">A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)</td>

-    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_245">245</a></td></tr>

-</table>

-</div>

-

-<hr />

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2><span class="larger wspace">THE DANCE</span></h2>

-</div>

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in dances;

-‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual selection; professionalism

-in dancing—Music and the dance; religion and the dance;

-historic analysis of folk-dancing and ballet.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> true art is a direct and immediate act of life.

-As in music and dancing, so in life, rhythm is the skeleton

-of tone and movement and also the basis of existence.

-We breathe rhythmically and our heart beats

-rhythmically. We walk, laugh and weep rhythmically.

-Rhythm is the only frame to the moving material of

-the visuo-audible art. What except rhythm can unite

-living men in order to convert them from a chaotically

-moving crowd into a work of art? It was undoubtedly

-the innate feeling for rhythm that actuated the primitive

-man to dance. All existing races show a strong

-tendency to dance, as well in their primitive as in

-the more or less civilized state. The plastic forms of

-the human body lend themselves more to an æsthetic

-expression that contains architecture, sculpture, painting,

-poetry, drama and music, than anything else in

-creation. The mimic expressions of the face, the agility

-of the steps, the grace of gestures and poses are all

-natural means which a man can employ in his dance.

-The symmetric lines of the body that are produced after

-the melodic patterns of the music form the æsthetic

-basis of the art of dancing. The ability to give a living<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span>

-meaning to these lines is what makes a dance beautiful

-and divine. Although frequently the beauty of a line

-and movement can be observed in animals and birds,

-yet there it is an unconscious act, lacking in that individual

-and subjective feeling that we call inspiration.</p>

-

-<p>The foremost element in every dance is—the step.

-Step is also, practically speaking, the first movement of

-life. In consequence of pure physical laws each step

-requires a new impulse and thus divides it into two

-periods: motion and repose. The continuance of these

-two rhythmic periods produces the feeling of symmetry

-and joy, which in its turn creates the various combined

-movements that again are divided into various sub-motions

-and partial measures. The development of

-steps in a dance is based on two principles: the movement

-of the feet, and the combined movement of the

-body and hands for grace or mimicry. Consequently

-dance is nothing but a chain of bodily movements that

-are subjected to a certain musical rhythm and follow

-the emotional expressions of the dancer. According to

-an innate principle dance, like speech, was practiced

-by the primitive races as a medium of the most vital

-expressions. By means of a dance the savages express

-their joy, sorrow, anger, tenderness and love. Dance

-has its peculiar psychology, which varies according to

-racial temperament, climate and other conditions. This

-is best illustrated in the various styles of the folk-dance.

-To the vigorous races of Northern Europe

-in their cold and damp climate dancing became naturally

-a function of the legs. The Scandinavian and Finnish

-folk-dances betray more heavy and massive motion,

-while those of Spain, Hungary and Italy or France

-give an impression of romantic grace, coquettish agility

-and fire. The folk-dances of the Cossacks are usually

-violent and acrobatic, as is their life. Energy or

-dreaminess, fire or coolness, and a multitude of other

-racial qualities assert themselves automatically in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span>

-folk-dance. The list of forces that make and preserve

-a nation’s dances is incomplete without the addition of

-the powerful element of national pride, weakness or

-other peculiarities. On the contrary, in the Far East, in

-Japan, Java, China, etc., dancing is exclusively a motion

-of the hands and fingers alone. In ancient Rome

-dancing was predominantly the rhythmic motion of

-the body, with vibratory or rotatory movements of

-breast or flanks. The Stomach Dance of the Arabians

-betrays the wild passion of a nomadic desert race.</p>

-

-<p>According to Louis Robinson, dancing is an innate

-instinct that has an indirect bearing upon the existence

-of the human race. Robinson argues that throughout

-Nature instincts, like the organs of our bodies, are the

-product of the strict laws of evolution, and have been

-built up to meet some need. At some critical time

-in the past they had a certain survival value—i. e., they

-were capable of determining in the struggle for existence

-which individuals or tribes should go under and

-which should survive. This principle can be taken as

-one of the axioms which must be our pilots in every

-attempt to account for the faculties which each of us

-brings into the world, as distinct from those acquired

-in the life of the individual.</p>

-

-<p>Practically every savage people has elaborate dances

-and spends a good deal of time in such exercises.

-Among adults dancing takes the place of the play of

-children. When we come to analyze the play of all

-young creatures from the historical standpoint we find

-it forms part of an elaborate natural system of physical

-training. The perpetual motion of the kitten while it

-is awake is obviously a training for those accomplishments

-which in later life mean a livelihood. Such astonishing

-skill and agility as are shown by the cats in

-securing prey cannot be attained by any ready-made

-machinery like that of the dragon-fly or the mantis:

-they must be built up and manufactured. Herein the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span>

-nervous mechanism of the mammalia has prevailed

-over the limited mechanical perfection of lower things

-such as reptiles, fish, and insects. Most of them can

-do some one thing or other supremely well, but the

-mammalia, with their better nervous system and receptive

-brains, can excel in many things. We, with our

-greater gifts of the same sort, are the most versatile and

-teachable of all; hence we prevail over the rest of

-creation. The kitten, the puppy, and the young savage,

-by their continual restless and organized activity, gain

-great advantage in certain movements necessary in

-after life, and foster the growth of the particular muscles

-which later on will be absolutely requisite in the

-serious business of holding their place in the world.

-Obviously such instincts would become out of date and

-inappropriate should the general manner of living undergo

-a complete change. Hence we find that much

-of the play of young children in civilized lands has little

-or no reference to the serious life which comes afterwards.

-Such instincts, however, were developed during

-or before the long stretch of time of the Stone

-Age, when all men played hide and seek, and chased

-one another, and threw things, and ran, and jumped,

-and wrestled for exactly the same reason that makes us

-scan commercial articles, attend markets, and work in

-our studies or offices. What is observable in any nursery

-or playground affords a good illustration of the

-persistence of instincts long after the need which

-created them has passed away. For some reason the

-play instinct in most creatures tends to lapse at the

-time of full bodily maturity. It does not cease entirely,

-but apparently it no longer suffices as an incentive for

-the battle of life.</p>

-

-<p>Man in the savage state is naturally lazy and does

-not like to exert himself when food comes easily. When

-no urgent need or human authority is pushing him,

-he prefers to eat to repletion and then to lie in the sun<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span>

-or loaf. We even find this primitive habit cropping

-up in strenuous lands where the stimulus of moral

-education and competition has been at work for generations.</p>

-

-<p>We are all aware that, when we are lazy for any

-length of time, we get slack and soft. The primitive

-savage who lives by hunting and is in continual danger

-of raids from his neighbors, cannot afford to get slack.

-He must keep himself fit every day of life. How was

-this to be managed by our prehistoric forefathers when

-there was no fighting, with the weather soft, and a

-delicious fish easily to be caught quite near the dwelling?

-It is pretty safe to say that, owing to the want of

-condition—if they were not dancing tribes—they did

-not leave descendants which are among us in the

-twentieth century.</p>

-

-<p>It seems strange how readily a group of negroes who

-are apparently exhausted after a long day’s work will

-join in dance with their fellows, and how, when not

-very tired, they will in their laziest moments spring up

-and take vigorous exercise of this kind. Every doctor

-will tell you that there are plenty of women to-day who

-have not the strength nor the energy to do any work or

-to walk a couple of miles, but who will dance from

-evening till morning without showing any great fatigue.

-Among such Pagans as the Zulus and Masai, who organize

-themselves for war almost as well as has ever

-been done by the most civilized Christians, there is

-practically no distinction between military exercises

-and dancing. This is proof enough to show that dancing

-had a survival value throughout the long stretch

-of the Stone Age. Dancing taught primitive men to

-move in compact bodies without confusion, and

-especially without getting so bunched together that they

-could not use their weapons.</p>

-

-<p>To-day the true war-dance only persists among us

-in the form of military marchings, but the other primitive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span>

-dances have left numerous descendants of all kinds

-and degrees, down to the modern tango. Among these

-non-military dances the survival value, apart from the

-healthy exercise which they provided and their general

-disciplinary effects, worked through the agency of sexual

-selection.</p>

-

-<p>In the case of the primitive dances the working of

-sexual selection was beneficial as conducive to racial

-fitness. The dances in which women took part gave

-opportunity for appraisement of exactly the kind

-needed for a sound choice of mates under savage conditions.

-It afforded the chance, so lacking in our present

-civilization, of advertising any admirable qualities

-which might be possessed. It was a test not only of

-physical grace and perfection, but of activity, taste and

-temper. It contributed to honest matrimonial dealing—especially

-when danced in the approved ballroom

-costumes of savage times.</p>

-

-<p>There have been many discussions as to why clothes

-were first worn—whether for ornament, warmth, or

-decency—but one may fairly say without any doubt

-whatever that, from the first ages until now, dance

-clothing has been mainly decorative. Here we find an

-ethical justification of matters connected with dancing

-dress, which has often provoked severe criticism among

-puritans. Without a doubt from the earliest times until

-now the dance has been a chief purifying agent in

-the marriage market—has played the part, in fact, of

-those market inspectors appointed to guard against

-adulteration.</p>

-

-<p>It is a most extraordinary thing, when we come to

-consider man’s place in Nature, that he ever began to

-dance. Not that dancing is uncommon in Nature; many

-birds, especially those of the crane tribe, execute elaborate

-dances during their season of courtship, and as

-a mere pastime when they have nothing else to do.

-Few, if any, of the mammalia appear to indulge in organized<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span>

-dances, unless we give such a name to the frisking

-of young lambs and the prancing evolutions of

-horses and antelopes. Assuredly, in our direct line of

-descent nothing of the kind could have existed as far

-back as our knowledge and imagination will carry us.

-You cannot very well dance in the trees, which, according

-to Darwin, were the real nurseries of our species;

-and when you come down to solid earth your weak

-prehensile lower members would only make you ridiculous

-and contemptible if they attempted any performance

-of the kind.</p>

-

-<p>Mother Nature, however, is a dame of infinite varieties,

-and seems continually to be trying the most bizarre

-experiments apparently without the least prompting or

-justification. The products of these experiments are

-called ‘sports,’ and there seems no limit to their possibilities.

-Chimpanzees delight in thumping hollow trees

-and knocking pieces of wood together, while it is said

-that the gorilla waddles to war to the sound of the

-drum, improvising a substitute by beating his hands

-against his brawny chest.</p>

-

-<p>In the Western world professionalism in dancing has

-happily not had the blighting effect on the pursuit that

-it seems to have had on some other forms of pastime.

-But if we go to the East we find that practically all

-other forms of dancing have ceased to exist. We see

-the effect of this tendency most fully developed in

-China, where the recreative dancing of European society

-seems to be quite beyond the comprehension of

-a well-bred Chinese, who naïvely asks the question:

-‘Why do you not pay people to dance for you?’</p>

-

-<p>Stage dancing seems to be an interesting instance of

-the degeneration into pure luxury or something which

-was at one time a helpful influence to the race. This

-is a tendency observable in many phases of life when

-the pressure of evolutionary forces is somewhat relaxed.

-Most of the luxuries pertain to matters which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span>

-at one time had a survival value, and it cannot be said

-that they have retired from among the evolutionary

-forces even to-day; but their effect, if still beneficial to

-the race, lies in aiding Nature to eliminate the unfit.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>From the earliest times on dancing has been dependent

-upon music of some kind. The question

-whether music is older than dancing has not been

-answered satisfactorily by academic anthropologists

-yet. However, all scholars agree that the appearance of

-these two arts must have been more or less simultaneous,

-the one influencing the other. But undoubtedly

-the first dance music was not instrumental but vocal.

-The savages to-day dance most of their sexual dances

-to rhythmic recitation of certain words. Music is in

-every phase of evolution the only true essence of that

-which forms the subject of the dance.</p>

-

-<p>To the transformation of more or less primitive

-folk-dances into those of strictly religious character is

-due the principal idea of the modern ballet. In the

-Oriental temples dancing underwent a strange transformation.

-While dancing was made the basis of dramatic

-and symbolic ideas, yet this very fact became

-detrimental to the musical influence upon the choreography.

-The Egyptians, whom we consider the

-pioneers in religious dances, originated elaborate temple

-ballets, which were based more upon a dramatic

-than a musical theme. Though the tradition speaks of

-rounds, of symbolic and sidereal motions, and the instruments

-chiefly employed, as the Egyptian guitar,

-used both by men and women, the single and double

-pipe, the harp, lyre, and flute, yet essentially this all

-resembled a pantomime rather than actual dance.</p>

-

-<p>It is very likely that all the ancient sacred dances

-originated with the subconscious idea of counteracting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span>

-the sensuous or strictly playful influence of the social

-dances. The whole pedigree of our Western religions

-seems to show a remarkable absence of this method of

-encouraging religious feeling. The reasons why such

-manifestations were discouraged by Jewish and Christian

-moralists pertains to physiology rather than theology.

-As already said, man’s nature is compounded of

-many diverse elements, and the machinery of emotion

-at present at work within us dates back to our animal

-past. Our most refined and exalted feelings spring from

-the same nervous reservoirs and pass through the very

-channels which were at one time solely occupied by

-grosser passions. The Egyptian church that grew

-directly of the folk-art of the country was a stranger

-to Greece and Rome, and still more so to our Christian

-religion. The ethical ideals that actuated the Egyptian

-priests in introducing dancing at the altar, sprang directly

-from the soil and meant, in bringing the better

-part of human nature to the top, to act as a kind of

-separator. The priests discovered that the higher emotions,

-with the help of sacred dancing, can be put to

-excellent service as impulses to improved conduct.

-The Christian missionaries, coming from the East,

-found nothing elevating and ennobling in our Western

-dancing, which did not appeal to them on account of

-the very differences of the style and racial character.

-It is due to their opposition that the religious dances

-have faded out under the Western civilization. The

-warfare against dancing generally, on the part of the

-Apostles of Christianity, dates back to the fanatic era

-of theological and nationalistic differences. In all countries

-where the religion descends directly from a racial

-folk-lore, dancing has remained in high esteem at home

-and in the temples. This we find true in Egypt, Greece,

-India and China. In the Jewish form of worship there

-seems to have been no formally recognized dancing,

-although we have records of several displays of this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span>

-kind, as in the case of King David, when, ‘clothed in

-a linen ephod, he danced before the Ark of the Lord

-with all his might.’</p>

-

-<p>In Greece, cradle of the arts, the Muses manifested

-themselves to man as a dancing choir, led by Terpsichore.

-The Romans imitated the Greeks in all their

-arts and imported with the Greek slaves Greek dances.

-But Rome was too barbaric to appreciate the full value

-of Greece’s poetic arts. The solemn religious dance

-instituted by Numa and practiced by the Salian priests

-soon degenerated into ceremonial march that was abolished

-when Rome became Christian, through a papal

-decree in 744. Darkness of night fell on the development

-of secular and religious dancing, a darkness that

-endured for centuries. The influence of the Nile in

-Egypt and Cadiz in Spain, which for centuries had

-been the two great centres of the ancient dancing and

-supplied their dancers to the Roman potentates, faded

-out slowly in the history of European nations. The

-folk-dances were labelled as low and undignified

-amusements of Pagan peasants. Dance in every form

-remained an outcast, despised and condemned until the

-court circles of Italy and France distorted it to an

-amusement at domestic gatherings and masquerades.

-It is said that the modern ballet had its origin in the

-spectacular masquerades arranged for the marriage of

-Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, in 1489. The impression

-of this performance spread to the Court of

-Florence. Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France,

-brought the Italian court pantomime to Paris, where

-the French kings and queens grew to admire dancing

-and took actual part in it. The attempts of Noverre to

-elevate the art of dancing to what it had been in ancient

-Egypt and Greece, were successful only externally.

-Music, the soul of dancing in the modern sense, was

-lacking, and without this soul the art of plastic form

-is incomplete. Though the Russian reformers elevated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span>

-dancing from a domestic amusement to a serious and

-lofty stage art, they did not succeed wholly in giving

-to it the foundation that it deserves among the other

-arts. All the past and living goddesses of choreography

-have not had the freedom, the phonetic means and

-dramatic threads to thrill their audiences as they

-would, if man had not distorted and hidden the natural

-meaning of the dance that inspired his barbaric ancestors.</p>

-

-<p>The philosophical conclusion of our historic analysis

-of dance leads back to the same axioms that actuated

-the savage in his practice of agility: the sexual selection

-and primitive sport, both necessary for evolution

-and the existence of the race. However, there is neither

-sexual motive nor instinct for ‘physical culture’ in the

-‘Heavenly Alchemy’ of evolution that has created the

-poetic movements of Taglioni and her successors. The

-ancient racial propensities have developed into more

-spiritual ideas. Like the tendency of evolution generally,

-to universalize an individual and individualize the

-universe, so in dance the racial characteristics are

-transformed into cosmic motives. In this stage beauty

-becomes symbolic and concrete emotions take on a

-more and more abstract form. The survival value of

-the greatest art of the dance lies in ennobling the intellect

-and soul, which has necessarily an indirect bearing

-upon the physical. Ultimately this means perfection of

-the whole human organism. It inspires the mind and

-influences the body.</p>

-

-<p>Civilization has brought humanity to a state where

-the physical needs depend upon the psychical. We

-have devised a more complicated form of sexual selection

-and more complicated means of existence than the

-primitive dances employed in our animal past. Beauty

-in the long course of evolution has grown more spiritual,

-accordingly dancing as an art has become an evolutionary

-medium of the intellect.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence; the

-Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival of the Sacred

-Bull—Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian dance technique; points of

-similarity between Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis;

-the Graveyard dance; modern imitations.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Long</span> before the rest of the world had emerged from

-barbarism Egypt had reached a high state of civilization.

-But the history of Egyptian civilization was hidden

-behind a curtain of mysteries, until the key to the

-hieroglyphs was discovered. Then, the imposing pyramids

-opened suddenly their sealed lips and the world

-stood aghast at their revelations. The ruins of Memphis

-and Thebes became books of interesting reading.

-The discovered inscriptions and papyri revealed the

-high state of development that the dance had reached

-in the ancient Egyptian temples. The first dancing in

-Egyptian history is recorded by Manetho, the priest of

-Heliopolis who lived in 5004 B. C.,—which is approximately

-one thousand years before the creation of

-the world, according to Biblical chronology. Plato

-alludes to Egyptian art and dancing performed ten

-thousand years before his time. Schliemann, the great

-archeologist, maintained that the history of Egypt was

-written in various dance-phases, as can be seen from

-the inscriptions of their ancient sarcophagi and pyramids.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span>

-Scarce as are the hieroglyphic materials, nevertheless

-they reveal to us that the Egyptians, during the

-reign of the Pharaohs, highly admired the art of dancing.

-Most of the Egyptian documents or inscriptions

-begin with dancing figures. These figures are to be

-found in the most ancient records, which proves that

-dancing must have been known as an art to the Egyptians

-not for hundreds but for thousands of years.

-Herodotus, ‘the father of history,’ tells us that the

-dances performed to Osiris were as elaborate as the

-music of a hundred instruments and a chorus of three

-hundred singers. According to Diodorus, Hermes gave

-to mankind the first laws of eurhythmics. ‘Hermes

-taught the Egyptians the art of graceful body movements.’

-A fragmentary inscription of a sarcophagus in

-the Museum of Petrograd describes that Maneros, ‘who

-conquered so many nations, did this not by means

-of torch and sword but by teaching the divine art of

-music and dancing.’ The ancient Egyptian legend

-surrounds Maneros with nine dancing Muses, which the

-Greeks probably copied from Egypt later. Music and

-dancing were employed by the Egyptians at home, in

-social festivals, on the occasion of marriage, birth and

-death, and in the temples. Their folk-dances were as

-gay and fiery as the temperament of the race. This is

-best illustrated in the recently discovered frescoes of

-peasants dancing, evidently after their daily work in

-the fields.</p>

-

-<p>Being worshippers of all the celestial bodies, the

-Egyptians practiced in their temples certain astronomical

-ballets. It is said that Hermes, the inventor of

-the lyre, produced from his instrument as many tones

-as there were stars in the sky. The three strings of his

-lyre meant Winter, Summer and Spring. This gives

-an idea to what an extent astronomy and nature figured

-in all their dancing and music. The Astral Dance was

-an imitation of the movement of the various constellations.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span>

-In this their imagination knew no limit. The

-altar, around which most of the astral dances were

-performed, represented the sun. According to the descriptions

-of Plutarch, the dancers made with their

-hands the signs of the zodiac in the air, while dancing

-rhythmically from the east to the west, in imitation of

-the movement of various planets. After every circle

-the dancers stopped for a few moments as if petrified,

-which was meant to represent the immovability of the

-earth. By means of combined gestures and mimic expressions,

-the priests gave intelligible pantomimic stories

-of the astral system and the harmony of eternal

-motion. Lucian called this one of the most divine

-inventions.</p>

-

-<p>It is a pity that all the hieroglyphic records known

-to us do not give any adequate explanation of the

-ancient Egyptian Astral Dance. The descriptions left

-by Greek writers are too general and are frequently

-incorrect. Various scholars have made efforts to discover

-the mystic meaning of the dance of the ‘Seven

-Moving Planets,’ but in vain. How much the idea of

-an astral dance has impressed the European ballet-masters

-is proved in that Dauberval and Gardel produced

-in the eighteenth century ballets of this character.

-However, in this case the performers were not

-priests but fantastically dressed ballet dancers who,

-representing various stars and planets, jumped and

-turned around the <i>prima ballerina</i>, who represented the

-sun.</p>

-

-<p>To what an extent the love of pantomime and dancing

-prevailed in Egypt can be judged from the recently

-made decipherings by Setche of the inscriptions of the

-sarcophagus of a prime minister which describes the

-code of an elaborate court ritual. The inscription tells

-how a newly-appointed minister should meet his ruler.

-He should enter the imperial hall, dancing so that from

-his gestures, poses and miming could be read devotion,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span>

-loyalty, chivalry, grace, tenderness, vigor and

-energy. Pharaoh, in his turn, would meet the minister

-with a different sort of dance. The reception would

-end with the joining of all the court functionaries,

-musicians and priests in a great procession.</p>

-

-<p>The Egyptian clergy exercised a great influence upon

-the people. Imitating the court of the Pharaohs, they

-surrounded the religious rituals with unnecessary secrets.

-The more mysterious they made the ceremonies

-the more they impressed the people. In consequence of

-such an attitude on the part of the clergy, a large majority

-of religious dances grew so complicated in their

-symbolic details that they degenerated into nonsense.

-A large number of the Egyptian sacred dances were

-based on the cult of Isis and Osiris, the one a feminine,

-the other a masculine divinity. This gave the fundamental

-idea of maintaining a large number of the

-so-called ‘sacred’ courtesans, who took an active part

-in most of the temple dances. Herodotus tells us

-that the presence of these ‘sacred’ courtesans in the

-Egyptian temple ceremonies during the last Dynasties

-is responsible for the downfall of this ancient civilization.</p>

-

-<p>Most of the Egyptian temple dances were performed

-by men and women alike. On the other hand, there

-existed special feminine and strictly masculine ballets.

-Of the feminine dances, the most known is the dance

-which was performed during the celebrated sacrificial

-festival of the sacred bull Apis. After the black bull

-on whose back grew naturally the figure of a white

-eagle was found, forty temple maidens were selected

-to feed it forty days on the shores of the Nile.

-All this time the maidens had to practice the great ballet

-that they were to perform thereafter. The Festival

-of the Sacred Bull was opened with a solemn dance

-of the priests in the temple of Osiris at Memphis. Then

-the bull was carried through the city by the maidens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span>

-in a spectacular procession, accompanied by singing

-and dancing. When the bull was brought before the

-huge statue of Osiris the real ballet was performed by

-priests and maidens together. The ballet, which lasted

-for half a day, was opened with a slow introduction in

-march form. In this the dancers personified the birth

-process of divinities, particularly of Osiris. In the second

-movement, which probably resembled a modern

-<i>allegro energico</i>, were depicted the youth and romantic

-adventures of Osiris with the goddess Isis. Priests in

-fantastic costumes represented Osiris and his warriors,

-while the maidens played the rôle of Isis and her companions.

-The last movement of the ballet closed with

-a festival <i>finale</i>, which meant the victory of Osiris in

-conquering India. When the sacred bull was drowned

-in the Nile a violent funeral ballet was performed by

-the priests. As the recently discovered bas-reliefs illustrate,

-the dancing priests wore costumes consisting of

-a yellow tunic and round caps.</p>

-

-<p>While some of the Egyptologues maintain that dancing

-was performed only on special occasions such as

-the above, others are of the opinion that every Egyptian

-temple service contained some kind of dance.

-However, the hieroglyphic inscriptions of various

-periods prove that there were hundreds of different

-temple dances. Of particular interest is the recently

-discovered ‘Dance of Four Dimensions,’ which was

-performed in the temple of Isis. In this both priests

-and priestesses participated. It differed from the other

-dances in that the dancers carried along their musical

-instruments.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>Since the art of dancing had reached such a high

-degree of culture in Egypt it is evident that the people

-must have possessed a highly developed form of music.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span>

-Though musical history denies the fact that harmony

-was known to the ancient civilization, yet the recent

-archeologic discoveries and hieroglyphic decipherings

-speak eloquently of the use of various instruments in

-a kind of orchestra, and there are frequent allusions

-to temple choirs of a hundred and more singers. Dr.

-Schliemann even believes that the Egyptians had their

-specific musical notation which was still in use by the

-Arabs when they came to Spain. It is only natural to

-believe that an art of such a high standard was taught

-in a school, as the technique that they evidence is the

-result of long and systematic studies. ‘It is very likely,’

-a Russian archeologist writes, ‘that the Egyptian academy

-of music and dancing was connected with the

-temple of Ammon.’</p>

-

-<p>It is evident that the Egyptians knew practically

-every choreographic rule and possessed a technique

-which our most celebrated dancers have not yet

-reached. Their mimic expressions are superb, as are

-their eurhythmic gestures and poses. Since the temple

-in Egypt united under its supreme patronage all the

-arts, it is only natural that dancing and music knew

-no other forms of expression, except the home. However,

-the court of Pharaohs played a big rôle in stimulating

-a secular style of dance, which the Greeks later

-performed in a modified form on their stage. Various

-inscriptions and sarcophagus bas-reliefs depict a corps

-of several hundred dancers that was maintained by

-the ruler. The Queen Cleopatra was so fond of dancing

-that she herself gave performances in a specially constructed

-hall, dimly lighted and richly decorated. Here

-she danced nude to her guests behind numerous gauze

-curtains, using constantly the effects of fused light produced

-by different colored lanterns. She had a well

-trained and beautiful voice and played masterfully on

-various instruments. Also, in connection with her

-dances, Cleopatra used heavy redolescent perfumes by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span>

-means of which she put her audience into a ‘passionate

-trance.’</p>

-

-<p>That the Egyptian dancers knew <i>pirouettes</i>, <i>fouetté

-pirouettes</i>, <i>arabesques</i>, <i>pas de cheval</i>, and other modern

-ballet tricks 5,000 years ago is proven by the dancing

-figures that can be seen at the sarcophagi at Beni

-Hassan. These figures illustrating ballet corps are

-usual. A common style of Egyptian dancing was the

-peculiar reverse movement of the two dancers which

-reached a rhythmic perfection, particularly in dances

-where many participated, that is absolutely unknown

-to our choreographic artists. Some dances show great

-architectural beauty in their pyramidic combinations.

-The use of the hands at the same time with the use of

-the legs is evidently more in keeping with a certain

-style and harmony of line, than that employed by our

-ballet or classic dancers.</p>

-

-<p>There is in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum

-a wall painting taken from a tomb at Thebes.

-The painting is supposed to have been executed during

-the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, and in it are

-depicted two dancing girls facing in opposite directions.

-There is plenty of action and agility depicted

-in these figures. In one the hands are raised high above

-the head; in the other they are lowered. One female

-not dancing is represented playing a double pipe, and

-others are clapping their hands. The accompanists are

-dressed, but the dancers wear only a gauze tunic.</p>

-

-<p>All Egyptian professional dancers are represented

-either nude or very slightly dressed and the performances

-were given by the people of highest respectability.

-All Egyptologues are of the opinion that the outline

-of the transparent robe worn by these dancing girls

-may, in certain instances, have become effaced; but

-others say that it is certain they danced naked, as their

-successors, the Almeiis, do. The view of Sir Gardner

-Wilkinson that the Egyptians forbade the higher classes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span>

-to learn dancing as an amusement or profession, because

-they dreaded the excitement resulting from such

-an occupation, the excess of which ruffled and discomposed

-the mind, contradicts the opinions of other scholars

-on the same subject. We read in the Bible that

-after the Israelites had safely accomplished the passage

-across the Red Sea, Miriam, the sister of Moses and

-Aaron, herself a prophetess, took a tambourine in her

-hand, and danced with other women to celebrate the

-overthrow of their late task-masters. There are other

-instances in the Bible which tend to show that among

-the Jews, who were reared on Egyptian civilization,

-it was customary for people of the most exalted rank

-to dance. There is a reproduction of Amenophis II.

-from one of the oldest tombs of Thebes that goes to

-show that Egyptians of all classes were highly proficient

-in the art of dancing. Four upper class women

-are represented as playing and dancing at the same

-time, but their instruments are for the most part obliterated.

-A fifth figure is resting on one knee, with

-her hands crossed before her breast. The posing of

-the heads in these figures is masterful. In another

-painting from Beni Hassan, executed about three thousand

-five hundred years ago, a dancer is represented

-in the act of performing a <i>pirouette</i> in the extended

-fourth position. The arms are fully outstretched, and

-the general attitude of the figure is precisely what it

-might be in executing a similar movement at the present

-day. It is also noticeable that the angle formed

-by the upper part of the foot and fore part of the leg

-is obtuse, which is quite in accordance with modern

-choreographic rules, while the natural inclination of

-an inexperienced and untrained dancer when holding

-the limb in such a position would be to bend the foot

-towards the shin, or at least to keep it in its normal

-position at right angles.</p>

-

-<p>From many paintings and sculptures that have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span>

-discovered, we may gather that the primary rules by

-which the movements of the dancers are governed have

-not altered since the time of the Pharaohs. The first

-thing the Egyptian dancers were taught was evidently

-to turn their toes outward and downward, and special

-attention was paid to the positions of their arms, which

-were gracefully extended and raised high, with the

-hands almost joining above the head. In the small

-tablet of Baken Amen representing the adoration of

-Osiris, now in the British Museum, all arm positions of

-the dancing figures are excellent. In one of the sculptures

-from Thebes a figure is unmistakably performing

-an <i>entrechât</i>. Other figures go to show that the Egyptians

-employed frequently <i>jetés</i>, <i>coupés</i>, <i>cabrioles</i>, toe

-and finger tricks. There are reproductions representing

-dance figures for two performers, executing apparently

-a kind of minuet. Between the dancers in each

-figure are inscriptions which refer to the name of the

-dance. Thus, for instance, one was called mek na snut,

-or making a <i>pirouette</i>. This appears to have been a

-movement in which the dancers turned each other

-under the arms, as in the <i>pas d’Allemande</i>.</p>

-

-<p>Besides the temple dances, Egypt had travelling ballet

-companies, giving their performances in the open air

-gardens of towns and villages. The nomadic Hawasis

-whose profession to-day is chiefly dancing, are undoubtedly

-barbarized descendants of the Hawasis that

-entertained the Pharaohs with their passionate and

-fiery social dances. Most of the Hawasi dances were

-of a sensuous nature, performed exclusively by girls,

-either naked or in light gauze dresses. The themes of

-all these dances were often so distinctly feminine, depicting

-the romantic nature of a woman so graphically,

-that they were performed only as a part of wedding

-ceremonies. In regard to this style of dance Sir

-Gardner Wilkinson expresses the conviction ‘that there

-is reason to believe that dances representing a continuous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span>

-action or argument of a story were in use

-privately and were executed by ladies attached to the

-harem or household.’</p>

-

-<div id="ip_21" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 47em;">

-  <img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="751" height="401" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Egyptian women dancing with cymbals</p>

-  <p class="credit"><i>From an ancient fresco (in the original colors)</i></p></div></div>

-

-<p>Another secular class of Egyptian dances was that

-performed by Almeiis. While the style and subject of

-the Hawasi dances tended to express the sexual passions,

-the Almeiis had learned to be ‘classic’ and scholarly.

-The Almeiis of to-day maintain that they descend

-directly from the dancing Pharaohs. The romantic

-element in the Almeii dances remains within the limits

-of a strict code of propriety. For that reason the dancing

-Almeiis, like the clergy, enjoyed an immunity from

-the common law. The Almeiis of to-day enjoy the same

-ancient reputation throughout the East and are invited

-by the Mohammedan chiefs to teach dancing to their

-harems. They can be seen dancing in the Arabian

-desert and in Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli and Morocco. But

-their present-day dances lack the subtleties and technique

-that their ancestors possessed five thousand years

-ago. Their celebrated Sword and Stomach Dances

-have degenerated into deplorable vaudeville shows.

-Petipa, the celebrated Russian ballet master, has succeeded

-in composing a brilliant ballet on the theme of

-Almeii dances, called ‘The Daughter of the Pharaoh.’

-However, excellent as the Russian ballet dancers are,

-they have never performed it to the satisfaction of its

-author.</p>

-

-<p>One of the weird ancient Egyptian dances that has

-survived and is practiced by several Oriental races, particularly

-in Arabia, Persia and Sahara, is the Graveyard

-Dance. It is known that the Almeiis used to perform

-this dance at midnight on the graveyards of rich

-Egyptians, frequently around the pyramids. Though

-semi-religious, it did not belong to the classified sacred

-dances performed under the supervision of the clergy.

-Prof. Elisseieff thinks that this dance probably originated

-in lower Egypt and belonged there to a recognized<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span>

-temple ceremony, but the priests in upper Egypt failed

-to recognize it, so the Almeiis monopolized it with great

-advantage.</p>

-

-<p>The Graveyard Dance performed in the East to-day

-is wild, weird and ghastly. It is performed by women,

-dressed in long robes, which cover even their heads.

-It is danced on moonlight nights by professional Almeiis.

-These are hired by the relatives or descendants

-of the rich dead to accompany the wandering soul

-until it reaches that sphere which belongs to it. There

-is much strange symbolism and morbid beauty in the

-Graveyard Dance. Just as weird as the dance is the

-music, produced from pipes and drums, often accompanied

-by hooting or sobbing voices. It begins in a

-slow measure, the dancers marching like spectral shadows

-in a circle around the musicians. Gradually the

-music grows quicker, as does the dance. It ends in a

-wild fury after which the dancers drop unconscious to

-the ground.</p>

-

-<p>The dances of the living Almeiis and Hawasis and

-their imitators give little idea of the high art of dancing

-that was practiced thousands of years ago in

-ancient Egypt. The modern axis and stomach dances

-that are practiced by the daughters of the various tribes

-of the desert are crude acrobatic feats and vulgar degenerations

-of the graceful and highly developed art

-that has vanished with the whole ancient civilization of

-Egypt. In 1900 there appeared in Paris a supposed-to-be

-descendant of the celebrated ancient Almeiis, <i>La

-belle, unique et incomparable Fatma</i>, giving performances

-of ‘Egyptian Wedding Scenes’ and a ‘Dance of

-Glasses,’ which created a sensation among the decadent

-artists and writers. However, her success was more due

-to her beautiful body and its vivid gestures in suggesting

-certain erotic emotions, than to any real art. On the

-other hand, Isadora Duncan, Mme. Villiani and Desmond

-have attempted to arouse interest in the Egyptian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span>

-dances by giving performances that they have claimed

-to be the genuine classic art of the Nile. According to

-them, all that a modern dancer needs in becoming

-Egyptian is to dress as the Egyptians did and produce

-poses, if possible, with the fewest possible garments,

-that are to be seen in the ancient fresco paintings,

-sculptures and hieroglyphs. Then again, the Russian

-ballet, touring in Europe, announced in its repertoire

-an Egyptian ballet <i>Cleopatra</i>, which was to be a revelation

-of unseen beauties of the lost ancient civilization.

-However, all efforts of the modern imagination are unable

-to lift the veil of the ages.</p>

-

-<p>Though posterity can catch more accurate fragments

-in the degenerated dances of Almeiis, Hawasis and the

-few folk-dances of Young Egypt than in the artificial

-imitations of various choreographic modernists, as a

-whole we know but a microscopic part of the vanished

-age of the Pharaohs. The few scarce records that we

-possess of the Egyptian dancing speak eloquently of an

-art far superior to anything which our boasted civilization

-has yet reached.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCING IN INDIA</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin religion;

-the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music and the

-dance; dancing in modern Indian; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism

-of the Indian dance.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> civilization of ancient India was, with the exception

-of China, the only rival to that of Egypt. But it is

-remarkable that the Indian mind took a totally different

-direction from the Egyptian. The tendency towards

-spiritual expansion that manifested itself in Egypt and

-Greece became in India a tendency towards concentration.

-The Indian mind lacked the gift of observation

-and mathematical proportions, so essential in

-art, that was possessed by the subjects of the Pharaohs.

-For this reason we find a magnificent Indian

-philosophy and mystic science, but an undeveloped feeling

-for æsthetic values. With the exception of weird

-and bizarre architecture, that manifested itself most

-powerfully in the pagodas and temples, the Indian

-sculpture, painting, music and dancing are too primitive

-for our taste, as they probably were for that of the

-ancient Egyptians and Greeks.</p>

-

-<p>In all the Indian constructive arts, in their temple

-decorations and frescoes, we find very few dancing

-figures, still fewer graceful reproductions of the human

-body. Their gods and goddesses look to us like monsters.

-The Indian Venera, to be seen in the Pagoda of

-Bangilore, looks like a caricature, as compared with the

-Greek Aphrodite. The Indian goddess of dancing, Ramble,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span>

-who, according to the legend, was a courtesan of

-Indra, and gave birth to two daughters, Nandra (Luxury)

-and Bringa (Pleasure), lacks all the loftiness and

-charm which surrounded the dancing goddesses of

-Egypt and Greece. There is neither life nor grace in

-any of the Indian temple art. Even the smile of Indian

-gods is stupid and inexpressive. The lack of humor

-and joy mirrors itself best in the art of the Bayaderes,

-the celebrated dancers of India. Their gestures and

-movements are void of that exultant gaiety and optimism

-that predominates in dances of other nations. An

-air of gloom and pessimism emanates from all the Indian

-art.</p>

-

-<p>There is no doubt that the peculiarities of Indian

-music have been obstacles to the development of the

-national dance. Although it is full of color and feeling,

-yet the division of their scale into so many more

-tone units than ours makes it extremely difficult for a

-dancer to catch the delicate nuances and lines and

-reproduce them in movement. A few dancing designs

-here and there give the impression that this art has

-not changed during the four thousand years of the nation’s

-existence. Since the whole Indian civilization is

-the same to-day that it was thousands of years ago, we

-are pretty safe in our assumption that the dances of the

-Bayaderes exhibited at Calcutta or Benares now were

-pretty nearly the same during the life of Buddha. The

-modern dances, like the old ones, show similarity in

-the fact that the Indian dancers stand nearly at one

-spot and hardly move their feet, while mimicking, and

-moving their body, arms, hands and fingers. The individual

-peculiarity of all Indian dances lies in the impressionistic

-poses of their hands and the body.</p>

-

-<p>India deserves to be called the Land of a Thousand

-Religions. Religion to an Indian represents everything.

-Like wisdom and life, dance is of divine origin.

-From time immemorial dancing has been a part of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span>

-Indian temple ceremonies. The Brahmin religion is

-interwoven with beautiful legends and myths, according

-to which dancing was the first blessing that Brahma

-gave to mankind. One of the legends tells us that

-the divine Tshamuda danced to music while standing

-on an egg and holding a huge turtle on her back.

-In such a position she is to-day giving performances

-to Brahma in the Nirvana. Such a magic Paradise,

-with plenty of dancing and music, lasting from early

-morning till late in evening, is promised after death to

-all faithful souls.</p>

-

-<p>A widespread Indian legend is that which describes

-the magic dancing of the Apsarazases, or divine

-nymphs, with which the Indian imagination has populated

-every hill and brook. The only occupation of

-the Apsarazases is singing and aerial dancing. For this

-purpose these sacred nymphs are supplied with feathery

-wings which enable them to fly freely in the air.

-Dancers who reach the very climax of their art get

-magic wings like every Apsarazas and vanish alive

-from the earth. This legend laid the foundation of

-the Indian sacred dances, which were taught by the

-priests to young maidens kept specially for that purpose

-near the temples. While the European tourist

-calls all Indian dancers Bayaderes, regardless whether

-they give their performances on the streets or in the

-temples, an Indian calls the temple dancers Devadazis,

-or the ‘slaves of God.’ The common street or social

-dancer is called Nautch Girl. The Indian Devadazis

-are raised and educated much as are the Christian

-nuns. After being graduated from a dancing school,

-the girls are taken by the priests to the temples in which

-they give daily performances to the pilgrims and live

-as sacred courtesans with the clergy.</p>

-

-<p>The main function of the Devadazis consists in giving

-performances, either singly or in groups, to the

-priests and the pilgrims. Some of their dances take<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span>

-place in front of the pagodas, others inside. The dancers

-always wear a long garment, covering their body

-and legs, leaving only the hands and arms bare. Rich

-people can hire these temple dancers to give performances

-in their homes, otherwise they never appear outside

-the temple atmosphere. To an Indian dancer the

-most important parts of her body are her breasts and

-fingers. Though she appears in dance barefoot, frequently

-with rings in her toes, she pays comparatively

-little attention to her feet. Many of the modern Bayaderes

-wear an elaborate costume of yellow with wide

-pantalettes and richly embroidered wraps around the

-shoulders, leaving arms and breasts bare.</p>

-

-<p>The music accompanying the dances of the Indian

-Bayaderes is produced by an orchestra consisting of

-wood wind instruments similar to our flute and oboe,

-a few string instruments, two different drums and a

-few tambourines. The leader of the orchestra gives a

-sign by striking certain brass plates and the Bayaderes,

-lifting their veils, advance in front of the musicians

-and begin the dance. The dance, consisting usually

-only of mimic expressions of two dancers, has a strange

-melody and a stranger rhythm. Neither the music nor

-the dance can be compared with anything known in

-our Western art. Now and then the feet beat measure,

-otherwise there is little display of leg agility. The

-face, particularly the eyes, of the Indian dancers are

-very expressive. But the alphabet of the dance mimicry

-is so large that it requires a special study in order to

-understand and appreciate the fine movements of an

-artist.</p>

-

-<p>All the Indian social ceremonies, such as marriage,

-birth and burial, are celebrated with dancing and music.

-This is particularly true of the social ceremonies

-of the rich. The standing of the dancers is high in

-India, so that even in the palace of the Rajah dancers

-are treated like the guests. In certain parts of India<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span>

-the Bayaderes have the right to live as guests at any

-house without paying. Prince Uchtomsky, who made

-a special study of Indian life and art, writes that in

-cities visited by the European tourists one rarely gets

-a glimpse of the real Bayaderes. According to him

-there are many Indian Bayadere dancers that surpass

-in their suggestive power our most passionate ballets.

-Every line of their miniature impressionism in dance

-has an exotic beauty which implies more than it expresses.</p>

-

-<p>The Indian dancers are usually women, though Pierre

-Loti writes that he witnessed several dances performed

-by men. These dances, as described by him, tally

-closely with those which the writer saw frequently performed

-by various Mongolian tribes in South-Eastern

-Russia. But we are inclined to think that these, being

-wild in their character, could not be classified as dances

-of Indian origin.</p>

-

-<p>To a certain class of Indian dancing belong the well-known

-fakir dances, performed by begging pilgrims

-at public gatherings. These represent the surviving

-fanaticism of an ancient sect. Their strange performances

-are to be seen everywhere in Northern India.

-Absolutely naked and with dishevelled hair, they moan,

-shriek and groan, jumping wildly up and down and

-shaking their hands convulsively. When the fanatical

-execution has reached its climax the fakirs stab themselves

-with knives or hot irons until they fall into a

-trance. It is a kind of Oriental ‘Death Dance.’ To

-an outsider it is unexplainable how they can endure

-such self-torture for any length of time. In most cases

-the knives that the fakirs use are so constructed that

-they do not go deep into the body but scratch only

-the skin and produce slight wounds. Though their

-bloody performances make a deep and shocking impression

-upon the onlookers, yet dances of this kind

-cannot be classified as an art.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span>

-The best dancers that India has ever produced are

-those who resembled brooding philosophers and prophetic

-priestesses rather than pleasing artists. The Indian

-conception of beauty lies in the spiritual and intellectual

-and but little in the physical and æsthetic forms.

-The main purpose of the great Indian <i>ballerinas</i> is to

-inspire their audiences to thought and meditation upon

-the great powers of nature and the mystic purposes of

-human life. Their art is exotic and introspective and

-lacks absolutely the element of purely beautiful inspiration,

-produced by the great Western dancers. Those

-of our Western students of art who make us believe

-that they can perform genuine Indian dances are

-grossly mistaken, simply because the real Indian dance

-is not an art and amusement, but the preaching of a

-certain philosophy. Our materialistic logic is unable

-to catch the subtle philosophic symbolism that appeals

-to an Indian mind. We are brought up to enjoy the

-positive and not the negative plane of life. For us

-beauty is joy, for the Hindus it is sorrow. An Indian

-dancer who can move her audience to tears with her

-dancing will fail to make the least impression upon

-our audiences.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE

-AMERICAN INDIANS</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics of

-Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China; Yu-Vang’s

-‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern

-imitations; the Lantern Festival—Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional

-variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry; general

-characteristics and classification of Japanese dances—The American Indians:

-The Dream dance; the Ghost dance; the Snake dance.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">In</span> China the art of dancing was in full bloom for

-centuries before the Christian era. The great Chinese

-historians tell us that music and dancing were developed

-and stood in high esteem in China from the dynasty

-of Huang-Ta till the rule of They, which is a

-period of not less than 2450 years. Europe with its

-civilization did not yet exist when choreography was

-publicly taught in China. Like every other form of

-Chinese evolution, dancing thus fell into a state of

-spiritual torpidity. Forbearance, the foremost virtue

-of the Chinese race, that was preached by their ancient

-moralists, like Kon-Fu-Tse and others, stifled in the

-long run all the passionate emotions of the people and

-exerted a most detrimental influence upon the arts.

-Under such conditions the Chinese view of life grew

-materialistic and dry, the very opposite of the Indian.

-This peculiarity did not fail to make itself felt in

-Chinese dancing. The gradual killing of passionate

-emotions killed also the tendency to imagination in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span>

-the race. The fantasy that populated the air and water,

-the mountains and forests of other nations with

-myths, legends, gods and goddesses, was transformed in

-China into the most realistic reasonings and mechanical

-dexterity. The industrial spirit of the great nation

-killed all romantic and poetic aspirations in art, religion

-and literature. The music of China is as syncopated

-and monotonous as her views of life. The

-only poetry that the Chinese possess is that which was

-written 4000 years ago.</p>

-

-<p><i>You</i>, which means in Chinese language ‘dance,’ lacks

-the principal forms of agility of our choreography.

-<i>Pirouettes</i>, <i>jetés</i>, <i>cabrioles</i> and <i>pas’s</i> are unknown

-terms to a Chinese <i>ballerina</i>. Their dancing, consisting

-of slow gestures of the arms, the shaking of head,

-bowing to the ceiling, and other similar manipulations,

-makes at the first glance an impression that suggests

-to our imagination the officiating of Greek priests. The

-power of a dancer lies in the atmosphere that she

-creates and the peculiar imitating poses of the body.

-Chinese dance music is correspondingly slow of rhythm

-and reminds us in many ways of our ultra-modern

-orchestral music. However, we read in the works of

-the Chinese classics that their art of dancing was much

-higher about two and three thousand years ago.</p>

-

-<p>The ancient Chinese philosophers recommended

-dancing to strengthen the human body and mind. They

-emphasized the mimic expressions which all races of

-the world should learn as an unspoken and universal

-language. It is written that the great ruler Li-Kaong-Ti

-took dancing and music lessons from the great

-teacher of music, Teu-Kung, so that he was able to give

-entertainments in these arts to his family and guests.

-He founded a dancing academy at the court and invited

-learned Mandarins to take charge of the institution.

-Gradually dancing was introduced in all the colleges

-and public schools. All Chinese educated classes had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span>

-to be good dancers at that time. The rulers used to

-dance to the public at great annual festivals to express

-their gratitude or dissatisfaction. The receptions of

-various Viceroys at the national capital were opened

-with dancing performed by the great functionaries and

-statesmen of the empire. People judged the characteristics

-of their newly appointed officials and judges from

-the individual peculiarities of their dance. The Chinese

-court kept regularly 64 sworn dancers, who were

-obliged to give historic ‘ballets’ to the rulers. The orchestra

-was composed of flutes, a drum, one or several

-tambourines with bells, and a queer instrument in the

-shape of the figure ‘2.’ About a thousand years before

-Christ an imperial decree was issued for the purpose

-of limiting the number of dancers that one or another

-of the statesmen could employ.</p>

-

-<p>Eight different dances were performed at the Chinese

-court and eight dancers participated in each dance.

-The first dance was <i>Ivi-Men</i>—Moving Clouds; this was

-given in honor of the celestial spirits. The second

-dance was the <i>Ta-knen</i>—Great Circle; this was performed

-when the Emperor brought sacrifice at a round

-votive altar. The third dance was <i>Ta-gien</i>—General

-Motion; this was performed during the sacrificial festival

-at the square altar. The fourth dance was <i>Ta-mao</i>—Dance

-of Harmony; this was the most graceful dance

-and was dedicated to the Four Elements. The fifth

-dance was <i>Gia</i>—Beneficial Dance; this dance was dedicated

-to the spirits of the mountains and rivers, and

-was slow and majestic. The sixth dance was <i>Ta-gu</i>—Dance

-of Gratitude; this was dedicated to women. The

-seventh dance was <i>Ta-u</i>—Great War Dance; this was

-dedicated to the spirit of Man. The eighth dance was

-<i>U-gientze</i>—Dance of Waves; this was dedicated to the

-ancestors and was of elaborate form, containing nine

-different movements and nine different rhythms. These

-were all long ‘ballets’ and lasted for several hours each.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span>

-But besides these there were six smaller dances. One

-of these was called the Dance of the Mystic Bird; another

-the Dance of Oxtail; another the Dance of the

-Flag; another the Dance of Feathers; another the Sword

-Dance; and the last the Dance of Humanity. This was

-performed only by the Mandarins.</p>

-

-<p>The Chinese historians write that Confucius did not

-like the Sword Dance, but highly praised the others.

-Confucius describes the Emperor Yu-Vang, who lived

-1100 years before Christ, as the author of many new

-dances and composer of music to accompany them.

-One of his dances was a great historical ballet, which

-must have resembled the Roman pantomimes. This

-ballet has been performed in a distorted form in the

-nineteenth century and is mentioned by several Russian

-writers who lived or travelled in China. Judging from

-the Chinese writers, the historical ballet must have been

-a spectacular performance in the style of the Oberammergau

-Passion Play. It opened with the creation of

-the world and sea and ended with the latest phase of

-national history. Some of the dancers represented fish,

-animals and birds; others, monsters, spirits, rulers and

-social classes. The music of this ballet was of peculiar

-symphonic form, very melodious and dramatic. Only

-fragmentary records of the ancient notation had been

-preserved in the imperial palace at Pekin, but during

-recent political disturbances even these vanished and

-the world has thus been deprived of one of the most

-valuable of musical documents.</p>

-

-<p>In China the social and religious dancers were one

-and the same. The touring dancing companies to be

-seen to-day in China give a faint idea of the ancient

-choreography. Japanese dancing has made a deep impression

-upon the Chinese dancers, so that there is a

-marked element of mixture in the performances that

-one sees in the present Chinese towns. The Chinese

-dancers from olden times on have been men and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span>

-women. It seems as if men predominated before, while

-now the feminine element is in majority. The Chinese

-dancing costumes are bizarre and picturesque. There

-are no barefoot dancers among them and their bodies

-are heavily covered with garments. Nude dancers are

-unknown in China.</p>

-

-<p>An odd class of Chinese dancers are the dancing

-Mandarins. In Su-Chu-Fu there exists still an old

-school that was founded 2500 years ago for the purpose

-of teaching dancing to the Mandarins. They presumably

-learned with the idea of using the art in religious

-rituals. The style of their dancing differs

-slightly from that of the professional class. Dancing

-Mandarins can be seen now in China, but their cabalistic

-gestures and queer mimic expressions are unintelligible

-to the Western mind. There are no folk or national

-dances in China and the people do not dance in

-the same sense as we in our social dances. The idea

-of a social dance is a torture to an average Chinaman.

-He enjoys seeing dancing, but never takes part in it.

-The rich Chinese frequently hire professional dancers

-and let them give performances at their houses. The

-Chinese wedding dances are never performed by the

-bride, groom, or their guests, but by hired professional

-dancers or dancing Mandarins. The historians tell us

-that this was not so in remote antiquity. There was a

-time when the Chinese people danced, though their

-dances were mostly slow and pantomimic. The Russian

-ballet dancers, who have toured in China, have told

-that their performances filled the Chinese audiences

-with horror and disgust, as our Western acrobatic technique

-makes them afraid of possible neck-breaking accidents.</p>

-

-<p>The attempts of Europeans to create Chinese ballets

-for our Western stage have been in so far miserable

-failures. ‘Kia-King’ by Titus, ‘Chinese Wedding’ by

-Calzevaro, and ‘Lily’ by San-Leon give no true impression<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span>

-of Chinese choreography of any age. Nor are

-their music or their scenarios similar to any genuine

-Chinese ballets of the above-named titles.</p>

-

-<p>In our story of Chinese dancing it is worth while to

-mention the celebrated ‘Lantern Festival’ that is performed

-every New Year night. It is very likely that

-the Chinese had once long ago a lantern dance, which

-has degenerated now into a simple marching procession,

-in which the people participate in the same sense

-as the Italians do in their carnival. Confucius writes

-of it as of a festival in honor of the sun, the source of

-the light and life. This festival is celebrated three

-nights continually. Everything considered, we come

-to the conclusion that the art of dancing of the land of

-Mandarins has been of little influence and significance

-to our choreography. The reason for this lies partly

-in the racial morale, partly in a national psychology

-that breathes peace and externalism.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>Of a quite different character are the dances of Japan,

-of which Marcella A. Hincks gives to us a comprehensive

-picture. According to her, dancing in Japan is

-an essential part of religion and national tradition. In

-one of the oldest Japanese legends we are told that the

-Sun Goddess Amaterasu, being angry, hid herself in a

-cave, so that the world was plunged in darkness and

-life on earth became intolerable. The eight million

-deities of the Japanese heaven, seeing the sorrow and

-destruction wrought by Amaterasu’s absence from the

-world, sought by every means possible to coax her from

-her retreat. But nothing could prevail on her to leave

-it, until one god, wiser than the others, devised a plan

-whereby the angered goddess might be lured from her

-hiding place. Among the immortals was the beautiful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span>

-Ame-No-Azume, whom they sent to dance and sing at

-the mouth of the cave, and the goddess, attracted by

-the unusual sound of music and dancing, and unable

-to withstand her curiosity, emerged from the concealment,

-to gaze upon the dancer. So once more she gave

-the light of her smile to the world. The people never

-forgot that dancing had been the means of bringing

-back Amaterasu to Japan, therefore from time immemorial

-the dance has been honored as a religious

-ceremony and practiced as a fine art throughout the

-Land of the Rising Sun.</p>

-

-<p>Dancing in Japan is not associated with pleasure and

-joyful feeling alone; every emotion, grave or gay, may

-become the subject of a dance. Some time ago funeral

-dances were performed around the corpse, which was

-placed in a building specially constructed for that purpose,

-and though it is said that originally the dancers

-hoped to recall the dead to life by the power and charm

-of their dance, later the measures were performed

-merely as a farewell ceremony.</p>

-

-<p>The Japanese dance is of the greatest importance and

-interest historically. Like her civilization, and the

-greater number of her arts, Japan borrowed many

-of her dance ideas from China, though the genius of

-the people very soon developed many new forms of

-dance, quite distinct from the Chinese importation.

-From the earliest times dancing has been closely associated

-with religion: in both the Shinto and the Buddhist

-faiths we find it occupying foremost place in worship.

-The Buddhist priests of the thirteenth century

-made use of dancing as a refining influence, which

-helped to refine the uncultured military class by which

-Japan was more or less ruled during the early Middle

-Ages.</p>

-

-<p>The Japanese dance, like that of the ancient Greeks,

-is predominantly of a pantomimic nature, and strives

-to represent in gesture a historic incident, some mythical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span>

-legend, or a scene from folk-lore; its chief characteristic

-is always expressiveness, and it invariably possesses

-a strong emotional tendency. The Japanese have

-an extraordinary mimic gift which they have cultivated

-to such an extent that it is doubtful whether any other

-people has ever developed such a wide and expressive

-art of gesture. Dancing in the European sense the

-Japanese would call <i>dengaku</i> or acrobatic.</p>

-

-<p>Like the tea ceremony, the Japanese dance is esoteric

-as well as exoteric, and to apprehend the meaning of

-every gesture is no easy task to the uninitiated. Thus

-to arch the hand over the eyes conveys that the dancer

-is weeping; to extend the arms while looking eagerly

-in the direction indicated by the hand suggests that

-the dancer is thinking of some one in a far-away country.

-The arms crossed at the chest mean meditation,

-etc. There is, for instance, a set of special gestures for

-the <i>No</i> dances, divided first of all into a certain number

-of fundamental gestures and poses, and then into

-numerous variations of these, and figures devised from

-them, much as the technique of the European ballet

-dancing consists of ‘fundamental positions’ and endless

-less important ‘positions.’</p>

-

-<p>The conventional gestures, sleeve-waving and fan-waving

-movements, constitute the greatest difficulty in

-the way of an intelligent interpretation of the Japanese

-dance. The technique is also elaborate and the vocabulary

-of the dancing terms large, but the positions and

-the attitudes of the limbs are radically different from

-those of the European dance, the feet being little

-seen, and their action considered subordinate, though

-the stamping of the feet is important in some cases.

-The ease of movement, the smoothness and the legato

-effect of a Japanese dance can only be obtained by the

-most rigorous physical training. The Japanese strive

-to master the technique so thoroughly that every movement

-of the body is produced with perfect ease and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span>

-spontaneity; their ideal is art hidden by its own perfection.</p>

-

-<p>The dances of Japan may be grouped under three

-broad divisions of equal importance: Religious, classical,

-and popular. The last vestiges of a religious dance

-of great antiquity may still be seen at the half-yearly

-ceremonials of Confucius, when eight pairs of dancers

-in gorgeous robes, each holding a triple pheasant’s

-feather in one hand and a six-holed flute in the other,

-posture and dance as an accompaniment to the Confucian

-hymn. It is said that the <i>Bugaku</i> dance was

-introduced 2000 years ago.</p>

-

-<p>The Japanese history of dancing begins from the

-eighth to twelfth centuries. The <i>Bugaku</i> and the <i>Kagura</i>,

-another ancient Japanese sacred dance, are considered

-the bases of all the other dances. The movements

-in both dances strive to express reverence, adoration

-and humility. The music of the old Japanese

-dances is solemn, weird and always in a minor key,

-and the instruments used are flutes and a drum. Stages

-were erected at all the principal Shinto temples and

-each temple had its staff of dancers. The <i>Kagura</i> dance

-can still be seen at the temple of Kasuga at Nara. Like

-the Chinese, the Japanese lack dances known to us as

-folk-dancing. In the art of dancing Japan far surpasses

-China, this being due to the more emotional and poetic

-character of the race. The dancing of Japan, like its

-other arts, is outspokenly impressionistic and symbolic.

-It is graceful and dainty and gives evidence of thorough

-refinement.</p>

-

-<p>Dances of pungent racial tinge are those of the

-American Indians. The best known of the Indian

-pantomimes are the Ghost, Snake, and Dream Dances.

-Very little observed and recorded are their various

-war dances; still less their social dances. Stolid, impassive

-and stoic as is the man himself, so are his

-dances and other æsthetic expressions. Void of frivolous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span>

-gaiety and passionate joy as an Indian remains

-in his life, so is his dance. His dance turns more about

-some mystic or religious idea than about a sexual

-one. There is that peculiar heavy and secretive trait

-in an Indian folk-dance that manifests itself so conspicuously

-in the dances of the Siberian Mongolians,

-as the Buriats, Kalmuks, and particularly the Finns.

-Though our space is limited, we shall here attempt to

-give an outline of the better known peculiarities of Indian

-folk-dances, particularly of the Dream Dance

-of the Chippewa tribe.</p>

-

-<p>The Chippewas or Ojibways were, at the arrival of

-the whites, one of the largest of the tribes of North

-America. They originally occupied the region embracing

-both shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

-We owe the description of the Dream Dance to S. A.

-Barrett, according to whose view it is based on the

-story of an Indian girl who escaped into the lake upon

-the arrival of the white men and hid herself among the

-lilies, thinking they would soon leave. She remained

-in the lake for ten days without food or sleep, until

-the Great Spirit from the clouds rescued her miraculously

-and carried her back to her people. In memory

-of this event the ceremony of the Dream Dance was

-instituted and is performed annually in the open air,

-about the first of July. A special dance ground, from

-fifty to eighty feet in diameter, was prepared and

-marked off by a circle of logs or by a low fence. This

-circle was provided with an opening toward the west

-and one toward the east.</p>

-

-<p>The objects about which this whole ceremony centres

-are a large drum and a special calumet, the former

-elaborately decorated with strips of fur, beadwork,

-cloth, coins, etc. It is hung by means of loops upon

-four elaborately decorated stakes. Often they are provided

-with bells. To this the greatest reverence is paid

-throughout the dance, a special guard being kept for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span>

-it. The calumet serves as a sacrificial altar, the function

-of which is the burning of sacred tobacco, in order

-that its incense may be carried to the particular deity

-in whose honor the offering is made. The drum is

-beaten by ten to fifteen drummers, each beating it

-with a stick two feet long, as an accompaniment to the

-song which serves as the dance tune. Each song lasts

-from five to ten minutes, and is repeated for several

-hours continually.</p>

-

-<p>The drum-strokes are beaten in pairs, which gives the

-impression of difference in the interval of time between

-the two strokes of one pair and the initial stroke

-of the next. In this dance, which is always performed

-by a man of highest standing in the community, a

-dancer may go through the necessary motions with the

-feet without moving from the position in which he is

-standing, or he may dance one or more times around

-the circle. Frequently the dancers take at first a complete

-turn around the circle and come back to the

-vicinity of the original seats and dance here until the

-tune is finished. The movement is of a skipping step,

-from the east to the west. Perfect time is kept in

-the music no matter what movement may be employed

-by the dancer. Two motions up and down are first

-made with one heel and then two motions with the

-other, these being in perfect unison with the double

-strokes of the drum sticks. The position assumed in

-the dancing is perfectly erect, the weight of the body

-being rapidly shifted from one foot to the other, as

-the dancing proceeds. The foot is kept in a position

-which is nearly horizontal, the toe just touching the

-ground at each stroke of the drum. The dance begins

-at eleven o’clock in the morning and lasts until four

-in the afternoon. A special festival meal is served

-during the dance in the circle.</p>

-

-<p>Of somewhat different nature is the Ghost Dance,

-which is performed in the unclosed area, the ground<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span>

-being consecrated by the priests before the beginning

-of the ceremony. The features of this are the sacred

-crow, certain feathers, arrows, and game sticks, and

-a large pole which is placed in the centre of the dancing

-area. About this the dancers circle in a more lively

-motion and with lighter steps than the dancers in the

-Dream Dance. In this there are no musical instruments

-used. The men, women and children take part

-in the Ghost Dance, their faces painted with symbolic

-designs. The participants form a circle, each person

-grasping the hand of his adjacent neighbor, and all

-moving sidewise with a dragging, shuffling step, in

-time to the songs which provide the music. The purpose

-of the Dream Dance is to communicate with the

-Great Spirit of Life. The Ghost Dance has for its

-object the communication of the participants with the

-spirits of the departed relatives and friends, this being

-accomplished by hypnotic trances induced through the

-agency of the medicine man.</p>

-

-<p>The Snake Dance is a ceremony performed by the

-Indians of the southern states. This is of a ghastly

-nature, as the dancer holds two rattlesnakes in his

-mouth while executing his evolutions. Not only must

-the dancer be an artist who can manage the movement

-of his face so that the heads of the deadly snakes

-cannot touch his face or bare upper body, but he has

-to know the secret words that neutralize the poison

-of the snake, in case he should be bitten. This dance,

-like the two above named, is executed in a circle to the

-chant of special singers. Though the Indian uses musical

-instruments for his social ceremonies, such as the

-turtle-shell harp, wooden flute and whistles, he never

-applies their tunes to the dances that have a more

-serious or religious meaning. The Snake Dance, like

-the Dream Dance, is based on a legend, but the story

-of it is more involved, tragic and mystic, therefore its

-ghastly nature and weird symbolic gestures appear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span>

-more vivid and direct than the themes of any other of

-the Indian folk-dances. But the steps and poses of

-every Indian dance are similar to each other, slow,

-compact, impassive and dignified. A strong mystic

-and symbolic feeling pervades the limited gestures and

-mimic expressions. Æsthetic ideas with the Indian

-are closely interwoven with those of ethics and religion.

-There is nothing graceful, amusing, delicate or charming

-in an Indian dance, therefore our dance authorities

-have ignored them.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCES OF HEBREWS AND ARABS</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its modern

-influence—The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle Ages; characteristics

-of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily life; the harem, the

-Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the Arab dances.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">That</span> dancing was practiced in temples and homes of

-the ancient Hebrews is evident from numerous Biblical

-allusions, and is only natural when we consider that

-they were educated in Egypt, the cradle of dancing.

-Some scholars maintain that dancing was a part of

-Hebrew worship, pointing as a proof of their theory

-to David’s dancing before the Ark of the Covenant and

-the fact that Moses, after the crossing of the Red Sea,

-bade the children of Israel to dance. Others, basing

-their arguments on the Talmud, deny this. It is very

-likely that the dancing which the Hebrews had learned

-in Egypt soon degenerated into crude shows, due to

-their long nomadic desert life, far from civilization.

-Only now and then did some of their kings indulge

-in dancing and try to revive the vanishing art. David

-and Solomon introduced dancing at their courts and

-in the temple, as we can see in the Bible: ‘Praise the

-Lord—praise him with timbrel and dance.’ ‘Then shall

-the virgin rejoice in the dance.’ ‘Thou shalt be again

-adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the

-dances,’ etc. On another occasion we read how the sons

-of Benjamin were taught to capture their wives. ‘If the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span>

-daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then

-come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man

-his wife.—And the children of Benjamin did so, and

-took them wives, according to their number of them

-that danced, whom they caught.’</p>

-

-<p>The Dance of the Golden Calf, which was plausibly

-an imitation of the Egyptian Apis Dance, was most

-severely forbidden by Moses. Since this dance was one

-of the principal ceremonial dances of Egypt, it is evident

-that it had rooted deep into the soul of the people

-and Moses had to resort to violent methods in order

-to abolish it entirely. We read in the Bible that to

-honor the slayer of Goliath, the women came out from

-all the cities of Israel and received him with singing and

-dancing. Other historic sources tell us that the ancient

-Hebrews frequently hired dancers and musicians for

-their social ceremonies. There are various Byzantine

-designs and inscriptions of the fifth and sixth centuries,

-in which King David is depicted as a ballet master, with

-a lyre in his hand, surrounded by dancing men and

-women. We read that when Solomon finished the New

-Temple in Jerusalem it was dedicated with singing and

-dancing. It is evident that the ancient Hebrew sacred

-dances were performed by men, while women figured

-exclusively in the social dancing. The Jews in Morocco

-employ professional dancers for the celebration of the

-marriage ceremony to-day.</p>

-

-<p>The best known of the ancient Hebrew dances is

-that of the celebrated Salome. Thus we read in a chapter

-of St. Matthew of the beheading of John the Baptist:

-‘But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of

-Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.

-Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever

-she would ask.’ These short remarks of the New

-Testament describe a gruesome tragedy that has inspired

-hundreds of artists to amplify with their imagination

-what has been left unsaid in the Gospel.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span>

-Moreau, Botticelli, Dolci, Reno and Stuck have produced

-immortal paintings of Salome. Some of them

-have depicted her as a stately society lady of her times,

-the others show her either frivolous, abnormal or

-under the spell of narcotics and wine. Many gruesome

-legends have risen about the death of Salome, according

-to which she committed suicide by drowning. But

-an accurate historic investigation has revealed that

-she was married to the Tetrarch Philip, after whose

-death she became the wife of Aristobul, the son of

-Herod, and died at the age of 54.</p>

-

-<p>Be that as it may, the Salome episode is an eloquent

-proof that dancing was cultivated by the Hebrews and

-that their daughters were educated in this art either

-by Egyptian or Greek masters. Several other historic

-allusions show that Greek dancers went often to Jerusalem

-to give there performances during the national

-festivals. Plutarch writes that rich Hebrews came to

-the Olympic and Dionysian Festivals and were eager

-to learn Greek music and dancing. But evidently the

-Greek arts had the least influence upon the Hebrews,

-whose minds had been trained in the strict Mosaic code

-of morals to follow only the autocratic commandments

-of the Lord, and to leave all the arts of other races

-alone. Like the Confucian philosophy in China, the

-Mosaic ethics in Palestine put a stamp of æsthetic stagnation

-on Hebrew national life. For this very reason

-the Hebrews never developed a national art, particularly

-a national music or national dance.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Salome</i> of Richard Strauss has inspired many of

-our Western dancers to personify the ancient heroine.

-With the exception of Ida Rubinstein and Natasha

-Trouhanova, the Salome dances of all the European

-or American aspirants have been of no importance.

-There are characteristics to be seen in a few old inscriptions

-of dancing Hebrew priests which express

-most forcibly their peculiar nervous poses and quick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span>

-gestures. European choreography has for the most

-part failed to grasp the principal features of the vanished

-Hebrew dances.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>Of all living Oriental races the Arabs show the most

-innate instinct for dancing. Judging from the ruins of

-the architecture that the Moors have left in Spain we

-can see that they knew more than the mere elementary

-rules of æsthetic line and form, which is the very essential

-of a dance. The ruins of the majestic Alhambra

-speak a language that fills us with an awe. No architects

-of other races, either dead or living, have reached

-that harmony of line which is plainly visible in this

-structural masterpiece of humanity. Since, according

-to the views of all æsthetic psychologists, dancing and

-architecture develop as allied arts, the Moors must have

-developed a high degree of dancing in the Middle

-Ages, when the rest of the world was shaken by barbaric

-wars and ruled by ecclesiastic fanaticism. However,

-the Mohammedan religion prohibits painting and

-sculpture, therefore we find no frescoes or decorations

-in the walls of the Moorish castles or Mosques that

-could give an idea of the style and perfection of the

-dancing that was taught in Cadiz.</p>

-

-<p>The Greek and Roman writers allude frequently to

-the fiery and passionate dances that were exhibited

-by the graduates of Cadiz, ‘which surpassed anything

-the people had seen before.’ We know that the Moors

-taught dancing to their boys and girls alike. Furthermore,

-we know that their dances differed distinctly

-from those of the Greeks and Egyptians. The dancing

-teachers at Cadiz emphasized agility of legs, softness

-and grace of the body and a vivid technique of imitation.

-Passion was the principal theme of their feminine

-dances, and was expressed with the technique of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span>

-virtuosity. It is said that the Califs of Seville kept a

-staff of fifty trained dancers at their court.</p>

-

-<p>The essential feature of Arabian dancing was the

-graphic production of pictorial episodes, in rich harmonious

-lines of the body, sensuous grace of the poses

-and sinuous elegance of movement. A special emphasis

-was placed upon the exhibition of the most perfect

-womanly beauty. To complete the task of architectural

-perfection an Arabic dancer was taught to study

-carefully the geometric laws of nature and eliminate

-the crudities acquired in everyday life. The principal

-musical instrument of the Moorish dancers was the African

-guitar, which was their national invention. Most

-of the great Arab dancers were women, who preferred

-to dance without a masculine partner. Ordinarily they

-danced to the music of two or three differently tuned

-guitars, and only on festival occasions or in appearances

-at court was the music supplied by an orchestra

-of ten or more. Already the Arabs had their musical

-notation, set in three colors: red, green, and blue. Fragments

-of their mediæval music notation were recently

-discovered by a French scholar and were successfully

-deciphered. It appears that many of the dance melodies

-still in use in Spain are of Moorish descent. The

-Kinneys,<a id="FNanchor_A" href="#Footnote_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> who seemingly have made a study of Spanish

-and modern Arab dancing, write of it graphically,

-as follows:</p>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a id="Footnote_A" href="#FNanchor_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> Troy and Margaret West Kinney: The Dance (New York, 1914).</p></div>

-

-<p>‘Of formulated dances the Arab has few, and those

-no more set than are the words of our stories: the point

-must not be missed, but we may choose our own vocabulary.

-In terms of the dance, the Arab entertainer

-tells stories; in the case of known and popular stories

-she follows the accepted narrative, but improvises the

-movements and poses that express it, exactly as though

-they were spoken words instead of pantomime. Somewhat

-less freedom necessarily obtains in the narration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span>

-of dance-poems than in the recital of trifling incidents;

-but within the necessary limits, originality is prized. In

-the mimetic vocabulary are certain phrases that are

-depended upon to convey their definite meanings. New

-word-equivalents, however, are always in order, if they

-can stand the searching test of eyes educated in beauty

-and minds trained to exact thinking.</p>

-

-<p>‘Nearly unlimited as it is in scope, delightful as it

-unfailingly is to those who know it, Arabic dancing

-suits occasions of a variety of which the dances of

-Europe never dreamed. In the café it diverts and

-sometimes demoralizes. In his house the master

-watches the dancing of his slaves, dreaming under the

-narcotic spell of rhythm. On those rare occasions when

-the demands of diplomacy or business compel him to

-bring a guest into his house, the dancing of slaves is depended

-upon to entertain. His wives dance before him

-to please his eye, and to cajole him into conformity with

-their desires. Even the news of the day is danced, since

-the doctrines of Mohammed deprecate the printing

-of almost everything except the Koran. Reports of

-current events reach the male population in the market

-and the café. At home men talk little of outside affairs,

-and women do not get out except to visit others of their

-kind, as isolated from the world as themselves. But

-they get all the news that is likely to interest them, none

-the less; at least the happenings in the world of Mohammedanism.</p>

-

-<p>‘As vendors of information of passing events, there

-are women that wander in pairs from city to city, from

-harem to harem, like bards of the early North. As

-women they are admitted to women’s apartments.

-There, while one rhythmically pantomimes deeds of

-war to the cloistered ones that never saw a soldier, or

-graphically imitates the punishment of a malefactor in

-the market place, her companion chants, with falsetto

-whines, a descriptive and rhythmic accompaniment.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span>

-Thus is the harem protected against the risk of narrowness.</p>

-

-<p>‘In the daily life of the harem, dancing is one of the

-favored pastimes. Women dance to amuse themselves

-and to entertain one another. In the dance, as in music

-and embroidery, there is endless interest, and a spirit

-of emulation usually friendly.</p>

-

-<p>‘One of the comparatively formalized mimetic expressions

-is the “Dance of Greeting,” the function of

-which is to honor a guest when occasion brings him into

-the house. Let it be imagined that coffee and cigarettes

-have been served to two grave gentlemen; that one has

-expressed bewilderment at the magnificence of the establishment,

-and his opinion that too great honor has

-been done him in permitting him to enter it; that the

-host has duly made reply that his grandchildren will

-tell with pride of the day when the poor house was so

-honored that such a one set his foot within it. After

-which a sherbet, more coffee and cigarettes. When

-the time seems propitious, the host suggests to the guest

-that if in his great kindness he will look at her, he—the

-host—would like permission to order a slave to try

-to entertain with a dance.</p>

-

-<p>‘The musicians squatting against the wall begin the

-wailing of the flute, the hypnotic throb of “darabukkeh.”

-She who is designed to dance the Greeting enters

-holding before her a long scarf that half conceals her;

-the expression on her face is surprise, as though honor

-had fallen to her beyond her merits or expectation.

-Upon reaching her place she extends her arms forward,

-then slowly moves them, and with them the scarf, to one

-side, until she is revealed. When a nod confirms the

-command to dance, she quickly drops the scarf to the

-floor, advances to a place before the guest and near

-him, and honors him with a slave’s salutation. Then

-arising she proceeds to her silent Greeting. * * *</p>

-

-<p>‘The Arabian dance is not a dance of movement; it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span>

-is a dance of pictures, to which movement is wholly

-subordinate. Each bar of the music accompanies a

-picture complete in itself. Within the measure of each

-bar the dancer has time for the movements leading

-from one picture to the next, and to hold the picture

-for the instant necessary to give emphasis. At whatever

-moment she may be stopped, therefore, she is

-within less than a moment’s pose so perfectly balanced

-that it appears as a natural termination of the dance.

-The Oriental’s general indifference to the forces of accumulation

-and climax are consistent with such a capricious

-ending. In his dance each phrase is complete

-in itself; it may be likened to one of those serial stories

-in our magazines, in which each installment of the story

-is self-sufficient.</p>

-

-<p>‘To the Occidental unused to Oriental art, the absence

-of crescendo and climax, and the substituted

-iteration carried on endlessly, is uninteresting. Nevertheless,

-a few days of life among Oriental conditions

-suffice to throw many a scoffer into attunement with

-the Oriental art idea, which is to soothe, not to stimulate.

-Moorish ornament is an indefinitely repeated

-series of marvellously designed units, each complete in

-itself, yet inextricably interwoven with its neighbors.

-In music the beats continue unchanging through bar

-after bar, phrase after phrase. The rhythmic repetition

-of the tile-designs on the wall, the decorative repetition

-of the beats of music, produce a spell of dreamy

-visioning comparable only to the effect of some potent

-but harmless narcotic.’</p>

-

-<p>From all modern observations and ancient records

-it is evident that the Arabs’ dances differed essentially

-from their Eastern neighbors. Spain undoubtedly is

-the only Occidental country that has preserved in its

-vivid national dances, <i>Jotas</i>, <i>Boleros</i>, <i>Seguidillas</i> and

-<i>Fandangos</i>, the mutilated and deformed elements of

-the vanished choreography of Cadiz. Though the Moor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span>

-has left so few records of his highly cultivated art of

-dancing, yet his spectral shadow hangs over the race

-beyond the Pyrenees. Of all the living civilized nations

-the Spaniards, more than any others, are justly

-the very incarnation of the vanished magic Arabs in

-dance. A studious observer finds in Spanish dances all

-the hysteria, magic, seductiveness and softness that was

-practiced by mediæval Arab dancers. And then the

-costumes—most picturesque and romantic—that the

-Spanish women use in their dances are similar in their

-lines and colors to those that were worn by the Moorish

-girls who entertained with their magic dances a Cleopatra

-and a Cæsar.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life; Xenophon’s

-description; Greek religion and the dance; Terpsichore—Dancing of

-youths, educational value; Greek dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation;

-Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia;

-the Cordax; the Hormos—Greek theatres; comparison of periods;

-the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Best</span> known to us of all the ancient and exotic dances

-are those of the Greeks. In Greece dancing was an

-actual language, interpreting all sentiments and passions.

-Aristotle speaks of Saltators whose dances mirrored

-the manners, the passions and the actions of

-men. About three hundred years before the Augustan

-era dancing in Greece had reached an apotheosis that

-it has never reached in any other country in the history

-of ancient civilization. Accurate information about

-the ancient Greek dances is given not only in numerous

-fresco paintings, reliefs and sculptures, but in the

-works of Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Lucian, Aristophanes,

-Hesiod and many others.</p>

-

-<p>That dancing was highly esteemed as an accomplishment

-for young ladies in the Heroic Age we may gather

-from the sixth book of the Odyssey, when gentle white-armed

-Nausicaa, the daughter of a king, is represented

-as leading her companions in the choral lay after they

-had washed their linen in the stream, and amused themselves

-awhile with a game of ball. Ulysses compliments

-her especially upon her choric skill, saying that if she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span>

-should chance to be one of those mortals who dwell

-on earth her brother and venerable mother must be

-ever delighted when they behold her entering the dance.

-We read how Ulysses was entertained at the court of

-Alcinous, the father of the young lady who had befriended

-him, and whose dancing he had so greatly

-admired. The admiration of the wanderer was excited

-by the rapid and skillful movements of the dancers,

-who were not maidens only, but youths in the prime

-of life. Presently two of the most accomplished youths,

-Halius and Laodamus, were selected by Alcinous to exhibit

-their skill in a dance, during which one performer

-threw a ball high in the air while the other caught it

-between his feet before it reached the ground. From

-the further description it appears that this was a true

-dance and not a mere acrobatic performance, and that

-the purple ball was used by the participants simply as

-an accessory.</p>

-

-<p>The twenty-third book of the same poem tells us that

-dancing among the guests at wedding festivals formed

-in these early times an essential part of the ceremonies.

-The wanderer, having been recognized by the faithful

-Penelope, tells his son, Telemachus, to let the divine

-bard who has the tuneful harp lead the sportive dance,

-so that anyone hearing it from without may say it is a

-marriage. Homer thought so highly of dancing that

-in the ‘Iliad’ he calls it ‘irreproachable.’ In describing

-various scenes which Vulcan wrought on the shield of

-Achilles, he associates dancing with hymeneal festivities.

-No Athenian festivals were ever celebrated without

-dancing. The design with which the gods used to

-adorn the shields of heroes represented the dance contrived

-by Dædalus for fair-haired Ariadne. In this

-dance youths with tunics and golden swords suspended

-from silver belts, and virgins clothed in fine linen

-robes and wearing beautiful garlands, danced together,

-holding each other by the wrists. They danced in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span>

-circle, bounding nimbly with skilled feet, as when a

-potter, sitting, shall make trial of a wheel fitted to his

-hands, whether it will run; and at other times they ran

-back to their places between one another.</p>

-

-<p>Galen complained that ‘so much do they give themselves

-up to this pleasure, with such activity do they

-pursue it, that the necessary arts are neglected.’ The

-Greek festivals in which dancing was a feature were

-innumerable. The Pythian, Marathon, Olympic and all

-other great national games opened with and ended with

-dancing. The funeral feats of Androgeonia and Pollux,

-the festivals of Bacchus, Jupiter, Minerva, Diana,

-Apollo, and the Feasts of the Muses and of Naxos were

-celebrated predominantly with dancing ceremonies.

-According to Scaliger dancing played an important part

-in the Pythian games, representations which may be

-looked upon as the first utterances of the dramatic

-Muse, as they were divided into five acts, and were

-composed of poetic narrative with imitative music performed

-by choruses and dances. Lucian assures us

-that if dancing formed no part of the program in the

-Olympian games, it was because the Greeks thought

-no prizes could adequately reward it. Socrates danced

-with Aspasia and Aristides danced at a banquet given

-by Dionysius of Syracuse.</p>

-

-<p>The Greeks danced always and everywhere. They

-danced in the temples, in the woods and in the fields.

-Every social or family event, birth, marriage and death,

-gave occasion for a dance. Cybele, the mother of the

-Immortals, taught dancing to the Corybantes upon

-Mount Ida and to the Curetes in the island of Crete.

-Apollo dictated choreographic laws through the mouths

-of his priestesses. Priapus, one of the Titans, taught

-the god of war how to dance before instructing him

-in strategics. The heroes followed the example of the

-gods. Theseus celebrated his victory over the Minotaur

-with dances. Castor and Pollux created the Caryatis,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span>

-a nude dance performed by Spartan maids on the banks

-of the Eurotas.</p>

-

-<p>It is written that Æschylus and Aristophanes danced

-in public in their own plays. Philip of Macedonia married

-a dancer by whom he had a son who succeeded

-Alexander. Nicomedes, King of Pithynia, was the son

-of a dancing girl. This art was so esteemed that great

-dancers and ballet masters were chosen to act as public

-men. The best Greek dancers came from the Arcadians.

-The main aim of the Greek dancers was to contrive

-the most perfect plastic lines in the various poses of

-the human body, and in this sculpture was their ideal.

-It is said that the divine sculpture of Greece was inspired

-by the high standard of national choreography.</p>

-

-<p>Though we know little of the Greek dance music,

-yet occasional allusions inform us that it was instrumental

-and vocal. Thus Athenæus says: ‘The Hyporchematic

-Dance is that in which the chorus dances

-while singing.’ Xenophon writes in his sixth book of

-‘Anabasis’ as follows: ‘After libations were made, and

-the guests had sung a pæan, there rose up first the Thracians,

-and danced in arms to the music of a flute, and

-jumped up very high with light jumps, and used their

-swords. And at last one of them strikes another, so

-that it seemed to everyone that the man was wounded;

-and he fell down in a very clever manner, and all the

-bystanders raised an outcry. And he who struck him,

-having stripped him of his arms, went out singing <i>sitacles</i>;

-and others of the Thracians carried out his antagonist

-as if he were dead, but in reality he was not

-hurt. After this some Ænianians and Magnesians rose

-up, who danced the dance called Carpæa, they, too, being

-in armor. And the fashion of the dance was like

-this: One man, having laid aside his arms, is sowing

-and driving a yoke of oxen, constantly looking around,

-as if he were afraid. Then comes up a robber; but the

-sower, as soon as he sees him, snatches up his arms, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span>

-fights in defence of his team in regular time to the

-music of the flute, and at last the robber, having bound

-the man, carries off the team; but sometimes the sower

-conquers the robber, and then, binding him alongside

-his oxen, he ties his hands behind him and drives him

-forward.’</p>

-

-<p>Another ancient Greek dance is graphically described

-by Xenophon as it was given by Callias to entertain his

-guests, among whom was Socrates. The dance represented

-the marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne. ‘Ariadne,

-dressed like a bride, comes in and takes her

-place. Dionysos enters, dancing to the music. The

-spectators did all admire the young man’s carriage, and

-Ariadne herself is so affected with the sight that she

-may hardly sit. After a while Dionysos, beholding

-Ariadne, and, incensed with love, bowing to her knees,

-embraces and kisses her first, and kisses her with grace.

-She embraces him again, and kisses him with the like

-affection.’</p>

-

-<p>The nature of the Greek religion was such that many

-of their sacred dances would, according to our conventions,

-be far more shocking than those which they

-performed socially. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo

-we read how the Ionians with their wives and children

-were accustomed to assemble in honor of the god, and

-delight him with their singing and dancing. The poet

-describes that dancing was at that time an art in which

-everybody could join, and that it was by no means cultivated

-only by professional artists. Though the Ionians

-contributed much to the development of the art

-of dancing, yet in later years these degenerated into

-voluptuous gesticulations and sensuous poses known

-by the Romans as ‘Ionic Movements.’ In another part

-of the same poem Homer depicts ‘the fair-haired

-Graces, the wise Hours and Harmony, and Hebe and

-Venus, the daughter of Jove, dance, holding each other

-by the wrists. Apollo strikes the harp, taking grand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span>

-and lofty steps, and a shining haze surrounds him, and

-the light glitters on his feet and on his well-fitted tunic.’

-Pan, who was considered by the Greeks as well as by

-the Egyptians one of the greater gods, is represented

-by Homer as going hither and thither in the midst of

-the dancers moving rapidly with his feet. However,

-his dancing must have been singularly devoid of grace,

-as most of the designs known to us depict him as a

-patron of shepherds in Arcadia, gay and old-fashioned.

-All other gods and goddesses of the first order were

-supposed to be accomplished artists in dancing. The

-recently found bronze vase in a Phœnician sarcophagus,

-on the island of Crete, contains designs of unusually

-soft forms of naked dancing girls following Apollo.

-This best illustration of the Apollo ceremony goes to

-show that the Phœnicians had learned dancing from

-the Greeks and imitated them successfully.</p>

-

-<p>As thorough as were all the Greek gods and goddesses

-in their knowledge and talent of dancing, yet they were

-far surpassed by Terpsichore, the real goddess of dancing

-and one of the nine Muses who always surrounded

-Apollo. Most of the recovered Greek drawings and

-sculptures represent Terpsichore either sitting or standing,

-but always with a lyre in her hand. The invention

-of the lyre was attributed to her. A painting, discovered

-in the excavated city, Herculaneum, represents

-her standing with the lyre in her uplifted hand. Another

-smaller drawing describes her with a wreath on

-her head while executing a graceful dance with other

-Muses. Various mediæval artists represented in their

-works Terpsichore dancing with a flower in her hand

-and an ethereal veil floating around her head. One of

-the Greek legends tells us that she was the mother of

-the singing Sirens.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span></p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>All records indicate that dances in Greece were performed

-by men and women alike. In some of these

-dances they wore a loose garment, keeping their arms

-and legs bare; in others they danced perfectly naked.

-Some dances were performed by girls alone and others

-by boys, but often they mingled freely. The Greek

-customs generally permitted the freest intercourse between

-young people of both sexes, who were specially

-brought into contact at the great religious festivals and

-choruses. It seems that the youths who had distinguished

-themselves at the public dances expected no

-other reward than smiles of appreciation from the

-girls present, and dreaded nothing so much as their indifference.

-The constant practice of dancing by youths

-of both sexes from their earliest years was meant to

-impart to them precision of movement, suppleness of

-body, pliant and firm action of limbs, celerity of

-motion and all those physical qualities that would be

-advantageous in warfare and elevating or ennobling in

-everyday life. Plato praises the quickness of the body

-as the most reliable medium of warfare. The Greeks

-developed such beautiful bodies that they disliked to

-hide their plastic lines with any garments, therefore

-they preferred to appear naked, and more so in the

-temples and theaters than in their homes or in society.

-The fact that all the Greek sculpture is nude can be

-attributed, not to any abstract art ideals, but to the

-actual custom of the time.</p>

-

-<p>The first form of the Greek dance music was vocal,

-sung by a chorus; in later times they began to use as

-accompaniment to singing certain <i>chrotals</i>, or castañets.

-During the Homeric era, the lyre was used predominately.

-In later centuries the flute (<i>aulos</i>) was introduced.

-The vocal music was produced by soloists and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span>

-by male or mixed choruses. Frequently the dancers

-themselves sang or played the music and danced at the

-same time. However, the dancers of the fourth century

-never furnished their own music. According to the

-three principal divisions of the Greek mythology (the

-cult of Earth and Heaven, the cult of Chronos, Titans

-and Cyclops, and the cult of Zeus and the 12 Olympic

-divinities) the sacred dances of Greece can be divided

-into similar groups. All the Greek deities, even Zeus,

-were considered accomplished dancers. Since they enjoyed

-dancing themselves it was only natural that they

-should like to see dancing included as part of their worship.

-Cupid, the naughty little god of love, is depicted

-in most cases dancing. The fourth century figurine of a

-Bacchante in thin and supple draperies, whirling

-around on one foot, looks very much like a ballet

-dancer of to-day.</p>

-

-<p>The oldest of the Greek dances was probably the

-<i>Hyporchema</i>, which was accompanied by the chorus.

-Though developed in different styles, it always kept

-a religious character and was looked upon as the first

-Greek attempts at saltation, in which, as the name

-betrays, song and dance were intermingled. The earliest

-use made of saltation was in connection with

-poetry. Athenæus says, however, that the early poets

-had resource to the figures of saltation only as symbols

-of images and ideas depicted in their verse. All

-dances of the <i>Hyporchema</i> class were dignified and

-elevated, men and women alike taking part in them.

-Some attribute their origin to the Delians, who sang

-them around the altars of Apollo. Others ascribe their

-invention to the Cretans, taught by Thales.</p>

-

-<p>Of later descent, but more practiced than the <i>Hyporchema</i>,

-were the <i>Gymnopædia</i>, favored especially

-by the Lacedæmonians in their festivals of Apollo. This

-was considered one of the most noble and praiseworthy

-of the ancient dances. At the festivals the Gymnopædias<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span>

-were at first performed by large choruses of men

-and boys, but later the maidens were permitted to join

-them also. Then the men and women danced in separate

-choirs. The <i>choragus</i>, or leader, was crowned

-with palm leaves, and it was his privilege to defray the

-expenses of the chorus. All who took part in this

-had to be well-trained dancers, as it was the custom

-in Sparta that all children should commence to receive

-choreographic instruction from the age of five. Max

-Müller says, though this dance was performed perfectly

-nude, it enjoyed a high reputation. Müller is of opinion

-that music was generally cultivated by the Dorians

-and Arcadians owing to the circumstance that ‘women

-took part in it, and sang and danced in public, both

-with men and by themselves.’ Music and dancing were

-taught to the females at the Laconian capital, while

-housekeeping was regarded as a degrading occupation.</p>

-

-<p>One of the public dances most favored by the Lacedæmonians

-was the Pyrrhic Dance. Lucian attributes

-its invention to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who

-so much excelled in this that he enriched it with a fine

-new species, which from his surname Pyrrhicus received

-its title. The influence of this dance must have

-extended to the remotest and most barbarous nations,

-for not only the Romans but the Mongolians practiced

-it. That it underwent considerable modification in

-later times is evident from what Athenæus says: ‘The

-Pyrrhic Dance as it exists in our own time appears to

-be a sort of Bacchic dance, and a little more pacific than

-the old one; for the dancers carry thyrsi instead of

-spears, and they point and dart canes at one another,

-and carry torches. And they dance figures having reference

-to Bacchus and the Indians, and to the story of

-Pentheus; and they require for the Pyrrhic Dance the

-most beautiful airs.’</p>

-

-<p>The Pyrrhic Dance in its early stage was a kind of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span>

-war dance, as the performers employed every type of

-arms. The figures of the dance represented a kind of

-mimic battle, and the movements of the dancers were

-generally light, rapid, and eminently characteristic.

-There were figures representing the pursuit or retreat

-of an enemy; then again there were movements and

-positions of the body by which spear thrusts, darts, and

-wounds generally could be avoided. Other kind of

-movements suggested aggressive actions, striking with

-the sword or using the arrow. All these movements

-were performed in the most accurate rhythm to the

-music of flutes.</p>

-

-<p>The number of the ancient Greek dances is so large

-that we can count on this occasion only those which

-are already known more or less through classic literature.

-Wide popularity was enjoyed by the <i>Lysistrata</i>,

-<i>Dipoda</i>, <i>Bibasis</i>, <i>Hymnea</i>, and the stage dances, <i>Cordax</i>,

-<i>Emmeleia</i>, <i>Hormos</i>, <i>Endymatia</i> and the celebrated

-religious Mysteries of Aphrodite, Apollo, Demetrius,

-Dionysius, etc.</p>

-

-<p>Most of those elegant female dancers whom we

-find represented on ancient bas-reliefs, with their heads

-crowned, reeds in their hands raised above them, are

-executing the <i>Dipoda</i>, which Aristophanes has used as

-the climax in his celebrated comedy <i>Lysistrata</i>. This

-is what the author himself writes of the dance: ‘Come

-here to celebrate Sparta, where there are choruses in

-honor of the gods and the noise of dancing, where, like

-young horses, the maidens on the banks of the Eurotas

-rapidly move their feet, and their dresses are agitated

-like those of bacchanals, brandishing the thyrsus and

-sporting, and the chaste daughter of Leda, the lovely

-leader of the chorus, directs them. Now come, bind

-up your hair, and leap like fawns; now strike the

-measured tune which cheers the chorus.’ It is said that

-the simple, flowing chitons which they wore as garments

-flowed freely with the movements of their limbs,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span>

-or fell in naturally graceful lines appropriate to the

-poses they assumed.</p>

-

-<p>A dance of wonderful agility was that of the <i>Bibasis</i>.

-According to Max Müller, a Laconian maiden danced

-the <i>Bibasis</i> a thousand times more than any other girl

-had done. The peculiarity of this dance was to spring

-upward from the ground and perform a <i>cabriole en

-arrière</i>, striking the feet together behind before alighting.

-The <i>cabriole</i> is executed by the modern dancers

-with both feet in the air; and both legs act in the beating

-movement, rapidly separating and closing. To this a

-leap, called <i>jetté</i>, in the modern terminology, was probably

-added. The upward spring was made first from

-one foot and then from the other and striking the heels

-behind. The number of the successful strokes was

-counted, and the most skillful performer received the

-prize. It is said that Æschylus and Sophocles improved

-considerably the <i>Bibasis Dance</i>, musically and choreographically,

-for both authors were accomplished musicians

-and dance authorities.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Emmeleia</i> was one of the most respected and

-popular dramatic dances of the Greek stage. Plato

-speaks of it as a dance of extraordinary gentleness,

-gravity and nobility, appropriate to the highest sentiments.

-It possessed extraordinary mobility and dramatic

-vigor, and yet was graceful, majestic and impressive.

-This dance, as it was produced on the Athenian

-stage, is said to have been so terribly realistic that

-many of the spectators rushed shocked from the theatre,

-imagining that they really beheld the incarnated

-sisters of sorrow whose very names they did not dare

-to mention. These awful ministers of divine vengeance,

-who were supposed to punish the guilty both on earth

-and in the infernal regions, appeared in black and

-blood-stained garments. Their aspect was frightful

-and their poses emanated an air of death. On their

-heads they carried wreathed serpents, while in their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span>

-hands were wriggling scorpions and a burning torch.</p>

-

-<p>The music used for the <i>Emmeleia</i> was supplied by an

-‘orchestra’<a id="FNanchor_B" href="#Footnote_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> and chorus. Both the musicians and the

-singers were divided into two groups, one of which

-was to the right, the other to the left of the dancers.

-This gives an idea of the so-called ‘strophic’ principle.

-There are allusions to the fact that the Egyptians used

-music to the Astral Dances in this form. Though we

-do not know the character of the Greek dance music,

-particularly of the <i>Emmeleia</i>, yet fragmentary allusions

-here and there give an idea that they were mostly in a

-minor key and of very changeable measure. Kirchoff,

-who made a special study of this dance, came to the

-theoretic conclusion that this was predominantly recitative

-and resembled partly the later operas of Wagner—of

-course, only melodically—and partly the Finnish

-<i>Rune</i> tunes. As there was much action that could not

-be danced, the <i>Emmeleia</i> required a perfect mimic

-technique and thorough knowledge of ‘eurhythmic’

-rules. A few of the old Greek writers speak of dance

-music as dignified and stately, which attributed seriousness

-or sorrow to the grave steps, gracefulness and modesty

-to the gay and joyful poses.</p>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a id="Footnote_B" href="#FNanchor_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> As to the significance of this word, see Vol. I, pp. <a href="#Page_120">120ff</a>.</p></div>

-

-<p>Of a very opposite character was the <i>Cordax</i> Dance.

-According to most accounts it lacked in respectability

-and some writers speak of it as an ‘indecorous dance.’

-Lucian says it was considered a shame to dance it when

-sober. In some parts of Greece it took a comic character

-and was often marred by buffoonery. According

-to Burette, people had recourse to this dance when excited

-by wine. <i>Cordax</i> was a Satyr who gave his name

-to it. Since it was frivolous and comic, it was performed

-only by less reputable female dancers. It is said

-that in its first phase the <i>Cordax</i> was an extremely

-comic dance and the people enjoyed its refreshing humor

-and burlesque style. Like the Spanish <i>Zarzuelas</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span>

-the <i>Cordax</i> dances were small local comic pantomimes.

-In it the dancers ridiculed public men whom no one

-dared to criticize otherwise. Like every other stage art

-of this kind the <i>Cordax</i> dances grew indecent and were

-later abolished.</p>

-

-<p>A dance of distinctly sexual nature was the <i>Hormos</i>,

-which was dedicated to Artemis. Lucian tells us that

-the <i>Hormos</i> was commenced by a youth, absolutely

-unclad, and started with steps in military nature, such

-as he was afterwards to practice in the field. Then

-followed a maiden, who, leading up her companions,

-danced in a gentle and graceful manner. Finally, ‘the

-whole formed a chain of masculine vigor and feminine

-modesty entwined together.’ Sometimes the dance went

-in a circle, sometimes in pairs of a maiden and a

-youth. Sometimes passionate and sensuous gestures

-were made by both sexes, though only for a moment,

-and the dance ended with a floating, graceful adagio.

-It was an allegorical playlet in dance of human passions

-and their control. The music for the youths was

-twice as rapid as that for the maidens.</p>

-

-<p>Lucian writes that at some of the festivals three great

-choruses were formed for the dancers: of boys, of

-young men, and of old men. The old men danced, singing

-of their life of valor and wisdom. The chorus of

-the young men took up the theme and answered that

-they could accomplish deeds greater than any that

-had been achieved. The boys finished the song boasting

-that they would surpass both in deeds of glory. The

-<i>choragos</i>, who acted at the same time as a conductor

-and ballet-master, was regarded a man of the highest

-standing.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>The Greek theatres, in which the dances and dramas

-were performed regularly, were of vast dimensions.

-The Theatre of Dionysius at Athens, being built in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span>

-shape of a horseshoe, could accommodate an audience

-of 30,000 spectators. A deep and wide stage was constructed

-for the dramatic performances. The theatre

-was not merely, as with us, a place of entertainment,

-but also a temple of the god whose altar was the central

-part of the semicircle of seats, where the worshippers

-sat, during the festival days, from sunrise to sunset.

-The stage decorations were of three sorts: for

-tragedies, the front of a palace, with five doors; for

-comedy, a street with houses; for satire, rocks and trees.

-There were no accessories of any kind on the stage.

-Instead of a roof there was the blue sky. The front part

-of the stage was used for the chorus, instruments and

-dancing. Lucian mentions how even the Bacchanalian

-dance was treated so seriously on the stage that the

-people would sit whole days in the theatre to view the

-Titans and Corybantes, Satyrs and shepherds. ‘The

-most curious part of it is,’ he writes, ‘that the noblest

-and greatest personages in every city are the dancers,

-and so little are they ashamed of it that they applaud

-themselves more upon their dexterity in that species

-of talent than on their nobility, their posts of honor,

-or the dignities of their forefathers.’</p>

-

-<p>How learned the public dancers were in Greece is

-best illustrated by a dialogue that occurred between

-Lucian and Croton. In this one of the speakers maintains

-that any person desiring to become a public dancer

-should know by heart Homer and Hesiod, should know

-the national mythology and legends, should be acquainted

-with the history of Egypt, should have a good

-voice and know how to sing well, and should be a man

-of high personal character. A dancer should be neither

-too tall or too short, too thin or too fat. If a dancer

-ever failed in his efforts to please the audience he ran

-the risk of being pelted with stones. The Greek audiences

-were accustomed to express their disapprobation

-in a very decided manner.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span>

-It is interesting to compare the Greek dancing figures

-of various periods, which actually give an idea of the

-development of their choreography, and also of the

-change which took place in their costumes and styles.

-In the first half of the sixth century the Ionic style prevailed

-in garments. The feminine body was heavily

-draped. Later, until the Persian War, a costume of a

-chiton, with wide sleeves and sharply cut was in

-fashion. This century is rich in reproductions of dancing

-figures, which have a tendency to keep one another’s

-hands and strive to be decorative. The fifth century

-figures give an impression of poised grace and plastic

-perfection of the body. The fourth century figures

-show dancers with great individuality and perfection

-in the use of the arms. Numerous bas-reliefs of this

-era represent women dancing with veils which give to

-them a peculiar magic of motion. Like all the Orientals,

-the Greek women used to wear veils while outside

-of their homes. The veil was a natural medium of

-decoration and a symbol for the pantomime of the

-dance. Frequently the dancing garments of this era

-are so slight that they add only a mystifying charm to

-the apparently nude dancers. The poses of their limbs

-and arms give evidence of rhythm and technique. The

-mimic expressions play seemingly a foremost rôle, as

-their smiling faces and bashful looks betray the power

-of their fascination. They show expert skill in the use

-of the veils, with which they now seemingly cover their

-bodies, opening them again to give a glimpse of their

-great beauty. The exquisitely artistic statuettes found

-at Tanagra give some idea of the beauty of motion as

-practised by young women dancers, when, in the marvellous

-setting of the antique theatres, under the blue

-skies of Greece, they gave performances to audiences

-with whom the love of beauty was a passion.</p>

-

-<p>At some of the religious ceremonial dances only boys

-and girls appeared, at others young men or girls, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span>

-both together, danced. Of a rather voluptuous nature

-were the dances performed in the temples of Aphrodite

-and Dionysos. Of special importance were the dances

-connected with the Eleusinian Mysteries, always celebrated

-in Athens. Their performance and the form

-of their construction were surrounded with greatest

-secrecy. Plato, who was initiated into them, spoke

-very highly of their meaning. It is evident that their

-real influence upon the people began in the sixth century.

-In the beginning the Mysteries were performed

-once every five years. Later they became annual performances.

-According to Desrat, they had much in

-common with the <i>Rondes</i> of the Middle Ages. The

-procession of the Mysteries proceeded from the temple

-of Demetrius, in Attica, and passed along a wooded

-road to Athens. A special resting place was the Fountain

-of Magic Dances, where the girls performed dances

-of unusual poetic grace. Late in the evening the procession

-entered the temple with a dance of torches.

-Here, on a stage specially erected for this purpose, were

-performed the dances of the Mysteries. Very little is

-known of the character of these dances. It is likely

-that they were dramatized legends of Demetrius, who

-was depicted as a pilgrim, wandering from place to

-place, in search of his lost daughter. Another phase

-of the Mysteries was to produce in symbolic gestures

-and poses and by proper staging, episodes of the life

-beyond. The performance began in twilight, the first

-scene being the pantomime in Hell, whither the soul of

-Demetrius was carried by infernal powers. It represented

-the utmost horror. During all the performance

-no word was spoken. After the scene in Hell came another

-in Heaven. The most impressive of all the dances

-was the ‘Leap with Torches,’ in which only the women

-appeared. It was said to be the most fantastic and

-acrobatic of all the Greek religious dances. Plutarch

-says that the impression was that of spectral ghosts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span>

-playing perpetually with flames. It was meant to act

-as a purgatory fire that cleansed all the souls from their

-wickedness. The Mysteries ended in the night of the

-fourth day with a Dance of Baskets, in which the

-women appeared with covered baskets on their heads

-in a solemn march rhythm and vanished into the darkening

-temple. The Eleusinian Mysteries were abolished

-by an imperial decree in 381 A. D.</p>

-

-<p>Not less popular than the Eleusinian were the Dionysian

-Mysteries. It is said that these developed as

-the festival of the first-fruits, but were later dedicated

-to the god Dionysos, the patron of wine and pleasure.

-To him is ascribed the invention of enthusiasm and

-ecstasy, the essential element of all beauty. The symbol

-of all the Dionysian dances was the goat, which

-also figured in the Mysteries. It was one of the most

-sensuous performances that imagination could invent.

-In it men and women took part, but men wore usually

-women’s dresses and the women men’s. In the centre

-of the dancers, before the statue of Dionysos, stood a

-huge cup filled with wine. The ceremony lasted three

-days and was performed in every town and hamlet of

-the country. According to the Greek mythology, Dionysos

-is represented in a group of dancing women and

-men. As Satyrs were supposed to be daily companions

-of Dionysos, the Satyr Dance was a feature of the

-Mysteries. Of one of the Dionysian dances we read

-in ‘Daphnis and Chloë’: ‘Meanwhile Dryas danced a

-vintage dance, making believe to gather grapes, to carry

-them in baskets, to tread them down in the vat, to pour

-the juice into tubs, and then to drink the new wine: all

-of which he did so naturally and so featly that they

-deemed they saw before their eyes the vines, the vats,

-the tubs, and Dryas drinking in good health.’</p>

-

-<div id="ip_68" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">

-  <img src="images/i_068.jpg" width="510" height="723" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases</p></div></div>

-

-<p>Other features of the Dionysian Mysteries were the

-Dances of Nymphs, the Dances of the Knees, and the

-<i>Skoliasmos</i>, in the nature of gymnastics, in which the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span>

-performers hopped on inflated wine-skins, rubbed over

-with oil to make them slippery. The ancient writers

-describe these dances as lascivious and comic. In the

-Satyr Dance the dancers wore goat-skins and appeared

-as Satyrs. Several of these dances consisted of graceful

-and more modest movements, measured to the sound

-of flutes. Some of them were accompanied by light

-songs, daring sarcasm, and licentiously suggestive

-poems. Dances in which animals were imitated were

-numerous. There was a Crane Dance, supposed to be

-invented by Theseus, and Owl, Vulture, and Fox

-Dances.</p>

-

-<p>The Mysteries of Demetrius took a more centralized

-form than the Mysteries of Dionysos. Each town had

-its individual secrets of romantic mysteries. In Athens

-the cult of love turned very much around the legend

-of Mænads, which, like little devils, shadowed the people

-day and night. In the Museum of Naples can be

-seen a vase with dancing Mænads, which represents best

-the ancient spirits of love. Plato says that the Mænad

-Dance consisted principally of the embracing and

-caressing of men and women.</p>

-

-<p>Reinach believes that all Greek mythology, art and

-science grew out of the Greek folk-songs and folk-dances.

-According to him, the rhythm and melody of

-dance music changed in strict correspondence with the

-theme. All the sacred dances dedicated to Demetrius

-and Apollo, or to Aphrodite, were in legato form, graceful,

-melodious and full of color; on the other hand,

-those dedicated to Bacchus and Dionysos were of

-quicker tempo, syncopated style and less melodious.

-Reinach succeeded in deciphering the words and music

-of an ancient Greek dance song that was discovered

-in the ruins of the temple of Delphi. This was presumably

-danced at the Delphic festivals and is dedicated

-to Apollo. Since the cult of Apollo was widespread

-in Greece there were not a few dances dedicated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span>

-and performed to this god. We are told that palm-leaves

-were given as prizes for the best of the Apollo

-dancers.</p>

-

-<p>Besides the artists who appeared either in sacred

-or classic dances, there existed in Greece a class of professional

-dancers called Heteræ. These were women of

-flirting and coquettish type. In our sense, they must

-have been a kind of <i>Varieté</i> or professional social

-dancers. During the time of Pericles there were 500

-Heteræ in Athens. Thus Sappho, Aspasia and Cleonica

-were trained to be Heteræ dancers. At one time in

-Greek history the Heteræ became a danger to the family.

-Aspasia was the mistress of Pericles until she became

-his wife. Being well educated, the Heteræ were

-women of attractive type and most of the great Greek

-thinkers, artists or statesmen felt the spell of their

-charm. Sappho called her house the ‘home of the

-Muses,’ where plastic beauty rivalled with poetry and

-music. The tragedy of Sappho has inspired many writers,

-ancient and modern, to immortalize her in their

-works, particularly the story according to which she

-sang and flung herself down into the sea. Performed

-by great celebrities the dances of the Heteræ were by

-no means vulgar, but lyric and suggestively sensuous.

-They were performed with garments or without, with

-floating veils and to the music of a flute. The dancers

-of this class used to give performances at their homes

-or in specially established gardens. All the Hetera

-dances were dedicated to Aphrodite and the ambition

-of the performers was to imitate the lovely poses of

-the celebrated goddess. According to most descriptions

-they resembled our past century’s <i>minuets</i>, <i>gavottes</i> and

-<i>pavanes</i>.</p>

-

-<p>Emmanuel, who has written an interesting work on

-the Greek choreography, maintains that the accuracy

-of rhythm was of foremost importance. A choreographic

-time-marker was attached to sandals that produced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span>

-sounds modified to the changing sentiments of

-the action. A little tambourine or cymbals were occasionally

-employed. A special branch of dance instruction

-was the <i>Chironomia</i>, or the art of using the hands.

-Greek dancing was by no means predominantly gesturing

-with hands, as some people think, but it was the

-harmonious use of every limb of the human body, in

-connection with the corresponding art of pantomime.

-There were numerous dancing schools in Greece, and

-each of them had its particular method of instruction.

-The first exercise in a school was the learning of flexibility

-of the body, which lasted a few years. A special

-school dance was the <i>Esclatism</i>, which was chiefly

-a rhythmic gymnastic, on the order of Jaques-Dalcroze’s

-method at Hellerau. We know comparatively

-little of the details of the ancient technical mechanism

-of choreography. Unfortunately all the ancient dancing

-figures represent merely one moment of a dance,

-therefore it is extremely difficult to grasp the principal

-points of the vanished art.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the <i>Bellicrepa

-saltatio</i>; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the Lupercalia and Floralia;

-Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous

-dancers.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">As</span> with all their arts, the ancient Romans borrowed

-their dancing from the Greeks. A nation raised in

-adoration of military and aristocratic ideals, conceited,

-and with a strong tendency to materialism and formalities,

-the Romans contributed little to choreography.

-Their civilization was imitative rather than creative.

-Their art is void of ethnographic characteristics and a

-kind of artificial stiffness breathes from their best

-achievements. The only conspicuous contribution of

-the Roman dancers to the evolution of dance lies in

-their unique dramatic and ecclesiastic pantomimes and

-their celebrated masque dances. But it seems surprising

-that dancing was far more highly developed and

-esteemed in the earlier period of Roman history than

-in those days of luxury and vice which preceded the

-downfall of the empire. Under the republic, dancing

-was considered one of the foremost factors in education,

-and the children of patricians and statesmen were

-obliged to take lessons in Greek dancing. But of the

-social views of later centuries we read from Quintilian

-that ‘it disgraced the dignity of a man,’ or as Cicero

-said, ‘No sober man dances, unless he is mad.’ Horace

-rebukes the Romans for dancing as for an infamy.

-Various other Roman writers tell us how much the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span>

-women of standing were criticized for their lack of virtue

-if they entertained a dancer at their house or shook

-hands with him.</p>

-

-<p>On the other hand, we have an eloquent proof of

-the Roman frenzy for the stage dance in the exciting

-intrigues of Pylades and Bathyllus, which set the whole

-Republic in a ferment. De Jaulnaye, the great historian,

-writes that the rivalries of Pylades and Bathyllus

-occupied the Romans as much as the gravest affairs

-of state. Every citizen was a Bathyllian or a Pyladian.

-Glancing over the history of the disturbances created

-by these two mummers, we seem to be reading that of

-the volatile nation whose quarrels about music were

-so prolonged, so obstinate, and, above all, so senseless

-that no one knew what were the real points of dispute,

-when the philosopher of Geneva wrote the famous letter

-to which no serious reply was ever made. Augustus

-(the Emperor) reproved Pylades on one occasion for

-his perpetual quarrels with Bathyllus. ‘Cæsar,’ replied

-the dancer, ‘it is well for you that the people are engrossed

-by our disputes; their attention is thus diverted

-from your actions!’ While Pylades is described as

-a great tragic actor and dancer, Bathyllus is represented

-as having been endowed not only with extraordinary

-talent, but also with great personal beauty, and is said

-as having been the idol of the Roman ladies. It is said

-that the banishment of Pylades from Rome almost

-brought about a serious revolution, that was prevented

-by the recall of the imperial decree.</p>

-

-<p>One of the most interesting ancient dances practised

-by the Romans was <i>Bellicrepa saltatio</i>, a military dance,

-instituted by Romulus after the seizure of the Sabine

-women, in order that a similar misfortune might never

-befall his own country. To Numa Pompilius, the gentle

-Sabine, who became king after the mysterious disappearance

-of Romulus, is ascribed the origin of Roman

-religious dances. Especially celebrated were the dancing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span>

-priests of Mars, and the order of Salien priests,

-numbering twelve, who were selected from citizens of

-first rank. Their mission was to worship the gods by

-dances. As a sign of special distinction they wore in

-their ceremonials richly embroidered purple tunics,

-brazen breastplates and their heads covered with gilded

-helmets. In one hand they held a javelin, while the

-other carried the celestial shield called the <i>ancilia</i>.

-They beat the time with their swords upon this <i>ancilia</i>,

-and marched through the city singing hymns to the time

-of their solemn dancing.</p>

-

-<p>According to Livy, pantomimes were invented to

-please the gods and to distract the people, horrified by

-the plague that created havoc in the sacred city of

-Rome. The <i>Ludiones</i>, the celebrated Roman bards,

-are said to have performed their dances first before the

-houses of the rich to the music of the flute, but later

-appeared in the circuses and in special show tents.

-Their example found followers among the Roman

-youth. All the Roman dancers gave performances

-masqued, and it was the custom that in the sacred, as

-well as in the great dramatic pantomimes women were

-excluded, though during the later period of the Empire,

-particularly during the reign of Nero, women dancers

-appeared.</p>

-

-<p>The best known of the ancient Roman pantomimes

-were those performed at the festival of Pallas, of Pan

-and of Dionysus or Bacchus. Juvenal writes that

-Bathyllus, having composed a pantomime on the subject

-of Jupiter, performed it with such realism that

-the Roman women were profoundly moved. The same

-is said of the dances invented and performed by Pylades,

-some of which were later given by the priests of

-Apollo. The art of Roman pantomime developed gradually

-to classic standards and ranged over the whole

-domain of mythology, poetry and drama. Dancers,

-called <i>Mimii</i>, like Bathyllus and Pylades, translated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span>

-the most subtle emotions by gestures and poses of extreme

-graphic power so that their audiences understood

-every meaning of their mute language. This

-plastic form of mute drama made the dancing of the

-Romans a great art. The Emperor Augustus is said

-to have been a great admirer of Bathyllus, and so also

-was Nero. It is said that an African ruler, while the

-guest of Nero, was so impressed by the dancer that he

-said to Nero that he would like to have such an artist

-for his court. ‘And what would you do with him?’

-asked the Emperor. ‘I have around me,’ said the other,

-‘several neighboring tribes who speak different languages,

-and as they are unable to understand mine, I

-thought, if I had this man with me, it would be quite

-possible for him to explain by gesture all that I wished

-to express.’</p>

-

-<p>Very unusual was the Roman festival of Pan, or the

-<i>Lupercalia</i>, at which half-naked youths danced about

-the streets with whips in their hands, lashing freely

-everyone whom they chanced to meet. The Roman

-women liked to be lashed on this occasion, as they believed

-it would keep them young. Another kind of Pan

-festival was celebrated by the peasants in the spring

-at which the young men and maidens joined in the

-dances, which took place in the woods or on the fields.

-They wore garlands of flowers and wreaths of oak on

-their heads. Similar dances, only more solemn and

-magnificent, were performed at the festival of Pallas by

-shepherds. Dancing and singing around blazing bonfires

-in a circle they worshipped the goddess of fruitfulness.

-Frequently the officiators were disreputable

-women who appeared dressed in long white robes, symbolic

-of chastity. Then there were the great <i>Floralia</i> or

-May Day festivals which in the beginning were of sufficiently

-decent manner but eventually degenerated into

-scenes of unbounded licentiousness. Still wilder than

-these were the orgies of Bacchus, which contributed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span>

-greatly to the demoralization of the people until the

-consuls Albinus and Philippus banished them from

-Rome by a decree of the Senate.</p>

-

-<p>On account of their sensuous character the Romans

-were unable to keep their art of dancing in such poetic

-and yet simple æsthetic frames as did the Greeks, for

-which reason all the Roman women characters in a

-pantomime were disguised young men. They lacked

-the ability of self-control in the stage art which in

-Greece had reached a standard of classic perfection.

-It is sufficient to say that they must have been wicked

-enough when a ruler like Tiberius commanded the

-dancers to be expelled from Rome. But Tacitus relates

-that, while publicly Tiberius reprimanded Sestius Gallus

-for the elaborate balls given at his house, privately

-he made arrangements to be his guest on the condition

-that he should himself be entertained in the usual manner.

-Of his successor, Caligula, Suetonius writes: ‘So

-fond was the emperor of singing and dancing that he

-could not refrain from singing with the tragedians and

-imitating the gestures of the dancers either by way of

-applause or correction.’</p>

-

-<p>During the reign of Augustus the art of pantomime

-reached its zenith. The dances of this time were more

-spectacular and impressive on account of their carefully

-executed stage effects. As far as music was concerned,

-this was produced by flutes and harps, sometimes

-by singing voices. The Romans never cared for

-dancing itself, but they were fond of it as a spectacle.

-A great rôle in Roman life at this juncture was played

-by the female dancers from Cadiz, which were said to

-be so brilliant and passionate that poets declared it impossible

-to withstand the great charm these women exercised

-over the spectators. Some one says ‘they were

-all poetry and voluptuous charm.’ An English writer

-maintains that the famous Venus of Cailipyge was

-modelled from a Caditian dancer in high favor at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span>

-Rome. Another noted writer calls the <i>delicias caditanas</i>

-the most fascinating performances that ever could

-be seen, and calls all other dances of the Romans and

-even the Greeks amateurish puerilities.</p>

-

-<p>Of great Roman female dancers we know by name

-Lucceia, who was said to give performances when she

-was one hundred years old; Stephania, ‘the first to dance

-on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners’;

-Galeria Copiola, who danced before Emperor Augustus

-ninety-one years after her first appearance; and Alliamatula,

-who danced before Nero at the age of one hundred

-and twenty. The most known of all the great

-women dancers in ancient Rome was Telethusa, a fascinating

-girl from Cadiz, to whose extraordinary beauty

-and art the poet Martial dedicated many of his songs.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the strolling

-ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the church; dances

-of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets; the English masques;

-famous masques of the seventeenth century.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is a lapse of time, nearly a thousand years,

-from the fall of the ancient civilization of Greece and

-Rome to the Grand Ballet of France, when the art

-of dancing was almost stifled by the Mediæval ecclesiastic

-scholasticism. Since we have practically no records

-of the dancing that was fostered in Cadiz, which

-was probably the most conspicuous at that time, we

-must confess that the greatly esteemed art of the ancients

-nearly came to a ruin. If it had not been for

-Spain, where dancing was introduced even into the

-churches, it might have taken centuries longer to revive

-the vanishing ideas of the ancient choreography and

-keep alive the plastic religion. We are told that a

-bishop of Valencia adopted certain sacred dances in

-the churches of Seville, Toledo and Valencia, which

-were performed before the altar. In Galicia a slow

-hymn-dance was performed by a tall priest, while

-carrying a gorgeously dressed boy on his shoulders, at

-the festival of Corpus Christi.</p>

-

-<p>Much as the church fathers fought dancing in other

-countries, they had to admit it in Spain. It is said

-that the choir-boys of Seville Cathedral executed <i>danzas</i>

-during a part of the religious processions in mediæval

-Spain, and that this practice was authorized in 1439<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span>

-by a Bull of Pope Eugenius IV. Of these choir-boy

-dancers Baron Davillier writes: ‘They are easily to

-be recognized in the streets of Seville by their red caps,

-their red cloaks adorned with red neckties, their black

-stockings, and shoes with rosettes and metal buttons.

-The hat (worn during the dance), slightly conical in

-shape, is turned up on one side, and fastened with a

-bow of white velvet, from which rises a tuft of blue

-and white feathers. The most characteristic feature

-of the costume is the <i>golilla</i>, a sort of lace ruff, starched

-and pleated, which encircles the neck. Lace cuffs,

-slashed trunk-hose or <i>galzoncillo</i> blue silk stockings and

-white shoes with rosettes, complete the costume of

-which Doré made a sketch when he saw it in Seville

-Cathedral, on the <i>octave</i> of the Conception. The dance

-of the boys attracts as many spectators to Seville as

-the ceremonies of Holy Week, and the immense cathedral

-is full to overflowing on the days when they are

-to figure in a function.’</p>

-

-<p>Vuillier writes of another occasion of the Spanish

-temple dances: ‘One of these festivals is celebrated

-on the 15th of August, the day of the Assumption of the

-Virgin Mary, the other on the following day, the feast

-of the patron of the village of Alaro. On these occasions

-a body of dancers called <i>Els Cosiers</i> play the principal

-part. It consists of six boys dressed in white,

-with ribbons of many colors, wearing on their heads

-caps trimmed with flowers. One of them, <i>La Dama</i>,

-disguised as a woman, carries a fan in one hand and

-a handkerchief in the other. Two others are dressed as

-demons with horns and cloven feet. The party is followed

-by some musicians playing on the <i>cheremias</i>,

-the <i>tamborino</i>, and the <i>fabiol</i>. After vespers the <i>Cosiers</i>

-join the procession as it leaves the church. Three

-of them take up positions on either side of the Virgin,

-who is preceded by a demon; every few yards they

-perform steps. Each demon is armed with a flexible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span>

-rod with which he keeps off the crowd. The procession

-stops in all the squares and principal places, and there

-the <i>Cosiers</i> perform one of their dances to the sound

-of the <i>tamborino</i> and the <i>fabiol</i>. When the procession

-returns to the church they dance together round the

-statue of the Virgin.’</p>

-

-<p>Of a very primitive but unique nature were the mediæval

-strolling ballets of Spain and Italy. Some old

-writers assert that they originated in Italy and passed

-later into Spain, but others tell the contrary. Later the

-Portuguese organized a strolling ballet in adoration of

-St. Carlos. Castil-Blaze writes of a strolling ballet that

-was instituted by the King René of Provence, in 1462,

-called the <i>Lou Gue</i>. This consisted of allegorical scenes

-of the Bible and was danced in the style of Roman

-mythological pantomimes. Most of the conspicuous

-characters of the Bible and history were enacted in this

-ballet. The procession of the ballet went through a

-city to the square of a garden before some cathedral

-or castle. Fame headed the march, blowing a trumpet

-and carrying a gorgeous shield on a winged horse. He

-was followed by the rest of the company in various

-comic and spectacular costumes. There were the Duke

-of Urbino, King Herod, Fauns, Dryads, and Apostles,

-and finally the Jews, dancing round a Golden Calf.</p>

-

-<p>‘King René wrote this religious ballet in all its details,’

-writes Castil-Blaze. ‘Decorations, dance music,

-marches, all were of his invention, and his music has

-always been faithfully preserved and performed. The

-air of <i>Lou Gue</i> has some curious modulations; the

-minuet of the Queen of Sheba, the march of the Prince

-of Love, upon which so many <i>noëls</i> have been founded,

-and, above all the <i>Veie de Noue</i>, are full of originality.

-But the wrestler’s melody is good René’s masterpiece,

-if it be true that he is its author, as tradition affirms.

-This classic air has a pleasing melody with gracefully

-written harmonies; the strolling minstrels of Provence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span>

-play it on their flutes to a rhythmical drum accompaniment,

-walking round the arena where the wrestlers are

-competing.’</p>

-

-<p>Some queer religious pantomimes came into vogue

-in France about the twelfth century, and of these the

-torch dances, executed on the first Sunday in Lent,

-enjoyed the greatest popularity; but they were all suppressed

-by the clergy and later became degenerate.

-In Paris the clergy sold dancing indulgences to the

-rich patricians for a considerable sum of money. The

-high society was taught to despise dancing as an amusement

-unworthy of its position. It remained only a popular

-diversion among the middle class. The theatrical

-ballets and strolling pantomimes disappeared altogether.

-The theatre was declared by the clergy a Pagan

-institution and every art connected with the stage of

-infernal origin. But, strange to say, mediæval stage

-dancing was first introduced by women. Men appeared

-only as spectators of such performances. Thus we read

-in a ballad of the twelfth century that the <i>damosels</i>

-arranged a grand ball and the knights came to look on.</p>

-

-<p>The first dances that the mediæval nobility introduced

-at their castles, in which they themselves participated,

-were the famous <i>Caroles</i>. These were performed to

-the vocal accompaniment of the dancers themselves,

-although sometimes a strolling band was hired. Out

-of these grew gradually the various mediæval social

-dances and the court ballets and gay masquerades,

-which reached a climax during the middle of the seventeenth

-century. The most celebrated of this kind were

-the <i>Ballets des Ardents</i>, arranged by the Duchess de

-Berri and attended by the whole court. However, the

-most conspicuous of the mediæval attempts in this respect

-was the <i>Fête</i> given in 1489 by Bergonzio di Botta

-of Tortona, in honor of Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, on the

-occasion of his marriage of Isabella of Aragon. Of this

-we read:</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span>

-‘The Amphitryon chose for his theatre a magnificent

-hall surrounded by a gallery, in which several bands

-of music had been stationed; an empty table occupied

-the middle. At the moment when the Duke and the

-Duchess appeared, Jason and Argonauts advanced

-proudly to the sound of martial music. They bore the

-Golden Fleece; this was the tablecloth, with which they

-covered the table, after having executed a stately dance,

-expressive of their admiration of so beautiful a princess

-and of a sovereign to possess her. Next came Mercury,

-who related how he had been clever enough to trick

-Apollo, shepherd of Admetus, and rob him of a fat

-calf, which he returned to present to the newly married

-pair, after having had it nobly trussed and prepared by

-the best cook of Olympus. While he was placing it

-upon the table, three quadrilles that followed him

-danced round the fatted calf, as the Hebrews had

-formerly capered round that of gold.’</p>

-

-<p>The writer describes how Diana, Mercury and the

-Nymphs followed the first scene. Then Orpheus appears

-to the music of flutes and lutes. ‘Each singer, each

-dancer had his special orchestra, which was arranged

-for him according to the sentiments expressed by his

-song or by his dance. It was an excellent plan, and

-served to vary the symphonies; it announced the return

-of a character who had already appeared, and produced

-a varied succession of trumpets, of violins with

-their sharp notes, of the arpeggios of lutes, and of the

-soft melodies of flutes and reed pipes. The orchestrations

-of Monteverdi prove that composers at that time

-varied their instrumentation thus, and this particular

-artifice was not one of the least causes of the prodigious

-success of opera in the first years of its creation.’</p>

-

-<p>This was followed by a solo singer accompanied by a

-lyre, after whose aria Atlanta and Theseus appeared to

-the sound of brass instruments. After this appeared a

-ballet of Tritons. During the intermission refreshments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span>

-were served and the spectacle ended with the

-scenes of Orpheus, Hymen and Cupid. Finally, Lucretia,

-Penelope, Thomyris, Judith, Portia, and Sulpici

-advanced and laid at the feet of the Duchess the palms

-of virtue that they had won during their lives.</p>

-

-<p>There is no doubt that this spectacular fête of the

-Duke of Milan gave the initial impetus to the following

-Grand Ballets at the French Court, which in turn became

-the embryos of the modern stage dances. It is

-also very likely that the well-known masques, so much

-in vogue during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,

-were an outcome of the original Milan pageant.

-In particularly high favor stood the masques at the

-English court. Thus we read that in 1605 ‘The Masque

-of Blackness’ was given at Whitehall, in which Queen

-Anne and her ladies blackened their skins and appeared

-as blackamoors. The Spanish Ambassador, having to

-kiss Her Majesty’s hand, gave voice to his fears that the

-black might come off. Three years later ‘The Masque

-of Beauty’ was given. Both were written by Ben Jonson.

-The speeches of the masques were mostly in

-verse, but sometimes in prose. In the ‘Masque of Castillo,’

-written by John Crowne in 1675, the Princess

-Anne and Mary took part at St. James’ Palace and the

-performance was a great success. Though Bacon designated

-masques as mere toys, nevertheless he enjoyed

-them as spectacles on account of their rich colors and

-costumes. In 1632 James Shirley wrote ‘The Triumph

-of Peace,’ upon which production a sum of £21,000 was

-expended. This was given for the first time before the

-king and queen at Whitehall and was repeated in Merchant

-Tailors’ Hall. The music to this was composed

-by William Lawes and Simon Ives. The scenes and

-costumes were designed and superintended by the

-famous architect Inigo Jones.</p>

-

-<p>Nearly all the masques of olden times were written

-in honor of the marriage of royalty or of some great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span>

-nobleman and were mostly given at Christmastide

-Twelfth Night. They were said to be many-sided in

-their construction, music and themes. For the most

-part they were dramatic, festive and gay, the allegorical

-characters giving them an element of poetic charm.

-Dancing was one of their most potent elements, and this

-was graceful, dainty and lively. The dancers called

-maskers were a special feature in the masques, though

-they had nothing to do with speech or song. The

-dresses in these masques were not always accurate, for

-the parts were sometimes acted by women in farthingales,

-though they impersonated classic goddesses.

-Masques were patronized in England for only two centuries,

-Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I

-being their main sponsors. Queen Anne of Denmark

-was so much delighted with them that she acted one

-of the characters.</p>

-

-<p>Alfonso Ferrabosco, a noted musician of Italian descent,

-was the composer of many masques during the

-reign of James I. Other composers were Nicholas Laniere

-and John Coperario. ‘Salmacida Spolia’ by Sir

-William Davenant, with music by Ferrabosco, was

-said to be one of the most spectacular masques of the

-seventeenth century. It consisted of pretty scenes and

-songs between the dances, so full of allegory and devices,

-and so gay in costumes and light that it was a

-favorite of English nobility for three generations. The

-most popular of the English masques were ‘Love’s

-Triumph Callipolis’ by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones,

-which was performed at the court in 1630; the ‘Sun’s

-Darling,’ performed in 1623; the ‘Masque of Owles,’

-performed for King Charles I; and ‘Tempe Restored’

-by Aurelian Townsend, performed in 1632, with Queen

-Henrietta Maria and fourteen ladies as the leading characters.

-In the last-named masque the beasts form a

-procession, fourteen stars descend to the music of the

-spheres, and Tempe is restored to the true followers of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span>

-the Muses. Large figures were posted on either side

-of the stage, one a winged woman, the other a man,

-with the lighted torch of Knowledge and Ignorance.

-Women with snaky locks mingled with Harmony in

-the songs of the chorus of Circe. Dances by the queen

-and her ladies added to the spectacular character of

-the scene.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms

-under Louis XV; Noverre and the <i>ballet d’action</i>; Auguste Vestris and

-others; famous ballets of the period—the Revolution and the Consulate;

-the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five

-positions’; the ballet steps—Famous <i>danseuses</i>: Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine

-Guimard; Allard.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Though</span> Catherine de Medici, Henri IV, and Cardinal

-Richelieu are often quoted as the first rulers who enabled

-and encouraged their subjects to revive the ancient

-dances and thus lay the foundation of the modern

-ballet, the honor really belongs to Louis XIV. His love

-for dancing was so vital that he himself figured frequently

-on the stage, and emphasized the fact that the

-theatre was not a Pagan or immoral institution. He personally

-inspired Lully, Benserade and Molière to devote

-their genius to the stage. He introduced Minuets, Gavottes,

-Pavanes and Courantes at his court functions

-and they were copied by all the other rulers and by the

-nobility. In 1661 the Royal Academy of Dancing was

-founded. To its graduates were given the privileges that

-were enjoyed only by the highest officers of the empire.

-It is said that the king danced in the Masque of Cassandra

-when he was thirteen years of age. The French historians

-write that Louis XIV danced in twenty-seven

-grand ballets, not to mention the intermezzi of lyrical

-tragedies and comedy-ballets. In the <i>Ballet du Carrousel</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span>

-given in 1662 on a large open space before the

-Tuileries, the king danced in the rôle of a Roman emperor

-and his brother in that of a Turkish sultan. On

-the occasion of the king’s marriage in 1660 the ballet

-‘Hercules in Love’ was given at the palace.</p>

-

-<p>Lully’s ballet, ‘Cupid and Bacchus,’ was said to be a

-piece full of imagination, dramatic, vigorous and rich in

-timely mood. ‘The Triumph of Love,’ performed in

-1681, being the first ballet in which women appeared,

-is considered one of the best creations of this time

-musically and scenically. One of the most popular

-comic ballets of that era was <i>Impatiencem</i>, composed

-of series of disconnected scenes of extremely humorous

-nature. Pecour and Le Basque were the two celebrated

-dancers of those days, while Beauchamp, a talented

-composer and artist of considerable imaginative power,

-acted as Director of the Academy of Dancing and ballet-master

-in the Opéra. All his ballets were distinguished

-by their extraordinary complexity of mechanical

-contrivances, by imposing effects and their allegorical

-character. However, towards the end of the century

-Dupré appeared on the stage and soon far surpassed

-all his predecessors. Noverre speaks of him as

-the god of dancing, whose harmony of movements was

-of marvellous perfection.</p>

-

-<p>The principal tendency of dancing of this era was to

-be magnificent and noble, but it lacked individuality

-and failed to stir the emotions. The best examples of

-this kind of stateliness and stiffness are offered by the

-Pavane and Courante, which still survive. The gentleman,

-with hat in one hand, a gilded sword at his side,

-an imposing cloak thrown over his arm, gravely bowed

-before his partner, stiff and statuesque in her long train,

-and began the dance walking gravely around the room.

-The Pavane was ridiculously ceremonial and conventional.

-The Courante was different, somewhat resembling

-the Minuet. It was rather graceful, consisting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span>

-of backward and forward steps. How fond the king

-was of the Courante is evident of what Regnard writes:

-‘Pecour gives him lessons in the Courante every morning.’

-Littré says that the Courante began by bows and

-courtseys, after which the dancer and the partner

-performed a set figure, which formed a sort of

-elongated ellipse. This step was in two parts: the first

-consisted in making <i>plié relevé</i>, at the same time bringing

-the foot from behind into the fourth position in

-front by a <i>pas glissé</i>; the second consisted of a <i>jetté</i> with

-one foot, and a <i>coupé</i> with the other. The dancers

-performed the back stay step twice, returning to position,

-and turned, beginning the movement again by

-repeating the first springing step and the back stay

-step, so that the partners changed places and turn. All

-these three figures were then repeated, commencing

-with the opposite foot. Eight bars of music were always

-occupied with the slow <i>pas de basque</i> in a circle.

-This briefly shows the same designs and forms in the

-dance of this era that we find in the Rococco style of

-architecture.</p>

-

-<p>But the beginning of the eighteenth century shows

-a marked reaction against the statuesque solemnity, the

-dead stiffness and merciless etiquette that had prevailed.

-An era of artificial reforms begins with Louis

-XV. To this period belongs the origin of our modern

-industrialism. The views and feelings of the feudal

-system begin to give place to those of coming realism

-and individualism. But the change is insignificant, as

-the art of dancing lacks in this as it did in the other,

-energy, feeling and soul. The one was more impressive

-through its grand outlines, the other excelled

-through its dainty charm, like the fashions, decorations

-and other arts of that time. Long, gilded mirrors, gay

-garlands of flowers, frail elliptic carvings, graceful designs,

-gauzy tissues, mauve ribbons, painted faces and

-hands, perfumed atmosphere, these and numerous other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span>

-impressions emanate of the art of dancing of the first

-part of the eighteenth century, although to this era belong

-the vigorous attempts of Jean-Georges Noverre,

-the greatest of all the dance authorities of the past centuries.</p>

-

-<p>Noverre, the celebrated ballet-master of France, is

-considered the father of the ballet and classic dancing

-generally. The brothers Gardel and Dauberval based

-their ideas upon the principles of Noverre. It was he

-who drove the masks, paniers, and padded coat-skirts

-from the stage and made it human. ‘A ballet,’ he said,

-‘is a picture, or rather a series of pictures, connected

-by the action which forms the subject of the ballet.

-To me the stage is a canvas on which the composer

-paints his ideas, notes his music and displays scenery

-colored by appropriate costumes. A picture is an imitation

-of Nature; but a good ballet is Nature itself,

-ennobled by all the charms of art. The music is to dancing

-what the libretto is to the music.’ According to his

-theory the action of the dancer should be an instrument

-for the rendering of the written idea. Before Noverre

-laid the foundation to his <i>ballet d’action</i>, dancing had

-existed as an auxiliary form to opera and was lacking

-in any signs of life. The dancers wearing powdered

-hair piled up a foot on their heads, and the men in

-their long-skirted coats made the impression more of

-a big puppet-show than of a living dance. This made

-the use of intricate and plastic movements of the body

-and, moreover, of mimic expressions, absolutely impossible.

-This is Noverre’s argument:</p>

-

-<p>‘I wish to reduce by three-quarters the ridiculous

-paniers of our danseuses. They are opposed equally

-to freedom, to quickness and to the prompt and animated

-action of the dance. They deprive the figure of

-its elegance and of the just proportions which it ought

-to possess. They diminish the beauty of the arms; they

-bury, so to speak, the graces. They embarrass and distract<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span>

-the dancer to such a degree that the movement of

-her panier sometimes occupies her more seriously than

-that of her limbs.’</p>

-

-<p>In spite of his great reputation and influence, Noverre

-found it difficult to reform the stage fundamentally.

-He failed to perform his own ballets in the way

-he wished. Thus in the ‘Horatii’ Camilla appeared in

-hooped petticoat, her hair piled up and decorated with

-fantastic ribbons and flowers. However, his reforms

-gained ground little by little. Much as he tried, he

-failed in reforming the stage celebrities of his time.

-This actuated the great reformer to say, ‘what we lack

-is not talent, but emulation. It almost seems, in fact,

-as if this were deliberately repressed. How I should

-rejoice to see a great dancer performing some noble

-part without plumes or wig or masks! I should then

-be able to applaud his sublime talent with satisfaction

-to myself; and I could then justly apply the term “great”

-to him, whereas now the most I say is: “<i>Ah la bella

-gamba!</i>” It is evident, therefore, that theatrical dancing

-demands many reforms. They cannot, of course,

-all be carried out at once; but we might at least begin.

-Let us do away with those gold painted masks, which

-deprive us of what would be one of the most interesting

-features of a <i>pas-de-deux</i>, the expressions of the

-performers’ faces. The disappearance of the periwig

-would follow of itself, and a shepherd would no longer

-dance in a plumed helmet.’</p>

-

-<p>It is said that the Noverre’s ballets reached the number

-of fifty. But most known of them are ‘The Death of

-Ajax,’ ‘The Clemency of Titus,’ ‘The Caprices of Galatea,’

-‘Orpheus’ Descent Into Hell,’ ‘Rinaldo and Armida,’

-‘The Roses of Love,’ ‘The Judgment of Paris,’ etc. Several

-of these he produced at the courts of Stuttgart,

-Vienna, St. Petersburg and Florence. It was through

-his influence upon the Empress Anna of Russia that

-the great Russian Imperial Ballet School was founded,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span>

-whose graduates have been electrifying the European

-audiences during the present and past decades.</p>

-

-<p>Noverre’s reform ideas were much perfected by the

-French composers and dancers of the following generation,

-men whom we have previously mentioned—Gardel,

-Dauberval, the Vestris brothers, and, in addition,

-Duport, Blasis and Milon. Auguste Vestris was

-twelve years old when he made his début in Paris, in

-1772, in the ballet <i>La Cinquantaine</i>, and aroused the

-wildest enthusiasm in the audience. His high leaps

-were so popular that his father used to boast, ‘If Auguste

-does not stay up in the air, it is because he is unwilling

-to humiliate his comrades.’ For thirty-six years

-he was <i>premier danseur</i> of the Opéra of Paris, and

-preserved his popularity till the age of sixty-six, when

-he retired to give lessons in dancing at the Academy.

-Of an eighteenth-century performance Weber writes

-graphically:</p>

-

-<p>‘On June 11, 1778, Mile. Guimard and the younger

-Vestris danced in the new ballet, <i>Les Petits Riens</i>, with

-Dauberval and Mlle. Anglin. The performance was a

-great success. The only author mentioned was Noverre,

-the celebrated ballet-master. It was he who had imagined

-the three scenes, which were in fact the groundwork

-of his ballet. The first scene represented Love,

-caught in a net and put in a cage; the second, a game of

-blind-man’s buff; and in the third, which was the greatest

-success, Love led two shepherdesses up to a third,

-disguised as a shepherd, who discovered the trick by

-unveiling her bosom. “Encore!” cried the audience.

-Mlle. Guimard, the younger Vestris, and Noverre were

-heartily applauded, but not one “bravo!” was given to

-the composer of the music—who was no other than the

-divine Mozart. Mozart, who, fifteen years before, had

-been acclaimed in Paris as an infant prodigy and an

-inspired composer, was vegetating in the city in poverty

-and obscurity. The success of <i>Les Petits Riens</i> apparently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span>

-made little difference to him, for a few days after

-the performance we find him leaving Paris, and seeking

-employment as an organist to ensure his daily

-bread.’</p>

-

-<p>This sad episode of the treatment of one of the greatest

-musical geniuses of his time is partly proof of how

-little valued was the musical side of a ballet at that

-time, yet it is also a graphic picture of the mental level

-of audiences of any time—ours not excluded—who

-judge a genius by public sentiment artificially aroused,

-either by means of some press-agent or by incidental

-novelty.</p>

-

-<p>Of the Gardel ballets the most popular were <i>Paul et

-Virginie</i>, <i>La Dansomanie</i>, <i>Psyche</i>, <i>L’Oracle</i>, <i>Telemaque</i>,

-and <i>Le Déserteur</i>. The writer witnessed a performance

-of <i>Psyche</i> given by the Russian Imperial Ballet

-with all the true atmosphere of its age, and it made a

-peculiar impression, similar to that which we get in

-visiting ethnographic museums of Europe. It was performed

-in Paris first time on December 14, 1790, at

-the Théâtre des Arts and pleased the people so immensely

-that it has been repeated not fewer than a

-thousand times since. The <i>Dansomanie</i>, which was

-given during the Revolution, was less effective and the

-author was apparently depressed, though he had chosen

-a subject of timely character—peasants, villagers and

-Savoyard farmers acting as the heroes. His ballet,

-<i>Guillaume Tell</i>, promised to be more successful, as the

-Committee of Public Safety had ordered its performance,

-but the money granted for its staging was stolen

-by politicians and Gardel took back his manuscript. It

-was given after his death. But his spectacular ballet

-<i>Marseillaise</i> created a furore when it was given at the

-Opéra. The ballet opened with a blast of trumpets,

-and was executed by dancers dressed as warriors and

-participants in a hungry mob. Mlle. Maillard, personifying

-Liberty, took her rôle so well that the actors on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span>

-the stage and the audience fell on their knees before

-her, as though in prayer. The solemn hymn passage

-of this part of the opera, and the slow, majestic dance

-of the artist were so impressive that the audience burst

-into sobs.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>Though the ballet lost its previous splendor under

-the Revolution, yet it became more vigorous in its enforced

-simplicity. The French writers admit that the

-ballets performed in connection with the <i>fêtes</i> of the

-Republic were marked by more serious tendencies and

-possessed certain profound emotional qualities. Actors

-and dancers soon accommodated themselves to the new

-ideals of social life. The Festival of the Supreme Being,

-conducted by Robespierre himself, was the most

-important of the itinerant ballets of that time. It was

-a ceremony of classic nature, performed with slow and

-march-like steps. Special ceremonial dances were also

-performed by the colossal statue of Wisdom to the accompaniment

-of an orchestra. The members of the

-Convention had their places on a specially erected platform,

-while choirs chanted a hymn to the Supreme Being.

-The President set fire with a torch to an image of

-Atheism. ‘An immense mountain,’ writes Castil-Blaze,

-‘symbolized the national altar; upon its summits rises

-the tree of Liberty, the Representatives range themselves

-under its protective branches, fathers with their

-sons assemble on the part of the mountain set aside

-for them; mothers with their daughters place themselves

-on the other side; their fecundity and the virtues

-of their husbands are their sole titles to a place

-there. A profound silence reigns all around; touching

-strains of harmonious melody are heard: the fathers

-and their sons sing the first strophe; they swear with

-one accord that they will not lay down their arms until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span>

-they have annihilated the enemies of the Republic, and

-all the people take up the finale.’</p>

-

-<p>This short picture gives a fairly clear idea of the

-Revolutionary period, which laid a new foundation to

-the French arts, including the art of dancing. The historians

-tell us that scarcely was the Terror at an end

-when twenty-three theatres and eighteen hundred dancing

-salons were open every evening in Paris. The costumes

-worn by the dancers under the first Republic

-were more or less imitations of those of the ancient

-Greeks. The women arranged their hair in imitation

-of the coiffures of Aspasia and Sappho, and appeared

-with bare arms, bare bosoms, sandalled feet, and hair

-bound in plaits round their heads. Even during the

-Terror people danced in every restaurant on the boulevards,

-in the Champs Élysées, and along the quays. It

-is said the people danced in order to forget the tragedies

-of the day. Milon was a celebrated composer and ballet-master

-under the Consulate. The most popular of

-his ballets during this period were <i>Les Sauvages de la

-Mer du Sud</i>, <i>Lucas et Laurette</i>, <i>Héro et Leandre</i>, <i>Clary</i>,

-<i>Nina</i>, <i>Le Carnaval de Venise</i>, etc. As in their dress

-and their ideals, so also in their dancing the people

-showed an outspoken tendency to appear <i>à la sauvage</i>.

-However, the political turmoils that shook France in

-these centuries, when the art of ballet crystallized into a

-systematic shape, assisted its natural development,

-chiefly by forcing it to swing from one extreme to the

-other.</p>

-

-<p>The foundation which the French grand ballet laid

-for the art of dancing still prevails in all the dancing

-schools of Europe. The ballet codes of all the modern

-nations use the same French grammar of technique as

-that which was taught to Mlles. Sallé, Camargo, and

-Guimard during the past centuries. To the French

-Academy of Dancing the world owes the principles of

-the ballet-technique, the <i>pirouettes</i>, <i>jetés</i>, <i>chassés</i>, etc.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span>

-The French ballet-masters found it necessary to divide

-dancing into five different positions, which formed the

-foundation of all dancing; and then classified the various

-styles of steps. In describing first, the positions,

-we begin with the right foot, but the movements would

-be the same if we would choose the left foot. First position:

-place the heels against each other, the knees and

-toes turned well out, the legs firm and straight, the

-body erect and well balanced, standing equally on the

-two feet. Second position: pass the right foot to the

-side to the length of the foot, the weight of the body

-resting on both feet, the right heel turned forward.

-Third position: bring the heel of the extended foot close

-to the hollow of the other instep, in the middle. Fourth

-position: move the right toe to the front, the toe pointed,

-the heel forward. Fifth position: let the feet be completely

-crossed, the heel of one foot brought to the toe

-of the other.</p>

-

-<p>In systematizing the dance steps the French based

-their technique upon the ancient method. Here we

-find the <i>pas marché</i>, or the walking step, in which the

-toe is pointed and is accompanied by a springy gait, for

-it is often combined with a <i>jeté</i> and a <i>demi coupé</i>, as

-the primary steps of the ballet. This is followed by the

-<i>jeté</i>, which means, spring forward on the pointed toe

-of the front foot so that the weight is thrown on it.

-To perform this it is necessary first to bend the knee

-and jump on the foot; second, to bring the toe of the

-right foot into the above-described third position; third,

-advance the right foot in small steps; fourth, bring the

-left foot behind into the fifth position and raise the

-right.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>pas coupé</i> is a step that requires the raising of

-one foot to the second position, then bringing it quickly

-to the other foot, which is then raised. Literally it

-means a step cut short. A step to the side is called

-<i>coupé lateral</i>, it is a <i>coupé dessous</i> if the same movement<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span>

-is executed in front or behind. Then there is a

-<i>demi coupé</i>, in which the step is half made. The

-<i>chassé</i> is a step in which the feet appear to be chasing

-each other close to the ground. It requires the advancing

-of the front foot, bringing the other close to it behind,

-then advancing the hind foot to the front, with an

-<i>assemblé</i> round the other foot. The first movement requires

-a step forward with right foot, bringing the toe

-of the left to the heel of the front foot. Then step

-forward, bring the foot back to third position with an

-<i>assemblé</i>, and let the other foot take the fifth position

-in front.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>battements</i> is balancing on one foot, while the

-other is extended to the side, front or back, and returning

-to the fifth position, in front or at the back. In the

-<i>petit battements</i> the movements are made with the

-toe on the ground. For theatrical dancing the leg is

-raised as high as possible. The <i>arabesque</i> is a step

-that requires the placing of the foot in the third position,

-then a slide of the left foot to the second position,

-turning the face and body in the same direction, the

-left hand curved above the head. In the second movement

-the right foot should be well extended behind, and

-the right hand stretched out behind. Of a quite different

-nature is the <i>cabriole</i>, which means striking the feet

-or calves of the legs together in the course of a leap. A

-<i>demi-cabriole</i> is a leap from one foot to the other, striking

-the feet while aloft. It requires the feet to be in

-the third position, sliding the right foot to the side,

-passing the left foot to the back, springing on the right

-foot, and turning and leaving the left foot still behind;

-the fourth movement brings the left foot forward with

-the right knee to the third position. Executed by

-trained ballet dancers with both feet in the air while

-the legs are rapidly separated and brought together, it

-is an effective trick.</p>

-

-<p>Well known even to social dancers, as the basis of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span>

-the polka-step, is the <i>pas bourrée</i>. This requires the

-dancer to stand on the front foot while the back one

-is raised. In the first movement the back foot is

-brought into the third position on the toes. The second

-movement is the beating of the front foot, and third

-movement the beating of back and front feet. To this

-step belongs the <i>pas de bourrée emboîté</i>, which requires

-the advancing of the right foot to the fourth position,

-the toe pointed and the knee straight, the bringing up

-of the left foot to the fourth position with the toe

-pointed behind the right, and the advancing of the

-right foot with the toe pointed to the fourth position

-without any raising or sinking of the body; it is all performed

-on the toes.</p>

-

-<p>Quite acrobatic in character are the celebrated <i>pirouettes</i>—movements

-composed of a <i>demi-coupé</i> and two

-steps on the points of the toes. The <i>pirouette</i> starts

-by bringing one foot to the fifth position behind, the

-toe touching the heel, then raising both heels and turning

-on the toe, reversing the position of the feet, and

-revolving on the toe. A <i>pirouette</i> used in the old dances

-consists of a turn on one foot and the raising of the

-heel of the other, stepping with the toe of this foot four

-times and so getting around the other one. In some

-of the slow <i>pirouettes</i> the movement seems to consist

-of the raising of the foot and jumping round as in some

-of the country dances. To this class belongs the <i>fouetté</i>,

-which gives a fluid, swinging impression.</p>

-

-<p>Of ancient French origin is the <i>pas de basque</i>, which

-starts in the fifth position with the bringing of the right

-foot forward with pointed toe, and passing in a semi-circle

-to the second position with the weight on the

-right foot, then with a <i>glissade</i> through the third position

-into the fourth. The <i>glissade</i> is a slide. Slide the

-front foot from the third position with pointed toe

-slightly raised to the right; then bring the left toe to the

-right heel, and <i>vice versa</i>. The first movement is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span>

-sliding of the foot from the third to the second position;

-the second, the left foot is drawn into the third position

-forward and repeats.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>fleuret</i> is a movement composed of a <i>demi-coupé</i>

-and two steps on the points of the toes. Start in the

-fourth position without touching the ground, bend the

-knees equally and pass the right foot in front in the

-fourth position, and so rise on the points of the toes and

-walk two steps on the toes, letting the heel be firm as

-you finish. This can be done also at the back and sides.

-The ‘balance’ is performed by rising and falling on the

-side of one foot, while the other is brought up close.

-The <i>brisé</i> and <i>entre-chat</i> are related movements. They

-occur during the spring while in the air. The feet cross

-and recross, and assume various positions. The

-<i>changement de pied</i> is a conventional step. In the first

-movement the dancer springs upward from the third

-position with the right foot forward; in the second, he

-throws this foot back and the left forward, dropping

-down into the third position, the situation of the feet

-being changed; this can be done in the same manner

-starting from the fifth position. The <i>pas sauté</i> is a

-jumping step, performed by bending the knee and leaping

-on one foot while the other is raised. Of more or

-less importance are the <i>assemblé</i> and the <i>ballotté</i>. The

-movement in the former is that of bringing the foot

-from an open to a closed position, as from the second

-position to the fifth. The latter is a crossing of the

-feet alternately before and behind. Then there is the

-<i>pivot</i>, in which the dancer revolves on one foot while

-the other beats time in turning around.</p>

-

-<p>This is briefly the elementary grammar of the French

-ballet technique, upon which the mechanical part of

-the art of dancing has been based. This was thought

-to be of essential value for a dancer in producing the

-most effective lines of the various positions and gestures

-of the body. According to the views of the authorities<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span>

-of the French Academy, mental application

-to physical effort were the chief requirements of a

-dancer. The gymnastic, and particularly the acrobatic,

-features occupied the foremost place in the ballet performances.

-Thus dancers in a ballet were not considered

-human beings but rather moving figures in a decorative

-design. Even the celebrated <i>prima ballerinas</i>,

-Mlles. Sallé, Camargo and Guimard, who are considered

-as the first accomplished women dancers on the European

-stage, with their ‘ravishing figures,’ and ‘enchanting

-appearances’ as Voltaire praised them in his poems,

-remained acrobatic puppets, as compared with our

-modern terpsichorean celebrities.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>The advent of the above-named three French ballet

-dancers was due to the genial reforms of Noverre, the

-Shakespeare of the dance, in the eighteenth century.

-We know very little of the principal qualities of Mlle.

-Sallé’s art, except that she disliked rapid measures and

-choreographic eccentricities. She was the principal

-dancer in many of Noverre’s ballets, especially in ‘The

-Caprices of Galatea’ and ‘Rinaldo and Armida,’ and in

-several Gardel ballets. In 1734 she appeared at Covent

-Garden in London, in the ballet of ‘Pygmalion and

-Galatea,’ and seemed to electrify her audiences so much

-that Handel wrote for her the ballet ‘Terpsichore,’ and

-at the close of the ballet purses filled with jewels were

-showered on the stage at her feet.</p>

-

-<p>The real favorite of the eighteenth century opera

-habitués was Mlle. Camargo. Her success is said to

-have been so sensational that the crowds around the

-doors of the theatre in London fought for the mere

-privilege of seeing her. She was also famous for her

-enchanting body and fascinating personality. Though<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span>

-born in Brussels, she was the daughter of a Spanish

-ballet-master, therefore she had at her command all

-the impassioned art of the ancient Caditians. At the

-age of ten she was sent by the Princess de Ligne to

-Paris and became a pupil of Madame Prévost, the foremost

-dancing teacher of that time. At the age of eleven

-she made her début at Rouen; but she continued her

-study until she was sixteen when she appeared for the

-first time at the Opera in Paris with unparalleled success.

-‘Nimble, coquettish, and light as a sylph, she

-sparkled with intelligence,’ writes Castil-Blaze. ‘She

-added to distinction and fire of execution a bewitching

-gayety which was all her own. Her figure was very

-favorable to her talent: hands, feet, limbs, stature, all

-were perfect. But her face, though expressive, was not

-remarkably beautiful. And as in the case of the famous

-harlequin Dominique, her gayety was a gayety of

-the stage only; in private life she was sadness itself.’</p>

-

-<p>Camargo is credited with having brought about an

-absolute revolution in opera by her fanciful and ingenious

-improvisations. In spite of the prevailing stiffness

-and rigid rules in the ballet she made a special

-place for herself by depicting the characters that she

-had to personify on the stage. She delighted in the

-conquering of technical difficulties. Stormy love affairs

-affected her so much that for six years she retired from

-the stage. But she quitted public life in 1741 and lived

-in seclusion the rest of her life. She left two children

-with the Duc de Richelieu and Comte de Clermont.

-She died at sixty years of age and ‘was remembered as

-the grave, sweet woman whose last years had been

-spent in loneliness and meditation.’</p>

-

-<p>Madeleine Guimard, whose fame loomed up soon

-after the retirement of Camargo, remained for forty

-years a commanding figure in the French ballet. Born

-in Paris in 1743, she made her début at the age of eighteen

-and was acclaimed as an artist of exquisite figure,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span>

-marvellous grace, and extremely distinguished manners.

-She knew how to make money out of her rich

-patrons but she was also most reckless in the expenditure

-of her wealth and her affections. She possessed

-two elaborate villas, one at Pantin, the other in

-the Chaussée d’Antin, in both of which she had built

-little stages on which she and her contemporary stage

-celebrities gave performances to the high society of

-Paris. Fleury says that ‘it was a gala day for one of

-our actors when he could escape from the desert of

-the <i>Comédie Française</i> and disport himself on the

-boards of a theatre so perfectly arranged.’ She entertained

-the guests of the court at her houses and loved to

-make her arrangements to clash with those given at

-the court. She was said to be pensioned by a Royal

-prince, a banker and a bishop, but lost nearly everything

-in the revolutionary storms. Retiring from the

-Opéra in 1789, she married the dancer Despreaux,

-who died soon after. Her old age was verging on misery

-and she died neglected in a miserable three-room

-apartment in the Rue Menars, at the age of seventy-three.</p>

-

-<p>A great dramatic <i>ballerina</i> after Camargo was Mlle.

-Allard, whose partners were Vestris, Dauberval and

-Gardel. Her frenzied admirers claimed that she far

-surpassed Camargo because of her added fire, her unusual

-agility and the expressive beauty of her poses.

-At one time she would be an ideal Sylvia, gentle and

-graceful to her finger-tips, then again she was the terrible

-Medea; now she personified the ethereal charms

-of a goddess of youth, then the voluptuous passions of

-a sultana. She figured as the <i>prima ballerina</i> in many

-of the ballets written by Maximilian Gardel, Milon, Mozart

-and Rossini.</p>

-

-<p>Of other dancers of the French school who enjoyed

-public favor under the Republic and the early Napoleonic

-era Duport is the only conspicuous figure. Being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span>

-a special favorite with Napoleon, he was the star in

-the ballets of Blasis and Blache. He composed some

-ballets himself in which he played the leading rôles.

-But these gained little success. Napoleon wrote to

-Cambaceres from Lyons that it was inconceivable to

-him why Duport had been allowed to compose ballets.

-‘This young man has not been in vogue a year. When

-one has made such a marked success in a particular

-line, it is a little precipitate to invade the specialty of

-other men, who have grown gray at their work.’ This

-clearly shows how much the great emperor was interested

-in the ballet, and how well he could criticize

-its artistic values.</p>

-

-<p>The Napoleonic era stopped temporarily the development

-of the ballet. Pieces composed during this time

-gained production more easily on foreign stages than

-at home. Thus the brilliant <i>Antoine et Cléopatre</i>, with

-music by Kreutzer, lived a few performances at home,

-whereas it became one of the most successful ballets

-abroad. The same was the case with Blache’s ballets

-‘Don Juan,’ ‘Gustave Vasa’ and ‘Malakavel,’ which became

-the favorites of the St. Petersburg audiences, while

-they remained unknown at home. It seems as if the

-political events which marked such a great step towards

-democratic ideas in France and Europe became a serious

-stumbling-stone to the evolution of the dance.

-Democratic England always relied on autocratic

-France, Italy, Austria and Russia for stimulation in

-dancing. All the great ballet celebrities of continental

-Europe found in England responsive and generous audiences,

-but never any serious rivals. Who of the

-great French <i>prima ballerinas</i> or male dancers, from

-Mlle. Sallé till Carlotta Grisi, did not make pilgrimages

-to Drury Lane?</p>

-

-<div id="ip_102" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 42em;">

-  <img src="images/i_102.jpg" width="668" height="508" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)</p>

-  <p class="credit"><i>Painting by E. Degas</i></p></div></div>

-

-<p>Though to the period of the Renaissance and the

-European national awakening belong all the immortal

-musical geniuses, like Bach, Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven,

-Schubert and others, who laid the foundations of the

-opera and symphony, yet these men seemed to ignore<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span>

-the ballet (if we leave out of consideration their inferior

-or incidental works). Gluck wrote a few pieces

-of this order, and so did Mozart; but they are not the

-works of their inspiration. Scribe, Rossini, Auber,

-Weber and Meyerbeer gave occasional expression to

-ballet music, particularly in connection with their operas,

-but they regarded these works as inferior to their

-operas. There are two reasons for this: ecclesiastical

-prejudice and the revolutionary mob. Just as a

-fanatical clergy branded the dance as Pagan and immoral,

-so the mob has always regarded the ballet as an

-aristocratic luxury. Science seems to us essentially

-democratic; but from the arts there breathes an air of

-snobbishness and luxury. The history of civilization

-has not yet recorded a truly democratic art, particularly

-a democratic ballet.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The rise of nationalism—The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango; the

-Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances; general characteristics;

-costumes—England: the Morris dance; the Country dance; the

-Sword dance; the Horn dance—Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.—Ireland:

-the Jig; British social dances—France: Rondé, Bourrée and Farandole—Italy:

-the Tarantella, etc.—Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related

-dances; the Esthonians—Germany: the <i>Fackeltanz</i>, etc.—Finland;

-Scandinavia and Holland—The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs;

-the Roumanians and Armenians—The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy

-and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> greatest factor in the stimulation of European

-art, particularly music, drama and ballet after the

-bloody Napoleonic wars, was the rise of nationalism,

-vigorously manifested in the folk-art—dresses, customs,

-decorations, buildings, songs and dances—of various

-nations. The first steps in this direction were taken

-by the Scandinavians: Grieg, Ibsen, Björnson and August

-Bournoville. What Noverre was to aristocratic

-France that Bournoville was to Scandinavia. Instead of

-searching for models and inspiration in the aristocratic

-traditions of the past centuries, these men turned to

-the inexhaustible treasuries of the national folk-art.

-And they truly discovered new beauties in the simple

-racial traits of the people. In the previously despised

-peasant art they found unexpected æsthetic gems, out

-of which they began to form the individual beauties of

-their new art.</p>

-

-<p>The Scandinavians were soon followed by the young

-Russian dreamers: Glinka, Dargomijsky, Seroff, Balakireff,

-Moussorgsky and Tschaikowsky in music and also

-in ballet; Gogol, Turgenieff, Dostoievsky and Ostrovsky<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span>

-in drama and literature, turned in their creations

-to the rich and unexploited folk-lore of the people.

-Russian music, perhaps more than any other, is a true

-mirror of the racial soul. There is fire, gloom, sorrow

-and joy, remodelled and expressed in the same racial

-spirit as that in which the moujik sings his <i>Ai Ouchnem</i>,

-or builds his <i>izba</i>.</p>

-

-<p>The electrifying effect of the Russian dancers upon

-the European audiences is not due to the influence of

-the French Academy, on the model of which the Russian

-Imperial Ballet School was formed, as many music

-and dance critics of the old and new worlds seem to

-think, but to the primitive racial spirit, to the great

-stage geniuses of the Russian Empire, who began their

-work on the basis of ethnographic principles. It is

-therefore in the folk-dances that we must look for

-the solution of future dance problems, it is in the ethnographic

-element that is laid the foundation of the modern

-art dance.</p>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p>While taking into consideration the folk-dances of

-various European nations, we find that those of Spain

-are the richest in racial individuality, most passionate

-in their æsthetic conception, and most powerful in their

-dynamic language. With their mediæval mystery,

-magic passion, merciless fury, angelic grace and seductive

-plastic forms the Spanish folk-dances remain the

-most impressive examples of folk-art. The centuries of

-Inquisition, romantic tragedies of the Moors and the

-silhouettes of an Alhambra are all expressed in the

-voluptuous lines of a <i>Jota</i> or <i>Fandango</i>, regardless of

-whether they are performed by an Andalusian or an

-Aragon beauty.</p>

-

-<p>So manifold is the Spanish folk-dance and so rich

-the Spanish imagination that each province has its own<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span>

-peculiar dance, of which, as in the case of the <i>Zarzuelas</i>,

-the inhabitants are immensely proud, and which they

-dance on the occasion of the fêtes of their patron-saints.

-The Andalusians boast of their <i>Bondinas</i>, the

-Galicians of their <i>Muynieras</i>, the Murcians of their <i>Torras</i>

-and <i>Pavanas</i>, etc. Dancing is the great pastime of a

-Spaniard. A dance of distinctly Moorish traits is the

-<i>Polo</i>. This is performed to the music of the <i>gaita</i>, a

-kind of bagpipe, and to the songs accompanying it.

-Devilier tells us how the male dancer looks over the

-girls present and, smiling on one of them, sings: ‘Come

-hither, little one, and we’ll dance a <i>Polo</i> that’ll shake

-down half Seville.’ ‘The girl so addressed was perhaps

-twenty years of age, plump, robust, strapping and supple.

-Stepping proudly forward, with that easy swaying

-of the hips which is called the <i>meneo</i>, she stood in the

-centre of the court awaiting her cavalier. Then castañets

-struck up, accompanied by the gay jingle of tambourines

-and the bystanders kept time by tapping the

-flags of the yard with their heels or their sword-canes,

-or by slapping the backs of the fingers of the right hand,

-and then striking the two palms together. The dancer,

-marvellously seconded by her partner, had little need

-of these incitements; now she twisted this way, and

-now that, as if to escape the pursuit of her cavalier;

-again she seemed to challenge him, lifting and lowering

-to right and to left the flounced skirt of her calico dress,

-showing a white starched petticoat and a well-turned,

-nervous leg. The spectators grew more and more excited.

-Striking a tambourine, some one cast it down

-at the girl’s feet; and she danced round it with redoubled

-animation and agility. But soon the exhausted

-dancers had to sink upon a bench of the courtyard.’</p>

-

-<p>One of the most typical of the Spanish folk-dances is

-the celebrated <i>Fandango</i>, that surpasses in its wild passions

-and vulcanic vigor everything of its kind. If

-you see it performed in the shadows of the ruined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span>

-Moorish castles and mosques to a measure in rapid

-triple time, and hear the sharp clank of ebony or ivory

-castañets beating strange, throbbing rhythms, you stand

-spellbound and electrified, a mute witness of striking

-ethnographic magic. You seem to feel the pulse of the

-semi-tropical, semi-African race. The flutter and glitter,

-passion and quivering seductiveness, are a glimpse

-into the æsthetic depths of a national soul. The dance

-seems to inflame the dancers as well as the spectators.

-A Spanish poet speaks of the <i>Fandango</i> as of an electric

-shock that animates all hearts. ‘Men and women,’

-he writes, ‘young and old, acknowledge the power of

-the Fandango air over the ears and soul of every Spaniard.

-The young men spring to their places, rattling

-castañets, or imitating their sound by snapping their

-fingers. The girls are remarkable for the willowy languor

-and lightness of their movements, the voluptuousness

-of their attitudes—beating the exactest time with

-tapping heels. Partners tease and entreat and pursue

-each other by turns. Suddenly the music stops, and

-each dancer shows his skill by remaining absolutely

-motionless, bounding again into the full life of the <i>Fandango</i>

-as the orchestra strikes up. The sound of the

-guitar, the violin, the rapid tic-tac of the heels (<i>taconeos</i>),

-the crack of fingers and castañets, the supple

-swaying of the dancers, fill the spectators with ecstasy.’</p>

-

-<p>An equally well known of the Spanish folk-dances is

-the <i>Jota</i>, which is said to have originated in the province

-of Aragon, though the inhabitants of Valencia and Andalusia

-claim that the <i>Jota</i> is the invention of their ancestors

-centuries before the Aragonians knew of it.

-It is a more ceremonial and less passionate dance than

-the <i>Fandango</i>, as it is performed on Christmas Eve and

-at other festivals with the purpose of invoking the favor

-of the Virgin. The Kinneys write of it: ‘It is a good,

-sound fruit of the soil, full of substance, and inviting

-to the eye as good sound fruit may be. No academy’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span>

-hothouse care has been needed to develop or protect

-it; the hand of the peasant has cultivated without dirtying

-it. And that, when you look over the history of

-dancing in some more progressive nations, is a pretty

-significant thing. The people of Aragon are not novelty-hunters.

-Perhaps that is why they have been satisfied

-while perfecting the dance of their province not

-to pervert it from its proper motive—which is to express

-in terms of poetry both the vigor and the innocence of

-rustic, romping, boy-and-girl courtship.’</p>

-

-<p>‘A trace of stiffness of limb and angularity of movement,

-proper to the <i>Jota</i>, imbued it with a continuous

-hint of the rural grotesque. Yet, as the angular spire of

-the Gothic cathedral need be no less graceful than the

-rounded dome of the mosque, so the <i>Jota</i> concedes

-nothing in beauty to the more rolling movement of the

-dance of Andalusia. It is broad and big of movement;

-the castañets most of the time are held strongly out at

-arm’s length. One of its many surprises is the manner

-of the pauses: the movement is so fast, the pauses are

-so electrically abrupt, and the group in which the dancers

-hold themselves statue-like through a couple of

-measures is so suddenly formed, that a layman’s effort

-to understand the transition would be like trying to

-analyze the movements of the particles in a kaleidoscope.’</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Jotas</i> of the other provinces, particularly of Andalusia

-and Valencia, are less racial than <i>la Jota Aragonesa</i>,

-but nevertheless they are true to the spirit of

-their localities. Thus the Andalusian <i>Jota</i> breathes mystery

-and romantic gloom, while that of Valencia is fluid

-and graceful in every movement. The great violinist

-Sarasate was so fond of the <i>Jota</i> that he made special

-trips after his concert season in the capitals of the

-world to his home town in Spain, and immensely enjoyed

-dancing with his old friends and the townspeople

-or playing the violin to them free of charge.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span>

-An extremely graceful and dignified Spanish folk-dance

-is the <i>Bolero</i>. This dance more than any other

-resembles the general architectonic and decorative style

-of the Spanish middle class. It has round and fluid

-lines, rich, soft forms, and graceful poses. In many

-respects it rather suggests a mediæval ballroom than

-a simple folk-dance. Some authors say that it is an invention

-of Sebastian Cerezo, a celebrated dancer of the

-eighteenth century, but the Spaniards themselves maintain

-that it dates back to the Arab rule or before. Blasis

-writes of it: ‘The <i>Bolero</i> consists of five parts: the

-<i>paseo</i>, or promenade, which is introductory; the <i>differencia</i>,

-in which the step is changed; the <i>traversia</i>, in

-which places are changed; then the so-called <i>finale</i>;

-followed in conclusion by the <i>bien parado</i>, distinguished

-by graceful attitudes, and a combined pose of

-both the dancers. The <i>Bolero</i> is generally in duple

-time, though some <i>Boleros</i> are written in triple time.

-Its music is varied and abounds in cadences. The

-tune or air may change, but the peculiar rhythm must

-be preserved, as well as the time and the preludes,

-otherwise known as feigned pauses—<i>feintes pauses</i>.

-The <i>Bolero</i> step is low and gliding, <i>battu</i> or <i>coupé</i>, but

-always well marked.’</p>

-

-<p>A folk-dance of great antiquity, according to Fuentes,

-is the <i>Seguidilla</i>, which has certain affinities with the

-<i>Bolero</i>. It is a spirited, gay and modest country dance

-of the Andalusian peasants. The <i>Seguidillas</i> of some

-provinces have a rapid rhythm and are accompanied

-by humorous recitative songs. It is said that in La

-Mancha, whose inhabitants are famous for their passionate

-love of dancing, verses to <i>Seguidillas</i> are improvised

-by popular poets to suit every occasion. The

-<i>Seguidillas</i> are dances that you see performed on any

-occasion at country inns and at social festivals. Though

-requiring less physical strength and dynamic technique

-than many others, nevertheless the <i>Seguidilla</i> is difficult<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span>

-to untrained aspirants. But like most of the Spanish

-folk-dances it betrays caprice, coquettishness and romantic

-tendencies of some sort. The theme of the

-<i>Seguidilla</i> poems is always love. Davillier says that

-the <i>Seguidilla</i> that he saw at Albacetex ‘began in a

-minor key with some rapid <i>arpeggios</i>; and each dancer

-chose his partner, the various couples facing each other

-some three or four paces apart. Presently, two or three

-emphatic chords indicated to the singers that their

-turn had come, and they sang the first verse of the

-<i>copla</i> (the song that accompanies a dance); meanwhile

-the dancers, toes pointed and arms rounded, waited

-for their signal. The singers paused, and the guitarist

-began the air of an old <i>Seguidilla</i>. At the fourth bar

-the castañets struck in, the singers continued their

-<i>copla</i>, and all the dancers began enthusiastically turning,

-returning, following and fleeing from each other.

-At the ninth bar, which indicates the finish of the first

-part, there was a slight pause; the dancers stood motionless

-and the guitar twanged on. Then, with a

-change of step, the second part began, each dancer

-taking his original place again. It was then we were

-able to judge of the most interesting and graceful part

-of the dance—the <i>bien parado</i>—literally: well stopped.

-The <i>bien parado</i> in the <i>Seguidillas</i> is the abrupt breaking

-off of one figure to make way for a new one. It is

-a very important point that the dancers should stand

-motionless, and, as it were, petrified, in the position in

-which they are surprised by the final notes of the air.

-Those who managed to do this gracefully were applauded

-with repeated cries of <i>bien parado</i>!</p>

-

-<p>‘Such are the classic lines upon which the dance is

-regulated, but how shall we describe its effect upon

-the dancers? The ardent melody, at once voluptuous

-and melancholy, the rapid clank of castañets, the melting

-enthusiasm of the dancers, the suppliant looks and

-gestures of their partners, the languorous grace and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span>

-elegance of the impassioned movements—all give to

-the picture an irresistible attraction only to be appreciated

-to the full by Spaniards. They alone have the

-qualities necessary for the performance of their national

-dance; they alone have the special fire that inspires

-its movements with passion and with life.’</p>

-

-<p>Noteworthy among the other Spanish folk-dances is

-<i>El Jaleo</i>, a wild and animated dance, consisting of acrobatic

-leaping and bounding, pirouet wheeling and fury-like

-fleeing and rushing. It needs a strong and experienced

-gypsy girl or a seasoned country dancer to give

-it its peculiar electrifying quality. <i>El Garrotin</i> is described

-as a pantomimic dance, in which the gesture of

-the hands and arms plays a leading rôle. The Kinneys

-write that <i>La Farruca</i> is an interesting folk-dance.

-‘After one becomes accustomed to it sufficiently to be

-able to dominate one’s own delight and astonishment,

-one may look at it as a study of contrasts. Now the performers

-advance with undulation so slow, so subtle

-that the Saracenic coquetry of liquid arms and feline

-body is less seen than felt. Mystery of movement envelops

-their bodies like twilight. Of this perhaps eight

-measures, when—crash! Prestissimo! Like gatling-fire

-the volley of heel-tapping. The movements have become

-the eye-baffling darting of swallows. No preparation

-for the change, no crescendo nor accelerando; in

-the matter of abruptness one is reminded of some of

-the effects familiar in the playing of Hungarian orchestras.’</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Cachucha</i>, <i>Tascara</i> and <i>Zorongo</i> are Spanish

-folk-dances of more or less local color. While the

-<i>Zorongo</i> is a rapid dance, performed in backwards and

-forwards movements, the dancer beating time with his

-hands, the <i>Cachucha</i> is danced by a single dancer of

-either sex, in triple time. Its steps are gay, graceful

-and impassionate, head and bust playing a conspicuous

-rôle. The <i>Tascara</i> dance is more fantastic and symbolic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span>

-than hardly any other of Spain. The movements

-are slow and languorous. It requires more backward

-curving and strange posing than agility and grace. In

-olden times Tascara was imagined as a dragon with an

-enormous mouth and fantastic wings. The slow movements

-of the dance grow gradually in speed and near

-the end the castañets strike, for without them a Spanish

-dancer seems to feel uneasy.</p>

-

-<p>The choreographic designs of all the Spanish folk-dances

-are rich in graceful curves, with abrupt sharp

-corners here and there, like the national architecture.

-They speak of a sweet glow of emotion and make a

-direct appeal to the passions. In dances of certain

-provinces and certain ages we discern the influence of

-Egypt, particularly of the Arabs. They give evidence

-of an ancient training which has grown into the blood

-and bones of the nation. They betray more the forms

-of Moorish arabesques than the clear-cut images of the

-Roman, Greek, or Gothic style. You can feel in their

-vigorous rhythm and colorful tunes simple, unspoiled

-souls, filled with energy and hope. To this the picturesque

-and romantic dresses of their women add that

-atmosphere and background which the individual stage

-dance seeks in proper scenery and costumes. In this

-the Spaniards are born masters. Take, for instance,

-the black velvet bodice, golden-yellow satin skirt, net-work

-dotted with little black balls, draped over the

-hips of an Andalusian belle, and you have a combination

-of colors and designs that so aptly fit a <i>Fandango</i> or

-<i>Bolero</i> that it seems as if a genius had been at work in

-this harmonious combination. Not less effective are the

-silver-spangled costume of an Aragonian dancing girl,

-and the costume of Spanish male dancers, which is suggestive

-of humor, brilliancy and simple strength. The

-laced black breeches lashed at the knee, the black velvety

-waist-coat, broad blue sash, and the red handkerchief

-tied around the head, and you have the most harmonious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span>

-counterpart to the picturesque woman dancer.

-The music, steps, gestures, poses, dress and choreographic

-figures of the dance melt into a grandiose masterpiece

-of some gigantic yet unknown genius. The

-colors, the wide skirt, the light sandals, the comfortable

-costumes and the animated gestures fit so perfectly together

-and produce in the symbolic lines of the movement

-a language that speaks so clearly of the æsthetic

-peculiarities of the nation that we are convinced we

-have here the best lesson in the fundamental principles

-of a new art dance.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>How true a mirror the folk-dances and the folk-songs

-have been and are in showing the racial differences in

-regard to beauty, is best to be seen if we take the reader

-from semi-tropical Spain into cold, conventional England,

-where æsthetic views have developed so differently.

-In this field we owe much to Cecil Sharp, whose

-careful works on English folk-dances are of exceptional

-service to the student of choreography.</p>

-

-<p>The most typical of English folk-dances are the Morris

-Dances, the Country Dances, and the Sword Dances.

-All three lack the fire and boisterous passions of the

-Spanish <i>Jotas</i>, <i>Boleros</i> and <i>Fandangos</i>. They betray

-the traits of a more phlegmatic and more critical,

-perhaps more intellectual, but less emotional race.

-Take, for instance, the Morris Dance, and you find it

-to be a manifestation of vigor rather than of grace.

-The same you will find true of all the other English

-folk-dances. They are, in spirit, the organized, traditional

-expressions of virility and sound health—they

-smack of cudgel-play, of wrestling and of honest fisticuffs.

-There is nothing dreamy, nothing romantic,

-nothing coquettish about them. Speaking particularly

-of the Morris Dance, Mr. Sharp writes:</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span>

-‘It is a formula based upon and arising out of the

-life of man, as it is lived by men who hold much

-speculation upon the mystery of our whence and

-whither to be unprofitable; by men of meagre fancy,

-but of great kindness to the weak; by men who fight

-their quarrels on the spot with naked hands, drink together

-when the fight is done, and forget it, or, if they

-remember, then the memory is a friendly one. It is

-the dance of folk who are slow to anger, but of great

-obstinacy—forthright of act and speech; to watch it in

-its thumping sturdiness is to hold such things as poniards

-and stilettos, the swordsman with the domino,

-the man who stabs in the back—as unimaginable things.

-The Morris Dance is a perfect expression in rhythm and

-movement of the English character.’</p>

-

-<p>The Morris dancers wear bells strapped to their shins,

-and properly to ring them requires considerable kicking

-and stamping. This ringing is done to emphasize

-the <i>fortissimo</i> part of the music. The foot, when lifted,

-is never drawn back, but always thrust forward. The

-toe is never pointed in line with the leg, but held at a

-right angle to it, as in the standing position. The stepping

-foot is lifted as in walking, as if to step forward,

-then the leg is vigorously straightened to a kick, so as

-to make the bells ring. At the same instant that the

-forward leg is straightened, a hop is made on the rear

-foot; the dancer alights upon the toe, but lets the heel

-follow immediately and firmly, so that he stands upon

-the flat foot. The dancer jumps as high as his own

-foot, holding his legs and body straight while he is in

-the air, alighting upon the toes (but only so as to break

-the shock sufficiently), then letting the heels come firmly

-down. In alighting from the jump, the knees are bent

-just enough to save the dancer from injurious shock,

-and are straightened immediately. The Morris Dance

-is danced by men, usually six. Occasionally, but rarely,

-women have figured as performers. The music in early<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span>

-times was furnished by the bagpipe, whistle and tabor;

-but for a century or so a fiddle did the service. The

-dress of the dancers was a tall hat with a band of red,

-green and white ribbons, an elaborately frilled and

-pleated white shirt, fawn-shaded breeches with braces

-of white webbing, blue tie with the ends long and loose,

-substantial boots, and rough, gray wool stockings. All

-dancers carry a white handkerchief, the middle finger

-thrust through a hole in one corner.</p>

-

-<p>Of somewhat different type is the Country Dance,

-which is performed by men and women together.

-Though less of a festival nature than the Morris, the

-Country Dance has been practised as the ordinary,

-every-day dance of the people. It is performed in

-couples and contains gestures that suggest flirtation.

-For this no special dress is needed. The figures and

-steps are simple and more graceful than those of the

-Morris Dance. Its step is of a springy walking nature,

-two to each bar, executed by women with a natural

-unaffected grace, and on the part of men with a complacent

-bearing and a certain jauntiness of manner.

-Like the Morris, the Country Dance never requires

-pointed toes, arched legs or affected swayings. The

-galop, waltz and polka steps are occasionally used. The

-movements are performed smoothly and quietly, the

-feet more sliding than walking. The figures are numerous

-and involve many repetitions.</p>

-

-<p>Of a very spectacular character are the Sword

-Dances, which bear a stamp of high antiquity. During

-the mythologic era they may have been practised as

-war dances, as we find similar ones practised by all

-primitive tribes. The history of all nations speaks of

-sword dances of some kind. There is to be seen in

-the Berlin Museum a picture from the seventeenth century

-that shows two double rings of dancers in white

-shirts, holding up on a frame of interlaced swords two

-swordsmen clad entirely in colors. There are also,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span>

-separately, seven sword-dancers, six in white shirts, the

-first only clothed in red, like one of the swordsmen.

-They dance in file toward the left, each sloping his

-own sword back over his left shoulder and grasping the

-sword-point of the men next in front of him. The last

-man only shoulders his sword.</p>

-

-<p>In England there seem to have been six principal

-sword dances, three long and three short. The long-sword

-dance of Yorkshire requires six men dancers,

-the Captain, and the Fool. These are accompanied by

-a musician who plays either a fiddle, bagpipe or accordion.

-The dancers wear red tunics, cut soldier fashion

-and trimmed with white braid down the front and

-around the collar and sleeves; white trousers with a

-red stripe an inch or more wide down the side of each

-leg; brown canvas shoes, and tightly fitting cricket caps,

-quartered in red and white. Each dancer carries a

-sword; the leader, an ordinary military weapon, and

-the others swords forged by a village blacksmith. The

-Captain wears a blue coat of flowered cloth, ordinary

-trousers and a peaked cap of white flannel. He used

-to carry a drum, slung round his waist, upon which

-he accompanied the dance tunes. The Fool used to

-wear a cocked hat, decorated with peacock feathers.

-He wore a dinner-bell and a fox’s tail attached to the

-back buckle of his trousers, and he used to run among

-the spectators making humorous exclamations. The

-steps, a kind of leisurely tramp, or jog-trot, fall on the

-first and middle beats of each bar of the music, and the

-tramp of the feet should synchronize with the rhythm

-of the tune. The dancers move slowly round in a ring,

-clockwise, stepping in time with the music and clashing

-their swords together on the first and middle beats of

-each bar of the first strain of the music. The swords

-are held points up, hilts level with the chin, the blades

-nearly vertical, forming a cone immediately above the

-centre of the circle. Each dancer places his sword over<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span>

-his left shoulder and grasps the sword-point belonging

-to the dancer in front of him. He then faces the centre

-of the ring, passes his sword over his head and lets his

-arms fall naturally to his sides. The dance consists of

-eight different figures. In the last figure the dancers

-draw close together, linked by their swords, each crossing

-his right hand well over his head. Each man then

-drops the tip of his neighbor’s sword and, using both

-his hands, presses the hilt of his own sword under the

-point of the sword adjacent to it. In this way the

-swords are tightly meshed together in the form of a

-double triangle, or six-pointed star. The process of

-fastening the swords together is carried out as quickly

-and smartly as possible.</p>

-

-<p>The writer saw a series of English folk-dances given

-at the MacDowell Festival at Peterboro, N. H., in 1914,

-among them the sword-dance described. The performance

-was exceedingly effective, though the instructor

-had only inexperienced young amateurs at his disposal.

-The character of the English folk-dances made rather

-the impression of a wholesome sport than of a social

-ceremonial. It seemed as if they were void of all emotional

-suggestions and their language was clever and

-realistic rather than fanciful and imaginative.</p>

-

-<p>Though of the same order as the previously described

-Morris, Country and Sword Dances, yet of a more fantastic

-appearance is the Horn Dance, which the English

-have borrowed from the Finns, and greatly changed

-after their own taste. The English Horn Dance requires

-ten performers, six dancers, a fool, Maid Marian,

-a hobby-horse, and a boy carrying a bow and arrow.

-These are accompanied by a musician, who plays an

-accordion, and a boy with a triangle. Each dancer

-carries a pair of reindeer horns. The antlers borne by

-the first three dancers are painted a white or cream

-color, the remaining three a dark blue. The horns are

-set in a wooden counterfeit skull, from which depends<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span>

-a short wooden pole or handle about eighteen inches

-long. Each dancer bears the head in front of him, and

-supports it by grasping the handle with his right hand

-and balancing the horn with his left. The fool has a

-stick with a bladder attached to it; Maid Marian is impersonated

-by a man dressed in woman’s clothes and

-carries a wooden ladle which is used to collect money.

-The boy holds a bow and arrow which he clicks together

-in time with the music. The step is similar to the

-country dance step, an easy, rhythmical, graceful and

-springy walking movement.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>The Scotch folk-dances, which surpass the English

-by their more rigorous movement and spirited steps,

-picture graphically the simple, industrious traits of a

-thrifty race. The most characteristic of the Scotch folk-dances

-are the <i>Highland Fling</i>, the <i>Scotch Reel</i>, and the

-<i>Shean Treuse</i>. All the Scotch dances are more or less

-variants of the previously described English ones. They

-have the same strong, sporty rhythm and jaunty bearing

-as the others. Their choreographic figures are so

-closely related to the English, and the English to theirs,

-that it were superfluous to give a detailed description

-of them on this occasion. Perhaps the <i>Scotch Reel</i>

-shows most typical traits of the Scottish race. This

-dance requires four ladies and four gentlemen, who

-all join hands, forming a circle. Then the gentlemen

-and ladies cross their hands and move eight steps forward

-and eight steps back in the style of a promenade.

-The gentleman balances his partner, swinging his

-right and left arms alternately and proceeds through

-the chain, the ladies separating left, the gentlemen

-right, until all arrive at their previous positions. The

-first lady goes into the centre of the ring while others<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span>

-hop around her until they reach their original position,

-after which the lady in the centre balances to her partner

-and back to the opposite gentleman in a half-swing,

-forming occasionally a chain of three. Thus it goes on

-until all the four ladies have done, after which the

-gentlemen follow the same figures and steps. All their

-steps are of a sharp, skipping nature and the lines of

-their poses remind one of the designs on their checked

-decorations and on the patterns of their bright and

-plain dresses. Noteworthy among the Scotch folk-dances

-is the <i>Hornpipe</i>, which has been a favored

-dance of the sailors and peasants. Its lively, rapid

-measure, so far as the feet are concerned, the folded

-arms, the firm and stiff body are typical characteristics

-of a Scotchman’s manners. The dance owes its name

-to the fact that it is performed to the music of a pipe

-with a horn rim at the open end. There are an infinite

-variety of <i>Hornpipes</i> and of music to which they can

-be danced, either in common or triple time, the final

-note having a special stress laid on it.</p>

-

-<p>Of somewhat different character than the English and

-Scotch folk-dances are those of Ireland. The Irish <i>Jig</i>

-enjoys a popularity throughout the world. Already the

-name suggests a light, frolicking and airy movement.

-Since the days of Charles II and Queen Anne, this dance

-has been associated with humorous verses. The <i>Jigs</i>

-were already in vogue at the time of Shakespeare, who

-speaks of them as leading pieces in the theatrical repertoires.

-A dancing or singing <i>Jig</i> was the real climax of

-a piece, often being given as an entertainment during

-the intermissions. Audiences were accustomed to call

-for a <i>Jig</i> as a happy ending to a show. The Irish people,

-possessing a natural love for music and dancing, have

-put their soul into the <i>Jig</i>. It mirrors best the semi-sentimental,

-the semi-adventurous racial traits of an

-Irishman.</p>

-

-<p>There are single and double <i>Jigs</i>; the distinction rests<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span>

-on the number of beats in the bar and they have often

-enough been danced to the strains of the bagpipe. As

-a rule, the foot should strike six times to a bar, and

-it needs a certain amount of enthusiasm to get into the

-spirit of the thing, the music thereof being most exhilarating.

-It adds to the charm if the dancers appear

-as Paddy in a brown coat, green breeches, and the soft

-hat with the pipe in it, and his partner in emerald

-green stockings and skirt, with a red kerchief about her

-head. The music of a <i>Jig</i> is usually an old Irish ditty,

-and anything more spirited or more in tune to the step

-could not be found. The first sixteen bars of the dance

-are occupied with the pitch in which the leg is thrown

-out. Sixteen bars are given to the toe and heel step.

-Thirty-two bars are occupied with the diagonal cock-step,

-supposed to represent the strutting of a cock. Sixteen

-bars are danced to a rocking-step, in which the

-legs are crossed. Eight bars are given to pointing; sixteen

-to stamping firmly with both feet, then the dancers

-advance and pivot. Finally, sixteen bars are given to

-a round and round movement. It requires a great deal

-of hand movement and body vivacity. It has been said

-by certain Irishmen that a <i>Jig</i> is in its apparent fun

-and fury a short symbolic drama of Irish life. The

-first figures mean love making, wooing, wedding and

-marriage. Then come the troubles of married life, the

-repentance and sinking into the grave.</p>

-

-<p>To old Irish, Scotch and English folk-dances belong

-the ‘All in a Garden Green,’ ‘Buckingham House,’ ‘Dargason,’

-‘Heartsease,’ and ‘Oranges and Lemons.’ They

-are all graceful and dignified, but depict more the English

-middle class or nobility than the people. Thus in

-the ‘All in a Garden Green’ the man begins by shaking

-the hand of his lady partner and kissing her twice,

-which was rather the custom of the fashionable ballroom

-than of a puritan people. They all give the impression

-of a refinement of manners that belongs more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span>

-to the early French social dances than to the folk-dances

-of a heavy and realistic race. We know how the English

-high society and court imitated the French in the

-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so it is only natural

-that it accepted with certain modifications the

-French social dances.</p>

-

-<h3>IV</h3>

-

-<p>It seems like a paradox that a country which gave

-to the world the classic ballet in the modern sense,

-Noverre, Blasis and Vestris, never produced any folk-dances

-of such racial flavor as we find in many other

-nations. The old French Rustic Dances, ‘Rounds,’

-<i>Bourrées</i>, the Breton Dances, and the <i>Farandole</i>, betray

-only in certain figures the characteristics of the French

-race; otherwise they make the impression of a pleasing

-and polished bourgeois art. The <i>Ronde</i>, considered as

-the first form of French folk-dances, being performed

-in circles by taking each other by the hand, is to be

-found among races like the Finns, Esthonians, Letts and

-Lithuanians, as we read from the old epics of these

-nations. Thus we read in the <i>Kalewipoeg</i> that ring

-dances—<i>ringi tants</i>—of eleventh-century Esthonians

-were practically of the same order as the French

-<i>Rondes</i>. The Greeks had ‘Rounds,’ so had other ancient

-civilized races.</p>

-

-<p>An old French dance is the <i>Bourrée</i> of Auvergne. It

-is said to be a shepherd dance originally; but Catherine

-de Medici introduced it at court and polished out all

-the heavy, simple and characteristic traits of the people.

-From that time it has figured as a semi-fashionable

-dance danced in the society. Bach, Gluck, Handel,

-and many others since have either composed <i>Bourrées</i>

-or treated <i>Bourrée</i> themes in their orchestral compositions.

-Originally the <i>Bourrée</i> was a simple mimic

-dance of the peasants. The woman moved round the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span>

-man as if to tease him. He advanced and returned,

-glanced at her and ignored her. In the meanwhile she

-continued her flirting. Then the man snapped his

-finger, stamped his foot and gave an expression of his

-masculinity. That induced her to yield, and the dance

-stopped—only to begin anew.</p>

-

-<p>Like the <i>Bourrée</i>, the <i>Farandole</i>, which originated

-in Southern France, was concocted into a dance of

-the <i>Beaux Monde</i> and deprived of its racial language.

-The <i>Farandole</i> that one sees danced in Provence is

-only a pretty social dance and has little of the old

-flavor. The dancers performing it stand in a long line,

-holding the ends of each other’s handkerchiefs and

-winding rapidly under each other’s arms or gyrating

-around a single couple in a long spiral. The modern

-‘Cotillions’ and ‘Quadrilles’ are based on the old French

-<i>Farandole</i>.</p>

-

-<p>It is likely that the idolized French ballet killed the

-interest of the people in their simple and idyllic folk-dances.

-The peasant going to the town felt the contempt

-that a patrician had for the country art and naturally

-grew to dislike his traditional old-fashioned village

-dance. The music that he heard in the city cafés

-cast its spell upon him, as did the city dances. Urban

-ideals have been of great influence upon the French

-country people, upon their traditional folk-dances and

-folk-songs, and this has deprived the race of valuable

-ethnographic reserve capital, in which many other nations

-excel. The French, like the English, have been

-strong in cosmic tendencies but weak in ethnic. While

-science grows out of the cosmic principles, art’s vigor

-lies in those of ethnographic nature. An average

-Frenchman is a great connoisseur of dancing and indulges

-in it with a particular pleasure. But his love

-of the refined and most accomplished impressions puts

-him naturally outside a simple and coarse peasant art.</p>

-

-<p>The Italian is less pretentious in his taste than the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span>

-former. But an average Italian, regardless of whether

-he be a peasant from the most secluded corner of the

-country or a citizen of Naples, lives and dies in music,

-particularly in song. The predilection that a Frenchman

-shows for the ballet transforms itself in the case

-of an Italian into a love for the opera. Italy has produced

-great composers, great musicians and singers,

-but only a few great dancers. An Italian dancer is

-either acrobatic or blunt. She seems to lack the more

-subtle qualities of plastic expression, the ability to

-speak in gestures and mimic forms. This is best illustrated

-in the celebrated folk-dance, the <i>Tarantella</i>.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Tarantella</i> owes its name to a great poisonous

-spider, whose bite was supposed to be cured only by

-dancing to the point of exhaustion. The Italians perform

-it to the music of a tambourine, which in the

-hands of an expert gives an amazing variety of tones.

-Like the skirt, apron and the head-dress of the dancing

-girl, the tambourine is adorned with glaring red, white

-and green colored ribbons. The white under-bodice

-of the Italian peasant dress is capable of any amount

-of embroidery, the hair intertwisted and interplaited

-with ribbons, the aprons interwoven with colors, and,

-instead of the usual square head-dress, with its hard oblong

-board resting on the head, a scarf is gracefully

-folded over the foundation and caught back with

-bright ribbons; this is the special Tarantella dress of

-a girl. The Italian costumes, both ancient and modern,

-are full of grace and beauty and give the appropriate

-atmosphere to a dance.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Tarantella</i>, being a tragic dance, demands considerable

-temperament, fire and dramatic gift. It begins

-with the dancers saluting each other, and dancing

-a while timidly. Then they withdraw, return, stretch

-out their arms and whirl vehemently in a giddy circle.

-It has many surprising and acrobatic turns. Towards

-the middle the partners turn their backs on each other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span>

-in order to take up new figures. It ends with a tragic,

-whirling collapse of the girl and the man looking sadly

-on. It is typical of hysteric fury, revenge, superstition,

-hatred, fanaticism, passion and agony. It speaks of

-a quick and sanguine temperament. An Englishman,

-Scandinavian or Dutchman could never dance a <i>Tarantella</i>.

-It is the dance of a temperamental race.</p>

-

-<p>Like the ancient Romans, the Italians are fond of

-pantomimes and spectacular effects, with little discrimination

-for poetry and poise. We can see the same

-traits in the Italian ballet, which has an outspoken

-tendency to the acrobatic. All the Italian ballet teachers

-in Russia are kept there only for their acrobatic

-specialties. You find in Italy everywhere singing parties,

-but comparatively little dancing. Some provinces

-may be more inclined to dancing than those around

-Naples and Rome. We have heard of a pretty dance,

-called <i>Trescona</i>, that the people dance in Florence, but

-we have never seen it performed. Other Italian folk-dances

-are the <i>La Siciliana</i>, <i>Saltarello</i>, <i>Ruggera</i> and

-<i>Forlana</i>. Some of them are more graceful and less

-dramatic than the <i>Tarantella</i>, but they have comparatively

-little racial vigor, little original appeal. They

-are either pantomimic or imbued with gymnastic tricks,

-and with a strong tendency towards the extravagant

-or the grotesque. However, the <i>Tarantella</i> is and remains

-the crown of Italian folk-dances. How much

-it has impressed the Italian and foreign composers is

-evident in the numerous compositions that they have

-devoted to this theme. Rubinstein’s ‘Tarantella’ is one

-of the best.</p>

-

-<h3>V</h3>

-

-<p>We find a remarkable contrast to the Italian style

-and spirit in the folk-dances of the Hungarians, whose

-popular themes have been successfully employed by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span>

-Liszt and Brahms in their instrumental and orchestral

-compositions. A nation of Mongolian descent, of impassionate

-and virile temperament, living its own life,

-isolated from the æsthetic influence of their European

-neighbors, little conventional, optimistic, fantastic and

-lovers of adventure, the Hungarians are born dancers.

-True to the quick and fiery temperament of the race,

-the Hungarian dances are vivid sketches, full of action

-and color. Music and dancing have been for centuries

-past the foremost recreations of the race. Their ancient

-legends speak of worship that consisted only of music

-and dancing. Unlike other nations, their dance music

-is exceedingly pretty, melodious and full of imaginary

-beauty. The Hungarian folk-dance is expressive, rich

-in pictorial episodes, symbolic and elevating.</p>

-

-<p>The Hungarian costume for a <i>Czardas</i> is singularly

-effective, the petticoat of cloth of gold, the red velvet

-bodice opening over a stomacher of gold and precious

-stones, crimson and green blending in the sash which

-surrounds the waist. It is said that the name <i>Czardas</i>

-is derived from an inn where it was danced by the

-peasants in past centuries. In every <i>Czardas</i> the music

-governs the dance, which is romantic, full of lyric

-beauty and very changeable. It is mostly written in

-2/4 time, in the major mode. The dance consists of a

-slow and quick movement, the music beginning with

-<i>andante maesteso</i>, changing gradually to <i>allegro vivace</i>.

-It is of ancient origin and was probably used as a worship

-dance. It is danced to different tunes of one and

-the same character, as far as the figures are concerned.

-Six, eight, ten, or more couples place themselves in a

-circle, the dancer passing his arm round the waist of

-his partner. As long as the <i>andante</i> movement is given,

-he turns his partner to the right and left, clapping his

-spurred heels together and striking the ground with his

-toe and heel, and then they continue the step as a

-round dance. In some provinces the women put their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span>

-hands on their partners’ shoulders and jump high

-from the ground with their assistance. So fond is the

-Hungarian of his <i>Czardas</i> that, as soon as he hears the

-stirring tunes of the dance played by a gypsy band or

-fiddler, it seems to electrify him so that he can hardly

-listen to it without dancing. As the music continues,

-the dance gets wilder and wilder until it ends abruptly.

-The steps of the Hungarian folk-dances are as varied as

-the music. Now they are gliding and sharp, then again

-graceful and curved. Some of the dances are quiet and

-of seductive nature, others of involved steps and tricky

-tempo.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Szolo</i> is said to be a semi-acrobatic dance, in

-which the woman is swung through the air in a horizontal

-position from which she descends as if she were

-coming down from a flight. The <i>Verbunkes</i> is a dance

-of military character, performed mostly by men (ten

-or twelve), each dancer being provided with a bottle

-of wine which he swings as he dances, singing in between

-a patriotic song as an additional accompaniment

-to the occasional gypsy band. Unlike the English folk-dances,

-the Hungarian are mostly built upon some romantic

-theme, either legendary or symbolic. Being a

-nation with rural traditions and rural ideas, Hungary

-has no sport spirit in any of her folk-dances. There is

-a strong feeling for Bohemianism and nomadic abandon

-in their mute language. Mostly the Hungarian

-dances are gay, sparkling with life and fantasy. They

-suggest Oriental designs mixed with Occidentalism, a

-world of queer dreams and sentimentalism.</p>

-

-<p>Folk-dances related to those of Hungary, that deserve

-to be known, are the Esthonian <i>Kuljak</i>, <i>Kaara Jaan</i>,

-and <i>Risti Tants</i>. Descendants from the same stock as

-the Hungarians and the Finns, the Esthonians settled

-down in the Russian Baltic Provinces about the seventh

-or eighth centuries and since that time have

-formed their independent racial art and traditions,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span>

-which they have cultivated and preserved till to-day.

-The great Esthonian epic <i>Kalewipoeg</i>, known so little

-to the outside world, remains, like Homer’s <i>Iliad</i>, and

-the Indian <i>Mahabarata</i>, a valuable treasury of ethnographic

-art, and it is from this book that we have

-gained an authentic knowledge of the character of the

-Esthonian folk-dances, though the writer has seen some

-of them performed in the country.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Kuljak</i>, like many other Esthonian folk-dances,

-is performed to the accompaniment of a harp—<i>kannel</i>—and

-the singing voices of the dancers themselves. It

-is danced by men and women alike, in a similar formation

-as the Irish <i>Jig</i>. But the <i>Kuljak</i> tempo is very

-similar to that of the <i>Czardas</i>, with the exception of

-the latter’s tune and the formation of the figures. Like

-the national costumes of the Esthonians, their folk-art

-is more sombre and poetic than the Hungarian, but less

-romantic and less fiery. The <i>Kuljak</i> steps are sharp,

-angular and timid, without that boisterous and jaunty

-expression which is so conspicuously evident in the

-dances of the southern nations. The peculiarity of the

-<i>Kuljak</i> is that it is performed around a bonfire or

-kettle filled with burning substance. Sometimes the

-dancers circle round the fire holding each other’s hands,

-sometimes they go in gliding promenade step, sometimes

-they dance singly, as if challenging or fearing

-the cracking and high-leaping flame. There is no doubt

-that this is a rare survival of the ancient sacrificial

-temple dance. The legendary and mythologic element

-is the unique peculiarity of the Esthonian folk-dances.

-The <i>Risti-Tants</i>—‘Cross Dance’—which is performed

-by men and women, first, in crossing the hands, then

-in making the cross designs with the steps, is of great

-antiquity and many of its cabalistic figures are incomprehensible

-to the modern mind. Like the designs of

-the Esthonian national dress, the figures of their

-primitive and simple folk-dances have a tendency of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span>

-never-ending lines. The colors, white, black and red—the

-symbols of red blood, white light and black earth—suggest

-dreamy, melancholy, but determined traits of

-a semi-Oriental race. Dance here is not a sport, not

-an amusement, not a medium of love-making, not a

-social function, but a magic motion to influence the

-great powers of Nature, and a semi-mythologic ceremony

-for the purpose of future joy and happiness. On

-this occasion the æsthetic element is interwoven with

-the ethical, the art is at the same time religion.</p>

-

-<h3>VI</h3>

-

-<p>The German mind has not been strikingly original

-or racial in folk-dances. It has taken more an abstract

-and purely musical direction and paid little attention to

-the dance. If we leave out the dances of the Bavarians,

-Saxons and Tyroleans, there is little that is of any ethnographic

-interest in this respect. The Prussian <i>Fackeltanz</i>

-belongs more to the elaborate pantomimes of

-the order of ancient Rome, rather than to regular

-dances. The mediæval Germany that was ruled politically

-and ecclesiastically from Rome never felt the

-influence of the rural country people, but, on the contrary,

-was mostly under the æsthetic and intellectual

-influence of the feudal barons and urban middle class.

-Under the influence of these two classes, German music,

-poetry, drama and literature came into existence. The

-German classic art is predominantly aristocratic and

-ecclesiastic. The early German artists were constrained

-to gather in the aristocratic salons of the rich patricians.

-The peasant was rarely a model of early German

-artists, but a German <i>Freiherr</i>, <i>Bürger</i> or <i>Handwerker</i>

-has been the subject of many German dramas,

-operas and musical compositions, and of much painting,

-sculpture and dancing. Wilhelm Angerstein tells<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span>

-us in his interesting book <i>Volkstänze in deutschen Mittelalter</i>

-that already in 1300 there existed German guild

-dances—<i>Zunfttänze</i>—such as the <i>Messertanz</i> (‘knife

-dance’) in Nürnberg, <i>Schafftertanz</i> (‘cooper’s dance’)

-in Munich, etc. Besides these there were the aristocratic

-<i>Schreittänze</i> and <i>Schleiftänze</i>. The <i>Drehtanz</i>,

-out of which originated the later <i>Walzer</i>, was an aristocratic

-and patrician, but never a truly rural folk-dance.</p>

-

-<p>There is no question that the German people has

-always been interested in dancing, a fact which is best

-illustrated in the frequent outbursts of mediæval <i>Tanzwuth</i>—‘dance

-craze’—that affected the population of

-various cities. These phenomena became occasionally

-so threatening to the public morality that in 1024 the

-Bishop Burchard von Worms issued a special decree

-putting dancing under the ban of the church. In 1237

-over two thousand children left Erfurt, dancing. In

-1418 an epidemic rage for dancing manifested itself

-in Strassburg. The well-known <i>Veitstanz</i>—St. Vitus’

-dance—originated in mediæval Germany and spread

-itself all over the world. The <i>Schuhplatteltanz</i> of Bavaria

-is a real folk-dance and contains in its gay and

-grotesque figures characteristic spiritual traits of the

-Tyrolean peasants. Most of the tunes of the <i>Schuhplatteltänze</i>

-are gay, joyful and bubbling with mountainous

-brilliancy, as is the dance. Though played in the waltz-rhythm,

-the dance is by no means a waltz, but a pretty,

-quaint little ballet of the people. There are some six

-to eight different figures in the dance as one can best

-see it performed in some villages near Innsbruck. It is

-danced by a man and girl, and begins with a graceful,

-slow promenade of the couple. Then she starts to flirt

-with him by spinning coquettishly round and round

-until he is enchanted and puts his hand gracefully

-round her waist. Now they dance together awhile,

-seemingly in love. But suddenly she seems to have

-changed her mind and tries to turn him down. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span>

-dance is full of buoyant joy and clever mimic expressions.

-It gives the impression of a healthy mountain

-race, optimistic, simple and humorous. Though occasionally

-rough, there are passages of sweet and sentimental

-grace which convey the impression of an old-fashioned

-Minuet.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Schmoller</i> is a characteristic dance of the Saxonian

-peasants, in which the man never reaches his

-hand to the lady, though they perform the four or five

-movements in the rhythm of the <i>Mazurka</i> with considerable

-turning and stamping the heels. A quaint old

-dance is the <i>Siebensprung</i> of Schwaben which is

-danced to the accompaniment of a song with humorous

-verses. The <i>Taubentanz</i> of the Black Forest region

-is a very graceful and simple dance with distinct mazurka

-steps, in which the gentleman reaches only his

-right hand to the lady. The <i>Zwölfmonatstanz</i> of Wurtemberg

-is a semi-social dance, which is performed by

-twelve couples. The <i>Fackeltanz</i> has been for centuries

-a ceremonial display of Prussian nobility and the court.

-The following is a short account, from the <i>Figaro</i>, of a

-Torch Dance as it was performed at the marriage of the

-sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II:</p>

-

-<p>‘Twelve youthful pages, pretty and dainty as the

-pages of opera, slowly entered by a side door under the

-direction of the chamberlains. They carried torch-holders

-in wrought silver, containing thick white wax-candles,

-which they handed to the twelve ministers.

-The marshal raised his <i>bâton</i>, the orchestra from the

-gallery opposite the emperor slowly began a tuneful

-<i>Polonaise</i>. The bride and bridegroom placed themselves

-after the ministers, who made the tour of the

-room, the chamberlain completed the <i>cortège</i>, which

-stopped before the emperor. The bride made a slight

-curtsey, the emperor rose and offered his arm, the

-<i>cortège</i> again passed in procession around the room.

-On returning, the bride invited the empress and made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span>

-the tour with her. Then the twelve pages approached

-and took the torches again. The dance continued. The

-ceremony might have been monotonous but for the infinite

-variety and richness of the costumes and uniforms,

-and the liveliness of the music. The twelve

-pages were quite delicious and marched with all the

-enthusiasm of youth.’</p>

-

-<p>The German <i>Rheinländer</i> and the <i>Walzer</i> are both

-dances of the middle class and the city. Whether they

-ever were danced as folk-dances by the German peasants,

-we do not know. They probably originated in the

-mediæval guild circles and spread gradually over the

-country. The Waltz, as we know it to-day, originated in

-the eighteenth century in Germany, though the French

-claim that it is a development of <i>Volte</i>, which originally

-was an old folk-dance of Provence. The <i>Volte</i>

-was in vogue in France in the sixteenth century.

-Castil-Blaze writes that ‘the waltz which we again

-took from the Germans in 1795 had been a French

-dance for four hundred years.’ The German waltz

-originated from the widespread folk-song, ‘<i>Ach du

-lieber Augustin!</i>’ which dates back to the middle of

-the eighteenth century. Gardel introduced it first in his

-ballet <i>La Dansomanie</i> in 1793 in Paris. But the real

-vogue for the waltz began after the Czar Alexander the

-First danced it at his court ball in 1816. Until the

-masses began to imitate the nobility it was a ‘high society’

-dance and such it remained fully half a century,

-if not longer.</p>

-

-<p>The waltz is written in 3/4 rhythm and in eight-bar

-phrases. It has a gliding step in which the movements

-of the knees play a conspicuous rôle. Each country developed

-its particular style of waltz. The Germans and

-French treated it as a dainty and graceful courtship

-play. In Scandinavia it grew more heavy and theatrical.

-In the English waltz the dancers walked up and

-down the room, occasionally breaking into the step<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span>

-and then pushing the partner backward along the room.

-The German rule was that the dancers should be able

-to waltz equally well in all directions, pivoting and

-crossing the feet when necessary in the reverse turn but

-the feet should never leave the floor. Waldteufel and

-Johann Strauss may be considered as the master-composers

-of the waltz as a social dance.</p>

-

-<h3>VII</h3>

-

-<p>As elaborate as the Finnish folk music is in racial

-color and line, the Finns have few interesting and original

-folk-dances. Dr. Ilmari Krohn has hundreds of

-Finnish folk-dance tunes, but they reveal musical rather

-than choreographic vigor. A large number of graceful

-Finnish folk-dances are imitations of the Swedish

-or Norwegian style. In their own dances the figures

-and steps are heavy, languorous and compact as the

-rocky semi-arctic nature. Like the Finnish sculpture,

-the Finnish folk-dance has a tendency to the mysterious,

-grotesque and unusual line. Some of their folk-dances

-are as daring and unusual as the Finnish architectural

-forms. You find in the Finnish architecture that

-straight lines are broken up in the most extraordinary

-manner, projecting gables, turrets and windows are

-used to avoid the monotony of gray, expansive and

-flat walls. It falls into no category of known styles.

-Like fantastically grown rocks, it compels your attention.

-There is something disproportionate yet fascinating

-in the Finnish style and folk-dance.</p>

-

-<p>The most racial of the Finnish folk-dances are not

-the pleasing village <i>Melkatusta</i> and other types of this

-kind, but the ‘Devil’s Dance,’ <i>Paimensoitaja</i> (‘Shepherd

-Tune’), <i>Hempua</i>, <i>Hailii</i> and <i>Kaakuria</i>. Like the Finnish

-<i>Rune</i>, Finnish dancing shows an unusual tendency to

-the magical, the mystic and the fantastic in emotions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span>

-and ideas. It is less the graceful and quick, fiery style

-that appeals to a Finn than heavy, rugged and compact

-beauty. The ‘Devil’s Dance’ is weird, ceremonial and

-mystical. It is performed by a single woman inside of

-a ring of spectators, who are chanting to her a rhythmic

-and alliterative hymn of mythologic meaning. The

-hands are crossed on the breast and take no part of any

-kind in the display, while there are slight mimic

-changes to convey the more subtle meaning of the performance.

-Like the other northern races, the Finns

-make their dancing a function of the body and the legs.

-The Finns dance to the music of a harp—<i>kantele</i>—horn—<i>sarwi</i>—and

-to the singing voices. It is never the

-dancer who sings, but the spectators or special singers.</p>

-

-<p>More picturesque and graceful than the Finnish are

-the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish folk-dances. Grieg,

-Svendsen, Gade, Hartmann and the modern Scandinavian

-composers have made successful use of the old

-folk-themes for their individual orchestral compositions.

-Though simple in step, the Scandinavian folk-dances

-are complicated in figure, lively and gay in

-manner, and rich in pantomime. They seem to have a

-strong predilection to square figures and sharp lines.

-The Swedish dancers are fond of arabesques, minuet

-grace and dainty poses. The Norwegian dance is more

-rugged and imaginary, the Danish and Swedish more

-refined and delicate. While the Norwegian is a naturally

-gifted singer, the Swede is a born dancer. There

-is a strong feeling in Sweden for reviving their old <i>Skralat</i>,

-<i>Vafva Vadna</i>, and other old national dances. The

-latter is a weaver dance and imitates the action of the

-loom. The girl, representing the movements of the shuttle,

-flashes back and forth through the lines of other

-performers, who are imitating the stretched threads.

-It is a clever piece of folk-art showing the vivid and

-quick temperament of the race. There are quite a

-few such symbolic country dances in Sweden, of which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span>

-the harvest dances take the first place. The <i>Daldans</i>

-and <i>Vingakersdans</i> are pantomimic dances of humorous

-character, both themes dealing with the social-sexual

-relations in a rather satirical way. In the latter

-two women are endeavoring to gain the affection of a

-man. The favored one seats herself a moment on the

-man’s knee and finishes the number by waltzing with

-him, while the other bites her nails with vexation. In

-Sweden, as in France, the sexual elements play a conspicuous

-rôle in the folk-dance and render it sweetly

-graceful, seductive and sensuous by turns.</p>

-

-<p>The Danes, being a race of industry and agriculture

-from the earliest times on, have followed the lead of

-Norway in ethnographic matters, but of Paris and

-Vienna in artistic manners. While they have developed

-the national art of the ballet to a high degree, their

-folk-dances have impressed me more by their cosmopolitan

-and imitative nature than by any original and

-racial traits they may have. There are certain plastic

-traits, certain soft nuances in the Danish mimicry, that

-speak of something racial, yet they melt in so much

-with the universal art that it is hard to analyze the

-national elements. Whether the ‘Corkscrew’ is a Norwegian,

-Danish or Swedish folk-dance, we have been

-unable to learn, but it is a charming piece of folk-art.

-In this the couples form in two lines. The top

-couple join hands, go down the middle and up again,

-and turn each other by the right arm once; then the

-gentleman turns the next lady, the lady the next gentleman,

-then each other again to the end, when the

-other couples kneel and clap their hands; and the first

-couple, joining hands, dance up one line and down the

-other, the lady inside. Then follows the corkscrew: all

-join hands outstretched with their vis-à-vis, the leading

-couple thread their way in and out of the other couples,

-the ladies backing, taking the lead, and then the gentlemen.

-All hands are raised when they reach the bottom,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span>

-and, passing under the archway thus formed, they

-give place to the next couple.</p>

-

-<p>The Dutch had previously many characteristic and

-racial folk-dances, as their great painters have handed

-down to us in their numerous works, but they have

-mostly died out. A Dutch folk-dance, with the performers

-dressed in long brocaded gowns and close-fitting

-caps of the same material, the face framed with

-small roses edging the cap, makes a most quaint and

-charming impression. The best known of the Dutch

-folk-dances is the Egg Dance, which was given with

-eggs beneath the feet. Another very effective dance,

-though slightly coarse in conception, is their Sailor’s

-Dance. The latter is danced by a couple in wooden-shoes,

-man and woman with their backs to each other

-and faces turned away. The dance has some eight

-figures and only at the end of each figure the dancers

-turn swiftly around to get a glimpse of each other,

-and turn back in the original position. If well executed

-this is an exceedingly humorous dance.</p>

-

-<h3>VIII</h3>

-

-<p>The Lithuanians had in olden times snake dances

-and dances somewhat related to the legendary and

-mystic themes of the American Indians. Even in the

-folk-dances of the modern Lithuanians there are elements

-to be found that show relation to the ancient

-American tribes. An average Lithuanian folk-dance,

-as known and danced to-day is simple but pretty, and

-is either mixed with Byzantine or with Romanesque

-designs. But the legendary ideas still prevail, even

-in the picturesque wedding dances.</p>

-

-<p>The Polish folk-dances, the <i>Polonaise</i>, <i>Mazurka</i>,

-<i>Krakoviak</i>, and <i>Obertass</i>, contribute their quota of

-originality. The <i>Krakoviak</i> is a circular dance with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span>

-singing interspersed; lively graceful poses, soft delicate

-lines and gliding steps make it look like a refined

-salon dance of mediæval nobility. The <i>Polonaise</i> and

-<i>Mazurka</i> have spread as social dances in numerous

-variations throughout the world. Chopin used the

-themes of many Polish folk-dances for his individual

-compositions, as they are exceedingly sweet, romantic,

-and delicate in their melodic structure. The <i>Obertass</i>

-is a real gymnastic performance with occasional polka-steps

-and wild turns. It is danced by a couple with

-such velocity towards the end that the woman must

-hold strongly to the shoulders of her partner in order

-to keep from reeling off towards the spectators. Delicate,

-temperamental, with occasional traits of melancholy

-and softly graceful line, the Polish folk-dances

-are characteristic of the racial soul. In many respects

-the Poles resemble the French in racial qualities. The

-debonair manners of the French, their tendency toward

-romantic emotions, are to be noticed in the Polish national

-dance. The qualities give it an air of seeming

-refinement and make it a distinct social amusement,

-and nothing else.</p>

-

-<p>The Bohemian, Ruthenian, Servian and Bulgarian

-folk-dances are each typical of their race. A tendency

-of most of the Slavic folk-dances is that the two sexes

-should mingle as little as possible. Men and women

-join hands in certain figures, emphasizing the dramatic

-meaning of the dance, otherwise they remain separated.

-They rarely dance in couples as the other

-European races do. They make promenades, march

-or gallop; they leap and bound in such a manner that

-the woman faces the man but rarely touches him.

-The woman’s movements are distinctly feminine, the

-man’s masculine. The Slav feels that the mixing of

-the sexes, or the putting of woman on the same plane

-with man, is detrimental to the æsthetic emotions, particularly

-to the romantic feelings.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span>

-The <i>Romaika</i> and <i>Kolla</i> are both picturesque circle

-dances of the Southern Slavs. In the latter the man

-does not take the hand of the woman next to him, but

-passes his arm under hers to clasp the hand of her

-neighbor. The whole ring circles round in skipping

-step to the accompaniments of melancholy songs. The

-women are adorned with glass beads, huge gowns, artificial

-flowers and false jewelry of the most fantastic

-colors. The men wear richly embroidered bright-colored

-shirts and wide trousers. Sometimes a special

-woman dancer enters the ring and executes a dramatic

-pantomime, reflecting somehow a local affair. On

-other occasions man and woman go through a vivid

-pantomimic performance in the circle, while the rest

-circle around them singing.</p>

-

-<p>The Roumanians have a strange folk-dance called

-the <i>Hora</i> which is performed by the youth in languishing

-cadence to the long drawn notes of the bagpipes.

-This consists of a prelude and a real dance. At first,

-the dancers advance to the left five steps, stamping

-the ground and stopping suddenly, after which they repeat

-the same motions for a few times. Of this M.

-Lancelot writes: ‘Gradually the mandolins strike in

-to enliven the solemn strain, and seem desirous to

-hurry it, emitting two or three sonorous notes, but

-nothing moves the player of the bagpipes; he perseveres

-in his indolent rhythm. At last a challenging

-phrase is thrice repeated; the dancers accompany it

-by stamping thrice on the ground, and looking back

-at the girls grouped behind them. The latter hesitate;

-they look at each other, as if consulting together; then

-they join hands and form a second circle round the

-first. Another call, more imperious still, is sounded,

-they break from each other, and mingle in the round

-of young men.</p>

-

-<p>‘At this moment the old gypsy opens his keen little

-eyes, showing his sharp white teeth in a sudden smile,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span>

-shaking out a shower of joyous, hurried notes over

-the band, he expresses by means of an agitated harmony

-the tender thrill that must be passing through

-all the clasped hands. The <i>Hora</i> proper now begins.

-It lasts a long time, but retains throughout the character

-of languor that characterized its commencement.

-Its monotony is varied, however, by a pretty bit of

-pantomime. After dancing round with arms extended,

-the men and their partners turn and face each other

-in the middle of the circle they have been describing.

-This circle they reduce by making a few steps forward;

-then, when their shoulders are almost touching, they

-bend their heads under their uplifted arms, and look

-into each other’s eyes. This figure loses something

-of its effect from the frequency with which it is repeated;

-and the cold placidity with which the dancers

-alternately gaze at their right-hand and left-hand neighbors

-is disappointing, and robs the pantomime of its

-classic aroma.’</p>

-

-<h3>IX</h3>

-

-<p>Of Oriental flavor are the Armenian folk-dances,

-which the writer saw many years ago performed by

-Armenian students to the music of a queer mandolin-like

-instrument and the rhythmic beats of the drum

-played by the dancer with his fingers. This drum gives

-a register of six or seven different tones and adds its

-peculiar effect to the whole. It seems that most of the

-Armenian dances are executed by a single dancer,

-either man or woman, in bent, erect, arched and twisted

-positions, often standing on a single spot for minutes.

-Though languorous and weird, they possess a grace

-of their own.</p>

-

-<p>In no other country have the folk-dances reached

-such a variety of forms, such a high degree of development

-and an individuality so distinctly racial and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span>

-rich in dramatic and imaginary poses, steps, gestures

-and mimic expressions as in Russia. In the Russian

-dances we can trace the elements of all the hundreds

-of ancient and modern tribes and nationalities who

-have been molten in one homogeneous mass of people,

-a world in itself. Here the Orient and Occident

-have found a united form for their æsthetic expressions,

-with no relation to those of the West-European

-nations. The Russian dances, like the country itself,

-are a mixture of contrasts and extremes: melancholy

-and yet gay, simple and even sweet; ghastly yet fascinating

-and seductive; mysterious and yet open as the

-prairies of its own boundless steppes; old and yet

-young. All these contrasts and contradictions may be

-found reflected in the essentials of the Russian folk-dance.

-Like the semi-Oriental style of architecture,

-now curved and gloomy, then suddenly straight and

-dazzlingly brilliant, occasionally bizarre and fantastic,

-but strongly inclined to the romantic and the mystic

-forms, are the innumerable figures and steps of the

-Russian dances. In Russia more than in any other

-country the sexual diversity in the style of the steps,

-poses and mimic display is subjected to a most careful

-consideration. The woman is neither equal nor inferior

-to the man. She occupies her dignified position

-in the slightest move, by remaining more subtle, tender

-and passively fascinating, while the man’s rôle often is

-extravagantly masculine, sometimes even rough. No

-Russian dance puts the two sexes on the same level

-æsthetically and dramatically. The couple dance is an

-unknown, or at best a rather crude, conception to a

-Russian.</p>

-

-<p>Up to this time no one has yet made a thorough study

-of all the Russian folk-dances, as each province and

-district has its particular traditions and dances. The

-Volga region, having once been inhabited by Bulgarian

-and Tartar tribes, has a more nomadic and adventurous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span>

-dance style than the dreamy peasants of Kostroma

-and Nijny Novgorod. The dances of the Little Russians

-are more joyful and humorous than those of more

-northern regions, but they are also less elaborate and

-less dramatic. The dances of the provinces of Novgorod

-and Pskoff possess an unusual tendency towards

-the legendary and towards free forms of plastic expression,

-as if meaning to express tales of a golden

-age in the past when they had a republican form of

-government and a democratic evolution. The dances

-of the Caucasian and Crimean regions are outspokenly

-romantic and epic, those of Siberia tragic and heroic.</p>

-

-<p>Fundamentally, the Russian folk-dances can be divided

-into four different groups: the ballad dances, or

-<i>Chorovody</i>; the romantic dances of the <i>Kamarienskaya</i>

-type; the dramatic dances of the <i>Kasatchy</i> type; the

-bacchanalian dances of the <i>Trepak</i> type; and the unlimited

-number of humorous, gay, amusing and entertaining

-country dances—the so-called <i>Pliasovaya</i>—of

-purely local flavor. Besides these there are the historic

-ballad dances, such as ‘Ivan the Terrible’, ‘Ilia

-Murometz,’ and others. The Cossack dance, <i>Lesginka</i>,

-the <i>Kaiterma</i>, the <i>Polowetsi</i> dances, the <i>Vanka</i>, and

-others of this kind, are dances of a rather local character,

-though they have spread all over the country.</p>

-

-<p>The oldest and most varied of Russian folk-dances

-are the <i>Chorovody</i>, or the ballad dances, performed

-only to the singing voices of the dancers themselves.

-This is a kind of ring dance like the old French Round.

-In some dances the men reach their hands to the girls,

-in others they touch each other with their elbows only,

-as the girls keep their hands on their hips, while

-the men cross them on their breast. The real dance

-is performed inside the ring, usually by a girl, who

-sometimes has a man partner; this dance may be pantomimic,

-humorous or full of wildest joy and agility.

-The writer has witnessed some <i>Chorovody</i> which were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span>

-performed with such skill and finesse of plastic pose

-and mimic art as to leave many ballet celebrities far

-in the background. The Russian folk-dancer employs

-every inch of his body, his hands, legs, toes, heels, hips,

-shoulders, head and the mimic art so masterfully and

-correctly that you must often marvel his born talent

-and lively interest in dancing. However, in all folk-dances

-the women seem to play the leading rôle, the

-men merely supporting them with the contrasted figures.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Chorovody</i> were used by the mediæval <i>Boyars</i>

-in a more refined and poetic style for their social functions

-and the entertainment of their guests. Later they

-were introduced to the court and finally they were employed

-in the Russian ballets and operas. Ivan the

-Terrible was fond of <i>Chorovody</i> dances and often

-danced them himself, as did also other Russian rulers.

-The aristocratic <i>Chorovody</i>, however, grew more stately

-and artificial and lost their racial freshness. Catherine

-the Great sent her chamberlains to every province to

-invite the best folk-dancers to come to the court, which

-they did. All dances of this type are picturesque, romantic,

-poetic and restrained in their expression.</p>

-

-<p>An entirely different dance is the <i>Kasatchy</i>, danced

-by a man and a woman at the same time. This is more

-a man’s than a woman’s dance. He selects his partner

-and proceeds to execute a series of seductive motions

-around her, while she demurely hangs her head, refusing

-for a while to be seduced by his allurements.

-At length she thaws and begins to sway in harmony

-with his manly but graceful movement. Now they

-bend and bow together, and swerve from side to side,

-the while performing a multitude of gestures depicting

-timidity and embarrassment, till finally from shy, half-tearful

-expression of love and flirting glances they proceed

-with gay eyes expressive of the most burning devotion.

-Now the dance waxes fierce and fast, in and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span>

-out they circle, turn and twist, ever now and then reverting

-to that crouching posture, so commonly seen

-in the Russian folk-dances. Finally they meet in close

-embrace and whirl with incredible rapidity round and

-round, till thoroughly out of breath and dizzy from

-their effort, they sink exhausted on a friendly bench.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Kamarienskaya</i> is a bride’s dance, in which the

-girl symbolizes all the imaginary bliss and happiness

-of her future married life. In the first part, which

-consists of a soft <i>legato</i>, she dances dreamily but dramatically,

-using conspicuously every muscle of her

-body and her arms to express the imagined love motions

-that she will perform in meeting her beloved.

-Thus the pantomime continues on to the blissful moment

-of meeting, which she performs like a whirlwind,

-until, unexpectedly stopping, she ends the dance with

-a slightly disappointed, humorous expression.</p>

-

-<p>Since our space is limited, the writer must refrain

-from more detailed and further description of the

-previously mentioned types of the Russian folk-dances.

-He need only repeat that they surpass by far the folk-dances

-of all the rest of the world, in that they are so

-much more racial, so rich in plastic lines, and so perfect

-in their artistic appeal; it seems as if a remarkable

-genius had presided over their invention and execution.

-They are masterfully original from the beginning

-and continually furnish new ideals of choreographic

-beauty. They draw their inspiration from some

-rich fountain unknown to the Occidentals. They are

-too fresh, vigorous and alive to be perverse.</p>

-

-<p>Thus having drawn kaleidoscopic sketches of the

-primitive racial choreographic impulses of a number

-of the civilized and barbaric races, we can come to the

-conclusion that in these alone are to be found the

-sound and virile germs of lasting individual or highly

-developed national art-dance. Ethnographic essentials

-are the next stepping-stones to a more developed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span>

-future cosmic choreography, and in this the folk-dances

-give the most eloquent elementary lessons. As from

-a mute conversation we learn from the ethnic dances

-in what manifold forms one and the same beauty can

-manifest itself to the human mind. The ethnic symbols

-are graphic and true to the spirit of the thing

-expressed; for this reason a folk-dance, no matter how

-coarse, how grotesque and how strange it seems, is

-yet sincere and intelligible to the open-hearted observer.

-It always impresses one as something manly

-and direct, sound and firm.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The <i>Pavane</i> and the <i>Courante</i>; the <i>Allemande</i> and the <i>Sarabande</i>; the

-<i>Minuet</i> and the <i>Gavotte</i>; the <i>Rigaudon</i> and other dances.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Since</span> we have devoted a chapter to the folk-dances,

-it will be fitting to describe a few of the most noted

-dances of the nobility in order to complete our comparative

-treatment of such a vast subject, so little systematized

-and so much ignored. While the general

-tone of all the folk-dances is masculine, that of all

-the social dances seems predominantly effeminate,

-rather soft and delicate. Their exceedingly graceful

-plastic lines, shaded movements, soft forms and subtilized

-gestures speak of gilded ball-rooms, silk and

-perfume, affected manners and the artificial air of a

-Rococo style. It seems as if a woman’s mind had

-worked out their embroidered figures and timid steps.

-They belonged to no particular nation, but to the rich

-class of all the world. The same <i>Allemande</i> that was

-danced by the French nobility was copied at the castles

-of the German barons, English lords, Italian and Russian

-counts.</p>

-

-<p>The oldest and most ceremonial of the Middle Ages’

-social dances was the <i>Pavane</i>, the celebrated peacock

-dance, in which kings and princes, lords and ladies

-took part, the men wearing gorgeous uniforms, the

-ladies flowery trains. It was distinguished by rhythmic

-grace, and by slow and stately measure. The

-dancers attempted to enshroud their very souls in majestic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span>

-dignity, gracefully rounding their arms, while

-crossing and recrossing, keeping their heads away from

-each other. One big step and two small ones accompanied

-one bar of the music, which was sung by a chorus

-of hidden singers. Beginning side by side, hand

-in hand, with a curtsey and bow, the couple started

-with a <i>pas marché</i> down the floor, making four steps,

-the cavalier taking the lady’s left hand. After making

-a turn with four steps, they danced backward with

-four steps. He took her right hand and turned with

-four steps. Thus it went on in four different movements.

-The <i>Pavane</i> was a dance for cortèges and processions,

-and the lady’s trains were spread out like

-the tail of a peacock.</p>

-

-<p>The next most conspicuous nobility dance was the

-<i>Courante</i>, which was practised for nearly three centuries

-at the European castles and courts. It was a

-great favorite of Louis XIV, and no one else danced it

-so well as he. It was danced at the court of Charles

-II and Queen Elizabeth was fond of it. The ladies

-danced it in short soft velvet skirt; bodice with basques

-and lace berthes. It had three movements and started

-usually with a deep curtsey, a springing step forward

-and back, both arms raised and each dancer turning

-outward. These movements occupied four double

-bars of the music. Handel and Bach wrote many

-<i>Courantes</i>, but they were too elaborate and quick,

-therefore they were used only by professional dancers.</p>

-

-<p>Bach and Handel have also written numerous <i>Chaconnes</i>,

-which were dances in slow triple time, of a

-stately character, light and graceful. In the <i>Chaconne</i>

-two or three people could participate. This dance

-was said to be of Spanish origin, though the Italians

-claim that one of their blind musicians composed it

-in the sixteenth century. Cervantes writes in ‘Don

-Quixote’ that it was a mulatto dance for negroes and

-negresses, imported by the French. It is composed of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span>

-a springing and walking step on the toes, at the end

-of which the heels must be so placed that the body

-is firm. The rhythm is slow and well marked. The

-dance has seven different movements. The fourth and

-sixth movements are in Mazurka steps, the fifth in

-skating steps and the last in bourrée step. In the third

-movement the lady turns under her partner’s arm.</p>

-

-<p>A celebrated dance of more than four centuries was

-the <i>Allemande</i>, in which the head and arm movements

-played the foremost rôle. It had five movements,

-danced by any number of couples, placing themselves

-behind each other. The <i>Allemande</i> step is three <i>pas

-marchés</i> and the front foot raised. The lady stands

-in front of the gentleman and he holds her left hand

-with his left and her right with his right hand.

-For four bars they go forward and pose, repeat this

-four times and turn. The second movement has four

-steps around, after which the gentleman turns the lady

-with arms over head, and the lady turns the gentleman.

-The third movement is a polka step backward

-and forward and turned. In the fourth the lady takes

-four steps in front of the gentleman and turns. In

-the last they take four steps across the room, turn and

-pose; two steps back and pose, and repeat.</p>

-

-<p>A dance of pretty music and more original design

-was the <i>Sarabande</i> of the sixteenth and seventeenth

-centuries, which was danced as a solo by a man or a

-woman, although later it was danced by couples. It

-had a slow and stately step and consisted of four different

-figures. In the first figure the dancer raised the

-right foot and took a step forward, turned to the right

-and posed, and repeated to the left and the right. The

-second figure was a <i>pas bourrée</i> to the left and the

-right, with some turning in between. The third figure

-consisted of an accentuated hip movement, <i>coupé</i>, a

-pose with head movement, and a repetition to the opposite

-direction. The last figure consisted of springing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span>

-on the left foot, stretching the right leg to the back,

-and bowing. This was carried on in several repetitions.

-The most effective <i>Sarabande</i> music was composed by

-Lully. For this the ladies wore a picturesque dress of

-cloth of gold, the sleeves and tunic in the form of

-gigantic oak leaves of red and gold, tipped with sequins;

-red shoes and stockings.</p>

-

-<p>Probably the most celebrated and widespread of old

-social dances was the <i>Minuet</i>, which demanded much

-repose and dignity on the part of the dancers. It

-was performed by men and women, but was given also

-by ladies only. It began with a deep reverence on

-the part of the lady and a bow on the part of the man,

-the dancers turning towards each other at right angles

-to the audience, the lady with her left hand holding her

-dress, the elbow prettily rounded. They advanced, the

-lady turning around and assuming the position in which

-they started. This was repeated, and the dance ended

-with a bow and a curtsey. Then the lady held her

-dress in both hands, her head being turned over her

-right shoulder, while her partner’s head was turned to

-the left. A favorite step was that of lifting the foot

-high, rising on the toes, and then taking three little

-steps on tip-toes to the next bar. The <i>Minuet</i> requires

-much grace and deliberation, with every movement

-thought out and studied. The main rule is that in

-passing each other the partners should make a deep

-curtsey and bow. The fingers of the hand should

-be moderately open, the arms curved and graceful.

-The women often carried a feather fan. Louis XV

-was a virtuoso in the <i>Minuet</i>. The English kings used

-to take lessons in the dance. It is the one dance that

-England has looked on kindly. It created a perfect

-sensation in France and was in vogue until the Revolution

-swept it away. Many celebrated composers have

-written fine <i>Minuet</i> music, Lully’s being probably the

-best. It had nine different movements. The ladies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span>

-wore for the minuet a satin petticoat, bordered with

-a deep flounce. The bodice had a pleating round <i>à la

-veille</i>, which was carried down to the open front of

-the skirt, on either side of the bodice, and round the

-back, which left a plain pointed front with a rosette

-in the centre of the neck. The sleeves were elbow

-length, the hair powdered and worn very high, a ribbon

-tied across the back from which rose three large

-bows of white plumes, the shoes pointed.</p>

-

-<p>A dance as distinguished as the minuet was the

-<i>Gavotte</i>, performed by couples in joyous, sparkling

-little steps. Its foundation was three steps and an

-<i>assemblé</i> in quadruple time, commencing on the fourth

-beat of the bar. It starts in a line or a circle, one

-couple separating themselves from the rest. It has

-six figures. The first figure consists of four gavottes

-forward, four gavottes round, four back, four around

-again, the dancers hand in hand, the figures always

-accompanied by graceful head movements, the partners

-turning towards each other or apart. The following

-three movements are nearly the same, with

-slight variations. The fifth consists of four skating

-steps and gavotting around the partner. The sixth

-figure consists of gavotting forward three times, pirouetting

-back, raising the foot up to the heel, and

-advancing four times. In the <i>Gavotte</i> the partners generally

-kissed each other, as they did in so many other

-dances. In later days the cavalier presented a flower

-in the course of the figure instead. The <i>Gavotte</i> was a

-favorite dance of Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon.

-Lully, Gluck and Grétry composed pretty

-gavottes, and it was frequently performed on the stage

-by Gardel and Vestris.</p>

-

-<p>The <i>Rigaudon</i>, which enjoyed a great popularity at

-all the European castles and courts till the French

-Revolution, was rather intricate. In it each figure

-occupied eight bars and both dancers started together<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span>

-without taking hands. The dance consisted of seven

-figures, the first being a sliding step and four running

-steps, turning, posing and repeating with the opposite

-foot. The second consisted of turning to left and right

-alternately four times, and sliding backwards. The

-third figure was danced diagonally to the right with

-running steps, turning, posing and repeating. The

-fourth figure was a graceful hopping and turning, repeating,

-running diagonally to the right and turning

-with the arms out straight. The fifth was in two half

-turns, one turn and repetition. The sixth was three

-steps left with arms over the head, hopping around,

-turning to left and right, posing with right hand down

-and the left hand above the head. The seventh consisted

-of balancing four times on the left foot and four

-times on the right and posing. Like the music of so

-many other old social dances, that of the Rigaudon

-was of extremely gracious cadences, with sentimental

-pathos and sweet, gay melodic turns. Music combined

-with dancing carried gladness and joy into the soft-shaded

-ball-rooms, bringing smiles and laughter to

-the lips of the picturesque gatherings.</p>

-

-<p>Somewhat resembling the Minuet, but with quicker

-steps, was the celebrated French <i>Passepied</i>, with which

-most of the balls began, all the guests dancing around

-hand in hand. It originated many other old-time social

-dances with song. It opened with the dancers joining

-hands and facing each other, then setting to each

-other with the <i>pas de Basque</i>, bringing the first left

-shoulder forward and then the right, and changing

-their places with a waltz step. The partners cross

-hands, placing the arms round each other’s neck and

-making the pirouette with eight pony steps, pawing

-the ground and then turning. The dance consists of

-ten figures, each of which demands some dramatic

-talent.</p>

-

-<p>Other celebrated old dances were the <i>Galliard</i>, consisting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span>

-of five figures, that require some pirouettes, <i>pas

-de bourrées</i>, <i>coupés</i>, <i>dessous</i> and springing. Similar to

-this was the <i>Tourdion</i>, which was more of a <i>glissade</i>

-movement. The <i>Canaries</i> was a queer old dance, very

-popular in England and Germany. It had seven figures

-and started with a <i>pas jeté</i>, by throwing the right foot

-over the left, and the left over the right. In the last

-movement the partners held hands vis-à-vis, turning

-each other without separating hands, posing vis-à-vis

-one bar and repeating four bars. History tells us how

-in former times queens and princesses often fell in

-love with graceful male dancers as did their husbands

-with the pretty women dancers. Queen Elizabeth fell

-in love with young Hatton, an insignificant London

-lawyer, whom she first met at a ball dancing the <i>Galliard</i>.

-Sir Perro used to say that Hatton danced into

-the court by the <i>Galliard</i>. It is said that the favors

-which the virgin monarch extended to the young lawyer

-excited the jealousy of the whole court, especially that

-of the Earl of Leicester, who, thinking to depreciate the

-accomplishment of his rival, offered to introduce to

-Her Majesty a professional dancer whose performances

-were considered far more wonderful than those of Hatton.

-To this the royal lady exclaimed: ‘Pish! I will not

-see your man; it is his trade!’</p>

-

-<p>A languishing eye and a smiling mouth were considered

-indispensable accessories to a fashionable society

-dance. Like the prevailing style of dress and manners,

-the dances were too delicate and artificial to last. The

-high-heeled shoes, the elaborately piled-up structures

-of powdered hair and ornament, and the dresses with

-long trains were by no means favorable to virility and

-sincerity. Like all effeminate art, the nobility dances

-of the past lacked spontaneity and inspiration.</p>

-

-<div id="ip_150" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 44em;">

-  <img src="images/i_150.jpg" width="700" height="505" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>The Ball</p>

-  <p class="credit"><i>After a painting by Auguste de Saint-Aubin</i></p></div></div>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century—Maria Taglioni—Fanny

-Elssler—Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence of the classic ballet.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> end of the Napoleonic wars marks the beginning

-of a new era of European art, particularly of the ballet.

-To this period belong the great ballet masters, Taglioni,

-Bournoville, Didelot, and the greatest of all, Marius

-Petipa; the great ballet composers, Meyerbeer, Rossini,

-Adam, Delibes, Nuitter, Dubois, Hartmann, Gade,

-Tschaikowsky, and Rimsky-Korsakoff; the celebrated

-<i>ballerinas</i>, Taglioni, Grisi, Elssler, Genée, Teleshova,

-Novitzkaya, Liadova, Muravieva, Bogdanova, Sokolova

-and Kshesinskaya. It seems as if the evolution of the

-art of dancing is always stopped by political disturbances;

-during the middle of the past century, which

-was marked by revolutionary movements, in which

-even Wagner participated, we notice a sudden indifference

-to dancing ideals on the part of the public. The

-history of evolution seems to proceed in certain cosmic

-waves of public sentiment and ideals. They grow,

-reach their climax and die.</p>

-

-<p>The foundation that the French Academy, particularly

-Noverre, Vestris and Gardel, had laid for the

-ballet, developed during the nineteenth century into

-a solid and essential stage art. We find the beginning

-of a rivalry among the various schools, of which those

-of Paris, Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen and

-St. Petersburg stand in the first rank. Like music and

-drama, the ballet strives either towards the classic or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span>

-romantic. The most conspicuous ballets of this period

-are <i>La Sylphide</i> by Léo Delibes, <i>Corsaire</i> by Adam,

-<i>Sakuntala</i> by Gautier, <i>La Source</i> by Delibes, <i>La Farandole</i>

-by Dubois, <i>Sylvia</i> by Delibes, <i>Gretna Green</i> by

-Nuitter, <i>Excelsior</i> and <i>Sieba</i> by Manxotti, <i>Flore et

-Zephire</i> by Didelot, <i>La Esmeralda</i> by Perrot and Pugni,

-<i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i> by Gluck, <i>Laurette</i> by Galcotti, <i>Ghiselle</i>

-by Gautier and Adam, <i>Abdallah</i> by Bournoville

-and Paulli, <i>Arkona</i> by Hartmann, <i>Swan Lake</i>, <i>Sleeping

-Beauty</i> and <i>The Snow Maiden</i> by Tschaikowsky,

-<i>Baba Yaga</i> by Balakireff, <i>Scheherezade</i> by Rimsky-Korsakoff,

-etc.</p>

-

-<p>The main tendency of the nineteenth century ballet

-is to get rid of the mechanical contrivances, the monstrous

-etiquette and majestic solemnity and, like music,

-give it more coherence and better harmony with

-the plot. Between 1820 and 1850 it became an inseparable

-accompaniment to the opera to such an extent

-that the occupants of the gilded boxes preferred the

-thrill of the dancing to the music. The ballet represented

-at that time more than a stage filled with masses

-of elegant <i>coryphées</i> and a magnificent spectacle. The

-public interest began to centre in a few great dancers

-whose names were as familiar to the audiences as those

-of the prima donnas. The first phenomenon of this

-kind was the cult of Taglioni that spread with miraculous

-rapidity throughout the Occidental world.</p>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p>Maria Taglioni was born at Stockholm in 1804 of an

-Italian father and Swedish mother and made her début

-in Vienna in 1822, in the ballet <i>Reception d’une jeune

-Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore</i>, written by her

-father, M. Taglioni, who was a ballet master in the

-Swedish Royal Opera. Inspired by the ideas of Noverre,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span>

-M. Taglioni laid a solid foundation for his daughter’s

-training in dancing. Though she was successful in her

-début in Vienna, the father did not think that she was

-sufficiently ripe for public appearances in a larger

-style, so he continued to instruct the girl himself and

-secured for her education other celebrities of the time.

-Even when she appeared five years later in <i>Le Sicilien</i>,

-in Paris, she did not arouse any enthusiasm. It was

-only in <i>Les Bayaderes</i> and, above all, in <i>La Sylphide</i>,

-that her art attained the utmost limits of spirituality

-and she was hailed as one of the most ethereal appearances

-that the European stage had ever seen.</p>

-

-<p>Taglioni appeared in Paris in <i>La Vestale</i>, <i>Mars et

-Venus</i>, <i>Le Carnaval de Venise</i>, and many other ballets,

-which marked the beginning of her career. A French

-critic of that time writes: ‘Her talent, so instinct with

-simple grace and modesty, her lightness, the suppleness

-of her attitudes, at once voluptuous and refined, made

-a sensation at once. She revealed a new form of dancing,

-a virginal and diaphanous art, instinct with an

-originality all her own, in which the old traditions and

-time-honored rules of choreography were merged.

-After an appearance of a few days only on our boards,

-this charming mirage vanished to shine in great

-triumph at Munich and Stuttgart. But she came back,

-and an enthusiastic reception awaited her. And in

-the midst of these brilliant successes, taking the hearts

-of the people by storm, admitted to the intimate friendship

-of the Queen of Wurtemberg, she remained sweet,

-simple and reserved.’</p>

-

-<p>Besides her choreographic training, Taglioni was a

-highly educated girl in every other respect, and was of

-the most charming personality and manners. The people,

-and even her many rivals, loved and adored her as

-a great artist and great woman. Though not pretty in

-any sense, as so many other dancers were, she was

-fascinating through her distinct spiritual appeal. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span>

-same note of spirituality manifested itself in her dance.

-Her admirers used to say that she looked in <i>La Sylphide</i>

-like some supernatural being always ready to take

-wing and soar up in the air. Her steps were pure and

-innocent, as were all her gestures and mimic expressions.

-Even in her romantic dances she failed to suggest

-any symptoms of voluptuous or sensual emotions.

-Throughout her life she remained as poetic as she was

-in her art.</p>

-

-<p>In London she appeared first in 1830 in Didelot’s ballet

-<i>Flore et Zéphire</i> and made an instantaneous success.

-On nights when she was announced to appear

-the London theatre was literally besieged. Thackeray

-immortalized her in his ‘The Newcomes,’ saying, ‘you

-can never see anything so graceful as Taglioni.’ She

-received in London £100 a night, and insisted on handsome

-sums for her family, as well as £600 for her father

-as ballet master, £900 to her brother and sister-in-law,

-together with two benefit performances. She was so

-much the fashion of the hour that women wore Taglioni

-hats, gowns, and coats, and even a stage coach

-was called after her.</p>

-

-<p>With all her charm and refinement, Taglioni was in

-many respects an undeveloped girl emotionally, capricious

-and sentimental to her finger-tips. It is said that

-one evening when Perrot, her partner, happened to receive

-a greater amount of applause than she, she refused

-to continue the performance, and accused her

-surrounding stage people of having intrigued against

-her for malicious reason. She received immense sums

-of money, but she spent everything just as lavishly as

-it was received, not so much on herself as for her

-relatives, friends and the poor. She married Comte

-Gilbert des Voisins in 1832, but their married life was

-of short duration. There is a story that she met him

-some years later at a dinner at the Comte de Morny’s,

-when he had the effrontery to ask to be introduced to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span>

-Maria Taglioni. She replied that she thought she had

-made the gentleman’s acquaintance in 1832, the year

-of her marriage. In 1837 she went to Russia and remained

-there for five years as prima <i>ballerina</i> of the

-Imperial Ballet.</p>

-

-<p>Taglioni’s freedom and style had a great influence

-upon the development of the ballet at that juncture.

-Her dress, a long tunic of white silk muslin which

-reached almost to her ankles and fell in graceful

-folds from her figure, was the first of this kind.

-Through this she was able to reveal the plastic lines

-of her body, and thus made her movements free from

-the artificial stiffness that had prevailed before her.

-She was a reformer in many ways, and in this her

-father, as a practical ballet-master, was of material

-help. It was not until Fanny Elssler appeared in 1847

-that Taglioni began to lose her hold upon the public.

-Little by little her art grew old-fashioned to the novelty-loving

-audiences, as the dancing of Elssler brought a

-new note of more romantic nature to the stage. Actually

-this change was nothing but a turn of public sentiment

-indicative of some new social fad. Trying to

-maintain her living by giving dancing lessons in various

-European capitals, she died in Marseilles in 1884,

-in great poverty, forsaken by all her previous adorers

-and frenzied audiences.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>Of a very different nature were the art and personality

-of Fanny Elssler, the pretty Viennese girl, who in

-many respects followed the example of Taglioni. Emerson,

-who saw her dancing in Boston, exclaimed, ‘that

-is poetry!’ But Margaret Fuller, who sat next to him, replied,

-‘Ralph, it’s religion.’ Turgenieff was so impressed

-by her art that he wrote to Balzac: ‘Her dance

-is the most magic novel that I have ever read. What a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span>

-mystery of beauty! Her every step and gesture is a

-line of unwritten verse. Her lines are accentuated

-phrases, her poses illustrations to the intoxicating text.

-Her art haunts me.’</p>

-

-<p>Born in Vienna in 1810, Elssler received an early and

-thorough musical education from her father, who was

-a copyist to Haydn. Her ballet training, which she received

-partly in Vienna, partly in Italy, was of the old

-order. It was the <i>Cachucha</i> that made her a favorite

-of the Milan and Naples audiences, but, as with Taglioni,

-it was <i>La Sylphide</i> that made Elssler’s final reputation.

-Elssler saw <i>La Sylphide</i> danced by Taglioni in

-Munich and it electrified her so that she made it a main

-aim of her ambition to surpass Taglioni, which she

-did.</p>

-

-<p>A girl of receptive mind, good education and great

-talent, Elssler took notice of all the critical views of

-her future rival, as expressed by her contemporary

-ballet-masters, composers and dance critics. This enabled

-her to embody in her art and style the features

-which were less developed and most disliked by Taglioni.

-Taglioni was said to be poetic, but lacking in

-romantic warmth and dramatic sentiment. In this latter

-quality Elssler excelled. She made a special study

-of those gestures, poses and steps, which express by

-passionate emotions, and made appropriate use of them.

-The mechanical features of the dance interested her

-little, though occasionally she indulged in acrobatic

-tricks. Chorley, the English critic, writes of her: ‘The

-exquisite management of her bust and arms set her

-apart from everyone whom I have ever seen before or

-since. Nothing in execution was too daring for her,

-nothing too pointed. If Mademoiselle Taglioni flew, she

-flashed. The one floated on the stage like a nymph,

-the other showered every sparkling fascination round

-her like a sorceress. There was more, however, of the

-Circe than of the Diana in her smile.’</p>

-

-<div id="ip_156" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 41em;">

-  <img src="images/i_156.jpg" width="654" height="503" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet</p></div></div>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span>

-A graphic description of Elssler is given by Gautier.

-‘Clad in a skirt of rose-colored satin clinging closely

-to the hips, adorned with deep flounces of black lace,

-she came forward with a bold carriage of her slender

-body, and a flashing of diamonds on her breast. Her

-leg, like polished marble, gleams through the frail net

-of the stocking. Her small foot is at rest, only awaiting

-the signal of the music to start into motion. How

-charming she is with the large comb in her hair, the

-rose behind her ear, her flame-like glance, and her

-sparkling smile! At the extremity of her rose-dipped

-fingers tremble the ebony castañets. Now she darts

-forward; the castañets commence their sonorous clatter;

-with her hands she seems to shake down clusters

-of rhythm. How she twists! how she bends! what fire!

-what voluptuousness of motion! what eager zest! Her

-arms seem to swoon, her head droops, her body curves

-backward until her white shoulders almost graze the

-ground. What charm of gesture! And with that hand

-which sweeps over the dazzle of the footlights would

-not any one say that she gathered all the desires and

-all the enthusiasm of those who watch her?’</p>

-

-<p>It was a pity that such a bitter rivalry was created

-between Elssler and Taglioni by theatrical managers,

-which became a source of fierce controversy throughout

-Europe. We are told by the writers of that time

-that a veritable war of sentiments between the Taglionists

-and Elsslerists lasted for years. Now the one, now

-the other party claimed victory. Each party claimed to

-have the highest art in the individual style of its idolized

-dancer. It was a conflict between two movements

-rather than two artists: here the classic idealism,

-there the romantic realism. Elssler at the end remained

-the winner, but not for a long time, as the

-political unrest that swept Europe in the middle of the

-nineteenth century distracted the public attention from

-the ballet. After a successful tour in America, Elssler<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span>

-returned to Milan, when the La Scala opera, which was

-supported by the Austrian government, began to feel

-keenly the political pulse of the time. Elssler was to

-appear in Perrot’s ballet <i>Faust</i>, when she beheld the

-members of the ballet wearing a medal that represented

-the new liberal Pope, who was strongly pro-Italian,

-while Elssler was an Austrian. To her it seemed a

-demonstration directed against her fatherland and she

-refused to go on the stage unless the demonstration

-stopped. The audience was informed of the trouble

-behind the scenes, and from this time on Elssler’s career

-was finished. Vainly trying her luck in Russia

-and England till 1851, she realized the sentimental

-opposition of all the audiences to her art and retired

-forever. She spent her life in comfort, as the American

-tour alone had netted her a sum of five hundred thousand

-dollars. She died in 1884 in Vienna, a few months

-after the death of her rival, Taglioni.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>The star that followed Taglioni and Elssler was Carlotta

-Grisi, born in a village of Istria and educated in

-Milan by Perrot. She was a medium between the poetic

-Taglioni and romantic Elssler. Her favorite ballets

-were <i>La Peri</i> and <i>Ghiselle</i> (the libretto of the latter by

-Théophile Gautier and the music by Adolphe Adam).

-She was excellent in fairy rôles, in which she showed

-a marvellous conception of imaginary motions and gestures.

-Her fragile figure was favorable to similar rôles

-and in these her mimic expressions were superb. She

-danced in England with success, but somehow failed

-to arouse the enthusiasm that greeted her contemporary

-Fanny Cerito. Grisi married her former teacher

-Perrot, who composed for her many ballets.</p>

-

-<p>Cerito distinguished herself in <i>Ondine</i> and <i>La Vivandière</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span>

-and was for a long time a favorite of the French

-audiences. A French critic writes of her: ‘A good

-many of our readers will probably remember Saint-Léon,

-the distinguished and popular ballet-master.

-Originally an eminent violinist, it was out of love for

-the fairy-like Cerito, whom he married, that he first

-gave himself up to the enthusiastic study of dancing.

-Mme. Cerito bewitched the public with her exquisite

-dancing, while Saint-Léon delighted them with his skill

-upon the violin and the dignity and distinction of his

-compositions.’</p>

-

-<p>There were several French, Italian or Austrian ballet

-dancers who distinguished themselves at home, but

-none of them succeeded in attracting much the English

-or American public’s attention. Katty Lanner and

-Madame Weiss danced with some success in London,

-and enjoyed a high reputation in Vienna. The characteristics

-of all the Vienna dancers of this age were

-their decadent manners and their pretty, plastic poses.

-Vienna developed more conspicuous operetta dancers

-than real ballet dancers. Katty Lanner achieved a particular

-grace and agility in the <i>Le Papillon</i>, by Emma

-Livry.</p>

-

-<p>Of the French and Italian ballet dancers that appeared

-during the second half of the nineteenth century

-most conspicuous are Leontine Beaugrand, Mlle.

-Subra, Rosetta Mauri, Mlle. Bernay, Mlle. Petipa, and

-Rita Sangalli. Though local critics praised one or

-other of these as rivals of Taglioni and Elssler, the fact

-is they were all either mere acrobatic imitators, decadent

-impressionists, or conventional figures. The ballet

-shrinks into a secondary position, as the vogue

-for opera and orchestral music occupies the foremost

-attention of the public. Stage dancing degenerates into

-shows of insignificant meaning. With our best will we

-can find nothing that would seem worthy of the attention

-of the French critic who writes of Beaugrand:</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span>

-‘Before long the public will learn to love this strange

-profile—so like a frightened bird’s—and criticism will

-have to reckon with this aspiring talent. She has not

-yet put forth all her strength. It was not until she appeared

-in the part of <i>Coppélia</i> that she wholly revealed

-what was in her, and that the full extent of her grace

-and poetic feeling was unfolded to the public.’</p>

-

-<p>One season later the expected virtuoso vanishes from

-the public eye and a new aspirant takes her place. Considering

-one after the other, one finds little crisp and

-spontaneous beauty in the steps and gestures of the

-<i>ballerinas</i> of the last part of the past century. The

-umbrella-like stiff dress of the classic ballet has only

-a momentary semi-sensuous appeal. In the long run

-it becomes unæsthetic and unpractical, since it hides

-the natural lines of the human body.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The Danish ballet and Bournoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta

-Nielsen, etc.—Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission of

-the Danish ballet.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> French ballet dominated civilized Europe for

-centuries, as did the French fashions, manners, language,

-art and social traditions. The high society of

-every country was outspokenly French, and so were its

-views and entertainments. How much even Germany

-was in the grip of French ideals can be seen best from

-the efforts of her eighteenth-century writers and reformers

-on behalf of their own national traditions.

-Lessing was most bitterly fighting the French influence

-in German life and art. It was only natural that semi-aristocratic

-Sweden and Denmark felt the French sway.

-Stockholm introduced the ballet during the last part

-of the eighteenth century, but used it for the most part

-as an accessory of the opera. Taglioni, the father of

-the celebrated <i>ballerina</i>, was employed as a ballet-master

-in Stockholm where, in addition to his actual

-stage work, he was training dancers for the ballet corps.

-He was succeeded by no one else than the great Didelot,

-who later became a director of the ballet and ballet

-school in Petrograd. But Sweden strictly followed the

-footsteps of France and Italy and never took another

-direction. The Swedish ballet of the nineteenth century

-was strictly French-Italian.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span>

-But the Danish ballet, which had been founded at the

-same time with the Swedish, took a different turn. The

-early part and middle of the nineteenth century mark

-a great turning point in the history of the Danish stage

-dance. This is wholly due to the patriotic efforts of

-its great reformer, Bournoville, who did not like the

-foreign flavor of such an important art as dancing, and,

-moreover, found the stiff style, artificial manners and

-the incoherent relation between the music and dancing

-too crude and outmoded for a new era. On the other

-hand, the method of training the dancers was lacking

-in system and seemed too insufficient to make any thorough

-artists of the young men and women who wished

-to make their career as dancers. Vincenzo Tomaselli

-Galeotti, who had been for half a century an autocratic

-figure and ballet-master of Denmark, emphasized

-either the acrobatic Italian or the stereotyped French

-styles. For Galeotti the Danish ballet was perfection

-itself, but not so for Bournoville.</p>

-

-<p>Antoine Auguste Bournoville was born in 1805 in

-Copenhagen, where his father had been a dancer and

-assistant conductor under Galeotti. Already at the age

-of eight he danced in small parts in Copenhagen. But

-it was not until 1829 that he made his real début in

-<i>Gratiereness Hulding</i>. In 1824 he made a trip with

-Orloff to Paris where he saw Vestris and Gardel, whose

-instruction and art inspired him to do for the Danish

-ballet what they had done for the French. After a tour

-in Austria and Italy, Bournoville settled down in Copenhagen

-and began to reform the stage of his native

-land.</p>

-

-<p>Bournoville’s main reformative idea was that a

-dancer should first of all have a perfect technique, and

-then be an individual and not a dead figure in a spectacular

-design. The technique of the Milan school was

-to him one-sided, striving for gymnastic effects at the

-expense of the musical and thematic requirements of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span>

-a composition. Taglioni had just made her reputation

-on the foundations that Bournoville had laid for the

-Danish ballet. Virtuosity had been the danger of the

-old school. Admiration was centred exclusively in the

-difficulty of the execution of the steps. The <i>pointes</i> and

-<i>pirouettes</i> had been regarded as the highest form of

-accomplishment. Bournoville realized that this step,

-when it is abused, becomes the curse of ballet dancing.

-While recognizing that it was absolutely necessary for

-momentary use, when completing an attitude or giving

-a suggestion of ethereal lightness (as of the poise of a

-winged being alighting for an instant upon the earth)

-he combated the tendency to base the significance of

-the dance only on this. On other occasions, one quick

-passage across the stage, the tips of the toes scarcely

-brushing the dust of the carpet, the dancer may make

-the impression of the grace of a bird’s flight. But if

-this trick is displayed constantly during a performance

-the effect is lost in the ugliness of the effort.</p>

-

-<p>Bournoville was also dissatisfied with the ballet compositions

-and plots. He remodelled many French ballets

-and wrote some himself. In many things Bournoville

-coöperated with Pierre J. Larcher. The most conspicuous

-of their works was <i>Valdemar</i>, which was first

-performed in 1835, with music by Froehlich. Not less

-successful was the <i>Festen i Albano</i>, an idyllic ballet in

-one act with music by Froehlich. This was first performed

-in 1839. A very popular ballet that Bournoville

-arranged to the music of Hartmann was <i>Olaf den Hellige</i>.</p>

-

-<p>The most conspicuous pupil of Bournoville and the

-foremost of his prima <i>ballerinas</i> was Lucile Grahn, a

-girl of outspoken individuality, temperament and dramatic

-force. She was a rival of Taglioni and Elssler,

-not only in Denmark, but in France, England and in

-other European countries. Grahn’s favored ballet was

-<i>La Sylphide</i>, though she danced superbly in the <i>Fiorella</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span>

-and <i>Brahma und Bayaderen</i>. The Danish critics

-wrote that the Copenhagen audience fairly went wild

-over her dancing in the <i>Robert af Normandie</i>. Grahn

-differed from Taglioni in her individual style, which

-was more romantic and lofty, and in her dramatic talent.

-Besides being a great dancer she was an excellent

-actress. The London and Petrograd audiences were

-particularly fond of her <i>divertissement</i> numbers,

-mostly written by Danish composers. She was born

-in 1819 and died in Munich in 1875, after having lived

-nineteen years of happy married life with Friedrich

-Young, a celebrated opera singer of that time.</p>

-

-<p>Next to Lucile Grahn in the Danish ballet stands

-Augusta Nielsen, born in 1823 in Copenhagen. As a

-girl of fifteen, she danced in <i>Valdemar</i>. But her real

-career began with <i>Toreadoren</i>, in which she danced for

-the first time in 1840. Nielsen’s tendency in dancing

-was to be natural rather than acrobatic. Her mimic

-and rhythmic talent surpassed by far that of Grahn,

-Taglioni and Elssler. But since she strove less for

-gymnastic effects than her celebrated contemporaries,

-she failed to arouse the enthusiasm that greeted the

-others. She came close to the modern natural dancers,

-since dancing was for her an individual art like singing,

-in which each artist should express only the best of

-his inner self. Like many other Danish dancers, Nielsen

-was a born actress and emphasized the dramatic

-features as the most important ones in the ballet.</p>

-

-<p>Among Danish ballet dancers the most conspicuous

-figures are Adolph F. Stramboe, Johann Ferdinand

-Hoppe, Waldemar Price and Hans Beck. They all

-follow the footsteps of Bournoville, whose reforms in

-Danish dancing are equal to those of Noverre in

-France, or Petipa in Russia. Bournoville’s main efforts

-were to make dancing a serious dramatic art. In this

-he succeeded. The influence of the Danish ballet upon

-the Russian is of far-reaching extent. Didelot, having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span>

-been a ballet-master in Stockholm, was inspired by

-Bournoville’s attempts, and followed his example after

-becoming a ballet director in Russia. But the art of

-dancing has its period of youth, maturity, decay and

-rebirth. The Danish ballet stopped its evolution after

-Bournoville. It has remained what it was half a century

-ago. It is sound, classic, and noble in its spirit,

-but it lacks the fire and soul of youth.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>The writer has a record of the young living solo

-dancer of the Danish Royal Ballet, Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen,

-whose exquisite delicate plastic art in Strindberg’s

-<i>Brott och Brott</i>, and Gabriele d’Annunzio’s <i>Gioconda</i>

-aroused stormy enthusiasm among Copenhagen’s

-audiences. Haagen Falkenfleth, the celebrated ballet

-critic of the <i>Nationaltidende of Copenhagen</i>, writes of

-her; ‘Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen, the <i>prima ballerina</i> of

-the Danish Royal Ballet, entered the Copenhagen Ballet

-School as a child, as the result of an episode that

-is still little known. Her parents knew that little Elna

-was passionately fond of dancing, but their surprise

-was great when one day she disappeared from her

-home. It appeared that she had run after a street

-organ-grinder to whose screaming tune she was dancing

-in the middle of the street to the surprise of the

-occasional spectators. At the age of seven she became

-a pupil of the Royal Ballet School in Copenhagen,

-where the children are taught not only dancing and

-<i>calisthenics</i>, but also the general school subjects, in

-the same way as the dancers are educated in the Russian

-Imperial Ballet School in Petrograd. As a pupil

-she was favored with small dancing parts in certain

-ballets. She was excellent for little fairy rôles. In this

-way she received a gradual training for the stage and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span>

-had already mastered her routine when she made her

-real début in Drigo’s “Harlequin’s Millions.” She had

-personified Sylvia’s child in d’Annunzio’s <i>Gioconda</i> and

-the page in Schiller’s <i>Don Carlos</i>. Her dancing was so

-sure, her movements so graceful and her mimicry so

-true to life that her reputation was instantly established;

-but how versatile she was became known only

-later.</p>

-

-<p>‘No one who saw her during her début in the rôle of

-the gay Pierrette, with frolic-humorous eyes and graceful

-juvenile steps, could imagine that on the next occasion

-she would be so easily transformed into a tragedienne

-in Schnitzler’s and Dohnányi’s “Veil of Pierrette.”

-She practically created her rôle. Her romantic

-eyes, so full of sorrow and despair, added a magic

-gloom to her dramatic dance, in which she stands so

-high above her many contemporaries. She is realistically

-gripping. Already at the age of nineteen she was

-an accomplished mute actress of the modern type, and

-a great solo dancer. Dohnányi, who attended the

-performance, told me that he had not supposed she

-could possibly add such a tragic fire to the rôle that

-he wrote for untrained theatrical dancers. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen

-proved in this rôle that she had broken

-loose from all the traditions of the Bournoville school

-in which she was trained. You could not see a line of

-the conventional ballet style.</p>

-

-<p>‘Bournoville, the reformer of the Danish ballet, introduced

-a strong dramatic element into the national art.

-Yet his tendency was outspokenly romantic. In this

-he aimed to be classic and strictly choreographic. In

-many of his ballets the romantic and the realistic issues

-are closely interwoven. In these Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen

-sometimes has gone against the Bournoville principles

-and used her own judgment. She has figured

-as the principal dancer in the “Flower Festival at

-Genzano,” <i>La Ventana</i>, “Far from Danemark,” <i>Coppélia</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span>

-and <i>Swanhilde</i>. But in “The Little Mermaid,” a

-ballet based on Hans Andersen’s fairy-tale, she is best

-of all. While dancing in the rôle of the Mermaid, she

-makes the impression of a magic creature of a different

-world, with grace and charms that we have never

-known, yet which cast a spell upon us. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen’s

-repertoire is large, but still larger is the range

-of her dramatic personifications. The Copenhagen audiences

-are sorry to see her so little, but the stage of

-our National Theatre is more adapted to the opera and

-drama than to the ballet.’</p>

-

-<p>Perhaps the best known of the living Danish dancers

-is Adeline Genée, whose name has figured during the

-past twenty years in the ballet repertoires of all the

-more or less known opera houses. She has been a special

-favorite of the London public, where she made her

-début in <i>Monte Cristo</i> in November, 1897. She has

-shown her best in Delibes’ <i>Coppélia</i>, though some critics

-maintain that her triumph in the <i>Dryad</i> is even greater.

-But what <i>La Sylphide</i> was to Taglioni, <i>Ghiselle</i> to Grisi

-and <i>Éoline</i> to Lucile Grahn, that is <i>Coppélia</i> to Genée.

-She is a true exponent of the Bournoville school of

-ballet, though she claims that she owes her brilliant

-technique to some other sources. Though she studied

-dancing with her uncle in Denmark, yet the method,

-style and technique originate from Bournoville. Max

-Beerbohm has given a pretty characteristic account of

-her appearance in <i>Coppélia</i> in London. ‘No monstrous

-automaton is that young lady. Perfect though she be

-in the <i>haute école</i>, she has by some miracle preserved

-her own self. She was born a comedian and a comedian

-she remains, light as foam. A mermaid were

-not a more surprising creature than she—she of whom

-one half is that of an authentic <i>ballerina</i>, whilst the

-other is that of a most intelligent, most delightful human

-actress. A mermaid were, indeed, less marvellous

-in our eyes. She would not be able to diffuse any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span>

-semblance of humanity into her tail. Madame Genée’s

-intelligence seems to vibrate in her very toes. Her

-dancing, strictly classical though it is, is a part of her

-acting. And her acting, moreover, is of so fine a quality,

-that she makes the old ineloquent conventions of

-gesture tell meanings to me, and tell them so exquisitely

-that I quite forget my craving for words.—Taglioni

-in <i>Les Arabesques</i>? I suspect in my heart of hearts,

-she was no better than a doll. Grisi in <i>Ghiselle</i>? She

-may or may not have been passable. Genée! It is a

-name our grandchildren will cherish, even as we cherish

-now the names of those bygone dancers. And alas!

-our grandchildren will never believe, will never be

-able to imagine, what Genée was.’</p>

-

-<p>The writer has attended a number of Genée’s performances

-in Europe and in America, and does not

-agree entirely with Mr. Beerbohm’s eulogy. As already

-explained above, Bournoville’s method was a great improvement

-over the French-Italian schools of dancing,

-in that it emphasized the dramatic issues and individual

-traits in the ballet, which Genée has exactly

-followed; but unfortunately the evolution of the Danish

-ballet stopped with Bournoville. The art remained

-in its preliminary state of development and ended with

-the Dresden-china steps. It is this very style that makes

-Genée an attractive museum figure. In this she stands

-unrivalled. She exhibits an art of the past, with every

-detail sedulously studied. You can see how mathematically

-exact is the position of the fingers, the attitude

-of the head, the lines of the arms and limbs, and

-so on. ‘Every step has its name, every gesture belongs

-to its code; there is only one way and no other of executing

-them rightly, and that way is Madame Genée’s,’

-writes one of her admirers. But the dance is more

-than an exhibition of mathematical figures. The studied

-smile and sorrow fail to arouse the emotions of the

-audience. The Dresden-china step is a fossilized thing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span>

-of bygone centuries. It somehow does not belong to

-the stage.</p>

-

-<p>The significance of the Danish ballet, and its influence

-upon the evolution of the art of dancing is greater

-than it is universally admitted. The Danes introduced

-the element of drama into the ballet in order to make

-the dancing a kind of mute acting. They were the first

-to revolt against many time-worn rules of the old

-schools. They were the first to advocate the imitation

-of nature to a certain extent. Bournoville said ‘as nature

-moves in curves and gradations rather than by

-leaps and turns, dancing should take that into consideration.’

-The Russian ballet was influenced through

-the Danish and Swedish. The Danish ballet was a

-stepping-stone between the academic French-Italian

-and ethno-dramatic Russian schools. It has accomplished

-a great task in the evolution of the art of dancing

-by making the ballet a dramatic expression on

-academic lines.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE RUSSIAN BALLET</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the Russian

-school; French and Russian schools compared—Begutcheff and Ostrowsky;

-history of the Russian ballet—Didelot and the Imperial ballet school;

-Petipa and his reforms—Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets;

-Pavlova and other famous <i>ballerinas</i>; Mordkin; Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> celebrated saying of the German poet, ‘<i>Und

-neues Leben blüht aus den Ruinen</i>’ applies better than

-anything else to the Russian ballet, which has risen out

-of the West European choreographic ruins. The Russian

-ballet marks a new era in the history of the art

-of dancing. The Russian ballet is a new word in the

-dance world. It brings the smell of trees and flowers,

-the songs of birds, the leaps of gazelles and lions and

-the very soil of nature to the stage. It breathes the

-spectral shadows of the trees and mountains; it begins

-with the simplest mushroom and ends with the most

-complicated hot-house plant. It emanates nature with

-all its uncouthness and grace. Like the Russian composers

-and poets, the Russian dancers strive to echo

-Nature with all its majesty and mystery.</p>

-

-<p>Even with the beginning of the nineteenth century

-the Russian ballet begins a course entirely different

-from that which the schools of Western Europe were

-preaching and teaching. Though the ballet-masters

-and instructors are foreigners, yet they are actuated by

-outward circumstances to apply their academic theories<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span>

-to the conditions of a different school. With the

-advent of a national school of music and drama, at the

-head of which stood Balakireff, Borodine, Seroff, Moussorgsky,

-Tschaikowsky and Rimsky-Korsakoff in music,

-and Ostrowsky, Turgenieff, Gogol and others in the

-drama, the Russian ballet is forced in the same channels.

-The Russian ballet grows gradually into a new

-nationalistic art, and separates itself altogether from

-the French-Italian aristocratic academicism. The frequent

-remarks of the foreign critics, suggesting that the

-Russian ballet was and is a direct offspring and copy of

-the classic French-Italian schools, are absolutely wrong.

-It is true that the Russians borrowed from the French

-the skeleton and from the Italians the mechanic contrivances,

-but they built up the body themselves and

-created something entirely different from what Western

-Europe knew of the ballet.</p>

-

-<p>A born dancer, the Russian could never stand the

-prescribed poses, smiles, tears, steps and gestures, that

-were and are still practised outside. He is ready to

-undergo the most strenuous training, and follows

-microscopically the instructions of the teachers, in order

-to acquire the necessary technique; but when it

-comes to a performance, he will put his spontaneous

-ideas and impulses above the technique and act according

-to his emotions and inspiration. This is a peculiarity

-of the Russian. He is and remains an individual.

-No school can put him on the same level with

-his fellow-students. Is not Pavlova quite different

-from Fokina or Karsavina?</p>

-

-<p>No other nation cares so much for racial beauty as

-the Russian. And in this it is essentially democratic.

-All Russian art is based on the peasant, and not on

-aristocratic ideals. It expresses this by being simple,

-direct, spontaneous and rugged. The greatest factor

-in separating the Russian ballet from the western, is

-the Russian folk-dance. It owes everything to folk-art.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span>

-No outside influence has ever been able to change the

-Russian æsthetic taste. In art, particularly in the ballet,

-the peasant ideals force themselves upon all aristocratic

-and bureaucratic classes. Already as a youth he

-sucks from the atmosphere the innumerable forms of

-dance expression. In his blood lives unconsciously

-the whole choreographic code, as his ancestors have

-known and practised it for centuries. The design of a

-peasant is the æsthetic scale of a Russian artist, particularly

-of a dancer. Aristocratic ideals never amounted

-to anything in Russia. The fact is, the nobleman follows

-in matters of æsthetic taste the <i>moujik</i>, but never

-<i>vice versa</i>. The benefit of this has been that neither

-the court nor foreign academicism could influence the

-Russian art of dancing.</p>

-

-<p>Besides the racial motives, the question of scientific

-education has been a hobby with the Russian art pedagogues

-since the early part of the last century. The

-Russians are almost fanatic in this respect and have

-specialized their educational institutions to such a degree

-that they stand unique. The method of training

-the dancers in other countries was centred mainly

-in training the step technique and was, so to speak,

-purely choreographic. The Russians took into consideration

-all the arts that are related to dancing, and

-made a rule that all pupils in the dancing schools

-should have at least an elementary training in human

-anatomy, in sculpture, drama, architecture, painting,

-music and in general educational subjects. To know

-every branch of art correspondingly well—this made it

-necessary that children be educated in an institute

-from their childhood on. Thus the education for the

-Russian ballet is given in the two Imperial Ballet

-Schools, one in Petrograd, the other in Moscow, both

-being connected with the dramatic departments in

-which children are trained for the stage. The course

-in the school lasts eight years, with an extra one or two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span>

-years’ post-graduate practice at some opera stage, after

-which a graduate receives his ‘Free Artist’ degree which

-places him on an equal rank with the graduates of a

-college, university or musical conservatory.</p>

-

-<p>Marius Petipa, the director and leading spirit of the

-Petrograd ballet school, has, upon one occasion, said

-to the writer: ‘We employ the French, the Italian,

-the Danish and the Russian instructors in order to

-give the best of every school and style to our pupils.

-We teach things that no other school would teach. For

-instance, our pupils must know psychology, which is

-supposed to be unnecessary for a dancer. But I say,

-no. How can a girl personify the Snow Maiden when

-she does not know the psychology of a fairy? It’s ridiculous,

-you might think, as fairies are only legendary

-figures. But the very fact that they are imaginary

-makes it necessary for a girl to know how to avoid

-showing any human characteristics.</p>

-

-<p>‘The foreign schools do not care in what steps a

-dancer should express such subtle emotions as jealousy,

-longing, bliss and sorrow. Abroad they prescribe

-pirouettes for joy and happiness. They prescribe acting

-in this, dancing in that phrase. It is not so with us.

-We teach the pupil to see the various human emotions

-in historic sculpture and painting. We show them the

-attitudes of various celebrated actresses in this or that

-emotion. Then, we go back to psychology and leave it

-to the artist to formulate the position that he would

-occupy in various emotions. So you see psychology is

-very important to a dancer.</p>

-

-<p>‘Dancing is the cream of architecture and sculpture.

-We teach our future dancers to know the difference between

-architecture and sculpture and then between a

-dance and a dramatic pose, which are just as different

-as opera singing and concert singing. All our graduates

-must be accomplished dancers, actors, acrobats,

-architects and designers. We teach the difference between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span>

-a Gothic and Byzantine line, a Moorish and Romanesque

-design. We have to analyze music and

-sculpture to their elementary parts in order to be able

-to show the manifold manifestations of the human soul,

-and the manifold forms of beauty. It is in this way

-that a dancer comes to know which step or gesture

-corresponds to the emotions of a Romanesque Italian,

-Gothic German or Byzantine Russian.</p>

-

-<p>‘I have been assailed by our critics and composers as

-being too strict in demanding technique from our dancers.

-But tell me, please, can any talent make a man

-an artist without technical ability, where mathematical

-laws are required as in dancing and in music? Can

-there ever be a Rubinstein, Paderewski or Kubelik

-without the acquired harmonic and melodic skill on the

-instrument which I call technique? Just as little chance

-has a man of being a great dancer if he does not possess

-the ability to control his body, though he be the

-greatest choreographic genius in the world. Art is

-technique plus talent. No great artist in dancing was

-ever produced without technique.</p>

-

-<p>‘Do you know what Lubke said in his immortal History

-of Sculpture, that applies also to a dancer? I am

-telling all my pupils when they leave the institution

-that, like sculptor in the clay, a dancer in himself must

-seek the “Image of God,” the spark of divine life.

-When he fails to find this in separate lines, poses, gestures,

-attitudes and mimic expressions, he must search

-for it in the whole, and, by thoughtful study and thinking,

-he will certainly attain the reflex of immortal

-beauty—the image of deity. This I call artistic creation.

-In sculpture as in dancing the divine and heroic

-are the aims of the artistic achievements. Without this

-striving after the divine spark nothing is produced but

-lifeless figures and dead forms. A dancer, like any

-other artist, should aspire after spirit-breathing beauty.’</p>

-

-<div id="ip_174" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">

-  <img src="images/i_174.jpg" width="511" height="713" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Pavlowa</p>

-  <p class="credit"><i>a painting by John Lavery</i></p></div></div>

-

-<p>This briefly expresses the fundamental traditions of

-the Russian ballet school. To a certain extent it is academic,

-but it has never interfered with the racial and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span>

-the individual tendencies of the artists. Though there

-are only three large independent ballet corps in Russia,

-those of Petrograd, Moscow, and Warsaw, yet nearly

-every one of the sixty or more provincial opera houses

-keeps its local ballet corps in connection with the operatic

-and dramatic staff. While in foreign countries

-ballet has been appreciated mainly as an accessory to

-the opera for its spectacular effects, its æsthetic appeal

-being regarded as not possessing a high order of merit,

-in Russia it is considered a great and independent art

-of the stage, standing on a plane with opera, both musically

-and dramatically. When a few years ago the

-Russian dancers made their appearance abroad the

-public was startled, as no one could imagine that any

-good thing could come out of Czardom. It is a great

-mistake to suppose that the Russian ballet is an aristocratic

-or autocratic institution. By no means. Like

-Russian drama and music the Russian ballet is a national

-institution and a national achievement.</p>

-

-<p>In how far the Russian ballet differs from her sister

-institutions outside is best to be seen in such old-fashioned

-ballets as <i>Les Sylphides</i>, which was danced by

-Taglioni, and is danced by the artists of the French-Italian

-schools and figures in the repertoires of the

-Russian ballet. Another work of similar nature is the

-<i>Coppélia</i>. Not only are these two time-worn ballets

-wholly changed in their thematic and musical sense

-but in the very form of conception. The Russian <i>Sylphides</i>

-and <i>Coppélia</i> are old scenes in modern light,

-the French-Italian <i>Sylphides</i> and <i>Coppélia</i> are pitiable

-museum shows. Where a French-Italian <i>ballerina</i>

-would leap and whirl, a Russian acts and poses. Like

-the art of an actress that of a Russian <i>ballerina</i> is in

-the first place a personification of the character in

-whose rôle she is dancing. Pavlova as she depicts the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span>

-incomparable fury of Glazounoff’s <i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>,

-could not by any means be a Cleopatra as personified

-by Astafieva. Karsavina with all her dramatic

-thrill and <i>arabesques</i> is a mediocrity in the rôles in

-which Pavlova excels. The dramatic issue is the foremost

-question in the Russian ballet, often to such an

-extent that it minimizes the musical significance. The

-most talented of the foreign ballet dancers do not begin

-to go into the dramatic details of a dance as the

-Russians do.</p>

-

-<p>To get an idea of the Russian ballet with all its true

-atmosphere one must go to Russia. The performances

-of the Diaghileff company which foreign audiences

-have seen, belong to the revolutionary school, but not

-to the typical classic dance of Russia, which we shall

-discuss later. The Russian ballet dancer is free from

-all the stiffness, decadent artificiality, preconceived

-emotions, and fossilized formalities of the French-Italian

-ballet dancers. This freedom he owes, in the first

-place, to the thorough training in the school; second,

-to the distinctly racial traditions of the Russian drama

-and art; and third, to the serious critical attitude of

-the audiences. To say that the Russian ballet has not

-travelled in ideals far from those of Milan in the earlier

-part of the nineteenth century, as a foreign dance critic

-has said, is untrue. The difference between these two

-schools is just as real as that between the Catholic and

-the Protestant church: the one believes in the form, the

-other in the spirit.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>How much the Russian ballet has influenced drama,

-opera, painting and music can be judged from the fact

-that almost without an exception all the Russian operas

-require dancing; thus there are several dramas and

-orchestra works interwoven with the ballet. On the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span>

-other hand the dancer has made use of themes and

-compositions that had been created for other purposes;

-for all such ballets as the <i>Scheherezade</i>, <i>Prince Igor</i>,

-<i>Baba Yaga</i> and many others, were written as orchestral

-suites, symphonic poems or parts of operas. But the

-choric imagination discovered in them latent music

-dramas adapted for dancing. We are inclined to think

-that the Moscow ballet, but not that of Petrograd, is a

-thoroughly Russian institution, since Begutcheff, who

-was a director of the Moscow Opera and Ballet at the

-time of Tschaikowsky and Ostrowsky, banished all

-foreign influence from that stage, more so than has ever

-happened in Petrograd.</p>

-

-<p>In 1873 Begutcheff asked Ostrowsky, one of the foremost

-Russian dramatists, to write a fairy ballet for

-performance at the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg,

-exacting that it should be free from any satirical or politically

-undesirable element. Begutcheff asked the

-dramatist to submit the scenario to him for approval.

-Ostrowsky was noted for his bitter sarcasm anent the

-Russian bureaucracy and for his idealization of the

-peasants. This he was told he should avoid in the

-ballet, ‘for such would be not pleasing to the imperial

-family.’ Ostrowsky smiled, grunting: ‘God be

-thanked, the imperial family has no business to interfere

-with the imagination of an artist.’ He finished his

-libretto without consulting Begutcheff and entitled it

-<i>Snegourotchka</i>—‘Snow Maiden.’ The director of the

-Petrograd ballet did not like Ostrowsky’s libretto and

-refused to consider it. Begutcheff, however, turned the

-libretto over to Tschaikowsky to compose the music

-and it was performed with great success in Moscow.</p>

-

-<p>One of the special features of the Russian ballet is

-its <i>chorovody</i> character—that is, the musical accompaniment,

-on many occasions, is supplied by the singing

-of the dancers themselves. This species of vocal

-ballets evidently originated in the choral dances of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span>

-the peasants. The Russian ballet is, in fact, an outgrowth

-of the folk-dance just as Russian music emanates

-from the folk-song. While watching the Russian

-ballet, you see glimpses of the racial traits. It is not

-like the music, however, a picture of the gloom of lonely

-<i>moujik</i> life, in which only here and there a beam of

-light breaks through the melancholy. It is a succession

-of brilliant pictures of the mediæval Boyars, the semi-barbaric

-nobility. Every part of the ballet is meant to

-show the rich Byzantine colors, and primitive passions

-as set forth in a half-civilized garb.</p>

-

-<p>It is true the Russian ballet is controlled by the court

-and therefore is forced to be aristocratic in appearance.

-The composers and the ballet-masters have been strictly

-instructed to avoid all undesirable themes; but, strange

-to say, the ballet is just as much a mirror of the hospitable,

-good natured, naïve and emotional peasant as

-it is of a spoiled Boyar. It is not that all the ballet

-dancers are children of peasants, educated for the

-stage by the court, but because the Russian dramatists

-and composers have unconsciously put their own <i>moujik</i>

-souls in their creations, for, though most of the Russian

-composers and dramatists are descendants of the

-aristocracy, yet in their hearts they have remained one

-with the people, whose life they live in thought and

-feeling.</p>

-

-<p>In its principles the ballet is the most aristocratic and

-the oldest of all Russian arts of the stage. The unwritten

-history of the enchanting Russian dance would

-make a thrilling record of more than two centuries.

-The romances, tragedies, mysteries, and intrigues connected

-with this sealed drama have often played a

-decisive rôle in the affairs of the country. As the result

-of a romance with pretty Teleshova Griboyedoff,

-a famous Russian dramatist was killed in Teheran.

-For having dedicated his ‘Eugene Onyegin’ to the fascinating

-Istomina, prima <i>ballerina</i> of the Imperial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span>

-Opera, Poushkin, the poet, lost the love of his wife and

-was subsequently shot in a duel. The Czar Paul fell

-in love with Eugeny Kolossova and in consequence was

-strangled at his palace in Petrograd. Before the present

-Czar ascended the throne he was said to have been

-so much in love with Mathilda Kshesinskaya that he

-made plans to renounce his throne and marry her.</p>

-

-<p>The ballet was introduced in Russia as early as 1672.

-Czar Alexis Mihailowitch ordered his aid-de-camp,

-Colonel Van Staden, to have a troupe of Dutch comedians

-brought to Moscow. Van Staden made a contract

-with a ballet manager in Brussels, but the foreigner

-was frightened into giving up the venture because

-of a rumor that he and his troupe might eventually

-land in Siberia. After this a German pastor, the

-Rev. Johann Gregory, undertook the management of

-the troupe, hiring sixty-four German and Italian dancers

-and producing in 1673 the first ballet, ‘Orpheus and

-Euridice,’ with great success. Peter the Great was so

-fascinated with the ballet that he himself took part and

-for this purpose received lessons from the ballet-master.</p>

-

-<p>The ballet of this time was, of course, Italian-French

-in conception and music. But the early foreign masters

-soon produced a school of native instructors who

-gradually made use of the peculiarities of national

-dances. Many Russian ballets were already at this

-time of national color, one of them, <i>Baba Yaga</i>, having

-been written by the Czar himself. <i>Baba Yaga</i> is a Russian

-fairy tale. Like the English ‘Witch on a Broomstick,’

-<i>Baba Yaga</i> rides through the sky on a huge

-mortar, propelling herself with a pestle, while her

-great tongue licks up the clouds as she passes. The

-dancers were trained in various military or municipal

-schools and the teaching was unsystematic in every

-respect.</p>

-

-<p>The first impetus to a national dancing academy was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span>

-given by Empress Anna Ivanovna, the sister of Peter

-the Great, who felt that the education of the dancers

-was not systematic enough, and regretted that the best

-dancers had to be hired from abroad. In 1735, she

-asked Christian Wellmann, a teacher of gymnastics in

-the Cadet Corps, to found a dramatic dancing school in

-which girls and boys could be educated for the ballet.

-The Italian composer Francesca Areja was employed

-to take care of the music, while Lande, a pupil of Noverre,

-was to act as ballet director. As the newly

-formed school could not get children of the nobility to

-learn dancing, Lande trained a number of poor city

-boys and girls free of any charge, and with them gave a

-performance at the palace. The Empress was so

-pleased with their dance that she instructed that the

-pupils be educated in the Imperial Dramatic Dancing

-School free of charge.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>The most conspicuous figures in the development of

-the early Russian ballet were Locatelli, Hilferding and

-Lessogoroff. To the latter’s efforts are due the reforms

-that made the Russian school independent from French-Italian

-influences. But to Charles Louis Didelot is due

-the thorough and many sided system of training that

-makes the School a unique institution in Europe. He

-may be considered the real father of all the pedagogic

-technical perfection, for it was he who emphasized the

-importance of a systematic training in a true dramatic

-spirit, contending that a good ballet dancer should also

-be a good actress and an artist and a poet at heart. Up

-to his time lessons had consisted mostly of physical

-training, fencing and gymnastics, but he insisted that

-the ballet be put on the same basis as drama. Whereas

-the dance had been merely a spectacular part of opera

-he intended that it should become an independent production.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span>

-This brought upon him a storm of indignation

-on the part of the clergy and their supporters, the

-quarrel becoming so intense that in 1801, as one of its

-effects, the Czar Paul was acclaimed a heretic and was

-combatted by the ecclesiastic powers until he was

-strangled in his palace and his son, Alexander I, ascended

-the throne. The young Czar was religious, but

-so much an admirer of the ballet that he did not interfere

-with the plans of Didelot and gave him a still

-greater authority.</p>

-

-<p>It is strange how Didelot, a rather small, insignificant,

-pock-marked and deformed Frenchman, who had

-been for some time a ballet teacher in Stockholm, could

-play a dominating rôle during the twenty-five years

-that he was director of the Imperial Ballet School. The

-best known dancers of his school were Istomina, Teleshova

-and the uncle of Taglioni, who later undertook

-the training of Maria Taglioni. Miss Novitzkaya was a

-celebrated pupil of Didelot, but her career was soon

-destroyed by an affair of the heart. Gedeonoff, the

-director who followed Didelot, fell madly in love with

-Novitzkaya and proposed to her, but the dancer, having

-given her heart to a poor composer, remained true to

-him and became his wife. This was the end of her

-art, though critics claimed her superior to Taglioni and

-Elssler.</p>

-

-<p>By 1847 the Russian ballet had taken a leading place

-in Europe, but in a purely artistic sense it was still

-foreign in character, the librettos being built mainly

-on foreign themes or constructed to foreign music.

-With the advent of the composers Glinka, Dargomijsky,

-Seroff, Balakireff and Moussorgsky, it was evident that

-ballet faced a reform similar to that which music had

-undergone. The ballets of the old school had usually

-been divided into several acts and figures, each of

-which had <i>entrées</i> and strictly prescribed rules for

-using various gestures, steps, etc., in certain places.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span>

-They, however, failed to define the relation of emotion

-and acting to the plot and made dancing a complicated

-artificial salon-plant. An uninitiated logic could hardly

-grasp the hieroglyphic meaning of all the queer gymnastic

-tricks. With the engagement of Marius Petipa,

-in 1849, there came a change. Although a Frenchman

-by birth Petipa was just such a reformer in the ballet

-as Michelangelo was in sculpture. More powerful

-than any other master, he entered the sphere of choreographic

-art, transforming it completely, and assigning

-it new limits. Petipa was the master of a new ballet,

-an idealist in the strictest sense of the word. He sought

-for a universally available expression, and often even

-ignored questions of racial beauty. He gave himself

-up for many years to an anatomical study of the dance

-and the human body. By him the human form in all

-its majesty was valued for its own sake. To exhibit it

-in all conceivable attitudes and poses, to display it

-freely and grandly after the principles of classic beauty,

-was the aim of his endeavor. The weak decadent

-movements and the forced forms of the Paris and Milan

-schools were irritable to his broad views of the art of

-dancing. Unfettered subjectivity prevailed in his efforts,

-which admitted no objective realism in their absolute

-sway. All his method betrays an eternal struggle

-to introduce into dancing the most sublime ideas,

-the sway of idea over form. Whether a figure was

-natural or not interested him little, if it only expressed

-what was floating before his mind. Petipa infused a

-new life into Russian ballet. Nevertheless he could not

-wholly free himself from the mannerism of the time,

-nor could he yet find the path to perfect purity and

-naïveté of conception.</p>

-

-<p>Petipa surrounded himself with the best dance authorities

-of the time. Felix Kshesinsky, Leggatt, Schirjajeff

-and Bekeffy became his associates in the task he

-had undertaken. Coöperating in harmony and inspired<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span>

-by the new tendency of nationalism in music and

-drama, they made the ballet typically national by introducing

-a long repertoire of national themes in the

-dance. With pretty Kshesinskaya, Bogdanova, Breobrashenskaya,

-Sokolova, Pavlova, Karsavina, Lopokova

-and Fokina as the <i>prima ballerinas</i> many new ballets

-became thrilling novelties to the Russian audiences.

-The ballet in the eyes of the Petipa school became a

-mute drama with music, and at once took a high position

-artistically and poetically. People grew to find the

-ballet far more alluring than the pessimistic drama.</p>

-

-<p>What Petipa did pedagogically for the uplifting of

-the Russian ballet, Vsevoloshky did scenically and industrially.

-Vsevoloshky made himself the spirit of the

-nationalistic movement by combining with the purely

-choreographic part the creations of the new school of

-painters and composers in a highly artistic manner.

-Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Arensky

-and Glazounoff in music, Bilibin, Benois and Bakst in

-painting, contributed their best works to the ballet. On

-the other hand, while the West European ballets cared

-little for training the male dancers, the Russians laid

-a special stress on training an equal number of boys

-with the girls in all their ballet schools. The training

-of a boy is different from that of a girl in that it teaches

-chiefly those traits that lend virility and strength to

-expression. A weak masculine element deprives the

-ballet of its natural effect. A Pavlova, Karsavina or

-Fokina without a Nijinsky, Mordkin or Volinin, would

-be like an orchestra without the bass. How repulsive

-it is to see the ‘boy’ dancer of the English stage, who

-is always a girl!</p>

-

-<h3>IV</h3>

-

-<p>The most typical of the early purely Russian native

-ballets was the <i>Snegourotchka</i>—‘The Snow Maiden’—which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span>

-was first performed in 1876 in Moscow. Tschaikowsky

-took for his musical themes half a dozen folk-songs

-from Brokunin’s collection, and a few from the

-lips of the village people near Kieff. This ballet has

-been of the greatest success on the Russian stage thus

-far. This is musically and choreographically a dramatized

-fairy tale. The Snow Maiden is the issue of

-the union of the gladsome fairy, Spring, with the grim

-old geni, Winter. The father jealously guards her

-from the courting Sun-God, who is eager to pour upon

-her his scorching and destructive rays. Winter would

-like to keep her in the forest, but the mother, proud of

-her child’s beauty, wants to send her into the busy

-world to charm its inhabitants. After a serious conflict

-of the parents the father yields. The girl feels the

-strange emotions of love and trembles, singing a thrilling

-melody. She wanders from village to village in

-search of a lover, but her numerous admirers are unable

-to stir her heart, because snow circulates through

-her veins. She realizes that she is void of real passion.

-Spring appears to her and endows her with the tenderness

-of a lily, the languor of a poppy and the desire of

-a rose. The Snow Maiden’s heart is touched at last,

-but in the moment when she wishes to fall on her lover’s

-neck a brilliant sun ray pours its Summer heat on

-her. She dissolves in vapor and floats into the skies.</p>

-

-<p>The score is wholly Russian in mood and color. The

-dramatic treatment of the subject is the best that

-Tschaikowsky has ever done. The Snow Maiden’s

-theme is very sad and beautiful in the last movement.

-The pantomime and steps are excellent, and seem to

-melt into one magic whole. Tschaikowsky, with his

-peculiar genius for evolving floating, curving dance

-rhythms and his remarkable gift for lyrical characterization,

-made ‘The Snow Maiden’ a great success.</p>

-

-<p>Of less success was Tschaikowsky’s second ballet,

-‘Swan Lake,’ though it has been in recent years a favorite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span>

-ballet with the Petrograd audiences. Like the

-first, it was built on a fairy tale and an old folk legend

-theme. It was performed in 1876. Another ballet full

-of imaginary episodes and pretty music is ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’

-The finest pages of this score are found in

-the <i>Adagio misterioso</i>, describing the sleep of the princess.

-But choreographically the best part is the <i>Pas

-d’action</i>, in which the <i>prima ballerina</i> seems to melt

-into one audio-visible beauty that thrills the utmost

-depths of the soul. The ‘Nut Cracker’ has had less success

-than the others, yet it is a magnificent work of art.

-It probably lacks the feminine sentimentality that is

-always sure of a stage success.</p>

-

-<p>To our knowledge none of Tschaikowsky’s ballets has

-been given in America. Whether the Diaghileff company

-ever gave any of them in Paris and London, we

-have been unable to learn. The Russian ballets that the

-foreign audiences have thus far seen abroad, are nearly

-without exception musical patch-works. Neither the

-Rimsky-Korsakoff <i>Scheherezade</i> nor <i>Prince Igor</i> nor

-<i>Cleopatra</i> was ever written for dancing. The <i>Scheherezade</i>,

-for instance, is an orchestral suite of Rimsky-Korsakoff.

-He never meant it for a ballet. Of all the

-real ballets that the Diaghileff troupe has given only

-those composed by Stravinsky and a few by Tcherepnin

-are meant to be danced.</p>

-

-<p>Among the best Russian ballet dancers of the strictly

-classic or, as we should say, of the Petipa school, are

-Kshesinskaya, Breobrashenskaya, Geltzer, Pavlova,

-Mordkin, Novikoff, Volinin, Kyasht and Lopokova,

-most of whom are known abroad. But there are quite

-a number of Russian <i>prima ballerinas</i>, who, for some

-reason or other, have not been able to display their

-art abroad, yet who rival the best we know. As with

-other artists, dancers all have their individual traits of

-superiority and weakness. In some dances we have seen

-Kshesinskaya superior to all the rest, in other rôles<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span>

-she is just a mediocrity. We can imagine nothing more

-inspiring and beautiful than Pavlova and Mordkin in

-Glazounoff’s <i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>. No Russian ballet

-dancers have surpassed them in this. In the same

-way we consider Pavlova a goddess of grace and beauty

-in Drigo’s <i>Papillon</i> and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’ We

-measure her one of the most lyric artists of the Russian

-classic ballet.</p>

-

-<p>Mme. Pavlova is a graduate of the Petrograd Ballet

-School and was for years a <i>prima ballerina</i> at the

-Mariensky Theatre in that city before she made a tour

-to Riga, Warsaw and Helsingfors. Having been received

-with greatest enthusiasm on her provincial tour

-she decided to try her luck abroad and made her London

-début in 1910, where she immediately had the city

-at her feet. It is only in recent years that Pavlova has

-danced in her own regular ballet, whereas before she

-appeared exclusively in solo dances, either with Mordkin,

-Novikoff or Volinin. In our judgment she has not

-added anything to her reputation or success by her

-patchy ballet, particularly in America, where the public

-is least impressed by pantomimic art of the kind

-they can see with more advantage in the moving-picture

-show. It is Pavlova’s art that the people admire,

-not the ballets that are concocted for her. It must be

-said that the ballets recently produced by her possess

-little dramatic or choreographic appeal.</p>

-

-<p>In questions pertaining to her dancing Pavlova has

-been broad and tolerant, and has listened quietly to

-every eulogistic or critical remark. She has not remained

-indifferent to the latest choreographic movements

-but has adapted herself to many suggestions,

-particularly to those of the movement of the naturalistic

-school of Isadora Duncan. In spite of the growing

-influence of the revolutionary new ballet of the

-Fokine-Diaghileff group, and while keeping in view the

-changing taste and requirements of the public, Pavlova<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span>

-should, we believe, guard against too great a compromise.

-She surpasses in her magic swiftness, delicacy,

-bird-like agility, floating grace and lyric pirouettes

-all her living rivals. One can see that she has

-tuned her body to the most delicate <i>pianissimi</i> and the

-most powerful <i>forti</i>. But when she attempts to use her

-arms too conspicuously, or produce Greek poses, she is

-a disappointing failure. We must admit with an English

-critic that ‘in Pavlova’s dancing we are no longer aware

-of the conscious and painful obedience of the body to

-the dictates of a governing mind. It is as though the

-spirit itself had left its central citadel and, by some

-unwonted alchemy becoming dissolved in the blood

-and fibres of her being, had penetrated to the extremities

-of the limbs. Soul from body is no longer distinguishable,

-and which is servant to the other none can

-tell.’</p>

-

-<p>Mordkin and Volinin stand by no means beyond the

-dynamic beauty of Pavlova. In their virilly graceful

-gestures and poses lies something heroic and strong,

-something beast-like in its beauty. Mordkin perhaps

-more than Volinin is endowed with a robust, massive

-and splendid physique, qualities which leave some of

-his less critical admirers blind to the deficiencies of his

-art. Both dancers have acquired most of their pliancy

-and manliness by a course of systematic and rigorous

-training which gives to their dance an unusual <i>abandon</i>

-and loftiness. Their dancing has a tendency to give a

-semblance of repose to their quickest motions. They

-seem to avoid the conventional whirls and pivots with

-intention, and to prefer the lion-like leaps and <i>chassées</i>.

-Their reckless swing in <i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>

-is just as much an expression of manly vigor as Pavlova’s

-<i>pirouette</i> and <i>rond de jambe</i> is one of feminine

-grace.</p>

-

-<p>The ranks of the Russian ballet dancers are of a

-peculiar bureaucratic order, beginning with the simple<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span>

-<i>danseuse</i> and ending with the <i>prima ballerina</i>, which

-is a rank similar in the hierarchy to that of a full general.

-Lydia Kyasht, for instance, is a lieutenant in her

-rank of <i>première sujet</i>. Pavlova and Karsavina are

-<i>ballerinas</i>, while only Kshesinskaya and Breobrashenskaya

-are <i>prima ballerinas</i>. Among the Russian dancers

-known abroad, Lydia Kyasht and Lydia Lopokova

-are next to Pavlova brilliant exponents of the Russian

-classic or so called ‘Old Ballet.’ They have both impressed

-us as sincere and eloquent artists of their

-school, the one romantic, the other extremely poetic.

-The ethereal twists and glides of Lopokova surpass

-by far those of Pavlova in their peculiar fairy-like lines

-and poses. Kyasht appeals to us immensely on account

-of her absolutely classic plastic and enchanting

-poses, which add an exotic air to her enchanting expressions.</p>

-

-<p>In introducing Pavlova, Mordkin and other more or

-less prominent exponents of the Russian classic ballet

-to America and England Max Rabinoff has been the

-practical spirit behind the scenes. An authority on

-the dance, Mr. Rabinoff had the conviction, even when

-the Russian dancers were yet unknown in America, that

-they would ultimately triumph as they did. To his persistent

-efforts the Russian ballet owes its success in

-America.</p>

-

-<p>The classic Russian ballet is a pure Byzantine piece

-of stage art. It mirrors the bizarre glow and colors of

-the cathedrals, the mystic romanticism of the Kremlin

-walls and cupolas, the Tartar minarets, the vaulted

-<i>teremas</i> (Boyar houses), the lonely steppes, the gloomy

-penal colonies, the luxurious palaces and twisted towers

-of a semi-Oriental country. Strongly replete with

-the character of the passing Boyar life, it is an era in

-itself.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE ERA OF DEGENERATION</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Nineteenth century decadence; sensationalism—Loie Fuller and the Serpentine

-dance—Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the last half of the nineteenth century the

-art of dancing reached such a low level that Max Nordau

-said: ‘It is a fleeting pastime for women and

-youths, and later on its last atavistic survival will be

-the dancing of children.’ An English writer of that

-time wrote aptly: ‘In these days of culture, when the

-public mind is being trained to perceive and appreciate

-whatever is lovely in nature and art, when music is

-universally studied, when there is ample evidence of

-general improvement in taste and design in our streets,

-our buildings, on the walls and in the furniture of our

-homes, is it not strange that a single art, one which

-was in classic times deemed worthy to rank with poetry

-and painting—the art of dancing—has degenerated to

-such an extent that its practice, as frequently exhibited

-both in public and in private, is a positive disgrace to

-the age? This is no exaggerated statement. It is one

-which I think any competent critic is hardly likely to

-deny.’</p>

-

-<p>The Skirt Dance, the Serpentine Dance, the High

-Kickers, the Nude Bayaderes were the sensations of

-the day. Here Lottie Collins, there Loie Fuller, now

-Letti Lind, then again Connie Gilchrist, figured as the

-greatest dance attractions of the day. London blamed

-Paris, Paris blamed New York. How much the craze

-for such an art had cast its spell on the public of that

-period is best illustrated by the immense sums of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span>

-money that the theatrical managers paid for their

-shows. The gross receipts during one season in New

-York of ‘Humpty Dumpty,’ a celebrated ballet of that

-time, amounted to $1,406,000. It brought in a similar

-sum, if not more, outside.</p>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p>A brilliant star of the sensational school of dancing

-was Loie Fuller, of Chicago. She made her New York

-début in ‘Jack Sheppard,’ with a salary of seventy-five

-dollars a week. While rehearsing a new play, she received

-from an English officer a present of an extremely

-fine Oriental robe that floated gracefully in the air.

-This gave her the idea of using it for her dancing.

-While making some experiments before the mirror,

-she noticed the effects brought about by the then newly

-invented electric light. She tried innumerable variations

-of poses and all were delightful. This was the

-birth process of the Serpentine Dance. J. E. Crawford

-Flitch writes of the incident:</p>

-

-<p>‘The invention of the Serpentine Dance coincided

-with the discovery of electricity as a method of lighting

-the stage. Until that time gas alone had been used.

-Loie Fuller immediately saw the possibilities of the

-new scientific illumination, and with the aid of a few

-friends she devised a means by which the effect of the

-vivid sunshine could be obtained through the use of

-powerful electric lights placed in front of reflectors.

-Then various experiments with color were tried; for

-the white light of electricity were substituted different

-shades of reds, greens, purples, yellows, blues, by the

-combinations of which innumerable and wonderful

-rainbow-like effects of color were obtained. Played

-upon by the multitudinous hues, the diaphanous silk

-gave an impression of startling originality and beauty.

-Coming at the time when the artistic lighting of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span>

-stage was scarcely studied at all, the riot of color

-created a sensation. Nothing like it had been seen before.

-The old-fashioned limelight, the flickering gas-jets,

-the smoking red and blue flames dear to the

-Christmas pantomime, paled before this discovery of

-science which apparently possessed inexhaustible possibilities

-of a stage illuminant.’</p>

-

-<p>Loie Fuller made a sensation in America, particularly

-in New York and Chicago. But her success was

-much greater when she gave spectacular performances

-to the morbid Berlin, Paris and London audiences.

-Her début at Folies Bergères was more than a triumph.

-She became the rage of France. The management of

-the Folies Bergères engaged her for three years at a

-salary of one thousand dollars a week. How greatly

-‘<i>La Loie</i>,’ as she was called in Paris, impressed the

-French audiences is best to be seen in what one of

-the French critics writes of her: ‘We shall not easily

-forget the Serpentine Dance, undulating and luminous,

-full of weird grace and originality, a veritable revelation!

-By means of a novel contrivance, the gauzy iridescent

-draperies in which Loie Fuller swathes herself

-were waved about her, now to form huge wings, now to

-surge in great clouds of gold, blue, or crimson, under

-the colored rays of the electric light. And in the flood of

-this dazzling or pallid light the form of the dancer suddenly

-became incandescent, or moved slowly and spectrally

-in the diaphanous and ever-changing coloration

-cast upon it. The spectator never wearied of watching

-the transformations of these tissues of living light,

-which showed in successive visions the dreamy dancer,

-moving languidly in a chaos of figured draperies—in a

-rainbow of brilliant colors or a sea of vivid flames.

-And after having roused us to a pitch of enthusiasm by

-this luminous choreography, she appeared triumphant

-in the pantomime-ballet <i>Salome</i>, reproducing the

-gloomy episode of the death of John the Baptist.’</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span>

-Among the dances that Loie Fuller had in her repertoire,

-besides the Serpentine Dance, were the Rainbow

-Dance, the Flower Dance, the Butterfly Dance, the Mirror

-Dance, and the Fire Dance. It is only natural that

-all her dances of this kind made necessary a vast paraphernalia

-of accessories and an army of assistants.

-The Fire Dance she performed in the centre of a darkened

-stage before an opening in the floor through which

-a powerful electric reflector threw up intensely brilliant

-rays. None of her dances had any classified steps,

-any poses, gestures of the kind employed by dancers

-of various other schools and different ages. The function

-of the limbs and arms was merely to put veils and

-draperies into motion.</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>Of somewhat the same class were the entertainments

-given by Louise Weber or ‘La Goulu,’ another American

-girl of the type of Loie Fuller. Occasionally she

-exhibited some skill in her kicking scenes. It is said

-that she never made pretension to rhythm and grace.

-Her ‘art’ was a negation of every beauty. It was a

-frenzied delirious gymnastic. An American critic says

-that her legs were agitated like those of a marionette,

-they pawed the air, jerked out in the manner of a

-pump-handle, and menaced the hats of the spectators.</p>

-

-<p>Lottie Collins was a favorite of the English, French

-and American audiences, though she was little more

-than a jumper of a new style. The watchword of the

-ballet <i>habitués</i> of this time was novelty at any price.

-It is extremely amusing to read a Kansas City criticism

-of Miss Collins’ performance in that city: ‘Lottie

-Collins has the stage all to herself and she bounces

-and dances and races all over it in the most reckless

-and irresponsible way, precisely as if she were a

-happy child so full of health and spirits that she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span>

-couldn’t keep still if she wanted to. Sometimes she

-simply runs headlong all the way round the stage, finishing

-the lap with perhaps a swift whirl or two, or a

-whisk and kick. Sometimes she simply jumps and

-bounces, and sometimes she doubles up like a pen-knife

-with the suddenness of a springlock to emphasize

-the “boom.” She is invariably in motion except when

-she stops to chant the gibberish that passes for verses,

-but the wonder is that she has breath enough to sing

-after the first cyclonic interlude.’</p>

-

-<p>Still more debased were the performances of Olga

-Desmond, Villiani and others, who made erotic gestures

-and nude dances a fad of many European capitals.

-The argument of these dancers was that dancing,

-like sculpture, is predominantly an art of nudes. Only

-the naked body could show the perfect plastic lines and

-graceful poses. They strove to dance slow music, sonatas

-and symphonic poems, in order to display the effects

-of certain pretty poses and arabesques. They put

-a special stress upon the rhythm, but their interpretation

-was morbidly perverse.</p>

-

-<p>The best figure of this decadent school of dancing

-was Kate Vaughan, who strove to follow the style and

-manners of Taglioni’s dance. But the sensation and

-novelty-loving public of England found her art too

-tame and old-fashioned, so she died in poverty and

-broken health in South Africa. Mr. Crawford Flitch

-says of her: ‘Although of course she never reached the

-perfection of her predecessor [Taglioni], 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 steps. She danced not

-only with her feet, but with every limb of her frail

-body. She depended not merely upon the manipulation

-of the skirt for her effect, but upon her facility of balance

-and the skillful use of arms and hands. Her andante<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span>

-movements in particular were a glorious union

-of majesty and grace. It is true that she condescended

-at times to introduce into her dance some of those

-hideous steps which vulgarized the dancing of the period—in

-particular that known as the “high kick”; but

-even this unpleasant step she accomplished with a certain

-sense of elegance and refinement which disguised

-its essential ugliness and suggestion of contortion. She

-danced with a distinct inspiration, and upon her style

-was built up all that was best in the dancing of her

-time.’</p>

-

-<p>This new dance hysteria seemed to be of an epidemic

-nature. The vogue for crude and sensational

-dances held the whole western world for nearly half

-a century in its iron grip. With the exception of Scandinavia

-and Russia, all Europe and America were affected

-by a decadent dance taste. Novelty was reckoned

-far superior to beauty. Cleverness was placed

-high above talent and genius. It was seemingly a prelude

-to a subsequent effeminacy that was to spread over

-Occidental art and life.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan—Duncan’s influence: Maud

-Allan; Duncan’s German followers—Modern music and the dance; the

-Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’—Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St.

-Denis—Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the last part of the past and the beginning of

-the present century, when the outside world was ignorant

-of the existence of the Russian ballet, circles of

-more serious-minded students of art began to voice

-protest against the cult of skirt and fire dancers, jongleurs

-and kickers, and the time was ripe for any movement

-that would bring relief from the prevailing deterioration

-of such a noble art as dancing. Even the

-general public grew bored of acrobatic performances

-and as during every period of decadence ‘there were a

-few teachers who consistently resolved to impart to

-their pupils only what was good and beautiful in dancing,

-whose voices, feeble as they sounded, were nevertheless

-strong enough to carry weight and rescue their

-art from the deplorable condition into which it had

-for the time fallen,’ as a dancing critic of that time aptly

-writes. One of the most ardent advocates of a new

-classic art of dancing during this time was Mrs. Richard

-Hovey. In all her teaching and preaching Mrs.

-Hovey based the principles of the prospective style

-upon the plastic art of the ancient Greeks. She made

-a vigorous propaganda for this in New York, Boston<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span>

-and California. Whether directly or indirectly Miss

-Isadora Duncan, who had been interested in initiating

-a reform of human life in its least details of costume,

-of hygiene and of morals, felt the impulse of Mrs.

-Hovey’s propaganda and joined the worthy movement.</p>

-

-<p>The fundamental principle of Mrs. Hovey’s propaganda

-was the return to nature. According to the

-theory of this new movement, dancing was declared an

-expression of nature. Water, wind, birds and all forces

-of nature are subject to a law of rhythm and gravity.

-Not the tricky, broken lines, spinning whirls and toe

-gymnastics, but soft, curved undulations of nature,

-are close to Mother Earth. Thus also man in his normal

-life and savage state, moved rather in slow curves

-than in quick broken lines. This, briefly, was the

-principal argument of the few reformers who inspired

-Miss Duncan. Already Noverre and Petipa had emphasized

-the fact that ancient Greek sculpture and

-Greek designs gave the best ideas of graceful lines and

-pleasing human forms. But the votaries of the new

-school explained that in a return to the natural gesture

-of human life Greek art was the only logical criterion.

-Miss Duncan in her essay, ‘The Dance,’ says:</p>

-

-<p>‘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 dancer. It is from nature alone

-that the dancer must draw his inspirations, in the same

-manner as the sculptor, with whom he has so many

-affinities. Rodin has said: “To produce good sculpture

-it is not necessary to copy the works of antiquity;

-it is necessary first of all to regard the works of nature,

-and to see in those of the classics only the method by

-which they have interpreted nature.” Rodin is right;

-and in my art I have by no means copied, as has been

-supposed, the figures of Greek vases, friezes and paintings.

-From them I have learned to regard nature, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span>

-when certain of my movements recall the gestures that

-are seen in works of art, it is only because, like them,

-they are drawn from the grand natural source.</p>

-

-<p>‘My inspiration has been drawn from trees, from

-waves, from clouds, from the sympathies that exist between

-passion and the storm, between gentleness and

-the soft breeze, and the like, and I always endeavor to

-put into my movements a little of that divine continuity

-which gives to the whole of nature its beauty and its

-life.’</p>

-

-<p>Thus Miss Duncan started her career by interpreting

-natural qualities by means of natural movements. ‘I

-have closely studied the figured documents of all ages

-and of all the great masters, but 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 head. These ugly and false positions in no way

-express that state of unconscious Dionysiac delirium

-which is necessary to the dancer. Moreover, movements,

-just like harmonies in music, are not invented;

-they are discovered,’ writes Miss Duncan. To her the

-only mode of dancing is barefoot. According to her

-‘the dancer must choose above all the movements which

-express the strength, the health, the grace, the nobility,

-the languor or the gravity of living things.’ Gravity to

-Miss Duncan is natural and right. A ballet dancer, a

-Pavlova, Nijinsky and Karsavina, eager to defy the

-laws of gravity, is to her a freak.</p>

-

-<p>Prince Serge Volkhonsky, who has been a conspicuous

-figure in the Russian dance reform-movement,

-writes of Miss Duncan’s school in comparison with that

-of Jacques-Dalcroze: ‘Her dance is a result of personal

-temperament, his movements are the result of music;

-she draws from herself, he draws from rhythm; her

-psychological basis is subjective; his rhythmical basis

-is objective; and, in order to characterize her in a few

-words, I may say Isadora is the dancing “ego.” This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span>

-subjective psychological basis of Isadora’s art I find

-clearly emphasized by Mr. Levinsohn’s words: “The

-images or moods (<i>Stimmungen</i>) created in our mind

-by the rational element—music—cannot be identical

-with every one, and therefore cannot be compulsory.

-Just in that dissimilitude of moods and uncompulsoriness

-of images resides the best criterion for the appreciation

-of Isadora Duncan as a founder of a system.

-Her dance is precisely not a system, cannot found what

-is called a ‘school’; it needs another similar ‘ego’ to repeat

-her. And according to this it seems quite incomprehensible

-that some people should see in Miss Duncan’s

-art ‘a possibility for all of us being beautiful.’

-No, not at all for all of us; for not every temperament,

-while embodying ‘images or moods’ called forth by

-music, will necessarily create something beautiful;

-one cannot raise the exceptional into rule. In order

-to be certain of creating something beautiful, no matter

-whether in the moral or the æsthetical domain, it

-is not in ourselves that we shall find the law, but in

-subjecting ourselves to another principle which lives

-outside of ourselves. For the plastic (choreographic),

-this principle is Music. It is not instinct expressing

-itself under the influence of music—which with every

-man is different, and only in few chosen natures beautiful

-in itself—but the rhythm of music, which in every

-given composition is an unchangeable element subjecting

-our ‘ego.’ This is the basis of living plastic art.

-And in this respect Isadora’s art satisfies the double

-exigencies of the visible and the audible art as little as

-the ballet. Her arms are certainly more rhythmical

-than her legs, but as a whole we cannot call her rhythmical

-in the strict sense of the word, and this appears

-especially in the slow movements: her walk, so to

-speak, does not keep step with music; she often steps

-on the weak part of the bar and often between the

-notes. In general it is in the examples of slow tempo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span>

-that the insufficiency of the principle may be observed.

-The slower a tempo the more she ‘mimics,’ and the

-farther, therefore, she strays from the music. If we

-look at the impression on the spectators we shall see

-that all in the paces of the quick tempos the movement

-must enter into closer connection with the music; in

-cases of very minute divisions of the bar the simple

-coincidence of the step with the first ‘heavy’ part already

-produces a repeated design which makes ear and

-eye meet in one common perception. If the representatives

-of that particular kind of dance were to realize

-this they would endeavor to introduce into slow tempos

-the rhythmical element instead of the mimic, which

-leads them out of the music and converts the dance

-into a sort of acting during the music, a sort of plastic

-melo-declamation.”’</p>

-

-<p>These critics have pointed out the subjective nature

-of Miss Duncan’s dance and her impatience of rules

-and formal technique. They believe that because of

-these two qualities of her art it cannot be repeated,

-except by ‘another similar ego.’ But as if in direct

-answer to these charges come Miss Duncan’s pupils.

-They are by no means highly selected material or

-‘similar egos,’ but each (among the more mature pupils)

-is a beautiful and individual dancer. To each she

-has transmitted her spirit; in each she has preserved

-the native personality. They are the best evidence thus

-far obtained of the truth of Miss Duncan’s dictum of

-the ‘possibility for all of us being beautiful.’ Moreover

-we must not suppose that Miss Duncan’s contempt

-for <i>formal</i> technique is a contempt for technical ability.

-She herself is a marvellously plastic and exact

-dancer, and she demands, ultimately, no less of her

-pupils. The limited range of her technique, so often

-complained of, is the deliberate result of her belief

-that the only movements proper to the dance are the

-<i>natural</i> movements of the human body. She stakes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span>

-the success of her art upon the proposition that these

-movements alone are capable of the highest absolute

-and interpretive beauty. As to the truth of this proposition

-each observer must judge for himself from the

-results. Again, Miss Duncan does not always ‘dance

-the music’ literally, note for note, according to the

-theory of the Jacques-Dalcroze system. Her interpretation

-is frankly emotional and subjective, but it does not

-pretend to transcend the music.</p>

-

-<p>In further justice to her efforts we should consider

-Isadora Duncan as much a prophet of a new movement,

-as a dancer of a new school. Her influence has

-been more far-reaching in Russia than anywhere else.

-She practically brought about a serious revolution

-among the Russian dancers, of whom we shall speak

-in another chapter. She influenced the art of dancing

-in Germany, France, Italy and England. She was the

-striking contrast to all the deteriorated stage dances of

-the early twentieth century in America. She has given

-a powerful impulse to all dance reforms by counteracting

-the academic and time-worn views. She is the

-indirect motive of the Diaghileff-Fokine break with the

-old Russian ballet and their striving for new rules and

-ideas in the art of dancing. To her is due the gradual

-increase of refined taste and higher respect for the stage

-dance. Personally we have found that her dances failed

-to tell the phonetic story of the music. Her selection

-of the compositions of Gluck, Schubert, Chopin and

-Beethoven has not been uniformly successful, since

-most of them were never meant by the composer to be

-danced. Compositions of this kind lack the necessary

-choreographic episodes and often even the plastic symbols.

-No genius, we believe, could visualize the slow

-cadences and solemn images of any symphonic music

-of those German classics, whose works have been the

-choice of Miss Duncan. With a few exceptions, such

-as the <i>Moments Musicals</i> and some other pieces, we have

-never been able to grasp the meaning of the phonetoplastic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span>

-images of Isadora Duncan’s dances.</p>

-

-<div id="ip_201" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">

-  <img src="images/i_200.jpg" width="506" height="579" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Duncan</p></div></div>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>It was only natural that Miss Duncan’s laureated appearances

-in various European cities quickly found

-followers and imitators. The best known exponent of

-Duncan’s naturalism has been Miss Maud Allan, a

-talented Canadian girl, whose dancing in England has

-made her a special favorite of the London audiences,

-before whom she first appeared in 1908. How favorably

-she was received by the English audiences is evident

-from the fact that the late King Edward invited

-her to dance for him at Marienbad. Like Miss Duncan,

-Maud Allan has danced mostly barefoot, her body

-slightly clothed in a loose Greek drapery. The most

-sensational in Miss Allan’s repertoire has been the

-‘Vision of Salome,’ compiled from passages from

-Richard Strauss’ opera, in which she has tried to

-give the impression of the ghastly Biblical tragedy by

-means of plastic pantomime and dancing. Among her

-artistically successful dances has been the Grieg <i>Peer

-Gynt</i> suite, of which the London critics speak as of

-‘a beautiful art of transposition.’ ‘The faithfulness

-with which her movements follow the moods of the

-composer is probably only fully realized by those who

-are musicians as well as connoisseurs of dance. Her

-translation of music has not seldom the rare quality

-of translations of being finer than the original, and

-there are not a few who, when they hear again, unaccompanied,

-the music which her dancing has ennobled,

-will be conscious of a sense of incompleteness and loss,’

-writes an English dance authority of her art.</p>

-

-<p>Isadora Duncan’s naturalism has probably made the

-most powerful direct impression upon German aspirants,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span>

-first, through the school of dancing of Isadora’s

-sister, Elisabeth, and second, through the pretended

-appeal to the moods by means of classic ideals, and yet

-requiring comparatively little technique. Assiduously

-as a German student will practice in order to acquire

-the most perfect technique for being an artist, musician,

-singer or architect, he lacks the painstaking persistency

-of a Russian, Hungarian, Bohemian or Spaniard

-in acquiring a thorough technique for his dance.

-He is inclined to interpret music by means of the most

-easily acquired technique, such as seemingly the naturalistic

-school requires. For this very reason, Miss

-Duncan has been the greatest dance genius for the

-Germans, as that is so clearly to be seen in the excellent

-work of Brandenburg, <i>Der moderne Tanz</i>. This book

-from the beginning to the end, written in a fine poetic

-prose, is a eulogy of Duncan’s naturalism, and an elaborate

-display of the minutest pretty moves of the German

-exponents of the movement. Among the praised

-geniuses of Brandenburg are the sisters Wiesenthal,

-who attracted widespread attention in some of Max

-Reinhardt’s productions.</p>

-

-<p>The sisters Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, were received

-with unparalleled enthusiasm at home and in consequence

-made a tour abroad, on which occasion one of

-them danced in New York. How little she impressed

-the New York audience, can be judged from what one

-of the most favorable critics wrote of her as having ‘a

-pretty fluttering, tottering marionette manner of her

-own.’ Our impression is that the sisters Wiesenthal

-proved most successful in the quaint, naïve and simple

-ensemble performances which they gave in Germany.

-They displayed some excellent <i>ritartandos</i> and

-a few successful <i>adagio</i> figures. One could see that their

-steps and arm twists were not a result of systematic

-studies but of spontaneous impulses, since in repetitions

-of the music there was no sign of a well trained<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span>

-art, the wing-like arms of the first phrase being arabesque-like

-in the repetition, etc. They showed that

-they possessed a poetic conception of the dance, but

-failed to grasp and express its intrinsic meaning. They

-were rather poets than dancers, rather actresses than

-designers in the choreographic sense. Their acting

-often interfered with dancing and brought about an

-unpleasant disharmony with the musical rhythm.

-They may have danced better on other occasions, but

-what a number of impartial connoisseurs of the dance

-saw of them stamps them as talented dilettantes rather

-than accomplished artists of a school.</p>

-

-<p>A girl who enjoyed a great reputation in Vienna,

-Munich and in other German cities in the first decade

-of this century, but of whom was heard nothing later,

-was Miss Gertrude Barrison, an Anglo-Viennese. Her

-art was more clever and more in style with the principles

-of the naturalistic than that of the sisters Wiesenthal.

-She won the ear of Austria for the new message.

-With a certain assurance in the conviction of her individuality,

-Miss Barrison treated her art with freedom

-and loftiness. She enforced her personality more than

-her art upon the spectators, and this was, to a great

-extent, the secret of her phenomenal success.</p>

-

-<p>The best of all the German dancers of this century

-thus far has been Rita Sacchetto, a pretty Bavarian girl,

-who made her début in Munich, and was at once recognized

-as an artist of much talent. Though the Berlin

-critics did not receive her with the enthusiasm that

-they had shown to the Wiesenthals, she was by far the

-biggest artist of all. Her slighter recognition was possibly

-due to her lighter style of work and an unfavorable

-repertoire, lacking in music that was of timely

-importance. This withholding of recognition has always

-been peculiar to Berlin. Tired out by hundreds

-of aspiring virtuosi and artists of every description, an

-average Berlin critic, like one of New York, grows<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span>

-at the end of a season nervous in the presence of the

-vast majority of mediocrities and press-agented celebrities,

-so that he is likely to ignore or tear down the

-serious beginner, if her performance coincides with his

-‘blue’ moods. This is what probably happened to Miss

-Sacchetto. The connoisseurs and authorities of other

-countries who have seen her dances speak of them

-in highest terms as pretty and exceedingly graceful

-exhibitions of poetic youthful soul. What has become

-of Miss Sacchetto lately the writer has been unable to

-learn.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>Though none of the above mentioned dancers of

-Germany has pretended to be a follower of Miss Duncan,

-yet all belong to the new movement that was

-brought into being by her persistent efforts. They all

-defy the principle of the classic ballet, they all pretend

-to interpret music in their ‘plastic art,’ as they have

-preferred to term the dance. Traditionally the German

-music has been either inclined to classic abstraction,

-or to strictly operatic lines. The spectacular ballet of

-Richard Strauss, ‘The Legend of Joseph,’ belongs more

-to pantomimic pageantries than a class of actual dance

-dramas, of which we shall speak in another chapter.

-The music of a foreign school and race is always lacking

-in that natural stimulating vigor that it gives to

-those who are absolutely at home with racial peculiarities

-choreographically. In this the Russians have been

-lately more fortunate than other nations. A great

-number of talented young Russian composers have

-written an immense amount of admirable dance music,

-ballets and instrumental compositions that could be

-danced. They have an outspoken rhythmic character,

-which is the first requirement of the dance. In this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span>

-the recent German composers have remained behind

-the Russians. The compositions of Richard Strauss,

-Reger, Schönberg and the other distinguished musical

-masters of modern Germany offer nothing that would

-inspire a new school of the art of dancing. In the

-first place they lack the instinct for rhythm, and in

-the second, they lack the plastic sense so essential for

-the dance. This circumstance has been most detrimental

-to those of the young German dancers who attempted

-to follow the naturalistic movement.</p>

-

-<p>How much better than the German Duncanites have

-been those of Scandinavia, Finland and France in this

-direction is difficult to say authentically, though they

-have had the advantage over the Germans, of having at

-their disposal the works of some of the most talented

-young composers of dance music. Grieg, Lange-Müller,

-Svendsen and many others have written music with

-strong rhythmic and choreographic images. But superior

-to all the Scandinavian composers, in the modern

-dance music or music that could be danced, are the

-Finns: Sibelius, Jaernefelt, Melartin, Merikanto and

-Toiwo Kuula. Many of Sibelius’s smaller instrumental

-compositions offer excellent themes and music for

-dancing. A few of them are real masterpieces of their

-kind. But the Finns have shown up to this time little

-interest for the modern dance movements. The Danes,

-Swedes and Norwegians have been more affected by the

-new ideas that are connected with the stage, though

-none of them has shown any marked achievement

-that would be known in wider circles. Ida Santum, a

-young Scandinavian girl in New York, has given evidence

-of some graceful plastic forms and idealized

-folk-dances. Thus far she has not shown anything

-strikingly appealing to the audiences. Aino Akté’s

-Salome Dances are purely operatic and have no bearing

-upon our subject.</p>

-

-<p>Among English and American girls who have followed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span>

-the footsteps of Miss Duncan are Gwendoline

-Valentine, Lady Constance Stewart-Richardson, Beatrice

-Irvin, and a number of others, but the writer has

-been unable to gather any sufficient data for critical

-arguments.</p>

-

-<p>Undoubtedly the most talented dancer of the naturalistic

-school whom we have known among the Russians

-is Mlle. Savinskaya of Moscow. In power of expressing

-depth and subtlety of dramatic emotions Savinskaya

-is supreme. She is an actress no less than a dancer.

-Her conception of naturalistic dancing is so deeply

-rooted in her soul and temperament that it often acts

-against the plastic rules and grace, often displayed by

-the dancers for the sake of pleasing effects. Miss Duncan

-herself strives to create moods by means of classic

-poses, but Savinskaya’s ideal is to express the plastic

-forms of music in her art. She is romantically dramatic,

-more a tragedian than anything else. Her

-dance in the graphically fascinating ballet <i>Chrisis</i> by

-Reinhold Glière, in Moscow, revealed her as an artist

-of the first rank, and perhaps the first thoroughly

-trained Duncanite whose technique and dramatic talent

-rival with any <i>ballerina</i>, of the new school or the old.</p>

-

-<p>Probably the lack of suitable music has been thus

-far the greatest obstacle in the way of the naturalistic

-dancers, though they pretend to find their ideals in the

-eighteenth and nineteenth century’s classic compositions.

-No doubt some of the old music can be aptly

-danced, such as the light instrumental works of Grieg,

-Mozart, Chopin and Schumann, but the proper music

-has yet to be composed. The phonetic thinking of past

-music was involved, hazy in closed episodes and often

-disconnected in structural form. There is one single

-theme of a poem in a whole symphony. To illustrate

-this plastically is a physical impossibility. Maud Allan’s

-and Isadora Duncan’s attempts to dance symphonies

-of Beethoven and other classic idealists have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span>

-been miserable failures. Those who pretend to see

-in such dances any beauty and idea, are ignorant of

-musical and choreographic principles.</p>

-

-<p>To our knowledge Reinhold Glière, the genial young

-Russian composer and director of the Kieff Symphony

-Society, is the first successful musical artist in the field

-of naturalistic ballets. His ballet <i>Chrisis</i>, based on an

-Egyptian story by Pierre Louis, is a rare masterpiece

-in its line.</p>

-

-<p>Though built on the style of the conventional

-ballets, its music is meant for naturalistic interpretation

-and lacks all the <i>pirouette</i>, <i>chassée</i>, and other

-semi-acrobatic ballet music forms. Like the principles

-laid down by Delsarte and his followers, Glière’s music

-‘moves with the regular rhythm, the freedom, the equipoise,

-of nature itself.’ It has for the most part a slow

-ancient Egyptian measure, breathing the air of the

-pleasant primitive era. It suggests the even swing of

-the oar, the circular sweep of the sling, the rhythmic

-roar of the river, and all such images that existed before

-our boasted civilization. It gives a chance for the

-dancer of the naturalistic school to display pretty

-poses, primitive gestures and ‘sound’ steps. Like all

-Glière’s compositions this is exceedingly lyric, full of

-charming old melodies and curved movements that

-occasionally call to mind Schumann, Schubert and

-Chopin. The ballet begins with Chrisis in the majestic

-valley of the Nile spinning cotton on a spinning-wheel,

-which she stops when a soft music, coming from a far-away

-temple, comes to her ears. It is the music of the

-morning-prayer. She prays, dancing to the trees and

-the clouds. At this time Kise, another little maiden,

-is passing with food for her parents and <i>Chrisis</i> calls

-her. They dance together and spin for a while. There

-is in the background a sacred tree. <i>Chrisis</i> approaches

-it in slow dance and utters her secret wish. During

-this time Kise meets on the river shore a blind musician<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span>

-carrying a lyre. He plays a gay dance to the

-girls, to which they dance so exquisitely that phantom-like

-nymphs and fawns emerge from the river, and

-stop to watch. Finally a shepherd, who has been looking

-on from the top of the hill, becomes interested in

-the dance and makes friends with the girls. There

-ensues a passionate love scene and dramatic climax

-for the first act, <i>Chrisis</i> going into a convent. The second

-act takes place in an ancient convent, <i>Chrisis</i> as a

-dancing priestess. The last act takes place with

-<i>Chrisis</i> as a courtly lady with every luxury around her.

-It is a magnificent piece of work musically and choreographically,

-and should find widespread appeal.</p>

-

-<p>We may count as belonging to the naturalistic school

-of dancing the exponents of idealized and imitative

-national dances, though they do not belong among the

-Duncanites. Particularly we should mention Ruth

-St. Denis, who is widely known through her skilled

-imitation and idealization of the Oriental dances. As

-Isadora Duncan sought by the ancient Greeks the ideal

-of her ‘natural’ dances, so Ruth St. Denis attempted

-to find choreographic beauties in the art of the East.

-In this she has been strikingly successful. Her Japanese

-dances can be considered as real gems of the

-Orient in which she has made the impression as if an

-exotic old print of the empire of the Mikado became

-alive by a miracle, though it was in the Indian sacred

-dances that she made her reputation. This is what a

-dance critic writes of her:</p>

-

-<p>‘Clad in a dress of vivid green spangled with gold,

-her wrists and ankles encased in clattering silver bands,

-surrounded by the swirling curves of a gauze veil, the

-dancer passed from the first slow languorous movements

-into a vertiginous whirl of passionate delirium.

-Alluring in every gesture, for once she threw asceticism

-to the winds, and yet she succeeded in maintaining

-throughout that difficult distinction between the voluptuous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span>

-and the lascivious. The mystic Dance of the

-Five Senses was a more artificial performance and

-only in one passage kindled into the passion of the

-Nautch. As the goddess Radha, she is dimly seen seated

-cross-legged behind the fretted doors of her shrine.

-The priests of the temple beat gongs before the idol and

-lay their offerings at her feet. Then the doors open,

-and Radha descends from her pedestal to suffer the

-temptation of the five senses. The fascination of each

-sense, suggested by a concrete object, is shown forth

-in the series of dances. Jewels represent the desire of

-the sight, of the hearing the music of bells, of the smell

-of the scent of flower, of the taste of wine, and the

-sense of touch is fired by a kiss. Her dancing

-was inspired by that intensity of sensuous

-delight which is refined to its farthest limit

-probably only in the women of the East. She rightly

-chose to illustrate the delicacy of the perceptions not

-by abandon but by restraint. The dance of touch, in

-which every bend of the arms and the body described

-the yearning for the unattainable, was more freely

-imaginative in treatment. And in the dance of taste

-there was one triumphant passage, when, having

-drained the wine-cup to the dregs, she burst into a

-Dionysiac Nautch, which raged ever more wildly until

-she fell prostrate under the maddening influence of the

-good wine. Then by the expression of limbs and features

-showing that the gratification of the senses leads

-to remorse and despair, and that only in renunciation

-can the soul realize the attainment of peace, she returns

-to her shrine and the doors close upon the seated

-image, resigned and motionless. So she affirmed in

-choice and explicit gesture the creed of Buddha.’</p>

-

-<p>Very strange yet effective are the dances of Ruth St.

-Denis in which she exhibits the marvellous twining

-and twisting art of her arms, which act as if they had

-been some ghastly snakes. Her arms possess an unusual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span>

-elasticity and sinuous motion which cannot be

-seen better displayed by real Oriental dancers. The

-hands, carrying on the first and fourth finger two huge

-emerald rings, give the impression of gleaming serpents’

-eyes. Miss St. Denis is apparently a better musician

-than Miss Duncan, while in her poetic sense and

-in the sense of beauty she remains behind. However,

-as a musician she is excellent, and always acts in perfect

-rhythm with the composition. But unfortunately

-all her dance music is just as little Oriental as Miss

-Duncan’s is Greek. Ruth St. Denis seemingly is ignorant

-of the numerous Russian Oriental compositions

-which would suit her art a thousand times better than

-the works of the Occidental classics. In justice to her

-efforts it must be said that she is a thorough artist in

-spite of the fact that she has never studied her dances

-in the East. Her slender tall figure and semi-Oriental

-expression give her the semblance of an Indian Bayadere.

-It has always impressed us that she minimizes

-her art by affected manners and an air that lacks sincerity.

-We believe her to have very great talent, but

-for some reason or other, she has failed to display

-it fully.</p>

-

-<h3>IV</h3>

-

-<p>The modern Spanish dances as performed by Rosario

-Guerrero, La Otero and La Carmencita, are in

-fact a perfected type of Spanish folk-dances. The Kinneys

-write of them as follows: ‘So gracious, so stately,

-so rich in light and shade is the <i>Sevillanas</i>, that it

-alone gives play to all the qualities needed to make a

-great artist. When, a few summers ago, Rosario Guerrero

-charmed New York with her pantomime of “The

-Rose and the Dagger,” it was the first two <i>coplas</i> of this

-movement-poem that charmed the dagger away from

-the bandit. The same steps glorified Carmencita in her

-day and Otero, now popular as a singer in the opera

-in Paris. All three of these goddesses read into their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span>

-interpretation a powerful idea of majesty, which left it

-none the less seductive.’ It is clear that none but a

-Spaniard could perform the more or less perfected

-folk-dances of the country. It requires a physique with

-born talent and traditions to give the dance its proper

-fire and brutal elegance.</p>

-

-<div id="ip_211" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">

-  <img src="images/i_210.jpg" width="503" height="685" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>Maud Allan</p>

-  <p class="credit"><i>After a painting by Otto Marcus</i></p></div></div>

-

-<p>Havelock Ellis gives a graphic picture of the Spanish

-dance. ‘One of the characteristics of Spanish dancing,’

-he writes, ‘lies in its accompaniments, and particularly

-in the fact that under proper conditions all the spectators

-are themselves performers. In flamenco dancing,

-among an audience of the people, every one takes

-a part by rhythmic clapping and stamping, and by the

-occasional prolonged “oles” and other cries by which

-the dancer is encouraged or applauded. Thus the

-dance is not the spectacle for the amusement of a

-languid and passive public, as with us. It is rather the

-visible embodiment of an emotion in which every spectator

-himself takes an active and helpful part; it is, as

-it were, a vision evoked by the spectators themselves

-and upborne on the continuous waves of rhythmical

-sound which they generate. Thus it is that at the end

-of a dance an absolute silence often falls, with no

-sound of applause; the relation of performer and public

-has ceased to exist. So personal is this dancing that

-it may be said that an animate association with the

-spectators is necessary for its full manifestation. The

-finest Spanish dancing is at once killed or degraded by

-the presence of an indifferent or unsympathetic public,

-and that is probably why it cannot be transplanted but

-remains local.’</p>

-

-<p>The naturalistic school of dancing is by no means an

-invention of Isadora Duncan, though she has been one

-of its most persistent preachers. The true psychological

-origin belongs to Delsarte, whose method of poetic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span>

-plasticism inspired Mrs. Hovey to give lessons and lectures

-on the subject. It branched out like a tree.

-Every country was interested in the new idea in its own

-way. America, having no æsthetic traditions whatsoever,

-found the pioneers in Isadora Duncan and Ruth

-St. Denis; Germany found hers in the sisters Wiesenthal,

-Miss Rita Sacchetto and others; France, in Mme.

-Olga Desmond; Spain, in the refined and talented folk-dancers;

-Russia, in the rise of a new ballet, and so on.

-Like a magic message, the idea filled the air and was

-inhaled by special minds. There was a strong argument

-in favor of its development, and that argument

-was the spiritual yeast that set the world into a ferment.

-The more it was opposed and fought the more

-it spread and grew. The naturalistic dance has been

-thus far more an awakening than a mature art. As

-such it is apt to be crude and imperfect. There is no

-reason to fear that a fate like that which befell the

-Skirt Dance may overtake the ‘classical’ dancing of the

-naturalistic school. It has accomplished a great service

-in bringing the audiences to realize that the argument

-of natural plasticism is based on philosophical truth.

-Soon the ranks of those who believe that ‘natural’

-dancing is that which requires the least technique will

-decrease in favor of those serious minded artists, who

-seek the solution in technique plus talent. ‘The theory

-that a dancer can ignore with impunity the restrictions

-of technique, that she is bound to please if only she is

-natural and happy and allows herself to follow the

-momentary inspiration of the music and dances with

-the same gleeful spontaneity as a child dancing to a

-barrel-organ is a doctrine as seductive as it is fatal.’

-The future solution of the movement lies in perfection

-of the technique and in grasping the deeper depths of

-musical relation to the art of dancing.</p>

-

-<p>‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative

-destructive element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span>

-instance, we had never seen the old ballet, with its

-stereotyped character, I do not think that the appearance

-of Isadora Duncan would have called forth such

-enthusiasm. In Isadora we greeted the deliverance.

-Yet in order to appreciate liberty we must have felt the

-chains. She liberated, and her followers seek to exploit

-that liberty.’</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The old ballet: arguments <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>—The new movement: Diaghileff

-and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s

-company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ <i>Le Pavillon d’Armide</i>, ‘Scheherezade’—Nijinsky

-and Karsavina—Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The

-Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Gordon</span> Craig very aptly characterized the French

-ballet as the most deliciously artificial impertinence

-that ever turned up its nose at Nature. Commenting

-on this Prince Volkhonsky says: ‘Seldom one meets

-in a short definition with such an exhausting acknowledgment

-of the positive and negative sides of the

-question. How easy and pleasant it is to agree with a

-judgment which is penetrated with such impartiality.

-Who will not acknowledge that that powdered Marquise

-is charming, and yet who will not acknowledge

-that that huge pile of false hair sprinkled with powder

-is against Nature?’ Magnificent as the old Russian ballet

-has been dramatically and acrobatically, yet it failed

-to acknowledge the artificialities of its form and the

-deficiencies of its phonetic conceptions. It failed to see

-what Delsarte, Mrs. Hovey, Isadora Duncan and the

-partisans of the naturalistic school had grasped: the

-call of Nature. Though it banished the powdered Marquise

-of the French school from the stage, yet it did not

-banish the creed from the ballerina’s toe—the unmusical

-acting, the spectacular leaps and pirouettes, the umbrella-like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span>

-tunics, the acrobatic stunts, the fossilized

-forms of the dead ages. In praise of the old ballet Mr.

-A. Levinsohn has written in a Russian magazine of the

-dance: ‘When a ballerina rises on the tips of her toes

-(<i>pointés</i>), she frees herself of a natural movement and

-enters a region of fantastic existence.’ The principal

-meaning of all the ballet technique in preaching the

-toe-dance is to defy the laws of gravity and give the

-dance the semblance of a flight, or floating in the air.

-There is no question that a few musical phrases require

-such plastic, particularly in such compositions as Saint-Saëns’

-‘The Swan,’ or Drigo’s <i>Papillons</i>, which Pavlova

-has visualized so magnificently. But to apply the same

-style to express the romantic, poetic, tragic and other

-human emotions, to apply the toe-technique to every

-form of dancing, is really abnormal. Prince Volkhonsky,

-who has contributed so much to the Russian ballet

-reform, writes with striking argument and vigor:

-‘Movement cannot be an aim in itself; such a movement

-would be nonsense. What does a dancer express

-when he imitates a spinning-top? What does the

-ballerina express when with a fascinating smile she regards

-caressingly her own toe, as she toe-dances over

-the smooth floor? What does her body express, the

-human body—the most wonderful instrument of expression

-on earth—when, carried away by gymnastic

-enthusiasm in an acrobatic ecstasy, with panting chest

-and terror in her open eyes, she crosses the stage diagonally,

-whirling on one toe, while with the other she

-executes the famous “thirty-two fouettés”?’ ‘Gymnastics

-transform themselves into fantastics,’ exclaims

-Levinsohn; ‘but I assure you, when in the circus the

-man-serpent, all dressed in green scales, puts his legs

-behind his shoulder, this is no less fantastic.’ The so-called

-tunic (the French <i>tutu</i>)—a light short garment

-of pleated gauze—has, with Mr. Levinsohn, not only a

-physical justification from the point of view of comfort<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span>

-but a logical explanation, an æsthetic sanction; it

-‘lends to the body a seeming stability.’ ‘Do you catch

-this?’ he continues. ‘The perpendicularity of the human

-figure in our eyes is, so to speak, balanced by the

-horizontality of the skirt; just the principle of the spinning-top.

-Now, is it possible to invent a more deplorable

-formula for transforming man into a machine?

-Is it possible to give a more definite expression to the

-principle of eliminating one’s “ego”? Is not art the

-expression, the manifestation, the blossoming of man?

-And what, finally, shall we say from the purely æsthetic

-point of view of that exaltation of a costume which by

-its umbrella-like stiffness cuts the human body into

-two? Shall we remain indifferent to the beauty of

-folds, to the obedience of the flowing veils, to the plastic

-injunctions of the living movement?</p>

-

-<p>‘The theory of mechanisation of the human body

-could not but lead to the panegyric of the “flat-toed”

-ballet slipper. The simple sad necessity of giving to

-the ballerina a point of support receives a philosophico-æsthetic

-interpretation: this slipper “generalises the

-contour of the foot” and “makes the impression of the

-movement clearer and more finished.” In the name of

-all—I won’t say of all that is sacred—but of all that

-is beautiful, is it possible to say such things? You have

-never admired a foot; you do not know what it is—a

-foot that slowly rises from the ground, first with the

-heel, then with the sole; you do not know the beauty of

-supple toes; you evidently never saw the foot of Botticelli’s

-“Pallas,” the foot of Houdon’s “Diana.” If it is

-so valuable to “generalise” the contour of the foot by

-the flat-toed slipper, why not, then, “generalise” the

-contour of the hand and give to the ballerinas boxing-gloves?

-Art is an exteriorisation of man, a spreading

-of one’s self outside the limits of one’s ego, and here

-we are asked to cut, to shorten, to hide: a principle

-which is exactly the contrary of art. It was also a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span>

-“generalisation” of the human figure when Niobe was

-being metamorphosed into a rock, but it remains

-till the end of time the expression of grief; the Greeks

-have not found a more eloquent myth for the eternalisation

-of human sorrow than the return of form

-into that which is not formed. They knew that all process

-of creation goes from the general to the particular.

-When the musician shapes the musical material accessible

-to everybody into a particular musical melody,

-he goes from the general to the particular. When the

-sculptor takes away piece by piece from the block of

-marble, he goes from the general to the particular. If,

-out of the shapeless mass of the human family, the

-great types could detach themselves and crystallise

-themselves into definite characters, it is only thanks

-to their particularities that they conquer and receive

-their universal value. The direction of the artist is

-from the shapeless, from the abstract, into the concrete;

-the process of art is a process of individualisation.

-It is easy to understand, therefore, the instinctive

-hostility which is provoked in a man who loves art, by

-all attempts at “generalisation”: it is the infiltration into

-art of that which is not art, it is that which in the

-course of centuries has deserved the appellation of

-“routine.” This crust of uniformity and impersonality

-which spreads over art is nothing but an infiltration

-of the generalising principle into that which is and

-ought to remain the sacred domain of personality. It

-is the desert under whose breath fades and withers the

-beauty of the oasis.</p>

-

-<p>‘No wonder that a reaction should set in against an

-art which seeks its justification in such theories; the

-reaction against the stereotyped ballet is a direct act

-of logic—it is the voice of common sense: it would be

-impossible that a form of art should live which is in

-contradiction to the principle of art. When I say

-“live,” I do not mean the right of existence; I take the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span>

-word in its most real sense: to live, that is, to possess

-the elements of development. In the form into which it

-has developed the “classical” ballet lacks these elements—it

-cannot evolve; as Mr. Svetloff judiciously remarked,

-if every ballerina could execute seventy-five

-instead of “thirty-two fouettés,” it would be a greater

-difficulty to overcome, it would not be art developed.

-Thus I repeat, when I say that such a form of art as

-the old ballet cannot live I am not denying its right to

-exist, but I am indicating the absence of elements of

-development, the atrophy of the principle of vitality.</p>

-

-<p>‘There is one point of view possible as to the “classical

-ballet”; it is the one form in which we see the established

-forms of old dances. Who will deny the

-charm of the minuet, of the gavotte, of the pavane?

-But, on the other hand, who ever will dare to say that

-this is the final word of plastic art? Miniature painting

-is a lovely art, is it not? Yet equally wrong are those

-who would assert that the miniature has expressed all

-that painting is capable of, and those who would say

-that miniature is “all right, but it needs enlarging.”

-And when we consider the ballet from the only possible

-point of view, from the point of view of the crystallised

-dance, how offensive will appear to us “gymnastics that

-transform themselves into fantastics.” On the other

-hand, we shall not be astonished when we hear the

-regrets of some adherents of the old “dance” in the

-presence of the “Scythian invasion” on that same stage

-where the plastic formulas of the Latin race have blossomed;

-only imagine it—where the gavotte and sarabanda

-used to reign there now bursts out the tempest

-of the “Tartar hordes”!’</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>The appearance of Isadora Duncan and her pupils

-in Russia was truly a high explosive bomb. Her art<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span>

-startled the Russian dancers and public. It was the

-very opposite of what everybody had been accustomed

-to see, and what everybody imagined the dance to be.

-Though the limited character of her technique decreased

-the effect, yet the truth of her principle was

-what caused the greatest discussion and made the deepest

-impression. In the fundamentals of her dance were

-that freedom, individuality and relief which the Russian

-mind had missed in the old ballet. It was this

-theoretical argument that made Miss Duncan’s art such

-a factor in Russia. Marius Petipa had been an excellent

-scholar and academician in his days, but he had

-grown old and his views had become obsolete. His

-genius saw the evolution of the ballet only in the conventional

-channels. Among his assistants were a group

-of talented young dancers and teachers, some of whom

-were dissatisfied with the old order, yet found themselves

-forced to follow the time-worn rules. One of the

-young students of this type was M. Fokine, a very intelligent

-student and gifted artist, who was particularly

-electrified by Miss Duncan’s art. He saw the shortcomings

-of Miss Duncan’s school and realized that here he,

-with his thorough understanding of the ballet and its

-technique, could do much that she had been unable

-to do.</p>

-

-<p>With all the best will Fokine found himself bound

-to the old order of things. But it was at this very juncture

-that M. Diaghileff, who had been successfully editing

-the annual Reviews of the Imperial Ballet, laid the

-foundation for a new art magazine on radical principles.

-Having been a graduate of the Conservatory of

-Music of Petrograd and a connoisseur of the art of

-dancing, he was just the man to gather a group of radical

-dance and music students and artists of every description

-around his venture and attempt to accomplish

-something radically modern in all the fields of stage

-art. His efforts found a quick response among the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span>

-various artists of the ballet, who already knew of his

-work and tendencies. One of them was Fokine, and

-with him came many of his talented pupils and friends.

-Like with every other new movement this needed crystallization

-theoretically and practically. For some

-reason or other Diaghileff’s magazine failed. But it

-had already accomplished its evolutionary task: a

-group of artists was ready to join any leaders of revolution

-who would be worthy of their confidence.</p>

-

-<p>The next move from the revolutionary Diaghileff and

-his general Fokine was their unexpected appearance in

-Paris. Here they had surrounded themselves with a

-few genial ballet dancers of Petrograd and Moscow.

-The announcement of an appearance of the Russian

-ballet in Paris, under the management of Diaghileff

-and Fokine and with stars like Nijinsky, Mmes. Fokina,

-Karsavina and Astafieva, marks the first revolutionary

-move in Russian dance history. It was undoubtedly

-the phenomenal success that Pavlova and Mordkin had

-had outside of Russia, particularly in Paris and London,

-which actuated and encouraged the rebels. They

-argued, ‘If Pavlova and Mordkin had such phenomenal

-success as solo dancers, in the old classic style, we are

-more sure of a success in real modern ballets.’ And

-they proved that they had. Here is what a London

-critic writes of the appearance of the Diaghileff company:</p>

-

-<p>‘For the unknown to be successful in London it is

-always necessary to create what is called a boom—marvelous

-clothes or the lack of them; a terrifying

-top note; a tame lion; a Star that has been shining with

-unparalleled brilliancy in another city. But we were

-told nothing about the Russian dancers when they arrived

-in 1909—some half dozen of them only—and so we

-expected nothing. And it is to be feared that some of

-us found what we expected. Now, two years later, we

-are slowly opening our eyes.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span>

-‘There is no need to describe either Karsavina or

-Pavlova. If there were, indeed, pen and ink would be

-incapable of the task, for they both typify and express

-the woman of all ages, and ageless.</p>

-

-<p>‘*** For many it was as if they understood life for

-the first time, had entered a chamber in the castle

-Existence which hitherto had been hidden from them.

-They gave us thoughts, these Russian magicians, for

-which we have been unconsciously seeking and travailing

-many years. They gave us knowledge we thought

-to buy in a huckster’s shop, steal from a bottle of wine,

-or find in a bloodless novel or in the crude stage play

-of the average theatre, bearing little or no relation to

-life. Now here it was, all expressed in dances men

-and women danced thousands of years ago: music of

-face and body, of muscle and brain, which stirred and

-sang in our hearts like wind in the trees.</p>

-

-<p>‘The elusive spirit of youth she (Karsavina) most

-eloquently expresses in <i>Les Sylphides</i>, the music by

-Chopin, which is described as a <i>Rêverie Romantique</i>.

-The sex of the dancer, instead of dominating, disappears.

-And so, of all the good things the Russian Dancers

-have given us, the Spirit of Youth of Tamara Karsavina

-comes first and foremost.</p>

-

-<p>‘The men of the Russian Ballet possess the same technical

-perfection, the same marvelous grace, as the

-women. Whether their bodies be as slim and light as

-Nijinsky’s and Kosloff’s, or as massive and muscular as

-Mordkin’s and Tichomiroff’s, makes no difference: they

-can be as graceful, as supple, as tender as a girl, without

-losing a scrap of their superb masculinity.’</p>

-

-<p>Among the most conspicuous Russian dancers who

-followed the revolutionary call of Diaghileff and Fokine,

-were Vera Fokina, Tamara Karsavina, Sophie

-Feodorova, Seraphime Astafieva, Nijinsky, and Kosloff.

-The real drawing cards of the revolutionary group were

-Karsavina and Nijinsky, one more genial than the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span>

-other, the one the very type of the Russian youthful

-poetic and passionate girl, the other that of masculine

-virility and grace. The leaping of Nijinsky and the

-darting of Karsavina will remain as the most effective

-symbols in the mind of those who have witnessed their

-inspiring dances. In <i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i>, danced by

-Karsavina and Nijinsky, we can best compare their individualities.

-‘Their bodies, flower-like, representing

-the spirit of flowers, weave dreams with silent and

-graceful movements,’ writes a critic. ‘We are altogether

-removed from the world of flesh and blood to a

-kingdom of enchantment.’ Nijinsky and Karsavina

-are the two talented exponents of the New Russian Ballet,

-in the same sense as Pavlova and Mordkin belong

-to the Old Ballet.</p>

-

-<p>The question arises in what respect Nijinsky differs

-from Mordkin and Karsavina from Pavlova? If we

-could see illustrative performances by these four greatest

-figures of the two Russian schools the difference

-would be immediately evident, in spite of their individual

-traits. Where Pavlova concentrates attention

-on her conventional toe-dancing, Karsavina employs

-conspicuously the naturalistic steps and strives to display

-the plastic lines of her beautiful body. Where

-Mordkin resorts to pantomime, Nijinksy finds his expression

-through the movements of the dance. However,

-the difference between the two ballets is not so

-clearly cut with the men as with the women dancers.

-Fokine has introduced a great deal of the plastic

-element that has actuated the partisans of the naturalistic

-school. We find the acrobatic stunts of the old

-ballet almost lacking in the new. You will hardly see

-Karsavina, Fokina or Astafieva performing the leg-bending

-tricks of the followers of the old school. If

-they resort to pirouettes and leg agility, they do so in a

-different sense than the others.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span></p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>A highly praised dance of Karsavina and Nijinsky is

-<i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i> (with music arranged from the

-compositions of Weber), which takes place in a summer

-night in old aristocratic France. The music,

-though old-fashioned, is soft and tender. Karsavina

-represents a young sentimental girl who has just returned

-from the ball. She is thinking of her lover,

-while raising to her lips a red rose which he gave her

-at the ball. Going through a pantomimic scene of her

-sentimental dreams Karsavina depicts the romantic

-prelude of a young girl until Nijinsky, representing

-her visionary lover, leaps in. ‘The spirit of the garden

-and the song of the night have entered her bedroom,

-and the wind blows this rose-spirit to and fro. It is

-love in human shape: now he hovers above the sleeping

-figure, caressing: now he is dancing just in front

-of the window. And we dare not breathe lest by so

-doing the air is stirred to drive him back into the moving

-shapes outside. But he rises on the arms of the

-wind, he crouches beside the girl. She falls into his

-arms and the love dream of a ballroom is realized.

-The music of the night has entered the room, languid

-music like water which these two spill as they dance

-to and fro, until, our eyes being opened, we can see as

-well as hear music. The miracle is so brief that we

-scarcely realize it before it has gone. But they were

-chords and harmonies, these two spirit shapes floating

-on the implacable air: hands and feet, arms and legs,

-lips and eyes spilling and spelling each note of music.

-The hour has passed. Jealous dawn lays his fingers on

-the night.... The girl is in her chair again. The spirit

-of the rose hovers like love with trembling wings above

-her.’</p>

-

-<p>A favorite ballet of the Diaghileff company is <i>Cléopatre</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span>

-arranged by Fokine to music by Arensky, Taneieff,

-Rimsky-Korsakoff, Glinka, Glazounoff, and Moussorgsky.

-The chief characters of this ballet are Seraphime

-Astafieva, as Cleopatra, Sophie Feodorova, as

-Ta-Hor, Vera Fokina, as a Greek woman, and Nijinsky,

-as the favorite of Cleopatra. It has been declared the

-most popular of all Fokine’s ballets. It describes the

-well-known love drama of the great Egyptian queen.

-The first scene is laid on the shores of the Nile. There

-is just visible the arch of an ancient temple and its

-entrance with great figures of stone. The ground on

-which it stands is flanked by pillars which tower towards

-the sky. The waters of the river gleam between

-these pillars. The sun is sinking into the hot desert.

-The first character of the dance is Ta-Hor, a priestess;

-the second Amoun, a warrior, her beloved. She

-emerges through the dark curtain of the night and

-meets him in the silent precincts of the temple. Music

-quivers from hands and feet, lips and eyes. We feel an

-impending danger. The silence is broken with the sudden

-appearance of the High Priest. Cleopatra is coming.

-But Ta-Hor clings to the lips of Amoun. When the

-Queen appears the lovers shrink back into the shadows

-of the temple. She is a voluptuous beauty. We see her

-resting, her limbs tangled in a mass of color, her eyes

-fixed like serpent’s, staring into the hot night of the

-desert while she waits for what it will bring her. She

-is tired of the wealth the world has poured at her feet.

-There is but one thing that never tires her and is ever

-new. Her subtle limbs uncurl from the tangled colors,

-open like a rose at a breath of warm wind—to close

-again with a little shiver of ecstasy. Love is always

-new and beautiful. Of love she has never tired, only

-of lovers.</p>

-

-<p>Cleopatra finally sees Amoun dancing, and falls

-madly in love with him. There are many passionate

-and dramatic scenes. ‘Like the sea-foam, her body is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span>

-tempest-tossed. Her eyes burn into his soul. The music

-sings songs of the desert, invocations to the Nile,

-hymns to the god of love. Around the royal divan of

-Cleopatra we see a medley of men and women, twining

-and grouping themselves. The music sounds like a

-gentle breeze, full of love and enchantment, which

-longs yet fears to slake its thirst. We see Egyptian

-dancers moving slowly and quietly. String instruments

-are thrumming like nightingales. We see a whole

-company of men and women dancing in the torchlight.

-The sight of the costumes pours a spell of the Nile

-upon us. The stars of the desert and the passionate

-music of string instruments, the beautiful girls and the

-black virile bodies of the slaves, the waves of light

-and the distant wall of soldiers and priests, fill the

-air with something tragic and black. We get a glimpse

-of Cleopatra and Amoun, he standing beside her couch.

-The high priest of the temple holds between his hands

-the sacred cup filled with the poisonous wine that

-Amoun must drink. He takes the cup firmly and looks

-into her eyes, and smiling he drinks. She smiles, too.

-At this moment Amoun drops the cup to the ground.

-Death lays hands upon him. His agony is brief. Cleopatra

-stands waiting. When he falls his fingers clutch

-the air. A shiver shakes the Queen’s body. Cleopatra

-goes out from the night passing through the vast pillars

-of the temple into the dawn of the desert. After

-her comes Ta-Hor, looking for her lover. But she finds

-the dead body. We see her warm brown body shiver

-and shrink. She would tear out her heart. A soft

-wind comes whispering over the desert bringing with

-it the red of the rising sun. It is the end of a ghastly

-picture.’</p>

-

-<p>Impressive as <i>Cléopatre</i> is in its scenic and pantomimic

-vigor and tragic atmosphere, yet it is hardly a

-ballet in the modern sense. There is no unity of music,

-this being altogether a patch-work. It may sound exceedingly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span>

-pretty and appropriate occasionally to the

-accompaniment of the mute drama, yet it is by no

-means dance music. This is an example of the patchy

-ballet music that the Diaghileff company is continually

-trying to employ. Musically less patchy is <i>Le Pavillon

-d’Armide</i>, with music by Tcherepnin and setting

-by Benois. But the theme is old-fashioned and over-perfumed.

-The story takes place in mediæval France

-at the castle of a certain Marquis, a magician. It is

-night. Winds blow, rain pours down and thunder rolls.

-A nobleman is to meet his sweetheart near the Marquis’

-castle and takes refuge from the bad weather.

-The Marquis places his <i>Pavillon d’Armide</i> at his disposal.

-In the pavilion he sees an old Gobelin tapestry

-representing the beautiful Armide, beneath it, a great

-clock supported by Love and Time. The nobleman

-goes to sleep and at midnight sees the figures of Love

-and Time step down from the clock. Armide becomes

-alive. The nobleman falls in love with her and Armide

-embraces him. This is the beginning of an animated

-dance. It is a fantastic scene, the old Marquis taking

-part in the feast. Finally Time triumphs over Love

-and they return to their places. It is an interesting

-short phantasy, a poem in pantomime.</p>

-

-<p>A ballet which has created the greatest comment and

-discussion in its dramatic and scenic beauty is the

-<i>Scheherezade</i>, with music by Rimsky-Korsakoff. This

-is a symphonic suite of which Bakst and Fokine have

-manufactured a kind of pantomime-ballet. Though

-the music is magnificent as an orchestra piece by itself,

-yet it is a perversion to employ it to accompany a queer

-pantomimic drama. Rimsky-Korsakoff had no idea of

-a Zobeide played by Karsavina, of her negro lover,

-danced by Nijinsky, of Schariar, the Grand Eunuch,

-and of the Odalisque, who are the characters of the

-ballet. This again is a patch-work and not a dance

-in its real sense. If it is a dance, it is such that only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span>

-one artist or at most two could depict. According to

-the scenario writers it draws the story of a Sultan’s

-harem from ‘The Arabian Nights.’ All the harem beauties

-are dancing with their lovers and slaves. Among

-them we find the pretty Sultana. The Sultan enters

-and suspects that Zobeida has betrayed him. He finds

-her lover. We see death and passion. It is picturesque,

-but the dance is only an incidental affair. <i>Scheherezade</i>

-without Karsavina’s vivid mimicry and youthful

-beauty, and Nijinsky’s agility, would be nothing.

-In the words of a Russian critic, ‘Nijinsky makes us

-understand that a gesture is, as Blake said of a tear,

-an intellectual thing. His gestures, by which I do not

-mean the technical steps, are different in manner and

-in spirit from those of the traditional Italian school.

-With the conventional gestures of the academies,

-which mimic such attitudes as men are supposed naturally

-to adopt when they perform certain actions or

-experience certain emotions, he will have nothing to

-do. Nijinsky’s gestures mimic nothing. They are not

-the result of a double translation of idea into words,

-and words into dumb show. They are the mood itself.

-His limbs possess a faculty of speech. Wit is expressed

-in his Arlequin dance as lucidly as in an epigram. His

-genius consists in a singular pliancy of the body to the

-spirit.’<a id="FNanchor_C" href="#Footnote_C" class="fnanchor">C</a></p>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a id="Footnote_C" href="#FNanchor_C" class="fnanchor">C</a> S. Hudekoff: ‘History of Dancing’ (in Russian).</p></div>

-

-<p>If Karsavina had not joined the choreographic revolutionists

-her dramatic talent would have had little or

-no opportunity to express itself, for the exponents of

-the old classic ballets are strictly opposed to display

-of natural gestures and acting. While she now exhibits

-a talent equal to Pavlova’s, in the old ballet she

-would be only half of what she is. Although her excellent

-dramatic sense is displayed in <i>Le Spectre de

-la Rose</i>, <i>Scheherezade</i> and in several of Stravinsky’s

-ballets, still we have not had a chance yet to become<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span>

-enthusiastic over any of her abstract dances.

-This view we notice also expressed by many French

-and English critics. ‘Of her performances at Covent

-Garden, all were marked by such rare technique and

-instructed grace that it is difficult to put any one before

-another; but certainly she never surpassed her achievement

-in <i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i>. Her dancing caught

-the very spirit of a maiden’s revery, and nothing could

-have been more finely imagined than those transitions

-from languor into quick rushes of darting movement,

-which illustrate the abrupt and irrational episodes of

-a troubled dream. She was the very embodiment of

-faint desire. We felt, as it were, a breath of perfume,

-and were troubled in spite of ourselves. Moreover,

-the long partnership between the two performers

-seemed to have resulted in a very special and intimate

-harmony. For the most part they simply floated about

-the stage as though borne upon a common current of

-emotion. There was a marriage, not only between

-their bodily movements, but between their spirits, such

-as I have never noted in the union of any other

-dancers.’</p>

-

-<p>Like the ballet <i>Prince Igor</i>, music by Borodine, scenario

-by Fokine, <i>Le Carneval</i>, music from Schumann,

-Liadoff, Glazounoff, Tcherepnine and various other

-sources, are nothing but dances from an opera, dances

-taken here and there. Neither is there any unity of

-theme or style in these trimmed-up panoramas. The

-Polovetsi dances of Borodine’s opera <i>Prince Igor</i> are

-magnificent examples of savage Tartar art. The music

-is the very image of the hot and restless Mongolian

-temperament, the very breath of battle lust, the exaltation

-of victory. Fokine has taken a scene from the

-second act of the opera and patched a story together

-with some characters of the opera. The dance in the

-opera itself is wonderful. But in the ballet form, as

-arranged by Fokine, it is a mediocrity.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span></p>

-

-<h3>IV</h3>

-

-<p>In the repertoire of Diaghileff’s company there have

-been, thus far, only two more or less satisfactory ballets,

-<i>Le Pavilion d’Armide</i>, by Benois and Tcherepnin,

-and <i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i> by Weber and Vaudoyer.

-But both might be termed choreographic sketches in

-one scene rather than ballets. Without Nijinsky and

-Karsavina even these would not be very charming. The

-aristocratic sentimentality and poetic pathos of the

-two dance pantomimes are perfectly displayed by these

-two most talented artists of the revolutionary group,

-as their miming and dancing are characterized by a

-certain natural softness of movement, the quality of

-languor and passion. But it was the music of Igor

-Stravinsky, a young Russian composer working in the

-impressionistic style, that saved the situation of the

-new ballet. Stravinsky has a genius for the ballet, such

-as perhaps the world has never seen before. However,

-he seems to be greatly hampered by lack of proper conception

-of what constitutes the modern ballet. It is

-evident that he is influenced in his compositions too

-much by the Diaghileff-Fokine tendencies, as most of

-his ballets are built up in the old form of construction,

-though the phonetic images and spirit are new. His

-music is graphically vivid, as it should be, has a strong

-rhythm and inspiring modern spirit. It is the form of

-construction that he has not grasped yet fully, except

-in his <i>Petrouchka</i>.</p>

-

-<p>This <i>Petrouchka</i>, Stravinsky’s masterpiece, is a Russian

-burlesque taken from an old fairy-story of Harlequin

-in love with the Clown’s wife. In this ballet

-the scenes are splendidly arranged by Fokine and the

-music is thrilling. The puppet has always exercised

-a curious fascination upon the human mind. The animated

-doll is a fantastic and yet pathetic symbol of our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span>

-emotions. <i>Petrouchka</i> is the Russian counterpart of

-English ‘Punch and Judy,’ though differing in its more

-sentimental character. <i>Petrouchka</i> represents the

-character of a real puppet. Stravinsky has woven

-a dramatic plot around the puppet stage. ‘To

-take us behind the scenes and show the mingled comedy

-and tragedy of the puppet world, was a true and

-dramatic inspiration’ of the composer. The scenic

-effect of <i>Petrouchka</i> is calculated to create a melancholy

-feeling in the spectator with its bleak gray background

-and dull frigidity. It gives a striking contrast

-to the barbaric colors of the crowd on the stage. One

-has the feeling of opaque leaden skies, of snow and gay

-people at a fair. The costumes and scenery designed

-by Benois are true to Russian life and strikingly in

-harmony with the dance. In every phrase of the music

-the composer shows himself a master of the art of

-writing ballet music. ‘Throughout the four scenes he

-displays not only a nice sense of dramatic firmness,

-but a shrewd appreciation of character. In the treatment

-his humorous percept is of large assistance. In

-the trumpet dance by which the Blackamoor is first

-lured into the fair one’s toils or in the slower <i>pas

-de fascination</i>, by which the conquest of him is completed,

-Stravinsky’s sense of the ludicrous has turned

-two slender occasions to most diverting account. A

-piece of clever orchestration is a passage at the outset

-of the opening scene where the composer succeeds not

-only in reproducing the peculiar sounds of an old

-hurdy-gurdy, but weaves the opposition between two

-such competing instruments into a most entertaining

-and harmonious discord.’</p>

-

-<p>As in all the other Stravinsky ballet compositions,

-the orchestration of <i>Petrouchka</i> is realistically true to

-the action and the characters of the play. It is full-blooded

-and modern. It breathes an air of the unsophisticated

-joy of a simple people who attend to their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span>

-affairs regardless of conventional restrictions. Nijinsky,

-with his dramatic flexibility and vigor, makes the

-play a vivid fairy tale in actuality, or rather gives life

-to a dream of a fairy tale. ‘That the ballet is thereby

-endowed with meaning, an inwardness, which it might

-not otherwise possess, must be accounted as a tribute

-to the dancer’s genius,’ writes an English critic.</p>

-

-<p>Another splendid Stravinsky ballet performed by

-the Diaghileff company is <i>L’Oiseau de Feu</i>. Fokine

-has arranged the music successfully in this ballet.

-Like <i>Petrouchka</i>, it is based upon a folk-tale. The

-overture of the play indicates that a fantastic story is

-to follow. Strange mutterings and unexpected harmonies

-dispose the hearer to an atmosphere of another

-world. The adventurous pantomime opens in a gloomy

-forest emanating an air of midnight mysteries. But

-the music glows gradually like the magic glow in the

-forest. One sees the spectacular Fire Bird floating

-downward toward the stage. Now dancing and music

-melt into one fascinating picture of two dimensions,

-to which the brilliant scenic effects add a special spiritual

-note. Performed by Karsavina, as the Fire Bird,

-the ballet is excellent.</p>

-

-<p>But Stravinsky has succeeded less well in his post-impressionistic

-<i>Le Sacre du Printemps</i>. This consists

-of two tableaux of ancient pagan Russia. The first

-scene is the adoration of the earth; the second, the

-adoration of the sun. The music is less spontaneous

-and less graphic than that in Stravinsky’s other ballets.

-But, all in all, Stravinsky remains the greatest

-drawing card and the greatest æsthetic factor in the

-art of the Russian ballet rebels.</p>

-

-<p>A charming number in the repertoire of the Diaghileff

-company is Balakireff’s <i>Thamar</i>. Balakireff

-wrote this as a symphonic poem on an Oriental theme,

-but Bakst has manufactured out of it a ballet. The

-music is very beautiful and typically Russian. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span>

-story is a thrilling tale of Caucasian life, which takes

-place at an ancient castle built in a gorge of romantic

-mountains. But because it is an artificial construction,

-it is less interesting musically and choreographically

-than the Stravinsky ballets.</p>

-

-<p>The Russian new ballet has attempted to perform

-Claude Debussy’s <i>L’Après-Midi d’un Faun</i>, and Richard

-Strauss’ <i>La Légende de Joseph</i>. In the latter ballet a

-new Russian dancer, Leonide Miassine, was introduced

-in the title rôle. Neither Miassine nor <i>La Légende de

-Joseph</i> proved great attractions. Magnificent as Strauss

-and Debussy are in their modern compositions otherwise,

-in ballet music they remain mediocrities. Their

-rhythm is so anæmic, their images so hazy and their

-episodes so disconnected that not even a Nijinsky or

-a Karsavina could put life into them.</p>

-

-<p>In criticising the new Russian ballet of Diaghileff

-and Fokine, Prince Volkhonsky writes: ‘Their main

-defect is that they develop [the dance] independently

-from the music; they are a design by themselves—complicated,

-interesting, very often pleasing to the

-eye, yet independent of the music. And we have already

-seen when we spoke of the old codas that the

-most unpretentious figure, even when banal, becomes

-inspiring when it coincides with the musical movement,

-and, on the contrary, the most interesting “picturesque”

-figure loses meaning when it develops in discord

-with music. Look at some dance, definite, exact,

-that has crystallized itself within well-established limits;

-you may look at it even without music. But try

-to watch a pantomime without music. In the first

-place, it will be a design without color, quite an acceptable

-form; in the second it will be a body without

-skeleton—something unacceptable.’</p>

-

-<p>The Russian new ballet is an interesting proof of

-the far-reaching effect that the naturalistic school of

-dancing indirectly exercised upon the development of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span>

-the art of dancing. The efforts of the reform that

-Fokine is attempting to achieve are admirable and

-show the great possibilities that the revolutionists face

-in the immediate future. Their whole drawback has

-been in their conception of the form and music. Even

-Stravinsky has not been able to shake himself loose

-from the old pantomimic form. But sooner or later

-they will see the new point of view and acknowledge

-the mistake that every reformer is apt to make in his

-first step. The Russians have the technique, the music,

-the innate talent and the traditions for all future choreographic

-inspiration. The solution lies, to a great

-extent, in the coöperative work of their composers,

-writers, critics, painters, designers, teachers and

-dancers.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’ system—Body-rhythm;

-the plastic expression of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings

-of the Dalcroze system—Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics

-to the dance.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">What</span> apparently proves to be the elementary step

-in building up a new school of choreography—perhaps

-that which some of the younger dancers have chosen

-either by accident or by roundabout ways—are the

-Jacques-Dalcroze Rhythmic Gymnastics or ‘Eurhythmics’

-on the order of the ancient Greeks. Thus far this

-style of dancing is merely in its preliminary form.

-Therefore it is now as difficult to draw any definite conclusion,

-as it was about 1905, when the Swiss composer

-Dalcroze, who had been since 1892 a professor

-of harmony at the Geneva Conservatoire, first launched

-the movement. However, the systematic work of instruction

-by Dalcroze began in 1910, when the brothers

-Wolf and Harald Dohrn invited him to come to Dresden,

-where, in the suburb of Hellerau, they built for him

-a College of Rhythmic Gymnastics. From this time

-on the inventor of the new method began a systematic

-training of young men and women.</p>

-

-<p>Ethel Ingham writes of the life at the college at Hellerau:

-‘The day commences with the sounding of a

-gong at seven o’clock; the house is immediately alive,

-and some are off to the College for a Swedish gymnastic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span>

-lesson before breakfast, others breakfast at half-past

-seven and have their lesson later. There is always

-a half hour of ordinary gymnastics to begin with. Then

-there will be a lesson in <i>Solfège</i>, one in Rhythmic Gymnastics,

-and one in Improvisation, each lasting for

-fifty minutes, with an interval of ten minutes between

-lessons.’</p>

-

-<p>‘One of the most marked tendencies of the modern

-æsthetic theory is to break down the barriers that convention

-has created between the various arts,’ writes

-Michael T. H. Sadler of the value of Jacques-Dalcroze’s

-eurhythmics to art. ‘The truth is coming to be realized

-that the essential factor of poetry, painting, sculpture,

-architecture and music is really of the same quality,

-and that one art does not differ from another in anything

-but the method of its expression and the conditions

-connected with that method.</p>

-

-<p>‘The common basis to the arts is more easily admitted

-than defined, but one important element in it—perhaps

-the only element that can be given a name—is

-rhythm. Rhythm of bodily movement, the dance, is

-the earliest form of artistic expression known. It is

-accompanied in nearly every case with rude music,

-the object being to emphasize the beat and rhythmic

-movement with sound. The quickness with which

-children respond to simple repetition of beat, translating

-the rhythm of the music into movement, is merely

-the recurrence of historical development.</p>

-

-<p>‘To speak of the rhythm of painting may seem fanciful,

-but I think that is only lack of familiarity. The

-expression is used here with no intention of metaphor.

-Great pictures have a very marked and real rhythm,

-of color, of line, of feeling. The best prose-writing has

-equally a distinct rhythm.</p>

-

-<p>‘There was never an age in the history of art when

-rhythm played a more important part than it does to-day.

-The teaching of M. Dalcroze at Hellerau is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span>

-brilliant expression of the modern desire for rhythm

-in its most fundamental form—that of bodily movement.

-Let it be clearly understood from the first that

-the rhythmic training at Hellerau has an importance

-far deeper and more extended than is contained in its

-immediate artistic beauty, its excellence as a purely

-musical training, or its value to physical development.

-The beauty of the classes is amazing; the actor as well

-as the designer of stage-effects will come to thank M.

-Dalcroze for the greatest contribution to their art that

-any age can show. He has recreated the human body as

-a decorative unit. He has shown how men, women and

-children can group themselves and can be grouped in

-designs as lovely as any painting design, with the added

-charm of movement. He has taught the individuals

-their own power of gracious motion and attitude. Musically

-and physically the results are equally wonderful.

-But the training is more than a mere musical education;

-it is also emphatically more than gymnastics.</p>

-

-<p>‘To take a joy in the beauty of the body, to train his

-mind to move graciously and harmoniously both in

-itself and in relation to those around him, finally, to

-make his whole life rhythmic—such an ideal is not

-only possible but almost inevitable to the pupil at Hellerau.

-The keenness which possesses the whole College,

-the delight of every one in his work, their comradeship,

-their lack of self-consciousness, their clean sense

-of the beauty of natural form, promise a new and

-more harmonious race, almost a realization of Rousseau’s

-ideals, and with it an era of truly artistic production.’</p>

-

-<p>Dalcroze’s school has emphasized that its purpose is

-not merely to train dancers but to educate for life

-generally. His theory is that all the people should

-be raised to feel and appreciate the intrinsic value of

-the rhythm, which is best proven in M. Dalcroze’s

-own essay, <i>Le Rhythme</i>, which was published in 1909.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span>

-‘Schools of Music,’ he says, ‘formerly frequented

-only by born musicians, gifted from birth with unusual

-powers of perception for sound and rhythm,

-to-day receive all who are fond of music, however

-little Nature may have endowed them with the necessary

-capacity for musical expression and realization.

-The number of solo players, both pianists and

-violinists, is constantly increasing, instrumental technique

-is being developed to an extraordinary degree,

-but everywhere, too, the question is being asked

-whether the quality of the instrumental players is equal

-to their quantity, and whether the acquirement of extraordinary

-technique is not joined to musical powers,

-if not of the first rank, at least normal.</p>

-

-<p>‘Of ten certified pianists of to-day, at the most one,

-if indeed one, is capable of recognizing one key from

-another, of improvising four bars with character or so

-as to give pleasure to the listener, of giving expression

-to a composition without the help of the more or less

-numerous annotations with which present-day composers

-have to burden their work, of experiencing any

-feeling whatever when they listen to, or perform, the

-composition of another. The solo players of older days

-were without exception complete musicians, able to improvise

-and compose, artists driven irresistibly towards

-art by a noble thirst for æsthetic expression, whereas

-most young people who devote themselves nowadays

-to solo playing have the gifts neither of hearing nor

-of expression, are content to imitate the composer’s

-expression without the power of feeling it, and have

-no other sensibility than that of the fingers, no other

-motor faculty than an automatism painfully acquired.

-Solo playing of the present day has specialized in a

-finger technique which takes no account of the faculty

-of mental expression. It is no longer a means, it has

-become an end.</p>

-

-<p>‘There are two physical agents by means of which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span>

-we appreciate music. These two agents are the ear

-as regards sound, and the whole nervous system as regards

-rhythm. Experience has shown me that the

-training of these two agents cannot easily be carried

-out simultaneously. A child finds it difficult to appreciate

-at the same time a succession of notes forming a

-melody and the rhythm which animates them.</p>

-

-<p>‘Before teaching the relation which exists between

-sound and movement, it is wise to undertake the independent

-study of each of these two elements. Tone is

-evidently secondary, since it has not its origin and

-model in ourselves, whereas movement is instinctive

-in man and therefore primary. Therefore I begin the

-study of music by careful and experimental teaching

-of movement. This is based in earliest childhood on

-the automatic exercise of marching, for marching is

-the natural model of time measure.</p>

-

-<p>‘By means of various accentuations with the foot, I

-teach the different time measures. Pauses (of various

-length) in the marching teach the children to distinguish

-duration of sound; movements to time with the

-arms and the head preserve order in the succession of

-the time measures and analyze the bars and pauses.</p>

-

-<p>‘Unsteady time when singing or playing, confusion

-in playing, inability to follow when accompanying, accentuating

-too roughly or with lack of precision, all

-these faults have their origin in the child’s muscular

-and nervous control, in lack of coördination between

-the mind which conceives, the brain which orders, the

-nerve which transmits and the muscle which executes.

-And still more, the power of phrasing and shading music

-with feeling depends equally upon the training of

-the nerve-centres, upon the coördination of the muscular

-system, upon rapid communication between brain

-and limbs—in a word, upon the health of the whole

-organism; and it is by trying to discover the individual

-cause of each musical defect, and to find a means of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span>

-correcting it, that I have gradually built up my method

-of eurhythmics.</p>

-

-<p>‘The object of the method is, in the first instance, to

-create by the help of rhythm a rapid and regular current

-of communication between brain and body; and

-what differentiates my physical exercises from those

-of present-day methods of muscular development is

-that each of them is conceived in the form which can

-most quickly establish in the brain the image of the

-movement studied.</p>

-

-<p>‘It is a question of eliminating in every muscular

-movement, by the help of will, the untimely intervention

-of muscles unless for the movement in question,

-and thus developing attention, consciousness and will-power.

-Next must be created an automatic technique

-for all those muscular movements which do not need

-the help of the consciousness, so that the latter may be

-reserved for those forms of expression which are purely

-intelligent. Thanks to the coördination of the nerve-centres,

-to the formation and development of the greatest

-possible number of motor habits, my method assures

-the freest possible play to subconscious expression.</p>

-

-<p>‘The first result of a thorough rhythmic training is

-that the pupil sees clearly in himself what he really

-is, and obtains from his powers all the advantage possible.

-* * * The education of the nervous system must

-be of such a nature that the suggested rhythms of a

-work of art induce in the individual analogous vibrations,

-produce a powerful reaction in him and change

-naturally into rhythms of expression. In simpler language

-the body must become capable of responding to

-artistic rhythms and of realizing them quite naturally

-without fear of exaggeration.</p>

-

-<p>‘Gestures and attitudes of the body complete, animate

-and enliven any rhythmic music written simply

-and naturally without special regard to tone, and, just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span>

-as in painting there exist side by side a school of the

-nude and a school of the landscape, so in music there

-may be developed, side by side, plastic music and music

-pure and simple. In the school of landscape painting

-emotion is created entirely by combinations of moving

-light and by the rhythms thus caused. In the school

-of the nude, which pictures the many shades of expression

-of the human body, the artist tries to show the

-human soul as expressed by physical forms, enlivened

-by the emotions of the moment, and at the same time

-the characteristics suitable to the individual and the

-race, such as they appear through momentary physical

-modifications.</p>

-

-<p>‘At the present day plastic stage music is not interpreted

-at all, for dramatic singers, stage managers and

-conductors do not understand the relation existing between

-gesture and music, and the absolute ignorance

-regarding plastic expression which characterizes the

-lyric actors of our day is a real profanation of scenic

-musical art. Not only are singers allowed to walk and

-gesticulate on the stage without paying any attention

-to the time, but also no shade of expression, dynamic

-or motor, of the orchestra—crescendo, decrescendo,

-accelerando, ralletando—finds in their gestures adequate

-realization. By this I mean the kind of wholly

-instinctive transformation of sound movements into

-bodily movements such as my method teaches.’</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>This is briefly the essential part of the Jacques-Dalcroze

-school of Eurhythmics. The method falls into

-three main divisions: (1) ear training; (2) rhythmic

-gymnastics; and (3) improvisations. The ear method

-is nothing but the training of the pupil in an accurate

-sense of pitch and a grasp of tonality. However, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span>

-system of teaching rhythmic gymnastics is based upon

-two different methods: <i>time</i> and <i>time-values</i>. Time is

-expressed by movements of the arms; time-values—note

-durations—by movements of the feet and body. A

-combination of these two methods is called the plastic

-counterpoint, in which the actual notes played are represented

-by movements of the arms, while the counterpoint

-in crotchets, quavers or semi-quavers, is given by

-the feet. The crotchet as the unit of note-values is expressed

-by means of a step. Thus for each note in the

-music there is one step. Notes of shorter duration than

-the crotchet are also expressed by steps, only they are

-quicker in proportion to their frequency. ‘When the

-movements corresponding to the notes from the

-crotchet to the whole note of twelve beats have, with

-all their details, become a habit, the pupil need only

-make them mentally, contenting himself with one step

-forward. This step will have the exact length of the

-whole note, which will be mentally analyzed into its

-various elements. Although these elements are not

-individually performed by the body, their images and

-the innervations suggested by these images take the

-place of the movements.’</p>

-

-<p>The first training of a pupil in the Dalcroze school

-consists of steps only. Simple music is played to which

-the pupils march. After the pupil has an elementary

-command of his legs the rhythmic training of his arms

-and body begins. At this stage the simple movements

-to indicate rhythms and notes are made a second nature

-of the pupil. This can be compared to the pupil’s

-learning of the alphabet. Plastic reading consists of

-composing more or less definite images from the elementary

-rhythm-units. This is done either individually

-or in groups. The pupil is taught to form clear mental

-images of the movements corresponding to the rhythm

-in question and then give physical expression to those

-images. As a child learns to compose letters and syllables<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span>

-to words and words to phrases, a Dalcroze pupil

-is taught to understand the elementary parts of the

-music and the rules of its composition and to recompose

-it into a lengthy series of body movements.</p>

-

-<p>The main object of Dalcroze’s method is to express

-by rhythmic movements rhythms perceived by the ear.

-The exactness of such expression is the main aim of

-the school. The body must react momentarily to the

-time and sound-units of the music that the ear perceives.

-As the wind creates waves in the sea, music is

-meant to create motion in the human body. Percy B.

-Ingham writes that characteristic exercises of this

-group are ‘beating the same time with both arms but

-in canon, beating two different tempi with the arms

-while the feet march to one or perhaps march to yet

-a third time, e. g., the arms 3/4 and 4/4, the feet 5/4.

-There are, also, exercises in the analysis of a given time

-unit into various fractions simultaneously, e. g., in a

-6/8 bar one arm may beat three to the bar, the other

-arm two, while the feet march six.’</p>

-

-<p>According to Dalcroze’s plastic theory the arms

-should express the theme in making as many movements

-as there are notes, while the feet should mark

-the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers, triplets or semi-quavers.

-A compound rhythm can be expressed by the

-arms taking one rhythm, the feet, another. This is

-meant to correspond to the technical exercises of orchestral

-music, by training the body to react to the

-various tones of different instruments. The general

-purpose, however, is and remains the development of

-feeling for rhythm by teaching the physical expression

-of body rhythms. There is no doubt that shades of

-crescendos and decrescendos, fortes and pianissimos

-are achieved by this method, yet the question remains:

-how near does the Dalcroze school come to visualizing

-the music in all its symbolic and spiritual depths?</p>

-

-<p>Music is more than rhythm; it is a subjective symbolic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span>

-language of our soul and the universe. It is a

-mystic factor of life, human and cosmic. There is an

-unaccentuated language in every genial and great composition,

-an æsthetic image and philosophic meaning

-that we can grasp not by means of the intellect but

-mostly through the emotions, and it is in expressing

-this that Dalcroze’s school has failed in so far. Dalcroze

-has aimed to express the elemental factors of

-the music, and in this he has succeeded. The performances

-given by Mr. T. Jarecki, one of the most talented

-of the graduates of Hellerau, are sufficient proof of the

-fact that the school has its shortcomings in the above-mentioned

-directions. He performed a Prelude by

-Chopin, a composition of Rachmaninoff, one by Schubert,

-and several numbers of other classics in a costume

-that looked like a bathing suit. Powerful as he was

-in all his rhythmic grace, he yet failed to translate the

-musical language of the compositions by means of

-bodily plasticity. Chopin’s and Rachmaninoff’s preludes

-possess distinct tonal expressions and designs

-of something very human and emotional that lies beyond

-mere rhythm. Poetry is based on the laws of

-rhythm, yet it is not alone the rhythm that makes a

-poem beautiful, but the image that it creates. Thus in

-the art of dance it is not only the rhythm but the æsthetic

-episode that concerns a dancer most of all. It

-is the transformation of this phonetic episode into plastic

-forms, the visualization of the audible beauty, that

-lies at the bottom of every great dance. This requires

-certain symbols and those lie beyond the achievements

-of the Dalcroze graduates.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>The great value of Dalcroze’s method lies in his insistence

-on perfect rhythm as an elementary training<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span>

-upon which the coming art of dancing can be based.

-The various folk-dances are outspokenly rhythmic, but

-they contain that peculiar racial flavor which is very

-difficult to keep outside its proper atmosphere and race.

-We have found that the best Russian dancers could not

-give the simple folk-dances of another race with the

-racial perfection which a native untrained folk-dancer

-would have imparted to it. In the same way foreign

-dancers with their best efforts fail in trying to dance

-what a Russian dances. The national dances can be

-employed as valuable bases for the individual art, but

-that is all. They lack the cosmic element, the language

-of the world. An Italian understands his <i>Tarantella</i>,

-a Spaniard his <i>Fandango</i>, a Russian his <i>Trepak</i> best

-of all. The future art of dancing needs a universal

-element of choreographic design and it is in this that

-the Dalcroze school may be of immense value. It

-bases everything on rhythm only, which is very significant,

-but its aim should lie far beyond that. Rhythm

-is the syllable and the word, but words must be combined

-into phrases and phrases into paragraphs before

-we can read a story. It is after all the story in which

-the mind is interested, not the words and phrases.</p>

-

-<p>We have seen in previous chapters that the foundation

-of the ballet lacks the firmness and soundness of

-a natural art. It is decadent and altogether shaky. No

-genius could build anything lasting unless the foundation

-is firm. The aim of dancing is not acrobatic nor

-gymnastic effect, but plasticity. Symmetry is the chief

-element of architecture, rhythm that of music. If we

-can combine the symmetric rules with those of the

-rhythmic we have the basis upon which a new choreography

-can be built. Isadora Duncan, Fokine, Lada,

-Trouhanova and many others are trying to grasp the

-truth in their individual ways, but the elemental truth

-lies in Dalcroze’s system. That Dalcroze has not aimed

-to train any stage artists is evidenced by the bathing-suit-like

-costume that his pupils wear, which in itself

-is unæsthetic and objectionable to our eye, though it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span>

-may fit well for regular class-room work. It is at illusion

-that the stage aims, and this is not to be found in

-naked realism but in something else.</p>

-

-<div id="ip_245" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">

-  <img src="images/i_244.jpg" width="506" height="332" alt="" /></div>

-

-<div id="ip_245b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">

-  <img src="images/i_244b.jpg" width="505" height="439" alt="" />

-  <div class="caption"><p>A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)</p></div></div>

-

-<p>Some writers and critics seem to think that the great

-importance of Dalcroze’s system lies in his Neo-Hellenism,

-in that it is so close to the ancient Greek ideas.

-This view is particularly widespread in Germany, the

-country of classic adoration. But Greek spirit and

-ideals cannot help but only mislead a modern man.

-We have our problems, so many thousand years of

-evolution after the Greek civilization, that differ fundamentally

-from those of the bygone centuries. It is not

-in looking backward, but in looking forward that we

-have to find the great cosmic ideal of beauty. Dalcroze

-is by no means an imitator of the Greeks, but a man of

-to-day. He maintains emphatically that his method of

-eurhythmics is meant to be a general educational subject

-in all the schools—an elementary rhythmic training

-for life.</p>

-

-<p>It is to be hoped that the Dalcroze system of training

-dancers will be employed as the elementary step in

-all the dancing schools, for only then we may hope to

-see the rise of a new art of dancing. Without learning

-the alphabet thoroughly or without knowing the

-most elementary rules of a science nothing could be

-obtained by a pupil in his later studies. Here is the

-elementary system in all its primitive simplicity and

-truth. All we need is to adapt it to the higher schools

-of choreography. What the Dalcroze schooling of to-day

-gives is insufficient for a stage art. But it is by

-far a more thorough elementary training than any ballet,

-naturalistic or individual school can give, as it

-makes a student feel the music in his body and soul

-before he expresses it in his plastic forms. Then again,

-there is a strict system, a method of gradual development<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span>

-of those essentials which lie at the bottom of

-every art dance.</p>

-

-<p>In spite of the many shortcomings the Jacques-Dalcroze

-school can be considered as the first move towards

-a new stage art. It means the beginning of a new

-school of dancing altogether. However, it needs another

-reformer to begin where Dalcroze ended. Can

-we expect this of Fokine, Volkhonsky or some one else?

-Dance in its highest sense is symbolic. The symbols

-that it expresses should not be others than those of

-music. We know only that they should form images

-of the symmetric and rhythmic elements, but their exact

-nature remains either for an individual artist or a

-future school to determine.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter">

-<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY</span></h2>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new

-ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories—Lada and choreographic symbolism—The

-question of appropriate music.</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<h3>I</h3>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have witnessed the various phases and changes

-which the art of dancing has undergone during the

-past centuries. The ancient Egyptians danced the

-movements of astral bodies, the Greeks danced the

-hymns of their mythology, the Romans their war songs,

-the Middle Ages danced the aristocratic etiquette of

-gilded ball-rooms, the French Ballet danced to stereotyped

-tunes with marionette-like manners, the Russian

-Ballet danced to dramatic scenarios that had musical

-accompaniment, the various nations danced to their

-simple tunes, the Duncanites to the mood-creating elements

-of the music, the Jacques-Dalcrozists to the

-rhythm of a composition only. It is inconceivable that

-none of the reformers, none of the new schools, danced

-the music itself. Those among the partisans of ‘natural’

-or ‘classic’ dancing who claim to interpret the music

-have given us thus far supposed imitations of the

-Greek, Oriental or fantastic styles of some kind, based

-upon hazy rhythmic mood-producing forms of a composition.

-We have seen only fragmentary passages

-here and there, single numbers of the celebrated dancers,

-which expressed the phonetic designs of the music

-in true plastic lines. Pavlova has certainly succeeded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span>

-in expressing all the emotional fury of Glazounoff’s

-<i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>, the grace of Drigo’s <i>Papillons</i>,

-and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’ We must give all due

-credit to Karsavina, for her dancing of Stravinsky’s

-<i>L’Oiseau de Feu</i>, and half a dozen others of her repertoire

-depict truly the very soul of the music. The child

-pupils of Miss Duncan dance all the ethereal grace of

-Schubert’s <i>Moments Musicals</i>. In the same way we

-find in one or several dances of Mordkin, Nijinsky

-and Volinin, of Lopokova, Fokina and Kyasht that they

-have succeeded in dancing the music. We are pretty

-safe to say that each of the celebrated dancers of history

-has probably been able to translate into visible

-‘plasticism’ only a few of the phonetic forms of one or

-another composition of his repertoire. And this is what

-we may term ‘dancing the music.’</p>

-

-<p>We have attended innumerable dance performances,

-have seen many new and old ballets, in Russia and

-abroad, have seen the new and ultra-modern dancers,

-yet we have so far seen but a microscopic fragment of

-what we here call ‘dancing the music.’ Certainly the

-greatest part of the repertoire of all the celebrated

-dancers has been the dancing of something else than

-the music. All the Pavlova ballets that have been

-given in America, all the elaborate ballets of the Russian

-classic school, all the ballets of the Diaghileff-Fokine

-group, are and remain dances to preconceived

-plots, dances to a style or a mood, but rarely dances of

-the music. We should like to have any of the celebrated

-dancers show us where there is expression of the music

-in all the spectacular pirouettes of Pavlova, Karsavina,

-Nijinsky and Fokina, in their dramatic acting to a musical

-composition, even in the most modern ballets of

-Stravinsky. The dancing that they perform during the

-whole ballet is pantomimic acting to a certain plot,

-arranged to music. We are not by any means biased in

-making the statement, but make it with deliberation.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span>

-Dancers of various schools and ages have failed to

-see the point. Though Prince Volkhonsky is preaching

-exclusively the Jacques-Dalcroze rhythmic gymnastics

-as the basis of a new school of dance and therefore

-sees nothing more in a dance than the rhythmic expression,

-yet he has described aptly the defects of the

-Russian ballets, old and new, of the Duncanites and

-other modern schools of dancing. ‘Their main defect

-is that they develop independently of the music,’ he

-writes; ‘they are a design by themselves—complicated,

-interesting, very often pleasing to the eye, yet independent

-of the music. And we have already seen when

-we spoke of the old <i>codas</i> that the most unpretentious

-figure, even when banal, becomes inspiring when it

-coincides with the musical movement, and, on the contrary,

-the most interesting picturesque figure loses

-meaning when it develops in discord with music. Look

-at some dance, definite and exact, which has crystallized

-itself within well-established limits; you may look

-at it even without music, but try to watch a pantomime

-without music. In the first place, it will be a design

-without color, quite an acceptable form; in the second,

-it will be a body without skeleton—something unacceptable.</p>

-

-<p>‘The main fault of the leaders of the modern ballet

-is that they put the centre of gravity of the ballet in

-the plot, in the event, in the story: what in painting is

-called literature. Whereas the subject of the ballet is

-not in the plot, the subject is in the music. Any picture

-which is not dictated by music, any independent movement,

-is synonymous with abandonment of the subject,

-the essence; it is in the end an interruption of art, an

-interruption caused by a rupture between the two

-equivalent elements of the visuo-audible art—sound

-and movement. This rupture with music is all the

-more felt the more participants there are in the picture,

-and the more markedly it tends towards “realism.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span>

-Only look at them when they represent scenes of disorder;

-and by and by we lose the impression of “art”;

-we see real, not represented, disorder; and finally we

-are turned to the dramatic point of view, and we are

-called upon to admire the “acting crowd.” And if you

-are musical, if you live in the movement of sound,

-this independent visible movement cannot but appear

-as a sort of unasked-for interference of some intruder.

-The acting crowd is not admissible where a rhythmically

-moving crowd is required. Acting leads the artist

-out of music and conducts him into the plot; and

-the subject of ballet, I repeat, is not in the plot, it is

-in the music; the plot is but the pretext.</p>

-

-<p>‘Only through the rhythm will the ballet come back

-to music and accomplish the fusion which has been

-destroyed by independent acting. Schopenhauer said

-that music is a melody to which the universe serves

-as a text; take away the music from the ballet—it will

-have nothing to say. There is quite a clear parallel

-here with the vocal art. The musician composes a

-song; he puts words to music. Imagine a singer coming

-out and telling us only the words; he will be far

-from the fulfillment of his task; he will have accomplished

-but the half of it, the lesser part of it. It is

-the same with the ballet; the musician composes the

-ballet, he puts the plot to music. Imagine a dancer

-coming out and acting the plot alone; he will be far

-from the fulfillment of his task; he will have accomplished

-but the lesser part of it. For the ballet does

-not relate how the Sleeping Beauty, for instance, fell

-asleep and awoke (this is the business of literature,

-declamation and drama); the ballet relates how music

-tells it. Music is the only real essence in that which

-forms the subject of the ballet. All the remaining

-“reality,” the real man with his real movement, is

-nothing but a means of expression, nothing but artistic

-material. It is evident how wrong, how offensive it is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span>

-(for a musician) when this material of living movement

-embodies a new moving formula which is not

-implied in the music. Have you seen those “processions”

-of maidens, slaves, priests, etc.? Have you ever

-been shocked by the discord of their walk with music?

-Have you noticed that the pace which you see is quite

-different from the one you hear? Have you ever felt

-offended on seeing that they step between the notes

-and thus give you the impression of syncopes which

-are in no way justified by music? I am afraid you

-have not. Few are those who realize the importance

-of the accord of movement and sound, who long for its

-realization, and, together with Schiller, desire that

-“Music in its ascendant ennoblement shall become

-Image.”</p>

-

-<p>‘The music we hear is the subject of the image we

-see. And in fact the singer sings music, the dancer

-dances music, and cannot dance anything else; he cannot

-“dance” jealousy or grief or fright, but he can and

-must dance the music which expresses the feeling of

-jealousy, grief or fright. And when he has rendered

-the music he will, by the same means, have rendered

-its contents, and naturally the silly question will be

-dropped: “How is it possible that on the stage the

-people should dance everything, whereas in life only

-dances are danced, or, at the utmost, joy?” The question

-is strange, to be sure, yet no less strange are those

-who forget that the only thing they may dance is

-music, and think they may dance a “rôle.” The dramatic

-principle based upon an arbitrary division of

-time is directly opposed to the choreographic principle,

-which is wholly founded on the musical, consequently

-regulated, division of time. Therefore the introduction

-of the element of “personal feeling,”<a id="FNanchor_D" href="#Footnote_D" class="fnanchor">D</a> of individual

-choice, and even more, destroys the very essence of

-the choreographic art, and eats away its very texture.</p>

-

-<div class="footnote">

-

-<p><a id="Footnote_D" href="#FNanchor_D" class="fnanchor">D</a> As the Duncanites do.—Editor.</p>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span></p></div>

-

-<p>I do not speak against the working out of such; I

-speak against an independent working out—that is, a

-separate one running a course other than that in which

-music is the greatest essential. I remember one of

-the best <i>ballerinas</i> contorting herself in wild movements

-of anguish while the notes of the violin were

-dying away in one long sound of a trill. She “acted,”

-and there is, of course, no harm in this, but she acted

-according to her ideas, instead of acting according to

-music. It is just the same sin against art as if a singer

-were to execute a lyric song with bravado. Would

-you forgive him? Why, then, do we not forgive a

-singer, yet forgive a mimic, even admire his “acting”?

-Why is it every one understands that singing must

-agree with music, and so few, almost nobody, feel

-the offensiveness of movement which disagrees with

-music? And yet how sensitive to the observation of

-the musico-plastic principle are those who are so indifferent

-to its non-observation. How much they enjoy,

-though unconsciously, every manifestation of that concordance!

-We may say with certitude that for the

-best moments, the moments of greatest satisfaction in

-the living art—that is, the musico-plastic art combining

-the visible with the audible—we are indebted to

-the simultaneous concurrence of the plastic movement

-with the musical; in other words, to the equality in

-division of space and time. In an old French treatise

-on the dance, published in the year 1589, the author

-says among other bits of advice: “It is wrong for the

-foot to say one thing and the instrument the other.”

-In its naïve conciseness this sentence represents the

-germ of all that has been said, perhaps with some prolixity,

-in these pages.</p>

-

-<p>‘Space and time are the fundamental conditions of

-all material existence—and for that same reason the

-inevitable conditions of all material manifestation of

-man within the limits of his earthly being. If we agree<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span>

-that art is the highest manifestation of order in matter,

-and order in its essence nothing but division of

-space and time, we shall understand the fullness of

-artistic satisfaction which man must feel when both

-his organs of perfection, eye and ear, convey to him

-not only each separate enjoyment, but the enjoyment

-of fusion; when all his æsthetic functions are awakened

-in him not separately but collectively, in one unique

-impression: the visible rhythm penetrated by the audible,

-the audible realized in the visible, and both united

-in movement. This is the combination of the spacial

-order with the temporal. And when this combination

-is accomplished, and still more when it is animated

-with expression, then no chord of human impressionability

-is left untouched, no category of human

-existence is neglected; space and time are filled with

-art, the whole man is but one æsthetic perception.</p>

-

-<p>‘And, once we have understood all that, how is it possible

-not to express the wish that the leaders of the

-art of the ballet should assimilate the principle of concordance

-of motion and music? Without this there is

-no art in movement, and all our old “pointés” and

-“fouettés,” all those records of rapidity and difficulties

-are nothing but words without significance, whereas

-the new “choreographical” pictures are but a dramatization

-of movement to the sound of an accompanying

-music.’</p>

-

-<h3>II</h3>

-

-<p>One of the first among living dancers to realize

-the truth of the above-described lack of concordance

-between motion and music in all the ancient and new

-schools, and to devise, intuitively, a method of her own

-in expressing only the music, is Lada, a young American

-girl, who had been assiduously studying dancing

-in Europe and in Russia. She felt so keenly the discord<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span>

-in the ballet, in the art of Isadora Duncan, in the

-dances of so many modern celebrities, that she was led

-to draw her inspiration from the folk-dances of various

-European countries. Here was something simple and

-primitive, the simple and naïve harmonic relation between

-the audible, and the visible, the plastic, conception.

-It was the concordance of motion and music.</p>

-

-<p>Lada’s New York début in the late spring of 1914

-was, in spite of so many unfavorable circumstances,

-a choreographic triumph such as few dancers have

-achieved under similar conditions. The New York

-musical and dramatic critics, though unfamiliar with

-subtle choreographic issues, declared her an artist of

-the foremost rank. Yet this girl has not had yet the

-chance to display the best of her art. Her art may be

-divided into three different categories: those based

-on the racial, on the dramatic and on the symbolic

-principles. Her Brahms’ Hungarian Dance, Glinka’s

-<i>Kamarienskaya</i>, and Schubert’s <i>Biedermayer</i> are distinct

-ethnographic plastic panoramas; her Sibelius’

-<i>Valse Triste</i> is a masterpiece among her dramatic and

-realistic dances, while MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance,’

-Sibelius’ ‘Swan of Tuonela,’ Glière’s <i>Lada</i>, and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s

-<i>Antar</i> are perfect choreographic gems

-of unusual symbolic breadth. In the <i>Valse Triste</i> the

-sad majesty, as if absorbed in infinite grief, overcomes

-the spectator so irresistibly that he almost forgets the

-morbidly beautiful music of Sibelius. On occasions,

-impressively executed with unsurpassed loftiness and

-freedom, she places before us a visionary being, though

-on the verge of death, in whose presence everything

-low falls from us, and our feelings express the same

-elevation that they do in genuine tragedy.</p>

-

-<p>But, however excellently Lada may interpret the

-sentimental issues of various ethnographic compositions

-and how well she may portray the tragic vigor of

-the dramatic music, the best of her art lies in the symbolic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span>

-visualization of phonetic beauties. In these she

-appears like a supernatural being raised above common

-humanity. Her rendering of Gretchaninoff’s

-‘Bells,’ which we have seen so far only in rehearsals,

-makes an impression as if she were lost in sacred revery.

-A touch of religious feeling pervades the beautiful

-panorama. In other dances of similar religious character

-she seems floating in mid-air, unsubstantial as

-the moon whose pale beams pour a magic beauty over

-sleeping Nature—and yet so far removed. Her art is

-an absolute image of the music. Lada is by no means

-a mood creator or a believer in genial spontaneity that

-requires nothing but a stage and orchestra. She

-possesses in her simplest folk-dance-like choreographic

-sketches the same technical perfection, the same

-strenuous practice, as the most accomplished ballet

-dancer. This is what makes her body seem like a

-highly strung instrument, whose strings the slightest

-breath of wind can set quivering. Let us hope that she

-will not change her views and aspirations for the sake

-of managerial or timely requirements, as so many successful

-dancers have done. It would be a loss to the

-evolution of the art of dancing.</p>

-

-<p>To this school of dancing belongs also Natasha Trouhanova,

-a fascinatingly beautiful Caucasian girl, whose

-appearances in Russia and Paris have attracted great

-attention. Being of semi-Oriental descent herself, Trouhanova’s

-art has verged on Oriental conceptions. Russian

-music is rich in excellent Oriental themes; Borodine,

-Rubinstein, Balakireff, Ippolitoff-Ivanoff and

-Spendiaroff have written a large number of instrumental

-works of Oriental cast, which adapt themselves magnificently

-to dancing. Indeed, the composers of other

-countries have not been able to approach the Russians

-in the treatment of Oriental subjects. Mlle. Trouhanova

-has specialized in a romantic Oriental symbolism, in

-which she has succeeded more than any of the other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span>

-living dancers. There is an enchanting, exotic atmosphere

-in Trouhanova’s plastic expressions, something

-that breathes of the Thousand and One Nights, seductive

-and saturated with passion, yet beautiful in every

-detail. Her best performances have been those which

-she has given in Oriental surroundings, in the atmosphere

-to which such expressions belong. Like Lada,

-Trouhanova seeks the solution of choreography in the

-music itself. She has been inclined to a kind of symbolism

-that pertains to the romantic emotions, and in

-this particular field she stands supreme.</p>

-

-<h3>III</h3>

-

-<p>How important Lada’s illustration of the theory of

-concordance of motion and music is at this time of

-dancing evolution can be more concretely grasped by

-the coming generations than by an average dance-lover

-to-day. It is perspective that gives the true visual

-impression of a mountain. ‘In the unison of plasticity

-and music, of the visible with the audible, of the spacial

-with the temporal, lies the guarantee of that new

-art which we so ardently desire and so unsuccessfully

-seek,’ writes a celebrated dance authority. But here

-comes the question of music, the phonetic image that

-should guide the choreographic artist. Lada complains

-that she has a very limited choice of compositions

-that can be danced. The problem of proper

-dance music is more serious than one would think.

-Sibelius’ <i>Valse Triste</i> is perhaps the best sample of

-dramatic dance music that corresponds perfectly to a

-dancer’s requirements. MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance’

-is another gem of this kind. There are quite a few

-by other composers. The sum is slight. But the dancer

-can hardly blame the composer alone, for the latter

-knows only the old ballet, the naturalistic school or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span>

-folk-dance themes. He has never heard of any other

-dance music than the one which has been danced,

-either socially or on the stage.</p>

-

-<p>Dancing to music requires short phonetic episodes

-with sufficient poetic, symbolic or dramatic element,

-and images clearly depicted in strong rhythmic measure

-and sufficient background for the story. The more

-variety of figures, the greater contrasts and the more

-‘chapters’ in such a composition, the better for the

-dancer. The modern decadent, unrhythmic, vague

-mood music of the radical French and German schools

-is of little appeal and practically impossible to render

-in plastic forms. It is the Russian school of music,

-as also the works of modern Finnish composers, that

-have all the rich, clear and powerfully vivid magic

-of the north, and appeal so strongly to a dancer’s

-imagination. Sibelius’ <i>En Saga</i>, a tone-poem for full

-orchestra, would be the most grateful composition for

-this purpose had it not been written in the old symphonic

-form. It belongs to that baffling and unsatisfactory

-class of symphonic poems to which Sibelius has

-failed to give a clear literary basis. The music suggests

-the recital of some old tale in which the heroic

-and pathetic elements are skillfully blended. The music

-is vigorous and highly picturesque, but its interest

-would be greatly enhanced by a more definite program.

-Again, the same composer’s ‘Lemminkainen’s

-Home-Faring’ would make an excellent dance for a

-man dancer, had the composer rearranged it for a

-smaller orchestra and for dancing. It is an episode

-from the <i>Kalevala</i>. Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony is a

-composition that could be danced, being based on a

-series of single episodes of extremely imaginary character.

-But the score is written for a large symphony

-orchestra, therefore unpractical for dancing in a general

-way. Sibelius’ incidental music to Adolf Paul’s

-tragedy, ‘King Christian II,’ and the other to Maeterlinck’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span>

-‘Pelléas and Mélisande’ are large ballets rather

-than music that could be performed without any particular

-difficulties by dancers of Lada’s type.</p>

-

-<p>The question of appropriate music for the latest

-phase of the art of dancing is so serious that it requires

-earnest consideration. In considering the best dances

-of all the great dancers of all ages and schools we find

-that among the phonetic images the symbolic element

-renders itself most gratefully to plastic transformation.

-By its very nature dancing is the symbolic rendering

-of music. The more symbolic the subject of a composition

-the better chance it has of being transmitted into

-a visible language. A dancer represents in his vibrating

-body lines the symbolic complex of all the phonetic

-unities of a composition. He is, so to speak, the unset

-type. Music is the text that he has to print in such pictorial

-forms, in such symbols that our mind can grasp

-it. Throughout his dance, he remains a kaleidoscopic

-tracer of the musical designs of the composition.

-The plastic positions of the human body, the mimic

-expression of the face, the gestures and the steps, are

-the mediums that can suggest certain phases of emotion

-and feeling, certain ideas and impressions of soul

-and body. There is a certain tonal and pictorial

-‘logic,’ a kind of unarticulated thinking, in music as

-well as in dancing. But this cannot be depicted in

-any other than symbolic form. Essentially both arts

-are composed of a succession of peculiar emotional

-symbolic images. Music is the vibration of the sound,

-dancing the vibration of the form. Both arts appeal directly

-to our emotions, music more than dancing, the

-latter being more mixed with our intellectual processes.

-Dancing may be termed the translating of the absolutely

-subjective language into a more objective one.

-According to this theory all the ballets in the old form

-of drama, where the characters dance their rôles, is

-against the principle of pure art dancing. It is impossible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span>

-to imagine that there is any music on the order

-of our conventional dramas, of so or so many characters.

-At the utmost there can be only two dancing

-figures, two characters that we could imagine in a tone-drama

-of this kind; but even so, the other could be only

-the acting, the pantomimic character, while only one

-dancer at a time can render the real transformation

-process of the musical theme.</p>

-

-<p>To comply with the requirements of the above-described

-theory of musical dancing, the writer has composed

-a scenario, ‘The Legend of Life,’ to which Reinhold

-Glière is composing the music. In this ballet, or

-more correctly <i>plastomime</i>, which is arranged in three

-scenes, there is only one single dancer throughout the

-whole performance, and she is the symbolic image,

-the visualized imagination of a young monk, who is

-sitting in the evening before the festival of ordainment

-in his gloomy cell and thinking of the girl he used to

-love outside. Here he begins to hear the worldly music

-that is interrupted by the chimes and the choir of

-the church. The girl of whom he is thinking appears

-before him and dances romantic episodes—dances, so

-to speak, his vivid reminiscences. The monk is the

-realistic figure, the dancing girl the symbolic image

-of the music. It is a whole drama, which takes place

-in the monk’s mind. The drama is in music, and is

-his love, his romantic emotion, which is often interrupted

-by ecclesiastic surroundings. The second scene

-is the dream of the monk at night in a beautiful garden.

-The vision of the dancing girl. The third

-scene depicts him watching his own ordination in

-the church and the people arriving solemnly through

-the courtyard to witness the ceremony. Among them

-he sees his beloved. This scene is laid in the monastery’s

-courtyard. The charm of the dancing girl here

-becomes so overwhelming to the monk that he throws

-off his robe and rushes to her. Here she vanishes like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span>

-a phantom and the plastomime ends. This, briefly, is

-an attempt at the sort of literary basis upon which the

-author considers dance music can be constructed in

-concordance with the new symbolic ideals.</p>

-

-<p>The above-described scenario is merely one of the

-innumerable dance themes that modern composers

-could employ in their future dance music. It is to be

-hoped that composers will grasp the idea and enrich

-musical literature with works that adapt themselves

-to the requirements of a new choreography.</p>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span></p>

-

-<h2 id="EPILOGUE">EPILOGUE<br />

-

-<span class="subhead">FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE ART OF DANCE</span></h2>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">As</span> in the physical so in the spiritual world there prevails

-a kind of circulation of energies and life; growth,

-maturity and decline. Individuals seem nothing but

-the beginnings where the universes end, and <i>vice versa</i>.

-As a man mirrors the world in his soul, so a protoplasm

-mirrors the man. An invisible hand pushes a

-worm along the same road of evolution as it does an

-imperious Cæsar. One and the same feeling heart

-seems to beat in the breast of man that beats in the

-action of the constellations. Yet the hand of evolution

-that tends to adjust the equilibrium between the individual

-and the cosmic will gives by every new turn a

-new touch of perfection to the subjective and the objective

-parties. This tendency manifests itself in the

-history of individuals and races, and also in the history

-of art. The greatest genius of to-day is surpassed by

-another to-morrow.</p>

-

-<p>The art of dancing, as it stands to-day, promises

-much encouragement for to-morrow. It is near the

-beginning of a new era—the era of the cosmic ideals.

-The past belongs to the aristocratic ideals, in which

-the Russian ballet reached the climax. The French

-were the founders of aristocratic choreography; the

-Russians transformed it into an aristocratic-dramatic

-art; to the Americans belongs the attempt at a democratic

-school.</p>

-

-<p>‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span>

-destructive element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for

-instance, we had never seen the old ballet, with its

-stereotype, I do not think that the appearance of Isadora

-Duncan would have called forth such enthusiasm.

-In Isadora we greeted the deliverance.’ The chief

-merit of Duncan lies in destroying the aristocratic

-foundation of the ballet, and in attempting to find a

-democratic expression. She meant to find the solution

-in ancient Greek ideas and tried to imitate them. But

-she forgot that she was an outspoken American individualist

-and grasped only the democratic principles of

-a young race. All she achieved was to prove that the

-democratic essentials are no more satisfactory in the

-future æsthetic evolution of the dance than were the

-aristocratic traditions of the bygone centuries. The

-question remains, where is to be found the true basis of

-the coming choreography?</p>

-

-<p>It is strange to contemplate what different directions

-the development of the dance in various countries

-and in various ages has taken. In ancient Egypt and

-Greece the primitive folk-dances developed into spectacular

-religious ballets, in Japan they assumed the

-same impressionistic character as the rest of the national

-art, in aristocratic France the folk-dances grew

-to a gilded salon art, in Italy they became acrobatic

-shows, while in Russia they transformed themselves

-into spectacular racial pantomimes. In every age and

-country the art of dancing followed the strongest æsthetic

-motives of the time. If a nation worshipped

-nobility it danced the aristocratic ideals, if it worshipped

-divine ideas it danced them accordingly. The

-social-political democratic ideals of the New World

-have exercised a great influence in this direction upon

-the art of the Old. Though imitating aristocratic Europe,

-America has not failed to add an element of its

-own to the æsthetic standards of the former. But had

-America been only democratic there would be little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span>

-hope left that it could attribute anything to the future

-beauty, particularly to the future dance. There are,

-however, other elements that give encouragement to

-something serious and lasting, and this is the cosmic

-tendency in American life and art.</p>

-

-<p>The chief characteristics of the American mind are

-to condense expressions and ideas into their shortest

-forms. This is most evident in the syncopated style

-of its music, in its language and in its architecture.

-Like the American ‘ragtime’ tune, an American skyscraper

-is the result of an impressionistic imagination.

-Both are crude in their present form, yet they speak a

-language of an un-ethnographic race and form the

-foundation of a new art. Instead of having a floating,

-graceful and, so to speak, a horizontal tendency like

-the æsthetic images of the Old World, the American

-beauty is dynamic, impressionistic and perpendicular.

-It shoots directly upwards and denies every tradition.

-The underlying motives of such a tendency are not

-democratic but cosmic. While a nationalistic art is

-always based on something traditional, something that

-belongs to the past evolution of a race, the cosmic art

-strives to unite the emotions of all humanity. The task

-of the latter is very much more difficult. It requires

-a universal mind to grasp and express what appeals

-to the whole world. It requires a Titanic genius to

-condense the æsthetic images so that in their shortest

-form they may say what the others would express in

-roundabout ways. This gives to beauty a dynamic

-vigor and makes it so much more universal than the

-art of any nation or age could be. But this requires

-the use of symbols, and tends to subjectivism. However,

-the symbols employed in this case are fundamentally

-different from those employed by the Orientals.

-Since the earliest ages the Orient has made use of

-symbols in art and religion. But the Oriental symbols

-have been mystic or philosophic in their nature. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span>

-American symbols will either be purely intellectual or

-they will be poetic.</p>

-

-<p>The future of the art of dancing belongs to America,

-the country of the cosmic ideals. This is evident from

-its evolution since Isadora Duncan’s début. The Russian

-New Ballet (of Diaghileff’s group) is the best proof

-that the traditional racial plasticism is being transformed

-into a cosmic one. Compare the steps and

-gestures of Karsavina and Nijinsky with those of Pavlova

-and Volinin. Where the former have become

-realistically dramatic, the latter remain acrobatically

-academic. There is more symbolism in Karsavina’s

-and Nijinsky’s art than in that of Pavlova and the followers

-of the old ballet. But the plastic symbols of

-Lada are far more condensed than those of Karsavina.

-This is what we have termed the essential of a cosmic

-choreography.</p>

-

-<p>The tendency of every art is from the simple to the

-complex and then again from the complex to the simple.

-The greatest dancer is the one who can express

-the most complex musical images in the simplest plastic

-forms. Dancing in the future will be nothing but

-a transformatory process of the time-emotions in the

-space-emotions. ‘Rhythm is in time what symmetry is

-in space—division into equal parts corresponding to

-each other,’ said Schopenhauer. Arthur Symons called

-dancing ‘thinking overheard.’ ‘It begins and ends before

-words have formed themselves, in a deeper consciousness

-than that of speech. * * * It can render

-birth and death, and it is always going over and over

-the eternal pantomime of love; it can be all the passions,

-all the languors; but it idealizes these mere acts,

-gracious or brutal, into more than a picture; for it is

-more than a beautiful reflection, it has in it life itself,

-as it shadows life; and it is farther from life than a

-picture. Humanity, youth, beauty, playing the part of

-itself, and consciously, in a travesty, more natural than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span>

-nature, more artificial than art: but we lose ourselves

-in the boundless bewilderment of its contradictions.’

-It follows that a neo-symbolism is the logical outcome

-of the future dance. Dancing will become an independent

-stage art and take the place of the obsolescent

-opera. But before it reaches that stage, composers will

-be compelled to realize the importance of the new

-choreography, and produce music that contains all the

-graphic designs, the plastic possibilities, the dynamic

-drama and, above all, that structure of sounds which

-gives ample possibility for symbolic plasticism and yet

-contains a message.</p>

-

-<p>The real future dance will be expressionistic and

-subjective. Instead of copying life it will suggest its

-deepest depths and highest heights by combining the

-plastic symbols with the musical ones. It will not

-try to imitate nature but transpose it, as a painting

-transposes a landscape. Our mind is growing tired of

-the prevailing naked realism and its photographic

-effects. The realistic drama is gradually losing its

-æsthetic appeal. The aristocratic opera seems to belong

-to past centuries. Opera has lost its grip on the

-modern mind. Our æsthetic conception has reached

-the point where our subjective mind requires not imitation

-but inspiration. Instead of traditional beauties

-we require dynamic ones. We enjoy a suggestion of

-an æsthetic sensation more than an accurate description

-of it. This proves that the symbolic sensations

-will sooner or later take the upper hand, and symbolic

-dancing will be the watchword of the coming age.</p>

-

-<p>Since, according to our theory, the future of the art

-of dancing belongs to America, we should take into

-consideration those primary elements of musical art

-that form the foundation of every dance. American

-art naturally lacks fundamentally national elements;

-it strives toward cosmic ideals instead. Miserable as

-is the syncopated form of American popular music it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span>

-yet constitutes the musical <i>Volapük</i> of all the nations.

-This same syncopated form of expression manifests

-itself in American architecture and in its social dancing.

-The broken lines, the irregular dynamics, and the

-restless corners here and there that we find predominant

-in American architecture are nothing but a transposed

-form of popular music. It is evident that neither

-one of the arts has yet found its foundation. A New

-York skyscraper is a silent ‘ragtime’ tune, and <i>vice

-versa</i>. But the ‘ragtime’ rhythm can be modulated to

-the same æsthetic expressions as the skyscrapers. Unconsciously

-the dance follows the patterns of architecture

-and music. The future choreography does not

-necessarily need to be based upon syncopated rhythm

-only, but upon the various factors of the style, the

-method of expression and the spiritual issues.</p>

-

-<p>The physical and spiritual bases of every folk-art

-lie in the rural life. A folk-song or a folk-dance is

-and remains the product of idyllic village atmosphere.

-It mirrors the joys and sorrows, hopes and passions of

-the country people. It has been molded under the blue

-sky, in sunshine and storm. The songs of birds and

-the voices of nature form its æsthetic background. A

-village troubadour or poet is usually its creator, and

-simplicity is its fundamental trait. It exalts the rural

-atmosphere, poetry and characteristics. The place of

-the birth and growth of syncopated rhythm and broken

-symmetry is exclusively the city. It exalts the noise,

-rush and triviality, also the alertness and forces of

-the street. It suggests motion and intellectual fever.

-It leaves images of something artificial and fatal in

-the mind. The spirit of the country is different in

-every nation; but the spirit of the city is a similar one

-all over the world. It is in this very fact that we have

-to look for the logical foundation of the future choreography.

-It will emanate from no particular race, from

-no particular country, nor from any particular element<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span>

-of national art. It will come from the artificial city,

-the mother of cosmic idealism. The symbolism of the

-city is destined to take the place of the symbolism of

-the country. The New York plasticism will be also the

-plasticism of Paris and Petrograd.</p>

-

-<p>The ethnographic and aristocratic era in the art of

-dancing has reached the climax of æsthetic development.

-We are entering the era of cosmic art. We

-begin it with the same primitive steps that our ancestors

-made so many centuries ago; only with this difference—that

-now we view the problem from a universal

-point of view while our forefathers beheld it

-from a nationalistic and aristocratic point of view.

-We are in the cosmic current of evolution and begin

-our circle where it was left by those who had passed

-the current of a certain race or class. The future dance

-will grasp beauty from a broader stretch and deeper

-depths than the greatest virtuosi of the past and present

-could do. The fundamental law of all spiritual

-as well as physical evolution is to bring about a better

-equilibrium between the individual and the universal

-powers.</p>

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span></p>

-

-<div id="lit" class="chapter">

-<h2 id="LITERATURE_FOR_VOLUME_X">LITERATURE FOR VOLUME X</h2>

-

-<h3><i>In English</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">S. A. Barrett</span>: The Dream Dance of the Chippewa and

-Menominee Indians (Milwaukee, Wis., 1911).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Caroline and Charles Caffin</span>: Dancing and Dancers of To-day

-(New York, 1912).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Havelock Ellis</span>: The Philosophy of Dancing (Atlantic

-Monthly, Boston, April, 1914).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">J. E. Crawford Flitch</span>: Modern Dancing and Dancers (London,

-1912).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Marcella A. Hincks</span>: The Japanese Dance (London, 1910).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">A. Holt</span>: How to Dance the Revived Ancient Dances (London,

-1907).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Troy and Margaret West Kinney</span>: The Dance (New York,

-1914).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Cecil J. Sharpe and Herbert C. MacIlwaine</span>: The Morris

-Book (London, 1910).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">G. Vuillier</span>: A History of Dancing (New York, 1898).</p></blockquote>

-

-<h3><i>In German</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">W. Angerstein</span>: Volkstänze im deutschen Mittelalter (Berlin,

-1868).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">F. M. Boehme</span>: Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland (Leipzig,

-1886).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Hans Brandenburg</span>: Der Moderne Tanz (Munich, 1913).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Émile Jacques-Dalcroze</span>: Der Eurythmus (Dresden, 1913).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">H. Flach</span>: Der Tanz bei den Griechen (Berlin, 1880).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">G. Fuchs</span>: Der Tanz (Stuttgart, 1906).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">G. Mohr</span>: Die deutschen Volkstänze (Leipzig, 1874).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Heinz Schnabel</span>: Kordax: Archeologische Studien (Munich,

-1910).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">R. Voss</span>: Der Tanz und seine Geschichte (Erfurt).</p></blockquote>

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span></p>

-

-<h3><i>In French</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Castil-Blaze</span>: Histoire littéraire, musicale, choréographique,

-etc. (Paris, 1847).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Auguste Ehrhard</span>: Une vie de danseuse: Fanny Elssler

-(Paris, 1909).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Maurice Emmanuel</span>: La danse grecque antique (Paris, 1896).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">J. G. Noverre</span>: Lettres sur les arts imitateurs en général

-(Paris, 1907).</p></blockquote>

-

-<h3><i>In Italian</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">G. B. Dufort</span>: Trattato del ballo nobile (Naples, 1728).</p></blockquote>

-

-<h3><i>In Russian</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Bulletins of the Russian Imperial Ballet School (Petrograd,

-1900–1914).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">César Cui</span>: Istoria Russkoi Musyki (Petrograd, 1903).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">S. Hudakov</span>: Istoria Tanzev, 2 vols. (Petrograd, 1914).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">N. Rimsky-Korsakoff</span>: Memoirs (Petrograd, 1910).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Prince S. Volkhonsky</span>: The Ballet (Petrograd, 1913).</p></blockquote>

-

-<h3><i>In Danish</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Bulletins of the Danish National Theatre (Copenhagen, 1910–14).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Tobias Norlind</span>: Svardsdans ock Bagdans (Copenhagen,

-1911).</p></blockquote>

-

-<h3><i>In Finnish and Esthonian</i></h3>

-

-<blockquote>

-

-<p>Kalevala (Helsingfors, 1880).</p>

-

-<p>Suomen Kansan Sävelmiä (Helsingfors, 1898).</p>

-

-<p><span class="smcap">Dr. F. Kreutzwald</span>: Kaliwipoeg [in Esthonian] (Tartu, 1900).</p></blockquote>

-</div>

-

-<hr />

-

-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span></p>

-

-<div class="chapter"><div class="index">

-<h2 id="INDEX_FOR_VOLUME_X" class="nobreak p1">INDEX FOR VOLUME X</h2>

-

-<ul class="index">

-

-<li class="ifrst">A</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Abdallah</i> (Bournoville and Paulli), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Academicism (French, Italian), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Academies_of_dancing"></a>Academies of dancing, <a href="#Page_151">151f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Chinese), <a href="#Page_31">31f</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Cadiz, Spain), <a href="#Page_46">46f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(French), <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94f</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_90">90f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Copenhagen Ballet School), <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(College of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Hellerau), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Accentuation, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Accompaniment (in Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Accordion (in English folk-dance), <a href="#Page_116">116f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Ach, du lieber Augustin</i>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Acting (in relation to ballet), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Adam, Charles-Adolphe (as ballet composer), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Æschylus, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">African Bantu, <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">African guitar, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Ai Ouchnem</i>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Akté, Aino, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Albinus (Roman consul), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Alexander I, Czar of Russia, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Alexis Mihailowitch, Czar, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Algiers, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>All in a Garden Green</i> (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Allan, Maud, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Allard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Allemande</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Alliamatula (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Almeiis, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Amaterasu (Japanese deity), <a href="#Page_35">35f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">America (future of dancing in), <a href="#Page_261">261f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="American_Indians"></a>American Indians, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ammon, Temple of (Egyptian school of dancing in), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Anabasis</i> (quoted), <a href="#Page_55">55f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Andalusia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Andersen, Hans Christian, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Androgeonia (Greek hero), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Angerstein, Wilhelm (cited), <a href="#Page_128">128f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Anglin, Mlle. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Anna, Empress of Russia, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Anna Ivanovna, Empress of Russia, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Anne of Denmark (English Queen, patron of the masque), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[d’]Annunzio, Gabriele, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Antagonism to dancing (of Western Church), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(of Roman consuls), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Antoine et Cléopatre</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aphrodite, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(compared to Venera), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(mysteries), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Apollo, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(mysteries), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Apostles, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>[L’]Après-midi d’un Faun</i>, (Debussy), <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Arabesques (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in French ballet step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Arabia (<i>Stomach Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(<i>Graveyard Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(<i>Axis Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(character of dancing), <a href="#Page_46">46ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Arabian Nights,’ <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aragon (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Arcadia, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Architecture, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(development of, synchronous with dancing), <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(American), <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Areja, Francesca, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Arensky, Anton Stephanovich, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ariadne, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aristides, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aristophanes (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Ark of the Covenant,’ <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Arkona</i> (Hartmann), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Armenia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_138">138f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Artemis, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Arts (primitive, in India), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(common basis of), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Asparazases (Indian nymphs), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aspasia (Greek dancer), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Assemblé (French ballet step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Astafieva, Seraphine, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Astral Dance (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13f</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Athenæus (quoted), <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(cited), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Athens (dancing at festivals), <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(theatre of Dionysius), <a href="#Page_64">64f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Mænad Dance), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Auber, Daniel-Esprit, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Augustus (Roman Emperor), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Aulos (Greek flute), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Austria, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Auvergne (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Axis Dance</i> (Arabian), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">B<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Baba Yaga</i> (Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bacchanalian dance, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bacchus (Greek and Roman god), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Roman orgies), <a href="#Page_75">75f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bach, Johann Sebastian, v, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(bourrées), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(courantes), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bacon, Sir Francis (cited on masques), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bagpipes (in Morris dance), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in English Sword Dance), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Irish jig), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Roumanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Baken Amen (Egyptian tablet), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bakst, Léon, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Balakireff, Mily Alexejevich, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231f</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ballerina’s tunic, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ballet (origin), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(18th cent.), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <i>170ff</i>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(French), <i>86ff</i>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(defined by Noverre), <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Italian), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(classic), <a href="#Page_151">151ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Danish), <a href="#Page_162">162ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(plots), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Ballet des Ardents</i> (French court dance), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Ballet du Carrousel</i> (performed at Tuileries), <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ballet slipper, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ballotté, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Barefoot dancing, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Barrett, S. A. (cited on plot of <i>Dream Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Barrison, Gertrude, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[Le] Basque (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bathyllus (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Battements, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bayaderes, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>[Les] Bayederes</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Beauchamp (director of French Academy of Dancing), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Beaugrand, Leontine (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Beck, Hans (Danish ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Beerbohm, Max (quoted on Genée), <a href="#Page_167">167f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Beethoven, v, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Begutcheff (director of Moscow ballet), <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bekeffy, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Belle Fatma [La] (20th cent. Egyptian dancer), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bellicrepa saltatio (Roman dance), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bells (in Morris Dance), <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Benares, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Benois, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Benserade, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Berlin, <a href="#Page_203">203f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Berlin Museum (painting of Sword Dance), <a href="#Page_115">115f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bernay, Mlle. (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Berri, Duchess de, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bibasis (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bible (cited), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; (quoted), <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bilibin, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Birds (courtship dances of), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Björnson, Björnstjerne, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Blache (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Black Forest (dance of the), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Blasis, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on Bolero), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bogdanova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bohemia (folk-dancing). See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bolero (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bondina (Andalusian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Borodine, Alexander, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Botta, Bergonzio, di, <a href="#Page_81">81f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Botticelli, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bournoville, Antoine August, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162f</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164f</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bourrée, <a href="#Page_121">121f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Boyars, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Boys (training of, as dancers), <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brahma, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Brahma und Bayaderen</i> (German ballet), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brahminism (relation to dancing), <a href="#Page_25">25ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brahms, Johannes, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brandenburg, Hans, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brass instruments (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brass plates (Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Breobrashenskaya, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Breton dances, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Brisé (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="British_Museum"></a>British Museum, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Buckingham House (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Buddhism, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Bugaku Dance</i> (Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Bulgaria (folk-dancing). See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Burchard, Bishop of Worms, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Burette (cited on Greek dance), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Buriat dances (compared to American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Butterfly Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Byzantium (painting of Hebrew dancing), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, in Lithuanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_135">135f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">C</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cabriole (in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Bibasis), <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(French ballet step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cachucha (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cadiz, Spain (centre of ancient dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(dancers from, in Rome), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Calcutta, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Caligula (Roman emperor), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Calumet (American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Calzvaro, <a href="#Page_34">34f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Camargo, Mlle. (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Canaries</i> (English and German social dance), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>The</i>] <i>Caprices of Galatea</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Carmencita (Spanish dancer), <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Carnaval de Venise</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Caroles (mediæval dances), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Carpæa (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_55">55f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Caryatis (Spartan dance), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Castanets (in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Castil-Blaze, François-Henri-Josef, quoted (on mediæval strolling ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on French ballet), <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on Camargo), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on origin of waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Castor and Pollux, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Catherine the Great, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Caucasia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cerezo, Sebastian (Spanish dancer), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cerito, Fanny (ballerina), <a href="#Page_158">158f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cervantes (cited on Chaconne), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chaconne (Italian and Spanish social dance), <a href="#Page_145">145f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Changement de pied, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Charles I, King of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Charles II, King of England, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chassé (ballet step), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cheremias (Spanish instruments), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="China"></a>China, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(attitude of moralists in, toward dancing), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(musical instruments), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(dancing of, adopted in Japan), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Chinese Wedding</i> (ballet by Calzevaro), <a href="#Page_34">34f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chippewas, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chironomia (in Greek choreography), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Choirs (in Egyptian temples), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chopin, Frédéric, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Choral dances (of Russian peasants), <a href="#Page_177">177f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Choreographic principle (vs. dramatic), <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Choreography (Chinese), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(mediæval), <a href="#Page_78">78ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 17th cent. France), <a href="#Page_87">87f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(French development), <a href="#Page_94">94f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of democracy), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Finnish), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_195">195ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(plastomimic), <a href="#Page_247">247ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chorley, Henry Fothergill (quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chorovody (Russian ballad folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Chrisis</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Christian moralists (antagonism to dancing), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Church_Roman">Church, Roman</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chronos, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Chrotal (Greek instrument), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Church_Roman"></a>Church, Roman (hostility to dancing), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(dancing in, during Middle Ages), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cicero (quoted), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Cinquantaine</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Clary</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Classics, musical (dance music by), v.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>The</i>] <i>Clemency of Titus</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cleonica (Greek dancer), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cleopatra (as dancer), <a href="#Page_17">17f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Cleopatra</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Cléopatre</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_223">223ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Clermont, Comte de, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Clothing (decorative purpose of, for the dance), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Collins, Lottie, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Comédie Française, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Confucius, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(honored in Japanese dance), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coördination (of intellect and nerves), <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Copenhagen School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coperario, John, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Copiola, Galeria (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Coppélia</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166f</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cordax (Greek Satyr dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Corkscrew (folk-dance), <a href="#Page_134">134f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Corpus Christi (festival of, with church dancing), <a href="#Page_78">78f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Corsaire</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Corybantes, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cosiers (Spanish church dancers), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cossack folk-dances, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Costume. See <a href="#Dress">Dress</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cotillion, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Country Dance (English), <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coupé (in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coupé dessous (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Coupé lateral (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Courante, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87f</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Court ballets (French), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Court_dancing"></a>Court dancing (in China), <a href="#Page_32">32f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(at Jerusalem), <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Seville), <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in England), <a href="#Page_83">83ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in France), <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Germany), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Russia), <a href="#Page_141">141f</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Social_dancing">Social dancing</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Courtship dances (of birds), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Covent Garden (Mlle. Sallé at), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Craig, Gordon (cited on French ballet), <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Crane Dance</i> (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Crete, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Crimea (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Crowne, John, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Cupid and Bacchus</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Curetes (Cretan dancers), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cybele, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cyclops, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Cymbals (in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Czardas (Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_125">125f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">D</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Daedulus, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dalcroze. See <a href="#Jacques-Dalcroze">Jacques-Dalcroze</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Daldans (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance music (classical), v.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of Baskets (in Eleusinian mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of Feathers (Chinese court dance), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Five Senses (modern Indian dance), <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Flag (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Four Dimensions (Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Glasses (pseudo-Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Golden Calf, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of Greeting (Arabian), <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of Humanity (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Dance of Innocence</i> (Greek), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Knees (in Dionysian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance of the Mystic Bird (Chinese), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dance principles, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dancing defined, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dancing girls (Greek), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dancing Mandarins, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Dancing the music,’ <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Danish ballet (influence on Russian), <a href="#Page_164">164f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Dansomanie</i> [<i>La</i>] (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dante (cited), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Daphnis and Chloë</i>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dargason (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dargomijsky, Alexander Sergeyevitch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dauberval, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Daughter of the Pharaoh</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Davenant, Sir William, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">David, King of Israel, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Davillier, Baron, quoted (on mediæval church dance), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on Seguidilla), <a href="#Page_110">110f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Death Dance (Fakir dance compared to), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>The</i>] <i>Death of Ajax</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Debussy, Claude, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Degeneration (of ballet), <a href="#Page_189">189ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Delians, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Delibes, Léo, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Delicias caditanas (Cadiz dancers in Rome), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Delphic Festivals, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Delsarte, François Alexandre, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211f</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Demetrius, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Mysteries), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Demi-cabriole (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Demi-coupé (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Democracy (effect of, on choreography), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Democratic basis of dancing, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Denmark (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(ballet), <a href="#Page_162">162ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Déserteur</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Desmond, Olga, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Despreaux (Parisian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Desrat (cited on Eleusinian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Devadazis (Indian temple dancers), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Devil’s Dance (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Diaghileff, Warslof, <a href="#Page_219">219f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Diaghileff ballet, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Diana (Greek goddess), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Didelot, Charles-Louis, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164f</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Diodorus (cited), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Dionysian_Mysteries"></a>Dionysian Mysteries, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dionysius of Syracuse, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dionysos, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dipoda (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dohnányi, Ernst von, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dohrn, Wolf and Harald, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dolci (painting of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dominique (Parisian harlequin), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Don Juan</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Don Quixote,’ <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Doré (painting of church dancing in Seville), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dorians, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dostoievsky, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Drama (influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dramatic principle (against choreographic), <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Dream Dance</i> (American Indians), <a href="#Page_38">38ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Drehtanz, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dresden, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Dress"></a>Dress (in Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(of dancers in Seville Cathedral), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in English masques), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 18th cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_89">89f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in ballet during French Revolution), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dances), <a href="#Page_112">112f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(of Morris dancers), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in English Sword dance), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_127">127f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Dutch folk-dances), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Slavic dances), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Minuet), <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Drigo, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Drum (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Chinese), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in <i>Lou Gue</i>), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Armenian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Drury Lane, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Dryad</i> [<i>The</i>] (ballet), <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dryads, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dubois, Théodore, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Duncan, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Duncan, Isadora, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <i>197ff</i>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted), <a href="#Page_196">196f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(compared with St. Denis), <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence in Russia), <a href="#Page_218">218f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(pupils), <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Duncan School, <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Duport (Paris ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dupré (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dutch folk-dancing, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Dynamic expression, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">E</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ear-training (in Jacques-Dalcroze School), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Education (necessity of, for Greek dancers), <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(liberal, of ballet dancers), <a href="#Page_172">172f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Edward VII, King of England, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Egg Dance (Dutch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Egypt (temple dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(musical instruments), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(relation of dancing and religion), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(secular dancing), <a href="#Page_15">15ff</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, in modern choreography), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Hebrew dancing), <a href="#Page_43">43f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(worship of Pan), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(strophic principle in choreography of), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(history of, in Greek education), <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Egyptian Wedding Scenes (pseudo-Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Electricity, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Eleusinian_Mysteries"></a>Eleusinian Mysteries, <a href="#Page_67">67f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Elisseieff, Prof, (cited on Egyptian dancing), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ellis, Havelock, quoted (on American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on relation of rhythm to life), <a href="#Page_viii">vi</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(on modern Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Elssler, Fanny, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Emerson, Ralph Waldo (quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Emmanuel (cited on Greek choreography), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Emmeleia (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Endymatia (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">England (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(social dancing), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">English Cathedrals (rhythmic ritual used in), <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Entrechat, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Erfurt, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Esclatism (Greek gymnastics), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Esmeralda</i> (Perrot and Pugni), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Esthonian folk-dances, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Eugenius IV, <a href="#Page_78">78f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Eurhythmics (of Jacques-Dalcroze), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Excelsior</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">F</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fabiol (in Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fackeltanz, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fakir dances, <a href="#Page_28">28f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Falkenfleth, Haagen (quoted on Jörgen-Jensen), <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fandango (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106f</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Farandole (French folk-dance), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(as court dance), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Farandole</i> (Dubois), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[La] Farruca (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fauns, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Faust</i> (ballet by Perrot), <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Feodorova, Sophie, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ferrabosco, Alfonso, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Festen i Albano</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Festival of the Sacred Bull (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Festival of the Supreme Being (French strolling ballet), <a href="#Page_93">93f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Festivals (Roman), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Finland (folk-dances), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(compared to American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(rune tunes), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(horn dance), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Fiorella</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Fire Bird</i> [<i>The</i>], <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fire Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fleure (ballet step), <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fleury (quoted), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Flitch, J. E. Crawford, quoted (on Fuller), <a href="#Page_190">190f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Floralia (Roman festivals), <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Flore et Zéphire</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Florence (court ballet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Flower Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Flute (in Egyptian dance music), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Indian dance music), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Chinese dance music), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Japanese dance music), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dance music), <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Arabian dance music), <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dance music), <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58f</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Roman dance music), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fokina, Vera, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fokine, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219f</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Folk-dances, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(rel. to sex instinct), v;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Spanish), <a href="#Page_105">105ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Italian), <a href="#Page_122">122ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(German), <a href="#Page_128">128f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Finnish), <a href="#Page_132">132f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Scandinavian), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Dutch), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Lithuanian), <a href="#Page_135">135f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Polish), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Slavic), <a href="#Page_136">136ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Armenian), <a href="#Page_138">138f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_139">139ff</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Folk-songs, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Forlana (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fouetté (French ballet step), <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fouetté pirouette (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fountain of Magic Dances (in Eleusinian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fox Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">France (rhythmic church ritual), <a href="#Page_viii">iii-f</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121ff</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(grand court ballets), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(democratic influence), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">French Academy of Dancing, <a href="#Page_94">94f</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">French ballet, <a href="#Page_86">86ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(modern criticism of), <a href="#Page_214">214ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">French Revolution, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93f</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Froehlich (Danish composer), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fuentes (cited on Seguidilla), <a href="#Page_109">109f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fuller, Loie, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Fuller, Margaret (quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Funeral dances (Japanese), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">G<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gade, Niels W., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gaita (Spanish instrument), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Galcotti (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Galen (quoted), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Galeotti, Vincenzo Tomaselli, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Galicia (church dancing), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Galliard, <a href="#Page_149">149f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gardel, Maximilian (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[El] Garrotin (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gautier, Théophile, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gavotte, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gedeonoff, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Geltzer (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Genée, Adeline, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Generalization, theory of (in ballet), <a href="#Page_216">216f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Germany, v;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_128">128f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(the waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(social dancing), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of Duncan), <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gesture (relation between, and music), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Pantomime">Pantomime</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Ghiselle</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ghost Dance (American Indian dance), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gia (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gilchrist, Connie, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Glazounoff, Alexander Constantovich, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Glière, Reinhold, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Glinka, Mikail Ivanovich, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Glissade (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_97">97f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gluck, Christoph Willibald, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gogol, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Golden Calf (in mediæval ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Goulu [La] (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grahn, Lucile (ballerina), <a href="#Page_163">163f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grand ballets (of French court), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Gratiereness Hulding</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Graveyard Dance</i> (Oriental), <a href="#Page_21">21f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gravity (in naturalistic dancing), <a href="#Page_196">196f</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Greece (philosophers of, quoted on dancing), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(religious dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52ff</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(writers of, cited on Spanish dancing), <a href="#Page_46">46f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(its choreography), <i>52–71</i>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(festival dancing), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Greek dancing (modern ‘revivals’ of), <a href="#Page_195">195f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Jacques-Dalcroze system), <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Greek Church (dancing in), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Greek Mysteries, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gregory, Johann (ballet master in Russia), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gretchaninoff, Alexander, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Gretna Green</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grétry, André Erneste Modeste, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Griboyedoff, Teleshova, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grieg, Edvard, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grisi, Carlotta, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Grouping (decorative), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Guerrero, Rosario, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Guild dances (German), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Guillaume Tell</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Guimard, Madeleine (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Guitar (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(African), <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Gustave Vasa</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gymnastics (rhythmic), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Gymnopædia, <a href="#Page_59">59f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">H</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hailii (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Handel, George Frederick, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(bourées), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(courantes), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Harlequin, Parisian (Dominique), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Harp (in Egyptian dance music), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dance music), <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dance music), <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Roman dance music), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Esthonian folk-dance music), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Finnish dance music), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hartmann, Johann Peter Emil, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hatton (English dancer), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hawasis, <a href="#Page_20">20f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Haydn, Joseph, v.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hebrews, <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43ff</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Jewish_marriage_dances">Jewish Marriage Dances</a>, etc.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Helen of Sparta, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hellerau (College of Rhythmic Gymnastics), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hempua (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Henri IV, King of France (patron of dancing), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Henry VII, King of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Herculaneum, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Hercules in Love</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hermes, Egyptian god (Thoth), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Héro et Leandre</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Herodotus (cited), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hesiod (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Heteræ (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hieroglyphs, <a href="#Page_12">12ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">High Kickers, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Highland Fling (Scotch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hilferding, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hincks, Marcella A. (cited on Japanese dancing), <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Historical Ballet (Chinese), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Homer (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53f</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56f</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hoppe, Johann Ferdinand, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hora (Roumanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Horace (cited), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Horatii</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hormos (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Horn (in Finnish dance music), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Horn Dance (English folk-dance), <a href="#Page_117">117f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hornpipe (Scotch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hovey, Mrs. Richard, <a href="#Page_195">195f</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Huang-Ta, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Humpty-Dumpty</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Hungary (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Hymn to Apollo</i>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Hymnea</i> (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Hyporchema</i> (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">I</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ibsen, Henrik, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Idealism (classic), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ilia Murometz (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Iliad (cited), <a href="#Page_53">53f</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Impatiencem (17th-cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Imperial Ballet School (Russian), <a href="#Page_90">90f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Imperial Dramatic Dancing School (Russian), <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Improvisation (course in Jacques-Dalcroze school), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="India"></a>India (relation of dancing and religion), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(choreographic art), <a href="#Page_24">24ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(effect of music on dancing), <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(dances of, in European imitation), <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Indians. See <a href="#American_Indians">American Indian</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Indulgences (sold by clergy for dancing), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ingham, Ethel (quoted), <a href="#Page_234">234f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ingham, Percy B. (quoted), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Innocence, Dance of (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Innsbruck, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Instruments (in Egyptian dance music), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ionic Movements, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i> (Gluck), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, Mikail Mikailovitch, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ireland (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_119">119f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Irvin, Beatrice, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Isabella of Aragon, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Isis cult, <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Istomina (Russian ballerina), <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Italy, v, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dances), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(mediæval strolling ballets), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Ivan the Terrible’ (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ives, Simon (composer of masque music), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ivi-Men (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">J</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Jack Sheppard</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Jacques-Dalcroze"></a>Jacques-Dalcroze, Émile, <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(eurhythmics of, compared with Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jacques-Dalcroze School, <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jaernefelt, Armas, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>El</i>] <i>Jaleo</i> (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">James I, King of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Japan"></a>Japan (pantomimic character of dancing), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(dance of, adopted in China), <a href="#Page_33">33f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(funeral dances), <a href="#Page_35">35ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(European choreographic imitations), <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dances), <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>de</i>] <i>Jaulnaye</i> (cited on Roman dancers), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Java (pantomimic choreography), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jerusalem, Temple of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jeté, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Bibasis), <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Jewish_marriage_dances"></a>Jewish marriage dances (in Morocco), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jewish moralists (antagonism to dancing), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jig (Irish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_119">119f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jota (Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jones, Inigo, English architect, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jörgen-Jensen, Elna (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_165">165ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Judgment of Paris</i> [<i>The</i>] (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Jupiter, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Juvenal, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">K</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kaakuria (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kaara Jaan (Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kagura (Japanese dance), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kaiterma (Cossack dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kalevala, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kalewipoeg, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kalmuk dances (compared to American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kamarienskaya (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Karsavina, Tamara, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227f</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kasatchy (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Kia-King</i> (ballet by Titus), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kinney, Troy and Margaret West (quoted on Arabian dances), <a href="#Page_47">47ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on <i>Fandango</i>), <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on <i>La Farruca</i>), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on modern Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_210">210f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kirchoff (cited on Greek dance), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kolla (Slavic folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kolossova, Eugeny, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kon-Fu-Tse (Chinese moralist), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kosloff (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kostroma (folk-dancing in), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kreutzer, Rodolphe, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Krohn, [Dr.] Ilmari, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kshesinskaya, Mathilda, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kshesinsky, Felix, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kuljak (Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kuula, Toiwo, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">278</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Kyasht, Lydia, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">L</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lacedæmonian dance, <a href="#Page_59">59f</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Spartan_dance">Spartan dance</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lada, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lancelot (quoted), <a href="#Page_137">137f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lande (ballet director), <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lange-Müller, Wilhelm, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Laniere, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lanner, Katty, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lantern Festival (in China), <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Larcher, Pierre J., <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Laurette</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lawes, William, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Leap with Torches’ (in Eleusinian mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Légende de Joseph</i> (Strauss), <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Leggatt, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lesginka (Cossack dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lessing, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lessogoroff, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lettish folk-dances, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Levinsohn, A. (quoted on Duncan School), <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on the old ballet), <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Liadova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ligne, Princess de, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Li-Kaong-Ti (Chinese monarch), <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Lily</i> (ballet by San-Leon), <a href="#Page_34">34f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lind, Letti, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Liszt, Franz, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lithuania (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Little Mermaid</i> [<i>The</i>] (ballet), <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Littré (cited), <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Livingston (cited), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Livry, Emma, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Livy (cited), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Locatelli, Pietro, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lopokova, Lydia, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Loti, Pierre (cited on Indian dancing), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Lou Gue</i> (mediæval ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Louis XIV, <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Louis XV, <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Louis, Pierre, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Love’s Triumph Callipolis</i> (masque by Ben Jonson), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lubke (cited on ballet dancing), <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Lucas et Laurette</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lucceia (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lucian (quoted), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(cited), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ludiones (Roman bards), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lully, Jean-Baptiste, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(sarabandes), <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(gavottes), <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lupercalia (Roman festival), <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lutes (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lyre, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Hebrew), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dance music), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Lysistrata’ (comedy by Aristophanes), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Lysistrata (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">M</li>

-

-<li class="indx">MacDowell, Edward, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">MacDowell Festival (Peterboro, N. H.), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mænad Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Maeterlinck, Maurice, <a href="#Page_257">257f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mahabharata (Indian epic), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Maillard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Malakavel</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[La] Mancha (its folk-dances), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mandarin dances (Chinese), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Maneros (dancing Pharaoh), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Marathon games, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Marie Antoinette, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Marriage ceremonies, masques performed at, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Jewish_marriage_dances">Jewish marriage dances</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mars, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Mars et Venus</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Marseillaise</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Martial (cited), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Masai (war dancing), <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Beauty</i> (Ben Jonson), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Blackness</i> (Ben Jonson), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Cassandra</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Castillo</i> (John Crowne). <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Owles</i>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Masques (English), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mathematics (relation of, to dancing and architecture), <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mauri, Rosetta (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mazurka, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mediævalism (relation to dancing), v.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Middle_Ages">Middle Ages</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Medici, Catherine de’, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mek na snut (Egyptian pirouette), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Melartin, Erik, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Melkatusta (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Memphis (temple dances to Osiris), <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Merchant Taylor’s Hall (masques performed at), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Merikanto, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Messertanz (of Nuremberg), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mexicans, <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Meyerbeer, Giacomo, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Miassine, Leonide, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Middle_Ages"></a>Middle Ages (choreography of), <a href="#Page_78">78ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Milan School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Military dance. See <a href="#War-dances">War dance</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Milon (French composer and ballet master), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mimii (Roman dancers), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Minerva, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Minuet (comparison of, to Greek dances), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in <i>Lou Gue</i>), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 17th-cent. French court), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Miriam (Biblical character), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mirror Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mohammedans, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Molière, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mongolian tribes (dancing of, compared with Indians), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(use of Pyrrhic dance by), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Monteverdi, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Moors, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">279</span></li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_50">50f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mordkin, Mikail, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Moreau (painting of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Morocco (Almeiis dancing), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Morris Dances, <a href="#Page_113">113ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Moscow (Imperial Ballet School), <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(<a id="opera_house"></a>opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Moses, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Moujiks, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mount Ida, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Moussorgsky, Modest, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Movement (rel. to sound), <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mozart, v, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Müller, Max (cited), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Munich (guild dance), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Muravieva (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Murcia (folk-dances of), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Muses (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Museums. See <a href="#British_Museum">British Museum</a>, <a href="#Petrograd_Museum">Petrograd Museum</a>, <a href="#Naples_Museum">Naples Museum</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Music (of Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(as underlying principle of dancing), <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in relation to eurhythmics), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236f</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(relation to gesture), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in rel. to modern ballet), <a href="#Page_249">249ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(syncopated, of America), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Musical_notation"></a>Musical notation (Arabic), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Spanish), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Chinese), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Muyniera (Galician folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mysteries. See <a href="#Eleusinian_Mysteries">Eleusinian Mysteries</a>, <a href="#Dionysian_Mysteries">Dionysian Mysteries</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Mysteries of Demetrius, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">N</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Naples_Museum"></a>Naples Museum, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Napoleon, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nationalism (expressed in folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(rel. to arts), <a href="#Page_104">104ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Scandinavia), <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Russia), <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Irish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_119">119f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Finnish folk-dances), <a href="#Page_132">132f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Naturalistic School, <a href="#Page_195">195ff</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nature (expression of, in dancing), <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nausicaa, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nautch Dance, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nautch girls, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Naxos, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Neo-Hellenism, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Neoptolemus, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nero, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nicomedes of Pithynia, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nielsen, Augusta, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nijinsky, Waslaw, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nijny Novgorod, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nile (centre of ancient dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Nina</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Notation. See <a href="#Musical_notation">Musical notation</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Noverre, Jean Georges, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Novikoff (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Novitzkaya (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nude Bayaderes, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nudity (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in modern degenerate dances), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nuitter, Charles Louis Étienne (as ballet composer), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Numa (mythical founder of Roman sacred dance), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nuremberg (its guild dance), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Nut Cracker Suite</i> (Tschaikowsky), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Nymphs, dances of (in Dionysian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">O</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Oberammergau Passion Play (comparison with Chinese ‘Historical Ballet’), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Obertass (Polish dance), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Oboe (in Indian dance), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Odyssey (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>L’</i>]<i>Oiseau de Feu</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ojibways, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Olaf den Hellige</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Olympic games, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Opera (influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in rel. to modern ballet), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Opera houses, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Paris_Opera">Paris Opéra</a>; <a href="#opera_house">Moscow (opera house)</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>L’</i>]<i>Oracle</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Oranges and Lemons’ (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Orchestra’ (in Greek dance), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Orchestration (in 15th-cent. ballets), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Orient, dancing in, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#China">China</a>, <a href="#India">India</a>, <a href="#Japan">Japan</a>, etc.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Oriental dances (European imitations), <a href="#Page_208">208f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Orpheus’ Descent into Hell</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Orpheus and Euridice</i> (17th-cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Osiris cult, <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ostrovsky, <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[La] Otero (Spanish dancer), <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Owl Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">P</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paësiello, Giovanni, v.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paimensoitaja (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Painting, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in relation to eurhythmics), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pallas, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pan (Greek and Egyptian deity), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pantin (amateur stage at), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Pantomime"></a>Pantomime (in Chinese dancing), <a href="#Page_31">31ff</a>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span></li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Japanese dancing), <a href="#Page_36">36ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_41">41f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Arabian), <a href="#Page_47">47f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(mediæval sacred), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Roumanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Salome dance), <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(used by Duncan), <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in rel. to music), <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Papillon</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paris (Italian court pantomime introduced), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(‘Fatima’ sensation), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(ecclesiastical attitude toward dancing), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(18th-cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(popularity of the <i>Psyche</i> ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Camargo), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Taglioni), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Paris_Opera"></a>Paris Opéra, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paris School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas bourrée, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas coupé, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas d’allemande, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas de basque, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Passepied), <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas de bourrée emboîté, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas de cheval (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas marché, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pas sauté, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Passepied, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paul, Adolf, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paul, Czar, <a href="#Page_178">178f</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Paul et Virginie</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Paulli, Simon Holger, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pavana (Murcian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pavane, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(characteristics), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 17th-cent. French court), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Pavilion d’Armide</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pavlowa, Anna, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175f</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186f</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pecour (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Peer Gynt Suite</i> (as ballet), <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Peri</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pericles, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Perrot (ballet dancer and composer), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Persian Graveyard Dance, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Peter the Great, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Petipa, Marius, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182f</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on Petrograd Imperial Ballet School), <a href="#Page_173">173f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Petipa school, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Petit battements, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>Les</i>] <i>Petits Riens</i> (Noverre and Mozart), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Petrograd_Museum"></a>Petrograd (Museum), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Imperial Ballet School), <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Petrouchka</i> (Stravinsky), <a href="#Page_229">229ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pharaohs (dancing in the court of), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Philip of Macedonia, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Philippus (Roman consul), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Philosophic symbolism (in Indian dance), <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Phœnicians, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Physical exercises, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pipe (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Pipes"></a>Pipes (in <i>Graveyard Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pirouette, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Egyptian dancing), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Plaasovaya (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Plastomimic choreography, <a href="#Page_247">247ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Plato (quoted), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Plots (for ballets), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Plutarch (cited), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Poetry, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pointes, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Poland (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pollux, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Polo (Moorish dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Polonaise (Polish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Polowetsi dance (Cossack), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Portugal (mediæval strolling ballets), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Positions. See <a href="#Steps">Steps</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Poushkin, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Prévost, Mme., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Priapus, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Price, Waldemar (Danish ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Primitive dances (rel. to sexual selection), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Primitive_peoples"></a>Primitive peoples, <a href="#Page_3">3ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Prince Igor</i>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Professional_dancing"></a>Professional dancing, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Provence, <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Prussia (<i>Fackeltanz</i>), <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pskoff, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Psyche</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Psychology, <a href="#Page_1">1ff</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pugni, Cesare (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Pygmalion and Galatea</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pylades (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pyrrhic dance, <a href="#Page_60">60f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Pythian games, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">Q</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Quadrille (French social dance), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Quintilian (quoted), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">R</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rabinoff, Max, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Racial characteristics, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">‘Ragtime,’ <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rainbow Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ramble (Indian goddess of dancing), <a href="#Page_24">24f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Realism, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Réception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore</i>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Reed pipes. See <a href="#Pipes">Pipes</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Reger, Max, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Regnard (quoted), <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Reinach, Théodore (cited on Greek arts), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">René of Provence (author of mediæval ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Reno (painter of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rheinländer (German dance), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rhythm, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in naturalistic dancing), <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(as basis of all arts), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Jacques-Dalcroze system), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in ballet), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rhythmic gymnastics, <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Richelieu, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rigaudon, <a href="#Page_148">148f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rimsky-Korsakoff, Nicolai, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Rinaldo and Armida</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Risti Tants (Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Robert of Normandie</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Robespierre, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Robinson, Louis (cited on dance instinct), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rodin (quoted), <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Romaika (Slavic folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rome (dancing in), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(sacred dancing), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(imitation of Greek dances), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Pyrrhic dance), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Roman Church. See <a href="#Church_Roman">Church</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Romulus, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Rondes"></a>Rondes (similarity to Eleusinian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(French folk-dance), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Roses of Love</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rossini, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rouen, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Roumania (folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Round. See <a href="#Rondes">Ronde</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Royal Academy of Dancing (French), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rubinstein, Anton, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(composed ‘Tarantella’), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rubinstein, Ida, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ruggera (Italian folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Rune tunes (Finnish), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Russia (Imperial Ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of, on choreography), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(nationalistic tendencies), <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_139">139ff</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influences on ballet), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(ballets of opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(influence of Duncan school), <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Russian Imperial Ballet School, <a href="#Page_90">90f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Russian Imperial Dramatic Dancing School, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ruthenia (folk-dancing). See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">S</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sacchetto, Rita, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sacre du Printemps</i> (Stravinsky), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Sacred_dancing"></a>Sacred dancing (in rel. to folk-lore), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Indian), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_73">73f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sadler, Michael T. H. (quoted on Jacques-Dalcroze School), <a href="#Page_235">235f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sahara Graveyard Dance, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sailor’s Dance (Dutch), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">St. Basil (cited), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">St. Carlos (celebrated by strolling ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">St. Denis, Ruth, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Saint-Léon, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">St. Matthew (quoted), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">St. Petersburg (court ballet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Petrograd_Museum">Petrograd</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Saint-Saëns, Camille, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">St. Vitus’ Dance, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sakuntala</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sallé, Mlle., <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Salmacida Spolia</i> (Sir William Davenant), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Salome dances, <a href="#Page_44">44f</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Salome</i> (Richard Strauss), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Saltarello</i> (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sangalli, Rita, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sappho, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sarabande, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sarasate, Pablo, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Satyr Dance (in Dionysian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sauvages de la Mer du Sud</i>, [<i>Les</i>] (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Savage peoples. See <a href="#Primitive_peoples">Primitive peoples</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Savinskaya, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Saxony (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Scaliger, Joseph Justa (cited), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Scandinavia"></a>Scandinavia (folk-dances), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(nationalistic tendencies), <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schafftertanz (of Munich), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Scheherezade</i> (Rimsky-Korsakoff), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schiller, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schirjajeff, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schliemann (Egyptologist), cited, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schmoller (Saxonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schnitzler, Arthur, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schönberg, Arnold, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schools of dancing, (Petipa), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Duncan), <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Jacques-Dalcroze), <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See <a href="#Academies_of_dancing">Academies</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schopenhauer (cited), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted), <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schleiftänze, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schreittänze. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schubert, Franz, <a href="#Page_103">103f</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Scotch Reel, <a href="#Page_118">118f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Scotland (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_118">118f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Scribe, Eugène. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schuhplatteltanz (Bavarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_129">129f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Schumann, Robert, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sculpture (in rel. to dancing), <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Seguidilla (Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sensationalism, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Seroff, Alexander Nikolayevitch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Serpentine Dance, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Servia (folk-dancing).</li>

-<li class="isub1">See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Setche, Egyptologist (cited), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Seville (church dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sex instinct (in rel. to folk-dancing), v, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Shakespeare (cited on the jig), <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sharp, Cecil (quoted on Morris dances), <a href="#Page_113">113f</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Shean Treuse (Scotch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Shintoism (Japanese religion), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Shirley, James, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sibelius, Jean, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Siberia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Siciliana (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Sicilien</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sieba</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Siebensprung (Swabian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Singing (in Finnish dances), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Singing ballet, <a href="#Page_177">177f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Singing Sirens, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Skirt Dance, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Skoliasmos (in Dionysian mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Skralat (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Slavic_folk-dances"></a>Slavic folk-dances, <a href="#Page_136">136ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sleeping Beauty</i> (Tschaikowsky), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Snake dances (Lithuanian), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(American Indian), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Snegourotchka</i> (Rimsky-Korsakoff). See <i><a href="#Snow_Maiden">Snow Maiden</a></i>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i><a id="Snow_Maiden"></a>Snow Maiden</i> (Rimsky-Korsakoff), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Social_dancing"></a>Social dancing (Greek), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Polish), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in 17th cent.), <a href="#Page_144">144ff</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Court_dancing">Court dancing</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Socrates, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sokolova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Solomon, Hebrew king, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sophocles, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sound (in relation to movement), <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Source</i> (Delibes), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Spain (religious dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105ff</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210ff</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(choreographic art of Moors), <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(mediæval strolling ballets), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Spartan_dance"></a>Spartan dance, <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Spectre de la Rose</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Spendiaroff, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Spinning top principle, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stage dancing (in Middle Ages), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Professional_dancing">Professional dancing</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="Steps"></a>Steps, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in courante), <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in classic French ballet), <a href="#Page_95">95f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Bolero), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Seguidilla), <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Hungarian folk-dances), <a href="#Page_125">125f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Rigaudon), <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Bournoville’s reform), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stephania (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stewart-Richardson, Lady Constance, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stockholm (ballet dancing), <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stockholm school, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Stomach Dance</i> (Arabian dance), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stone Age, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stramboe, Adolph F., <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Strassburg, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Strauss, Johann, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Strauss, Richard, <a href="#Page_204">204f</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stravinsky, Igor, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Strindberg, August, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">String instruments (Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Strolling ballets (mediæval), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in French Revolution), <a href="#Page_93">93f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Strophic principle, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stuck (painter of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Stuttgart (court), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Subra, Mlle. (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Su-Chu-Fu (dancing academy), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Suetonius (cited), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sun’s Darling</i> (English masque), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Svendsen, Johann, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Svetloff (cited), <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Swan, The</i> (Saint-Saëns), <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Swanhilde</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Swan Lake</i> (Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Swabia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sweden (influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Scandinavia">Scandinavia</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Sword Dance (English), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>La Sylphide</i> (Delibes), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>Les</i>] <i>Sylphides</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Sylvia</i> (Delibes), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Symbolism (in Indian dancing), <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Hungarian folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Lada’s dances), <a href="#Page_254">254f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in modern ballet), <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Symons, Arthur (quoted), <a href="#Page_264">264f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Symphonic music (as basis for dancing), <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Syrinx (Egyptian instrument), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Szolo (Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">T</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tabor (in Morris dance), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tacitus (cited), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Taglioni, Maria, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152ff</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Taglioni, Salvatore, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ta-gien (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ta-gu (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ta-knen (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Talmud, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ta-mao (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tambourine (in Hebrew dance), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Indian dance), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(with bells, Chinese), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Tarantella), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Taneieff, Sergei Ivanovich, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tarantella (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_122">122ff</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tartar tribes, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tascara (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Taubentanz (Black Forest), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ta-u (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tcherepnin, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Technique (Duncan), <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(instrumental), <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(eurhythmic), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Telemachus, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Telemaque</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Teleshova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Telethusa (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Tempe Restored</i> (Aurelian Townsend), <a href="#Page_84">84f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Temple dancing (Hebraic), <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span></li>

-<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Esthonian), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>

-<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Sacred_dancing">Sacred dancing</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Terpsichore, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Terpsichore</i> (ballet by Handel), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Teu-Kung (Chinese dancing teacher), <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thackeray (quoted on Taglioni), <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thales, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Théatre des Arts, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Theatre of Dionysius, <a href="#Page_64">64f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Thebes, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Theseus, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">They (Chinese monarch), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tiberius (Roman emperor), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tichomiroff, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Time, <a href="#Page_240">240f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Time-marker (in Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_70">70f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Time-values, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Titans, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Titus (Roman emperor), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Toe-dance, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Toledo (church dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Toreadoren</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Torra (Murcian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tourdion (social dance), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Townsend, Aurelian, <a href="#Page_84">84f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Trepak (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Trescona (Florentine folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Triangle (in English Horn dance), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tripoli (Almeiis dancers in), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Triumph of Love</i>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Triumph of Peace</i> (James Shirley), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Trouhanova, Natasha, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Trumpets (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tschaikowsky, Peter Ilyitch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tshamuda (Indian goddess), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tuileries, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tunic, ballerina’s, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tunis (Almeiis dancers in), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Turgenieff, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_155">155f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Tuta, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">U</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Uchtomsky, Prince (cited), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">U-gientze (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Ulysses, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Urbino, Duke of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">V</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vafva Vadna (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Valdemar</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Valencia, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Valencian Bishop (advocate of dancing), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Valentine, Gwendoline (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vanka (Cossak dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Van Staden (Colonel), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vaudoyer, J. L., <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vaughan, Kate (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Veie de Noue</i> (in <i>Lou Gue</i>), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Veils (used in Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Venera (Indian goddess), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Ventana</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Venus of Cailipyge, <a href="#Page_76">76f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Verbunkes</i> (Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Vestale</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vestris brothers, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Viennese court, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Viennese School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Villiani, Mme. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vingakersdans (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Violin (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vision of Salome (ballet), <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vocal ballets, <a href="#Page_177">177f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vocal music (dependence of dancing upon), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Voisins, Comte Gilbert des, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Volga, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Volinin (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Volkhonsky, Prince Serge (quoted), <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212f</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215ff</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Voltaire (cited), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><i>Volte</i> (French folk-dance), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vuillier (quoted on Spanish temple dancing), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vulcan, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Vulture Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">W</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wagnerian operas, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Waldteufel, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Waltz, <a href="#Page_131">131f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Walzer, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx"><a id="War-dances"></a>War-dances (primitive), <a href="#Page_5">5f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Pyrrhic), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(Hungarian), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Warsaw (opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Weber, Carl Maria von, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Weber, Louise, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Weiss, Mme., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wellman, Christian, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Whistles (in American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(in Morris dance), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Whitehall (masques performed at), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, <a href="#Page_202">202f</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wilhelm II, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, on Egypt (cited), <a href="#Page_18">18f</a>;</li>

-<li class="isub1">(quoted), <a href="#Page_20">20f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Women (earliest appearance of, in ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wood-wind instruments (Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Wsevoloshky, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Würtemberg (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">X<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span></li>

-

-<li class="indx">Xenophon (quoted), <a href="#Page_55">55f</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Xeres, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">Y</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Yorkshire (English sword dance of), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Yu-Wang (Chinese emperor), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="ifrst">Z</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Zarzuela (Spanish comic opera), <a href="#Page_63">63f</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Zeus, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Zorongo (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Zulus (war dances of), <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Zunfttänze, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>

-

-<li class="indx">Zwölfmonatstanz (Würtemberg), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>

-</ul>

-</div></div>

-

-<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote">

-<h2 id="Transcribers_Notes" class="nobreak p1">Transcriber’s Notes</h2>

-

-<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a

-predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they

-were not changed.</p>

-

-<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation

-marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left

-unbalanced.</p>

-

-<p>The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page

-references, with this exception: all references to pages iii–vi should

-be to pages vii–x. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks,

-the links have been corrected, but the displayed page numbers have not

-been changed in any version of this eBook.</p>

-

-<p>Page <a href="#Page_110">110</a>: “Albacetex” was printed that way;

-probably is a misprint for “Albacete”.</p>

-

-<p>Page <a href="#Page_131">131</a>: “3/4 rhythm” was printed as “3-4

-rhythm” but changed here to conform with the predominant form of

-notation throughout the original book.</p>

-

-<p>Page <a href="#Page_275">275</a>: “English Cathedrals” reference

-to page <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a> was printed as “iii-f”; changed

-here.</p>

-</div></div>

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-<pre>

-

-

-

-

-

-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason

-

-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***

-

-***** This file should be named 59104-h.htm or 59104-h.zip *****

-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:

-        http://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/1/0/59104/

-

-Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online

-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This

-file was produced from images generously made available

-by The Internet Archive)

-

-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will

-be renamed.

-

-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright

-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,

-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United

-States without permission and without paying copyright

-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part

-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm

-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,

-and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive

-specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this

-eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook

-for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,

-performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given

-away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks

-not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the

-trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

-

-START: FULL LICENSE

-

-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

-

-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free

-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project

-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full

-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at

-www.gutenberg.org/license.

-

-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-

-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or

-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your

-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a

-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound

-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the

-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph

-1.E.8.

-

-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be

-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few

-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See

-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this

-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

-

-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the

-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection

-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual

-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United

-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the

-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not

-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,

-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as

-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope

-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting

-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm

-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the

-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily

-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the

-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when

-you share it without charge with others.

-

-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are

-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,

-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this

-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,

-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any

-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no

-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any

-country outside the United States.

-

-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

-

-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear

-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work

-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the

-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,

-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

-

-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no

-  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it

-  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this

-  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the

-  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you

-  are located before using this ebook.

-

-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is

-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not

-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the

-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in

-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are

-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project

-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply

-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or

-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm

-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted

-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any

-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms

-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works

-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the

-beginning of this work.

-

-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm

-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

-

-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm License.

-

-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including

-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access

-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format

-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official

-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site

-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense

-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means

-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain

-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the

-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

-

-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works

-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-provided that

-

-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method

-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed

-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has

-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid

-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are

-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty

-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in

-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg

-  Literary Archive Foundation."

-

-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm

-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all

-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue

-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm

-  works.

-

-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of

-  receipt of the work.

-

-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

-

-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than

-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing

-from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The

-Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm

-trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

-

-1.F.

-

-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project

-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may

-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate

-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or

-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or

-cannot be read by your equipment.

-

-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right

-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

-DAMAGE.

-

-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you

-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium

-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you

-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in

-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person

-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second

-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If

-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing

-without further opportunities to fix the problem.

-

-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO

-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

-

-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of

-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement

-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the

-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or

-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or

-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the

-remaining provisions.

-

-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in

-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the

-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,

-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of

-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this

-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or

-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any

-Defect you cause.

-

-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of

-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of

-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It

-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations

-from people in all walks of life.

-

-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's

-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will

-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future

-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see

-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at

-www.gutenberg.org

-

-

-

-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

-

-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit

-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification

-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by

-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

-

-The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the

-mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its

-volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous

-locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt

-Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to

-date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and

-official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

-

-For additional contact information:

-

-    Dr. Gregory B. Newby

-    Chief Executive and Director

-    gbnewby@pglaf.org

-

-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg

-Literary Archive Foundation

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide

-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of

-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest

-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations

-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

-status with the IRS.

-

-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations

-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND

-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular

-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

-approach us with offers to donate.

-

-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

-

-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation

-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To

-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.

-

-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be

-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and

-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of

-volunteer support.

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed

-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in

-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not

-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper

-edition.

-

-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search

-facility: www.gutenberg.org

-

-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,

-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

-

-

-

-</pre>

-

-</body>

-</html>

+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason.
+    </title>
+    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 2.5em;
+    margin-right: 2.5em;
+}
+
+h2, h3 {
+    text-align: center;
+    clear: both;
+    margin-top: 2.5em;
+    margin-bottom: 1em;
+}
+
+h1 {text-align: center; font-size: 300%;}
+
+h2 {word-spacing: .3em;}
+h2.chap {margin-bottom: 0;}
+h2+p {margin-top: 1.5em;}
+h2+h3 {margin-top: 1.5em;}
+h2 .subhead {display: block; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;}
+
+.transnote h2 {
+    margin-top: .5em;
+    margin-bottom: 1em;
+}
+
+.subhead {
+    text-indent: 0;
+    text-align: center;
+    font-size: smaller;
+}
+
+p {
+    text-indent: 1.75em;
+    margin-top: .51em;
+    margin-bottom: .24em;
+    text-align: justify;
+}
+p.center {text-indent: 0;}
+
+.p1 {margin-top: 1em;}
+.p2 {margin-top: 2em;}
+.p4 {margin-top: 4em;}
+.vspace {line-height: 1.5;}
+
+.in1 {padding-left: 1em;}
+.in2 {padding-left: 2em;}
+.in4 {padding-left: 4em;}
+
+.small   {font-size: 70%;}
+.smaller {font-size: 85%;}
+.larger  {font-size: 125%;}
+.large   {font-size: 150%;}
+.xlarge  {font-size: 175%;}
+.xxlarge {font-size: 200%;}
+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
+
+.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+.bold {font-weight: bold;}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 4em;
+    margin-bottom: 4em;
+    margin-left: 33%;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    clear: both;
+}
+hr.narrow {
+    width: 10em;
+    margin: 2em auto 1em auto;
+}
+
+table {
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    max-width: 100%;
+    border-collapse: collapse;
+}
+
+.tdl {
+    text-align: justify;
+    vertical-align: top;
+    padding-left: .5em;
+    padding-right: 2em;
+    text-indent: 2em;
+}
+.tdl.left {padding-left: 0; text-indent: 0;}
+
+.chap td {
+    font-size: 110%;
+    padding-top: 1.5em;
+    padding-bottom: .5em;
+}
+.chap.notpad td {padding-top: 0;}
+.chap .tdl {padding-left: 3.75em; text-indent: -2.5em;}
+.tpad td {padding-top: 1.5em; font-size: 110%;}
+.bpad td {padding-bottom: 1em; font-size: 110%;}
+
+.tdr {
+    text-align: right;
+    vertical-align: bottom;
+    padding-left: 0;
+    white-space: nowrap;
+}
+.tdr.top{vertical-align: top; padding-left: 0; padding-right: .5em;}
+
+#loi td {padding-bottom: .5em;}
+#loi .small td {padding-bottom: 0;}
+
+.pagenum {
+  position: absolute;
+  right: 4px;
+  text-indent: 0em;
+  text-align: right;
+  font-size: 70%;
+  font-weight: normal;
+  font-variant: normal;
+  font-style: normal;
+  letter-spacing: normal;
+  line-height: normal;
+  color: #acacac;
+  border: 1px solid #acacac;
+  background: #ffffff;
+  padding: 1px 2px;
+}
+
+.figcenter   {
+    margin: 2em auto 2em auto;
+    text-align: center;
+    page-break-inside: avoid;
+    max-width: 100%;
+}
+
+img {
+    padding: 0;
+    max-width: 100%;
+    height: auto;
+}
+
+.caption  {text-align: left; margin-top: 0; margin-left: .5em;}
+.caption p {padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em; font-weight: bold; margin: 0 auto 0 0;}
+.caption p.credit {font-weight: normal; font-size: smaller;}
+
+ul {margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 0;}
+li {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2.5em; text-align: left;}
+
+.footnote {
+    border: thin dashed black;
+    margin: 1.5em 10%;
+    padding: .5em 1em .5em 1.5em;
+}
+
+.footnote {font-size: .95em;}
+.footnote p {text-indent: 1em;}
+
+.fnanchor {
+    vertical-align: 60%;
+    line-height: .7;
+    font-size: smaller;
+    text-decoration: none;
+}
+.footnote .fnanchor {font-size: .8em;}
+
+.index {margin-left: 1em;}
+ul.index {padding-left: 0;}
+li {list-style-type: none;}
+li.indx, li.ifrst {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; padding-top: .2em;}
+li.isub1 {padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -2em;}
+li.ifrst {padding: 1.5em 0 .5em 10em; font-size: larger;}
+
+blockquote {
+    margin-left: 5%;
+    margin-right: 5%;
+    font-size: 95%;
+}
+
+h2+blockquote {
+  margin: 1em 2em 2em 2em;
+  font-size: 90%;
+}
+
+#lit blockquote p {padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
+
+.transnote {
+    background-color: #999999;
+    border: thin dotted;
+    font-family: sans-serif, serif;
+    margin-left: 5%;
+    margin-right: 5%;
+    margin-top: 4em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    padding: 1em;
+}
+.covernote {visibility: hidden; display: none;}
+
+.sigright {
+     margin-right: 2em;
+     text-align: right;}
+
+.wspace {word-spacing: .3em;}
+
+@media print, handheld
+{
+    .chapter, .newpage {page-break-before: always;}
+    h2.nobreak, .nobreak {page-break-before: avoid; padding-top: 0;}
+    h1 {page-break-before: avoid; page-break-after: avoid;}
+
+    p {
+        margin-top: .5em;
+        text-align: justify;
+        margin-bottom: .25em;
+    }
+
+    table {width: 100%; max-width: 100%;}
+
+    .tdl {
+        padding-left: 1em;
+        text-indent: -1em;
+        padding-right: 0;
+    }
+
+}
+
+@media handheld
+{
+    body {margin: 0;}
+
+    hr {
+        margin-top: .1em;
+        margin-bottom: .1em;
+        visibility: hidden;
+        color: white;
+        width: .01em;
+        display: none;
+    }
+
+    ul {margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0;}
+    li {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
+
+    blockquote {margin: 1.5em 3% 1.5em 3%;}
+
+    .transnote {
+        page-break-inside: avoid;
+        margin-left: 2%;
+        margin-right: 2%;
+        margin-top: 1em;
+        margin-bottom: 1em;
+        padding: .5em;
+    }
+
+    .index {margin-left: 0;}
+
+    .covernote {visibility: visible; display: inline; text-align: justify;}
+}
+  </style>
+  </head>
+
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Dance
+
+Author: Daniel Gregory Mason
+
+Editor: Ivan Narodny
+
+Release Date: March 20, 2019 [EBook #59104]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<p class="p1 center larger">Transcriber’s Note<span class="covernote">s</span></p>
+
+<p class="covernote">Cover created by Transcriber from content in the original book, and
+placed in the Public Domain.</p>
+
+<p>The <a href="#ILLUSTRATIONS">List of Illustrations</a> was added by Transcriber and placed into the
+Public Domain.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="newpage p4 center xlarge wspace">THE ART OF MUSIC</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="newpage p4 center xxlarge bold">The Art of Music</p>
+
+<p class="p1 center vspace">A Comprehensive Library of Information<br />
+for Music Lovers and Musicians</p>
+
+<hr class="narrow" />
+
+<p class="p2 center"><span class="smaller">Editor-in-Chief</span></p>
+<p class="center">DANIEL GREGORY MASON<br />
+<span class="small">Columbia University</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center smaller">Associate Editors</p>
+
+<p class="center">EDWARD B. HILL <span class="in2">LELAND HALL</span><br />
+<span class="small"><span class="in4">Harvard University</span> <span class="in2">Past Professor, Univ. of Wisconsin</span></span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center smaller">Managing Editor</p>
+<p class="center">CÉSAR SAERCHINGER<br />
+<span class="small">Modern Music Society of New York</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center larger">In Fourteen Volumes<br />
+<span class="small">Profusely Illustrated</span></p>
+
+<div id="if_i_001" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 6em;">
+  <img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="83" height="82" alt="" /></div>
+
+<p class="p2 center vspace wspace smaller">NEW YORK<br />
+<span class="larger">THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC</span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div id="ip_0" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 23em;">
+  <img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="365" height="764" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)</p>
+  <p class="credit"><i>Design by Léon Bakst</i></p></div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="newpage p4 center wspace">THE ART OF MUSIC: VOLUME TEN</p>
+
+<hr class="narrow" />
+
+<h1 class="p1 wspace">The Dance</h1>
+
+<p class="p2 center vspace">Department Editor:<br />
+<span class="larger wspace">IVAN NARODNY</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center">Introduction by</p>
+<p class="center"><span class="wspace large">ANNA PAVLOWA</span><br />
+<span class="smaller">Ballerina, Imperial Russian Ballet</span></p>
+
+<div id="if_i_003" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 6em;">
+  <img src="images/i_003.jpg" width="83" height="82" alt="" /></div>
+
+<p class="p1 center vspace wspace">NEW YORK<br />
+THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="newpage p4 center smaller">
+Copyright, 1916, by<br />
+THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF MUSIC, Inc.<br />
+[All Rights Reserved]
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">vii</span></p>
+
+<h2 id="THE_DANCE"><span class="larger wspace">THE DANCE</span></h2>
+
+<hr />
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p>‘<span class="smcap">The</span> gods themselves danced, as the stars dance in
+the sky,’ is a saying of the ancient Mexicans. ‘To
+dance is to take part in the cosmic control of the
+world,’ said the ancient Greek philosophers. ‘What
+do you dance?’ asks the African Bantu of a member of
+another tribe after his greeting. Livingston said that
+when an African wild man danced, that was his religion.
+It is said that the savages do not preach their
+religion but dance it. According to the Bible, the
+ancient Hebrews danced before their Ark of the Covenant.
+St. Basil describes the angels dancing in Heaven.
+According to Dante, dancing is the real occupation of
+the inmates of Heaven, Christ acting as the leader of a
+celestial ballet. ‘Dancing,’ said Lucian, ‘is as old as
+love.’ Dance had a sacred and mystic meaning to the
+early Christians upon whom the Bible had made a deep
+impression: ‘We have piped unto you and ye have
+not danced.’</p>
+
+<p>The service of the Greek Church—even to-day—is
+for the most part only a kind of sacred dance, accompanied
+by chants and singing. The priest, walking and
+gesturing with an incense-pan up and down before the
+numerous ikons, kneeling, bowing to the saints, performing
+queer cabalistic figures with his hands in the
+air, and following always a certain rhythm, is essentially
+a dancer. It is said that dancing of a similar kind<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">viii</span>
+was performed in the English cathedrals until the fourteenth
+century. In France the priests danced in the
+choir at the Easter Mass up to the seventh century.
+In Spain similar religious dancing took deepest root
+and flourished longest. In the Cathedrals of Seville,
+Toledo, Valencia and Xeres the dancing survives and
+is the feature at a few special festivals.</p>
+
+<p>‘The American Indian tribes seem to have had their
+own religious dances, varied and elaborate, often with
+a richness of meaning which the patient study of the
+modern investigators has but slowly revealed,’ writes
+Havelock Ellis. It is a well-known fact that dancing
+in ancient Egypt and Greece was an art that was
+practiced in their temples. ‘A good education,’ wrote
+Plato, ‘consists in knowing how to sing well and how
+to dance well.’ According to Plutarch, Helen of Sparta
+was practicing the Dance of Innocence in the Temple of
+Artemis when she was surprised and carried away by
+Theseus. We are told by Greek classics that young
+maidens performed dances before the altars of various
+goddesses, consisting of ‘grave steps and graceful, modest
+attitudes belonging to that order of choric movement
+called <i>emmeleia</i>.’ The ancient Egyptian Astronomic
+Dance can be considered the sublimest of all
+dances; here, by regulated figures, steps, and movements,
+the order and harmonious motion of the celestial
+bodies was represented to the music of the flute,
+lyre and syrinx. Plato alludes to this dance as ‘a divine
+institution.’</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the high status of dancing in the ancient
+civilizations, it has not progressed steadily, as have the
+other arts. It has remained the least systematized and
+least respected of arts, generally considered as lacking
+in seriousness of intention, fitness to express grave emotions,
+and power to touch the heights and depths of
+the intellect. Being an art that expresses itself first
+in the human body, the dance has aroused reprobation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">ix</span>
+in certain pious, puritanical minds of mediæval type,
+who have considered it a collection of ‘immodest and
+dissolute movements by which the cupidity of the flesh
+is aroused.’ It is this particular view that has damned
+dance with bell, book and candle. The main reason
+for this has been the hostile attitude of the church to
+all folk-arts which manifested a more or less conspicuous
+ethnographic individuality—that is, were stamped
+as of Pagan and not Christian origin. All folk-dancing,
+broadly speaking, is a natural form of æsthetic courtship.
+The male intends to win the female by his beauty,
+grace and vigor, or vice versa. From the point of view
+of sexual selection we can understand, on the one hand,
+the immense ardor with which every sensuous part of
+the human body has been brought into the play of the
+dance, and, on the other, the arguments of the pseudo-moralists
+to classify it with the frivolous and least
+tolerated arts.</p>
+
+<p>The stamp of frivolity, put upon the dance by the
+Christian clergy, has retarded its natural development
+for several centuries. Italy and Germany, having been
+the cradles of all modern music and stage arts, have
+given little inspiration to a systematic development of
+the art of dancing. The seventeenth, eighteenth and
+nineteenth centuries, that have meant so much to the
+perfection of the opera, vocal and orchestra technique,
+gave nothing of any significance to choreography. The
+church that tolerated Bach, Paësiello, Haydn, Mozart
+and Beethoven, put an open ban upon everything that
+had any relation to the dance. The great musical
+classics of the past centuries have treated dance as an
+insignificant side issue, thereby putting a label of inferiority
+upon this loftiest of arts. All the dance music
+of the great classics sounds naïve and lacking in choreographic
+images. Yet dance and music are like light
+and shadow, each depending upon the other. As canvas
+is to a painter, so is music to a dancer the essential<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">x</span>
+element upon which he can draw his picture. The fact
+that the art of dancing has not evolved into its normal
+state of equality with the other arts, is wholly due to
+the lack of musical leadership. Neither the reforms of
+Noverre nor those of Fokine nor Marius Petipa can be
+of fundamental value if they lack the phonetic designs
+which alone a choreographic artist can transform into
+plastic events. Essentially, and æsthetically speaking,
+dancing should be the elemental expression alike of
+symbolic religion and love, as it used to be from the
+earliest human times.</p>
+
+<p>Dancing and architecture are the two primary and
+plastic arts: the one in Time, the other in Space; the
+one expressing the soul directly through the medium
+of the human body, the other giving only an outline of
+the soul through the medium of fossilized forms. The
+origin of these two arts is earlier than man himself.
+Both require mathematics, the one rhythmically, the
+other symmetrically. For dancing the mathematical
+forms are to be found in music, for architecture, in
+geometry. ‘The significance of dancing, in the wide
+sense, thus lies in the fact that it is simply an intimate
+concrete appeal of that general rhythm which marks
+all the physical and spiritual manifestations of life,’
+writes Havelock Ellis. ‘The art of dancing moreover
+is intimately entwined with all human traditions of
+war, of labor, of pleasure, of education, while some of
+the wisest philosophers and ancient civilizations have
+regarded the dance as the pattern in accordance with
+which the moral life of man must be woven. To realize
+therefore what dance means for mankind—the poignancy
+and the many-sidedness of its appeal—we must
+survey the whole sweep of human life, both at its highest
+and at its deepest moments.’</p>
+
+<p class="sigright"><span class="smcap">Anna Pavlowa.</span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_TEN">CONTENTS OF VOLUME TEN</h2>
+
+<table border="0" id="toc" summary="Contents of Volume Ten">
+  <tr class="small">
+    <td> </td>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
+  <tr class="bpad">
+    <td class="tdl left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Introduction by Anna Pavlowa</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#INTRODUCTION">vii</a></td></tr>
+  <tr class="small">
+    <td class="tdr">CHAPTER</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap notpad">
+    <td class="tdr top">I.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Psychology of Dancing</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual selection; professionalism in dancing—Music and the dance; religion and the dance; historic analysis of folk-dancing and ballet.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">II.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in Ancient Egypt</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">12</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence; the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival of the Sacred Bull—Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian dance technique; points of similarity between Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the Graveyard Dance; modern imitations.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">III.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in India</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">24</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music and the dance; dancing in modern India; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism of the Indian dance.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">IV.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dances of the Chinese, the Japanese and the American Indians</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">30</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China; Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern imitations; the Lantern Festival—Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry; general characteristics and classification of Japanese dances—The American Indians: The Dream dance; the Ghost dance; the Snake dance.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">V.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dances of the Hebrews and Arabs</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">43</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its modern influence—The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the Arab dances.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">xii</span></td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">VI.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in Ancient Greece</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">52</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life; Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance; Terpsichore—Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia; The Cordax; the Hormos—Greek theatres; comparison of periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">VII.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in the Roman Empire</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">72</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the <i>Bellicrepa saltatio</i>; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">VIII.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Dancing in the Middle Ages</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">78</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the church; dances of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets; the English masques; famous masques of the seventeenth century.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">IX.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Grand Ballet of France</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">86</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms under Louis XV; Noverre and the <i>ballet d’action</i>; Auguste Vestris and others; famous ballets of the period—the Revolution and the Consulate; the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five positions’; the ballet steps—Famous <i>danseuses</i>; Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine Guimard; Allard.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">X.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Folk-Dances of Europe</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">104</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The rise of nationalism—The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango; the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances; general characteristics; costumes—England: the Morris dance; the Country dance; the Sword dance; the Horn dance—Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.—Ireland: the Jig; British social dances—France: Rondo, Bourrée and Farandole—Italy: the Tarantella, etc.—Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related dances; the Esthonians—Germany: the <i>Fackeltanz</i>, etc.—Finland; Scandinavia and Holland—The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs; the Roumanians and Armenians—The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XI.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Celebrated Social Dances of the Past</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">144</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">xiii</span></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The <i>Pavane</i> and the <i>Courante</i>; the <i>Allemande</i> and the <i>Sarabande</i>; the <i>Minuet</i> and the <i>Gavotte</i>; the <i>Rigaudon</i> and other dances—The Waltz.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XII.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Classic Ballet of the Nineteenth Century</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">151</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century—Maria Taglioni—Fanny Elssler—Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence of the classic ballet.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XIII.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Ballet in Scandinavia</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">161</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The Danish ballet and Boumoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta Nielsen, etc.—Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission of the Danish ballet.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XIV.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Russian Ballet</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">170</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the Russian school; French and Russian schools compared—Begutcheff and Ostrowsky; history of the Russian ballet—Didelot and the Imperial ballet school; Petipa and his reforms—Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets; Pavlowa and other famous <i>ballerinas</i>; Mordkin; Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XV.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Era of Degeneration</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">189</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Nineteenth-century decadence; sensationalism—Loie Fuller and the Serpentine Dance—Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XVI.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Naturalistic School of Dancing</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">195</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan—Duncan’s influence: Maud Allan; Duncan’s German followers—Modern music and the dance; the Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’—Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St. Denis—Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XVII.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The New Russian Ballet</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">214</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The old ballet arguments <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>—The new movement: Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ <i>Le Pavilion d’Armide</i>, ‘Scheherezade’—Nijinsky and Karsavina—Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XVIII.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Eurhythmics of Jacques-Dalcroze</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">234</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’ system—Body-rhythm; the plastic expression of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze system—Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics to the dance.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">xiv</span></td></tr>
+  <tr class="chap">
+    <td class="tdr top">XIX.</td>
+    <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Plastomimic Choreography</span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">247</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdl">The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories—Lada and choreographic symbolism—The question of appropriate music.</td></tr>
+  <tr class="tpad">
+    <td class="tdl left" colspan="2"><span class="smcap">Epilogue: <span class="in1">Future Aspects of the Dance</span></span></td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#EPILOGUE">261</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
+
+<table id="loi" summary="List of Illustrations">
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet)</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_0">Frontispiece</a></td></tr>
+  <tr class="small">
+    <td> </td>
+    <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Egyptian women dancing with cymbals</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_21">21</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_68">68</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_102">102</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">The Ball</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_150">150</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_156">156</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Pavlowa</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_174">174</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Duncan</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_201">200</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">Maud Allan</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_211">211</a></td></tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td class="tdl">A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)</td>
+    <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_245">245</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2><span class="larger wspace">THE DANCE</span></h2>
+</div>
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in dances;
+‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual selection; professionalism
+in dancing—Music and the dance; religion and the dance;
+historic analysis of folk-dancing and ballet.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Every</span> true art is a direct and immediate act of life.
+As in music and dancing, so in life, rhythm is the skeleton
+of tone and movement and also the basis of existence.
+We breathe rhythmically and our heart beats
+rhythmically. We walk, laugh and weep rhythmically.
+Rhythm is the only frame to the moving material of
+the visuo-audible art. What except rhythm can unite
+living men in order to convert them from a chaotically
+moving crowd into a work of art? It was undoubtedly
+the innate feeling for rhythm that actuated the primitive
+man to dance. All existing races show a strong
+tendency to dance, as well in their primitive as in
+the more or less civilized state. The plastic forms of
+the human body lend themselves more to an æsthetic
+expression that contains architecture, sculpture, painting,
+poetry, drama and music, than anything else in
+creation. The mimic expressions of the face, the agility
+of the steps, the grace of gestures and poses are all
+natural means which a man can employ in his dance.
+The symmetric lines of the body that are produced after
+the melodic patterns of the music form the æsthetic
+basis of the art of dancing. The ability to give a living<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">2</span>
+meaning to these lines is what makes a dance beautiful
+and divine. Although frequently the beauty of a line
+and movement can be observed in animals and birds,
+yet there it is an unconscious act, lacking in that individual
+and subjective feeling that we call inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>The foremost element in every dance is—the step.
+Step is also, practically speaking, the first movement of
+life. In consequence of pure physical laws each step
+requires a new impulse and thus divides it into two
+periods: motion and repose. The continuance of these
+two rhythmic periods produces the feeling of symmetry
+and joy, which in its turn creates the various combined
+movements that again are divided into various sub-motions
+and partial measures. The development of
+steps in a dance is based on two principles: the movement
+of the feet, and the combined movement of the
+body and hands for grace or mimicry. Consequently
+dance is nothing but a chain of bodily movements that
+are subjected to a certain musical rhythm and follow
+the emotional expressions of the dancer. According to
+an innate principle dance, like speech, was practiced
+by the primitive races as a medium of the most vital
+expressions. By means of a dance the savages express
+their joy, sorrow, anger, tenderness and love. Dance
+has its peculiar psychology, which varies according to
+racial temperament, climate and other conditions. This
+is best illustrated in the various styles of the folk-dance.
+To the vigorous races of Northern Europe
+in their cold and damp climate dancing became naturally
+a function of the legs. The Scandinavian and Finnish
+folk-dances betray more heavy and massive motion,
+while those of Spain, Hungary and Italy or France
+give an impression of romantic grace, coquettish agility
+and fire. The folk-dances of the Cossacks are usually
+violent and acrobatic, as is their life. Energy or
+dreaminess, fire or coolness, and a multitude of other
+racial qualities assert themselves automatically in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span>
+folk-dance. The list of forces that make and preserve
+a nation’s dances is incomplete without the addition of
+the powerful element of national pride, weakness or
+other peculiarities. On the contrary, in the Far East, in
+Japan, Java, China, etc., dancing is exclusively a motion
+of the hands and fingers alone. In ancient Rome
+dancing was predominantly the rhythmic motion of
+the body, with vibratory or rotatory movements of
+breast or flanks. The Stomach Dance of the Arabians
+betrays the wild passion of a nomadic desert race.</p>
+
+<p>According to Louis Robinson, dancing is an innate
+instinct that has an indirect bearing upon the existence
+of the human race. Robinson argues that throughout
+Nature instincts, like the organs of our bodies, are the
+product of the strict laws of evolution, and have been
+built up to meet some need. At some critical time
+in the past they had a certain survival value—i. e., they
+were capable of determining in the struggle for existence
+which individuals or tribes should go under and
+which should survive. This principle can be taken as
+one of the axioms which must be our pilots in every
+attempt to account for the faculties which each of us
+brings into the world, as distinct from those acquired
+in the life of the individual.</p>
+
+<p>Practically every savage people has elaborate dances
+and spends a good deal of time in such exercises.
+Among adults dancing takes the place of the play of
+children. When we come to analyze the play of all
+young creatures from the historical standpoint we find
+it forms part of an elaborate natural system of physical
+training. The perpetual motion of the kitten while it
+is awake is obviously a training for those accomplishments
+which in later life mean a livelihood. Such astonishing
+skill and agility as are shown by the cats in
+securing prey cannot be attained by any ready-made
+machinery like that of the dragon-fly or the mantis:
+they must be built up and manufactured. Herein the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span>
+nervous mechanism of the mammalia has prevailed
+over the limited mechanical perfection of lower things
+such as reptiles, fish, and insects. Most of them can
+do some one thing or other supremely well, but the
+mammalia, with their better nervous system and receptive
+brains, can excel in many things. We, with our
+greater gifts of the same sort, are the most versatile and
+teachable of all; hence we prevail over the rest of
+creation. The kitten, the puppy, and the young savage,
+by their continual restless and organized activity, gain
+great advantage in certain movements necessary in
+after life, and foster the growth of the particular muscles
+which later on will be absolutely requisite in the
+serious business of holding their place in the world.
+Obviously such instincts would become out of date and
+inappropriate should the general manner of living undergo
+a complete change. Hence we find that much
+of the play of young children in civilized lands has little
+or no reference to the serious life which comes afterwards.
+Such instincts, however, were developed during
+or before the long stretch of time of the Stone
+Age, when all men played hide and seek, and chased
+one another, and threw things, and ran, and jumped,
+and wrestled for exactly the same reason that makes us
+scan commercial articles, attend markets, and work in
+our studies or offices. What is observable in any nursery
+or playground affords a good illustration of the
+persistence of instincts long after the need which
+created them has passed away. For some reason the
+play instinct in most creatures tends to lapse at the
+time of full bodily maturity. It does not cease entirely,
+but apparently it no longer suffices as an incentive for
+the battle of life.</p>
+
+<p>Man in the savage state is naturally lazy and does
+not like to exert himself when food comes easily. When
+no urgent need or human authority is pushing him,
+he prefers to eat to repletion and then to lie in the sun<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span>
+or loaf. We even find this primitive habit cropping
+up in strenuous lands where the stimulus of moral
+education and competition has been at work for generations.</p>
+
+<p>We are all aware that, when we are lazy for any
+length of time, we get slack and soft. The primitive
+savage who lives by hunting and is in continual danger
+of raids from his neighbors, cannot afford to get slack.
+He must keep himself fit every day of life. How was
+this to be managed by our prehistoric forefathers when
+there was no fighting, with the weather soft, and a
+delicious fish easily to be caught quite near the dwelling?
+It is pretty safe to say that, owing to the want of
+condition—if they were not dancing tribes—they did
+not leave descendants which are among us in the
+twentieth century.</p>
+
+<p>It seems strange how readily a group of negroes who
+are apparently exhausted after a long day’s work will
+join in dance with their fellows, and how, when not
+very tired, they will in their laziest moments spring up
+and take vigorous exercise of this kind. Every doctor
+will tell you that there are plenty of women to-day who
+have not the strength nor the energy to do any work or
+to walk a couple of miles, but who will dance from
+evening till morning without showing any great fatigue.
+Among such Pagans as the Zulus and Masai, who organize
+themselves for war almost as well as has ever
+been done by the most civilized Christians, there is
+practically no distinction between military exercises
+and dancing. This is proof enough to show that dancing
+had a survival value throughout the long stretch
+of the Stone Age. Dancing taught primitive men to
+move in compact bodies without confusion, and
+especially without getting so bunched together that they
+could not use their weapons.</p>
+
+<p>To-day the true war-dance only persists among us
+in the form of military marchings, but the other primitive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span>
+dances have left numerous descendants of all kinds
+and degrees, down to the modern tango. Among these
+non-military dances the survival value, apart from the
+healthy exercise which they provided and their general
+disciplinary effects, worked through the agency of sexual
+selection.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of the primitive dances the working of
+sexual selection was beneficial as conducive to racial
+fitness. The dances in which women took part gave
+opportunity for appraisement of exactly the kind
+needed for a sound choice of mates under savage conditions.
+It afforded the chance, so lacking in our present
+civilization, of advertising any admirable qualities
+which might be possessed. It was a test not only of
+physical grace and perfection, but of activity, taste and
+temper. It contributed to honest matrimonial dealing—especially
+when danced in the approved ballroom
+costumes of savage times.</p>
+
+<p>There have been many discussions as to why clothes
+were first worn—whether for ornament, warmth, or
+decency—but one may fairly say without any doubt
+whatever that, from the first ages until now, dance
+clothing has been mainly decorative. Here we find an
+ethical justification of matters connected with dancing
+dress, which has often provoked severe criticism among
+puritans. Without a doubt from the earliest times until
+now the dance has been a chief purifying agent in
+the marriage market—has played the part, in fact, of
+those market inspectors appointed to guard against
+adulteration.</p>
+
+<p>It is a most extraordinary thing, when we come to
+consider man’s place in Nature, that he ever began to
+dance. Not that dancing is uncommon in Nature; many
+birds, especially those of the crane tribe, execute elaborate
+dances during their season of courtship, and as
+a mere pastime when they have nothing else to do.
+Few, if any, of the mammalia appear to indulge in organized<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span>
+dances, unless we give such a name to the frisking
+of young lambs and the prancing evolutions of
+horses and antelopes. Assuredly, in our direct line of
+descent nothing of the kind could have existed as far
+back as our knowledge and imagination will carry us.
+You cannot very well dance in the trees, which, according
+to Darwin, were the real nurseries of our species;
+and when you come down to solid earth your weak
+prehensile lower members would only make you ridiculous
+and contemptible if they attempted any performance
+of the kind.</p>
+
+<p>Mother Nature, however, is a dame of infinite varieties,
+and seems continually to be trying the most bizarre
+experiments apparently without the least prompting or
+justification. The products of these experiments are
+called ‘sports,’ and there seems no limit to their possibilities.
+Chimpanzees delight in thumping hollow trees
+and knocking pieces of wood together, while it is said
+that the gorilla waddles to war to the sound of the
+drum, improvising a substitute by beating his hands
+against his brawny chest.</p>
+
+<p>In the Western world professionalism in dancing has
+happily not had the blighting effect on the pursuit that
+it seems to have had on some other forms of pastime.
+But if we go to the East we find that practically all
+other forms of dancing have ceased to exist. We see
+the effect of this tendency most fully developed in
+China, where the recreative dancing of European society
+seems to be quite beyond the comprehension of
+a well-bred Chinese, who naïvely asks the question:
+‘Why do you not pay people to dance for you?’</p>
+
+<p>Stage dancing seems to be an interesting instance of
+the degeneration into pure luxury or something which
+was at one time a helpful influence to the race. This
+is a tendency observable in many phases of life when
+the pressure of evolutionary forces is somewhat relaxed.
+Most of the luxuries pertain to matters which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span>
+at one time had a survival value, and it cannot be said
+that they have retired from among the evolutionary
+forces even to-day; but their effect, if still beneficial to
+the race, lies in aiding Nature to eliminate the unfit.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>From the earliest times on dancing has been dependent
+upon music of some kind. The question
+whether music is older than dancing has not been
+answered satisfactorily by academic anthropologists
+yet. However, all scholars agree that the appearance of
+these two arts must have been more or less simultaneous,
+the one influencing the other. But undoubtedly
+the first dance music was not instrumental but vocal.
+The savages to-day dance most of their sexual dances
+to rhythmic recitation of certain words. Music is in
+every phase of evolution the only true essence of that
+which forms the subject of the dance.</p>
+
+<p>To the transformation of more or less primitive
+folk-dances into those of strictly religious character is
+due the principal idea of the modern ballet. In the
+Oriental temples dancing underwent a strange transformation.
+While dancing was made the basis of dramatic
+and symbolic ideas, yet this very fact became
+detrimental to the musical influence upon the choreography.
+The Egyptians, whom we consider the
+pioneers in religious dances, originated elaborate temple
+ballets, which were based more upon a dramatic
+than a musical theme. Though the tradition speaks of
+rounds, of symbolic and sidereal motions, and the instruments
+chiefly employed, as the Egyptian guitar,
+used both by men and women, the single and double
+pipe, the harp, lyre, and flute, yet essentially this all
+resembled a pantomime rather than actual dance.</p>
+
+<p>It is very likely that all the ancient sacred dances
+originated with the subconscious idea of counteracting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span>
+the sensuous or strictly playful influence of the social
+dances. The whole pedigree of our Western religions
+seems to show a remarkable absence of this method of
+encouraging religious feeling. The reasons why such
+manifestations were discouraged by Jewish and Christian
+moralists pertains to physiology rather than theology.
+As already said, man’s nature is compounded of
+many diverse elements, and the machinery of emotion
+at present at work within us dates back to our animal
+past. Our most refined and exalted feelings spring from
+the same nervous reservoirs and pass through the very
+channels which were at one time solely occupied by
+grosser passions. The Egyptian church that grew
+directly of the folk-art of the country was a stranger
+to Greece and Rome, and still more so to our Christian
+religion. The ethical ideals that actuated the Egyptian
+priests in introducing dancing at the altar, sprang directly
+from the soil and meant, in bringing the better
+part of human nature to the top, to act as a kind of
+separator. The priests discovered that the higher emotions,
+with the help of sacred dancing, can be put to
+excellent service as impulses to improved conduct.
+The Christian missionaries, coming from the East,
+found nothing elevating and ennobling in our Western
+dancing, which did not appeal to them on account of
+the very differences of the style and racial character.
+It is due to their opposition that the religious dances
+have faded out under the Western civilization. The
+warfare against dancing generally, on the part of the
+Apostles of Christianity, dates back to the fanatic era
+of theological and nationalistic differences. In all countries
+where the religion descends directly from a racial
+folk-lore, dancing has remained in high esteem at home
+and in the temples. This we find true in Egypt, Greece,
+India and China. In the Jewish form of worship there
+seems to have been no formally recognized dancing,
+although we have records of several displays of this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span>
+kind, as in the case of King David, when, ‘clothed in
+a linen ephod, he danced before the Ark of the Lord
+with all his might.’</p>
+
+<p>In Greece, cradle of the arts, the Muses manifested
+themselves to man as a dancing choir, led by Terpsichore.
+The Romans imitated the Greeks in all their
+arts and imported with the Greek slaves Greek dances.
+But Rome was too barbaric to appreciate the full value
+of Greece’s poetic arts. The solemn religious dance
+instituted by Numa and practiced by the Salian priests
+soon degenerated into ceremonial march that was abolished
+when Rome became Christian, through a papal
+decree in 744. Darkness of night fell on the development
+of secular and religious dancing, a darkness that
+endured for centuries. The influence of the Nile in
+Egypt and Cadiz in Spain, which for centuries had
+been the two great centres of the ancient dancing and
+supplied their dancers to the Roman potentates, faded
+out slowly in the history of European nations. The
+folk-dances were labelled as low and undignified
+amusements of Pagan peasants. Dance in every form
+remained an outcast, despised and condemned until the
+court circles of Italy and France distorted it to an
+amusement at domestic gatherings and masquerades.
+It is said that the modern ballet had its origin in the
+spectacular masquerades arranged for the marriage of
+Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, in 1489. The impression
+of this performance spread to the Court of
+Florence. Catherine de Medici, the Queen of France,
+brought the Italian court pantomime to Paris, where
+the French kings and queens grew to admire dancing
+and took actual part in it. The attempts of Noverre to
+elevate the art of dancing to what it had been in ancient
+Egypt and Greece, were successful only externally.
+Music, the soul of dancing in the modern sense, was
+lacking, and without this soul the art of plastic form
+is incomplete. Though the Russian reformers elevated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span>
+dancing from a domestic amusement to a serious and
+lofty stage art, they did not succeed wholly in giving
+to it the foundation that it deserves among the other
+arts. All the past and living goddesses of choreography
+have not had the freedom, the phonetic means and
+dramatic threads to thrill their audiences as they
+would, if man had not distorted and hidden the natural
+meaning of the dance that inspired his barbaric ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The philosophical conclusion of our historic analysis
+of dance leads back to the same axioms that actuated
+the savage in his practice of agility: the sexual selection
+and primitive sport, both necessary for evolution
+and the existence of the race. However, there is neither
+sexual motive nor instinct for ‘physical culture’ in the
+‘Heavenly Alchemy’ of evolution that has created the
+poetic movements of Taglioni and her successors. The
+ancient racial propensities have developed into more
+spiritual ideas. Like the tendency of evolution generally,
+to universalize an individual and individualize the
+universe, so in dance the racial characteristics are
+transformed into cosmic motives. In this stage beauty
+becomes symbolic and concrete emotions take on a
+more and more abstract form. The survival value of
+the greatest art of the dance lies in ennobling the intellect
+and soul, which has necessarily an indirect bearing
+upon the physical. Ultimately this means perfection of
+the whole human organism. It inspires the mind and
+influences the body.</p>
+
+<p>Civilization has brought humanity to a state where
+the physical needs depend upon the psychical. We
+have devised a more complicated form of sexual selection
+and more complicated means of existence than the
+primitive dances employed in our animal past. Beauty
+in the long course of evolution has grown more spiritual,
+accordingly dancing as an art has become an evolutionary
+medium of the intellect.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence; the
+Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival of the Sacred
+Bull—Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian dance technique; points of
+similarity between Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis;
+the Graveyard dance; modern imitations.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Long</span> before the rest of the world had emerged from
+barbarism Egypt had reached a high state of civilization.
+But the history of Egyptian civilization was hidden
+behind a curtain of mysteries, until the key to the
+hieroglyphs was discovered. Then, the imposing pyramids
+opened suddenly their sealed lips and the world
+stood aghast at their revelations. The ruins of Memphis
+and Thebes became books of interesting reading.
+The discovered inscriptions and papyri revealed the
+high state of development that the dance had reached
+in the ancient Egyptian temples. The first dancing in
+Egyptian history is recorded by Manetho, the priest of
+Heliopolis who lived in 5004 B. C.,—which is approximately
+one thousand years before the creation of
+the world, according to Biblical chronology. Plato
+alludes to Egyptian art and dancing performed ten
+thousand years before his time. Schliemann, the great
+archeologist, maintained that the history of Egypt was
+written in various dance-phases, as can be seen from
+the inscriptions of their ancient sarcophagi and pyramids.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span>
+Scarce as are the hieroglyphic materials, nevertheless
+they reveal to us that the Egyptians, during the
+reign of the Pharaohs, highly admired the art of dancing.
+Most of the Egyptian documents or inscriptions
+begin with dancing figures. These figures are to be
+found in the most ancient records, which proves that
+dancing must have been known as an art to the Egyptians
+not for hundreds but for thousands of years.
+Herodotus, ‘the father of history,’ tells us that the
+dances performed to Osiris were as elaborate as the
+music of a hundred instruments and a chorus of three
+hundred singers. According to Diodorus, Hermes gave
+to mankind the first laws of eurhythmics. ‘Hermes
+taught the Egyptians the art of graceful body movements.’
+A fragmentary inscription of a sarcophagus in
+the Museum of Petrograd describes that Maneros, ‘who
+conquered so many nations, did this not by means
+of torch and sword but by teaching the divine art of
+music and dancing.’ The ancient Egyptian legend
+surrounds Maneros with nine dancing Muses, which the
+Greeks probably copied from Egypt later. Music and
+dancing were employed by the Egyptians at home, in
+social festivals, on the occasion of marriage, birth and
+death, and in the temples. Their folk-dances were as
+gay and fiery as the temperament of the race. This is
+best illustrated in the recently discovered frescoes of
+peasants dancing, evidently after their daily work in
+the fields.</p>
+
+<p>Being worshippers of all the celestial bodies, the
+Egyptians practiced in their temples certain astronomical
+ballets. It is said that Hermes, the inventor of
+the lyre, produced from his instrument as many tones
+as there were stars in the sky. The three strings of his
+lyre meant Winter, Summer and Spring. This gives
+an idea to what an extent astronomy and nature figured
+in all their dancing and music. The Astral Dance was
+an imitation of the movement of the various constellations.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span>
+In this their imagination knew no limit. The
+altar, around which most of the astral dances were
+performed, represented the sun. According to the descriptions
+of Plutarch, the dancers made with their
+hands the signs of the zodiac in the air, while dancing
+rhythmically from the east to the west, in imitation of
+the movement of various planets. After every circle
+the dancers stopped for a few moments as if petrified,
+which was meant to represent the immovability of the
+earth. By means of combined gestures and mimic expressions,
+the priests gave intelligible pantomimic stories
+of the astral system and the harmony of eternal
+motion. Lucian called this one of the most divine
+inventions.</p>
+
+<p>It is a pity that all the hieroglyphic records known
+to us do not give any adequate explanation of the
+ancient Egyptian Astral Dance. The descriptions left
+by Greek writers are too general and are frequently
+incorrect. Various scholars have made efforts to discover
+the mystic meaning of the dance of the ‘Seven
+Moving Planets,’ but in vain. How much the idea of
+an astral dance has impressed the European ballet-masters
+is proved in that Dauberval and Gardel produced
+in the eighteenth century ballets of this character.
+However, in this case the performers were not
+priests but fantastically dressed ballet dancers who,
+representing various stars and planets, jumped and
+turned around the <i>prima ballerina</i>, who represented the
+sun.</p>
+
+<p>To what an extent the love of pantomime and dancing
+prevailed in Egypt can be judged from the recently
+made decipherings by Setche of the inscriptions of the
+sarcophagus of a prime minister which describes the
+code of an elaborate court ritual. The inscription tells
+how a newly-appointed minister should meet his ruler.
+He should enter the imperial hall, dancing so that from
+his gestures, poses and miming could be read devotion,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span>
+loyalty, chivalry, grace, tenderness, vigor and
+energy. Pharaoh, in his turn, would meet the minister
+with a different sort of dance. The reception would
+end with the joining of all the court functionaries,
+musicians and priests in a great procession.</p>
+
+<p>The Egyptian clergy exercised a great influence upon
+the people. Imitating the court of the Pharaohs, they
+surrounded the religious rituals with unnecessary secrets.
+The more mysterious they made the ceremonies
+the more they impressed the people. In consequence of
+such an attitude on the part of the clergy, a large majority
+of religious dances grew so complicated in their
+symbolic details that they degenerated into nonsense.
+A large number of the Egyptian sacred dances were
+based on the cult of Isis and Osiris, the one a feminine,
+the other a masculine divinity. This gave the fundamental
+idea of maintaining a large number of the
+so-called ‘sacred’ courtesans, who took an active part
+in most of the temple dances. Herodotus tells us
+that the presence of these ‘sacred’ courtesans in the
+Egyptian temple ceremonies during the last Dynasties
+is responsible for the downfall of this ancient civilization.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the Egyptian temple dances were performed
+by men and women alike. On the other hand, there
+existed special feminine and strictly masculine ballets.
+Of the feminine dances, the most known is the dance
+which was performed during the celebrated sacrificial
+festival of the sacred bull Apis. After the black bull
+on whose back grew naturally the figure of a white
+eagle was found, forty temple maidens were selected
+to feed it forty days on the shores of the Nile.
+All this time the maidens had to practice the great ballet
+that they were to perform thereafter. The Festival
+of the Sacred Bull was opened with a solemn dance
+of the priests in the temple of Osiris at Memphis. Then
+the bull was carried through the city by the maidens<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span>
+in a spectacular procession, accompanied by singing
+and dancing. When the bull was brought before the
+huge statue of Osiris the real ballet was performed by
+priests and maidens together. The ballet, which lasted
+for half a day, was opened with a slow introduction in
+march form. In this the dancers personified the birth
+process of divinities, particularly of Osiris. In the second
+movement, which probably resembled a modern
+<i>allegro energico</i>, were depicted the youth and romantic
+adventures of Osiris with the goddess Isis. Priests in
+fantastic costumes represented Osiris and his warriors,
+while the maidens played the rôle of Isis and her companions.
+The last movement of the ballet closed with
+a festival <i>finale</i>, which meant the victory of Osiris in
+conquering India. When the sacred bull was drowned
+in the Nile a violent funeral ballet was performed by
+the priests. As the recently discovered bas-reliefs illustrate,
+the dancing priests wore costumes consisting of
+a yellow tunic and round caps.</p>
+
+<p>While some of the Egyptologues maintain that dancing
+was performed only on special occasions such as
+the above, others are of the opinion that every Egyptian
+temple service contained some kind of dance.
+However, the hieroglyphic inscriptions of various
+periods prove that there were hundreds of different
+temple dances. Of particular interest is the recently
+discovered ‘Dance of Four Dimensions,’ which was
+performed in the temple of Isis. In this both priests
+and priestesses participated. It differed from the other
+dances in that the dancers carried along their musical
+instruments.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Since the art of dancing had reached such a high
+degree of culture in Egypt it is evident that the people
+must have possessed a highly developed form of music.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span>
+Though musical history denies the fact that harmony
+was known to the ancient civilization, yet the recent
+archeologic discoveries and hieroglyphic decipherings
+speak eloquently of the use of various instruments in
+a kind of orchestra, and there are frequent allusions
+to temple choirs of a hundred and more singers. Dr.
+Schliemann even believes that the Egyptians had their
+specific musical notation which was still in use by the
+Arabs when they came to Spain. It is only natural to
+believe that an art of such a high standard was taught
+in a school, as the technique that they evidence is the
+result of long and systematic studies. ‘It is very likely,’
+a Russian archeologist writes, ‘that the Egyptian academy
+of music and dancing was connected with the
+temple of Ammon.’</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that the Egyptians knew practically
+every choreographic rule and possessed a technique
+which our most celebrated dancers have not yet
+reached. Their mimic expressions are superb, as are
+their eurhythmic gestures and poses. Since the temple
+in Egypt united under its supreme patronage all the
+arts, it is only natural that dancing and music knew
+no other forms of expression, except the home. However,
+the court of Pharaohs played a big rôle in stimulating
+a secular style of dance, which the Greeks later
+performed in a modified form on their stage. Various
+inscriptions and sarcophagus bas-reliefs depict a corps
+of several hundred dancers that was maintained by
+the ruler. The Queen Cleopatra was so fond of dancing
+that she herself gave performances in a specially constructed
+hall, dimly lighted and richly decorated. Here
+she danced nude to her guests behind numerous gauze
+curtains, using constantly the effects of fused light produced
+by different colored lanterns. She had a well
+trained and beautiful voice and played masterfully on
+various instruments. Also, in connection with her
+dances, Cleopatra used heavy redolescent perfumes by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span>
+means of which she put her audience into a ‘passionate
+trance.’</p>
+
+<p>That the Egyptian dancers knew <i>pirouettes</i>, <i>fouetté
+pirouettes</i>, <i>arabesques</i>, <i>pas de cheval</i>, and other modern
+ballet tricks 5,000 years ago is proven by the dancing
+figures that can be seen at the sarcophagi at Beni
+Hassan. These figures illustrating ballet corps are
+usual. A common style of Egyptian dancing was the
+peculiar reverse movement of the two dancers which
+reached a rhythmic perfection, particularly in dances
+where many participated, that is absolutely unknown
+to our choreographic artists. Some dances show great
+architectural beauty in their pyramidic combinations.
+The use of the hands at the same time with the use of
+the legs is evidently more in keeping with a certain
+style and harmony of line, than that employed by our
+ballet or classic dancers.</p>
+
+<p>There is in the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum
+a wall painting taken from a tomb at Thebes.
+The painting is supposed to have been executed during
+the eighteenth or nineteenth dynasty, and in it are
+depicted two dancing girls facing in opposite directions.
+There is plenty of action and agility depicted
+in these figures. In one the hands are raised high above
+the head; in the other they are lowered. One female
+not dancing is represented playing a double pipe, and
+others are clapping their hands. The accompanists are
+dressed, but the dancers wear only a gauze tunic.</p>
+
+<p>All Egyptian professional dancers are represented
+either nude or very slightly dressed and the performances
+were given by the people of highest respectability.
+All Egyptologues are of the opinion that the outline
+of the transparent robe worn by these dancing girls
+may, in certain instances, have become effaced; but
+others say that it is certain they danced naked, as their
+successors, the Almeiis, do. The view of Sir Gardner
+Wilkinson that the Egyptians forbade the higher classes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span>
+to learn dancing as an amusement or profession, because
+they dreaded the excitement resulting from such
+an occupation, the excess of which ruffled and discomposed
+the mind, contradicts the opinions of other scholars
+on the same subject. We read in the Bible that
+after the Israelites had safely accomplished the passage
+across the Red Sea, Miriam, the sister of Moses and
+Aaron, herself a prophetess, took a tambourine in her
+hand, and danced with other women to celebrate the
+overthrow of their late task-masters. There are other
+instances in the Bible which tend to show that among
+the Jews, who were reared on Egyptian civilization,
+it was customary for people of the most exalted rank
+to dance. There is a reproduction of Amenophis II.
+from one of the oldest tombs of Thebes that goes to
+show that Egyptians of all classes were highly proficient
+in the art of dancing. Four upper class women
+are represented as playing and dancing at the same
+time, but their instruments are for the most part obliterated.
+A fifth figure is resting on one knee, with
+her hands crossed before her breast. The posing of
+the heads in these figures is masterful. In another
+painting from Beni Hassan, executed about three thousand
+five hundred years ago, a dancer is represented
+in the act of performing a <i>pirouette</i> in the extended
+fourth position. The arms are fully outstretched, and
+the general attitude of the figure is precisely what it
+might be in executing a similar movement at the present
+day. It is also noticeable that the angle formed
+by the upper part of the foot and fore part of the leg
+is obtuse, which is quite in accordance with modern
+choreographic rules, while the natural inclination of
+an inexperienced and untrained dancer when holding
+the limb in such a position would be to bend the foot
+towards the shin, or at least to keep it in its normal
+position at right angles.</p>
+
+<p>From many paintings and sculptures that have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span>
+discovered, we may gather that the primary rules by
+which the movements of the dancers are governed have
+not altered since the time of the Pharaohs. The first
+thing the Egyptian dancers were taught was evidently
+to turn their toes outward and downward, and special
+attention was paid to the positions of their arms, which
+were gracefully extended and raised high, with the
+hands almost joining above the head. In the small
+tablet of Baken Amen representing the adoration of
+Osiris, now in the British Museum, all arm positions of
+the dancing figures are excellent. In one of the sculptures
+from Thebes a figure is unmistakably performing
+an <i>entrechât</i>. Other figures go to show that the Egyptians
+employed frequently <i>jetés</i>, <i>coupés</i>, <i>cabrioles</i>, toe
+and finger tricks. There are reproductions representing
+dance figures for two performers, executing apparently
+a kind of minuet. Between the dancers in each
+figure are inscriptions which refer to the name of the
+dance. Thus, for instance, one was called mek na snut,
+or making a <i>pirouette</i>. This appears to have been a
+movement in which the dancers turned each other
+under the arms, as in the <i>pas d’Allemande</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the temple dances, Egypt had travelling ballet
+companies, giving their performances in the open air
+gardens of towns and villages. The nomadic Hawasis
+whose profession to-day is chiefly dancing, are undoubtedly
+barbarized descendants of the Hawasis that
+entertained the Pharaohs with their passionate and
+fiery social dances. Most of the Hawasi dances were
+of a sensuous nature, performed exclusively by girls,
+either naked or in light gauze dresses. The themes of
+all these dances were often so distinctly feminine, depicting
+the romantic nature of a woman so graphically,
+that they were performed only as a part of wedding
+ceremonies. In regard to this style of dance Sir
+Gardner Wilkinson expresses the conviction ‘that there
+is reason to believe that dances representing a continuous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span>
+action or argument of a story were in use
+privately and were executed by ladies attached to the
+harem or household.’</p>
+
+<div id="ip_21" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 47em;">
+  <img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="751" height="401" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Egyptian women dancing with cymbals</p>
+  <p class="credit"><i>From an ancient fresco (in the original colors)</i></p></div></div>
+
+<p>Another secular class of Egyptian dances was that
+performed by Almeiis. While the style and subject of
+the Hawasi dances tended to express the sexual passions,
+the Almeiis had learned to be ‘classic’ and scholarly.
+The Almeiis of to-day maintain that they descend
+directly from the dancing Pharaohs. The romantic
+element in the Almeii dances remains within the limits
+of a strict code of propriety. For that reason the dancing
+Almeiis, like the clergy, enjoyed an immunity from
+the common law. The Almeiis of to-day enjoy the same
+ancient reputation throughout the East and are invited
+by the Mohammedan chiefs to teach dancing to their
+harems. They can be seen dancing in the Arabian
+desert and in Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli and Morocco. But
+their present-day dances lack the subtleties and technique
+that their ancestors possessed five thousand years
+ago. Their celebrated Sword and Stomach Dances
+have degenerated into deplorable vaudeville shows.
+Petipa, the celebrated Russian ballet master, has succeeded
+in composing a brilliant ballet on the theme of
+Almeii dances, called ‘The Daughter of the Pharaoh.’
+However, excellent as the Russian ballet dancers are,
+they have never performed it to the satisfaction of its
+author.</p>
+
+<p>One of the weird ancient Egyptian dances that has
+survived and is practiced by several Oriental races, particularly
+in Arabia, Persia and Sahara, is the Graveyard
+Dance. It is known that the Almeiis used to perform
+this dance at midnight on the graveyards of rich
+Egyptians, frequently around the pyramids. Though
+semi-religious, it did not belong to the classified sacred
+dances performed under the supervision of the clergy.
+Prof. Elisseieff thinks that this dance probably originated
+in lower Egypt and belonged there to a recognized<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span>
+temple ceremony, but the priests in upper Egypt failed
+to recognize it, so the Almeiis monopolized it with great
+advantage.</p>
+
+<p>The Graveyard Dance performed in the East to-day
+is wild, weird and ghastly. It is performed by women,
+dressed in long robes, which cover even their heads.
+It is danced on moonlight nights by professional Almeiis.
+These are hired by the relatives or descendants
+of the rich dead to accompany the wandering soul
+until it reaches that sphere which belongs to it. There
+is much strange symbolism and morbid beauty in the
+Graveyard Dance. Just as weird as the dance is the
+music, produced from pipes and drums, often accompanied
+by hooting or sobbing voices. It begins in a
+slow measure, the dancers marching like spectral shadows
+in a circle around the musicians. Gradually the
+music grows quicker, as does the dance. It ends in a
+wild fury after which the dancers drop unconscious to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The dances of the living Almeiis and Hawasis and
+their imitators give little idea of the high art of dancing
+that was practiced thousands of years ago in
+ancient Egypt. The modern axis and stomach dances
+that are practiced by the daughters of the various tribes
+of the desert are crude acrobatic feats and vulgar degenerations
+of the graceful and highly developed art
+that has vanished with the whole ancient civilization of
+Egypt. In 1900 there appeared in Paris a supposed-to-be
+descendant of the celebrated ancient Almeiis, <i>La
+belle, unique et incomparable Fatma</i>, giving performances
+of ‘Egyptian Wedding Scenes’ and a ‘Dance of
+Glasses,’ which created a sensation among the decadent
+artists and writers. However, her success was more due
+to her beautiful body and its vivid gestures in suggesting
+certain erotic emotions, than to any real art. On the
+other hand, Isadora Duncan, Mme. Villiani and Desmond
+have attempted to arouse interest in the Egyptian<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span>
+dances by giving performances that they have claimed
+to be the genuine classic art of the Nile. According to
+them, all that a modern dancer needs in becoming
+Egyptian is to dress as the Egyptians did and produce
+poses, if possible, with the fewest possible garments,
+that are to be seen in the ancient fresco paintings,
+sculptures and hieroglyphs. Then again, the Russian
+ballet, touring in Europe, announced in its repertoire
+an Egyptian ballet <i>Cleopatra</i>, which was to be a revelation
+of unseen beauties of the lost ancient civilization.
+However, all efforts of the modern imagination are unable
+to lift the veil of the ages.</p>
+
+<p>Though posterity can catch more accurate fragments
+in the degenerated dances of Almeiis, Hawasis and the
+few folk-dances of Young Egypt than in the artificial
+imitations of various choreographic modernists, as a
+whole we know but a microscopic part of the vanished
+age of the Pharaohs. The few scarce records that we
+possess of the Egyptian dancing speak eloquently of an
+art far superior to anything which our boasted civilization
+has yet reached.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCING IN INDIA</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin religion;
+the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music and the
+dance; dancing in modern Indian; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism
+of the Indian dance.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> civilization of ancient India was, with the exception
+of China, the only rival to that of Egypt. But it is
+remarkable that the Indian mind took a totally different
+direction from the Egyptian. The tendency towards
+spiritual expansion that manifested itself in Egypt and
+Greece became in India a tendency towards concentration.
+The Indian mind lacked the gift of observation
+and mathematical proportions, so essential in
+art, that was possessed by the subjects of the Pharaohs.
+For this reason we find a magnificent Indian
+philosophy and mystic science, but an undeveloped feeling
+for æsthetic values. With the exception of weird
+and bizarre architecture, that manifested itself most
+powerfully in the pagodas and temples, the Indian
+sculpture, painting, music and dancing are too primitive
+for our taste, as they probably were for that of the
+ancient Egyptians and Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>In all the Indian constructive arts, in their temple
+decorations and frescoes, we find very few dancing
+figures, still fewer graceful reproductions of the human
+body. Their gods and goddesses look to us like monsters.
+The Indian Venera, to be seen in the Pagoda of
+Bangilore, looks like a caricature, as compared with the
+Greek Aphrodite. The Indian goddess of dancing, Ramble,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span>
+who, according to the legend, was a courtesan of
+Indra, and gave birth to two daughters, Nandra (Luxury)
+and Bringa (Pleasure), lacks all the loftiness and
+charm which surrounded the dancing goddesses of
+Egypt and Greece. There is neither life nor grace in
+any of the Indian temple art. Even the smile of Indian
+gods is stupid and inexpressive. The lack of humor
+and joy mirrors itself best in the art of the Bayaderes,
+the celebrated dancers of India. Their gestures and
+movements are void of that exultant gaiety and optimism
+that predominates in dances of other nations. An
+air of gloom and pessimism emanates from all the Indian
+art.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that the peculiarities of Indian
+music have been obstacles to the development of the
+national dance. Although it is full of color and feeling,
+yet the division of their scale into so many more
+tone units than ours makes it extremely difficult for a
+dancer to catch the delicate nuances and lines and
+reproduce them in movement. A few dancing designs
+here and there give the impression that this art has
+not changed during the four thousand years of the nation’s
+existence. Since the whole Indian civilization is
+the same to-day that it was thousands of years ago, we
+are pretty safe in our assumption that the dances of the
+Bayaderes exhibited at Calcutta or Benares now were
+pretty nearly the same during the life of Buddha. The
+modern dances, like the old ones, show similarity in
+the fact that the Indian dancers stand nearly at one
+spot and hardly move their feet, while mimicking, and
+moving their body, arms, hands and fingers. The individual
+peculiarity of all Indian dances lies in the impressionistic
+poses of their hands and the body.</p>
+
+<p>India deserves to be called the Land of a Thousand
+Religions. Religion to an Indian represents everything.
+Like wisdom and life, dance is of divine origin.
+From time immemorial dancing has been a part of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span>
+Indian temple ceremonies. The Brahmin religion is
+interwoven with beautiful legends and myths, according
+to which dancing was the first blessing that Brahma
+gave to mankind. One of the legends tells us that
+the divine Tshamuda danced to music while standing
+on an egg and holding a huge turtle on her back.
+In such a position she is to-day giving performances
+to Brahma in the Nirvana. Such a magic Paradise,
+with plenty of dancing and music, lasting from early
+morning till late in evening, is promised after death to
+all faithful souls.</p>
+
+<p>A widespread Indian legend is that which describes
+the magic dancing of the Apsarazases, or divine
+nymphs, with which the Indian imagination has populated
+every hill and brook. The only occupation of
+the Apsarazases is singing and aerial dancing. For this
+purpose these sacred nymphs are supplied with feathery
+wings which enable them to fly freely in the air.
+Dancers who reach the very climax of their art get
+magic wings like every Apsarazas and vanish alive
+from the earth. This legend laid the foundation of
+the Indian sacred dances, which were taught by the
+priests to young maidens kept specially for that purpose
+near the temples. While the European tourist
+calls all Indian dancers Bayaderes, regardless whether
+they give their performances on the streets or in the
+temples, an Indian calls the temple dancers Devadazis,
+or the ‘slaves of God.’ The common street or social
+dancer is called Nautch Girl. The Indian Devadazis
+are raised and educated much as are the Christian
+nuns. After being graduated from a dancing school,
+the girls are taken by the priests to the temples in which
+they give daily performances to the pilgrims and live
+as sacred courtesans with the clergy.</p>
+
+<p>The main function of the Devadazis consists in giving
+performances, either singly or in groups, to the
+priests and the pilgrims. Some of their dances take<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span>
+place in front of the pagodas, others inside. The dancers
+always wear a long garment, covering their body
+and legs, leaving only the hands and arms bare. Rich
+people can hire these temple dancers to give performances
+in their homes, otherwise they never appear outside
+the temple atmosphere. To an Indian dancer the
+most important parts of her body are her breasts and
+fingers. Though she appears in dance barefoot, frequently
+with rings in her toes, she pays comparatively
+little attention to her feet. Many of the modern Bayaderes
+wear an elaborate costume of yellow with wide
+pantalettes and richly embroidered wraps around the
+shoulders, leaving arms and breasts bare.</p>
+
+<p>The music accompanying the dances of the Indian
+Bayaderes is produced by an orchestra consisting of
+wood wind instruments similar to our flute and oboe,
+a few string instruments, two different drums and a
+few tambourines. The leader of the orchestra gives a
+sign by striking certain brass plates and the Bayaderes,
+lifting their veils, advance in front of the musicians
+and begin the dance. The dance, consisting usually
+only of mimic expressions of two dancers, has a strange
+melody and a stranger rhythm. Neither the music nor
+the dance can be compared with anything known in
+our Western art. Now and then the feet beat measure,
+otherwise there is little display of leg agility. The
+face, particularly the eyes, of the Indian dancers are
+very expressive. But the alphabet of the dance mimicry
+is so large that it requires a special study in order to
+understand and appreciate the fine movements of an
+artist.</p>
+
+<p>All the Indian social ceremonies, such as marriage,
+birth and burial, are celebrated with dancing and music.
+This is particularly true of the social ceremonies
+of the rich. The standing of the dancers is high in
+India, so that even in the palace of the Rajah dancers
+are treated like the guests. In certain parts of India<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span>
+the Bayaderes have the right to live as guests at any
+house without paying. Prince Uchtomsky, who made
+a special study of Indian life and art, writes that in
+cities visited by the European tourists one rarely gets
+a glimpse of the real Bayaderes. According to him
+there are many Indian Bayadere dancers that surpass
+in their suggestive power our most passionate ballets.
+Every line of their miniature impressionism in dance
+has an exotic beauty which implies more than it expresses.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian dancers are usually women, though Pierre
+Loti writes that he witnessed several dances performed
+by men. These dances, as described by him, tally
+closely with those which the writer saw frequently performed
+by various Mongolian tribes in South-Eastern
+Russia. But we are inclined to think that these, being
+wild in their character, could not be classified as dances
+of Indian origin.</p>
+
+<p>To a certain class of Indian dancing belong the well-known
+fakir dances, performed by begging pilgrims
+at public gatherings. These represent the surviving
+fanaticism of an ancient sect. Their strange performances
+are to be seen everywhere in Northern India.
+Absolutely naked and with dishevelled hair, they moan,
+shriek and groan, jumping wildly up and down and
+shaking their hands convulsively. When the fanatical
+execution has reached its climax the fakirs stab themselves
+with knives or hot irons until they fall into a
+trance. It is a kind of Oriental ‘Death Dance.’ To
+an outsider it is unexplainable how they can endure
+such self-torture for any length of time. In most cases
+the knives that the fakirs use are so constructed that
+they do not go deep into the body but scratch only
+the skin and produce slight wounds. Though their
+bloody performances make a deep and shocking impression
+upon the onlookers, yet dances of this kind
+cannot be classified as an art.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span>
+The best dancers that India has ever produced are
+those who resembled brooding philosophers and prophetic
+priestesses rather than pleasing artists. The Indian
+conception of beauty lies in the spiritual and intellectual
+and but little in the physical and æsthetic forms.
+The main purpose of the great Indian <i>ballerinas</i> is to
+inspire their audiences to thought and meditation upon
+the great powers of nature and the mystic purposes of
+human life. Their art is exotic and introspective and
+lacks absolutely the element of purely beautiful inspiration,
+produced by the great Western dancers. Those
+of our Western students of art who make us believe
+that they can perform genuine Indian dances are
+grossly mistaken, simply because the real Indian dance
+is not an art and amusement, but the preaching of a
+certain philosophy. Our materialistic logic is unable
+to catch the subtle philosophic symbolism that appeals
+to an Indian mind. We are brought up to enjoy the
+positive and not the negative plane of life. For us
+beauty is joy, for the Hindus it is sorrow. An Indian
+dancer who can move her audience to tears with her
+dancing will fail to make the least impression upon
+our audiences.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE
+AMERICAN INDIANS</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics of
+Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China; Yu-Vang’s
+‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern
+imitations; the Lantern Festival—Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional
+variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry; general
+characteristics and classification of Japanese dances—The American Indians:
+The Dream dance; the Ghost dance; the Snake dance.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">In</span> China the art of dancing was in full bloom for
+centuries before the Christian era. The great Chinese
+historians tell us that music and dancing were developed
+and stood in high esteem in China from the dynasty
+of Huang-Ta till the rule of They, which is a
+period of not less than 2450 years. Europe with its
+civilization did not yet exist when choreography was
+publicly taught in China. Like every other form of
+Chinese evolution, dancing thus fell into a state of
+spiritual torpidity. Forbearance, the foremost virtue
+of the Chinese race, that was preached by their ancient
+moralists, like Kon-Fu-Tse and others, stifled in the
+long run all the passionate emotions of the people and
+exerted a most detrimental influence upon the arts.
+Under such conditions the Chinese view of life grew
+materialistic and dry, the very opposite of the Indian.
+This peculiarity did not fail to make itself felt in
+Chinese dancing. The gradual killing of passionate
+emotions killed also the tendency to imagination in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span>
+the race. The fantasy that populated the air and water,
+the mountains and forests of other nations with
+myths, legends, gods and goddesses, was transformed in
+China into the most realistic reasonings and mechanical
+dexterity. The industrial spirit of the great nation
+killed all romantic and poetic aspirations in art, religion
+and literature. The music of China is as syncopated
+and monotonous as her views of life. The
+only poetry that the Chinese possess is that which was
+written 4000 years ago.</p>
+
+<p><i>You</i>, which means in Chinese language ‘dance,’ lacks
+the principal forms of agility of our choreography.
+<i>Pirouettes</i>, <i>jetés</i>, <i>cabrioles</i> and <i>pas’s</i> are unknown
+terms to a Chinese <i>ballerina</i>. Their dancing, consisting
+of slow gestures of the arms, the shaking of head,
+bowing to the ceiling, and other similar manipulations,
+makes at the first glance an impression that suggests
+to our imagination the officiating of Greek priests. The
+power of a dancer lies in the atmosphere that she
+creates and the peculiar imitating poses of the body.
+Chinese dance music is correspondingly slow of rhythm
+and reminds us in many ways of our ultra-modern
+orchestral music. However, we read in the works of
+the Chinese classics that their art of dancing was much
+higher about two and three thousand years ago.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient Chinese philosophers recommended
+dancing to strengthen the human body and mind. They
+emphasized the mimic expressions which all races of
+the world should learn as an unspoken and universal
+language. It is written that the great ruler Li-Kaong-Ti
+took dancing and music lessons from the great
+teacher of music, Teu-Kung, so that he was able to give
+entertainments in these arts to his family and guests.
+He founded a dancing academy at the court and invited
+learned Mandarins to take charge of the institution.
+Gradually dancing was introduced in all the colleges
+and public schools. All Chinese educated classes had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span>
+to be good dancers at that time. The rulers used to
+dance to the public at great annual festivals to express
+their gratitude or dissatisfaction. The receptions of
+various Viceroys at the national capital were opened
+with dancing performed by the great functionaries and
+statesmen of the empire. People judged the characteristics
+of their newly appointed officials and judges from
+the individual peculiarities of their dance. The Chinese
+court kept regularly 64 sworn dancers, who were
+obliged to give historic ‘ballets’ to the rulers. The orchestra
+was composed of flutes, a drum, one or several
+tambourines with bells, and a queer instrument in the
+shape of the figure ‘2.’ About a thousand years before
+Christ an imperial decree was issued for the purpose
+of limiting the number of dancers that one or another
+of the statesmen could employ.</p>
+
+<p>Eight different dances were performed at the Chinese
+court and eight dancers participated in each dance.
+The first dance was <i>Ivi-Men</i>—Moving Clouds; this was
+given in honor of the celestial spirits. The second
+dance was the <i>Ta-knen</i>—Great Circle; this was performed
+when the Emperor brought sacrifice at a round
+votive altar. The third dance was <i>Ta-gien</i>—General
+Motion; this was performed during the sacrificial festival
+at the square altar. The fourth dance was <i>Ta-mao</i>—Dance
+of Harmony; this was the most graceful dance
+and was dedicated to the Four Elements. The fifth
+dance was <i>Gia</i>—Beneficial Dance; this dance was dedicated
+to the spirits of the mountains and rivers, and
+was slow and majestic. The sixth dance was <i>Ta-gu</i>—Dance
+of Gratitude; this was dedicated to women. The
+seventh dance was <i>Ta-u</i>—Great War Dance; this was
+dedicated to the spirit of Man. The eighth dance was
+<i>U-gientze</i>—Dance of Waves; this was dedicated to the
+ancestors and was of elaborate form, containing nine
+different movements and nine different rhythms. These
+were all long ‘ballets’ and lasted for several hours each.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span>
+But besides these there were six smaller dances. One
+of these was called the Dance of the Mystic Bird; another
+the Dance of Oxtail; another the Dance of the
+Flag; another the Dance of Feathers; another the Sword
+Dance; and the last the Dance of Humanity. This was
+performed only by the Mandarins.</p>
+
+<p>The Chinese historians write that Confucius did not
+like the Sword Dance, but highly praised the others.
+Confucius describes the Emperor Yu-Vang, who lived
+1100 years before Christ, as the author of many new
+dances and composer of music to accompany them.
+One of his dances was a great historical ballet, which
+must have resembled the Roman pantomimes. This
+ballet has been performed in a distorted form in the
+nineteenth century and is mentioned by several Russian
+writers who lived or travelled in China. Judging from
+the Chinese writers, the historical ballet must have been
+a spectacular performance in the style of the Oberammergau
+Passion Play. It opened with the creation of
+the world and sea and ended with the latest phase of
+national history. Some of the dancers represented fish,
+animals and birds; others, monsters, spirits, rulers and
+social classes. The music of this ballet was of peculiar
+symphonic form, very melodious and dramatic. Only
+fragmentary records of the ancient notation had been
+preserved in the imperial palace at Pekin, but during
+recent political disturbances even these vanished and
+the world has thus been deprived of one of the most
+valuable of musical documents.</p>
+
+<p>In China the social and religious dancers were one
+and the same. The touring dancing companies to be
+seen to-day in China give a faint idea of the ancient
+choreography. Japanese dancing has made a deep impression
+upon the Chinese dancers, so that there is a
+marked element of mixture in the performances that
+one sees in the present Chinese towns. The Chinese
+dancers from olden times on have been men and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span>
+women. It seems as if men predominated before, while
+now the feminine element is in majority. The Chinese
+dancing costumes are bizarre and picturesque. There
+are no barefoot dancers among them and their bodies
+are heavily covered with garments. Nude dancers are
+unknown in China.</p>
+
+<p>An odd class of Chinese dancers are the dancing
+Mandarins. In Su-Chu-Fu there exists still an old
+school that was founded 2500 years ago for the purpose
+of teaching dancing to the Mandarins. They presumably
+learned with the idea of using the art in religious
+rituals. The style of their dancing differs
+slightly from that of the professional class. Dancing
+Mandarins can be seen now in China, but their cabalistic
+gestures and queer mimic expressions are unintelligible
+to the Western mind. There are no folk or national
+dances in China and the people do not dance in
+the same sense as we in our social dances. The idea
+of a social dance is a torture to an average Chinaman.
+He enjoys seeing dancing, but never takes part in it.
+The rich Chinese frequently hire professional dancers
+and let them give performances at their houses. The
+Chinese wedding dances are never performed by the
+bride, groom, or their guests, but by hired professional
+dancers or dancing Mandarins. The historians tell us
+that this was not so in remote antiquity. There was a
+time when the Chinese people danced, though their
+dances were mostly slow and pantomimic. The Russian
+ballet dancers, who have toured in China, have told
+that their performances filled the Chinese audiences
+with horror and disgust, as our Western acrobatic technique
+makes them afraid of possible neck-breaking accidents.</p>
+
+<p>The attempts of Europeans to create Chinese ballets
+for our Western stage have been in so far miserable
+failures. ‘Kia-King’ by Titus, ‘Chinese Wedding’ by
+Calzevaro, and ‘Lily’ by San-Leon give no true impression<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span>
+of Chinese choreography of any age. Nor are
+their music or their scenarios similar to any genuine
+Chinese ballets of the above-named titles.</p>
+
+<p>In our story of Chinese dancing it is worth while to
+mention the celebrated ‘Lantern Festival’ that is performed
+every New Year night. It is very likely that
+the Chinese had once long ago a lantern dance, which
+has degenerated now into a simple marching procession,
+in which the people participate in the same sense
+as the Italians do in their carnival. Confucius writes
+of it as of a festival in honor of the sun, the source of
+the light and life. This festival is celebrated three
+nights continually. Everything considered, we come
+to the conclusion that the art of dancing of the land of
+Mandarins has been of little influence and significance
+to our choreography. The reason for this lies partly
+in the racial morale, partly in a national psychology
+that breathes peace and externalism.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Of a quite different character are the dances of Japan,
+of which Marcella A. Hincks gives to us a comprehensive
+picture. According to her, dancing in Japan is
+an essential part of religion and national tradition. In
+one of the oldest Japanese legends we are told that the
+Sun Goddess Amaterasu, being angry, hid herself in a
+cave, so that the world was plunged in darkness and
+life on earth became intolerable. The eight million
+deities of the Japanese heaven, seeing the sorrow and
+destruction wrought by Amaterasu’s absence from the
+world, sought by every means possible to coax her from
+her retreat. But nothing could prevail on her to leave
+it, until one god, wiser than the others, devised a plan
+whereby the angered goddess might be lured from her
+hiding place. Among the immortals was the beautiful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span>
+Ame-No-Azume, whom they sent to dance and sing at
+the mouth of the cave, and the goddess, attracted by
+the unusual sound of music and dancing, and unable
+to withstand her curiosity, emerged from the concealment,
+to gaze upon the dancer. So once more she gave
+the light of her smile to the world. The people never
+forgot that dancing had been the means of bringing
+back Amaterasu to Japan, therefore from time immemorial
+the dance has been honored as a religious
+ceremony and practiced as a fine art throughout the
+Land of the Rising Sun.</p>
+
+<p>Dancing in Japan is not associated with pleasure and
+joyful feeling alone; every emotion, grave or gay, may
+become the subject of a dance. Some time ago funeral
+dances were performed around the corpse, which was
+placed in a building specially constructed for that purpose,
+and though it is said that originally the dancers
+hoped to recall the dead to life by the power and charm
+of their dance, later the measures were performed
+merely as a farewell ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>The Japanese dance is of the greatest importance and
+interest historically. Like her civilization, and the
+greater number of her arts, Japan borrowed many
+of her dance ideas from China, though the genius of
+the people very soon developed many new forms of
+dance, quite distinct from the Chinese importation.
+From the earliest times dancing has been closely associated
+with religion: in both the Shinto and the Buddhist
+faiths we find it occupying foremost place in worship.
+The Buddhist priests of the thirteenth century
+made use of dancing as a refining influence, which
+helped to refine the uncultured military class by which
+Japan was more or less ruled during the early Middle
+Ages.</p>
+
+<p>The Japanese dance, like that of the ancient Greeks,
+is predominantly of a pantomimic nature, and strives
+to represent in gesture a historic incident, some mythical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span>
+legend, or a scene from folk-lore; its chief characteristic
+is always expressiveness, and it invariably possesses
+a strong emotional tendency. The Japanese have
+an extraordinary mimic gift which they have cultivated
+to such an extent that it is doubtful whether any other
+people has ever developed such a wide and expressive
+art of gesture. Dancing in the European sense the
+Japanese would call <i>dengaku</i> or acrobatic.</p>
+
+<p>Like the tea ceremony, the Japanese dance is esoteric
+as well as exoteric, and to apprehend the meaning of
+every gesture is no easy task to the uninitiated. Thus
+to arch the hand over the eyes conveys that the dancer
+is weeping; to extend the arms while looking eagerly
+in the direction indicated by the hand suggests that
+the dancer is thinking of some one in a far-away country.
+The arms crossed at the chest mean meditation,
+etc. There is, for instance, a set of special gestures for
+the <i>No</i> dances, divided first of all into a certain number
+of fundamental gestures and poses, and then into
+numerous variations of these, and figures devised from
+them, much as the technique of the European ballet
+dancing consists of ‘fundamental positions’ and endless
+less important ‘positions.’</p>
+
+<p>The conventional gestures, sleeve-waving and fan-waving
+movements, constitute the greatest difficulty in
+the way of an intelligent interpretation of the Japanese
+dance. The technique is also elaborate and the vocabulary
+of the dancing terms large, but the positions and
+the attitudes of the limbs are radically different from
+those of the European dance, the feet being little
+seen, and their action considered subordinate, though
+the stamping of the feet is important in some cases.
+The ease of movement, the smoothness and the legato
+effect of a Japanese dance can only be obtained by the
+most rigorous physical training. The Japanese strive
+to master the technique so thoroughly that every movement
+of the body is produced with perfect ease and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span>
+spontaneity; their ideal is art hidden by its own perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The dances of Japan may be grouped under three
+broad divisions of equal importance: Religious, classical,
+and popular. The last vestiges of a religious dance
+of great antiquity may still be seen at the half-yearly
+ceremonials of Confucius, when eight pairs of dancers
+in gorgeous robes, each holding a triple pheasant’s
+feather in one hand and a six-holed flute in the other,
+posture and dance as an accompaniment to the Confucian
+hymn. It is said that the <i>Bugaku</i> dance was
+introduced 2000 years ago.</p>
+
+<p>The Japanese history of dancing begins from the
+eighth to twelfth centuries. The <i>Bugaku</i> and the <i>Kagura</i>,
+another ancient Japanese sacred dance, are considered
+the bases of all the other dances. The movements
+in both dances strive to express reverence, adoration
+and humility. The music of the old Japanese
+dances is solemn, weird and always in a minor key,
+and the instruments used are flutes and a drum. Stages
+were erected at all the principal Shinto temples and
+each temple had its staff of dancers. The <i>Kagura</i> dance
+can still be seen at the temple of Kasuga at Nara. Like
+the Chinese, the Japanese lack dances known to us as
+folk-dancing. In the art of dancing Japan far surpasses
+China, this being due to the more emotional and poetic
+character of the race. The dancing of Japan, like its
+other arts, is outspokenly impressionistic and symbolic.
+It is graceful and dainty and gives evidence of thorough
+refinement.</p>
+
+<p>Dances of pungent racial tinge are those of the
+American Indians. The best known of the Indian
+pantomimes are the Ghost, Snake, and Dream Dances.
+Very little observed and recorded are their various
+war dances; still less their social dances. Stolid, impassive
+and stoic as is the man himself, so are his
+dances and other æsthetic expressions. Void of frivolous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span>
+gaiety and passionate joy as an Indian remains
+in his life, so is his dance. His dance turns more about
+some mystic or religious idea than about a sexual
+one. There is that peculiar heavy and secretive trait
+in an Indian folk-dance that manifests itself so conspicuously
+in the dances of the Siberian Mongolians,
+as the Buriats, Kalmuks, and particularly the Finns.
+Though our space is limited, we shall here attempt to
+give an outline of the better known peculiarities of Indian
+folk-dances, particularly of the Dream Dance
+of the Chippewa tribe.</p>
+
+<p>The Chippewas or Ojibways were, at the arrival of
+the whites, one of the largest of the tribes of North
+America. They originally occupied the region embracing
+both shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron.
+We owe the description of the Dream Dance to S. A.
+Barrett, according to whose view it is based on the
+story of an Indian girl who escaped into the lake upon
+the arrival of the white men and hid herself among the
+lilies, thinking they would soon leave. She remained
+in the lake for ten days without food or sleep, until
+the Great Spirit from the clouds rescued her miraculously
+and carried her back to her people. In memory
+of this event the ceremony of the Dream Dance was
+instituted and is performed annually in the open air,
+about the first of July. A special dance ground, from
+fifty to eighty feet in diameter, was prepared and
+marked off by a circle of logs or by a low fence. This
+circle was provided with an opening toward the west
+and one toward the east.</p>
+
+<p>The objects about which this whole ceremony centres
+are a large drum and a special calumet, the former
+elaborately decorated with strips of fur, beadwork,
+cloth, coins, etc. It is hung by means of loops upon
+four elaborately decorated stakes. Often they are provided
+with bells. To this the greatest reverence is paid
+throughout the dance, a special guard being kept for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span>
+it. The calumet serves as a sacrificial altar, the function
+of which is the burning of sacred tobacco, in order
+that its incense may be carried to the particular deity
+in whose honor the offering is made. The drum is
+beaten by ten to fifteen drummers, each beating it
+with a stick two feet long, as an accompaniment to the
+song which serves as the dance tune. Each song lasts
+from five to ten minutes, and is repeated for several
+hours continually.</p>
+
+<p>The drum-strokes are beaten in pairs, which gives the
+impression of difference in the interval of time between
+the two strokes of one pair and the initial stroke
+of the next. In this dance, which is always performed
+by a man of highest standing in the community, a
+dancer may go through the necessary motions with the
+feet without moving from the position in which he is
+standing, or he may dance one or more times around
+the circle. Frequently the dancers take at first a complete
+turn around the circle and come back to the
+vicinity of the original seats and dance here until the
+tune is finished. The movement is of a skipping step,
+from the east to the west. Perfect time is kept in
+the music no matter what movement may be employed
+by the dancer. Two motions up and down are first
+made with one heel and then two motions with the
+other, these being in perfect unison with the double
+strokes of the drum sticks. The position assumed in
+the dancing is perfectly erect, the weight of the body
+being rapidly shifted from one foot to the other, as
+the dancing proceeds. The foot is kept in a position
+which is nearly horizontal, the toe just touching the
+ground at each stroke of the drum. The dance begins
+at eleven o’clock in the morning and lasts until four
+in the afternoon. A special festival meal is served
+during the dance in the circle.</p>
+
+<p>Of somewhat different nature is the Ghost Dance,
+which is performed in the unclosed area, the ground<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span>
+being consecrated by the priests before the beginning
+of the ceremony. The features of this are the sacred
+crow, certain feathers, arrows, and game sticks, and
+a large pole which is placed in the centre of the dancing
+area. About this the dancers circle in a more lively
+motion and with lighter steps than the dancers in the
+Dream Dance. In this there are no musical instruments
+used. The men, women and children take part
+in the Ghost Dance, their faces painted with symbolic
+designs. The participants form a circle, each person
+grasping the hand of his adjacent neighbor, and all
+moving sidewise with a dragging, shuffling step, in
+time to the songs which provide the music. The purpose
+of the Dream Dance is to communicate with the
+Great Spirit of Life. The Ghost Dance has for its
+object the communication of the participants with the
+spirits of the departed relatives and friends, this being
+accomplished by hypnotic trances induced through the
+agency of the medicine man.</p>
+
+<p>The Snake Dance is a ceremony performed by the
+Indians of the southern states. This is of a ghastly
+nature, as the dancer holds two rattlesnakes in his
+mouth while executing his evolutions. Not only must
+the dancer be an artist who can manage the movement
+of his face so that the heads of the deadly snakes
+cannot touch his face or bare upper body, but he has
+to know the secret words that neutralize the poison
+of the snake, in case he should be bitten. This dance,
+like the two above named, is executed in a circle to the
+chant of special singers. Though the Indian uses musical
+instruments for his social ceremonies, such as the
+turtle-shell harp, wooden flute and whistles, he never
+applies their tunes to the dances that have a more
+serious or religious meaning. The Snake Dance, like
+the Dream Dance, is based on a legend, but the story
+of it is more involved, tragic and mystic, therefore its
+ghastly nature and weird symbolic gestures appear<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span>
+more vivid and direct than the themes of any other of
+the Indian folk-dances. But the steps and poses of
+every Indian dance are similar to each other, slow,
+compact, impassive and dignified. A strong mystic
+and symbolic feeling pervades the limited gestures and
+mimic expressions. Æsthetic ideas with the Indian
+are closely interwoven with those of ethics and religion.
+There is nothing graceful, amusing, delicate or charming
+in an Indian dance, therefore our dance authorities
+have ignored them.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCES OF HEBREWS AND ARABS</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its modern
+influence—The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle Ages; characteristics
+of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily life; the harem, the
+Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the Arab dances.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">That</span> dancing was practiced in temples and homes of
+the ancient Hebrews is evident from numerous Biblical
+allusions, and is only natural when we consider that
+they were educated in Egypt, the cradle of dancing.
+Some scholars maintain that dancing was a part of
+Hebrew worship, pointing as a proof of their theory
+to David’s dancing before the Ark of the Covenant and
+the fact that Moses, after the crossing of the Red Sea,
+bade the children of Israel to dance. Others, basing
+their arguments on the Talmud, deny this. It is very
+likely that the dancing which the Hebrews had learned
+in Egypt soon degenerated into crude shows, due to
+their long nomadic desert life, far from civilization.
+Only now and then did some of their kings indulge
+in dancing and try to revive the vanishing art. David
+and Solomon introduced dancing at their courts and
+in the temple, as we can see in the Bible: ‘Praise the
+Lord—praise him with timbrel and dance.’ ‘Then shall
+the virgin rejoice in the dance.’ ‘Thou shalt be again
+adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the
+dances,’ etc. On another occasion we read how the sons
+of Benjamin were taught to capture their wives. ‘If the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span>
+daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then
+come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man
+his wife.—And the children of Benjamin did so, and
+took them wives, according to their number of them
+that danced, whom they caught.’</p>
+
+<p>The Dance of the Golden Calf, which was plausibly
+an imitation of the Egyptian Apis Dance, was most
+severely forbidden by Moses. Since this dance was one
+of the principal ceremonial dances of Egypt, it is evident
+that it had rooted deep into the soul of the people
+and Moses had to resort to violent methods in order
+to abolish it entirely. We read in the Bible that to
+honor the slayer of Goliath, the women came out from
+all the cities of Israel and received him with singing and
+dancing. Other historic sources tell us that the ancient
+Hebrews frequently hired dancers and musicians for
+their social ceremonies. There are various Byzantine
+designs and inscriptions of the fifth and sixth centuries,
+in which King David is depicted as a ballet master, with
+a lyre in his hand, surrounded by dancing men and
+women. We read that when Solomon finished the New
+Temple in Jerusalem it was dedicated with singing and
+dancing. It is evident that the ancient Hebrew sacred
+dances were performed by men, while women figured
+exclusively in the social dancing. The Jews in Morocco
+employ professional dancers for the celebration of the
+marriage ceremony to-day.</p>
+
+<p>The best known of the ancient Hebrew dances is
+that of the celebrated Salome. Thus we read in a chapter
+of St. Matthew of the beheading of John the Baptist:
+‘But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of
+Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
+Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever
+she would ask.’ These short remarks of the New
+Testament describe a gruesome tragedy that has inspired
+hundreds of artists to amplify with their imagination
+what has been left unsaid in the Gospel.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span>
+Moreau, Botticelli, Dolci, Reno and Stuck have produced
+immortal paintings of Salome. Some of them
+have depicted her as a stately society lady of her times,
+the others show her either frivolous, abnormal or
+under the spell of narcotics and wine. Many gruesome
+legends have risen about the death of Salome, according
+to which she committed suicide by drowning. But
+an accurate historic investigation has revealed that
+she was married to the Tetrarch Philip, after whose
+death she became the wife of Aristobul, the son of
+Herod, and died at the age of 54.</p>
+
+<p>Be that as it may, the Salome episode is an eloquent
+proof that dancing was cultivated by the Hebrews and
+that their daughters were educated in this art either
+by Egyptian or Greek masters. Several other historic
+allusions show that Greek dancers went often to Jerusalem
+to give there performances during the national
+festivals. Plutarch writes that rich Hebrews came to
+the Olympic and Dionysian Festivals and were eager
+to learn Greek music and dancing. But evidently the
+Greek arts had the least influence upon the Hebrews,
+whose minds had been trained in the strict Mosaic code
+of morals to follow only the autocratic commandments
+of the Lord, and to leave all the arts of other races
+alone. Like the Confucian philosophy in China, the
+Mosaic ethics in Palestine put a stamp of æsthetic stagnation
+on Hebrew national life. For this very reason
+the Hebrews never developed a national art, particularly
+a national music or national dance.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Salome</i> of Richard Strauss has inspired many of
+our Western dancers to personify the ancient heroine.
+With the exception of Ida Rubinstein and Natasha
+Trouhanova, the Salome dances of all the European
+or American aspirants have been of no importance.
+There are characteristics to be seen in a few old inscriptions
+of dancing Hebrew priests which express
+most forcibly their peculiar nervous poses and quick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span>
+gestures. European choreography has for the most
+part failed to grasp the principal features of the vanished
+Hebrew dances.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Of all living Oriental races the Arabs show the most
+innate instinct for dancing. Judging from the ruins of
+the architecture that the Moors have left in Spain we
+can see that they knew more than the mere elementary
+rules of æsthetic line and form, which is the very essential
+of a dance. The ruins of the majestic Alhambra
+speak a language that fills us with an awe. No architects
+of other races, either dead or living, have reached
+that harmony of line which is plainly visible in this
+structural masterpiece of humanity. Since, according
+to the views of all æsthetic psychologists, dancing and
+architecture develop as allied arts, the Moors must have
+developed a high degree of dancing in the Middle
+Ages, when the rest of the world was shaken by barbaric
+wars and ruled by ecclesiastic fanaticism. However,
+the Mohammedan religion prohibits painting and
+sculpture, therefore we find no frescoes or decorations
+in the walls of the Moorish castles or Mosques that
+could give an idea of the style and perfection of the
+dancing that was taught in Cadiz.</p>
+
+<p>The Greek and Roman writers allude frequently to
+the fiery and passionate dances that were exhibited
+by the graduates of Cadiz, ‘which surpassed anything
+the people had seen before.’ We know that the Moors
+taught dancing to their boys and girls alike. Furthermore,
+we know that their dances differed distinctly
+from those of the Greeks and Egyptians. The dancing
+teachers at Cadiz emphasized agility of legs, softness
+and grace of the body and a vivid technique of imitation.
+Passion was the principal theme of their feminine
+dances, and was expressed with the technique of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span>
+virtuosity. It is said that the Califs of Seville kept a
+staff of fifty trained dancers at their court.</p>
+
+<p>The essential feature of Arabian dancing was the
+graphic production of pictorial episodes, in rich harmonious
+lines of the body, sensuous grace of the poses
+and sinuous elegance of movement. A special emphasis
+was placed upon the exhibition of the most perfect
+womanly beauty. To complete the task of architectural
+perfection an Arabic dancer was taught to study
+carefully the geometric laws of nature and eliminate
+the crudities acquired in everyday life. The principal
+musical instrument of the Moorish dancers was the African
+guitar, which was their national invention. Most
+of the great Arab dancers were women, who preferred
+to dance without a masculine partner. Ordinarily they
+danced to the music of two or three differently tuned
+guitars, and only on festival occasions or in appearances
+at court was the music supplied by an orchestra
+of ten or more. Already the Arabs had their musical
+notation, set in three colors: red, green, and blue. Fragments
+of their mediæval music notation were recently
+discovered by a French scholar and were successfully
+deciphered. It appears that many of the dance melodies
+still in use in Spain are of Moorish descent. The
+Kinneys,<a id="FNanchor_A" href="#Footnote_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> who seemingly have made a study of Spanish
+and modern Arab dancing, write of it graphically,
+as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_A" href="#FNanchor_A" class="fnanchor">A</a> Troy and Margaret West Kinney: The Dance (New York, 1914).</p></div>
+
+<p>‘Of formulated dances the Arab has few, and those
+no more set than are the words of our stories: the point
+must not be missed, but we may choose our own vocabulary.
+In terms of the dance, the Arab entertainer
+tells stories; in the case of known and popular stories
+she follows the accepted narrative, but improvises the
+movements and poses that express it, exactly as though
+they were spoken words instead of pantomime. Somewhat
+less freedom necessarily obtains in the narration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span>
+of dance-poems than in the recital of trifling incidents;
+but within the necessary limits, originality is prized. In
+the mimetic vocabulary are certain phrases that are
+depended upon to convey their definite meanings. New
+word-equivalents, however, are always in order, if they
+can stand the searching test of eyes educated in beauty
+and minds trained to exact thinking.</p>
+
+<p>‘Nearly unlimited as it is in scope, delightful as it
+unfailingly is to those who know it, Arabic dancing
+suits occasions of a variety of which the dances of
+Europe never dreamed. In the café it diverts and
+sometimes demoralizes. In his house the master
+watches the dancing of his slaves, dreaming under the
+narcotic spell of rhythm. On those rare occasions when
+the demands of diplomacy or business compel him to
+bring a guest into his house, the dancing of slaves is depended
+upon to entertain. His wives dance before him
+to please his eye, and to cajole him into conformity with
+their desires. Even the news of the day is danced, since
+the doctrines of Mohammed deprecate the printing
+of almost everything except the Koran. Reports of
+current events reach the male population in the market
+and the café. At home men talk little of outside affairs,
+and women do not get out except to visit others of their
+kind, as isolated from the world as themselves. But
+they get all the news that is likely to interest them, none
+the less; at least the happenings in the world of Mohammedanism.</p>
+
+<p>‘As vendors of information of passing events, there
+are women that wander in pairs from city to city, from
+harem to harem, like bards of the early North. As
+women they are admitted to women’s apartments.
+There, while one rhythmically pantomimes deeds of
+war to the cloistered ones that never saw a soldier, or
+graphically imitates the punishment of a malefactor in
+the market place, her companion chants, with falsetto
+whines, a descriptive and rhythmic accompaniment.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span>
+Thus is the harem protected against the risk of narrowness.</p>
+
+<p>‘In the daily life of the harem, dancing is one of the
+favored pastimes. Women dance to amuse themselves
+and to entertain one another. In the dance, as in music
+and embroidery, there is endless interest, and a spirit
+of emulation usually friendly.</p>
+
+<p>‘One of the comparatively formalized mimetic expressions
+is the “Dance of Greeting,” the function of
+which is to honor a guest when occasion brings him into
+the house. Let it be imagined that coffee and cigarettes
+have been served to two grave gentlemen; that one has
+expressed bewilderment at the magnificence of the establishment,
+and his opinion that too great honor has
+been done him in permitting him to enter it; that the
+host has duly made reply that his grandchildren will
+tell with pride of the day when the poor house was so
+honored that such a one set his foot within it. After
+which a sherbet, more coffee and cigarettes. When
+the time seems propitious, the host suggests to the guest
+that if in his great kindness he will look at her, he—the
+host—would like permission to order a slave to try
+to entertain with a dance.</p>
+
+<p>‘The musicians squatting against the wall begin the
+wailing of the flute, the hypnotic throb of “darabukkeh.”
+She who is designed to dance the Greeting enters
+holding before her a long scarf that half conceals her;
+the expression on her face is surprise, as though honor
+had fallen to her beyond her merits or expectation.
+Upon reaching her place she extends her arms forward,
+then slowly moves them, and with them the scarf, to one
+side, until she is revealed. When a nod confirms the
+command to dance, she quickly drops the scarf to the
+floor, advances to a place before the guest and near
+him, and honors him with a slave’s salutation. Then
+arising she proceeds to her silent Greeting. * * *</p>
+
+<p>‘The Arabian dance is not a dance of movement; it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span>
+is a dance of pictures, to which movement is wholly
+subordinate. Each bar of the music accompanies a
+picture complete in itself. Within the measure of each
+bar the dancer has time for the movements leading
+from one picture to the next, and to hold the picture
+for the instant necessary to give emphasis. At whatever
+moment she may be stopped, therefore, she is
+within less than a moment’s pose so perfectly balanced
+that it appears as a natural termination of the dance.
+The Oriental’s general indifference to the forces of accumulation
+and climax are consistent with such a capricious
+ending. In his dance each phrase is complete
+in itself; it may be likened to one of those serial stories
+in our magazines, in which each installment of the story
+is self-sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>‘To the Occidental unused to Oriental art, the absence
+of crescendo and climax, and the substituted
+iteration carried on endlessly, is uninteresting. Nevertheless,
+a few days of life among Oriental conditions
+suffice to throw many a scoffer into attunement with
+the Oriental art idea, which is to soothe, not to stimulate.
+Moorish ornament is an indefinitely repeated
+series of marvellously designed units, each complete in
+itself, yet inextricably interwoven with its neighbors.
+In music the beats continue unchanging through bar
+after bar, phrase after phrase. The rhythmic repetition
+of the tile-designs on the wall, the decorative repetition
+of the beats of music, produce a spell of dreamy
+visioning comparable only to the effect of some potent
+but harmless narcotic.’</p>
+
+<p>From all modern observations and ancient records
+it is evident that the Arabs’ dances differed essentially
+from their Eastern neighbors. Spain undoubtedly is
+the only Occidental country that has preserved in its
+vivid national dances, <i>Jotas</i>, <i>Boleros</i>, <i>Seguidillas</i> and
+<i>Fandangos</i>, the mutilated and deformed elements of
+the vanished choreography of Cadiz. Though the Moor<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span>
+has left so few records of his highly cultivated art of
+dancing, yet his spectral shadow hangs over the race
+beyond the Pyrenees. Of all the living civilized nations
+the Spaniards, more than any others, are justly
+the very incarnation of the vanished magic Arabs in
+dance. A studious observer finds in Spanish dances all
+the hysteria, magic, seductiveness and softness that was
+practiced by mediæval Arab dancers. And then the
+costumes—most picturesque and romantic—that the
+Spanish women use in their dances are similar in their
+lines and colors to those that were worn by the Moorish
+girls who entertained with their magic dances a Cleopatra
+and a Cæsar.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life; Xenophon’s
+description; Greek religion and the dance; Terpsichore—Dancing of
+youths, educational value; Greek dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation;
+Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia;
+the Cordax; the Hormos—Greek theatres; comparison of periods;
+the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Best</span> known to us of all the ancient and exotic dances
+are those of the Greeks. In Greece dancing was an
+actual language, interpreting all sentiments and passions.
+Aristotle speaks of Saltators whose dances mirrored
+the manners, the passions and the actions of
+men. About three hundred years before the Augustan
+era dancing in Greece had reached an apotheosis that
+it has never reached in any other country in the history
+of ancient civilization. Accurate information about
+the ancient Greek dances is given not only in numerous
+fresco paintings, reliefs and sculptures, but in the
+works of Homer, Aristotle, Plato, Lucian, Aristophanes,
+Hesiod and many others.</p>
+
+<p>That dancing was highly esteemed as an accomplishment
+for young ladies in the Heroic Age we may gather
+from the sixth book of the Odyssey, when gentle white-armed
+Nausicaa, the daughter of a king, is represented
+as leading her companions in the choral lay after they
+had washed their linen in the stream, and amused themselves
+awhile with a game of ball. Ulysses compliments
+her especially upon her choric skill, saying that if she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span>
+should chance to be one of those mortals who dwell
+on earth her brother and venerable mother must be
+ever delighted when they behold her entering the dance.
+We read how Ulysses was entertained at the court of
+Alcinous, the father of the young lady who had befriended
+him, and whose dancing he had so greatly
+admired. The admiration of the wanderer was excited
+by the rapid and skillful movements of the dancers,
+who were not maidens only, but youths in the prime
+of life. Presently two of the most accomplished youths,
+Halius and Laodamus, were selected by Alcinous to exhibit
+their skill in a dance, during which one performer
+threw a ball high in the air while the other caught it
+between his feet before it reached the ground. From
+the further description it appears that this was a true
+dance and not a mere acrobatic performance, and that
+the purple ball was used by the participants simply as
+an accessory.</p>
+
+<p>The twenty-third book of the same poem tells us that
+dancing among the guests at wedding festivals formed
+in these early times an essential part of the ceremonies.
+The wanderer, having been recognized by the faithful
+Penelope, tells his son, Telemachus, to let the divine
+bard who has the tuneful harp lead the sportive dance,
+so that anyone hearing it from without may say it is a
+marriage. Homer thought so highly of dancing that
+in the ‘Iliad’ he calls it ‘irreproachable.’ In describing
+various scenes which Vulcan wrought on the shield of
+Achilles, he associates dancing with hymeneal festivities.
+No Athenian festivals were ever celebrated without
+dancing. The design with which the gods used to
+adorn the shields of heroes represented the dance contrived
+by Dædalus for fair-haired Ariadne. In this
+dance youths with tunics and golden swords suspended
+from silver belts, and virgins clothed in fine linen
+robes and wearing beautiful garlands, danced together,
+holding each other by the wrists. They danced in a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span>
+circle, bounding nimbly with skilled feet, as when a
+potter, sitting, shall make trial of a wheel fitted to his
+hands, whether it will run; and at other times they ran
+back to their places between one another.</p>
+
+<p>Galen complained that ‘so much do they give themselves
+up to this pleasure, with such activity do they
+pursue it, that the necessary arts are neglected.’ The
+Greek festivals in which dancing was a feature were
+innumerable. The Pythian, Marathon, Olympic and all
+other great national games opened with and ended with
+dancing. The funeral feats of Androgeonia and Pollux,
+the festivals of Bacchus, Jupiter, Minerva, Diana,
+Apollo, and the Feasts of the Muses and of Naxos were
+celebrated predominantly with dancing ceremonies.
+According to Scaliger dancing played an important part
+in the Pythian games, representations which may be
+looked upon as the first utterances of the dramatic
+Muse, as they were divided into five acts, and were
+composed of poetic narrative with imitative music performed
+by choruses and dances. Lucian assures us
+that if dancing formed no part of the program in the
+Olympian games, it was because the Greeks thought
+no prizes could adequately reward it. Socrates danced
+with Aspasia and Aristides danced at a banquet given
+by Dionysius of Syracuse.</p>
+
+<p>The Greeks danced always and everywhere. They
+danced in the temples, in the woods and in the fields.
+Every social or family event, birth, marriage and death,
+gave occasion for a dance. Cybele, the mother of the
+Immortals, taught dancing to the Corybantes upon
+Mount Ida and to the Curetes in the island of Crete.
+Apollo dictated choreographic laws through the mouths
+of his priestesses. Priapus, one of the Titans, taught
+the god of war how to dance before instructing him
+in strategics. The heroes followed the example of the
+gods. Theseus celebrated his victory over the Minotaur
+with dances. Castor and Pollux created the Caryatis,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span>
+a nude dance performed by Spartan maids on the banks
+of the Eurotas.</p>
+
+<p>It is written that Æschylus and Aristophanes danced
+in public in their own plays. Philip of Macedonia married
+a dancer by whom he had a son who succeeded
+Alexander. Nicomedes, King of Pithynia, was the son
+of a dancing girl. This art was so esteemed that great
+dancers and ballet masters were chosen to act as public
+men. The best Greek dancers came from the Arcadians.
+The main aim of the Greek dancers was to contrive
+the most perfect plastic lines in the various poses of
+the human body, and in this sculpture was their ideal.
+It is said that the divine sculpture of Greece was inspired
+by the high standard of national choreography.</p>
+
+<p>Though we know little of the Greek dance music,
+yet occasional allusions inform us that it was instrumental
+and vocal. Thus Athenæus says: ‘The Hyporchematic
+Dance is that in which the chorus dances
+while singing.’ Xenophon writes in his sixth book of
+‘Anabasis’ as follows: ‘After libations were made, and
+the guests had sung a pæan, there rose up first the Thracians,
+and danced in arms to the music of a flute, and
+jumped up very high with light jumps, and used their
+swords. And at last one of them strikes another, so
+that it seemed to everyone that the man was wounded;
+and he fell down in a very clever manner, and all the
+bystanders raised an outcry. And he who struck him,
+having stripped him of his arms, went out singing <i>sitacles</i>;
+and others of the Thracians carried out his antagonist
+as if he were dead, but in reality he was not
+hurt. After this some Ænianians and Magnesians rose
+up, who danced the dance called Carpæa, they, too, being
+in armor. And the fashion of the dance was like
+this: One man, having laid aside his arms, is sowing
+and driving a yoke of oxen, constantly looking around,
+as if he were afraid. Then comes up a robber; but the
+sower, as soon as he sees him, snatches up his arms, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span>
+fights in defence of his team in regular time to the
+music of the flute, and at last the robber, having bound
+the man, carries off the team; but sometimes the sower
+conquers the robber, and then, binding him alongside
+his oxen, he ties his hands behind him and drives him
+forward.’</p>
+
+<p>Another ancient Greek dance is graphically described
+by Xenophon as it was given by Callias to entertain his
+guests, among whom was Socrates. The dance represented
+the marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne. ‘Ariadne,
+dressed like a bride, comes in and takes her
+place. Dionysos enters, dancing to the music. The
+spectators did all admire the young man’s carriage, and
+Ariadne herself is so affected with the sight that she
+may hardly sit. After a while Dionysos, beholding
+Ariadne, and, incensed with love, bowing to her knees,
+embraces and kisses her first, and kisses her with grace.
+She embraces him again, and kisses him with the like
+affection.’</p>
+
+<p>The nature of the Greek religion was such that many
+of their sacred dances would, according to our conventions,
+be far more shocking than those which they
+performed socially. In the Homeric hymn to Apollo
+we read how the Ionians with their wives and children
+were accustomed to assemble in honor of the god, and
+delight him with their singing and dancing. The poet
+describes that dancing was at that time an art in which
+everybody could join, and that it was by no means cultivated
+only by professional artists. Though the Ionians
+contributed much to the development of the art
+of dancing, yet in later years these degenerated into
+voluptuous gesticulations and sensuous poses known
+by the Romans as ‘Ionic Movements.’ In another part
+of the same poem Homer depicts ‘the fair-haired
+Graces, the wise Hours and Harmony, and Hebe and
+Venus, the daughter of Jove, dance, holding each other
+by the wrists. Apollo strikes the harp, taking grand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span>
+and lofty steps, and a shining haze surrounds him, and
+the light glitters on his feet and on his well-fitted tunic.’
+Pan, who was considered by the Greeks as well as by
+the Egyptians one of the greater gods, is represented
+by Homer as going hither and thither in the midst of
+the dancers moving rapidly with his feet. However,
+his dancing must have been singularly devoid of grace,
+as most of the designs known to us depict him as a
+patron of shepherds in Arcadia, gay and old-fashioned.
+All other gods and goddesses of the first order were
+supposed to be accomplished artists in dancing. The
+recently found bronze vase in a Phœnician sarcophagus,
+on the island of Crete, contains designs of unusually
+soft forms of naked dancing girls following Apollo.
+This best illustration of the Apollo ceremony goes to
+show that the Phœnicians had learned dancing from
+the Greeks and imitated them successfully.</p>
+
+<p>As thorough as were all the Greek gods and goddesses
+in their knowledge and talent of dancing, yet they were
+far surpassed by Terpsichore, the real goddess of dancing
+and one of the nine Muses who always surrounded
+Apollo. Most of the recovered Greek drawings and
+sculptures represent Terpsichore either sitting or standing,
+but always with a lyre in her hand. The invention
+of the lyre was attributed to her. A painting, discovered
+in the excavated city, Herculaneum, represents
+her standing with the lyre in her uplifted hand. Another
+smaller drawing describes her with a wreath on
+her head while executing a graceful dance with other
+Muses. Various mediæval artists represented in their
+works Terpsichore dancing with a flower in her hand
+and an ethereal veil floating around her head. One of
+the Greek legends tells us that she was the mother of
+the singing Sirens.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span></p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>All records indicate that dances in Greece were performed
+by men and women alike. In some of these
+dances they wore a loose garment, keeping their arms
+and legs bare; in others they danced perfectly naked.
+Some dances were performed by girls alone and others
+by boys, but often they mingled freely. The Greek
+customs generally permitted the freest intercourse between
+young people of both sexes, who were specially
+brought into contact at the great religious festivals and
+choruses. It seems that the youths who had distinguished
+themselves at the public dances expected no
+other reward than smiles of appreciation from the
+girls present, and dreaded nothing so much as their indifference.
+The constant practice of dancing by youths
+of both sexes from their earliest years was meant to
+impart to them precision of movement, suppleness of
+body, pliant and firm action of limbs, celerity of
+motion and all those physical qualities that would be
+advantageous in warfare and elevating or ennobling in
+everyday life. Plato praises the quickness of the body
+as the most reliable medium of warfare. The Greeks
+developed such beautiful bodies that they disliked to
+hide their plastic lines with any garments, therefore
+they preferred to appear naked, and more so in the
+temples and theaters than in their homes or in society.
+The fact that all the Greek sculpture is nude can be
+attributed, not to any abstract art ideals, but to the
+actual custom of the time.</p>
+
+<p>The first form of the Greek dance music was vocal,
+sung by a chorus; in later times they began to use as
+accompaniment to singing certain <i>chrotals</i>, or castañets.
+During the Homeric era, the lyre was used predominately.
+In later centuries the flute (<i>aulos</i>) was introduced.
+The vocal music was produced by soloists and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span>
+by male or mixed choruses. Frequently the dancers
+themselves sang or played the music and danced at the
+same time. However, the dancers of the fourth century
+never furnished their own music. According to the
+three principal divisions of the Greek mythology (the
+cult of Earth and Heaven, the cult of Chronos, Titans
+and Cyclops, and the cult of Zeus and the 12 Olympic
+divinities) the sacred dances of Greece can be divided
+into similar groups. All the Greek deities, even Zeus,
+were considered accomplished dancers. Since they enjoyed
+dancing themselves it was only natural that they
+should like to see dancing included as part of their worship.
+Cupid, the naughty little god of love, is depicted
+in most cases dancing. The fourth century figurine of a
+Bacchante in thin and supple draperies, whirling
+around on one foot, looks very much like a ballet
+dancer of to-day.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest of the Greek dances was probably the
+<i>Hyporchema</i>, which was accompanied by the chorus.
+Though developed in different styles, it always kept
+a religious character and was looked upon as the first
+Greek attempts at saltation, in which, as the name
+betrays, song and dance were intermingled. The earliest
+use made of saltation was in connection with
+poetry. Athenæus says, however, that the early poets
+had resource to the figures of saltation only as symbols
+of images and ideas depicted in their verse. All
+dances of the <i>Hyporchema</i> class were dignified and
+elevated, men and women alike taking part in them.
+Some attribute their origin to the Delians, who sang
+them around the altars of Apollo. Others ascribe their
+invention to the Cretans, taught by Thales.</p>
+
+<p>Of later descent, but more practiced than the <i>Hyporchema</i>,
+were the <i>Gymnopædia</i>, favored especially
+by the Lacedæmonians in their festivals of Apollo. This
+was considered one of the most noble and praiseworthy
+of the ancient dances. At the festivals the Gymnopædias<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span>
+were at first performed by large choruses of men
+and boys, but later the maidens were permitted to join
+them also. Then the men and women danced in separate
+choirs. The <i>choragus</i>, or leader, was crowned
+with palm leaves, and it was his privilege to defray the
+expenses of the chorus. All who took part in this
+had to be well-trained dancers, as it was the custom
+in Sparta that all children should commence to receive
+choreographic instruction from the age of five. Max
+Müller says, though this dance was performed perfectly
+nude, it enjoyed a high reputation. Müller is of opinion
+that music was generally cultivated by the Dorians
+and Arcadians owing to the circumstance that ‘women
+took part in it, and sang and danced in public, both
+with men and by themselves.’ Music and dancing were
+taught to the females at the Laconian capital, while
+housekeeping was regarded as a degrading occupation.</p>
+
+<p>One of the public dances most favored by the Lacedæmonians
+was the Pyrrhic Dance. Lucian attributes
+its invention to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, who
+so much excelled in this that he enriched it with a fine
+new species, which from his surname Pyrrhicus received
+its title. The influence of this dance must have
+extended to the remotest and most barbarous nations,
+for not only the Romans but the Mongolians practiced
+it. That it underwent considerable modification in
+later times is evident from what Athenæus says: ‘The
+Pyrrhic Dance as it exists in our own time appears to
+be a sort of Bacchic dance, and a little more pacific than
+the old one; for the dancers carry thyrsi instead of
+spears, and they point and dart canes at one another,
+and carry torches. And they dance figures having reference
+to Bacchus and the Indians, and to the story of
+Pentheus; and they require for the Pyrrhic Dance the
+most beautiful airs.’</p>
+
+<p>The Pyrrhic Dance in its early stage was a kind of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span>
+war dance, as the performers employed every type of
+arms. The figures of the dance represented a kind of
+mimic battle, and the movements of the dancers were
+generally light, rapid, and eminently characteristic.
+There were figures representing the pursuit or retreat
+of an enemy; then again there were movements and
+positions of the body by which spear thrusts, darts, and
+wounds generally could be avoided. Other kind of
+movements suggested aggressive actions, striking with
+the sword or using the arrow. All these movements
+were performed in the most accurate rhythm to the
+music of flutes.</p>
+
+<p>The number of the ancient Greek dances is so large
+that we can count on this occasion only those which
+are already known more or less through classic literature.
+Wide popularity was enjoyed by the <i>Lysistrata</i>,
+<i>Dipoda</i>, <i>Bibasis</i>, <i>Hymnea</i>, and the stage dances, <i>Cordax</i>,
+<i>Emmeleia</i>, <i>Hormos</i>, <i>Endymatia</i> and the celebrated
+religious Mysteries of Aphrodite, Apollo, Demetrius,
+Dionysius, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Most of those elegant female dancers whom we
+find represented on ancient bas-reliefs, with their heads
+crowned, reeds in their hands raised above them, are
+executing the <i>Dipoda</i>, which Aristophanes has used as
+the climax in his celebrated comedy <i>Lysistrata</i>. This
+is what the author himself writes of the dance: ‘Come
+here to celebrate Sparta, where there are choruses in
+honor of the gods and the noise of dancing, where, like
+young horses, the maidens on the banks of the Eurotas
+rapidly move their feet, and their dresses are agitated
+like those of bacchanals, brandishing the thyrsus and
+sporting, and the chaste daughter of Leda, the lovely
+leader of the chorus, directs them. Now come, bind
+up your hair, and leap like fawns; now strike the
+measured tune which cheers the chorus.’ It is said that
+the simple, flowing chitons which they wore as garments
+flowed freely with the movements of their limbs,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span>
+or fell in naturally graceful lines appropriate to the
+poses they assumed.</p>
+
+<p>A dance of wonderful agility was that of the <i>Bibasis</i>.
+According to Max Müller, a Laconian maiden danced
+the <i>Bibasis</i> a thousand times more than any other girl
+had done. The peculiarity of this dance was to spring
+upward from the ground and perform a <i>cabriole en
+arrière</i>, striking the feet together behind before alighting.
+The <i>cabriole</i> is executed by the modern dancers
+with both feet in the air; and both legs act in the beating
+movement, rapidly separating and closing. To this a
+leap, called <i>jetté</i>, in the modern terminology, was probably
+added. The upward spring was made first from
+one foot and then from the other and striking the heels
+behind. The number of the successful strokes was
+counted, and the most skillful performer received the
+prize. It is said that Æschylus and Sophocles improved
+considerably the <i>Bibasis Dance</i>, musically and choreographically,
+for both authors were accomplished musicians
+and dance authorities.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Emmeleia</i> was one of the most respected and
+popular dramatic dances of the Greek stage. Plato
+speaks of it as a dance of extraordinary gentleness,
+gravity and nobility, appropriate to the highest sentiments.
+It possessed extraordinary mobility and dramatic
+vigor, and yet was graceful, majestic and impressive.
+This dance, as it was produced on the Athenian
+stage, is said to have been so terribly realistic that
+many of the spectators rushed shocked from the theatre,
+imagining that they really beheld the incarnated
+sisters of sorrow whose very names they did not dare
+to mention. These awful ministers of divine vengeance,
+who were supposed to punish the guilty both on earth
+and in the infernal regions, appeared in black and
+blood-stained garments. Their aspect was frightful
+and their poses emanated an air of death. On their
+heads they carried wreathed serpents, while in their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span>
+hands were wriggling scorpions and a burning torch.</p>
+
+<p>The music used for the <i>Emmeleia</i> was supplied by an
+‘orchestra’<a id="FNanchor_B" href="#Footnote_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> and chorus. Both the musicians and the
+singers were divided into two groups, one of which
+was to the right, the other to the left of the dancers.
+This gives an idea of the so-called ‘strophic’ principle.
+There are allusions to the fact that the Egyptians used
+music to the Astral Dances in this form. Though we
+do not know the character of the Greek dance music,
+particularly of the <i>Emmeleia</i>, yet fragmentary allusions
+here and there give an idea that they were mostly in a
+minor key and of very changeable measure. Kirchoff,
+who made a special study of this dance, came to the
+theoretic conclusion that this was predominantly recitative
+and resembled partly the later operas of Wagner—of
+course, only melodically—and partly the Finnish
+<i>Rune</i> tunes. As there was much action that could not
+be danced, the <i>Emmeleia</i> required a perfect mimic
+technique and thorough knowledge of ‘eurhythmic’
+rules. A few of the old Greek writers speak of dance
+music as dignified and stately, which attributed seriousness
+or sorrow to the grave steps, gracefulness and modesty
+to the gay and joyful poses.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_B" href="#FNanchor_B" class="fnanchor">B</a> As to the significance of this word, see Vol. I, pp. <a href="#Page_120">120ff</a>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Of a very opposite character was the <i>Cordax</i> Dance.
+According to most accounts it lacked in respectability
+and some writers speak of it as an ‘indecorous dance.’
+Lucian says it was considered a shame to dance it when
+sober. In some parts of Greece it took a comic character
+and was often marred by buffoonery. According
+to Burette, people had recourse to this dance when excited
+by wine. <i>Cordax</i> was a Satyr who gave his name
+to it. Since it was frivolous and comic, it was performed
+only by less reputable female dancers. It is said
+that in its first phase the <i>Cordax</i> was an extremely
+comic dance and the people enjoyed its refreshing humor
+and burlesque style. Like the Spanish <i>Zarzuelas</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span>
+the <i>Cordax</i> dances were small local comic pantomimes.
+In it the dancers ridiculed public men whom no one
+dared to criticize otherwise. Like every other stage art
+of this kind the <i>Cordax</i> dances grew indecent and were
+later abolished.</p>
+
+<p>A dance of distinctly sexual nature was the <i>Hormos</i>,
+which was dedicated to Artemis. Lucian tells us that
+the <i>Hormos</i> was commenced by a youth, absolutely
+unclad, and started with steps in military nature, such
+as he was afterwards to practice in the field. Then
+followed a maiden, who, leading up her companions,
+danced in a gentle and graceful manner. Finally, ‘the
+whole formed a chain of masculine vigor and feminine
+modesty entwined together.’ Sometimes the dance went
+in a circle, sometimes in pairs of a maiden and a
+youth. Sometimes passionate and sensuous gestures
+were made by both sexes, though only for a moment,
+and the dance ended with a floating, graceful adagio.
+It was an allegorical playlet in dance of human passions
+and their control. The music for the youths was
+twice as rapid as that for the maidens.</p>
+
+<p>Lucian writes that at some of the festivals three great
+choruses were formed for the dancers: of boys, of
+young men, and of old men. The old men danced, singing
+of their life of valor and wisdom. The chorus of
+the young men took up the theme and answered that
+they could accomplish deeds greater than any that
+had been achieved. The boys finished the song boasting
+that they would surpass both in deeds of glory. The
+<i>choragos</i>, who acted at the same time as a conductor
+and ballet-master, was regarded a man of the highest
+standing.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The Greek theatres, in which the dances and dramas
+were performed regularly, were of vast dimensions.
+The Theatre of Dionysius at Athens, being built in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span>
+shape of a horseshoe, could accommodate an audience
+of 30,000 spectators. A deep and wide stage was constructed
+for the dramatic performances. The theatre
+was not merely, as with us, a place of entertainment,
+but also a temple of the god whose altar was the central
+part of the semicircle of seats, where the worshippers
+sat, during the festival days, from sunrise to sunset.
+The stage decorations were of three sorts: for
+tragedies, the front of a palace, with five doors; for
+comedy, a street with houses; for satire, rocks and trees.
+There were no accessories of any kind on the stage.
+Instead of a roof there was the blue sky. The front part
+of the stage was used for the chorus, instruments and
+dancing. Lucian mentions how even the Bacchanalian
+dance was treated so seriously on the stage that the
+people would sit whole days in the theatre to view the
+Titans and Corybantes, Satyrs and shepherds. ‘The
+most curious part of it is,’ he writes, ‘that the noblest
+and greatest personages in every city are the dancers,
+and so little are they ashamed of it that they applaud
+themselves more upon their dexterity in that species
+of talent than on their nobility, their posts of honor,
+or the dignities of their forefathers.’</p>
+
+<p>How learned the public dancers were in Greece is
+best illustrated by a dialogue that occurred between
+Lucian and Croton. In this one of the speakers maintains
+that any person desiring to become a public dancer
+should know by heart Homer and Hesiod, should know
+the national mythology and legends, should be acquainted
+with the history of Egypt, should have a good
+voice and know how to sing well, and should be a man
+of high personal character. A dancer should be neither
+too tall or too short, too thin or too fat. If a dancer
+ever failed in his efforts to please the audience he ran
+the risk of being pelted with stones. The Greek audiences
+were accustomed to express their disapprobation
+in a very decided manner.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span>
+It is interesting to compare the Greek dancing figures
+of various periods, which actually give an idea of the
+development of their choreography, and also of the
+change which took place in their costumes and styles.
+In the first half of the sixth century the Ionic style prevailed
+in garments. The feminine body was heavily
+draped. Later, until the Persian War, a costume of a
+chiton, with wide sleeves and sharply cut was in
+fashion. This century is rich in reproductions of dancing
+figures, which have a tendency to keep one another’s
+hands and strive to be decorative. The fifth century
+figures give an impression of poised grace and plastic
+perfection of the body. The fourth century figures
+show dancers with great individuality and perfection
+in the use of the arms. Numerous bas-reliefs of this
+era represent women dancing with veils which give to
+them a peculiar magic of motion. Like all the Orientals,
+the Greek women used to wear veils while outside
+of their homes. The veil was a natural medium of
+decoration and a symbol for the pantomime of the
+dance. Frequently the dancing garments of this era
+are so slight that they add only a mystifying charm to
+the apparently nude dancers. The poses of their limbs
+and arms give evidence of rhythm and technique. The
+mimic expressions play seemingly a foremost rôle, as
+their smiling faces and bashful looks betray the power
+of their fascination. They show expert skill in the use
+of the veils, with which they now seemingly cover their
+bodies, opening them again to give a glimpse of their
+great beauty. The exquisitely artistic statuettes found
+at Tanagra give some idea of the beauty of motion as
+practised by young women dancers, when, in the marvellous
+setting of the antique theatres, under the blue
+skies of Greece, they gave performances to audiences
+with whom the love of beauty was a passion.</p>
+
+<p>At some of the religious ceremonial dances only boys
+and girls appeared, at others young men or girls, or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span>
+both together, danced. Of a rather voluptuous nature
+were the dances performed in the temples of Aphrodite
+and Dionysos. Of special importance were the dances
+connected with the Eleusinian Mysteries, always celebrated
+in Athens. Their performance and the form
+of their construction were surrounded with greatest
+secrecy. Plato, who was initiated into them, spoke
+very highly of their meaning. It is evident that their
+real influence upon the people began in the sixth century.
+In the beginning the Mysteries were performed
+once every five years. Later they became annual performances.
+According to Desrat, they had much in
+common with the <i>Rondes</i> of the Middle Ages. The
+procession of the Mysteries proceeded from the temple
+of Demetrius, in Attica, and passed along a wooded
+road to Athens. A special resting place was the Fountain
+of Magic Dances, where the girls performed dances
+of unusual poetic grace. Late in the evening the procession
+entered the temple with a dance of torches.
+Here, on a stage specially erected for this purpose, were
+performed the dances of the Mysteries. Very little is
+known of the character of these dances. It is likely
+that they were dramatized legends of Demetrius, who
+was depicted as a pilgrim, wandering from place to
+place, in search of his lost daughter. Another phase
+of the Mysteries was to produce in symbolic gestures
+and poses and by proper staging, episodes of the life
+beyond. The performance began in twilight, the first
+scene being the pantomime in Hell, whither the soul of
+Demetrius was carried by infernal powers. It represented
+the utmost horror. During all the performance
+no word was spoken. After the scene in Hell came another
+in Heaven. The most impressive of all the dances
+was the ‘Leap with Torches,’ in which only the women
+appeared. It was said to be the most fantastic and
+acrobatic of all the Greek religious dances. Plutarch
+says that the impression was that of spectral ghosts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span>
+playing perpetually with flames. It was meant to act
+as a purgatory fire that cleansed all the souls from their
+wickedness. The Mysteries ended in the night of the
+fourth day with a Dance of Baskets, in which the
+women appeared with covered baskets on their heads
+in a solemn march rhythm and vanished into the darkening
+temple. The Eleusinian Mysteries were abolished
+by an imperial decree in 381 A. D.</p>
+
+<p>Not less popular than the Eleusinian were the Dionysian
+Mysteries. It is said that these developed as
+the festival of the first-fruits, but were later dedicated
+to the god Dionysos, the patron of wine and pleasure.
+To him is ascribed the invention of enthusiasm and
+ecstasy, the essential element of all beauty. The symbol
+of all the Dionysian dances was the goat, which
+also figured in the Mysteries. It was one of the most
+sensuous performances that imagination could invent.
+In it men and women took part, but men wore usually
+women’s dresses and the women men’s. In the centre
+of the dancers, before the statue of Dionysos, stood a
+huge cup filled with wine. The ceremony lasted three
+days and was performed in every town and hamlet of
+the country. According to the Greek mythology, Dionysos
+is represented in a group of dancing women and
+men. As Satyrs were supposed to be daily companions
+of Dionysos, the Satyr Dance was a feature of the
+Mysteries. Of one of the Dionysian dances we read
+in ‘Daphnis and Chloë’: ‘Meanwhile Dryas danced a
+vintage dance, making believe to gather grapes, to carry
+them in baskets, to tread them down in the vat, to pour
+the juice into tubs, and then to drink the new wine: all
+of which he did so naturally and so featly that they
+deemed they saw before their eyes the vines, the vats,
+the tubs, and Dryas drinking in good health.’</p>
+
+<div id="ip_68" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">
+  <img src="images/i_068.jpg" width="510" height="723" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases</p></div></div>
+
+<p>Other features of the Dionysian Mysteries were the
+Dances of Nymphs, the Dances of the Knees, and the
+<i>Skoliasmos</i>, in the nature of gymnastics, in which the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span>
+performers hopped on inflated wine-skins, rubbed over
+with oil to make them slippery. The ancient writers
+describe these dances as lascivious and comic. In the
+Satyr Dance the dancers wore goat-skins and appeared
+as Satyrs. Several of these dances consisted of graceful
+and more modest movements, measured to the sound
+of flutes. Some of them were accompanied by light
+songs, daring sarcasm, and licentiously suggestive
+poems. Dances in which animals were imitated were
+numerous. There was a Crane Dance, supposed to be
+invented by Theseus, and Owl, Vulture, and Fox
+Dances.</p>
+
+<p>The Mysteries of Demetrius took a more centralized
+form than the Mysteries of Dionysos. Each town had
+its individual secrets of romantic mysteries. In Athens
+the cult of love turned very much around the legend
+of Mænads, which, like little devils, shadowed the people
+day and night. In the Museum of Naples can be
+seen a vase with dancing Mænads, which represents best
+the ancient spirits of love. Plato says that the Mænad
+Dance consisted principally of the embracing and
+caressing of men and women.</p>
+
+<p>Reinach believes that all Greek mythology, art and
+science grew out of the Greek folk-songs and folk-dances.
+According to him, the rhythm and melody of
+dance music changed in strict correspondence with the
+theme. All the sacred dances dedicated to Demetrius
+and Apollo, or to Aphrodite, were in legato form, graceful,
+melodious and full of color; on the other hand,
+those dedicated to Bacchus and Dionysos were of
+quicker tempo, syncopated style and less melodious.
+Reinach succeeded in deciphering the words and music
+of an ancient Greek dance song that was discovered
+in the ruins of the temple of Delphi. This was presumably
+danced at the Delphic festivals and is dedicated
+to Apollo. Since the cult of Apollo was widespread
+in Greece there were not a few dances dedicated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span>
+and performed to this god. We are told that palm-leaves
+were given as prizes for the best of the Apollo
+dancers.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the artists who appeared either in sacred
+or classic dances, there existed in Greece a class of professional
+dancers called Heteræ. These were women of
+flirting and coquettish type. In our sense, they must
+have been a kind of <i>Varieté</i> or professional social
+dancers. During the time of Pericles there were 500
+Heteræ in Athens. Thus Sappho, Aspasia and Cleonica
+were trained to be Heteræ dancers. At one time in
+Greek history the Heteræ became a danger to the family.
+Aspasia was the mistress of Pericles until she became
+his wife. Being well educated, the Heteræ were
+women of attractive type and most of the great Greek
+thinkers, artists or statesmen felt the spell of their
+charm. Sappho called her house the ‘home of the
+Muses,’ where plastic beauty rivalled with poetry and
+music. The tragedy of Sappho has inspired many writers,
+ancient and modern, to immortalize her in their
+works, particularly the story according to which she
+sang and flung herself down into the sea. Performed
+by great celebrities the dances of the Heteræ were by
+no means vulgar, but lyric and suggestively sensuous.
+They were performed with garments or without, with
+floating veils and to the music of a flute. The dancers
+of this class used to give performances at their homes
+or in specially established gardens. All the Hetera
+dances were dedicated to Aphrodite and the ambition
+of the performers was to imitate the lovely poses of
+the celebrated goddess. According to most descriptions
+they resembled our past century’s <i>minuets</i>, <i>gavottes</i> and
+<i>pavanes</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Emmanuel, who has written an interesting work on
+the Greek choreography, maintains that the accuracy
+of rhythm was of foremost importance. A choreographic
+time-marker was attached to sandals that produced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span>
+sounds modified to the changing sentiments of
+the action. A little tambourine or cymbals were occasionally
+employed. A special branch of dance instruction
+was the <i>Chironomia</i>, or the art of using the hands.
+Greek dancing was by no means predominantly gesturing
+with hands, as some people think, but it was the
+harmonious use of every limb of the human body, in
+connection with the corresponding art of pantomime.
+There were numerous dancing schools in Greece, and
+each of them had its particular method of instruction.
+The first exercise in a school was the learning of flexibility
+of the body, which lasted a few years. A special
+school dance was the <i>Esclatism</i>, which was chiefly
+a rhythmic gymnastic, on the order of Jaques-Dalcroze’s
+method at Hellerau. We know comparatively
+little of the details of the ancient technical mechanism
+of choreography. Unfortunately all the ancient dancing
+figures represent merely one moment of a dance,
+therefore it is extremely difficult to grasp the principal
+points of the vanished art.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the <i>Bellicrepa
+saltatio</i>; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the Lupercalia and Floralia;
+Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous
+dancers.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">As</span> with all their arts, the ancient Romans borrowed
+their dancing from the Greeks. A nation raised in
+adoration of military and aristocratic ideals, conceited,
+and with a strong tendency to materialism and formalities,
+the Romans contributed little to choreography.
+Their civilization was imitative rather than creative.
+Their art is void of ethnographic characteristics and a
+kind of artificial stiffness breathes from their best
+achievements. The only conspicuous contribution of
+the Roman dancers to the evolution of dance lies in
+their unique dramatic and ecclesiastic pantomimes and
+their celebrated masque dances. But it seems surprising
+that dancing was far more highly developed and
+esteemed in the earlier period of Roman history than
+in those days of luxury and vice which preceded the
+downfall of the empire. Under the republic, dancing
+was considered one of the foremost factors in education,
+and the children of patricians and statesmen were
+obliged to take lessons in Greek dancing. But of the
+social views of later centuries we read from Quintilian
+that ‘it disgraced the dignity of a man,’ or as Cicero
+said, ‘No sober man dances, unless he is mad.’ Horace
+rebukes the Romans for dancing as for an infamy.
+Various other Roman writers tell us how much the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span>
+women of standing were criticized for their lack of virtue
+if they entertained a dancer at their house or shook
+hands with him.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we have an eloquent proof of
+the Roman frenzy for the stage dance in the exciting
+intrigues of Pylades and Bathyllus, which set the whole
+Republic in a ferment. De Jaulnaye, the great historian,
+writes that the rivalries of Pylades and Bathyllus
+occupied the Romans as much as the gravest affairs
+of state. Every citizen was a Bathyllian or a Pyladian.
+Glancing over the history of the disturbances created
+by these two mummers, we seem to be reading that of
+the volatile nation whose quarrels about music were
+so prolonged, so obstinate, and, above all, so senseless
+that no one knew what were the real points of dispute,
+when the philosopher of Geneva wrote the famous letter
+to which no serious reply was ever made. Augustus
+(the Emperor) reproved Pylades on one occasion for
+his perpetual quarrels with Bathyllus. ‘Cæsar,’ replied
+the dancer, ‘it is well for you that the people are engrossed
+by our disputes; their attention is thus diverted
+from your actions!’ While Pylades is described as
+a great tragic actor and dancer, Bathyllus is represented
+as having been endowed not only with extraordinary
+talent, but also with great personal beauty, and is said
+as having been the idol of the Roman ladies. It is said
+that the banishment of Pylades from Rome almost
+brought about a serious revolution, that was prevented
+by the recall of the imperial decree.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most interesting ancient dances practised
+by the Romans was <i>Bellicrepa saltatio</i>, a military dance,
+instituted by Romulus after the seizure of the Sabine
+women, in order that a similar misfortune might never
+befall his own country. To Numa Pompilius, the gentle
+Sabine, who became king after the mysterious disappearance
+of Romulus, is ascribed the origin of Roman
+religious dances. Especially celebrated were the dancing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span>
+priests of Mars, and the order of Salien priests,
+numbering twelve, who were selected from citizens of
+first rank. Their mission was to worship the gods by
+dances. As a sign of special distinction they wore in
+their ceremonials richly embroidered purple tunics,
+brazen breastplates and their heads covered with gilded
+helmets. In one hand they held a javelin, while the
+other carried the celestial shield called the <i>ancilia</i>.
+They beat the time with their swords upon this <i>ancilia</i>,
+and marched through the city singing hymns to the time
+of their solemn dancing.</p>
+
+<p>According to Livy, pantomimes were invented to
+please the gods and to distract the people, horrified by
+the plague that created havoc in the sacred city of
+Rome. The <i>Ludiones</i>, the celebrated Roman bards,
+are said to have performed their dances first before the
+houses of the rich to the music of the flute, but later
+appeared in the circuses and in special show tents.
+Their example found followers among the Roman
+youth. All the Roman dancers gave performances
+masqued, and it was the custom that in the sacred, as
+well as in the great dramatic pantomimes women were
+excluded, though during the later period of the Empire,
+particularly during the reign of Nero, women dancers
+appeared.</p>
+
+<p>The best known of the ancient Roman pantomimes
+were those performed at the festival of Pallas, of Pan
+and of Dionysus or Bacchus. Juvenal writes that
+Bathyllus, having composed a pantomime on the subject
+of Jupiter, performed it with such realism that
+the Roman women were profoundly moved. The same
+is said of the dances invented and performed by Pylades,
+some of which were later given by the priests of
+Apollo. The art of Roman pantomime developed gradually
+to classic standards and ranged over the whole
+domain of mythology, poetry and drama. Dancers,
+called <i>Mimii</i>, like Bathyllus and Pylades, translated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span>
+the most subtle emotions by gestures and poses of extreme
+graphic power so that their audiences understood
+every meaning of their mute language. This
+plastic form of mute drama made the dancing of the
+Romans a great art. The Emperor Augustus is said
+to have been a great admirer of Bathyllus, and so also
+was Nero. It is said that an African ruler, while the
+guest of Nero, was so impressed by the dancer that he
+said to Nero that he would like to have such an artist
+for his court. ‘And what would you do with him?’
+asked the Emperor. ‘I have around me,’ said the other,
+‘several neighboring tribes who speak different languages,
+and as they are unable to understand mine, I
+thought, if I had this man with me, it would be quite
+possible for him to explain by gesture all that I wished
+to express.’</p>
+
+<p>Very unusual was the Roman festival of Pan, or the
+<i>Lupercalia</i>, at which half-naked youths danced about
+the streets with whips in their hands, lashing freely
+everyone whom they chanced to meet. The Roman
+women liked to be lashed on this occasion, as they believed
+it would keep them young. Another kind of Pan
+festival was celebrated by the peasants in the spring
+at which the young men and maidens joined in the
+dances, which took place in the woods or on the fields.
+They wore garlands of flowers and wreaths of oak on
+their heads. Similar dances, only more solemn and
+magnificent, were performed at the festival of Pallas by
+shepherds. Dancing and singing around blazing bonfires
+in a circle they worshipped the goddess of fruitfulness.
+Frequently the officiators were disreputable
+women who appeared dressed in long white robes, symbolic
+of chastity. Then there were the great <i>Floralia</i> or
+May Day festivals which in the beginning were of sufficiently
+decent manner but eventually degenerated into
+scenes of unbounded licentiousness. Still wilder than
+these were the orgies of Bacchus, which contributed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span>
+greatly to the demoralization of the people until the
+consuls Albinus and Philippus banished them from
+Rome by a decree of the Senate.</p>
+
+<p>On account of their sensuous character the Romans
+were unable to keep their art of dancing in such poetic
+and yet simple æsthetic frames as did the Greeks, for
+which reason all the Roman women characters in a
+pantomime were disguised young men. They lacked
+the ability of self-control in the stage art which in
+Greece had reached a standard of classic perfection.
+It is sufficient to say that they must have been wicked
+enough when a ruler like Tiberius commanded the
+dancers to be expelled from Rome. But Tacitus relates
+that, while publicly Tiberius reprimanded Sestius Gallus
+for the elaborate balls given at his house, privately
+he made arrangements to be his guest on the condition
+that he should himself be entertained in the usual manner.
+Of his successor, Caligula, Suetonius writes: ‘So
+fond was the emperor of singing and dancing that he
+could not refrain from singing with the tragedians and
+imitating the gestures of the dancers either by way of
+applause or correction.’</p>
+
+<p>During the reign of Augustus the art of pantomime
+reached its zenith. The dances of this time were more
+spectacular and impressive on account of their carefully
+executed stage effects. As far as music was concerned,
+this was produced by flutes and harps, sometimes
+by singing voices. The Romans never cared for
+dancing itself, but they were fond of it as a spectacle.
+A great rôle in Roman life at this juncture was played
+by the female dancers from Cadiz, which were said to
+be so brilliant and passionate that poets declared it impossible
+to withstand the great charm these women exercised
+over the spectators. Some one says ‘they were
+all poetry and voluptuous charm.’ An English writer
+maintains that the famous Venus of Cailipyge was
+modelled from a Caditian dancer in high favor at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span>
+Rome. Another noted writer calls the <i>delicias caditanas</i>
+the most fascinating performances that ever could
+be seen, and calls all other dances of the Romans and
+even the Greeks amateurish puerilities.</p>
+
+<p>Of great Roman female dancers we know by name
+Lucceia, who was said to give performances when she
+was one hundred years old; Stephania, ‘the first to dance
+on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners’;
+Galeria Copiola, who danced before Emperor Augustus
+ninety-one years after her first appearance; and Alliamatula,
+who danced before Nero at the age of one hundred
+and twenty. The most known of all the great
+women dancers in ancient Rome was Telethusa, a fascinating
+girl from Cadiz, to whose extraordinary beauty
+and art the poet Martial dedicated many of his songs.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the strolling
+ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the church; dances
+of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets; the English masques;
+famous masques of the seventeenth century.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is a lapse of time, nearly a thousand years,
+from the fall of the ancient civilization of Greece and
+Rome to the Grand Ballet of France, when the art
+of dancing was almost stifled by the Mediæval ecclesiastic
+scholasticism. Since we have practically no records
+of the dancing that was fostered in Cadiz, which
+was probably the most conspicuous at that time, we
+must confess that the greatly esteemed art of the ancients
+nearly came to a ruin. If it had not been for
+Spain, where dancing was introduced even into the
+churches, it might have taken centuries longer to revive
+the vanishing ideas of the ancient choreography and
+keep alive the plastic religion. We are told that a
+bishop of Valencia adopted certain sacred dances in
+the churches of Seville, Toledo and Valencia, which
+were performed before the altar. In Galicia a slow
+hymn-dance was performed by a tall priest, while
+carrying a gorgeously dressed boy on his shoulders, at
+the festival of Corpus Christi.</p>
+
+<p>Much as the church fathers fought dancing in other
+countries, they had to admit it in Spain. It is said
+that the choir-boys of Seville Cathedral executed <i>danzas</i>
+during a part of the religious processions in mediæval
+Spain, and that this practice was authorized in 1439<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span>
+by a Bull of Pope Eugenius IV. Of these choir-boy
+dancers Baron Davillier writes: ‘They are easily to
+be recognized in the streets of Seville by their red caps,
+their red cloaks adorned with red neckties, their black
+stockings, and shoes with rosettes and metal buttons.
+The hat (worn during the dance), slightly conical in
+shape, is turned up on one side, and fastened with a
+bow of white velvet, from which rises a tuft of blue
+and white feathers. The most characteristic feature
+of the costume is the <i>golilla</i>, a sort of lace ruff, starched
+and pleated, which encircles the neck. Lace cuffs,
+slashed trunk-hose or <i>galzoncillo</i> blue silk stockings and
+white shoes with rosettes, complete the costume of
+which Doré made a sketch when he saw it in Seville
+Cathedral, on the <i>octave</i> of the Conception. The dance
+of the boys attracts as many spectators to Seville as
+the ceremonies of Holy Week, and the immense cathedral
+is full to overflowing on the days when they are
+to figure in a function.’</p>
+
+<p>Vuillier writes of another occasion of the Spanish
+temple dances: ‘One of these festivals is celebrated
+on the 15th of August, the day of the Assumption of the
+Virgin Mary, the other on the following day, the feast
+of the patron of the village of Alaro. On these occasions
+a body of dancers called <i>Els Cosiers</i> play the principal
+part. It consists of six boys dressed in white,
+with ribbons of many colors, wearing on their heads
+caps trimmed with flowers. One of them, <i>La Dama</i>,
+disguised as a woman, carries a fan in one hand and
+a handkerchief in the other. Two others are dressed as
+demons with horns and cloven feet. The party is followed
+by some musicians playing on the <i>cheremias</i>,
+the <i>tamborino</i>, and the <i>fabiol</i>. After vespers the <i>Cosiers</i>
+join the procession as it leaves the church. Three
+of them take up positions on either side of the Virgin,
+who is preceded by a demon; every few yards they
+perform steps. Each demon is armed with a flexible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span>
+rod with which he keeps off the crowd. The procession
+stops in all the squares and principal places, and there
+the <i>Cosiers</i> perform one of their dances to the sound
+of the <i>tamborino</i> and the <i>fabiol</i>. When the procession
+returns to the church they dance together round the
+statue of the Virgin.’</p>
+
+<p>Of a very primitive but unique nature were the mediæval
+strolling ballets of Spain and Italy. Some old
+writers assert that they originated in Italy and passed
+later into Spain, but others tell the contrary. Later the
+Portuguese organized a strolling ballet in adoration of
+St. Carlos. Castil-Blaze writes of a strolling ballet that
+was instituted by the King René of Provence, in 1462,
+called the <i>Lou Gue</i>. This consisted of allegorical scenes
+of the Bible and was danced in the style of Roman
+mythological pantomimes. Most of the conspicuous
+characters of the Bible and history were enacted in this
+ballet. The procession of the ballet went through a
+city to the square of a garden before some cathedral
+or castle. Fame headed the march, blowing a trumpet
+and carrying a gorgeous shield on a winged horse. He
+was followed by the rest of the company in various
+comic and spectacular costumes. There were the Duke
+of Urbino, King Herod, Fauns, Dryads, and Apostles,
+and finally the Jews, dancing round a Golden Calf.</p>
+
+<p>‘King René wrote this religious ballet in all its details,’
+writes Castil-Blaze. ‘Decorations, dance music,
+marches, all were of his invention, and his music has
+always been faithfully preserved and performed. The
+air of <i>Lou Gue</i> has some curious modulations; the
+minuet of the Queen of Sheba, the march of the Prince
+of Love, upon which so many <i>noëls</i> have been founded,
+and, above all the <i>Veie de Noue</i>, are full of originality.
+But the wrestler’s melody is good René’s masterpiece,
+if it be true that he is its author, as tradition affirms.
+This classic air has a pleasing melody with gracefully
+written harmonies; the strolling minstrels of Provence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span>
+play it on their flutes to a rhythmical drum accompaniment,
+walking round the arena where the wrestlers are
+competing.’</p>
+
+<p>Some queer religious pantomimes came into vogue
+in France about the twelfth century, and of these the
+torch dances, executed on the first Sunday in Lent,
+enjoyed the greatest popularity; but they were all suppressed
+by the clergy and later became degenerate.
+In Paris the clergy sold dancing indulgences to the
+rich patricians for a considerable sum of money. The
+high society was taught to despise dancing as an amusement
+unworthy of its position. It remained only a popular
+diversion among the middle class. The theatrical
+ballets and strolling pantomimes disappeared altogether.
+The theatre was declared by the clergy a Pagan
+institution and every art connected with the stage of
+infernal origin. But, strange to say, mediæval stage
+dancing was first introduced by women. Men appeared
+only as spectators of such performances. Thus we read
+in a ballad of the twelfth century that the <i>damosels</i>
+arranged a grand ball and the knights came to look on.</p>
+
+<p>The first dances that the mediæval nobility introduced
+at their castles, in which they themselves participated,
+were the famous <i>Caroles</i>. These were performed to
+the vocal accompaniment of the dancers themselves,
+although sometimes a strolling band was hired. Out
+of these grew gradually the various mediæval social
+dances and the court ballets and gay masquerades,
+which reached a climax during the middle of the seventeenth
+century. The most celebrated of this kind were
+the <i>Ballets des Ardents</i>, arranged by the Duchess de
+Berri and attended by the whole court. However, the
+most conspicuous of the mediæval attempts in this respect
+was the <i>Fête</i> given in 1489 by Bergonzio di Botta
+of Tortona, in honor of Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, on the
+occasion of his marriage of Isabella of Aragon. Of this
+we read:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span>
+‘The Amphitryon chose for his theatre a magnificent
+hall surrounded by a gallery, in which several bands
+of music had been stationed; an empty table occupied
+the middle. At the moment when the Duke and the
+Duchess appeared, Jason and Argonauts advanced
+proudly to the sound of martial music. They bore the
+Golden Fleece; this was the tablecloth, with which they
+covered the table, after having executed a stately dance,
+expressive of their admiration of so beautiful a princess
+and of a sovereign to possess her. Next came Mercury,
+who related how he had been clever enough to trick
+Apollo, shepherd of Admetus, and rob him of a fat
+calf, which he returned to present to the newly married
+pair, after having had it nobly trussed and prepared by
+the best cook of Olympus. While he was placing it
+upon the table, three quadrilles that followed him
+danced round the fatted calf, as the Hebrews had
+formerly capered round that of gold.’</p>
+
+<p>The writer describes how Diana, Mercury and the
+Nymphs followed the first scene. Then Orpheus appears
+to the music of flutes and lutes. ‘Each singer, each
+dancer had his special orchestra, which was arranged
+for him according to the sentiments expressed by his
+song or by his dance. It was an excellent plan, and
+served to vary the symphonies; it announced the return
+of a character who had already appeared, and produced
+a varied succession of trumpets, of violins with
+their sharp notes, of the arpeggios of lutes, and of the
+soft melodies of flutes and reed pipes. The orchestrations
+of Monteverdi prove that composers at that time
+varied their instrumentation thus, and this particular
+artifice was not one of the least causes of the prodigious
+success of opera in the first years of its creation.’</p>
+
+<p>This was followed by a solo singer accompanied by a
+lyre, after whose aria Atlanta and Theseus appeared to
+the sound of brass instruments. After this appeared a
+ballet of Tritons. During the intermission refreshments<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span>
+were served and the spectacle ended with the
+scenes of Orpheus, Hymen and Cupid. Finally, Lucretia,
+Penelope, Thomyris, Judith, Portia, and Sulpici
+advanced and laid at the feet of the Duchess the palms
+of virtue that they had won during their lives.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that this spectacular fête of the
+Duke of Milan gave the initial impetus to the following
+Grand Ballets at the French Court, which in turn became
+the embryos of the modern stage dances. It is
+also very likely that the well-known masques, so much
+in vogue during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
+were an outcome of the original Milan pageant.
+In particularly high favor stood the masques at the
+English court. Thus we read that in 1605 ‘The Masque
+of Blackness’ was given at Whitehall, in which Queen
+Anne and her ladies blackened their skins and appeared
+as blackamoors. The Spanish Ambassador, having to
+kiss Her Majesty’s hand, gave voice to his fears that the
+black might come off. Three years later ‘The Masque
+of Beauty’ was given. Both were written by Ben Jonson.
+The speeches of the masques were mostly in
+verse, but sometimes in prose. In the ‘Masque of Castillo,’
+written by John Crowne in 1675, the Princess
+Anne and Mary took part at St. James’ Palace and the
+performance was a great success. Though Bacon designated
+masques as mere toys, nevertheless he enjoyed
+them as spectacles on account of their rich colors and
+costumes. In 1632 James Shirley wrote ‘The Triumph
+of Peace,’ upon which production a sum of £21,000 was
+expended. This was given for the first time before the
+king and queen at Whitehall and was repeated in Merchant
+Tailors’ Hall. The music to this was composed
+by William Lawes and Simon Ives. The scenes and
+costumes were designed and superintended by the
+famous architect Inigo Jones.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly all the masques of olden times were written
+in honor of the marriage of royalty or of some great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span>
+nobleman and were mostly given at Christmastide
+Twelfth Night. They were said to be many-sided in
+their construction, music and themes. For the most
+part they were dramatic, festive and gay, the allegorical
+characters giving them an element of poetic charm.
+Dancing was one of their most potent elements, and this
+was graceful, dainty and lively. The dancers called
+maskers were a special feature in the masques, though
+they had nothing to do with speech or song. The
+dresses in these masques were not always accurate, for
+the parts were sometimes acted by women in farthingales,
+though they impersonated classic goddesses.
+Masques were patronized in England for only two centuries,
+Henry VIII, Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I
+being their main sponsors. Queen Anne of Denmark
+was so much delighted with them that she acted one
+of the characters.</p>
+
+<p>Alfonso Ferrabosco, a noted musician of Italian descent,
+was the composer of many masques during the
+reign of James I. Other composers were Nicholas Laniere
+and John Coperario. ‘Salmacida Spolia’ by Sir
+William Davenant, with music by Ferrabosco, was
+said to be one of the most spectacular masques of the
+seventeenth century. It consisted of pretty scenes and
+songs between the dances, so full of allegory and devices,
+and so gay in costumes and light that it was a
+favorite of English nobility for three generations. The
+most popular of the English masques were ‘Love’s
+Triumph Callipolis’ by Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones,
+which was performed at the court in 1630; the ‘Sun’s
+Darling,’ performed in 1623; the ‘Masque of Owles,’
+performed for King Charles I; and ‘Tempe Restored’
+by Aurelian Townsend, performed in 1632, with Queen
+Henrietta Maria and fourteen ladies as the leading characters.
+In the last-named masque the beasts form a
+procession, fourteen stars descend to the music of the
+spheres, and Tempe is restored to the true followers of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span>
+the Muses. Large figures were posted on either side
+of the stage, one a winged woman, the other a man,
+with the lighted torch of Knowledge and Ignorance.
+Women with snaky locks mingled with Harmony in
+the songs of the chorus of Circe. Dances by the queen
+and her ladies added to the spectacular character of
+the scene.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms
+under Louis XV; Noverre and the <i>ballet d’action</i>; Auguste Vestris and
+others; famous ballets of the period—the Revolution and the Consulate;
+the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five
+positions’; the ballet steps—Famous <i>danseuses</i>: Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine
+Guimard; Allard.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Though</span> Catherine de Medici, Henri IV, and Cardinal
+Richelieu are often quoted as the first rulers who enabled
+and encouraged their subjects to revive the ancient
+dances and thus lay the foundation of the modern
+ballet, the honor really belongs to Louis XIV. His love
+for dancing was so vital that he himself figured frequently
+on the stage, and emphasized the fact that the
+theatre was not a Pagan or immoral institution. He personally
+inspired Lully, Benserade and Molière to devote
+their genius to the stage. He introduced Minuets, Gavottes,
+Pavanes and Courantes at his court functions
+and they were copied by all the other rulers and by the
+nobility. In 1661 the Royal Academy of Dancing was
+founded. To its graduates were given the privileges that
+were enjoyed only by the highest officers of the empire.
+It is said that the king danced in the Masque of Cassandra
+when he was thirteen years of age. The French historians
+write that Louis XIV danced in twenty-seven
+grand ballets, not to mention the intermezzi of lyrical
+tragedies and comedy-ballets. In the <i>Ballet du Carrousel</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span>
+given in 1662 on a large open space before the
+Tuileries, the king danced in the rôle of a Roman emperor
+and his brother in that of a Turkish sultan. On
+the occasion of the king’s marriage in 1660 the ballet
+‘Hercules in Love’ was given at the palace.</p>
+
+<p>Lully’s ballet, ‘Cupid and Bacchus,’ was said to be a
+piece full of imagination, dramatic, vigorous and rich in
+timely mood. ‘The Triumph of Love,’ performed in
+1681, being the first ballet in which women appeared,
+is considered one of the best creations of this time
+musically and scenically. One of the most popular
+comic ballets of that era was <i>Impatiencem</i>, composed
+of series of disconnected scenes of extremely humorous
+nature. Pecour and Le Basque were the two celebrated
+dancers of those days, while Beauchamp, a talented
+composer and artist of considerable imaginative power,
+acted as Director of the Academy of Dancing and ballet-master
+in the Opéra. All his ballets were distinguished
+by their extraordinary complexity of mechanical
+contrivances, by imposing effects and their allegorical
+character. However, towards the end of the century
+Dupré appeared on the stage and soon far surpassed
+all his predecessors. Noverre speaks of him as
+the god of dancing, whose harmony of movements was
+of marvellous perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The principal tendency of dancing of this era was to
+be magnificent and noble, but it lacked individuality
+and failed to stir the emotions. The best examples of
+this kind of stateliness and stiffness are offered by the
+Pavane and Courante, which still survive. The gentleman,
+with hat in one hand, a gilded sword at his side,
+an imposing cloak thrown over his arm, gravely bowed
+before his partner, stiff and statuesque in her long train,
+and began the dance walking gravely around the room.
+The Pavane was ridiculously ceremonial and conventional.
+The Courante was different, somewhat resembling
+the Minuet. It was rather graceful, consisting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">88</span>
+of backward and forward steps. How fond the king
+was of the Courante is evident of what Regnard writes:
+‘Pecour gives him lessons in the Courante every morning.’
+Littré says that the Courante began by bows and
+courtseys, after which the dancer and the partner
+performed a set figure, which formed a sort of
+elongated ellipse. This step was in two parts: the first
+consisted in making <i>plié relevé</i>, at the same time bringing
+the foot from behind into the fourth position in
+front by a <i>pas glissé</i>; the second consisted of a <i>jetté</i> with
+one foot, and a <i>coupé</i> with the other. The dancers
+performed the back stay step twice, returning to position,
+and turned, beginning the movement again by
+repeating the first springing step and the back stay
+step, so that the partners changed places and turn. All
+these three figures were then repeated, commencing
+with the opposite foot. Eight bars of music were always
+occupied with the slow <i>pas de basque</i> in a circle.
+This briefly shows the same designs and forms in the
+dance of this era that we find in the Rococco style of
+architecture.</p>
+
+<p>But the beginning of the eighteenth century shows
+a marked reaction against the statuesque solemnity, the
+dead stiffness and merciless etiquette that had prevailed.
+An era of artificial reforms begins with Louis
+XV. To this period belongs the origin of our modern
+industrialism. The views and feelings of the feudal
+system begin to give place to those of coming realism
+and individualism. But the change is insignificant, as
+the art of dancing lacks in this as it did in the other,
+energy, feeling and soul. The one was more impressive
+through its grand outlines, the other excelled
+through its dainty charm, like the fashions, decorations
+and other arts of that time. Long, gilded mirrors, gay
+garlands of flowers, frail elliptic carvings, graceful designs,
+gauzy tissues, mauve ribbons, painted faces and
+hands, perfumed atmosphere, these and numerous other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span>
+impressions emanate of the art of dancing of the first
+part of the eighteenth century, although to this era belong
+the vigorous attempts of Jean-Georges Noverre,
+the greatest of all the dance authorities of the past centuries.</p>
+
+<p>Noverre, the celebrated ballet-master of France, is
+considered the father of the ballet and classic dancing
+generally. The brothers Gardel and Dauberval based
+their ideas upon the principles of Noverre. It was he
+who drove the masks, paniers, and padded coat-skirts
+from the stage and made it human. ‘A ballet,’ he said,
+‘is a picture, or rather a series of pictures, connected
+by the action which forms the subject of the ballet.
+To me the stage is a canvas on which the composer
+paints his ideas, notes his music and displays scenery
+colored by appropriate costumes. A picture is an imitation
+of Nature; but a good ballet is Nature itself,
+ennobled by all the charms of art. The music is to dancing
+what the libretto is to the music.’ According to his
+theory the action of the dancer should be an instrument
+for the rendering of the written idea. Before Noverre
+laid the foundation to his <i>ballet d’action</i>, dancing had
+existed as an auxiliary form to opera and was lacking
+in any signs of life. The dancers wearing powdered
+hair piled up a foot on their heads, and the men in
+their long-skirted coats made the impression more of
+a big puppet-show than of a living dance. This made
+the use of intricate and plastic movements of the body
+and, moreover, of mimic expressions, absolutely impossible.
+This is Noverre’s argument:</p>
+
+<p>‘I wish to reduce by three-quarters the ridiculous
+paniers of our danseuses. They are opposed equally
+to freedom, to quickness and to the prompt and animated
+action of the dance. They deprive the figure of
+its elegance and of the just proportions which it ought
+to possess. They diminish the beauty of the arms; they
+bury, so to speak, the graces. They embarrass and distract<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">90</span>
+the dancer to such a degree that the movement of
+her panier sometimes occupies her more seriously than
+that of her limbs.’</p>
+
+<p>In spite of his great reputation and influence, Noverre
+found it difficult to reform the stage fundamentally.
+He failed to perform his own ballets in the way
+he wished. Thus in the ‘Horatii’ Camilla appeared in
+hooped petticoat, her hair piled up and decorated with
+fantastic ribbons and flowers. However, his reforms
+gained ground little by little. Much as he tried, he
+failed in reforming the stage celebrities of his time.
+This actuated the great reformer to say, ‘what we lack
+is not talent, but emulation. It almost seems, in fact,
+as if this were deliberately repressed. How I should
+rejoice to see a great dancer performing some noble
+part without plumes or wig or masks! I should then
+be able to applaud his sublime talent with satisfaction
+to myself; and I could then justly apply the term “great”
+to him, whereas now the most I say is: “<i>Ah la bella
+gamba!</i>” It is evident, therefore, that theatrical dancing
+demands many reforms. They cannot, of course,
+all be carried out at once; but we might at least begin.
+Let us do away with those gold painted masks, which
+deprive us of what would be one of the most interesting
+features of a <i>pas-de-deux</i>, the expressions of the
+performers’ faces. The disappearance of the periwig
+would follow of itself, and a shepherd would no longer
+dance in a plumed helmet.’</p>
+
+<p>It is said that the Noverre’s ballets reached the number
+of fifty. But most known of them are ‘The Death of
+Ajax,’ ‘The Clemency of Titus,’ ‘The Caprices of Galatea,’
+‘Orpheus’ Descent Into Hell,’ ‘Rinaldo and Armida,’
+‘The Roses of Love,’ ‘The Judgment of Paris,’ etc. Several
+of these he produced at the courts of Stuttgart,
+Vienna, St. Petersburg and Florence. It was through
+his influence upon the Empress Anna of Russia that
+the great Russian Imperial Ballet School was founded,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span>
+whose graduates have been electrifying the European
+audiences during the present and past decades.</p>
+
+<p>Noverre’s reform ideas were much perfected by the
+French composers and dancers of the following generation,
+men whom we have previously mentioned—Gardel,
+Dauberval, the Vestris brothers, and, in addition,
+Duport, Blasis and Milon. Auguste Vestris was
+twelve years old when he made his début in Paris, in
+1772, in the ballet <i>La Cinquantaine</i>, and aroused the
+wildest enthusiasm in the audience. His high leaps
+were so popular that his father used to boast, ‘If Auguste
+does not stay up in the air, it is because he is unwilling
+to humiliate his comrades.’ For thirty-six years
+he was <i>premier danseur</i> of the Opéra of Paris, and
+preserved his popularity till the age of sixty-six, when
+he retired to give lessons in dancing at the Academy.
+Of an eighteenth-century performance Weber writes
+graphically:</p>
+
+<p>‘On June 11, 1778, Mile. Guimard and the younger
+Vestris danced in the new ballet, <i>Les Petits Riens</i>, with
+Dauberval and Mlle. Anglin. The performance was a
+great success. The only author mentioned was Noverre,
+the celebrated ballet-master. It was he who had imagined
+the three scenes, which were in fact the groundwork
+of his ballet. The first scene represented Love,
+caught in a net and put in a cage; the second, a game of
+blind-man’s buff; and in the third, which was the greatest
+success, Love led two shepherdesses up to a third,
+disguised as a shepherd, who discovered the trick by
+unveiling her bosom. “Encore!” cried the audience.
+Mlle. Guimard, the younger Vestris, and Noverre were
+heartily applauded, but not one “bravo!” was given to
+the composer of the music—who was no other than the
+divine Mozart. Mozart, who, fifteen years before, had
+been acclaimed in Paris as an infant prodigy and an
+inspired composer, was vegetating in the city in poverty
+and obscurity. The success of <i>Les Petits Riens</i> apparently<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span>
+made little difference to him, for a few days after
+the performance we find him leaving Paris, and seeking
+employment as an organist to ensure his daily
+bread.’</p>
+
+<p>This sad episode of the treatment of one of the greatest
+musical geniuses of his time is partly proof of how
+little valued was the musical side of a ballet at that
+time, yet it is also a graphic picture of the mental level
+of audiences of any time—ours not excluded—who
+judge a genius by public sentiment artificially aroused,
+either by means of some press-agent or by incidental
+novelty.</p>
+
+<p>Of the Gardel ballets the most popular were <i>Paul et
+Virginie</i>, <i>La Dansomanie</i>, <i>Psyche</i>, <i>L’Oracle</i>, <i>Telemaque</i>,
+and <i>Le Déserteur</i>. The writer witnessed a performance
+of <i>Psyche</i> given by the Russian Imperial Ballet
+with all the true atmosphere of its age, and it made a
+peculiar impression, similar to that which we get in
+visiting ethnographic museums of Europe. It was performed
+in Paris first time on December 14, 1790, at
+the Théâtre des Arts and pleased the people so immensely
+that it has been repeated not fewer than a
+thousand times since. The <i>Dansomanie</i>, which was
+given during the Revolution, was less effective and the
+author was apparently depressed, though he had chosen
+a subject of timely character—peasants, villagers and
+Savoyard farmers acting as the heroes. His ballet,
+<i>Guillaume Tell</i>, promised to be more successful, as the
+Committee of Public Safety had ordered its performance,
+but the money granted for its staging was stolen
+by politicians and Gardel took back his manuscript. It
+was given after his death. But his spectacular ballet
+<i>Marseillaise</i> created a furore when it was given at the
+Opéra. The ballet opened with a blast of trumpets,
+and was executed by dancers dressed as warriors and
+participants in a hungry mob. Mlle. Maillard, personifying
+Liberty, took her rôle so well that the actors on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span>
+the stage and the audience fell on their knees before
+her, as though in prayer. The solemn hymn passage
+of this part of the opera, and the slow, majestic dance
+of the artist were so impressive that the audience burst
+into sobs.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Though the ballet lost its previous splendor under
+the Revolution, yet it became more vigorous in its enforced
+simplicity. The French writers admit that the
+ballets performed in connection with the <i>fêtes</i> of the
+Republic were marked by more serious tendencies and
+possessed certain profound emotional qualities. Actors
+and dancers soon accommodated themselves to the new
+ideals of social life. The Festival of the Supreme Being,
+conducted by Robespierre himself, was the most
+important of the itinerant ballets of that time. It was
+a ceremony of classic nature, performed with slow and
+march-like steps. Special ceremonial dances were also
+performed by the colossal statue of Wisdom to the accompaniment
+of an orchestra. The members of the
+Convention had their places on a specially erected platform,
+while choirs chanted a hymn to the Supreme Being.
+The President set fire with a torch to an image of
+Atheism. ‘An immense mountain,’ writes Castil-Blaze,
+‘symbolized the national altar; upon its summits rises
+the tree of Liberty, the Representatives range themselves
+under its protective branches, fathers with their
+sons assemble on the part of the mountain set aside
+for them; mothers with their daughters place themselves
+on the other side; their fecundity and the virtues
+of their husbands are their sole titles to a place
+there. A profound silence reigns all around; touching
+strains of harmonious melody are heard: the fathers
+and their sons sing the first strophe; they swear with
+one accord that they will not lay down their arms until<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span>
+they have annihilated the enemies of the Republic, and
+all the people take up the finale.’</p>
+
+<p>This short picture gives a fairly clear idea of the
+Revolutionary period, which laid a new foundation to
+the French arts, including the art of dancing. The historians
+tell us that scarcely was the Terror at an end
+when twenty-three theatres and eighteen hundred dancing
+salons were open every evening in Paris. The costumes
+worn by the dancers under the first Republic
+were more or less imitations of those of the ancient
+Greeks. The women arranged their hair in imitation
+of the coiffures of Aspasia and Sappho, and appeared
+with bare arms, bare bosoms, sandalled feet, and hair
+bound in plaits round their heads. Even during the
+Terror people danced in every restaurant on the boulevards,
+in the Champs Élysées, and along the quays. It
+is said the people danced in order to forget the tragedies
+of the day. Milon was a celebrated composer and ballet-master
+under the Consulate. The most popular of
+his ballets during this period were <i>Les Sauvages de la
+Mer du Sud</i>, <i>Lucas et Laurette</i>, <i>Héro et Leandre</i>, <i>Clary</i>,
+<i>Nina</i>, <i>Le Carnaval de Venise</i>, etc. As in their dress
+and their ideals, so also in their dancing the people
+showed an outspoken tendency to appear <i>à la sauvage</i>.
+However, the political turmoils that shook France in
+these centuries, when the art of ballet crystallized into a
+systematic shape, assisted its natural development,
+chiefly by forcing it to swing from one extreme to the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>The foundation which the French grand ballet laid
+for the art of dancing still prevails in all the dancing
+schools of Europe. The ballet codes of all the modern
+nations use the same French grammar of technique as
+that which was taught to Mlles. Sallé, Camargo, and
+Guimard during the past centuries. To the French
+Academy of Dancing the world owes the principles of
+the ballet-technique, the <i>pirouettes</i>, <i>jetés</i>, <i>chassés</i>, etc.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span>
+The French ballet-masters found it necessary to divide
+dancing into five different positions, which formed the
+foundation of all dancing; and then classified the various
+styles of steps. In describing first, the positions,
+we begin with the right foot, but the movements would
+be the same if we would choose the left foot. First position:
+place the heels against each other, the knees and
+toes turned well out, the legs firm and straight, the
+body erect and well balanced, standing equally on the
+two feet. Second position: pass the right foot to the
+side to the length of the foot, the weight of the body
+resting on both feet, the right heel turned forward.
+Third position: bring the heel of the extended foot close
+to the hollow of the other instep, in the middle. Fourth
+position: move the right toe to the front, the toe pointed,
+the heel forward. Fifth position: let the feet be completely
+crossed, the heel of one foot brought to the toe
+of the other.</p>
+
+<p>In systematizing the dance steps the French based
+their technique upon the ancient method. Here we
+find the <i>pas marché</i>, or the walking step, in which the
+toe is pointed and is accompanied by a springy gait, for
+it is often combined with a <i>jeté</i> and a <i>demi coupé</i>, as
+the primary steps of the ballet. This is followed by the
+<i>jeté</i>, which means, spring forward on the pointed toe
+of the front foot so that the weight is thrown on it.
+To perform this it is necessary first to bend the knee
+and jump on the foot; second, to bring the toe of the
+right foot into the above-described third position; third,
+advance the right foot in small steps; fourth, bring the
+left foot behind into the fifth position and raise the
+right.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>pas coupé</i> is a step that requires the raising of
+one foot to the second position, then bringing it quickly
+to the other foot, which is then raised. Literally it
+means a step cut short. A step to the side is called
+<i>coupé lateral</i>, it is a <i>coupé dessous</i> if the same movement<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span>
+is executed in front or behind. Then there is a
+<i>demi coupé</i>, in which the step is half made. The
+<i>chassé</i> is a step in which the feet appear to be chasing
+each other close to the ground. It requires the advancing
+of the front foot, bringing the other close to it behind,
+then advancing the hind foot to the front, with an
+<i>assemblé</i> round the other foot. The first movement requires
+a step forward with right foot, bringing the toe
+of the left to the heel of the front foot. Then step
+forward, bring the foot back to third position with an
+<i>assemblé</i>, and let the other foot take the fifth position
+in front.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>battements</i> is balancing on one foot, while the
+other is extended to the side, front or back, and returning
+to the fifth position, in front or at the back. In the
+<i>petit battements</i> the movements are made with the
+toe on the ground. For theatrical dancing the leg is
+raised as high as possible. The <i>arabesque</i> is a step
+that requires the placing of the foot in the third position,
+then a slide of the left foot to the second position,
+turning the face and body in the same direction, the
+left hand curved above the head. In the second movement
+the right foot should be well extended behind, and
+the right hand stretched out behind. Of a quite different
+nature is the <i>cabriole</i>, which means striking the feet
+or calves of the legs together in the course of a leap. A
+<i>demi-cabriole</i> is a leap from one foot to the other, striking
+the feet while aloft. It requires the feet to be in
+the third position, sliding the right foot to the side,
+passing the left foot to the back, springing on the right
+foot, and turning and leaving the left foot still behind;
+the fourth movement brings the left foot forward with
+the right knee to the third position. Executed by
+trained ballet dancers with both feet in the air while
+the legs are rapidly separated and brought together, it
+is an effective trick.</p>
+
+<p>Well known even to social dancers, as the basis of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span>
+the polka-step, is the <i>pas bourrée</i>. This requires the
+dancer to stand on the front foot while the back one
+is raised. In the first movement the back foot is
+brought into the third position on the toes. The second
+movement is the beating of the front foot, and third
+movement the beating of back and front feet. To this
+step belongs the <i>pas de bourrée emboîté</i>, which requires
+the advancing of the right foot to the fourth position,
+the toe pointed and the knee straight, the bringing up
+of the left foot to the fourth position with the toe
+pointed behind the right, and the advancing of the
+right foot with the toe pointed to the fourth position
+without any raising or sinking of the body; it is all performed
+on the toes.</p>
+
+<p>Quite acrobatic in character are the celebrated <i>pirouettes</i>—movements
+composed of a <i>demi-coupé</i> and two
+steps on the points of the toes. The <i>pirouette</i> starts
+by bringing one foot to the fifth position behind, the
+toe touching the heel, then raising both heels and turning
+on the toe, reversing the position of the feet, and
+revolving on the toe. A <i>pirouette</i> used in the old dances
+consists of a turn on one foot and the raising of the
+heel of the other, stepping with the toe of this foot four
+times and so getting around the other one. In some
+of the slow <i>pirouettes</i> the movement seems to consist
+of the raising of the foot and jumping round as in some
+of the country dances. To this class belongs the <i>fouetté</i>,
+which gives a fluid, swinging impression.</p>
+
+<p>Of ancient French origin is the <i>pas de basque</i>, which
+starts in the fifth position with the bringing of the right
+foot forward with pointed toe, and passing in a semi-circle
+to the second position with the weight on the
+right foot, then with a <i>glissade</i> through the third position
+into the fourth. The <i>glissade</i> is a slide. Slide the
+front foot from the third position with pointed toe
+slightly raised to the right; then bring the left toe to the
+right heel, and <i>vice versa</i>. The first movement is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span>
+sliding of the foot from the third to the second position;
+the second, the left foot is drawn into the third position
+forward and repeats.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>fleuret</i> is a movement composed of a <i>demi-coupé</i>
+and two steps on the points of the toes. Start in the
+fourth position without touching the ground, bend the
+knees equally and pass the right foot in front in the
+fourth position, and so rise on the points of the toes and
+walk two steps on the toes, letting the heel be firm as
+you finish. This can be done also at the back and sides.
+The ‘balance’ is performed by rising and falling on the
+side of one foot, while the other is brought up close.
+The <i>brisé</i> and <i>entre-chat</i> are related movements. They
+occur during the spring while in the air. The feet cross
+and recross, and assume various positions. The
+<i>changement de pied</i> is a conventional step. In the first
+movement the dancer springs upward from the third
+position with the right foot forward; in the second, he
+throws this foot back and the left forward, dropping
+down into the third position, the situation of the feet
+being changed; this can be done in the same manner
+starting from the fifth position. The <i>pas sauté</i> is a
+jumping step, performed by bending the knee and leaping
+on one foot while the other is raised. Of more or
+less importance are the <i>assemblé</i> and the <i>ballotté</i>. The
+movement in the former is that of bringing the foot
+from an open to a closed position, as from the second
+position to the fifth. The latter is a crossing of the
+feet alternately before and behind. Then there is the
+<i>pivot</i>, in which the dancer revolves on one foot while
+the other beats time in turning around.</p>
+
+<p>This is briefly the elementary grammar of the French
+ballet technique, upon which the mechanical part of
+the art of dancing has been based. This was thought
+to be of essential value for a dancer in producing the
+most effective lines of the various positions and gestures
+of the body. According to the views of the authorities<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span>
+of the French Academy, mental application
+to physical effort were the chief requirements of a
+dancer. The gymnastic, and particularly the acrobatic,
+features occupied the foremost place in the ballet performances.
+Thus dancers in a ballet were not considered
+human beings but rather moving figures in a decorative
+design. Even the celebrated <i>prima ballerinas</i>,
+Mlles. Sallé, Camargo and Guimard, who are considered
+as the first accomplished women dancers on the European
+stage, with their ‘ravishing figures,’ and ‘enchanting
+appearances’ as Voltaire praised them in his poems,
+remained acrobatic puppets, as compared with our
+modern terpsichorean celebrities.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The advent of the above-named three French ballet
+dancers was due to the genial reforms of Noverre, the
+Shakespeare of the dance, in the eighteenth century.
+We know very little of the principal qualities of Mlle.
+Sallé’s art, except that she disliked rapid measures and
+choreographic eccentricities. She was the principal
+dancer in many of Noverre’s ballets, especially in ‘The
+Caprices of Galatea’ and ‘Rinaldo and Armida,’ and in
+several Gardel ballets. In 1734 she appeared at Covent
+Garden in London, in the ballet of ‘Pygmalion and
+Galatea,’ and seemed to electrify her audiences so much
+that Handel wrote for her the ballet ‘Terpsichore,’ and
+at the close of the ballet purses filled with jewels were
+showered on the stage at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>The real favorite of the eighteenth century opera
+habitués was Mlle. Camargo. Her success is said to
+have been so sensational that the crowds around the
+doors of the theatre in London fought for the mere
+privilege of seeing her. She was also famous for her
+enchanting body and fascinating personality. Though<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span>
+born in Brussels, she was the daughter of a Spanish
+ballet-master, therefore she had at her command all
+the impassioned art of the ancient Caditians. At the
+age of ten she was sent by the Princess de Ligne to
+Paris and became a pupil of Madame Prévost, the foremost
+dancing teacher of that time. At the age of eleven
+she made her début at Rouen; but she continued her
+study until she was sixteen when she appeared for the
+first time at the Opera in Paris with unparalleled success.
+‘Nimble, coquettish, and light as a sylph, she
+sparkled with intelligence,’ writes Castil-Blaze. ‘She
+added to distinction and fire of execution a bewitching
+gayety which was all her own. Her figure was very
+favorable to her talent: hands, feet, limbs, stature, all
+were perfect. But her face, though expressive, was not
+remarkably beautiful. And as in the case of the famous
+harlequin Dominique, her gayety was a gayety of
+the stage only; in private life she was sadness itself.’</p>
+
+<p>Camargo is credited with having brought about an
+absolute revolution in opera by her fanciful and ingenious
+improvisations. In spite of the prevailing stiffness
+and rigid rules in the ballet she made a special
+place for herself by depicting the characters that she
+had to personify on the stage. She delighted in the
+conquering of technical difficulties. Stormy love affairs
+affected her so much that for six years she retired from
+the stage. But she quitted public life in 1741 and lived
+in seclusion the rest of her life. She left two children
+with the Duc de Richelieu and Comte de Clermont.
+She died at sixty years of age and ‘was remembered as
+the grave, sweet woman whose last years had been
+spent in loneliness and meditation.’</p>
+
+<p>Madeleine Guimard, whose fame loomed up soon
+after the retirement of Camargo, remained for forty
+years a commanding figure in the French ballet. Born
+in Paris in 1743, she made her début at the age of eighteen
+and was acclaimed as an artist of exquisite figure,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span>
+marvellous grace, and extremely distinguished manners.
+She knew how to make money out of her rich
+patrons but she was also most reckless in the expenditure
+of her wealth and her affections. She possessed
+two elaborate villas, one at Pantin, the other in
+the Chaussée d’Antin, in both of which she had built
+little stages on which she and her contemporary stage
+celebrities gave performances to the high society of
+Paris. Fleury says that ‘it was a gala day for one of
+our actors when he could escape from the desert of
+the <i>Comédie Française</i> and disport himself on the
+boards of a theatre so perfectly arranged.’ She entertained
+the guests of the court at her houses and loved to
+make her arrangements to clash with those given at
+the court. She was said to be pensioned by a Royal
+prince, a banker and a bishop, but lost nearly everything
+in the revolutionary storms. Retiring from the
+Opéra in 1789, she married the dancer Despreaux,
+who died soon after. Her old age was verging on misery
+and she died neglected in a miserable three-room
+apartment in the Rue Menars, at the age of seventy-three.</p>
+
+<p>A great dramatic <i>ballerina</i> after Camargo was Mlle.
+Allard, whose partners were Vestris, Dauberval and
+Gardel. Her frenzied admirers claimed that she far
+surpassed Camargo because of her added fire, her unusual
+agility and the expressive beauty of her poses.
+At one time she would be an ideal Sylvia, gentle and
+graceful to her finger-tips, then again she was the terrible
+Medea; now she personified the ethereal charms
+of a goddess of youth, then the voluptuous passions of
+a sultana. She figured as the <i>prima ballerina</i> in many
+of the ballets written by Maximilian Gardel, Milon, Mozart
+and Rossini.</p>
+
+<p>Of other dancers of the French school who enjoyed
+public favor under the Republic and the early Napoleonic
+era Duport is the only conspicuous figure. Being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span>
+a special favorite with Napoleon, he was the star in
+the ballets of Blasis and Blache. He composed some
+ballets himself in which he played the leading rôles.
+But these gained little success. Napoleon wrote to
+Cambaceres from Lyons that it was inconceivable to
+him why Duport had been allowed to compose ballets.
+‘This young man has not been in vogue a year. When
+one has made such a marked success in a particular
+line, it is a little precipitate to invade the specialty of
+other men, who have grown gray at their work.’ This
+clearly shows how much the great emperor was interested
+in the ballet, and how well he could criticize
+its artistic values.</p>
+
+<p>The Napoleonic era stopped temporarily the development
+of the ballet. Pieces composed during this time
+gained production more easily on foreign stages than
+at home. Thus the brilliant <i>Antoine et Cléopatre</i>, with
+music by Kreutzer, lived a few performances at home,
+whereas it became one of the most successful ballets
+abroad. The same was the case with Blache’s ballets
+‘Don Juan,’ ‘Gustave Vasa’ and ‘Malakavel,’ which became
+the favorites of the St. Petersburg audiences, while
+they remained unknown at home. It seems as if the
+political events which marked such a great step towards
+democratic ideas in France and Europe became a serious
+stumbling-stone to the evolution of the dance.
+Democratic England always relied on autocratic
+France, Italy, Austria and Russia for stimulation in
+dancing. All the great ballet celebrities of continental
+Europe found in England responsive and generous audiences,
+but never any serious rivals. Who of the
+great French <i>prima ballerinas</i> or male dancers, from
+Mlle. Sallé till Carlotta Grisi, did not make pilgrimages
+to Drury Lane?</p>
+
+<div id="ip_102" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 42em;">
+  <img src="images/i_102.jpg" width="668" height="508" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet)</p>
+  <p class="credit"><i>Painting by E. Degas</i></p></div></div>
+
+<p>Though to the period of the Renaissance and the
+European national awakening belong all the immortal
+musical geniuses, like Bach, Mozart, Gluck, Beethoven,
+Schubert and others, who laid the foundations of the
+opera and symphony, yet these men seemed to ignore<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span>
+the ballet (if we leave out of consideration their inferior
+or incidental works). Gluck wrote a few pieces
+of this order, and so did Mozart; but they are not the
+works of their inspiration. Scribe, Rossini, Auber,
+Weber and Meyerbeer gave occasional expression to
+ballet music, particularly in connection with their operas,
+but they regarded these works as inferior to their
+operas. There are two reasons for this: ecclesiastical
+prejudice and the revolutionary mob. Just as a
+fanatical clergy branded the dance as Pagan and immoral,
+so the mob has always regarded the ballet as an
+aristocratic luxury. Science seems to us essentially
+democratic; but from the arts there breathes an air of
+snobbishness and luxury. The history of civilization
+has not yet recorded a truly democratic art, particularly
+a democratic ballet.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The rise of nationalism—The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango; the
+Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances; general characteristics;
+costumes—England: the Morris dance; the Country dance; the
+Sword dance; the Horn dance—Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.—Ireland:
+the Jig; British social dances—France: Rondé, Bourrée and Farandole—Italy:
+the Tarantella, etc.—Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related
+dances; the Esthonians—Germany: the <i>Fackeltanz</i>, etc.—Finland;
+Scandinavia and Holland—The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs;
+the Roumanians and Armenians—The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy
+and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> greatest factor in the stimulation of European
+art, particularly music, drama and ballet after the
+bloody Napoleonic wars, was the rise of nationalism,
+vigorously manifested in the folk-art—dresses, customs,
+decorations, buildings, songs and dances—of various
+nations. The first steps in this direction were taken
+by the Scandinavians: Grieg, Ibsen, Björnson and August
+Bournoville. What Noverre was to aristocratic
+France that Bournoville was to Scandinavia. Instead of
+searching for models and inspiration in the aristocratic
+traditions of the past centuries, these men turned to
+the inexhaustible treasuries of the national folk-art.
+And they truly discovered new beauties in the simple
+racial traits of the people. In the previously despised
+peasant art they found unexpected æsthetic gems, out
+of which they began to form the individual beauties of
+their new art.</p>
+
+<p>The Scandinavians were soon followed by the young
+Russian dreamers: Glinka, Dargomijsky, Seroff, Balakireff,
+Moussorgsky and Tschaikowsky in music and also
+in ballet; Gogol, Turgenieff, Dostoievsky and Ostrovsky<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span>
+in drama and literature, turned in their creations
+to the rich and unexploited folk-lore of the people.
+Russian music, perhaps more than any other, is a true
+mirror of the racial soul. There is fire, gloom, sorrow
+and joy, remodelled and expressed in the same racial
+spirit as that in which the moujik sings his <i>Ai Ouchnem</i>,
+or builds his <i>izba</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The electrifying effect of the Russian dancers upon
+the European audiences is not due to the influence of
+the French Academy, on the model of which the Russian
+Imperial Ballet School was formed, as many music
+and dance critics of the old and new worlds seem to
+think, but to the primitive racial spirit, to the great
+stage geniuses of the Russian Empire, who began their
+work on the basis of ethnographic principles. It is
+therefore in the folk-dances that we must look for
+the solution of future dance problems, it is in the ethnographic
+element that is laid the foundation of the modern
+art dance.</p>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>While taking into consideration the folk-dances of
+various European nations, we find that those of Spain
+are the richest in racial individuality, most passionate
+in their æsthetic conception, and most powerful in their
+dynamic language. With their mediæval mystery,
+magic passion, merciless fury, angelic grace and seductive
+plastic forms the Spanish folk-dances remain the
+most impressive examples of folk-art. The centuries of
+Inquisition, romantic tragedies of the Moors and the
+silhouettes of an Alhambra are all expressed in the
+voluptuous lines of a <i>Jota</i> or <i>Fandango</i>, regardless of
+whether they are performed by an Andalusian or an
+Aragon beauty.</p>
+
+<p>So manifold is the Spanish folk-dance and so rich
+the Spanish imagination that each province has its own<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span>
+peculiar dance, of which, as in the case of the <i>Zarzuelas</i>,
+the inhabitants are immensely proud, and which they
+dance on the occasion of the fêtes of their patron-saints.
+The Andalusians boast of their <i>Bondinas</i>, the
+Galicians of their <i>Muynieras</i>, the Murcians of their <i>Torras</i>
+and <i>Pavanas</i>, etc. Dancing is the great pastime of a
+Spaniard. A dance of distinctly Moorish traits is the
+<i>Polo</i>. This is performed to the music of the <i>gaita</i>, a
+kind of bagpipe, and to the songs accompanying it.
+Devilier tells us how the male dancer looks over the
+girls present and, smiling on one of them, sings: ‘Come
+hither, little one, and we’ll dance a <i>Polo</i> that’ll shake
+down half Seville.’ ‘The girl so addressed was perhaps
+twenty years of age, plump, robust, strapping and supple.
+Stepping proudly forward, with that easy swaying
+of the hips which is called the <i>meneo</i>, she stood in the
+centre of the court awaiting her cavalier. Then castañets
+struck up, accompanied by the gay jingle of tambourines
+and the bystanders kept time by tapping the
+flags of the yard with their heels or their sword-canes,
+or by slapping the backs of the fingers of the right hand,
+and then striking the two palms together. The dancer,
+marvellously seconded by her partner, had little need
+of these incitements; now she twisted this way, and
+now that, as if to escape the pursuit of her cavalier;
+again she seemed to challenge him, lifting and lowering
+to right and to left the flounced skirt of her calico dress,
+showing a white starched petticoat and a well-turned,
+nervous leg. The spectators grew more and more excited.
+Striking a tambourine, some one cast it down
+at the girl’s feet; and she danced round it with redoubled
+animation and agility. But soon the exhausted
+dancers had to sink upon a bench of the courtyard.’</p>
+
+<p>One of the most typical of the Spanish folk-dances is
+the celebrated <i>Fandango</i>, that surpasses in its wild passions
+and vulcanic vigor everything of its kind. If
+you see it performed in the shadows of the ruined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span>
+Moorish castles and mosques to a measure in rapid
+triple time, and hear the sharp clank of ebony or ivory
+castañets beating strange, throbbing rhythms, you stand
+spellbound and electrified, a mute witness of striking
+ethnographic magic. You seem to feel the pulse of the
+semi-tropical, semi-African race. The flutter and glitter,
+passion and quivering seductiveness, are a glimpse
+into the æsthetic depths of a national soul. The dance
+seems to inflame the dancers as well as the spectators.
+A Spanish poet speaks of the <i>Fandango</i> as of an electric
+shock that animates all hearts. ‘Men and women,’
+he writes, ‘young and old, acknowledge the power of
+the Fandango air over the ears and soul of every Spaniard.
+The young men spring to their places, rattling
+castañets, or imitating their sound by snapping their
+fingers. The girls are remarkable for the willowy languor
+and lightness of their movements, the voluptuousness
+of their attitudes—beating the exactest time with
+tapping heels. Partners tease and entreat and pursue
+each other by turns. Suddenly the music stops, and
+each dancer shows his skill by remaining absolutely
+motionless, bounding again into the full life of the <i>Fandango</i>
+as the orchestra strikes up. The sound of the
+guitar, the violin, the rapid tic-tac of the heels (<i>taconeos</i>),
+the crack of fingers and castañets, the supple
+swaying of the dancers, fill the spectators with ecstasy.’</p>
+
+<p>An equally well known of the Spanish folk-dances is
+the <i>Jota</i>, which is said to have originated in the province
+of Aragon, though the inhabitants of Valencia and Andalusia
+claim that the <i>Jota</i> is the invention of their ancestors
+centuries before the Aragonians knew of it.
+It is a more ceremonial and less passionate dance than
+the <i>Fandango</i>, as it is performed on Christmas Eve and
+at other festivals with the purpose of invoking the favor
+of the Virgin. The Kinneys write of it: ‘It is a good,
+sound fruit of the soil, full of substance, and inviting
+to the eye as good sound fruit may be. No academy’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span>
+hothouse care has been needed to develop or protect
+it; the hand of the peasant has cultivated without dirtying
+it. And that, when you look over the history of
+dancing in some more progressive nations, is a pretty
+significant thing. The people of Aragon are not novelty-hunters.
+Perhaps that is why they have been satisfied
+while perfecting the dance of their province not
+to pervert it from its proper motive—which is to express
+in terms of poetry both the vigor and the innocence of
+rustic, romping, boy-and-girl courtship.’</p>
+
+<p>‘A trace of stiffness of limb and angularity of movement,
+proper to the <i>Jota</i>, imbued it with a continuous
+hint of the rural grotesque. Yet, as the angular spire of
+the Gothic cathedral need be no less graceful than the
+rounded dome of the mosque, so the <i>Jota</i> concedes
+nothing in beauty to the more rolling movement of the
+dance of Andalusia. It is broad and big of movement;
+the castañets most of the time are held strongly out at
+arm’s length. One of its many surprises is the manner
+of the pauses: the movement is so fast, the pauses are
+so electrically abrupt, and the group in which the dancers
+hold themselves statue-like through a couple of
+measures is so suddenly formed, that a layman’s effort
+to understand the transition would be like trying to
+analyze the movements of the particles in a kaleidoscope.’</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Jotas</i> of the other provinces, particularly of Andalusia
+and Valencia, are less racial than <i>la Jota Aragonesa</i>,
+but nevertheless they are true to the spirit of
+their localities. Thus the Andalusian <i>Jota</i> breathes mystery
+and romantic gloom, while that of Valencia is fluid
+and graceful in every movement. The great violinist
+Sarasate was so fond of the <i>Jota</i> that he made special
+trips after his concert season in the capitals of the
+world to his home town in Spain, and immensely enjoyed
+dancing with his old friends and the townspeople
+or playing the violin to them free of charge.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span>
+An extremely graceful and dignified Spanish folk-dance
+is the <i>Bolero</i>. This dance more than any other
+resembles the general architectonic and decorative style
+of the Spanish middle class. It has round and fluid
+lines, rich, soft forms, and graceful poses. In many
+respects it rather suggests a mediæval ballroom than
+a simple folk-dance. Some authors say that it is an invention
+of Sebastian Cerezo, a celebrated dancer of the
+eighteenth century, but the Spaniards themselves maintain
+that it dates back to the Arab rule or before. Blasis
+writes of it: ‘The <i>Bolero</i> consists of five parts: the
+<i>paseo</i>, or promenade, which is introductory; the <i>differencia</i>,
+in which the step is changed; the <i>traversia</i>, in
+which places are changed; then the so-called <i>finale</i>;
+followed in conclusion by the <i>bien parado</i>, distinguished
+by graceful attitudes, and a combined pose of
+both the dancers. The <i>Bolero</i> is generally in duple
+time, though some <i>Boleros</i> are written in triple time.
+Its music is varied and abounds in cadences. The
+tune or air may change, but the peculiar rhythm must
+be preserved, as well as the time and the preludes,
+otherwise known as feigned pauses—<i>feintes pauses</i>.
+The <i>Bolero</i> step is low and gliding, <i>battu</i> or <i>coupé</i>, but
+always well marked.’</p>
+
+<p>A folk-dance of great antiquity, according to Fuentes,
+is the <i>Seguidilla</i>, which has certain affinities with the
+<i>Bolero</i>. It is a spirited, gay and modest country dance
+of the Andalusian peasants. The <i>Seguidillas</i> of some
+provinces have a rapid rhythm and are accompanied
+by humorous recitative songs. It is said that in La
+Mancha, whose inhabitants are famous for their passionate
+love of dancing, verses to <i>Seguidillas</i> are improvised
+by popular poets to suit every occasion. The
+<i>Seguidillas</i> are dances that you see performed on any
+occasion at country inns and at social festivals. Though
+requiring less physical strength and dynamic technique
+than many others, nevertheless the <i>Seguidilla</i> is difficult<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span>
+to untrained aspirants. But like most of the Spanish
+folk-dances it betrays caprice, coquettishness and romantic
+tendencies of some sort. The theme of the
+<i>Seguidilla</i> poems is always love. Davillier says that
+the <i>Seguidilla</i> that he saw at Albacetex ‘began in a
+minor key with some rapid <i>arpeggios</i>; and each dancer
+chose his partner, the various couples facing each other
+some three or four paces apart. Presently, two or three
+emphatic chords indicated to the singers that their
+turn had come, and they sang the first verse of the
+<i>copla</i> (the song that accompanies a dance); meanwhile
+the dancers, toes pointed and arms rounded, waited
+for their signal. The singers paused, and the guitarist
+began the air of an old <i>Seguidilla</i>. At the fourth bar
+the castañets struck in, the singers continued their
+<i>copla</i>, and all the dancers began enthusiastically turning,
+returning, following and fleeing from each other.
+At the ninth bar, which indicates the finish of the first
+part, there was a slight pause; the dancers stood motionless
+and the guitar twanged on. Then, with a
+change of step, the second part began, each dancer
+taking his original place again. It was then we were
+able to judge of the most interesting and graceful part
+of the dance—the <i>bien parado</i>—literally: well stopped.
+The <i>bien parado</i> in the <i>Seguidillas</i> is the abrupt breaking
+off of one figure to make way for a new one. It is
+a very important point that the dancers should stand
+motionless, and, as it were, petrified, in the position in
+which they are surprised by the final notes of the air.
+Those who managed to do this gracefully were applauded
+with repeated cries of <i>bien parado</i>!</p>
+
+<p>‘Such are the classic lines upon which the dance is
+regulated, but how shall we describe its effect upon
+the dancers? The ardent melody, at once voluptuous
+and melancholy, the rapid clank of castañets, the melting
+enthusiasm of the dancers, the suppliant looks and
+gestures of their partners, the languorous grace and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span>
+elegance of the impassioned movements—all give to
+the picture an irresistible attraction only to be appreciated
+to the full by Spaniards. They alone have the
+qualities necessary for the performance of their national
+dance; they alone have the special fire that inspires
+its movements with passion and with life.’</p>
+
+<p>Noteworthy among the other Spanish folk-dances is
+<i>El Jaleo</i>, a wild and animated dance, consisting of acrobatic
+leaping and bounding, pirouet wheeling and fury-like
+fleeing and rushing. It needs a strong and experienced
+gypsy girl or a seasoned country dancer to give
+it its peculiar electrifying quality. <i>El Garrotin</i> is described
+as a pantomimic dance, in which the gesture of
+the hands and arms plays a leading rôle. The Kinneys
+write that <i>La Farruca</i> is an interesting folk-dance.
+‘After one becomes accustomed to it sufficiently to be
+able to dominate one’s own delight and astonishment,
+one may look at it as a study of contrasts. Now the performers
+advance with undulation so slow, so subtle
+that the Saracenic coquetry of liquid arms and feline
+body is less seen than felt. Mystery of movement envelops
+their bodies like twilight. Of this perhaps eight
+measures, when—crash! Prestissimo! Like gatling-fire
+the volley of heel-tapping. The movements have become
+the eye-baffling darting of swallows. No preparation
+for the change, no crescendo nor accelerando; in
+the matter of abruptness one is reminded of some of
+the effects familiar in the playing of Hungarian orchestras.’</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Cachucha</i>, <i>Tascara</i> and <i>Zorongo</i> are Spanish
+folk-dances of more or less local color. While the
+<i>Zorongo</i> is a rapid dance, performed in backwards and
+forwards movements, the dancer beating time with his
+hands, the <i>Cachucha</i> is danced by a single dancer of
+either sex, in triple time. Its steps are gay, graceful
+and impassionate, head and bust playing a conspicuous
+rôle. The <i>Tascara</i> dance is more fantastic and symbolic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span>
+than hardly any other of Spain. The movements
+are slow and languorous. It requires more backward
+curving and strange posing than agility and grace. In
+olden times Tascara was imagined as a dragon with an
+enormous mouth and fantastic wings. The slow movements
+of the dance grow gradually in speed and near
+the end the castañets strike, for without them a Spanish
+dancer seems to feel uneasy.</p>
+
+<p>The choreographic designs of all the Spanish folk-dances
+are rich in graceful curves, with abrupt sharp
+corners here and there, like the national architecture.
+They speak of a sweet glow of emotion and make a
+direct appeal to the passions. In dances of certain
+provinces and certain ages we discern the influence of
+Egypt, particularly of the Arabs. They give evidence
+of an ancient training which has grown into the blood
+and bones of the nation. They betray more the forms
+of Moorish arabesques than the clear-cut images of the
+Roman, Greek, or Gothic style. You can feel in their
+vigorous rhythm and colorful tunes simple, unspoiled
+souls, filled with energy and hope. To this the picturesque
+and romantic dresses of their women add that
+atmosphere and background which the individual stage
+dance seeks in proper scenery and costumes. In this
+the Spaniards are born masters. Take, for instance,
+the black velvet bodice, golden-yellow satin skirt, net-work
+dotted with little black balls, draped over the
+hips of an Andalusian belle, and you have a combination
+of colors and designs that so aptly fit a <i>Fandango</i> or
+<i>Bolero</i> that it seems as if a genius had been at work in
+this harmonious combination. Not less effective are the
+silver-spangled costume of an Aragonian dancing girl,
+and the costume of Spanish male dancers, which is suggestive
+of humor, brilliancy and simple strength. The
+laced black breeches lashed at the knee, the black velvety
+waist-coat, broad blue sash, and the red handkerchief
+tied around the head, and you have the most harmonious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span>
+counterpart to the picturesque woman dancer.
+The music, steps, gestures, poses, dress and choreographic
+figures of the dance melt into a grandiose masterpiece
+of some gigantic yet unknown genius. The
+colors, the wide skirt, the light sandals, the comfortable
+costumes and the animated gestures fit so perfectly together
+and produce in the symbolic lines of the movement
+a language that speaks so clearly of the æsthetic
+peculiarities of the nation that we are convinced we
+have here the best lesson in the fundamental principles
+of a new art dance.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>How true a mirror the folk-dances and the folk-songs
+have been and are in showing the racial differences in
+regard to beauty, is best to be seen if we take the reader
+from semi-tropical Spain into cold, conventional England,
+where æsthetic views have developed so differently.
+In this field we owe much to Cecil Sharp, whose
+careful works on English folk-dances are of exceptional
+service to the student of choreography.</p>
+
+<p>The most typical of English folk-dances are the Morris
+Dances, the Country Dances, and the Sword Dances.
+All three lack the fire and boisterous passions of the
+Spanish <i>Jotas</i>, <i>Boleros</i> and <i>Fandangos</i>. They betray
+the traits of a more phlegmatic and more critical,
+perhaps more intellectual, but less emotional race.
+Take, for instance, the Morris Dance, and you find it
+to be a manifestation of vigor rather than of grace.
+The same you will find true of all the other English
+folk-dances. They are, in spirit, the organized, traditional
+expressions of virility and sound health—they
+smack of cudgel-play, of wrestling and of honest fisticuffs.
+There is nothing dreamy, nothing romantic,
+nothing coquettish about them. Speaking particularly
+of the Morris Dance, Mr. Sharp writes:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span>
+‘It is a formula based upon and arising out of the
+life of man, as it is lived by men who hold much
+speculation upon the mystery of our whence and
+whither to be unprofitable; by men of meagre fancy,
+but of great kindness to the weak; by men who fight
+their quarrels on the spot with naked hands, drink together
+when the fight is done, and forget it, or, if they
+remember, then the memory is a friendly one. It is
+the dance of folk who are slow to anger, but of great
+obstinacy—forthright of act and speech; to watch it in
+its thumping sturdiness is to hold such things as poniards
+and stilettos, the swordsman with the domino,
+the man who stabs in the back—as unimaginable things.
+The Morris Dance is a perfect expression in rhythm and
+movement of the English character.’</p>
+
+<p>The Morris dancers wear bells strapped to their shins,
+and properly to ring them requires considerable kicking
+and stamping. This ringing is done to emphasize
+the <i>fortissimo</i> part of the music. The foot, when lifted,
+is never drawn back, but always thrust forward. The
+toe is never pointed in line with the leg, but held at a
+right angle to it, as in the standing position. The stepping
+foot is lifted as in walking, as if to step forward,
+then the leg is vigorously straightened to a kick, so as
+to make the bells ring. At the same instant that the
+forward leg is straightened, a hop is made on the rear
+foot; the dancer alights upon the toe, but lets the heel
+follow immediately and firmly, so that he stands upon
+the flat foot. The dancer jumps as high as his own
+foot, holding his legs and body straight while he is in
+the air, alighting upon the toes (but only so as to break
+the shock sufficiently), then letting the heels come firmly
+down. In alighting from the jump, the knees are bent
+just enough to save the dancer from injurious shock,
+and are straightened immediately. The Morris Dance
+is danced by men, usually six. Occasionally, but rarely,
+women have figured as performers. The music in early<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span>
+times was furnished by the bagpipe, whistle and tabor;
+but for a century or so a fiddle did the service. The
+dress of the dancers was a tall hat with a band of red,
+green and white ribbons, an elaborately frilled and
+pleated white shirt, fawn-shaded breeches with braces
+of white webbing, blue tie with the ends long and loose,
+substantial boots, and rough, gray wool stockings. All
+dancers carry a white handkerchief, the middle finger
+thrust through a hole in one corner.</p>
+
+<p>Of somewhat different type is the Country Dance,
+which is performed by men and women together.
+Though less of a festival nature than the Morris, the
+Country Dance has been practised as the ordinary,
+every-day dance of the people. It is performed in
+couples and contains gestures that suggest flirtation.
+For this no special dress is needed. The figures and
+steps are simple and more graceful than those of the
+Morris Dance. Its step is of a springy walking nature,
+two to each bar, executed by women with a natural
+unaffected grace, and on the part of men with a complacent
+bearing and a certain jauntiness of manner.
+Like the Morris, the Country Dance never requires
+pointed toes, arched legs or affected swayings. The
+galop, waltz and polka steps are occasionally used. The
+movements are performed smoothly and quietly, the
+feet more sliding than walking. The figures are numerous
+and involve many repetitions.</p>
+
+<p>Of a very spectacular character are the Sword
+Dances, which bear a stamp of high antiquity. During
+the mythologic era they may have been practised as
+war dances, as we find similar ones practised by all
+primitive tribes. The history of all nations speaks of
+sword dances of some kind. There is to be seen in
+the Berlin Museum a picture from the seventeenth century
+that shows two double rings of dancers in white
+shirts, holding up on a frame of interlaced swords two
+swordsmen clad entirely in colors. There are also,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span>
+separately, seven sword-dancers, six in white shirts, the
+first only clothed in red, like one of the swordsmen.
+They dance in file toward the left, each sloping his
+own sword back over his left shoulder and grasping the
+sword-point of the men next in front of him. The last
+man only shoulders his sword.</p>
+
+<p>In England there seem to have been six principal
+sword dances, three long and three short. The long-sword
+dance of Yorkshire requires six men dancers,
+the Captain, and the Fool. These are accompanied by
+a musician who plays either a fiddle, bagpipe or accordion.
+The dancers wear red tunics, cut soldier fashion
+and trimmed with white braid down the front and
+around the collar and sleeves; white trousers with a
+red stripe an inch or more wide down the side of each
+leg; brown canvas shoes, and tightly fitting cricket caps,
+quartered in red and white. Each dancer carries a
+sword; the leader, an ordinary military weapon, and
+the others swords forged by a village blacksmith. The
+Captain wears a blue coat of flowered cloth, ordinary
+trousers and a peaked cap of white flannel. He used
+to carry a drum, slung round his waist, upon which
+he accompanied the dance tunes. The Fool used to
+wear a cocked hat, decorated with peacock feathers.
+He wore a dinner-bell and a fox’s tail attached to the
+back buckle of his trousers, and he used to run among
+the spectators making humorous exclamations. The
+steps, a kind of leisurely tramp, or jog-trot, fall on the
+first and middle beats of each bar of the music, and the
+tramp of the feet should synchronize with the rhythm
+of the tune. The dancers move slowly round in a ring,
+clockwise, stepping in time with the music and clashing
+their swords together on the first and middle beats of
+each bar of the first strain of the music. The swords
+are held points up, hilts level with the chin, the blades
+nearly vertical, forming a cone immediately above the
+centre of the circle. Each dancer places his sword over<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span>
+his left shoulder and grasps the sword-point belonging
+to the dancer in front of him. He then faces the centre
+of the ring, passes his sword over his head and lets his
+arms fall naturally to his sides. The dance consists of
+eight different figures. In the last figure the dancers
+draw close together, linked by their swords, each crossing
+his right hand well over his head. Each man then
+drops the tip of his neighbor’s sword and, using both
+his hands, presses the hilt of his own sword under the
+point of the sword adjacent to it. In this way the
+swords are tightly meshed together in the form of a
+double triangle, or six-pointed star. The process of
+fastening the swords together is carried out as quickly
+and smartly as possible.</p>
+
+<p>The writer saw a series of English folk-dances given
+at the MacDowell Festival at Peterboro, N. H., in 1914,
+among them the sword-dance described. The performance
+was exceedingly effective, though the instructor
+had only inexperienced young amateurs at his disposal.
+The character of the English folk-dances made rather
+the impression of a wholesome sport than of a social
+ceremonial. It seemed as if they were void of all emotional
+suggestions and their language was clever and
+realistic rather than fanciful and imaginative.</p>
+
+<p>Though of the same order as the previously described
+Morris, Country and Sword Dances, yet of a more fantastic
+appearance is the Horn Dance, which the English
+have borrowed from the Finns, and greatly changed
+after their own taste. The English Horn Dance requires
+ten performers, six dancers, a fool, Maid Marian,
+a hobby-horse, and a boy carrying a bow and arrow.
+These are accompanied by a musician, who plays an
+accordion, and a boy with a triangle. Each dancer
+carries a pair of reindeer horns. The antlers borne by
+the first three dancers are painted a white or cream
+color, the remaining three a dark blue. The horns are
+set in a wooden counterfeit skull, from which depends<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span>
+a short wooden pole or handle about eighteen inches
+long. Each dancer bears the head in front of him, and
+supports it by grasping the handle with his right hand
+and balancing the horn with his left. The fool has a
+stick with a bladder attached to it; Maid Marian is impersonated
+by a man dressed in woman’s clothes and
+carries a wooden ladle which is used to collect money.
+The boy holds a bow and arrow which he clicks together
+in time with the music. The step is similar to the
+country dance step, an easy, rhythmical, graceful and
+springy walking movement.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The Scotch folk-dances, which surpass the English
+by their more rigorous movement and spirited steps,
+picture graphically the simple, industrious traits of a
+thrifty race. The most characteristic of the Scotch folk-dances
+are the <i>Highland Fling</i>, the <i>Scotch Reel</i>, and the
+<i>Shean Treuse</i>. All the Scotch dances are more or less
+variants of the previously described English ones. They
+have the same strong, sporty rhythm and jaunty bearing
+as the others. Their choreographic figures are so
+closely related to the English, and the English to theirs,
+that it were superfluous to give a detailed description
+of them on this occasion. Perhaps the <i>Scotch Reel</i>
+shows most typical traits of the Scottish race. This
+dance requires four ladies and four gentlemen, who
+all join hands, forming a circle. Then the gentlemen
+and ladies cross their hands and move eight steps forward
+and eight steps back in the style of a promenade.
+The gentleman balances his partner, swinging his
+right and left arms alternately and proceeds through
+the chain, the ladies separating left, the gentlemen
+right, until all arrive at their previous positions. The
+first lady goes into the centre of the ring while others<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span>
+hop around her until they reach their original position,
+after which the lady in the centre balances to her partner
+and back to the opposite gentleman in a half-swing,
+forming occasionally a chain of three. Thus it goes on
+until all the four ladies have done, after which the
+gentlemen follow the same figures and steps. All their
+steps are of a sharp, skipping nature and the lines of
+their poses remind one of the designs on their checked
+decorations and on the patterns of their bright and
+plain dresses. Noteworthy among the Scotch folk-dances
+is the <i>Hornpipe</i>, which has been a favored
+dance of the sailors and peasants. Its lively, rapid
+measure, so far as the feet are concerned, the folded
+arms, the firm and stiff body are typical characteristics
+of a Scotchman’s manners. The dance owes its name
+to the fact that it is performed to the music of a pipe
+with a horn rim at the open end. There are an infinite
+variety of <i>Hornpipes</i> and of music to which they can
+be danced, either in common or triple time, the final
+note having a special stress laid on it.</p>
+
+<p>Of somewhat different character than the English and
+Scotch folk-dances are those of Ireland. The Irish <i>Jig</i>
+enjoys a popularity throughout the world. Already the
+name suggests a light, frolicking and airy movement.
+Since the days of Charles II and Queen Anne, this dance
+has been associated with humorous verses. The <i>Jigs</i>
+were already in vogue at the time of Shakespeare, who
+speaks of them as leading pieces in the theatrical repertoires.
+A dancing or singing <i>Jig</i> was the real climax of
+a piece, often being given as an entertainment during
+the intermissions. Audiences were accustomed to call
+for a <i>Jig</i> as a happy ending to a show. The Irish people,
+possessing a natural love for music and dancing, have
+put their soul into the <i>Jig</i>. It mirrors best the semi-sentimental,
+the semi-adventurous racial traits of an
+Irishman.</p>
+
+<p>There are single and double <i>Jigs</i>; the distinction rests<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span>
+on the number of beats in the bar and they have often
+enough been danced to the strains of the bagpipe. As
+a rule, the foot should strike six times to a bar, and
+it needs a certain amount of enthusiasm to get into the
+spirit of the thing, the music thereof being most exhilarating.
+It adds to the charm if the dancers appear
+as Paddy in a brown coat, green breeches, and the soft
+hat with the pipe in it, and his partner in emerald
+green stockings and skirt, with a red kerchief about her
+head. The music of a <i>Jig</i> is usually an old Irish ditty,
+and anything more spirited or more in tune to the step
+could not be found. The first sixteen bars of the dance
+are occupied with the pitch in which the leg is thrown
+out. Sixteen bars are given to the toe and heel step.
+Thirty-two bars are occupied with the diagonal cock-step,
+supposed to represent the strutting of a cock. Sixteen
+bars are danced to a rocking-step, in which the
+legs are crossed. Eight bars are given to pointing; sixteen
+to stamping firmly with both feet, then the dancers
+advance and pivot. Finally, sixteen bars are given to
+a round and round movement. It requires a great deal
+of hand movement and body vivacity. It has been said
+by certain Irishmen that a <i>Jig</i> is in its apparent fun
+and fury a short symbolic drama of Irish life. The
+first figures mean love making, wooing, wedding and
+marriage. Then come the troubles of married life, the
+repentance and sinking into the grave.</p>
+
+<p>To old Irish, Scotch and English folk-dances belong
+the ‘All in a Garden Green,’ ‘Buckingham House,’ ‘Dargason,’
+‘Heartsease,’ and ‘Oranges and Lemons.’ They
+are all graceful and dignified, but depict more the English
+middle class or nobility than the people. Thus in
+the ‘All in a Garden Green’ the man begins by shaking
+the hand of his lady partner and kissing her twice,
+which was rather the custom of the fashionable ballroom
+than of a puritan people. They all give the impression
+of a refinement of manners that belongs more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span>
+to the early French social dances than to the folk-dances
+of a heavy and realistic race. We know how the English
+high society and court imitated the French in the
+seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so it is only natural
+that it accepted with certain modifications the
+French social dances.</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>It seems like a paradox that a country which gave
+to the world the classic ballet in the modern sense,
+Noverre, Blasis and Vestris, never produced any folk-dances
+of such racial flavor as we find in many other
+nations. The old French Rustic Dances, ‘Rounds,’
+<i>Bourrées</i>, the Breton Dances, and the <i>Farandole</i>, betray
+only in certain figures the characteristics of the French
+race; otherwise they make the impression of a pleasing
+and polished bourgeois art. The <i>Ronde</i>, considered as
+the first form of French folk-dances, being performed
+in circles by taking each other by the hand, is to be
+found among races like the Finns, Esthonians, Letts and
+Lithuanians, as we read from the old epics of these
+nations. Thus we read in the <i>Kalewipoeg</i> that ring
+dances—<i>ringi tants</i>—of eleventh-century Esthonians
+were practically of the same order as the French
+<i>Rondes</i>. The Greeks had ‘Rounds,’ so had other ancient
+civilized races.</p>
+
+<p>An old French dance is the <i>Bourrée</i> of Auvergne. It
+is said to be a shepherd dance originally; but Catherine
+de Medici introduced it at court and polished out all
+the heavy, simple and characteristic traits of the people.
+From that time it has figured as a semi-fashionable
+dance danced in the society. Bach, Gluck, Handel,
+and many others since have either composed <i>Bourrées</i>
+or treated <i>Bourrée</i> themes in their orchestral compositions.
+Originally the <i>Bourrée</i> was a simple mimic
+dance of the peasants. The woman moved round the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span>
+man as if to tease him. He advanced and returned,
+glanced at her and ignored her. In the meanwhile she
+continued her flirting. Then the man snapped his
+finger, stamped his foot and gave an expression of his
+masculinity. That induced her to yield, and the dance
+stopped—only to begin anew.</p>
+
+<p>Like the <i>Bourrée</i>, the <i>Farandole</i>, which originated
+in Southern France, was concocted into a dance of
+the <i>Beaux Monde</i> and deprived of its racial language.
+The <i>Farandole</i> that one sees danced in Provence is
+only a pretty social dance and has little of the old
+flavor. The dancers performing it stand in a long line,
+holding the ends of each other’s handkerchiefs and
+winding rapidly under each other’s arms or gyrating
+around a single couple in a long spiral. The modern
+‘Cotillions’ and ‘Quadrilles’ are based on the old French
+<i>Farandole</i>.</p>
+
+<p>It is likely that the idolized French ballet killed the
+interest of the people in their simple and idyllic folk-dances.
+The peasant going to the town felt the contempt
+that a patrician had for the country art and naturally
+grew to dislike his traditional old-fashioned village
+dance. The music that he heard in the city cafés
+cast its spell upon him, as did the city dances. Urban
+ideals have been of great influence upon the French
+country people, upon their traditional folk-dances and
+folk-songs, and this has deprived the race of valuable
+ethnographic reserve capital, in which many other nations
+excel. The French, like the English, have been
+strong in cosmic tendencies but weak in ethnic. While
+science grows out of the cosmic principles, art’s vigor
+lies in those of ethnographic nature. An average
+Frenchman is a great connoisseur of dancing and indulges
+in it with a particular pleasure. But his love
+of the refined and most accomplished impressions puts
+him naturally outside a simple and coarse peasant art.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian is less pretentious in his taste than the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span>
+former. But an average Italian, regardless of whether
+he be a peasant from the most secluded corner of the
+country or a citizen of Naples, lives and dies in music,
+particularly in song. The predilection that a Frenchman
+shows for the ballet transforms itself in the case
+of an Italian into a love for the opera. Italy has produced
+great composers, great musicians and singers,
+but only a few great dancers. An Italian dancer is
+either acrobatic or blunt. She seems to lack the more
+subtle qualities of plastic expression, the ability to
+speak in gestures and mimic forms. This is best illustrated
+in the celebrated folk-dance, the <i>Tarantella</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Tarantella</i> owes its name to a great poisonous
+spider, whose bite was supposed to be cured only by
+dancing to the point of exhaustion. The Italians perform
+it to the music of a tambourine, which in the
+hands of an expert gives an amazing variety of tones.
+Like the skirt, apron and the head-dress of the dancing
+girl, the tambourine is adorned with glaring red, white
+and green colored ribbons. The white under-bodice
+of the Italian peasant dress is capable of any amount
+of embroidery, the hair intertwisted and interplaited
+with ribbons, the aprons interwoven with colors, and,
+instead of the usual square head-dress, with its hard oblong
+board resting on the head, a scarf is gracefully
+folded over the foundation and caught back with
+bright ribbons; this is the special Tarantella dress of
+a girl. The Italian costumes, both ancient and modern,
+are full of grace and beauty and give the appropriate
+atmosphere to a dance.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Tarantella</i>, being a tragic dance, demands considerable
+temperament, fire and dramatic gift. It begins
+with the dancers saluting each other, and dancing
+a while timidly. Then they withdraw, return, stretch
+out their arms and whirl vehemently in a giddy circle.
+It has many surprising and acrobatic turns. Towards
+the middle the partners turn their backs on each other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span>
+in order to take up new figures. It ends with a tragic,
+whirling collapse of the girl and the man looking sadly
+on. It is typical of hysteric fury, revenge, superstition,
+hatred, fanaticism, passion and agony. It speaks of
+a quick and sanguine temperament. An Englishman,
+Scandinavian or Dutchman could never dance a <i>Tarantella</i>.
+It is the dance of a temperamental race.</p>
+
+<p>Like the ancient Romans, the Italians are fond of
+pantomimes and spectacular effects, with little discrimination
+for poetry and poise. We can see the same
+traits in the Italian ballet, which has an outspoken
+tendency to the acrobatic. All the Italian ballet teachers
+in Russia are kept there only for their acrobatic
+specialties. You find in Italy everywhere singing parties,
+but comparatively little dancing. Some provinces
+may be more inclined to dancing than those around
+Naples and Rome. We have heard of a pretty dance,
+called <i>Trescona</i>, that the people dance in Florence, but
+we have never seen it performed. Other Italian folk-dances
+are the <i>La Siciliana</i>, <i>Saltarello</i>, <i>Ruggera</i> and
+<i>Forlana</i>. Some of them are more graceful and less
+dramatic than the <i>Tarantella</i>, but they have comparatively
+little racial vigor, little original appeal. They
+are either pantomimic or imbued with gymnastic tricks,
+and with a strong tendency towards the extravagant
+or the grotesque. However, the <i>Tarantella</i> is and remains
+the crown of Italian folk-dances. How much
+it has impressed the Italian and foreign composers is
+evident in the numerous compositions that they have
+devoted to this theme. Rubinstein’s ‘Tarantella’ is one
+of the best.</p>
+
+<h3>V</h3>
+
+<p>We find a remarkable contrast to the Italian style
+and spirit in the folk-dances of the Hungarians, whose
+popular themes have been successfully employed by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span>
+Liszt and Brahms in their instrumental and orchestral
+compositions. A nation of Mongolian descent, of impassionate
+and virile temperament, living its own life,
+isolated from the æsthetic influence of their European
+neighbors, little conventional, optimistic, fantastic and
+lovers of adventure, the Hungarians are born dancers.
+True to the quick and fiery temperament of the race,
+the Hungarian dances are vivid sketches, full of action
+and color. Music and dancing have been for centuries
+past the foremost recreations of the race. Their ancient
+legends speak of worship that consisted only of music
+and dancing. Unlike other nations, their dance music
+is exceedingly pretty, melodious and full of imaginary
+beauty. The Hungarian folk-dance is expressive, rich
+in pictorial episodes, symbolic and elevating.</p>
+
+<p>The Hungarian costume for a <i>Czardas</i> is singularly
+effective, the petticoat of cloth of gold, the red velvet
+bodice opening over a stomacher of gold and precious
+stones, crimson and green blending in the sash which
+surrounds the waist. It is said that the name <i>Czardas</i>
+is derived from an inn where it was danced by the
+peasants in past centuries. In every <i>Czardas</i> the music
+governs the dance, which is romantic, full of lyric
+beauty and very changeable. It is mostly written in
+2/4 time, in the major mode. The dance consists of a
+slow and quick movement, the music beginning with
+<i>andante maesteso</i>, changing gradually to <i>allegro vivace</i>.
+It is of ancient origin and was probably used as a worship
+dance. It is danced to different tunes of one and
+the same character, as far as the figures are concerned.
+Six, eight, ten, or more couples place themselves in a
+circle, the dancer passing his arm round the waist of
+his partner. As long as the <i>andante</i> movement is given,
+he turns his partner to the right and left, clapping his
+spurred heels together and striking the ground with his
+toe and heel, and then they continue the step as a
+round dance. In some provinces the women put their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span>
+hands on their partners’ shoulders and jump high
+from the ground with their assistance. So fond is the
+Hungarian of his <i>Czardas</i> that, as soon as he hears the
+stirring tunes of the dance played by a gypsy band or
+fiddler, it seems to electrify him so that he can hardly
+listen to it without dancing. As the music continues,
+the dance gets wilder and wilder until it ends abruptly.
+The steps of the Hungarian folk-dances are as varied as
+the music. Now they are gliding and sharp, then again
+graceful and curved. Some of the dances are quiet and
+of seductive nature, others of involved steps and tricky
+tempo.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Szolo</i> is said to be a semi-acrobatic dance, in
+which the woman is swung through the air in a horizontal
+position from which she descends as if she were
+coming down from a flight. The <i>Verbunkes</i> is a dance
+of military character, performed mostly by men (ten
+or twelve), each dancer being provided with a bottle
+of wine which he swings as he dances, singing in between
+a patriotic song as an additional accompaniment
+to the occasional gypsy band. Unlike the English folk-dances,
+the Hungarian are mostly built upon some romantic
+theme, either legendary or symbolic. Being a
+nation with rural traditions and rural ideas, Hungary
+has no sport spirit in any of her folk-dances. There is
+a strong feeling for Bohemianism and nomadic abandon
+in their mute language. Mostly the Hungarian
+dances are gay, sparkling with life and fantasy. They
+suggest Oriental designs mixed with Occidentalism, a
+world of queer dreams and sentimentalism.</p>
+
+<p>Folk-dances related to those of Hungary, that deserve
+to be known, are the Esthonian <i>Kuljak</i>, <i>Kaara Jaan</i>,
+and <i>Risti Tants</i>. Descendants from the same stock as
+the Hungarians and the Finns, the Esthonians settled
+down in the Russian Baltic Provinces about the seventh
+or eighth centuries and since that time have
+formed their independent racial art and traditions,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span>
+which they have cultivated and preserved till to-day.
+The great Esthonian epic <i>Kalewipoeg</i>, known so little
+to the outside world, remains, like Homer’s <i>Iliad</i>, and
+the Indian <i>Mahabarata</i>, a valuable treasury of ethnographic
+art, and it is from this book that we have
+gained an authentic knowledge of the character of the
+Esthonian folk-dances, though the writer has seen some
+of them performed in the country.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Kuljak</i>, like many other Esthonian folk-dances,
+is performed to the accompaniment of a harp—<i>kannel</i>—and
+the singing voices of the dancers themselves. It
+is danced by men and women alike, in a similar formation
+as the Irish <i>Jig</i>. But the <i>Kuljak</i> tempo is very
+similar to that of the <i>Czardas</i>, with the exception of
+the latter’s tune and the formation of the figures. Like
+the national costumes of the Esthonians, their folk-art
+is more sombre and poetic than the Hungarian, but less
+romantic and less fiery. The <i>Kuljak</i> steps are sharp,
+angular and timid, without that boisterous and jaunty
+expression which is so conspicuously evident in the
+dances of the southern nations. The peculiarity of the
+<i>Kuljak</i> is that it is performed around a bonfire or
+kettle filled with burning substance. Sometimes the
+dancers circle round the fire holding each other’s hands,
+sometimes they go in gliding promenade step, sometimes
+they dance singly, as if challenging or fearing
+the cracking and high-leaping flame. There is no doubt
+that this is a rare survival of the ancient sacrificial
+temple dance. The legendary and mythologic element
+is the unique peculiarity of the Esthonian folk-dances.
+The <i>Risti-Tants</i>—‘Cross Dance’—which is performed
+by men and women, first, in crossing the hands, then
+in making the cross designs with the steps, is of great
+antiquity and many of its cabalistic figures are incomprehensible
+to the modern mind. Like the designs of
+the Esthonian national dress, the figures of their
+primitive and simple folk-dances have a tendency of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span>
+never-ending lines. The colors, white, black and red—the
+symbols of red blood, white light and black earth—suggest
+dreamy, melancholy, but determined traits of
+a semi-Oriental race. Dance here is not a sport, not
+an amusement, not a medium of love-making, not a
+social function, but a magic motion to influence the
+great powers of Nature, and a semi-mythologic ceremony
+for the purpose of future joy and happiness. On
+this occasion the æsthetic element is interwoven with
+the ethical, the art is at the same time religion.</p>
+
+<h3>VI</h3>
+
+<p>The German mind has not been strikingly original
+or racial in folk-dances. It has taken more an abstract
+and purely musical direction and paid little attention to
+the dance. If we leave out the dances of the Bavarians,
+Saxons and Tyroleans, there is little that is of any ethnographic
+interest in this respect. The Prussian <i>Fackeltanz</i>
+belongs more to the elaborate pantomimes of
+the order of ancient Rome, rather than to regular
+dances. The mediæval Germany that was ruled politically
+and ecclesiastically from Rome never felt the
+influence of the rural country people, but, on the contrary,
+was mostly under the æsthetic and intellectual
+influence of the feudal barons and urban middle class.
+Under the influence of these two classes, German music,
+poetry, drama and literature came into existence. The
+German classic art is predominantly aristocratic and
+ecclesiastic. The early German artists were constrained
+to gather in the aristocratic salons of the rich patricians.
+The peasant was rarely a model of early German
+artists, but a German <i>Freiherr</i>, <i>Bürger</i> or <i>Handwerker</i>
+has been the subject of many German dramas,
+operas and musical compositions, and of much painting,
+sculpture and dancing. Wilhelm Angerstein tells<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span>
+us in his interesting book <i>Volkstänze in deutschen Mittelalter</i>
+that already in 1300 there existed German guild
+dances—<i>Zunfttänze</i>—such as the <i>Messertanz</i> (‘knife
+dance’) in Nürnberg, <i>Schafftertanz</i> (‘cooper’s dance’)
+in Munich, etc. Besides these there were the aristocratic
+<i>Schreittänze</i> and <i>Schleiftänze</i>. The <i>Drehtanz</i>,
+out of which originated the later <i>Walzer</i>, was an aristocratic
+and patrician, but never a truly rural folk-dance.</p>
+
+<p>There is no question that the German people has
+always been interested in dancing, a fact which is best
+illustrated in the frequent outbursts of mediæval <i>Tanzwuth</i>—‘dance
+craze’—that affected the population of
+various cities. These phenomena became occasionally
+so threatening to the public morality that in 1024 the
+Bishop Burchard von Worms issued a special decree
+putting dancing under the ban of the church. In 1237
+over two thousand children left Erfurt, dancing. In
+1418 an epidemic rage for dancing manifested itself
+in Strassburg. The well-known <i>Veitstanz</i>—St. Vitus’
+dance—originated in mediæval Germany and spread
+itself all over the world. The <i>Schuhplatteltanz</i> of Bavaria
+is a real folk-dance and contains in its gay and
+grotesque figures characteristic spiritual traits of the
+Tyrolean peasants. Most of the tunes of the <i>Schuhplatteltänze</i>
+are gay, joyful and bubbling with mountainous
+brilliancy, as is the dance. Though played in the waltz-rhythm,
+the dance is by no means a waltz, but a pretty,
+quaint little ballet of the people. There are some six
+to eight different figures in the dance as one can best
+see it performed in some villages near Innsbruck. It is
+danced by a man and girl, and begins with a graceful,
+slow promenade of the couple. Then she starts to flirt
+with him by spinning coquettishly round and round
+until he is enchanted and puts his hand gracefully
+round her waist. Now they dance together awhile,
+seemingly in love. But suddenly she seems to have
+changed her mind and tries to turn him down. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span>
+dance is full of buoyant joy and clever mimic expressions.
+It gives the impression of a healthy mountain
+race, optimistic, simple and humorous. Though occasionally
+rough, there are passages of sweet and sentimental
+grace which convey the impression of an old-fashioned
+Minuet.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Schmoller</i> is a characteristic dance of the Saxonian
+peasants, in which the man never reaches his
+hand to the lady, though they perform the four or five
+movements in the rhythm of the <i>Mazurka</i> with considerable
+turning and stamping the heels. A quaint old
+dance is the <i>Siebensprung</i> of Schwaben which is
+danced to the accompaniment of a song with humorous
+verses. The <i>Taubentanz</i> of the Black Forest region
+is a very graceful and simple dance with distinct mazurka
+steps, in which the gentleman reaches only his
+right hand to the lady. The <i>Zwölfmonatstanz</i> of Wurtemberg
+is a semi-social dance, which is performed by
+twelve couples. The <i>Fackeltanz</i> has been for centuries
+a ceremonial display of Prussian nobility and the court.
+The following is a short account, from the <i>Figaro</i>, of a
+Torch Dance as it was performed at the marriage of the
+sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II:</p>
+
+<p>‘Twelve youthful pages, pretty and dainty as the
+pages of opera, slowly entered by a side door under the
+direction of the chamberlains. They carried torch-holders
+in wrought silver, containing thick white wax-candles,
+which they handed to the twelve ministers.
+The marshal raised his <i>bâton</i>, the orchestra from the
+gallery opposite the emperor slowly began a tuneful
+<i>Polonaise</i>. The bride and bridegroom placed themselves
+after the ministers, who made the tour of the
+room, the chamberlain completed the <i>cortège</i>, which
+stopped before the emperor. The bride made a slight
+curtsey, the emperor rose and offered his arm, the
+<i>cortège</i> again passed in procession around the room.
+On returning, the bride invited the empress and made<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span>
+the tour with her. Then the twelve pages approached
+and took the torches again. The dance continued. The
+ceremony might have been monotonous but for the infinite
+variety and richness of the costumes and uniforms,
+and the liveliness of the music. The twelve
+pages were quite delicious and marched with all the
+enthusiasm of youth.’</p>
+
+<p>The German <i>Rheinländer</i> and the <i>Walzer</i> are both
+dances of the middle class and the city. Whether they
+ever were danced as folk-dances by the German peasants,
+we do not know. They probably originated in the
+mediæval guild circles and spread gradually over the
+country. The Waltz, as we know it to-day, originated in
+the eighteenth century in Germany, though the French
+claim that it is a development of <i>Volte</i>, which originally
+was an old folk-dance of Provence. The <i>Volte</i>
+was in vogue in France in the sixteenth century.
+Castil-Blaze writes that ‘the waltz which we again
+took from the Germans in 1795 had been a French
+dance for four hundred years.’ The German waltz
+originated from the widespread folk-song, ‘<i>Ach du
+lieber Augustin!</i>’ which dates back to the middle of
+the eighteenth century. Gardel introduced it first in his
+ballet <i>La Dansomanie</i> in 1793 in Paris. But the real
+vogue for the waltz began after the Czar Alexander the
+First danced it at his court ball in 1816. Until the
+masses began to imitate the nobility it was a ‘high society’
+dance and such it remained fully half a century,
+if not longer.</p>
+
+<p>The waltz is written in 3/4 rhythm and in eight-bar
+phrases. It has a gliding step in which the movements
+of the knees play a conspicuous rôle. Each country developed
+its particular style of waltz. The Germans and
+French treated it as a dainty and graceful courtship
+play. In Scandinavia it grew more heavy and theatrical.
+In the English waltz the dancers walked up and
+down the room, occasionally breaking into the step<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span>
+and then pushing the partner backward along the room.
+The German rule was that the dancers should be able
+to waltz equally well in all directions, pivoting and
+crossing the feet when necessary in the reverse turn but
+the feet should never leave the floor. Waldteufel and
+Johann Strauss may be considered as the master-composers
+of the waltz as a social dance.</p>
+
+<h3>VII</h3>
+
+<p>As elaborate as the Finnish folk music is in racial
+color and line, the Finns have few interesting and original
+folk-dances. Dr. Ilmari Krohn has hundreds of
+Finnish folk-dance tunes, but they reveal musical rather
+than choreographic vigor. A large number of graceful
+Finnish folk-dances are imitations of the Swedish
+or Norwegian style. In their own dances the figures
+and steps are heavy, languorous and compact as the
+rocky semi-arctic nature. Like the Finnish sculpture,
+the Finnish folk-dance has a tendency to the mysterious,
+grotesque and unusual line. Some of their folk-dances
+are as daring and unusual as the Finnish architectural
+forms. You find in the Finnish architecture that
+straight lines are broken up in the most extraordinary
+manner, projecting gables, turrets and windows are
+used to avoid the monotony of gray, expansive and
+flat walls. It falls into no category of known styles.
+Like fantastically grown rocks, it compels your attention.
+There is something disproportionate yet fascinating
+in the Finnish style and folk-dance.</p>
+
+<p>The most racial of the Finnish folk-dances are not
+the pleasing village <i>Melkatusta</i> and other types of this
+kind, but the ‘Devil’s Dance,’ <i>Paimensoitaja</i> (‘Shepherd
+Tune’), <i>Hempua</i>, <i>Hailii</i> and <i>Kaakuria</i>. Like the Finnish
+<i>Rune</i>, Finnish dancing shows an unusual tendency to
+the magical, the mystic and the fantastic in emotions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span>
+and ideas. It is less the graceful and quick, fiery style
+that appeals to a Finn than heavy, rugged and compact
+beauty. The ‘Devil’s Dance’ is weird, ceremonial and
+mystical. It is performed by a single woman inside of
+a ring of spectators, who are chanting to her a rhythmic
+and alliterative hymn of mythologic meaning. The
+hands are crossed on the breast and take no part of any
+kind in the display, while there are slight mimic
+changes to convey the more subtle meaning of the performance.
+Like the other northern races, the Finns
+make their dancing a function of the body and the legs.
+The Finns dance to the music of a harp—<i>kantele</i>—horn—<i>sarwi</i>—and
+to the singing voices. It is never the
+dancer who sings, but the spectators or special singers.</p>
+
+<p>More picturesque and graceful than the Finnish are
+the Swedish, Norwegian and Danish folk-dances. Grieg,
+Svendsen, Gade, Hartmann and the modern Scandinavian
+composers have made successful use of the old
+folk-themes for their individual orchestral compositions.
+Though simple in step, the Scandinavian folk-dances
+are complicated in figure, lively and gay in
+manner, and rich in pantomime. They seem to have a
+strong predilection to square figures and sharp lines.
+The Swedish dancers are fond of arabesques, minuet
+grace and dainty poses. The Norwegian dance is more
+rugged and imaginary, the Danish and Swedish more
+refined and delicate. While the Norwegian is a naturally
+gifted singer, the Swede is a born dancer. There
+is a strong feeling in Sweden for reviving their old <i>Skralat</i>,
+<i>Vafva Vadna</i>, and other old national dances. The
+latter is a weaver dance and imitates the action of the
+loom. The girl, representing the movements of the shuttle,
+flashes back and forth through the lines of other
+performers, who are imitating the stretched threads.
+It is a clever piece of folk-art showing the vivid and
+quick temperament of the race. There are quite a
+few such symbolic country dances in Sweden, of which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span>
+the harvest dances take the first place. The <i>Daldans</i>
+and <i>Vingakersdans</i> are pantomimic dances of humorous
+character, both themes dealing with the social-sexual
+relations in a rather satirical way. In the latter
+two women are endeavoring to gain the affection of a
+man. The favored one seats herself a moment on the
+man’s knee and finishes the number by waltzing with
+him, while the other bites her nails with vexation. In
+Sweden, as in France, the sexual elements play a conspicuous
+rôle in the folk-dance and render it sweetly
+graceful, seductive and sensuous by turns.</p>
+
+<p>The Danes, being a race of industry and agriculture
+from the earliest times on, have followed the lead of
+Norway in ethnographic matters, but of Paris and
+Vienna in artistic manners. While they have developed
+the national art of the ballet to a high degree, their
+folk-dances have impressed me more by their cosmopolitan
+and imitative nature than by any original and
+racial traits they may have. There are certain plastic
+traits, certain soft nuances in the Danish mimicry, that
+speak of something racial, yet they melt in so much
+with the universal art that it is hard to analyze the
+national elements. Whether the ‘Corkscrew’ is a Norwegian,
+Danish or Swedish folk-dance, we have been
+unable to learn, but it is a charming piece of folk-art.
+In this the couples form in two lines. The top
+couple join hands, go down the middle and up again,
+and turn each other by the right arm once; then the
+gentleman turns the next lady, the lady the next gentleman,
+then each other again to the end, when the
+other couples kneel and clap their hands; and the first
+couple, joining hands, dance up one line and down the
+other, the lady inside. Then follows the corkscrew: all
+join hands outstretched with their vis-à-vis, the leading
+couple thread their way in and out of the other couples,
+the ladies backing, taking the lead, and then the gentlemen.
+All hands are raised when they reach the bottom,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span>
+and, passing under the archway thus formed, they
+give place to the next couple.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch had previously many characteristic and
+racial folk-dances, as their great painters have handed
+down to us in their numerous works, but they have
+mostly died out. A Dutch folk-dance, with the performers
+dressed in long brocaded gowns and close-fitting
+caps of the same material, the face framed with
+small roses edging the cap, makes a most quaint and
+charming impression. The best known of the Dutch
+folk-dances is the Egg Dance, which was given with
+eggs beneath the feet. Another very effective dance,
+though slightly coarse in conception, is their Sailor’s
+Dance. The latter is danced by a couple in wooden-shoes,
+man and woman with their backs to each other
+and faces turned away. The dance has some eight
+figures and only at the end of each figure the dancers
+turn swiftly around to get a glimpse of each other,
+and turn back in the original position. If well executed
+this is an exceedingly humorous dance.</p>
+
+<h3>VIII</h3>
+
+<p>The Lithuanians had in olden times snake dances
+and dances somewhat related to the legendary and
+mystic themes of the American Indians. Even in the
+folk-dances of the modern Lithuanians there are elements
+to be found that show relation to the ancient
+American tribes. An average Lithuanian folk-dance,
+as known and danced to-day is simple but pretty, and
+is either mixed with Byzantine or with Romanesque
+designs. But the legendary ideas still prevail, even
+in the picturesque wedding dances.</p>
+
+<p>The Polish folk-dances, the <i>Polonaise</i>, <i>Mazurka</i>,
+<i>Krakoviak</i>, and <i>Obertass</i>, contribute their quota of
+originality. The <i>Krakoviak</i> is a circular dance with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span>
+singing interspersed; lively graceful poses, soft delicate
+lines and gliding steps make it look like a refined
+salon dance of mediæval nobility. The <i>Polonaise</i> and
+<i>Mazurka</i> have spread as social dances in numerous
+variations throughout the world. Chopin used the
+themes of many Polish folk-dances for his individual
+compositions, as they are exceedingly sweet, romantic,
+and delicate in their melodic structure. The <i>Obertass</i>
+is a real gymnastic performance with occasional polka-steps
+and wild turns. It is danced by a couple with
+such velocity towards the end that the woman must
+hold strongly to the shoulders of her partner in order
+to keep from reeling off towards the spectators. Delicate,
+temperamental, with occasional traits of melancholy
+and softly graceful line, the Polish folk-dances
+are characteristic of the racial soul. In many respects
+the Poles resemble the French in racial qualities. The
+debonair manners of the French, their tendency toward
+romantic emotions, are to be noticed in the Polish national
+dance. The qualities give it an air of seeming
+refinement and make it a distinct social amusement,
+and nothing else.</p>
+
+<p>The Bohemian, Ruthenian, Servian and Bulgarian
+folk-dances are each typical of their race. A tendency
+of most of the Slavic folk-dances is that the two sexes
+should mingle as little as possible. Men and women
+join hands in certain figures, emphasizing the dramatic
+meaning of the dance, otherwise they remain separated.
+They rarely dance in couples as the other
+European races do. They make promenades, march
+or gallop; they leap and bound in such a manner that
+the woman faces the man but rarely touches him.
+The woman’s movements are distinctly feminine, the
+man’s masculine. The Slav feels that the mixing of
+the sexes, or the putting of woman on the same plane
+with man, is detrimental to the æsthetic emotions, particularly
+to the romantic feelings.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span>
+The <i>Romaika</i> and <i>Kolla</i> are both picturesque circle
+dances of the Southern Slavs. In the latter the man
+does not take the hand of the woman next to him, but
+passes his arm under hers to clasp the hand of her
+neighbor. The whole ring circles round in skipping
+step to the accompaniments of melancholy songs. The
+women are adorned with glass beads, huge gowns, artificial
+flowers and false jewelry of the most fantastic
+colors. The men wear richly embroidered bright-colored
+shirts and wide trousers. Sometimes a special
+woman dancer enters the ring and executes a dramatic
+pantomime, reflecting somehow a local affair. On
+other occasions man and woman go through a vivid
+pantomimic performance in the circle, while the rest
+circle around them singing.</p>
+
+<p>The Roumanians have a strange folk-dance called
+the <i>Hora</i> which is performed by the youth in languishing
+cadence to the long drawn notes of the bagpipes.
+This consists of a prelude and a real dance. At first,
+the dancers advance to the left five steps, stamping
+the ground and stopping suddenly, after which they repeat
+the same motions for a few times. Of this M.
+Lancelot writes: ‘Gradually the mandolins strike in
+to enliven the solemn strain, and seem desirous to
+hurry it, emitting two or three sonorous notes, but
+nothing moves the player of the bagpipes; he perseveres
+in his indolent rhythm. At last a challenging
+phrase is thrice repeated; the dancers accompany it
+by stamping thrice on the ground, and looking back
+at the girls grouped behind them. The latter hesitate;
+they look at each other, as if consulting together; then
+they join hands and form a second circle round the
+first. Another call, more imperious still, is sounded,
+they break from each other, and mingle in the round
+of young men.</p>
+
+<p>‘At this moment the old gypsy opens his keen little
+eyes, showing his sharp white teeth in a sudden smile,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span>
+shaking out a shower of joyous, hurried notes over
+the band, he expresses by means of an agitated harmony
+the tender thrill that must be passing through
+all the clasped hands. The <i>Hora</i> proper now begins.
+It lasts a long time, but retains throughout the character
+of languor that characterized its commencement.
+Its monotony is varied, however, by a pretty bit of
+pantomime. After dancing round with arms extended,
+the men and their partners turn and face each other
+in the middle of the circle they have been describing.
+This circle they reduce by making a few steps forward;
+then, when their shoulders are almost touching, they
+bend their heads under their uplifted arms, and look
+into each other’s eyes. This figure loses something
+of its effect from the frequency with which it is repeated;
+and the cold placidity with which the dancers
+alternately gaze at their right-hand and left-hand neighbors
+is disappointing, and robs the pantomime of its
+classic aroma.’</p>
+
+<h3>IX</h3>
+
+<p>Of Oriental flavor are the Armenian folk-dances,
+which the writer saw many years ago performed by
+Armenian students to the music of a queer mandolin-like
+instrument and the rhythmic beats of the drum
+played by the dancer with his fingers. This drum gives
+a register of six or seven different tones and adds its
+peculiar effect to the whole. It seems that most of the
+Armenian dances are executed by a single dancer,
+either man or woman, in bent, erect, arched and twisted
+positions, often standing on a single spot for minutes.
+Though languorous and weird, they possess a grace
+of their own.</p>
+
+<p>In no other country have the folk-dances reached
+such a variety of forms, such a high degree of development
+and an individuality so distinctly racial and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span>
+rich in dramatic and imaginary poses, steps, gestures
+and mimic expressions as in Russia. In the Russian
+dances we can trace the elements of all the hundreds
+of ancient and modern tribes and nationalities who
+have been molten in one homogeneous mass of people,
+a world in itself. Here the Orient and Occident
+have found a united form for their æsthetic expressions,
+with no relation to those of the West-European
+nations. The Russian dances, like the country itself,
+are a mixture of contrasts and extremes: melancholy
+and yet gay, simple and even sweet; ghastly yet fascinating
+and seductive; mysterious and yet open as the
+prairies of its own boundless steppes; old and yet
+young. All these contrasts and contradictions may be
+found reflected in the essentials of the Russian folk-dance.
+Like the semi-Oriental style of architecture,
+now curved and gloomy, then suddenly straight and
+dazzlingly brilliant, occasionally bizarre and fantastic,
+but strongly inclined to the romantic and the mystic
+forms, are the innumerable figures and steps of the
+Russian dances. In Russia more than in any other
+country the sexual diversity in the style of the steps,
+poses and mimic display is subjected to a most careful
+consideration. The woman is neither equal nor inferior
+to the man. She occupies her dignified position
+in the slightest move, by remaining more subtle, tender
+and passively fascinating, while the man’s rôle often is
+extravagantly masculine, sometimes even rough. No
+Russian dance puts the two sexes on the same level
+æsthetically and dramatically. The couple dance is an
+unknown, or at best a rather crude, conception to a
+Russian.</p>
+
+<p>Up to this time no one has yet made a thorough study
+of all the Russian folk-dances, as each province and
+district has its particular traditions and dances. The
+Volga region, having once been inhabited by Bulgarian
+and Tartar tribes, has a more nomadic and adventurous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span>
+dance style than the dreamy peasants of Kostroma
+and Nijny Novgorod. The dances of the Little Russians
+are more joyful and humorous than those of more
+northern regions, but they are also less elaborate and
+less dramatic. The dances of the provinces of Novgorod
+and Pskoff possess an unusual tendency towards
+the legendary and towards free forms of plastic expression,
+as if meaning to express tales of a golden
+age in the past when they had a republican form of
+government and a democratic evolution. The dances
+of the Caucasian and Crimean regions are outspokenly
+romantic and epic, those of Siberia tragic and heroic.</p>
+
+<p>Fundamentally, the Russian folk-dances can be divided
+into four different groups: the ballad dances, or
+<i>Chorovody</i>; the romantic dances of the <i>Kamarienskaya</i>
+type; the dramatic dances of the <i>Kasatchy</i> type; the
+bacchanalian dances of the <i>Trepak</i> type; and the unlimited
+number of humorous, gay, amusing and entertaining
+country dances—the so-called <i>Pliasovaya</i>—of
+purely local flavor. Besides these there are the historic
+ballad dances, such as ‘Ivan the Terrible’, ‘Ilia
+Murometz,’ and others. The Cossack dance, <i>Lesginka</i>,
+the <i>Kaiterma</i>, the <i>Polowetsi</i> dances, the <i>Vanka</i>, and
+others of this kind, are dances of a rather local character,
+though they have spread all over the country.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest and most varied of Russian folk-dances
+are the <i>Chorovody</i>, or the ballad dances, performed
+only to the singing voices of the dancers themselves.
+This is a kind of ring dance like the old French Round.
+In some dances the men reach their hands to the girls,
+in others they touch each other with their elbows only,
+as the girls keep their hands on their hips, while
+the men cross them on their breast. The real dance
+is performed inside the ring, usually by a girl, who
+sometimes has a man partner; this dance may be pantomimic,
+humorous or full of wildest joy and agility.
+The writer has witnessed some <i>Chorovody</i> which were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span>
+performed with such skill and finesse of plastic pose
+and mimic art as to leave many ballet celebrities far
+in the background. The Russian folk-dancer employs
+every inch of his body, his hands, legs, toes, heels, hips,
+shoulders, head and the mimic art so masterfully and
+correctly that you must often marvel his born talent
+and lively interest in dancing. However, in all folk-dances
+the women seem to play the leading rôle, the
+men merely supporting them with the contrasted figures.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Chorovody</i> were used by the mediæval <i>Boyars</i>
+in a more refined and poetic style for their social functions
+and the entertainment of their guests. Later they
+were introduced to the court and finally they were employed
+in the Russian ballets and operas. Ivan the
+Terrible was fond of <i>Chorovody</i> dances and often
+danced them himself, as did also other Russian rulers.
+The aristocratic <i>Chorovody</i>, however, grew more stately
+and artificial and lost their racial freshness. Catherine
+the Great sent her chamberlains to every province to
+invite the best folk-dancers to come to the court, which
+they did. All dances of this type are picturesque, romantic,
+poetic and restrained in their expression.</p>
+
+<p>An entirely different dance is the <i>Kasatchy</i>, danced
+by a man and a woman at the same time. This is more
+a man’s than a woman’s dance. He selects his partner
+and proceeds to execute a series of seductive motions
+around her, while she demurely hangs her head, refusing
+for a while to be seduced by his allurements.
+At length she thaws and begins to sway in harmony
+with his manly but graceful movement. Now they
+bend and bow together, and swerve from side to side,
+the while performing a multitude of gestures depicting
+timidity and embarrassment, till finally from shy, half-tearful
+expression of love and flirting glances they proceed
+with gay eyes expressive of the most burning devotion.
+Now the dance waxes fierce and fast, in and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span>
+out they circle, turn and twist, ever now and then reverting
+to that crouching posture, so commonly seen
+in the Russian folk-dances. Finally they meet in close
+embrace and whirl with incredible rapidity round and
+round, till thoroughly out of breath and dizzy from
+their effort, they sink exhausted on a friendly bench.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Kamarienskaya</i> is a bride’s dance, in which the
+girl symbolizes all the imaginary bliss and happiness
+of her future married life. In the first part, which
+consists of a soft <i>legato</i>, she dances dreamily but dramatically,
+using conspicuously every muscle of her
+body and her arms to express the imagined love motions
+that she will perform in meeting her beloved.
+Thus the pantomime continues on to the blissful moment
+of meeting, which she performs like a whirlwind,
+until, unexpectedly stopping, she ends the dance with
+a slightly disappointed, humorous expression.</p>
+
+<p>Since our space is limited, the writer must refrain
+from more detailed and further description of the
+previously mentioned types of the Russian folk-dances.
+He need only repeat that they surpass by far the folk-dances
+of all the rest of the world, in that they are so
+much more racial, so rich in plastic lines, and so perfect
+in their artistic appeal; it seems as if a remarkable
+genius had presided over their invention and execution.
+They are masterfully original from the beginning
+and continually furnish new ideals of choreographic
+beauty. They draw their inspiration from some
+rich fountain unknown to the Occidentals. They are
+too fresh, vigorous and alive to be perverse.</p>
+
+<p>Thus having drawn kaleidoscopic sketches of the
+primitive racial choreographic impulses of a number
+of the civilized and barbaric races, we can come to the
+conclusion that in these alone are to be found the
+sound and virile germs of lasting individual or highly
+developed national art-dance. Ethnographic essentials
+are the next stepping-stones to a more developed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span>
+future cosmic choreography, and in this the folk-dances
+give the most eloquent elementary lessons. As from
+a mute conversation we learn from the ethnic dances
+in what manifold forms one and the same beauty can
+manifest itself to the human mind. The ethnic symbols
+are graphic and true to the spirit of the thing
+expressed; for this reason a folk-dance, no matter how
+coarse, how grotesque and how strange it seems, is
+yet sincere and intelligible to the open-hearted observer.
+It always impresses one as something manly
+and direct, sound and firm.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The <i>Pavane</i> and the <i>Courante</i>; the <i>Allemande</i> and the <i>Sarabande</i>; the
+<i>Minuet</i> and the <i>Gavotte</i>; the <i>Rigaudon</i> and other dances.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Since</span> we have devoted a chapter to the folk-dances,
+it will be fitting to describe a few of the most noted
+dances of the nobility in order to complete our comparative
+treatment of such a vast subject, so little systematized
+and so much ignored. While the general
+tone of all the folk-dances is masculine, that of all
+the social dances seems predominantly effeminate,
+rather soft and delicate. Their exceedingly graceful
+plastic lines, shaded movements, soft forms and subtilized
+gestures speak of gilded ball-rooms, silk and
+perfume, affected manners and the artificial air of a
+Rococo style. It seems as if a woman’s mind had
+worked out their embroidered figures and timid steps.
+They belonged to no particular nation, but to the rich
+class of all the world. The same <i>Allemande</i> that was
+danced by the French nobility was copied at the castles
+of the German barons, English lords, Italian and Russian
+counts.</p>
+
+<p>The oldest and most ceremonial of the Middle Ages’
+social dances was the <i>Pavane</i>, the celebrated peacock
+dance, in which kings and princes, lords and ladies
+took part, the men wearing gorgeous uniforms, the
+ladies flowery trains. It was distinguished by rhythmic
+grace, and by slow and stately measure. The
+dancers attempted to enshroud their very souls in majestic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span>
+dignity, gracefully rounding their arms, while
+crossing and recrossing, keeping their heads away from
+each other. One big step and two small ones accompanied
+one bar of the music, which was sung by a chorus
+of hidden singers. Beginning side by side, hand
+in hand, with a curtsey and bow, the couple started
+with a <i>pas marché</i> down the floor, making four steps,
+the cavalier taking the lady’s left hand. After making
+a turn with four steps, they danced backward with
+four steps. He took her right hand and turned with
+four steps. Thus it went on in four different movements.
+The <i>Pavane</i> was a dance for cortèges and processions,
+and the lady’s trains were spread out like
+the tail of a peacock.</p>
+
+<p>The next most conspicuous nobility dance was the
+<i>Courante</i>, which was practised for nearly three centuries
+at the European castles and courts. It was a
+great favorite of Louis XIV, and no one else danced it
+so well as he. It was danced at the court of Charles
+II and Queen Elizabeth was fond of it. The ladies
+danced it in short soft velvet skirt; bodice with basques
+and lace berthes. It had three movements and started
+usually with a deep curtsey, a springing step forward
+and back, both arms raised and each dancer turning
+outward. These movements occupied four double
+bars of the music. Handel and Bach wrote many
+<i>Courantes</i>, but they were too elaborate and quick,
+therefore they were used only by professional dancers.</p>
+
+<p>Bach and Handel have also written numerous <i>Chaconnes</i>,
+which were dances in slow triple time, of a
+stately character, light and graceful. In the <i>Chaconne</i>
+two or three people could participate. This dance
+was said to be of Spanish origin, though the Italians
+claim that one of their blind musicians composed it
+in the sixteenth century. Cervantes writes in ‘Don
+Quixote’ that it was a mulatto dance for negroes and
+negresses, imported by the French. It is composed of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span>
+a springing and walking step on the toes, at the end
+of which the heels must be so placed that the body
+is firm. The rhythm is slow and well marked. The
+dance has seven different movements. The fourth and
+sixth movements are in Mazurka steps, the fifth in
+skating steps and the last in bourrée step. In the third
+movement the lady turns under her partner’s arm.</p>
+
+<p>A celebrated dance of more than four centuries was
+the <i>Allemande</i>, in which the head and arm movements
+played the foremost rôle. It had five movements,
+danced by any number of couples, placing themselves
+behind each other. The <i>Allemande</i> step is three <i>pas
+marchés</i> and the front foot raised. The lady stands
+in front of the gentleman and he holds her left hand
+with his left and her right with his right hand.
+For four bars they go forward and pose, repeat this
+four times and turn. The second movement has four
+steps around, after which the gentleman turns the lady
+with arms over head, and the lady turns the gentleman.
+The third movement is a polka step backward
+and forward and turned. In the fourth the lady takes
+four steps in front of the gentleman and turns. In
+the last they take four steps across the room, turn and
+pose; two steps back and pose, and repeat.</p>
+
+<p>A dance of pretty music and more original design
+was the <i>Sarabande</i> of the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries, which was danced as a solo by a man or a
+woman, although later it was danced by couples. It
+had a slow and stately step and consisted of four different
+figures. In the first figure the dancer raised the
+right foot and took a step forward, turned to the right
+and posed, and repeated to the left and the right. The
+second figure was a <i>pas bourrée</i> to the left and the
+right, with some turning in between. The third figure
+consisted of an accentuated hip movement, <i>coupé</i>, a
+pose with head movement, and a repetition to the opposite
+direction. The last figure consisted of springing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span>
+on the left foot, stretching the right leg to the back,
+and bowing. This was carried on in several repetitions.
+The most effective <i>Sarabande</i> music was composed by
+Lully. For this the ladies wore a picturesque dress of
+cloth of gold, the sleeves and tunic in the form of
+gigantic oak leaves of red and gold, tipped with sequins;
+red shoes and stockings.</p>
+
+<p>Probably the most celebrated and widespread of old
+social dances was the <i>Minuet</i>, which demanded much
+repose and dignity on the part of the dancers. It
+was performed by men and women, but was given also
+by ladies only. It began with a deep reverence on
+the part of the lady and a bow on the part of the man,
+the dancers turning towards each other at right angles
+to the audience, the lady with her left hand holding her
+dress, the elbow prettily rounded. They advanced, the
+lady turning around and assuming the position in which
+they started. This was repeated, and the dance ended
+with a bow and a curtsey. Then the lady held her
+dress in both hands, her head being turned over her
+right shoulder, while her partner’s head was turned to
+the left. A favorite step was that of lifting the foot
+high, rising on the toes, and then taking three little
+steps on tip-toes to the next bar. The <i>Minuet</i> requires
+much grace and deliberation, with every movement
+thought out and studied. The main rule is that in
+passing each other the partners should make a deep
+curtsey and bow. The fingers of the hand should
+be moderately open, the arms curved and graceful.
+The women often carried a feather fan. Louis XV
+was a virtuoso in the <i>Minuet</i>. The English kings used
+to take lessons in the dance. It is the one dance that
+England has looked on kindly. It created a perfect
+sensation in France and was in vogue until the Revolution
+swept it away. Many celebrated composers have
+written fine <i>Minuet</i> music, Lully’s being probably the
+best. It had nine different movements. The ladies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span>
+wore for the minuet a satin petticoat, bordered with
+a deep flounce. The bodice had a pleating round <i>à la
+veille</i>, which was carried down to the open front of
+the skirt, on either side of the bodice, and round the
+back, which left a plain pointed front with a rosette
+in the centre of the neck. The sleeves were elbow
+length, the hair powdered and worn very high, a ribbon
+tied across the back from which rose three large
+bows of white plumes, the shoes pointed.</p>
+
+<p>A dance as distinguished as the minuet was the
+<i>Gavotte</i>, performed by couples in joyous, sparkling
+little steps. Its foundation was three steps and an
+<i>assemblé</i> in quadruple time, commencing on the fourth
+beat of the bar. It starts in a line or a circle, one
+couple separating themselves from the rest. It has
+six figures. The first figure consists of four gavottes
+forward, four gavottes round, four back, four around
+again, the dancers hand in hand, the figures always
+accompanied by graceful head movements, the partners
+turning towards each other or apart. The following
+three movements are nearly the same, with
+slight variations. The fifth consists of four skating
+steps and gavotting around the partner. The sixth
+figure consists of gavotting forward three times, pirouetting
+back, raising the foot up to the heel, and
+advancing four times. In the <i>Gavotte</i> the partners generally
+kissed each other, as they did in so many other
+dances. In later days the cavalier presented a flower
+in the course of the figure instead. The <i>Gavotte</i> was a
+favorite dance of Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon.
+Lully, Gluck and Grétry composed pretty
+gavottes, and it was frequently performed on the stage
+by Gardel and Vestris.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Rigaudon</i>, which enjoyed a great popularity at
+all the European castles and courts till the French
+Revolution, was rather intricate. In it each figure
+occupied eight bars and both dancers started together<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span>
+without taking hands. The dance consisted of seven
+figures, the first being a sliding step and four running
+steps, turning, posing and repeating with the opposite
+foot. The second consisted of turning to left and right
+alternately four times, and sliding backwards. The
+third figure was danced diagonally to the right with
+running steps, turning, posing and repeating. The
+fourth figure was a graceful hopping and turning, repeating,
+running diagonally to the right and turning
+with the arms out straight. The fifth was in two half
+turns, one turn and repetition. The sixth was three
+steps left with arms over the head, hopping around,
+turning to left and right, posing with right hand down
+and the left hand above the head. The seventh consisted
+of balancing four times on the left foot and four
+times on the right and posing. Like the music of so
+many other old social dances, that of the Rigaudon
+was of extremely gracious cadences, with sentimental
+pathos and sweet, gay melodic turns. Music combined
+with dancing carried gladness and joy into the soft-shaded
+ball-rooms, bringing smiles and laughter to
+the lips of the picturesque gatherings.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat resembling the Minuet, but with quicker
+steps, was the celebrated French <i>Passepied</i>, with which
+most of the balls began, all the guests dancing around
+hand in hand. It originated many other old-time social
+dances with song. It opened with the dancers joining
+hands and facing each other, then setting to each
+other with the <i>pas de Basque</i>, bringing the first left
+shoulder forward and then the right, and changing
+their places with a waltz step. The partners cross
+hands, placing the arms round each other’s neck and
+making the pirouette with eight pony steps, pawing
+the ground and then turning. The dance consists of
+ten figures, each of which demands some dramatic
+talent.</p>
+
+<p>Other celebrated old dances were the <i>Galliard</i>, consisting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span>
+of five figures, that require some pirouettes, <i>pas
+de bourrées</i>, <i>coupés</i>, <i>dessous</i> and springing. Similar to
+this was the <i>Tourdion</i>, which was more of a <i>glissade</i>
+movement. The <i>Canaries</i> was a queer old dance, very
+popular in England and Germany. It had seven figures
+and started with a <i>pas jeté</i>, by throwing the right foot
+over the left, and the left over the right. In the last
+movement the partners held hands vis-à-vis, turning
+each other without separating hands, posing vis-à-vis
+one bar and repeating four bars. History tells us how
+in former times queens and princesses often fell in
+love with graceful male dancers as did their husbands
+with the pretty women dancers. Queen Elizabeth fell
+in love with young Hatton, an insignificant London
+lawyer, whom she first met at a ball dancing the <i>Galliard</i>.
+Sir Perro used to say that Hatton danced into
+the court by the <i>Galliard</i>. It is said that the favors
+which the virgin monarch extended to the young lawyer
+excited the jealousy of the whole court, especially that
+of the Earl of Leicester, who, thinking to depreciate the
+accomplishment of his rival, offered to introduce to
+Her Majesty a professional dancer whose performances
+were considered far more wonderful than those of Hatton.
+To this the royal lady exclaimed: ‘Pish! I will not
+see your man; it is his trade!’</p>
+
+<p>A languishing eye and a smiling mouth were considered
+indispensable accessories to a fashionable society
+dance. Like the prevailing style of dress and manners,
+the dances were too delicate and artificial to last. The
+high-heeled shoes, the elaborately piled-up structures
+of powdered hair and ornament, and the dresses with
+long trains were by no means favorable to virility and
+sincerity. Like all effeminate art, the nobility dances
+of the past lacked spontaneity and inspiration.</p>
+
+<div id="ip_150" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 44em;">
+  <img src="images/i_150.jpg" width="700" height="505" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>The Ball</p>
+  <p class="credit"><i>After a painting by Auguste de Saint-Aubin</i></p></div></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century—Maria Taglioni—Fanny
+Elssler—Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence of the classic ballet.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> end of the Napoleonic wars marks the beginning
+of a new era of European art, particularly of the ballet.
+To this period belong the great ballet masters, Taglioni,
+Bournoville, Didelot, and the greatest of all, Marius
+Petipa; the great ballet composers, Meyerbeer, Rossini,
+Adam, Delibes, Nuitter, Dubois, Hartmann, Gade,
+Tschaikowsky, and Rimsky-Korsakoff; the celebrated
+<i>ballerinas</i>, Taglioni, Grisi, Elssler, Genée, Teleshova,
+Novitzkaya, Liadova, Muravieva, Bogdanova, Sokolova
+and Kshesinskaya. It seems as if the evolution of the
+art of dancing is always stopped by political disturbances;
+during the middle of the past century, which
+was marked by revolutionary movements, in which
+even Wagner participated, we notice a sudden indifference
+to dancing ideals on the part of the public. The
+history of evolution seems to proceed in certain cosmic
+waves of public sentiment and ideals. They grow,
+reach their climax and die.</p>
+
+<p>The foundation that the French Academy, particularly
+Noverre, Vestris and Gardel, had laid for the
+ballet, developed during the nineteenth century into
+a solid and essential stage art. We find the beginning
+of a rivalry among the various schools, of which those
+of Paris, Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen and
+St. Petersburg stand in the first rank. Like music and
+drama, the ballet strives either towards the classic or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span>
+romantic. The most conspicuous ballets of this period
+are <i>La Sylphide</i> by Léo Delibes, <i>Corsaire</i> by Adam,
+<i>Sakuntala</i> by Gautier, <i>La Source</i> by Delibes, <i>La Farandole</i>
+by Dubois, <i>Sylvia</i> by Delibes, <i>Gretna Green</i> by
+Nuitter, <i>Excelsior</i> and <i>Sieba</i> by Manxotti, <i>Flore et
+Zephire</i> by Didelot, <i>La Esmeralda</i> by Perrot and Pugni,
+<i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i> by Gluck, <i>Laurette</i> by Galcotti, <i>Ghiselle</i>
+by Gautier and Adam, <i>Abdallah</i> by Bournoville
+and Paulli, <i>Arkona</i> by Hartmann, <i>Swan Lake</i>, <i>Sleeping
+Beauty</i> and <i>The Snow Maiden</i> by Tschaikowsky,
+<i>Baba Yaga</i> by Balakireff, <i>Scheherezade</i> by Rimsky-Korsakoff,
+etc.</p>
+
+<p>The main tendency of the nineteenth century ballet
+is to get rid of the mechanical contrivances, the monstrous
+etiquette and majestic solemnity and, like music,
+give it more coherence and better harmony with
+the plot. Between 1820 and 1850 it became an inseparable
+accompaniment to the opera to such an extent
+that the occupants of the gilded boxes preferred the
+thrill of the dancing to the music. The ballet represented
+at that time more than a stage filled with masses
+of elegant <i>coryphées</i> and a magnificent spectacle. The
+public interest began to centre in a few great dancers
+whose names were as familiar to the audiences as those
+of the prima donnas. The first phenomenon of this
+kind was the cult of Taglioni that spread with miraculous
+rapidity throughout the Occidental world.</p>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>Maria Taglioni was born at Stockholm in 1804 of an
+Italian father and Swedish mother and made her début
+in Vienna in 1822, in the ballet <i>Reception d’une jeune
+Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore</i>, written by her
+father, M. Taglioni, who was a ballet master in the
+Swedish Royal Opera. Inspired by the ideas of Noverre,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span>
+M. Taglioni laid a solid foundation for his daughter’s
+training in dancing. Though she was successful in her
+début in Vienna, the father did not think that she was
+sufficiently ripe for public appearances in a larger
+style, so he continued to instruct the girl himself and
+secured for her education other celebrities of the time.
+Even when she appeared five years later in <i>Le Sicilien</i>,
+in Paris, she did not arouse any enthusiasm. It was
+only in <i>Les Bayaderes</i> and, above all, in <i>La Sylphide</i>,
+that her art attained the utmost limits of spirituality
+and she was hailed as one of the most ethereal appearances
+that the European stage had ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>Taglioni appeared in Paris in <i>La Vestale</i>, <i>Mars et
+Venus</i>, <i>Le Carnaval de Venise</i>, and many other ballets,
+which marked the beginning of her career. A French
+critic of that time writes: ‘Her talent, so instinct with
+simple grace and modesty, her lightness, the suppleness
+of her attitudes, at once voluptuous and refined, made
+a sensation at once. She revealed a new form of dancing,
+a virginal and diaphanous art, instinct with an
+originality all her own, in which the old traditions and
+time-honored rules of choreography were merged.
+After an appearance of a few days only on our boards,
+this charming mirage vanished to shine in great
+triumph at Munich and Stuttgart. But she came back,
+and an enthusiastic reception awaited her. And in
+the midst of these brilliant successes, taking the hearts
+of the people by storm, admitted to the intimate friendship
+of the Queen of Wurtemberg, she remained sweet,
+simple and reserved.’</p>
+
+<p>Besides her choreographic training, Taglioni was a
+highly educated girl in every other respect, and was of
+the most charming personality and manners. The people,
+and even her many rivals, loved and adored her as
+a great artist and great woman. Though not pretty in
+any sense, as so many other dancers were, she was
+fascinating through her distinct spiritual appeal. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span>
+same note of spirituality manifested itself in her dance.
+Her admirers used to say that she looked in <i>La Sylphide</i>
+like some supernatural being always ready to take
+wing and soar up in the air. Her steps were pure and
+innocent, as were all her gestures and mimic expressions.
+Even in her romantic dances she failed to suggest
+any symptoms of voluptuous or sensual emotions.
+Throughout her life she remained as poetic as she was
+in her art.</p>
+
+<p>In London she appeared first in 1830 in Didelot’s ballet
+<i>Flore et Zéphire</i> and made an instantaneous success.
+On nights when she was announced to appear
+the London theatre was literally besieged. Thackeray
+immortalized her in his ‘The Newcomes,’ saying, ‘you
+can never see anything so graceful as Taglioni.’ She
+received in London £100 a night, and insisted on handsome
+sums for her family, as well as £600 for her father
+as ballet master, £900 to her brother and sister-in-law,
+together with two benefit performances. She was so
+much the fashion of the hour that women wore Taglioni
+hats, gowns, and coats, and even a stage coach
+was called after her.</p>
+
+<p>With all her charm and refinement, Taglioni was in
+many respects an undeveloped girl emotionally, capricious
+and sentimental to her finger-tips. It is said that
+one evening when Perrot, her partner, happened to receive
+a greater amount of applause than she, she refused
+to continue the performance, and accused her
+surrounding stage people of having intrigued against
+her for malicious reason. She received immense sums
+of money, but she spent everything just as lavishly as
+it was received, not so much on herself as for her
+relatives, friends and the poor. She married Comte
+Gilbert des Voisins in 1832, but their married life was
+of short duration. There is a story that she met him
+some years later at a dinner at the Comte de Morny’s,
+when he had the effrontery to ask to be introduced to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span>
+Maria Taglioni. She replied that she thought she had
+made the gentleman’s acquaintance in 1832, the year
+of her marriage. In 1837 she went to Russia and remained
+there for five years as prima <i>ballerina</i> of the
+Imperial Ballet.</p>
+
+<p>Taglioni’s freedom and style had a great influence
+upon the development of the ballet at that juncture.
+Her dress, a long tunic of white silk muslin which
+reached almost to her ankles and fell in graceful
+folds from her figure, was the first of this kind.
+Through this she was able to reveal the plastic lines
+of her body, and thus made her movements free from
+the artificial stiffness that had prevailed before her.
+She was a reformer in many ways, and in this her
+father, as a practical ballet-master, was of material
+help. It was not until Fanny Elssler appeared in 1847
+that Taglioni began to lose her hold upon the public.
+Little by little her art grew old-fashioned to the novelty-loving
+audiences, as the dancing of Elssler brought a
+new note of more romantic nature to the stage. Actually
+this change was nothing but a turn of public sentiment
+indicative of some new social fad. Trying to
+maintain her living by giving dancing lessons in various
+European capitals, she died in Marseilles in 1884,
+in great poverty, forsaken by all her previous adorers
+and frenzied audiences.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Of a very different nature were the art and personality
+of Fanny Elssler, the pretty Viennese girl, who in
+many respects followed the example of Taglioni. Emerson,
+who saw her dancing in Boston, exclaimed, ‘that
+is poetry!’ But Margaret Fuller, who sat next to him, replied,
+‘Ralph, it’s religion.’ Turgenieff was so impressed
+by her art that he wrote to Balzac: ‘Her dance
+is the most magic novel that I have ever read. What a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span>
+mystery of beauty! Her every step and gesture is a
+line of unwritten verse. Her lines are accentuated
+phrases, her poses illustrations to the intoxicating text.
+Her art haunts me.’</p>
+
+<p>Born in Vienna in 1810, Elssler received an early and
+thorough musical education from her father, who was
+a copyist to Haydn. Her ballet training, which she received
+partly in Vienna, partly in Italy, was of the old
+order. It was the <i>Cachucha</i> that made her a favorite
+of the Milan and Naples audiences, but, as with Taglioni,
+it was <i>La Sylphide</i> that made Elssler’s final reputation.
+Elssler saw <i>La Sylphide</i> danced by Taglioni in
+Munich and it electrified her so that she made it a main
+aim of her ambition to surpass Taglioni, which she
+did.</p>
+
+<p>A girl of receptive mind, good education and great
+talent, Elssler took notice of all the critical views of
+her future rival, as expressed by her contemporary
+ballet-masters, composers and dance critics. This enabled
+her to embody in her art and style the features
+which were less developed and most disliked by Taglioni.
+Taglioni was said to be poetic, but lacking in
+romantic warmth and dramatic sentiment. In this latter
+quality Elssler excelled. She made a special study
+of those gestures, poses and steps, which express by
+passionate emotions, and made appropriate use of them.
+The mechanical features of the dance interested her
+little, though occasionally she indulged in acrobatic
+tricks. Chorley, the English critic, writes of her: ‘The
+exquisite management of her bust and arms set her
+apart from everyone whom I have ever seen before or
+since. Nothing in execution was too daring for her,
+nothing too pointed. If Mademoiselle Taglioni flew, she
+flashed. The one floated on the stage like a nymph,
+the other showered every sparkling fascination round
+her like a sorceress. There was more, however, of the
+Circe than of the Diana in her smile.’</p>
+
+<div id="ip_156" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 41em;">
+  <img src="images/i_156.jpg" width="654" height="503" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet</p></div></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span>
+A graphic description of Elssler is given by Gautier.
+‘Clad in a skirt of rose-colored satin clinging closely
+to the hips, adorned with deep flounces of black lace,
+she came forward with a bold carriage of her slender
+body, and a flashing of diamonds on her breast. Her
+leg, like polished marble, gleams through the frail net
+of the stocking. Her small foot is at rest, only awaiting
+the signal of the music to start into motion. How
+charming she is with the large comb in her hair, the
+rose behind her ear, her flame-like glance, and her
+sparkling smile! At the extremity of her rose-dipped
+fingers tremble the ebony castañets. Now she darts
+forward; the castañets commence their sonorous clatter;
+with her hands she seems to shake down clusters
+of rhythm. How she twists! how she bends! what fire!
+what voluptuousness of motion! what eager zest! Her
+arms seem to swoon, her head droops, her body curves
+backward until her white shoulders almost graze the
+ground. What charm of gesture! And with that hand
+which sweeps over the dazzle of the footlights would
+not any one say that she gathered all the desires and
+all the enthusiasm of those who watch her?’</p>
+
+<p>It was a pity that such a bitter rivalry was created
+between Elssler and Taglioni by theatrical managers,
+which became a source of fierce controversy throughout
+Europe. We are told by the writers of that time
+that a veritable war of sentiments between the Taglionists
+and Elsslerists lasted for years. Now the one, now
+the other party claimed victory. Each party claimed to
+have the highest art in the individual style of its idolized
+dancer. It was a conflict between two movements
+rather than two artists: here the classic idealism,
+there the romantic realism. Elssler at the end remained
+the winner, but not for a long time, as the
+political unrest that swept Europe in the middle of the
+nineteenth century distracted the public attention from
+the ballet. After a successful tour in America, Elssler<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span>
+returned to Milan, when the La Scala opera, which was
+supported by the Austrian government, began to feel
+keenly the political pulse of the time. Elssler was to
+appear in Perrot’s ballet <i>Faust</i>, when she beheld the
+members of the ballet wearing a medal that represented
+the new liberal Pope, who was strongly pro-Italian,
+while Elssler was an Austrian. To her it seemed a
+demonstration directed against her fatherland and she
+refused to go on the stage unless the demonstration
+stopped. The audience was informed of the trouble
+behind the scenes, and from this time on Elssler’s career
+was finished. Vainly trying her luck in Russia
+and England till 1851, she realized the sentimental
+opposition of all the audiences to her art and retired
+forever. She spent her life in comfort, as the American
+tour alone had netted her a sum of five hundred thousand
+dollars. She died in 1884 in Vienna, a few months
+after the death of her rival, Taglioni.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The star that followed Taglioni and Elssler was Carlotta
+Grisi, born in a village of Istria and educated in
+Milan by Perrot. She was a medium between the poetic
+Taglioni and romantic Elssler. Her favorite ballets
+were <i>La Peri</i> and <i>Ghiselle</i> (the libretto of the latter by
+Théophile Gautier and the music by Adolphe Adam).
+She was excellent in fairy rôles, in which she showed
+a marvellous conception of imaginary motions and gestures.
+Her fragile figure was favorable to similar rôles
+and in these her mimic expressions were superb. She
+danced in England with success, but somehow failed
+to arouse the enthusiasm that greeted her contemporary
+Fanny Cerito. Grisi married her former teacher
+Perrot, who composed for her many ballets.</p>
+
+<p>Cerito distinguished herself in <i>Ondine</i> and <i>La Vivandière</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span>
+and was for a long time a favorite of the French
+audiences. A French critic writes of her: ‘A good
+many of our readers will probably remember Saint-Léon,
+the distinguished and popular ballet-master.
+Originally an eminent violinist, it was out of love for
+the fairy-like Cerito, whom he married, that he first
+gave himself up to the enthusiastic study of dancing.
+Mme. Cerito bewitched the public with her exquisite
+dancing, while Saint-Léon delighted them with his skill
+upon the violin and the dignity and distinction of his
+compositions.’</p>
+
+<p>There were several French, Italian or Austrian ballet
+dancers who distinguished themselves at home, but
+none of them succeeded in attracting much the English
+or American public’s attention. Katty Lanner and
+Madame Weiss danced with some success in London,
+and enjoyed a high reputation in Vienna. The characteristics
+of all the Vienna dancers of this age were
+their decadent manners and their pretty, plastic poses.
+Vienna developed more conspicuous operetta dancers
+than real ballet dancers. Katty Lanner achieved a particular
+grace and agility in the <i>Le Papillon</i>, by Emma
+Livry.</p>
+
+<p>Of the French and Italian ballet dancers that appeared
+during the second half of the nineteenth century
+most conspicuous are Leontine Beaugrand, Mlle.
+Subra, Rosetta Mauri, Mlle. Bernay, Mlle. Petipa, and
+Rita Sangalli. Though local critics praised one or
+other of these as rivals of Taglioni and Elssler, the fact
+is they were all either mere acrobatic imitators, decadent
+impressionists, or conventional figures. The ballet
+shrinks into a secondary position, as the vogue
+for opera and orchestral music occupies the foremost
+attention of the public. Stage dancing degenerates into
+shows of insignificant meaning. With our best will we
+can find nothing that would seem worthy of the attention
+of the French critic who writes of Beaugrand:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span>
+‘Before long the public will learn to love this strange
+profile—so like a frightened bird’s—and criticism will
+have to reckon with this aspiring talent. She has not
+yet put forth all her strength. It was not until she appeared
+in the part of <i>Coppélia</i> that she wholly revealed
+what was in her, and that the full extent of her grace
+and poetic feeling was unfolded to the public.’</p>
+
+<p>One season later the expected virtuoso vanishes from
+the public eye and a new aspirant takes her place. Considering
+one after the other, one finds little crisp and
+spontaneous beauty in the steps and gestures of the
+<i>ballerinas</i> of the last part of the past century. The
+umbrella-like stiff dress of the classic ballet has only
+a momentary semi-sensuous appeal. In the long run
+it becomes unæsthetic and unpractical, since it hides
+the natural lines of the human body.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The Danish ballet and Bournoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta
+Nielsen, etc.—Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission of
+the Danish ballet.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> French ballet dominated civilized Europe for
+centuries, as did the French fashions, manners, language,
+art and social traditions. The high society of
+every country was outspokenly French, and so were its
+views and entertainments. How much even Germany
+was in the grip of French ideals can be seen best from
+the efforts of her eighteenth-century writers and reformers
+on behalf of their own national traditions.
+Lessing was most bitterly fighting the French influence
+in German life and art. It was only natural that semi-aristocratic
+Sweden and Denmark felt the French sway.
+Stockholm introduced the ballet during the last part
+of the eighteenth century, but used it for the most part
+as an accessory of the opera. Taglioni, the father of
+the celebrated <i>ballerina</i>, was employed as a ballet-master
+in Stockholm where, in addition to his actual
+stage work, he was training dancers for the ballet corps.
+He was succeeded by no one else than the great Didelot,
+who later became a director of the ballet and ballet
+school in Petrograd. But Sweden strictly followed the
+footsteps of France and Italy and never took another
+direction. The Swedish ballet of the nineteenth century
+was strictly French-Italian.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span>
+But the Danish ballet, which had been founded at the
+same time with the Swedish, took a different turn. The
+early part and middle of the nineteenth century mark
+a great turning point in the history of the Danish stage
+dance. This is wholly due to the patriotic efforts of
+its great reformer, Bournoville, who did not like the
+foreign flavor of such an important art as dancing, and,
+moreover, found the stiff style, artificial manners and
+the incoherent relation between the music and dancing
+too crude and outmoded for a new era. On the other
+hand, the method of training the dancers was lacking
+in system and seemed too insufficient to make any thorough
+artists of the young men and women who wished
+to make their career as dancers. Vincenzo Tomaselli
+Galeotti, who had been for half a century an autocratic
+figure and ballet-master of Denmark, emphasized
+either the acrobatic Italian or the stereotyped French
+styles. For Galeotti the Danish ballet was perfection
+itself, but not so for Bournoville.</p>
+
+<p>Antoine Auguste Bournoville was born in 1805 in
+Copenhagen, where his father had been a dancer and
+assistant conductor under Galeotti. Already at the age
+of eight he danced in small parts in Copenhagen. But
+it was not until 1829 that he made his real début in
+<i>Gratiereness Hulding</i>. In 1824 he made a trip with
+Orloff to Paris where he saw Vestris and Gardel, whose
+instruction and art inspired him to do for the Danish
+ballet what they had done for the French. After a tour
+in Austria and Italy, Bournoville settled down in Copenhagen
+and began to reform the stage of his native
+land.</p>
+
+<p>Bournoville’s main reformative idea was that a
+dancer should first of all have a perfect technique, and
+then be an individual and not a dead figure in a spectacular
+design. The technique of the Milan school was
+to him one-sided, striving for gymnastic effects at the
+expense of the musical and thematic requirements of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span>
+a composition. Taglioni had just made her reputation
+on the foundations that Bournoville had laid for the
+Danish ballet. Virtuosity had been the danger of the
+old school. Admiration was centred exclusively in the
+difficulty of the execution of the steps. The <i>pointes</i> and
+<i>pirouettes</i> had been regarded as the highest form of
+accomplishment. Bournoville realized that this step,
+when it is abused, becomes the curse of ballet dancing.
+While recognizing that it was absolutely necessary for
+momentary use, when completing an attitude or giving
+a suggestion of ethereal lightness (as of the poise of a
+winged being alighting for an instant upon the earth)
+he combated the tendency to base the significance of
+the dance only on this. On other occasions, one quick
+passage across the stage, the tips of the toes scarcely
+brushing the dust of the carpet, the dancer may make
+the impression of the grace of a bird’s flight. But if
+this trick is displayed constantly during a performance
+the effect is lost in the ugliness of the effort.</p>
+
+<p>Bournoville was also dissatisfied with the ballet compositions
+and plots. He remodelled many French ballets
+and wrote some himself. In many things Bournoville
+coöperated with Pierre J. Larcher. The most conspicuous
+of their works was <i>Valdemar</i>, which was first
+performed in 1835, with music by Froehlich. Not less
+successful was the <i>Festen i Albano</i>, an idyllic ballet in
+one act with music by Froehlich. This was first performed
+in 1839. A very popular ballet that Bournoville
+arranged to the music of Hartmann was <i>Olaf den Hellige</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The most conspicuous pupil of Bournoville and the
+foremost of his prima <i>ballerinas</i> was Lucile Grahn, a
+girl of outspoken individuality, temperament and dramatic
+force. She was a rival of Taglioni and Elssler,
+not only in Denmark, but in France, England and in
+other European countries. Grahn’s favored ballet was
+<i>La Sylphide</i>, though she danced superbly in the <i>Fiorella</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span>
+and <i>Brahma und Bayaderen</i>. The Danish critics
+wrote that the Copenhagen audience fairly went wild
+over her dancing in the <i>Robert af Normandie</i>. Grahn
+differed from Taglioni in her individual style, which
+was more romantic and lofty, and in her dramatic talent.
+Besides being a great dancer she was an excellent
+actress. The London and Petrograd audiences were
+particularly fond of her <i>divertissement</i> numbers,
+mostly written by Danish composers. She was born
+in 1819 and died in Munich in 1875, after having lived
+nineteen years of happy married life with Friedrich
+Young, a celebrated opera singer of that time.</p>
+
+<p>Next to Lucile Grahn in the Danish ballet stands
+Augusta Nielsen, born in 1823 in Copenhagen. As a
+girl of fifteen, she danced in <i>Valdemar</i>. But her real
+career began with <i>Toreadoren</i>, in which she danced for
+the first time in 1840. Nielsen’s tendency in dancing
+was to be natural rather than acrobatic. Her mimic
+and rhythmic talent surpassed by far that of Grahn,
+Taglioni and Elssler. But since she strove less for
+gymnastic effects than her celebrated contemporaries,
+she failed to arouse the enthusiasm that greeted the
+others. She came close to the modern natural dancers,
+since dancing was for her an individual art like singing,
+in which each artist should express only the best of
+his inner self. Like many other Danish dancers, Nielsen
+was a born actress and emphasized the dramatic
+features as the most important ones in the ballet.</p>
+
+<p>Among Danish ballet dancers the most conspicuous
+figures are Adolph F. Stramboe, Johann Ferdinand
+Hoppe, Waldemar Price and Hans Beck. They all
+follow the footsteps of Bournoville, whose reforms in
+Danish dancing are equal to those of Noverre in
+France, or Petipa in Russia. Bournoville’s main efforts
+were to make dancing a serious dramatic art. In this
+he succeeded. The influence of the Danish ballet upon
+the Russian is of far-reaching extent. Didelot, having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span>
+been a ballet-master in Stockholm, was inspired by
+Bournoville’s attempts, and followed his example after
+becoming a ballet director in Russia. But the art of
+dancing has its period of youth, maturity, decay and
+rebirth. The Danish ballet stopped its evolution after
+Bournoville. It has remained what it was half a century
+ago. It is sound, classic, and noble in its spirit,
+but it lacks the fire and soul of youth.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The writer has a record of the young living solo
+dancer of the Danish Royal Ballet, Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen,
+whose exquisite delicate plastic art in Strindberg’s
+<i>Brott och Brott</i>, and Gabriele d’Annunzio’s <i>Gioconda</i>
+aroused stormy enthusiasm among Copenhagen’s
+audiences. Haagen Falkenfleth, the celebrated ballet
+critic of the <i>Nationaltidende of Copenhagen</i>, writes of
+her; ‘Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen, the <i>prima ballerina</i> of
+the Danish Royal Ballet, entered the Copenhagen Ballet
+School as a child, as the result of an episode that
+is still little known. Her parents knew that little Elna
+was passionately fond of dancing, but their surprise
+was great when one day she disappeared from her
+home. It appeared that she had run after a street
+organ-grinder to whose screaming tune she was dancing
+in the middle of the street to the surprise of the
+occasional spectators. At the age of seven she became
+a pupil of the Royal Ballet School in Copenhagen,
+where the children are taught not only dancing and
+<i>calisthenics</i>, but also the general school subjects, in
+the same way as the dancers are educated in the Russian
+Imperial Ballet School in Petrograd. As a pupil
+she was favored with small dancing parts in certain
+ballets. She was excellent for little fairy rôles. In this
+way she received a gradual training for the stage and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span>
+had already mastered her routine when she made her
+real début in Drigo’s “Harlequin’s Millions.” She had
+personified Sylvia’s child in d’Annunzio’s <i>Gioconda</i> and
+the page in Schiller’s <i>Don Carlos</i>. Her dancing was so
+sure, her movements so graceful and her mimicry so
+true to life that her reputation was instantly established;
+but how versatile she was became known only
+later.</p>
+
+<p>‘No one who saw her during her début in the rôle of
+the gay Pierrette, with frolic-humorous eyes and graceful
+juvenile steps, could imagine that on the next occasion
+she would be so easily transformed into a tragedienne
+in Schnitzler’s and Dohnányi’s “Veil of Pierrette.”
+She practically created her rôle. Her romantic
+eyes, so full of sorrow and despair, added a magic
+gloom to her dramatic dance, in which she stands so
+high above her many contemporaries. She is realistically
+gripping. Already at the age of nineteen she was
+an accomplished mute actress of the modern type, and
+a great solo dancer. Dohnányi, who attended the
+performance, told me that he had not supposed she
+could possibly add such a tragic fire to the rôle that
+he wrote for untrained theatrical dancers. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen
+proved in this rôle that she had broken
+loose from all the traditions of the Bournoville school
+in which she was trained. You could not see a line of
+the conventional ballet style.</p>
+
+<p>‘Bournoville, the reformer of the Danish ballet, introduced
+a strong dramatic element into the national art.
+Yet his tendency was outspokenly romantic. In this
+he aimed to be classic and strictly choreographic. In
+many of his ballets the romantic and the realistic issues
+are closely interwoven. In these Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen
+sometimes has gone against the Bournoville principles
+and used her own judgment. She has figured
+as the principal dancer in the “Flower Festival at
+Genzano,” <i>La Ventana</i>, “Far from Danemark,” <i>Coppélia</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span>
+and <i>Swanhilde</i>. But in “The Little Mermaid,” a
+ballet based on Hans Andersen’s fairy-tale, she is best
+of all. While dancing in the rôle of the Mermaid, she
+makes the impression of a magic creature of a different
+world, with grace and charms that we have never
+known, yet which cast a spell upon us. Mrs. Jörgen-Jensen’s
+repertoire is large, but still larger is the range
+of her dramatic personifications. The Copenhagen audiences
+are sorry to see her so little, but the stage of
+our National Theatre is more adapted to the opera and
+drama than to the ballet.’</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the best known of the living Danish dancers
+is Adeline Genée, whose name has figured during the
+past twenty years in the ballet repertoires of all the
+more or less known opera houses. She has been a special
+favorite of the London public, where she made her
+début in <i>Monte Cristo</i> in November, 1897. She has
+shown her best in Delibes’ <i>Coppélia</i>, though some critics
+maintain that her triumph in the <i>Dryad</i> is even greater.
+But what <i>La Sylphide</i> was to Taglioni, <i>Ghiselle</i> to Grisi
+and <i>Éoline</i> to Lucile Grahn, that is <i>Coppélia</i> to Genée.
+She is a true exponent of the Bournoville school of
+ballet, though she claims that she owes her brilliant
+technique to some other sources. Though she studied
+dancing with her uncle in Denmark, yet the method,
+style and technique originate from Bournoville. Max
+Beerbohm has given a pretty characteristic account of
+her appearance in <i>Coppélia</i> in London. ‘No monstrous
+automaton is that young lady. Perfect though she be
+in the <i>haute école</i>, she has by some miracle preserved
+her own self. She was born a comedian and a comedian
+she remains, light as foam. A mermaid were
+not a more surprising creature than she—she of whom
+one half is that of an authentic <i>ballerina</i>, whilst the
+other is that of a most intelligent, most delightful human
+actress. A mermaid were, indeed, less marvellous
+in our eyes. She would not be able to diffuse any<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span>
+semblance of humanity into her tail. Madame Genée’s
+intelligence seems to vibrate in her very toes. Her
+dancing, strictly classical though it is, is a part of her
+acting. And her acting, moreover, is of so fine a quality,
+that she makes the old ineloquent conventions of
+gesture tell meanings to me, and tell them so exquisitely
+that I quite forget my craving for words.—Taglioni
+in <i>Les Arabesques</i>? I suspect in my heart of hearts,
+she was no better than a doll. Grisi in <i>Ghiselle</i>? She
+may or may not have been passable. Genée! It is a
+name our grandchildren will cherish, even as we cherish
+now the names of those bygone dancers. And alas!
+our grandchildren will never believe, will never be
+able to imagine, what Genée was.’</p>
+
+<p>The writer has attended a number of Genée’s performances
+in Europe and in America, and does not
+agree entirely with Mr. Beerbohm’s eulogy. As already
+explained above, Bournoville’s method was a great improvement
+over the French-Italian schools of dancing,
+in that it emphasized the dramatic issues and individual
+traits in the ballet, which Genée has exactly
+followed; but unfortunately the evolution of the Danish
+ballet stopped with Bournoville. The art remained
+in its preliminary state of development and ended with
+the Dresden-china steps. It is this very style that makes
+Genée an attractive museum figure. In this she stands
+unrivalled. She exhibits an art of the past, with every
+detail sedulously studied. You can see how mathematically
+exact is the position of the fingers, the attitude
+of the head, the lines of the arms and limbs, and
+so on. ‘Every step has its name, every gesture belongs
+to its code; there is only one way and no other of executing
+them rightly, and that way is Madame Genée’s,’
+writes one of her admirers. But the dance is more
+than an exhibition of mathematical figures. The studied
+smile and sorrow fail to arouse the emotions of the
+audience. The Dresden-china step is a fossilized thing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span>
+of bygone centuries. It somehow does not belong to
+the stage.</p>
+
+<p>The significance of the Danish ballet, and its influence
+upon the evolution of the art of dancing is greater
+than it is universally admitted. The Danes introduced
+the element of drama into the ballet in order to make
+the dancing a kind of mute acting. They were the first
+to revolt against many time-worn rules of the old
+schools. They were the first to advocate the imitation
+of nature to a certain extent. Bournoville said ‘as nature
+moves in curves and gradations rather than by
+leaps and turns, dancing should take that into consideration.’
+The Russian ballet was influenced through
+the Danish and Swedish. The Danish ballet was a
+stepping-stone between the academic French-Italian
+and ethno-dramatic Russian schools. It has accomplished
+a great task in the evolution of the art of dancing
+by making the ballet a dramatic expression on
+academic lines.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE RUSSIAN BALLET</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the Russian
+school; French and Russian schools compared—Begutcheff and Ostrowsky;
+history of the Russian ballet—Didelot and the Imperial ballet school;
+Petipa and his reforms—Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets;
+Pavlova and other famous <i>ballerinas</i>; Mordkin; Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> celebrated saying of the German poet, ‘<i>Und
+neues Leben blüht aus den Ruinen</i>’ applies better than
+anything else to the Russian ballet, which has risen out
+of the West European choreographic ruins. The Russian
+ballet marks a new era in the history of the art
+of dancing. The Russian ballet is a new word in the
+dance world. It brings the smell of trees and flowers,
+the songs of birds, the leaps of gazelles and lions and
+the very soil of nature to the stage. It breathes the
+spectral shadows of the trees and mountains; it begins
+with the simplest mushroom and ends with the most
+complicated hot-house plant. It emanates nature with
+all its uncouthness and grace. Like the Russian composers
+and poets, the Russian dancers strive to echo
+Nature with all its majesty and mystery.</p>
+
+<p>Even with the beginning of the nineteenth century
+the Russian ballet begins a course entirely different
+from that which the schools of Western Europe were
+preaching and teaching. Though the ballet-masters
+and instructors are foreigners, yet they are actuated by
+outward circumstances to apply their academic theories<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span>
+to the conditions of a different school. With the
+advent of a national school of music and drama, at the
+head of which stood Balakireff, Borodine, Seroff, Moussorgsky,
+Tschaikowsky and Rimsky-Korsakoff in music,
+and Ostrowsky, Turgenieff, Gogol and others in the
+drama, the Russian ballet is forced in the same channels.
+The Russian ballet grows gradually into a new
+nationalistic art, and separates itself altogether from
+the French-Italian aristocratic academicism. The frequent
+remarks of the foreign critics, suggesting that the
+Russian ballet was and is a direct offspring and copy of
+the classic French-Italian schools, are absolutely wrong.
+It is true that the Russians borrowed from the French
+the skeleton and from the Italians the mechanic contrivances,
+but they built up the body themselves and
+created something entirely different from what Western
+Europe knew of the ballet.</p>
+
+<p>A born dancer, the Russian could never stand the
+prescribed poses, smiles, tears, steps and gestures, that
+were and are still practised outside. He is ready to
+undergo the most strenuous training, and follows
+microscopically the instructions of the teachers, in order
+to acquire the necessary technique; but when it
+comes to a performance, he will put his spontaneous
+ideas and impulses above the technique and act according
+to his emotions and inspiration. This is a peculiarity
+of the Russian. He is and remains an individual.
+No school can put him on the same level with
+his fellow-students. Is not Pavlova quite different
+from Fokina or Karsavina?</p>
+
+<p>No other nation cares so much for racial beauty as
+the Russian. And in this it is essentially democratic.
+All Russian art is based on the peasant, and not on
+aristocratic ideals. It expresses this by being simple,
+direct, spontaneous and rugged. The greatest factor
+in separating the Russian ballet from the western, is
+the Russian folk-dance. It owes everything to folk-art.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span>
+No outside influence has ever been able to change the
+Russian æsthetic taste. In art, particularly in the ballet,
+the peasant ideals force themselves upon all aristocratic
+and bureaucratic classes. Already as a youth he
+sucks from the atmosphere the innumerable forms of
+dance expression. In his blood lives unconsciously
+the whole choreographic code, as his ancestors have
+known and practised it for centuries. The design of a
+peasant is the æsthetic scale of a Russian artist, particularly
+of a dancer. Aristocratic ideals never amounted
+to anything in Russia. The fact is, the nobleman follows
+in matters of æsthetic taste the <i>moujik</i>, but never
+<i>vice versa</i>. The benefit of this has been that neither
+the court nor foreign academicism could influence the
+Russian art of dancing.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the racial motives, the question of scientific
+education has been a hobby with the Russian art pedagogues
+since the early part of the last century. The
+Russians are almost fanatic in this respect and have
+specialized their educational institutions to such a degree
+that they stand unique. The method of training
+the dancers in other countries was centred mainly
+in training the step technique and was, so to speak,
+purely choreographic. The Russians took into consideration
+all the arts that are related to dancing, and
+made a rule that all pupils in the dancing schools
+should have at least an elementary training in human
+anatomy, in sculpture, drama, architecture, painting,
+music and in general educational subjects. To know
+every branch of art correspondingly well—this made it
+necessary that children be educated in an institute
+from their childhood on. Thus the education for the
+Russian ballet is given in the two Imperial Ballet
+Schools, one in Petrograd, the other in Moscow, both
+being connected with the dramatic departments in
+which children are trained for the stage. The course
+in the school lasts eight years, with an extra one or two<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span>
+years’ post-graduate practice at some opera stage, after
+which a graduate receives his ‘Free Artist’ degree which
+places him on an equal rank with the graduates of a
+college, university or musical conservatory.</p>
+
+<p>Marius Petipa, the director and leading spirit of the
+Petrograd ballet school, has, upon one occasion, said
+to the writer: ‘We employ the French, the Italian,
+the Danish and the Russian instructors in order to
+give the best of every school and style to our pupils.
+We teach things that no other school would teach. For
+instance, our pupils must know psychology, which is
+supposed to be unnecessary for a dancer. But I say,
+no. How can a girl personify the Snow Maiden when
+she does not know the psychology of a fairy? It’s ridiculous,
+you might think, as fairies are only legendary
+figures. But the very fact that they are imaginary
+makes it necessary for a girl to know how to avoid
+showing any human characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>‘The foreign schools do not care in what steps a
+dancer should express such subtle emotions as jealousy,
+longing, bliss and sorrow. Abroad they prescribe
+pirouettes for joy and happiness. They prescribe acting
+in this, dancing in that phrase. It is not so with us.
+We teach the pupil to see the various human emotions
+in historic sculpture and painting. We show them the
+attitudes of various celebrated actresses in this or that
+emotion. Then, we go back to psychology and leave it
+to the artist to formulate the position that he would
+occupy in various emotions. So you see psychology is
+very important to a dancer.</p>
+
+<p>‘Dancing is the cream of architecture and sculpture.
+We teach our future dancers to know the difference between
+architecture and sculpture and then between a
+dance and a dramatic pose, which are just as different
+as opera singing and concert singing. All our graduates
+must be accomplished dancers, actors, acrobats,
+architects and designers. We teach the difference between<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span>
+a Gothic and Byzantine line, a Moorish and Romanesque
+design. We have to analyze music and
+sculpture to their elementary parts in order to be able
+to show the manifold manifestations of the human soul,
+and the manifold forms of beauty. It is in this way
+that a dancer comes to know which step or gesture
+corresponds to the emotions of a Romanesque Italian,
+Gothic German or Byzantine Russian.</p>
+
+<p>‘I have been assailed by our critics and composers as
+being too strict in demanding technique from our dancers.
+But tell me, please, can any talent make a man
+an artist without technical ability, where mathematical
+laws are required as in dancing and in music? Can
+there ever be a Rubinstein, Paderewski or Kubelik
+without the acquired harmonic and melodic skill on the
+instrument which I call technique? Just as little chance
+has a man of being a great dancer if he does not possess
+the ability to control his body, though he be the
+greatest choreographic genius in the world. Art is
+technique plus talent. No great artist in dancing was
+ever produced without technique.</p>
+
+<p>‘Do you know what Lubke said in his immortal History
+of Sculpture, that applies also to a dancer? I am
+telling all my pupils when they leave the institution
+that, like sculptor in the clay, a dancer in himself must
+seek the “Image of God,” the spark of divine life.
+When he fails to find this in separate lines, poses, gestures,
+attitudes and mimic expressions, he must search
+for it in the whole, and, by thoughtful study and thinking,
+he will certainly attain the reflex of immortal
+beauty—the image of deity. This I call artistic creation.
+In sculpture as in dancing the divine and heroic
+are the aims of the artistic achievements. Without this
+striving after the divine spark nothing is produced but
+lifeless figures and dead forms. A dancer, like any
+other artist, should aspire after spirit-breathing beauty.’</p>
+
+<div id="ip_174" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">
+  <img src="images/i_174.jpg" width="511" height="713" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Pavlowa</p>
+  <p class="credit"><i>a painting by John Lavery</i></p></div></div>
+
+<p>This briefly expresses the fundamental traditions of
+the Russian ballet school. To a certain extent it is academic,
+but it has never interfered with the racial and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span>
+the individual tendencies of the artists. Though there
+are only three large independent ballet corps in Russia,
+those of Petrograd, Moscow, and Warsaw, yet nearly
+every one of the sixty or more provincial opera houses
+keeps its local ballet corps in connection with the operatic
+and dramatic staff. While in foreign countries
+ballet has been appreciated mainly as an accessory to
+the opera for its spectacular effects, its æsthetic appeal
+being regarded as not possessing a high order of merit,
+in Russia it is considered a great and independent art
+of the stage, standing on a plane with opera, both musically
+and dramatically. When a few years ago the
+Russian dancers made their appearance abroad the
+public was startled, as no one could imagine that any
+good thing could come out of Czardom. It is a great
+mistake to suppose that the Russian ballet is an aristocratic
+or autocratic institution. By no means. Like
+Russian drama and music the Russian ballet is a national
+institution and a national achievement.</p>
+
+<p>In how far the Russian ballet differs from her sister
+institutions outside is best to be seen in such old-fashioned
+ballets as <i>Les Sylphides</i>, which was danced by
+Taglioni, and is danced by the artists of the French-Italian
+schools and figures in the repertoires of the
+Russian ballet. Another work of similar nature is the
+<i>Coppélia</i>. Not only are these two time-worn ballets
+wholly changed in their thematic and musical sense
+but in the very form of conception. The Russian <i>Sylphides</i>
+and <i>Coppélia</i> are old scenes in modern light,
+the French-Italian <i>Sylphides</i> and <i>Coppélia</i> are pitiable
+museum shows. Where a French-Italian <i>ballerina</i>
+would leap and whirl, a Russian acts and poses. Like
+the art of an actress that of a Russian <i>ballerina</i> is in
+the first place a personification of the character in
+whose rôle she is dancing. Pavlova as she depicts the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span>
+incomparable fury of Glazounoff’s <i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>,
+could not by any means be a Cleopatra as personified
+by Astafieva. Karsavina with all her dramatic
+thrill and <i>arabesques</i> is a mediocrity in the rôles in
+which Pavlova excels. The dramatic issue is the foremost
+question in the Russian ballet, often to such an
+extent that it minimizes the musical significance. The
+most talented of the foreign ballet dancers do not begin
+to go into the dramatic details of a dance as the
+Russians do.</p>
+
+<p>To get an idea of the Russian ballet with all its true
+atmosphere one must go to Russia. The performances
+of the Diaghileff company which foreign audiences
+have seen, belong to the revolutionary school, but not
+to the typical classic dance of Russia, which we shall
+discuss later. The Russian ballet dancer is free from
+all the stiffness, decadent artificiality, preconceived
+emotions, and fossilized formalities of the French-Italian
+ballet dancers. This freedom he owes, in the first
+place, to the thorough training in the school; second,
+to the distinctly racial traditions of the Russian drama
+and art; and third, to the serious critical attitude of
+the audiences. To say that the Russian ballet has not
+travelled in ideals far from those of Milan in the earlier
+part of the nineteenth century, as a foreign dance critic
+has said, is untrue. The difference between these two
+schools is just as real as that between the Catholic and
+the Protestant church: the one believes in the form, the
+other in the spirit.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>How much the Russian ballet has influenced drama,
+opera, painting and music can be judged from the fact
+that almost without an exception all the Russian operas
+require dancing; thus there are several dramas and
+orchestra works interwoven with the ballet. On the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span>
+other hand the dancer has made use of themes and
+compositions that had been created for other purposes;
+for all such ballets as the <i>Scheherezade</i>, <i>Prince Igor</i>,
+<i>Baba Yaga</i> and many others, were written as orchestral
+suites, symphonic poems or parts of operas. But the
+choric imagination discovered in them latent music
+dramas adapted for dancing. We are inclined to think
+that the Moscow ballet, but not that of Petrograd, is a
+thoroughly Russian institution, since Begutcheff, who
+was a director of the Moscow Opera and Ballet at the
+time of Tschaikowsky and Ostrowsky, banished all
+foreign influence from that stage, more so than has ever
+happened in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>In 1873 Begutcheff asked Ostrowsky, one of the foremost
+Russian dramatists, to write a fairy ballet for
+performance at the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg,
+exacting that it should be free from any satirical or politically
+undesirable element. Begutcheff asked the
+dramatist to submit the scenario to him for approval.
+Ostrowsky was noted for his bitter sarcasm anent the
+Russian bureaucracy and for his idealization of the
+peasants. This he was told he should avoid in the
+ballet, ‘for such would be not pleasing to the imperial
+family.’ Ostrowsky smiled, grunting: ‘God be
+thanked, the imperial family has no business to interfere
+with the imagination of an artist.’ He finished his
+libretto without consulting Begutcheff and entitled it
+<i>Snegourotchka</i>—‘Snow Maiden.’ The director of the
+Petrograd ballet did not like Ostrowsky’s libretto and
+refused to consider it. Begutcheff, however, turned the
+libretto over to Tschaikowsky to compose the music
+and it was performed with great success in Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>One of the special features of the Russian ballet is
+its <i>chorovody</i> character—that is, the musical accompaniment,
+on many occasions, is supplied by the singing
+of the dancers themselves. This species of vocal
+ballets evidently originated in the choral dances of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span>
+the peasants. The Russian ballet is, in fact, an outgrowth
+of the folk-dance just as Russian music emanates
+from the folk-song. While watching the Russian
+ballet, you see glimpses of the racial traits. It is not
+like the music, however, a picture of the gloom of lonely
+<i>moujik</i> life, in which only here and there a beam of
+light breaks through the melancholy. It is a succession
+of brilliant pictures of the mediæval Boyars, the semi-barbaric
+nobility. Every part of the ballet is meant to
+show the rich Byzantine colors, and primitive passions
+as set forth in a half-civilized garb.</p>
+
+<p>It is true the Russian ballet is controlled by the court
+and therefore is forced to be aristocratic in appearance.
+The composers and the ballet-masters have been strictly
+instructed to avoid all undesirable themes; but, strange
+to say, the ballet is just as much a mirror of the hospitable,
+good natured, naïve and emotional peasant as
+it is of a spoiled Boyar. It is not that all the ballet
+dancers are children of peasants, educated for the
+stage by the court, but because the Russian dramatists
+and composers have unconsciously put their own <i>moujik</i>
+souls in their creations, for, though most of the Russian
+composers and dramatists are descendants of the
+aristocracy, yet in their hearts they have remained one
+with the people, whose life they live in thought and
+feeling.</p>
+
+<p>In its principles the ballet is the most aristocratic and
+the oldest of all Russian arts of the stage. The unwritten
+history of the enchanting Russian dance would
+make a thrilling record of more than two centuries.
+The romances, tragedies, mysteries, and intrigues connected
+with this sealed drama have often played a
+decisive rôle in the affairs of the country. As the result
+of a romance with pretty Teleshova Griboyedoff,
+a famous Russian dramatist was killed in Teheran.
+For having dedicated his ‘Eugene Onyegin’ to the fascinating
+Istomina, prima <i>ballerina</i> of the Imperial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span>
+Opera, Poushkin, the poet, lost the love of his wife and
+was subsequently shot in a duel. The Czar Paul fell
+in love with Eugeny Kolossova and in consequence was
+strangled at his palace in Petrograd. Before the present
+Czar ascended the throne he was said to have been
+so much in love with Mathilda Kshesinskaya that he
+made plans to renounce his throne and marry her.</p>
+
+<p>The ballet was introduced in Russia as early as 1672.
+Czar Alexis Mihailowitch ordered his aid-de-camp,
+Colonel Van Staden, to have a troupe of Dutch comedians
+brought to Moscow. Van Staden made a contract
+with a ballet manager in Brussels, but the foreigner
+was frightened into giving up the venture because
+of a rumor that he and his troupe might eventually
+land in Siberia. After this a German pastor, the
+Rev. Johann Gregory, undertook the management of
+the troupe, hiring sixty-four German and Italian dancers
+and producing in 1673 the first ballet, ‘Orpheus and
+Euridice,’ with great success. Peter the Great was so
+fascinated with the ballet that he himself took part and
+for this purpose received lessons from the ballet-master.</p>
+
+<p>The ballet of this time was, of course, Italian-French
+in conception and music. But the early foreign masters
+soon produced a school of native instructors who
+gradually made use of the peculiarities of national
+dances. Many Russian ballets were already at this
+time of national color, one of them, <i>Baba Yaga</i>, having
+been written by the Czar himself. <i>Baba Yaga</i> is a Russian
+fairy tale. Like the English ‘Witch on a Broomstick,’
+<i>Baba Yaga</i> rides through the sky on a huge
+mortar, propelling herself with a pestle, while her
+great tongue licks up the clouds as she passes. The
+dancers were trained in various military or municipal
+schools and the teaching was unsystematic in every
+respect.</p>
+
+<p>The first impetus to a national dancing academy was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span>
+given by Empress Anna Ivanovna, the sister of Peter
+the Great, who felt that the education of the dancers
+was not systematic enough, and regretted that the best
+dancers had to be hired from abroad. In 1735, she
+asked Christian Wellmann, a teacher of gymnastics in
+the Cadet Corps, to found a dramatic dancing school in
+which girls and boys could be educated for the ballet.
+The Italian composer Francesca Areja was employed
+to take care of the music, while Lande, a pupil of Noverre,
+was to act as ballet director. As the newly
+formed school could not get children of the nobility to
+learn dancing, Lande trained a number of poor city
+boys and girls free of any charge, and with them gave a
+performance at the palace. The Empress was so
+pleased with their dance that she instructed that the
+pupils be educated in the Imperial Dramatic Dancing
+School free of charge.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The most conspicuous figures in the development of
+the early Russian ballet were Locatelli, Hilferding and
+Lessogoroff. To the latter’s efforts are due the reforms
+that made the Russian school independent from French-Italian
+influences. But to Charles Louis Didelot is due
+the thorough and many sided system of training that
+makes the School a unique institution in Europe. He
+may be considered the real father of all the pedagogic
+technical perfection, for it was he who emphasized the
+importance of a systematic training in a true dramatic
+spirit, contending that a good ballet dancer should also
+be a good actress and an artist and a poet at heart. Up
+to his time lessons had consisted mostly of physical
+training, fencing and gymnastics, but he insisted that
+the ballet be put on the same basis as drama. Whereas
+the dance had been merely a spectacular part of opera
+he intended that it should become an independent production.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span>
+This brought upon him a storm of indignation
+on the part of the clergy and their supporters, the
+quarrel becoming so intense that in 1801, as one of its
+effects, the Czar Paul was acclaimed a heretic and was
+combatted by the ecclesiastic powers until he was
+strangled in his palace and his son, Alexander I, ascended
+the throne. The young Czar was religious, but
+so much an admirer of the ballet that he did not interfere
+with the plans of Didelot and gave him a still
+greater authority.</p>
+
+<p>It is strange how Didelot, a rather small, insignificant,
+pock-marked and deformed Frenchman, who had
+been for some time a ballet teacher in Stockholm, could
+play a dominating rôle during the twenty-five years
+that he was director of the Imperial Ballet School. The
+best known dancers of his school were Istomina, Teleshova
+and the uncle of Taglioni, who later undertook
+the training of Maria Taglioni. Miss Novitzkaya was a
+celebrated pupil of Didelot, but her career was soon
+destroyed by an affair of the heart. Gedeonoff, the
+director who followed Didelot, fell madly in love with
+Novitzkaya and proposed to her, but the dancer, having
+given her heart to a poor composer, remained true to
+him and became his wife. This was the end of her
+art, though critics claimed her superior to Taglioni and
+Elssler.</p>
+
+<p>By 1847 the Russian ballet had taken a leading place
+in Europe, but in a purely artistic sense it was still
+foreign in character, the librettos being built mainly
+on foreign themes or constructed to foreign music.
+With the advent of the composers Glinka, Dargomijsky,
+Seroff, Balakireff and Moussorgsky, it was evident that
+ballet faced a reform similar to that which music had
+undergone. The ballets of the old school had usually
+been divided into several acts and figures, each of
+which had <i>entrées</i> and strictly prescribed rules for
+using various gestures, steps, etc., in certain places.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">182</span>
+They, however, failed to define the relation of emotion
+and acting to the plot and made dancing a complicated
+artificial salon-plant. An uninitiated logic could hardly
+grasp the hieroglyphic meaning of all the queer gymnastic
+tricks. With the engagement of Marius Petipa,
+in 1849, there came a change. Although a Frenchman
+by birth Petipa was just such a reformer in the ballet
+as Michelangelo was in sculpture. More powerful
+than any other master, he entered the sphere of choreographic
+art, transforming it completely, and assigning
+it new limits. Petipa was the master of a new ballet,
+an idealist in the strictest sense of the word. He sought
+for a universally available expression, and often even
+ignored questions of racial beauty. He gave himself
+up for many years to an anatomical study of the dance
+and the human body. By him the human form in all
+its majesty was valued for its own sake. To exhibit it
+in all conceivable attitudes and poses, to display it
+freely and grandly after the principles of classic beauty,
+was the aim of his endeavor. The weak decadent
+movements and the forced forms of the Paris and Milan
+schools were irritable to his broad views of the art of
+dancing. Unfettered subjectivity prevailed in his efforts,
+which admitted no objective realism in their absolute
+sway. All his method betrays an eternal struggle
+to introduce into dancing the most sublime ideas,
+the sway of idea over form. Whether a figure was
+natural or not interested him little, if it only expressed
+what was floating before his mind. Petipa infused a
+new life into Russian ballet. Nevertheless he could not
+wholly free himself from the mannerism of the time,
+nor could he yet find the path to perfect purity and
+naïveté of conception.</p>
+
+<p>Petipa surrounded himself with the best dance authorities
+of the time. Felix Kshesinsky, Leggatt, Schirjajeff
+and Bekeffy became his associates in the task he
+had undertaken. Coöperating in harmony and inspired<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span>
+by the new tendency of nationalism in music and
+drama, they made the ballet typically national by introducing
+a long repertoire of national themes in the
+dance. With pretty Kshesinskaya, Bogdanova, Breobrashenskaya,
+Sokolova, Pavlova, Karsavina, Lopokova
+and Fokina as the <i>prima ballerinas</i> many new ballets
+became thrilling novelties to the Russian audiences.
+The ballet in the eyes of the Petipa school became a
+mute drama with music, and at once took a high position
+artistically and poetically. People grew to find the
+ballet far more alluring than the pessimistic drama.</p>
+
+<p>What Petipa did pedagogically for the uplifting of
+the Russian ballet, Vsevoloshky did scenically and industrially.
+Vsevoloshky made himself the spirit of the
+nationalistic movement by combining with the purely
+choreographic part the creations of the new school of
+painters and composers in a highly artistic manner.
+Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff, Arensky
+and Glazounoff in music, Bilibin, Benois and Bakst in
+painting, contributed their best works to the ballet. On
+the other hand, while the West European ballets cared
+little for training the male dancers, the Russians laid
+a special stress on training an equal number of boys
+with the girls in all their ballet schools. The training
+of a boy is different from that of a girl in that it teaches
+chiefly those traits that lend virility and strength to
+expression. A weak masculine element deprives the
+ballet of its natural effect. A Pavlova, Karsavina or
+Fokina without a Nijinsky, Mordkin or Volinin, would
+be like an orchestra without the bass. How repulsive
+it is to see the ‘boy’ dancer of the English stage, who
+is always a girl!</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>The most typical of the early purely Russian native
+ballets was the <i>Snegourotchka</i>—‘The Snow Maiden’—which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span>
+was first performed in 1876 in Moscow. Tschaikowsky
+took for his musical themes half a dozen folk-songs
+from Brokunin’s collection, and a few from the
+lips of the village people near Kieff. This ballet has
+been of the greatest success on the Russian stage thus
+far. This is musically and choreographically a dramatized
+fairy tale. The Snow Maiden is the issue of
+the union of the gladsome fairy, Spring, with the grim
+old geni, Winter. The father jealously guards her
+from the courting Sun-God, who is eager to pour upon
+her his scorching and destructive rays. Winter would
+like to keep her in the forest, but the mother, proud of
+her child’s beauty, wants to send her into the busy
+world to charm its inhabitants. After a serious conflict
+of the parents the father yields. The girl feels the
+strange emotions of love and trembles, singing a thrilling
+melody. She wanders from village to village in
+search of a lover, but her numerous admirers are unable
+to stir her heart, because snow circulates through
+her veins. She realizes that she is void of real passion.
+Spring appears to her and endows her with the tenderness
+of a lily, the languor of a poppy and the desire of
+a rose. The Snow Maiden’s heart is touched at last,
+but in the moment when she wishes to fall on her lover’s
+neck a brilliant sun ray pours its Summer heat on
+her. She dissolves in vapor and floats into the skies.</p>
+
+<p>The score is wholly Russian in mood and color. The
+dramatic treatment of the subject is the best that
+Tschaikowsky has ever done. The Snow Maiden’s
+theme is very sad and beautiful in the last movement.
+The pantomime and steps are excellent, and seem to
+melt into one magic whole. Tschaikowsky, with his
+peculiar genius for evolving floating, curving dance
+rhythms and his remarkable gift for lyrical characterization,
+made ‘The Snow Maiden’ a great success.</p>
+
+<p>Of less success was Tschaikowsky’s second ballet,
+‘Swan Lake,’ though it has been in recent years a favorite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span>
+ballet with the Petrograd audiences. Like the
+first, it was built on a fairy tale and an old folk legend
+theme. It was performed in 1876. Another ballet full
+of imaginary episodes and pretty music is ‘The Sleeping Beauty.’
+The finest pages of this score are found in
+the <i>Adagio misterioso</i>, describing the sleep of the princess.
+But choreographically the best part is the <i>Pas
+d’action</i>, in which the <i>prima ballerina</i> seems to melt
+into one audio-visible beauty that thrills the utmost
+depths of the soul. The ‘Nut Cracker’ has had less success
+than the others, yet it is a magnificent work of art.
+It probably lacks the feminine sentimentality that is
+always sure of a stage success.</p>
+
+<p>To our knowledge none of Tschaikowsky’s ballets has
+been given in America. Whether the Diaghileff company
+ever gave any of them in Paris and London, we
+have been unable to learn. The Russian ballets that the
+foreign audiences have thus far seen abroad, are nearly
+without exception musical patch-works. Neither the
+Rimsky-Korsakoff <i>Scheherezade</i> nor <i>Prince Igor</i> nor
+<i>Cleopatra</i> was ever written for dancing. The <i>Scheherezade</i>,
+for instance, is an orchestral suite of Rimsky-Korsakoff.
+He never meant it for a ballet. Of all the
+real ballets that the Diaghileff troupe has given only
+those composed by Stravinsky and a few by Tcherepnin
+are meant to be danced.</p>
+
+<p>Among the best Russian ballet dancers of the strictly
+classic or, as we should say, of the Petipa school, are
+Kshesinskaya, Breobrashenskaya, Geltzer, Pavlova,
+Mordkin, Novikoff, Volinin, Kyasht and Lopokova,
+most of whom are known abroad. But there are quite
+a number of Russian <i>prima ballerinas</i>, who, for some
+reason or other, have not been able to display their
+art abroad, yet who rival the best we know. As with
+other artists, dancers all have their individual traits of
+superiority and weakness. In some dances we have seen
+Kshesinskaya superior to all the rest, in other rôles<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">186</span>
+she is just a mediocrity. We can imagine nothing more
+inspiring and beautiful than Pavlova and Mordkin in
+Glazounoff’s <i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>. No Russian ballet
+dancers have surpassed them in this. In the same
+way we consider Pavlova a goddess of grace and beauty
+in Drigo’s <i>Papillon</i> and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’ We
+measure her one of the most lyric artists of the Russian
+classic ballet.</p>
+
+<p>Mme. Pavlova is a graduate of the Petrograd Ballet
+School and was for years a <i>prima ballerina</i> at the
+Mariensky Theatre in that city before she made a tour
+to Riga, Warsaw and Helsingfors. Having been received
+with greatest enthusiasm on her provincial tour
+she decided to try her luck abroad and made her London
+début in 1910, where she immediately had the city
+at her feet. It is only in recent years that Pavlova has
+danced in her own regular ballet, whereas before she
+appeared exclusively in solo dances, either with Mordkin,
+Novikoff or Volinin. In our judgment she has not
+added anything to her reputation or success by her
+patchy ballet, particularly in America, where the public
+is least impressed by pantomimic art of the kind
+they can see with more advantage in the moving-picture
+show. It is Pavlova’s art that the people admire,
+not the ballets that are concocted for her. It must be
+said that the ballets recently produced by her possess
+little dramatic or choreographic appeal.</p>
+
+<p>In questions pertaining to her dancing Pavlova has
+been broad and tolerant, and has listened quietly to
+every eulogistic or critical remark. She has not remained
+indifferent to the latest choreographic movements
+but has adapted herself to many suggestions,
+particularly to those of the movement of the naturalistic
+school of Isadora Duncan. In spite of the growing
+influence of the revolutionary new ballet of the
+Fokine-Diaghileff group, and while keeping in view the
+changing taste and requirements of the public, Pavlova<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">187</span>
+should, we believe, guard against too great a compromise.
+She surpasses in her magic swiftness, delicacy,
+bird-like agility, floating grace and lyric pirouettes
+all her living rivals. One can see that she has
+tuned her body to the most delicate <i>pianissimi</i> and the
+most powerful <i>forti</i>. But when she attempts to use her
+arms too conspicuously, or produce Greek poses, she is
+a disappointing failure. We must admit with an English
+critic that ‘in Pavlova’s dancing we are no longer aware
+of the conscious and painful obedience of the body to
+the dictates of a governing mind. It is as though the
+spirit itself had left its central citadel and, by some
+unwonted alchemy becoming dissolved in the blood
+and fibres of her being, had penetrated to the extremities
+of the limbs. Soul from body is no longer distinguishable,
+and which is servant to the other none can
+tell.’</p>
+
+<p>Mordkin and Volinin stand by no means beyond the
+dynamic beauty of Pavlova. In their virilly graceful
+gestures and poses lies something heroic and strong,
+something beast-like in its beauty. Mordkin perhaps
+more than Volinin is endowed with a robust, massive
+and splendid physique, qualities which leave some of
+his less critical admirers blind to the deficiencies of his
+art. Both dancers have acquired most of their pliancy
+and manliness by a course of systematic and rigorous
+training which gives to their dance an unusual <i>abandon</i>
+and loftiness. Their dancing has a tendency to give a
+semblance of repose to their quickest motions. They
+seem to avoid the conventional whirls and pivots with
+intention, and to prefer the lion-like leaps and <i>chassées</i>.
+Their reckless swing in <i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>
+is just as much an expression of manly vigor as Pavlova’s
+<i>pirouette</i> and <i>rond de jambe</i> is one of feminine
+grace.</p>
+
+<p>The ranks of the Russian ballet dancers are of a
+peculiar bureaucratic order, beginning with the simple<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span>
+<i>danseuse</i> and ending with the <i>prima ballerina</i>, which
+is a rank similar in the hierarchy to that of a full general.
+Lydia Kyasht, for instance, is a lieutenant in her
+rank of <i>première sujet</i>. Pavlova and Karsavina are
+<i>ballerinas</i>, while only Kshesinskaya and Breobrashenskaya
+are <i>prima ballerinas</i>. Among the Russian dancers
+known abroad, Lydia Kyasht and Lydia Lopokova
+are next to Pavlova brilliant exponents of the Russian
+classic or so called ‘Old Ballet.’ They have both impressed
+us as sincere and eloquent artists of their
+school, the one romantic, the other extremely poetic.
+The ethereal twists and glides of Lopokova surpass
+by far those of Pavlova in their peculiar fairy-like lines
+and poses. Kyasht appeals to us immensely on account
+of her absolutely classic plastic and enchanting
+poses, which add an exotic air to her enchanting expressions.</p>
+
+<p>In introducing Pavlova, Mordkin and other more or
+less prominent exponents of the Russian classic ballet
+to America and England Max Rabinoff has been the
+practical spirit behind the scenes. An authority on
+the dance, Mr. Rabinoff had the conviction, even when
+the Russian dancers were yet unknown in America, that
+they would ultimately triumph as they did. To his persistent
+efforts the Russian ballet owes its success in
+America.</p>
+
+<p>The classic Russian ballet is a pure Byzantine piece
+of stage art. It mirrors the bizarre glow and colors of
+the cathedrals, the mystic romanticism of the Kremlin
+walls and cupolas, the Tartar minarets, the vaulted
+<i>teremas</i> (Boyar houses), the lonely steppes, the gloomy
+penal colonies, the luxurious palaces and twisted towers
+of a semi-Oriental country. Strongly replete with
+the character of the passing Boyar life, it is an era in
+itself.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE ERA OF DEGENERATION</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Nineteenth century decadence; sensationalism—Loie Fuller and the Serpentine
+dance—Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the last half of the nineteenth century the
+art of dancing reached such a low level that Max Nordau
+said: ‘It is a fleeting pastime for women and
+youths, and later on its last atavistic survival will be
+the dancing of children.’ An English writer of that
+time wrote aptly: ‘In these days of culture, when the
+public mind is being trained to perceive and appreciate
+whatever is lovely in nature and art, when music is
+universally studied, when there is ample evidence of
+general improvement in taste and design in our streets,
+our buildings, on the walls and in the furniture of our
+homes, is it not strange that a single art, one which
+was in classic times deemed worthy to rank with poetry
+and painting—the art of dancing—has degenerated to
+such an extent that its practice, as frequently exhibited
+both in public and in private, is a positive disgrace to
+the age? This is no exaggerated statement. It is one
+which I think any competent critic is hardly likely to
+deny.’</p>
+
+<p>The Skirt Dance, the Serpentine Dance, the High
+Kickers, the Nude Bayaderes were the sensations of
+the day. Here Lottie Collins, there Loie Fuller, now
+Letti Lind, then again Connie Gilchrist, figured as the
+greatest dance attractions of the day. London blamed
+Paris, Paris blamed New York. How much the craze
+for such an art had cast its spell on the public of that
+period is best illustrated by the immense sums of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span>
+money that the theatrical managers paid for their
+shows. The gross receipts during one season in New
+York of ‘Humpty Dumpty,’ a celebrated ballet of that
+time, amounted to $1,406,000. It brought in a similar
+sum, if not more, outside.</p>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p>A brilliant star of the sensational school of dancing
+was Loie Fuller, of Chicago. She made her New York
+début in ‘Jack Sheppard,’ with a salary of seventy-five
+dollars a week. While rehearsing a new play, she received
+from an English officer a present of an extremely
+fine Oriental robe that floated gracefully in the air.
+This gave her the idea of using it for her dancing.
+While making some experiments before the mirror,
+she noticed the effects brought about by the then newly
+invented electric light. She tried innumerable variations
+of poses and all were delightful. This was the
+birth process of the Serpentine Dance. J. E. Crawford
+Flitch writes of the incident:</p>
+
+<p>‘The invention of the Serpentine Dance coincided
+with the discovery of electricity as a method of lighting
+the stage. Until that time gas alone had been used.
+Loie Fuller immediately saw the possibilities of the
+new scientific illumination, and with the aid of a few
+friends she devised a means by which the effect of the
+vivid sunshine could be obtained through the use of
+powerful electric lights placed in front of reflectors.
+Then various experiments with color were tried; for
+the white light of electricity were substituted different
+shades of reds, greens, purples, yellows, blues, by the
+combinations of which innumerable and wonderful
+rainbow-like effects of color were obtained. Played
+upon by the multitudinous hues, the diaphanous silk
+gave an impression of startling originality and beauty.
+Coming at the time when the artistic lighting of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span>
+stage was scarcely studied at all, the riot of color
+created a sensation. Nothing like it had been seen before.
+The old-fashioned limelight, the flickering gas-jets,
+the smoking red and blue flames dear to the
+Christmas pantomime, paled before this discovery of
+science which apparently possessed inexhaustible possibilities
+of a stage illuminant.’</p>
+
+<p>Loie Fuller made a sensation in America, particularly
+in New York and Chicago. But her success was
+much greater when she gave spectacular performances
+to the morbid Berlin, Paris and London audiences.
+Her début at Folies Bergères was more than a triumph.
+She became the rage of France. The management of
+the Folies Bergères engaged her for three years at a
+salary of one thousand dollars a week. How greatly
+‘<i>La Loie</i>,’ as she was called in Paris, impressed the
+French audiences is best to be seen in what one of
+the French critics writes of her: ‘We shall not easily
+forget the Serpentine Dance, undulating and luminous,
+full of weird grace and originality, a veritable revelation!
+By means of a novel contrivance, the gauzy iridescent
+draperies in which Loie Fuller swathes herself
+were waved about her, now to form huge wings, now to
+surge in great clouds of gold, blue, or crimson, under
+the colored rays of the electric light. And in the flood of
+this dazzling or pallid light the form of the dancer suddenly
+became incandescent, or moved slowly and spectrally
+in the diaphanous and ever-changing coloration
+cast upon it. The spectator never wearied of watching
+the transformations of these tissues of living light,
+which showed in successive visions the dreamy dancer,
+moving languidly in a chaos of figured draperies—in a
+rainbow of brilliant colors or a sea of vivid flames.
+And after having roused us to a pitch of enthusiasm by
+this luminous choreography, she appeared triumphant
+in the pantomime-ballet <i>Salome</i>, reproducing the
+gloomy episode of the death of John the Baptist.’</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span>
+Among the dances that Loie Fuller had in her repertoire,
+besides the Serpentine Dance, were the Rainbow
+Dance, the Flower Dance, the Butterfly Dance, the Mirror
+Dance, and the Fire Dance. It is only natural that
+all her dances of this kind made necessary a vast paraphernalia
+of accessories and an army of assistants.
+The Fire Dance she performed in the centre of a darkened
+stage before an opening in the floor through which
+a powerful electric reflector threw up intensely brilliant
+rays. None of her dances had any classified steps,
+any poses, gestures of the kind employed by dancers
+of various other schools and different ages. The function
+of the limbs and arms was merely to put veils and
+draperies into motion.</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>Of somewhat the same class were the entertainments
+given by Louise Weber or ‘La Goulu,’ another American
+girl of the type of Loie Fuller. Occasionally she
+exhibited some skill in her kicking scenes. It is said
+that she never made pretension to rhythm and grace.
+Her ‘art’ was a negation of every beauty. It was a
+frenzied delirious gymnastic. An American critic says
+that her legs were agitated like those of a marionette,
+they pawed the air, jerked out in the manner of a
+pump-handle, and menaced the hats of the spectators.</p>
+
+<p>Lottie Collins was a favorite of the English, French
+and American audiences, though she was little more
+than a jumper of a new style. The watchword of the
+ballet <i>habitués</i> of this time was novelty at any price.
+It is extremely amusing to read a Kansas City criticism
+of Miss Collins’ performance in that city: ‘Lottie
+Collins has the stage all to herself and she bounces
+and dances and races all over it in the most reckless
+and irresponsible way, precisely as if she were a
+happy child so full of health and spirits that she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span>
+couldn’t keep still if she wanted to. Sometimes she
+simply runs headlong all the way round the stage, finishing
+the lap with perhaps a swift whirl or two, or a
+whisk and kick. Sometimes she simply jumps and
+bounces, and sometimes she doubles up like a pen-knife
+with the suddenness of a springlock to emphasize
+the “boom.” She is invariably in motion except when
+she stops to chant the gibberish that passes for verses,
+but the wonder is that she has breath enough to sing
+after the first cyclonic interlude.’</p>
+
+<p>Still more debased were the performances of Olga
+Desmond, Villiani and others, who made erotic gestures
+and nude dances a fad of many European capitals.
+The argument of these dancers was that dancing,
+like sculpture, is predominantly an art of nudes. Only
+the naked body could show the perfect plastic lines and
+graceful poses. They strove to dance slow music, sonatas
+and symphonic poems, in order to display the effects
+of certain pretty poses and arabesques. They put
+a special stress upon the rhythm, but their interpretation
+was morbidly perverse.</p>
+
+<p>The best figure of this decadent school of dancing
+was Kate Vaughan, who strove to follow the style and
+manners of Taglioni’s dance. But the sensation and
+novelty-loving public of England found her art too
+tame and old-fashioned, so she died in poverty and
+broken health in South Africa. Mr. Crawford Flitch
+says of her: ‘Although of course she never reached the
+perfection of her predecessor [Taglioni], 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 steps. She danced not
+only with her feet, but with every limb of her frail
+body. She depended not merely upon the manipulation
+of the skirt for her effect, but upon her facility of balance
+and the skillful use of arms and hands. Her andante<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span>
+movements in particular were a glorious union
+of majesty and grace. It is true that she condescended
+at times to introduce into her dance some of those
+hideous steps which vulgarized the dancing of the period—in
+particular that known as the “high kick”; but
+even this unpleasant step she accomplished with a certain
+sense of elegance and refinement which disguised
+its essential ugliness and suggestion of contortion. She
+danced with a distinct inspiration, and upon her style
+was built up all that was best in the dancing of her
+time.’</p>
+
+<p>This new dance hysteria seemed to be of an epidemic
+nature. The vogue for crude and sensational
+dances held the whole western world for nearly half
+a century in its iron grip. With the exception of Scandinavia
+and Russia, all Europe and America were affected
+by a decadent dance taste. Novelty was reckoned
+far superior to beauty. Cleverness was placed
+high above talent and genius. It was seemingly a prelude
+to a subsequent effeminacy that was to spread over
+Occidental art and life.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan—Duncan’s influence: Maud
+Allan; Duncan’s German followers—Modern music and the dance; the
+Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’—Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St.
+Denis—Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">During</span> the last part of the past and the beginning of
+the present century, when the outside world was ignorant
+of the existence of the Russian ballet, circles of
+more serious-minded students of art began to voice
+protest against the cult of skirt and fire dancers, jongleurs
+and kickers, and the time was ripe for any movement
+that would bring relief from the prevailing deterioration
+of such a noble art as dancing. Even the
+general public grew bored of acrobatic performances
+and as during every period of decadence ‘there were a
+few teachers who consistently resolved to impart to
+their pupils only what was good and beautiful in dancing,
+whose voices, feeble as they sounded, were nevertheless
+strong enough to carry weight and rescue their
+art from the deplorable condition into which it had
+for the time fallen,’ as a dancing critic of that time aptly
+writes. One of the most ardent advocates of a new
+classic art of dancing during this time was Mrs. Richard
+Hovey. In all her teaching and preaching Mrs.
+Hovey based the principles of the prospective style
+upon the plastic art of the ancient Greeks. She made
+a vigorous propaganda for this in New York, Boston<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span>
+and California. Whether directly or indirectly Miss
+Isadora Duncan, who had been interested in initiating
+a reform of human life in its least details of costume,
+of hygiene and of morals, felt the impulse of Mrs.
+Hovey’s propaganda and joined the worthy movement.</p>
+
+<p>The fundamental principle of Mrs. Hovey’s propaganda
+was the return to nature. According to the
+theory of this new movement, dancing was declared an
+expression of nature. Water, wind, birds and all forces
+of nature are subject to a law of rhythm and gravity.
+Not the tricky, broken lines, spinning whirls and toe
+gymnastics, but soft, curved undulations of nature,
+are close to Mother Earth. Thus also man in his normal
+life and savage state, moved rather in slow curves
+than in quick broken lines. This, briefly, was the
+principal argument of the few reformers who inspired
+Miss Duncan. Already Noverre and Petipa had emphasized
+the fact that ancient Greek sculpture and
+Greek designs gave the best ideas of graceful lines and
+pleasing human forms. But the votaries of the new
+school explained that in a return to the natural gesture
+of human life Greek art was the only logical criterion.
+Miss Duncan in her essay, ‘The Dance,’ says:</p>
+
+<p>‘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 dancer. It is from nature alone
+that the dancer must draw his inspirations, in the same
+manner as the sculptor, with whom he has so many
+affinities. Rodin has said: “To produce good sculpture
+it is not necessary to copy the works of antiquity;
+it is necessary first of all to regard the works of nature,
+and to see in those of the classics only the method by
+which they have interpreted nature.” Rodin is right;
+and in my art I have by no means copied, as has been
+supposed, the figures of Greek vases, friezes and paintings.
+From them I have learned to regard nature, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span>
+when certain of my movements recall the gestures that
+are seen in works of art, it is only because, like them,
+they are drawn from the grand natural source.</p>
+
+<p>‘My inspiration has been drawn from trees, from
+waves, from clouds, from the sympathies that exist between
+passion and the storm, between gentleness and
+the soft breeze, and the like, and I always endeavor to
+put into my movements a little of that divine continuity
+which gives to the whole of nature its beauty and its
+life.’</p>
+
+<p>Thus Miss Duncan started her career by interpreting
+natural qualities by means of natural movements. ‘I
+have closely studied the figured documents of all ages
+and of all the great masters, but 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 head. These ugly and false positions in no way
+express that state of unconscious Dionysiac delirium
+which is necessary to the dancer. Moreover, movements,
+just like harmonies in music, are not invented;
+they are discovered,’ writes Miss Duncan. To her the
+only mode of dancing is barefoot. According to her
+‘the dancer must choose above all the movements which
+express the strength, the health, the grace, the nobility,
+the languor or the gravity of living things.’ Gravity to
+Miss Duncan is natural and right. A ballet dancer, a
+Pavlova, Nijinsky and Karsavina, eager to defy the
+laws of gravity, is to her a freak.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Serge Volkhonsky, who has been a conspicuous
+figure in the Russian dance reform-movement,
+writes of Miss Duncan’s school in comparison with that
+of Jacques-Dalcroze: ‘Her dance is a result of personal
+temperament, his movements are the result of music;
+she draws from herself, he draws from rhythm; her
+psychological basis is subjective; his rhythmical basis
+is objective; and, in order to characterize her in a few
+words, I may say Isadora is the dancing “ego.” This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">198</span>
+subjective psychological basis of Isadora’s art I find
+clearly emphasized by Mr. Levinsohn’s words: “The
+images or moods (<i>Stimmungen</i>) created in our mind
+by the rational element—music—cannot be identical
+with every one, and therefore cannot be compulsory.
+Just in that dissimilitude of moods and uncompulsoriness
+of images resides the best criterion for the appreciation
+of Isadora Duncan as a founder of a system.
+Her dance is precisely not a system, cannot found what
+is called a ‘school’; it needs another similar ‘ego’ to repeat
+her. And according to this it seems quite incomprehensible
+that some people should see in Miss Duncan’s
+art ‘a possibility for all of us being beautiful.’
+No, not at all for all of us; for not every temperament,
+while embodying ‘images or moods’ called forth by
+music, will necessarily create something beautiful;
+one cannot raise the exceptional into rule. In order
+to be certain of creating something beautiful, no matter
+whether in the moral or the æsthetical domain, it
+is not in ourselves that we shall find the law, but in
+subjecting ourselves to another principle which lives
+outside of ourselves. For the plastic (choreographic),
+this principle is Music. It is not instinct expressing
+itself under the influence of music—which with every
+man is different, and only in few chosen natures beautiful
+in itself—but the rhythm of music, which in every
+given composition is an unchangeable element subjecting
+our ‘ego.’ This is the basis of living plastic art.
+And in this respect Isadora’s art satisfies the double
+exigencies of the visible and the audible art as little as
+the ballet. Her arms are certainly more rhythmical
+than her legs, but as a whole we cannot call her rhythmical
+in the strict sense of the word, and this appears
+especially in the slow movements: her walk, so to
+speak, does not keep step with music; she often steps
+on the weak part of the bar and often between the
+notes. In general it is in the examples of slow tempo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">199</span>
+that the insufficiency of the principle may be observed.
+The slower a tempo the more she ‘mimics,’ and the
+farther, therefore, she strays from the music. If we
+look at the impression on the spectators we shall see
+that all in the paces of the quick tempos the movement
+must enter into closer connection with the music; in
+cases of very minute divisions of the bar the simple
+coincidence of the step with the first ‘heavy’ part already
+produces a repeated design which makes ear and
+eye meet in one common perception. If the representatives
+of that particular kind of dance were to realize
+this they would endeavor to introduce into slow tempos
+the rhythmical element instead of the mimic, which
+leads them out of the music and converts the dance
+into a sort of acting during the music, a sort of plastic
+melo-declamation.”’</p>
+
+<p>These critics have pointed out the subjective nature
+of Miss Duncan’s dance and her impatience of rules
+and formal technique. They believe that because of
+these two qualities of her art it cannot be repeated,
+except by ‘another similar ego.’ But as if in direct
+answer to these charges come Miss Duncan’s pupils.
+They are by no means highly selected material or
+‘similar egos,’ but each (among the more mature pupils)
+is a beautiful and individual dancer. To each she
+has transmitted her spirit; in each she has preserved
+the native personality. They are the best evidence thus
+far obtained of the truth of Miss Duncan’s dictum of
+the ‘possibility for all of us being beautiful.’ Moreover
+we must not suppose that Miss Duncan’s contempt
+for <i>formal</i> technique is a contempt for technical ability.
+She herself is a marvellously plastic and exact
+dancer, and she demands, ultimately, no less of her
+pupils. The limited range of her technique, so often
+complained of, is the deliberate result of her belief
+that the only movements proper to the dance are the
+<i>natural</i> movements of the human body. She stakes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">200</span>
+the success of her art upon the proposition that these
+movements alone are capable of the highest absolute
+and interpretive beauty. As to the truth of this proposition
+each observer must judge for himself from the
+results. Again, Miss Duncan does not always ‘dance
+the music’ literally, note for note, according to the
+theory of the Jacques-Dalcroze system. Her interpretation
+is frankly emotional and subjective, but it does not
+pretend to transcend the music.</p>
+
+<p>In further justice to her efforts we should consider
+Isadora Duncan as much a prophet of a new movement,
+as a dancer of a new school. Her influence has
+been more far-reaching in Russia than anywhere else.
+She practically brought about a serious revolution
+among the Russian dancers, of whom we shall speak
+in another chapter. She influenced the art of dancing
+in Germany, France, Italy and England. She was the
+striking contrast to all the deteriorated stage dances of
+the early twentieth century in America. She has given
+a powerful impulse to all dance reforms by counteracting
+the academic and time-worn views. She is the
+indirect motive of the Diaghileff-Fokine break with the
+old Russian ballet and their striving for new rules and
+ideas in the art of dancing. To her is due the gradual
+increase of refined taste and higher respect for the stage
+dance. Personally we have found that her dances failed
+to tell the phonetic story of the music. Her selection
+of the compositions of Gluck, Schubert, Chopin and
+Beethoven has not been uniformly successful, since
+most of them were never meant by the composer to be
+danced. Compositions of this kind lack the necessary
+choreographic episodes and often even the plastic symbols.
+No genius, we believe, could visualize the slow
+cadences and solemn images of any symphonic music
+of those German classics, whose works have been the
+choice of Miss Duncan. With a few exceptions, such
+as the <i>Moments Musicals</i> and some other pieces, we have
+never been able to grasp the meaning of the phonetoplastic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">201</span>
+images of Isadora Duncan’s dances.</p>
+
+<div id="ip_201" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">
+  <img src="images/i_200.jpg" width="506" height="579" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Duncan</p></div></div>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>It was only natural that Miss Duncan’s laureated appearances
+in various European cities quickly found
+followers and imitators. The best known exponent of
+Duncan’s naturalism has been Miss Maud Allan, a
+talented Canadian girl, whose dancing in England has
+made her a special favorite of the London audiences,
+before whom she first appeared in 1908. How favorably
+she was received by the English audiences is evident
+from the fact that the late King Edward invited
+her to dance for him at Marienbad. Like Miss Duncan,
+Maud Allan has danced mostly barefoot, her body
+slightly clothed in a loose Greek drapery. The most
+sensational in Miss Allan’s repertoire has been the
+‘Vision of Salome,’ compiled from passages from
+Richard Strauss’ opera, in which she has tried to
+give the impression of the ghastly Biblical tragedy by
+means of plastic pantomime and dancing. Among her
+artistically successful dances has been the Grieg <i>Peer
+Gynt</i> suite, of which the London critics speak as of
+‘a beautiful art of transposition.’ ‘The faithfulness
+with which her movements follow the moods of the
+composer is probably only fully realized by those who
+are musicians as well as connoisseurs of dance. Her
+translation of music has not seldom the rare quality
+of translations of being finer than the original, and
+there are not a few who, when they hear again, unaccompanied,
+the music which her dancing has ennobled,
+will be conscious of a sense of incompleteness and loss,’
+writes an English dance authority of her art.</p>
+
+<p>Isadora Duncan’s naturalism has probably made the
+most powerful direct impression upon German aspirants,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">202</span>
+first, through the school of dancing of Isadora’s
+sister, Elisabeth, and second, through the pretended
+appeal to the moods by means of classic ideals, and yet
+requiring comparatively little technique. Assiduously
+as a German student will practice in order to acquire
+the most perfect technique for being an artist, musician,
+singer or architect, he lacks the painstaking persistency
+of a Russian, Hungarian, Bohemian or Spaniard
+in acquiring a thorough technique for his dance.
+He is inclined to interpret music by means of the most
+easily acquired technique, such as seemingly the naturalistic
+school requires. For this very reason, Miss
+Duncan has been the greatest dance genius for the
+Germans, as that is so clearly to be seen in the excellent
+work of Brandenburg, <i>Der moderne Tanz</i>. This book
+from the beginning to the end, written in a fine poetic
+prose, is a eulogy of Duncan’s naturalism, and an elaborate
+display of the minutest pretty moves of the German
+exponents of the movement. Among the praised
+geniuses of Brandenburg are the sisters Wiesenthal,
+who attracted widespread attention in some of Max
+Reinhardt’s productions.</p>
+
+<p>The sisters Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, were received
+with unparalleled enthusiasm at home and in consequence
+made a tour abroad, on which occasion one of
+them danced in New York. How little she impressed
+the New York audience, can be judged from what one
+of the most favorable critics wrote of her as having ‘a
+pretty fluttering, tottering marionette manner of her
+own.’ Our impression is that the sisters Wiesenthal
+proved most successful in the quaint, naïve and simple
+ensemble performances which they gave in Germany.
+They displayed some excellent <i>ritartandos</i> and
+a few successful <i>adagio</i> figures. One could see that their
+steps and arm twists were not a result of systematic
+studies but of spontaneous impulses, since in repetitions
+of the music there was no sign of a well trained<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">203</span>
+art, the wing-like arms of the first phrase being arabesque-like
+in the repetition, etc. They showed that
+they possessed a poetic conception of the dance, but
+failed to grasp and express its intrinsic meaning. They
+were rather poets than dancers, rather actresses than
+designers in the choreographic sense. Their acting
+often interfered with dancing and brought about an
+unpleasant disharmony with the musical rhythm.
+They may have danced better on other occasions, but
+what a number of impartial connoisseurs of the dance
+saw of them stamps them as talented dilettantes rather
+than accomplished artists of a school.</p>
+
+<p>A girl who enjoyed a great reputation in Vienna,
+Munich and in other German cities in the first decade
+of this century, but of whom was heard nothing later,
+was Miss Gertrude Barrison, an Anglo-Viennese. Her
+art was more clever and more in style with the principles
+of the naturalistic than that of the sisters Wiesenthal.
+She won the ear of Austria for the new message.
+With a certain assurance in the conviction of her individuality,
+Miss Barrison treated her art with freedom
+and loftiness. She enforced her personality more than
+her art upon the spectators, and this was, to a great
+extent, the secret of her phenomenal success.</p>
+
+<p>The best of all the German dancers of this century
+thus far has been Rita Sacchetto, a pretty Bavarian girl,
+who made her début in Munich, and was at once recognized
+as an artist of much talent. Though the Berlin
+critics did not receive her with the enthusiasm that
+they had shown to the Wiesenthals, she was by far the
+biggest artist of all. Her slighter recognition was possibly
+due to her lighter style of work and an unfavorable
+repertoire, lacking in music that was of timely
+importance. This withholding of recognition has always
+been peculiar to Berlin. Tired out by hundreds
+of aspiring virtuosi and artists of every description, an
+average Berlin critic, like one of New York, grows<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">204</span>
+at the end of a season nervous in the presence of the
+vast majority of mediocrities and press-agented celebrities,
+so that he is likely to ignore or tear down the
+serious beginner, if her performance coincides with his
+‘blue’ moods. This is what probably happened to Miss
+Sacchetto. The connoisseurs and authorities of other
+countries who have seen her dances speak of them
+in highest terms as pretty and exceedingly graceful
+exhibitions of poetic youthful soul. What has become
+of Miss Sacchetto lately the writer has been unable to
+learn.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>Though none of the above mentioned dancers of
+Germany has pretended to be a follower of Miss Duncan,
+yet all belong to the new movement that was
+brought into being by her persistent efforts. They all
+defy the principle of the classic ballet, they all pretend
+to interpret music in their ‘plastic art,’ as they have
+preferred to term the dance. Traditionally the German
+music has been either inclined to classic abstraction,
+or to strictly operatic lines. The spectacular ballet of
+Richard Strauss, ‘The Legend of Joseph,’ belongs more
+to pantomimic pageantries than a class of actual dance
+dramas, of which we shall speak in another chapter.
+The music of a foreign school and race is always lacking
+in that natural stimulating vigor that it gives to
+those who are absolutely at home with racial peculiarities
+choreographically. In this the Russians have been
+lately more fortunate than other nations. A great
+number of talented young Russian composers have
+written an immense amount of admirable dance music,
+ballets and instrumental compositions that could be
+danced. They have an outspoken rhythmic character,
+which is the first requirement of the dance. In this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span>
+the recent German composers have remained behind
+the Russians. The compositions of Richard Strauss,
+Reger, Schönberg and the other distinguished musical
+masters of modern Germany offer nothing that would
+inspire a new school of the art of dancing. In the
+first place they lack the instinct for rhythm, and in
+the second, they lack the plastic sense so essential for
+the dance. This circumstance has been most detrimental
+to those of the young German dancers who attempted
+to follow the naturalistic movement.</p>
+
+<p>How much better than the German Duncanites have
+been those of Scandinavia, Finland and France in this
+direction is difficult to say authentically, though they
+have had the advantage over the Germans, of having at
+their disposal the works of some of the most talented
+young composers of dance music. Grieg, Lange-Müller,
+Svendsen and many others have written music with
+strong rhythmic and choreographic images. But superior
+to all the Scandinavian composers, in the modern
+dance music or music that could be danced, are the
+Finns: Sibelius, Jaernefelt, Melartin, Merikanto and
+Toiwo Kuula. Many of Sibelius’s smaller instrumental
+compositions offer excellent themes and music for
+dancing. A few of them are real masterpieces of their
+kind. But the Finns have shown up to this time little
+interest for the modern dance movements. The Danes,
+Swedes and Norwegians have been more affected by the
+new ideas that are connected with the stage, though
+none of them has shown any marked achievement
+that would be known in wider circles. Ida Santum, a
+young Scandinavian girl in New York, has given evidence
+of some graceful plastic forms and idealized
+folk-dances. Thus far she has not shown anything
+strikingly appealing to the audiences. Aino Akté’s
+Salome Dances are purely operatic and have no bearing
+upon our subject.</p>
+
+<p>Among English and American girls who have followed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span>
+the footsteps of Miss Duncan are Gwendoline
+Valentine, Lady Constance Stewart-Richardson, Beatrice
+Irvin, and a number of others, but the writer has
+been unable to gather any sufficient data for critical
+arguments.</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly the most talented dancer of the naturalistic
+school whom we have known among the Russians
+is Mlle. Savinskaya of Moscow. In power of expressing
+depth and subtlety of dramatic emotions Savinskaya
+is supreme. She is an actress no less than a dancer.
+Her conception of naturalistic dancing is so deeply
+rooted in her soul and temperament that it often acts
+against the plastic rules and grace, often displayed by
+the dancers for the sake of pleasing effects. Miss Duncan
+herself strives to create moods by means of classic
+poses, but Savinskaya’s ideal is to express the plastic
+forms of music in her art. She is romantically dramatic,
+more a tragedian than anything else. Her
+dance in the graphically fascinating ballet <i>Chrisis</i> by
+Reinhold Glière, in Moscow, revealed her as an artist
+of the first rank, and perhaps the first thoroughly
+trained Duncanite whose technique and dramatic talent
+rival with any <i>ballerina</i>, of the new school or the old.</p>
+
+<p>Probably the lack of suitable music has been thus
+far the greatest obstacle in the way of the naturalistic
+dancers, though they pretend to find their ideals in the
+eighteenth and nineteenth century’s classic compositions.
+No doubt some of the old music can be aptly
+danced, such as the light instrumental works of Grieg,
+Mozart, Chopin and Schumann, but the proper music
+has yet to be composed. The phonetic thinking of past
+music was involved, hazy in closed episodes and often
+disconnected in structural form. There is one single
+theme of a poem in a whole symphony. To illustrate
+this plastically is a physical impossibility. Maud Allan’s
+and Isadora Duncan’s attempts to dance symphonies
+of Beethoven and other classic idealists have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span>
+been miserable failures. Those who pretend to see
+in such dances any beauty and idea, are ignorant of
+musical and choreographic principles.</p>
+
+<p>To our knowledge Reinhold Glière, the genial young
+Russian composer and director of the Kieff Symphony
+Society, is the first successful musical artist in the field
+of naturalistic ballets. His ballet <i>Chrisis</i>, based on an
+Egyptian story by Pierre Louis, is a rare masterpiece
+in its line.</p>
+
+<p>Though built on the style of the conventional
+ballets, its music is meant for naturalistic interpretation
+and lacks all the <i>pirouette</i>, <i>chassée</i>, and other
+semi-acrobatic ballet music forms. Like the principles
+laid down by Delsarte and his followers, Glière’s music
+‘moves with the regular rhythm, the freedom, the equipoise,
+of nature itself.’ It has for the most part a slow
+ancient Egyptian measure, breathing the air of the
+pleasant primitive era. It suggests the even swing of
+the oar, the circular sweep of the sling, the rhythmic
+roar of the river, and all such images that existed before
+our boasted civilization. It gives a chance for the
+dancer of the naturalistic school to display pretty
+poses, primitive gestures and ‘sound’ steps. Like all
+Glière’s compositions this is exceedingly lyric, full of
+charming old melodies and curved movements that
+occasionally call to mind Schumann, Schubert and
+Chopin. The ballet begins with Chrisis in the majestic
+valley of the Nile spinning cotton on a spinning-wheel,
+which she stops when a soft music, coming from a far-away
+temple, comes to her ears. It is the music of the
+morning-prayer. She prays, dancing to the trees and
+the clouds. At this time Kise, another little maiden,
+is passing with food for her parents and <i>Chrisis</i> calls
+her. They dance together and spin for a while. There
+is in the background a sacred tree. <i>Chrisis</i> approaches
+it in slow dance and utters her secret wish. During
+this time Kise meets on the river shore a blind musician<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">208</span>
+carrying a lyre. He plays a gay dance to the
+girls, to which they dance so exquisitely that phantom-like
+nymphs and fawns emerge from the river, and
+stop to watch. Finally a shepherd, who has been looking
+on from the top of the hill, becomes interested in
+the dance and makes friends with the girls. There
+ensues a passionate love scene and dramatic climax
+for the first act, <i>Chrisis</i> going into a convent. The second
+act takes place in an ancient convent, <i>Chrisis</i> as a
+dancing priestess. The last act takes place with
+<i>Chrisis</i> as a courtly lady with every luxury around her.
+It is a magnificent piece of work musically and choreographically,
+and should find widespread appeal.</p>
+
+<p>We may count as belonging to the naturalistic school
+of dancing the exponents of idealized and imitative
+national dances, though they do not belong among the
+Duncanites. Particularly we should mention Ruth
+St. Denis, who is widely known through her skilled
+imitation and idealization of the Oriental dances. As
+Isadora Duncan sought by the ancient Greeks the ideal
+of her ‘natural’ dances, so Ruth St. Denis attempted
+to find choreographic beauties in the art of the East.
+In this she has been strikingly successful. Her Japanese
+dances can be considered as real gems of the
+Orient in which she has made the impression as if an
+exotic old print of the empire of the Mikado became
+alive by a miracle, though it was in the Indian sacred
+dances that she made her reputation. This is what a
+dance critic writes of her:</p>
+
+<p>‘Clad in a dress of vivid green spangled with gold,
+her wrists and ankles encased in clattering silver bands,
+surrounded by the swirling curves of a gauze veil, the
+dancer passed from the first slow languorous movements
+into a vertiginous whirl of passionate delirium.
+Alluring in every gesture, for once she threw asceticism
+to the winds, and yet she succeeded in maintaining
+throughout that difficult distinction between the voluptuous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">209</span>
+and the lascivious. The mystic Dance of the
+Five Senses was a more artificial performance and
+only in one passage kindled into the passion of the
+Nautch. As the goddess Radha, she is dimly seen seated
+cross-legged behind the fretted doors of her shrine.
+The priests of the temple beat gongs before the idol and
+lay their offerings at her feet. Then the doors open,
+and Radha descends from her pedestal to suffer the
+temptation of the five senses. The fascination of each
+sense, suggested by a concrete object, is shown forth
+in the series of dances. Jewels represent the desire of
+the sight, of the hearing the music of bells, of the smell
+of the scent of flower, of the taste of wine, and the
+sense of touch is fired by a kiss. Her dancing
+was inspired by that intensity of sensuous
+delight which is refined to its farthest limit
+probably only in the women of the East. She rightly
+chose to illustrate the delicacy of the perceptions not
+by abandon but by restraint. The dance of touch, in
+which every bend of the arms and the body described
+the yearning for the unattainable, was more freely
+imaginative in treatment. And in the dance of taste
+there was one triumphant passage, when, having
+drained the wine-cup to the dregs, she burst into a
+Dionysiac Nautch, which raged ever more wildly until
+she fell prostrate under the maddening influence of the
+good wine. Then by the expression of limbs and features
+showing that the gratification of the senses leads
+to remorse and despair, and that only in renunciation
+can the soul realize the attainment of peace, she returns
+to her shrine and the doors close upon the seated
+image, resigned and motionless. So she affirmed in
+choice and explicit gesture the creed of Buddha.’</p>
+
+<p>Very strange yet effective are the dances of Ruth St.
+Denis in which she exhibits the marvellous twining
+and twisting art of her arms, which act as if they had
+been some ghastly snakes. Her arms possess an unusual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">210</span>
+elasticity and sinuous motion which cannot be
+seen better displayed by real Oriental dancers. The
+hands, carrying on the first and fourth finger two huge
+emerald rings, give the impression of gleaming serpents’
+eyes. Miss St. Denis is apparently a better musician
+than Miss Duncan, while in her poetic sense and
+in the sense of beauty she remains behind. However,
+as a musician she is excellent, and always acts in perfect
+rhythm with the composition. But unfortunately
+all her dance music is just as little Oriental as Miss
+Duncan’s is Greek. Ruth St. Denis seemingly is ignorant
+of the numerous Russian Oriental compositions
+which would suit her art a thousand times better than
+the works of the Occidental classics. In justice to her
+efforts it must be said that she is a thorough artist in
+spite of the fact that she has never studied her dances
+in the East. Her slender tall figure and semi-Oriental
+expression give her the semblance of an Indian Bayadere.
+It has always impressed us that she minimizes
+her art by affected manners and an air that lacks sincerity.
+We believe her to have very great talent, but
+for some reason or other, she has failed to display
+it fully.</p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>The modern Spanish dances as performed by Rosario
+Guerrero, La Otero and La Carmencita, are in
+fact a perfected type of Spanish folk-dances. The Kinneys
+write of them as follows: ‘So gracious, so stately,
+so rich in light and shade is the <i>Sevillanas</i>, that it
+alone gives play to all the qualities needed to make a
+great artist. When, a few summers ago, Rosario Guerrero
+charmed New York with her pantomime of “The
+Rose and the Dagger,” it was the first two <i>coplas</i> of this
+movement-poem that charmed the dagger away from
+the bandit. The same steps glorified Carmencita in her
+day and Otero, now popular as a singer in the opera
+in Paris. All three of these goddesses read into their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">211</span>
+interpretation a powerful idea of majesty, which left it
+none the less seductive.’ It is clear that none but a
+Spaniard could perform the more or less perfected
+folk-dances of the country. It requires a physique with
+born talent and traditions to give the dance its proper
+fire and brutal elegance.</p>
+
+<div id="ip_211" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">
+  <img src="images/i_210.jpg" width="503" height="685" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>Maud Allan</p>
+  <p class="credit"><i>After a painting by Otto Marcus</i></p></div></div>
+
+<p>Havelock Ellis gives a graphic picture of the Spanish
+dance. ‘One of the characteristics of Spanish dancing,’
+he writes, ‘lies in its accompaniments, and particularly
+in the fact that under proper conditions all the spectators
+are themselves performers. In flamenco dancing,
+among an audience of the people, every one takes
+a part by rhythmic clapping and stamping, and by the
+occasional prolonged “oles” and other cries by which
+the dancer is encouraged or applauded. Thus the
+dance is not the spectacle for the amusement of a
+languid and passive public, as with us. It is rather the
+visible embodiment of an emotion in which every spectator
+himself takes an active and helpful part; it is, as
+it were, a vision evoked by the spectators themselves
+and upborne on the continuous waves of rhythmical
+sound which they generate. Thus it is that at the end
+of a dance an absolute silence often falls, with no
+sound of applause; the relation of performer and public
+has ceased to exist. So personal is this dancing that
+it may be said that an animate association with the
+spectators is necessary for its full manifestation. The
+finest Spanish dancing is at once killed or degraded by
+the presence of an indifferent or unsympathetic public,
+and that is probably why it cannot be transplanted but
+remains local.’</p>
+
+<p>The naturalistic school of dancing is by no means an
+invention of Isadora Duncan, though she has been one
+of its most persistent preachers. The true psychological
+origin belongs to Delsarte, whose method of poetic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">212</span>
+plasticism inspired Mrs. Hovey to give lessons and lectures
+on the subject. It branched out like a tree.
+Every country was interested in the new idea in its own
+way. America, having no æsthetic traditions whatsoever,
+found the pioneers in Isadora Duncan and Ruth
+St. Denis; Germany found hers in the sisters Wiesenthal,
+Miss Rita Sacchetto and others; France, in Mme.
+Olga Desmond; Spain, in the refined and talented folk-dancers;
+Russia, in the rise of a new ballet, and so on.
+Like a magic message, the idea filled the air and was
+inhaled by special minds. There was a strong argument
+in favor of its development, and that argument
+was the spiritual yeast that set the world into a ferment.
+The more it was opposed and fought the more
+it spread and grew. The naturalistic dance has been
+thus far more an awakening than a mature art. As
+such it is apt to be crude and imperfect. There is no
+reason to fear that a fate like that which befell the
+Skirt Dance may overtake the ‘classical’ dancing of the
+naturalistic school. It has accomplished a great service
+in bringing the audiences to realize that the argument
+of natural plasticism is based on philosophical truth.
+Soon the ranks of those who believe that ‘natural’
+dancing is that which requires the least technique will
+decrease in favor of those serious minded artists, who
+seek the solution in technique plus talent. ‘The theory
+that a dancer can ignore with impunity the restrictions
+of technique, that she is bound to please if only she is
+natural and happy and allows herself to follow the
+momentary inspiration of the music and dances with
+the same gleeful spontaneity as a child dancing to a
+barrel-organ is a doctrine as seductive as it is fatal.’
+The future solution of the movement lies in perfection
+of the technique and in grasping the deeper depths of
+musical relation to the art of dancing.</p>
+
+<p>‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative
+destructive element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">213</span>
+instance, we had never seen the old ballet, with its
+stereotyped character, I do not think that the appearance
+of Isadora Duncan would have called forth such
+enthusiasm. In Isadora we greeted the deliverance.
+Yet in order to appreciate liberty we must have felt the
+chains. She liberated, and her followers seek to exploit
+that liberty.’</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">214</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The old ballet: arguments <i>pro</i> and <i>con</i>—The new movement: Diaghileff
+and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s
+company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ <i>Le Pavillon d’Armide</i>, ‘Scheherezade’—Nijinsky
+and Karsavina—Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The
+Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Gordon</span> Craig very aptly characterized the French
+ballet as the most deliciously artificial impertinence
+that ever turned up its nose at Nature. Commenting
+on this Prince Volkhonsky says: ‘Seldom one meets
+in a short definition with such an exhausting acknowledgment
+of the positive and negative sides of the
+question. How easy and pleasant it is to agree with a
+judgment which is penetrated with such impartiality.
+Who will not acknowledge that that powdered Marquise
+is charming, and yet who will not acknowledge
+that that huge pile of false hair sprinkled with powder
+is against Nature?’ Magnificent as the old Russian ballet
+has been dramatically and acrobatically, yet it failed
+to acknowledge the artificialities of its form and the
+deficiencies of its phonetic conceptions. It failed to see
+what Delsarte, Mrs. Hovey, Isadora Duncan and the
+partisans of the naturalistic school had grasped: the
+call of Nature. Though it banished the powdered Marquise
+of the French school from the stage, yet it did not
+banish the creed from the ballerina’s toe—the unmusical
+acting, the spectacular leaps and pirouettes, the umbrella-like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">215</span>
+tunics, the acrobatic stunts, the fossilized
+forms of the dead ages. In praise of the old ballet Mr.
+A. Levinsohn has written in a Russian magazine of the
+dance: ‘When a ballerina rises on the tips of her toes
+(<i>pointés</i>), she frees herself of a natural movement and
+enters a region of fantastic existence.’ The principal
+meaning of all the ballet technique in preaching the
+toe-dance is to defy the laws of gravity and give the
+dance the semblance of a flight, or floating in the air.
+There is no question that a few musical phrases require
+such plastic, particularly in such compositions as Saint-Saëns’
+‘The Swan,’ or Drigo’s <i>Papillons</i>, which Pavlova
+has visualized so magnificently. But to apply the same
+style to express the romantic, poetic, tragic and other
+human emotions, to apply the toe-technique to every
+form of dancing, is really abnormal. Prince Volkhonsky,
+who has contributed so much to the Russian ballet
+reform, writes with striking argument and vigor:
+‘Movement cannot be an aim in itself; such a movement
+would be nonsense. What does a dancer express
+when he imitates a spinning-top? What does the
+ballerina express when with a fascinating smile she regards
+caressingly her own toe, as she toe-dances over
+the smooth floor? What does her body express, the
+human body—the most wonderful instrument of expression
+on earth—when, carried away by gymnastic
+enthusiasm in an acrobatic ecstasy, with panting chest
+and terror in her open eyes, she crosses the stage diagonally,
+whirling on one toe, while with the other she
+executes the famous “thirty-two fouettés”?’ ‘Gymnastics
+transform themselves into fantastics,’ exclaims
+Levinsohn; ‘but I assure you, when in the circus the
+man-serpent, all dressed in green scales, puts his legs
+behind his shoulder, this is no less fantastic.’ The so-called
+tunic (the French <i>tutu</i>)—a light short garment
+of pleated gauze—has, with Mr. Levinsohn, not only a
+physical justification from the point of view of comfort<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">216</span>
+but a logical explanation, an æsthetic sanction; it
+‘lends to the body a seeming stability.’ ‘Do you catch
+this?’ he continues. ‘The perpendicularity of the human
+figure in our eyes is, so to speak, balanced by the
+horizontality of the skirt; just the principle of the spinning-top.
+Now, is it possible to invent a more deplorable
+formula for transforming man into a machine?
+Is it possible to give a more definite expression to the
+principle of eliminating one’s “ego”? Is not art the
+expression, the manifestation, the blossoming of man?
+And what, finally, shall we say from the purely æsthetic
+point of view of that exaltation of a costume which by
+its umbrella-like stiffness cuts the human body into
+two? Shall we remain indifferent to the beauty of
+folds, to the obedience of the flowing veils, to the plastic
+injunctions of the living movement?</p>
+
+<p>‘The theory of mechanisation of the human body
+could not but lead to the panegyric of the “flat-toed”
+ballet slipper. The simple sad necessity of giving to
+the ballerina a point of support receives a philosophico-æsthetic
+interpretation: this slipper “generalises the
+contour of the foot” and “makes the impression of the
+movement clearer and more finished.” In the name of
+all—I won’t say of all that is sacred—but of all that
+is beautiful, is it possible to say such things? You have
+never admired a foot; you do not know what it is—a
+foot that slowly rises from the ground, first with the
+heel, then with the sole; you do not know the beauty of
+supple toes; you evidently never saw the foot of Botticelli’s
+“Pallas,” the foot of Houdon’s “Diana.” If it is
+so valuable to “generalise” the contour of the foot by
+the flat-toed slipper, why not, then, “generalise” the
+contour of the hand and give to the ballerinas boxing-gloves?
+Art is an exteriorisation of man, a spreading
+of one’s self outside the limits of one’s ego, and here
+we are asked to cut, to shorten, to hide: a principle
+which is exactly the contrary of art. It was also a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">217</span>
+“generalisation” of the human figure when Niobe was
+being metamorphosed into a rock, but it remains
+till the end of time the expression of grief; the Greeks
+have not found a more eloquent myth for the eternalisation
+of human sorrow than the return of form
+into that which is not formed. They knew that all process
+of creation goes from the general to the particular.
+When the musician shapes the musical material accessible
+to everybody into a particular musical melody,
+he goes from the general to the particular. When the
+sculptor takes away piece by piece from the block of
+marble, he goes from the general to the particular. If,
+out of the shapeless mass of the human family, the
+great types could detach themselves and crystallise
+themselves into definite characters, it is only thanks
+to their particularities that they conquer and receive
+their universal value. The direction of the artist is
+from the shapeless, from the abstract, into the concrete;
+the process of art is a process of individualisation.
+It is easy to understand, therefore, the instinctive
+hostility which is provoked in a man who loves art, by
+all attempts at “generalisation”: it is the infiltration into
+art of that which is not art, it is that which in the
+course of centuries has deserved the appellation of
+“routine.” This crust of uniformity and impersonality
+which spreads over art is nothing but an infiltration
+of the generalising principle into that which is and
+ought to remain the sacred domain of personality. It
+is the desert under whose breath fades and withers the
+beauty of the oasis.</p>
+
+<p>‘No wonder that a reaction should set in against an
+art which seeks its justification in such theories; the
+reaction against the stereotyped ballet is a direct act
+of logic—it is the voice of common sense: it would be
+impossible that a form of art should live which is in
+contradiction to the principle of art. When I say
+“live,” I do not mean the right of existence; I take the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">218</span>
+word in its most real sense: to live, that is, to possess
+the elements of development. In the form into which it
+has developed the “classical” ballet lacks these elements—it
+cannot evolve; as Mr. Svetloff judiciously remarked,
+if every ballerina could execute seventy-five
+instead of “thirty-two fouettés,” it would be a greater
+difficulty to overcome, it would not be art developed.
+Thus I repeat, when I say that such a form of art as
+the old ballet cannot live I am not denying its right to
+exist, but I am indicating the absence of elements of
+development, the atrophy of the principle of vitality.</p>
+
+<p>‘There is one point of view possible as to the “classical
+ballet”; it is the one form in which we see the established
+forms of old dances. Who will deny the
+charm of the minuet, of the gavotte, of the pavane?
+But, on the other hand, who ever will dare to say that
+this is the final word of plastic art? Miniature painting
+is a lovely art, is it not? Yet equally wrong are those
+who would assert that the miniature has expressed all
+that painting is capable of, and those who would say
+that miniature is “all right, but it needs enlarging.”
+And when we consider the ballet from the only possible
+point of view, from the point of view of the crystallised
+dance, how offensive will appear to us “gymnastics that
+transform themselves into fantastics.” On the other
+hand, we shall not be astonished when we hear the
+regrets of some adherents of the old “dance” in the
+presence of the “Scythian invasion” on that same stage
+where the plastic formulas of the Latin race have blossomed;
+only imagine it—where the gavotte and sarabanda
+used to reign there now bursts out the tempest
+of the “Tartar hordes”!’</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>The appearance of Isadora Duncan and her pupils
+in Russia was truly a high explosive bomb. Her art<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">219</span>
+startled the Russian dancers and public. It was the
+very opposite of what everybody had been accustomed
+to see, and what everybody imagined the dance to be.
+Though the limited character of her technique decreased
+the effect, yet the truth of her principle was
+what caused the greatest discussion and made the deepest
+impression. In the fundamentals of her dance were
+that freedom, individuality and relief which the Russian
+mind had missed in the old ballet. It was this
+theoretical argument that made Miss Duncan’s art such
+a factor in Russia. Marius Petipa had been an excellent
+scholar and academician in his days, but he had
+grown old and his views had become obsolete. His
+genius saw the evolution of the ballet only in the conventional
+channels. Among his assistants were a group
+of talented young dancers and teachers, some of whom
+were dissatisfied with the old order, yet found themselves
+forced to follow the time-worn rules. One of the
+young students of this type was M. Fokine, a very intelligent
+student and gifted artist, who was particularly
+electrified by Miss Duncan’s art. He saw the shortcomings
+of Miss Duncan’s school and realized that here he,
+with his thorough understanding of the ballet and its
+technique, could do much that she had been unable
+to do.</p>
+
+<p>With all the best will Fokine found himself bound
+to the old order of things. But it was at this very juncture
+that M. Diaghileff, who had been successfully editing
+the annual Reviews of the Imperial Ballet, laid the
+foundation for a new art magazine on radical principles.
+Having been a graduate of the Conservatory of
+Music of Petrograd and a connoisseur of the art of
+dancing, he was just the man to gather a group of radical
+dance and music students and artists of every description
+around his venture and attempt to accomplish
+something radically modern in all the fields of stage
+art. His efforts found a quick response among the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">220</span>
+various artists of the ballet, who already knew of his
+work and tendencies. One of them was Fokine, and
+with him came many of his talented pupils and friends.
+Like with every other new movement this needed crystallization
+theoretically and practically. For some
+reason or other Diaghileff’s magazine failed. But it
+had already accomplished its evolutionary task: a
+group of artists was ready to join any leaders of revolution
+who would be worthy of their confidence.</p>
+
+<p>The next move from the revolutionary Diaghileff and
+his general Fokine was their unexpected appearance in
+Paris. Here they had surrounded themselves with a
+few genial ballet dancers of Petrograd and Moscow.
+The announcement of an appearance of the Russian
+ballet in Paris, under the management of Diaghileff
+and Fokine and with stars like Nijinsky, Mmes. Fokina,
+Karsavina and Astafieva, marks the first revolutionary
+move in Russian dance history. It was undoubtedly
+the phenomenal success that Pavlova and Mordkin had
+had outside of Russia, particularly in Paris and London,
+which actuated and encouraged the rebels. They
+argued, ‘If Pavlova and Mordkin had such phenomenal
+success as solo dancers, in the old classic style, we are
+more sure of a success in real modern ballets.’ And
+they proved that they had. Here is what a London
+critic writes of the appearance of the Diaghileff company:</p>
+
+<p>‘For the unknown to be successful in London it is
+always necessary to create what is called a boom—marvelous
+clothes or the lack of them; a terrifying
+top note; a tame lion; a Star that has been shining with
+unparalleled brilliancy in another city. But we were
+told nothing about the Russian dancers when they arrived
+in 1909—some half dozen of them only—and so we
+expected nothing. And it is to be feared that some of
+us found what we expected. Now, two years later, we
+are slowly opening our eyes.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">221</span>
+‘There is no need to describe either Karsavina or
+Pavlova. If there were, indeed, pen and ink would be
+incapable of the task, for they both typify and express
+the woman of all ages, and ageless.</p>
+
+<p>‘*** For many it was as if they understood life for
+the first time, had entered a chamber in the castle
+Existence which hitherto had been hidden from them.
+They gave us thoughts, these Russian magicians, for
+which we have been unconsciously seeking and travailing
+many years. They gave us knowledge we thought
+to buy in a huckster’s shop, steal from a bottle of wine,
+or find in a bloodless novel or in the crude stage play
+of the average theatre, bearing little or no relation to
+life. Now here it was, all expressed in dances men
+and women danced thousands of years ago: music of
+face and body, of muscle and brain, which stirred and
+sang in our hearts like wind in the trees.</p>
+
+<p>‘The elusive spirit of youth she (Karsavina) most
+eloquently expresses in <i>Les Sylphides</i>, the music by
+Chopin, which is described as a <i>Rêverie Romantique</i>.
+The sex of the dancer, instead of dominating, disappears.
+And so, of all the good things the Russian Dancers
+have given us, the Spirit of Youth of Tamara Karsavina
+comes first and foremost.</p>
+
+<p>‘The men of the Russian Ballet possess the same technical
+perfection, the same marvelous grace, as the
+women. Whether their bodies be as slim and light as
+Nijinsky’s and Kosloff’s, or as massive and muscular as
+Mordkin’s and Tichomiroff’s, makes no difference: they
+can be as graceful, as supple, as tender as a girl, without
+losing a scrap of their superb masculinity.’</p>
+
+<p>Among the most conspicuous Russian dancers who
+followed the revolutionary call of Diaghileff and Fokine,
+were Vera Fokina, Tamara Karsavina, Sophie
+Feodorova, Seraphime Astafieva, Nijinsky, and Kosloff.
+The real drawing cards of the revolutionary group were
+Karsavina and Nijinsky, one more genial than the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">222</span>
+other, the one the very type of the Russian youthful
+poetic and passionate girl, the other that of masculine
+virility and grace. The leaping of Nijinsky and the
+darting of Karsavina will remain as the most effective
+symbols in the mind of those who have witnessed their
+inspiring dances. In <i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i>, danced by
+Karsavina and Nijinsky, we can best compare their individualities.
+‘Their bodies, flower-like, representing
+the spirit of flowers, weave dreams with silent and
+graceful movements,’ writes a critic. ‘We are altogether
+removed from the world of flesh and blood to a
+kingdom of enchantment.’ Nijinsky and Karsavina
+are the two talented exponents of the New Russian Ballet,
+in the same sense as Pavlova and Mordkin belong
+to the Old Ballet.</p>
+
+<p>The question arises in what respect Nijinsky differs
+from Mordkin and Karsavina from Pavlova? If we
+could see illustrative performances by these four greatest
+figures of the two Russian schools the difference
+would be immediately evident, in spite of their individual
+traits. Where Pavlova concentrates attention
+on her conventional toe-dancing, Karsavina employs
+conspicuously the naturalistic steps and strives to display
+the plastic lines of her beautiful body. Where
+Mordkin resorts to pantomime, Nijinksy finds his expression
+through the movements of the dance. However,
+the difference between the two ballets is not so
+clearly cut with the men as with the women dancers.
+Fokine has introduced a great deal of the plastic
+element that has actuated the partisans of the naturalistic
+school. We find the acrobatic stunts of the old
+ballet almost lacking in the new. You will hardly see
+Karsavina, Fokina or Astafieva performing the leg-bending
+tricks of the followers of the old school. If
+they resort to pirouettes and leg agility, they do so in a
+different sense than the others.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">223</span></p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>A highly praised dance of Karsavina and Nijinsky is
+<i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i> (with music arranged from the
+compositions of Weber), which takes place in a summer
+night in old aristocratic France. The music,
+though old-fashioned, is soft and tender. Karsavina
+represents a young sentimental girl who has just returned
+from the ball. She is thinking of her lover,
+while raising to her lips a red rose which he gave her
+at the ball. Going through a pantomimic scene of her
+sentimental dreams Karsavina depicts the romantic
+prelude of a young girl until Nijinsky, representing
+her visionary lover, leaps in. ‘The spirit of the garden
+and the song of the night have entered her bedroom,
+and the wind blows this rose-spirit to and fro. It is
+love in human shape: now he hovers above the sleeping
+figure, caressing: now he is dancing just in front
+of the window. And we dare not breathe lest by so
+doing the air is stirred to drive him back into the moving
+shapes outside. But he rises on the arms of the
+wind, he crouches beside the girl. She falls into his
+arms and the love dream of a ballroom is realized.
+The music of the night has entered the room, languid
+music like water which these two spill as they dance
+to and fro, until, our eyes being opened, we can see as
+well as hear music. The miracle is so brief that we
+scarcely realize it before it has gone. But they were
+chords and harmonies, these two spirit shapes floating
+on the implacable air: hands and feet, arms and legs,
+lips and eyes spilling and spelling each note of music.
+The hour has passed. Jealous dawn lays his fingers on
+the night.... The girl is in her chair again. The spirit
+of the rose hovers like love with trembling wings above
+her.’</p>
+
+<p>A favorite ballet of the Diaghileff company is <i>Cléopatre</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">224</span>
+arranged by Fokine to music by Arensky, Taneieff,
+Rimsky-Korsakoff, Glinka, Glazounoff, and Moussorgsky.
+The chief characters of this ballet are Seraphime
+Astafieva, as Cleopatra, Sophie Feodorova, as
+Ta-Hor, Vera Fokina, as a Greek woman, and Nijinsky,
+as the favorite of Cleopatra. It has been declared the
+most popular of all Fokine’s ballets. It describes the
+well-known love drama of the great Egyptian queen.
+The first scene is laid on the shores of the Nile. There
+is just visible the arch of an ancient temple and its
+entrance with great figures of stone. The ground on
+which it stands is flanked by pillars which tower towards
+the sky. The waters of the river gleam between
+these pillars. The sun is sinking into the hot desert.
+The first character of the dance is Ta-Hor, a priestess;
+the second Amoun, a warrior, her beloved. She
+emerges through the dark curtain of the night and
+meets him in the silent precincts of the temple. Music
+quivers from hands and feet, lips and eyes. We feel an
+impending danger. The silence is broken with the sudden
+appearance of the High Priest. Cleopatra is coming.
+But Ta-Hor clings to the lips of Amoun. When the
+Queen appears the lovers shrink back into the shadows
+of the temple. She is a voluptuous beauty. We see her
+resting, her limbs tangled in a mass of color, her eyes
+fixed like serpent’s, staring into the hot night of the
+desert while she waits for what it will bring her. She
+is tired of the wealth the world has poured at her feet.
+There is but one thing that never tires her and is ever
+new. Her subtle limbs uncurl from the tangled colors,
+open like a rose at a breath of warm wind—to close
+again with a little shiver of ecstasy. Love is always
+new and beautiful. Of love she has never tired, only
+of lovers.</p>
+
+<p>Cleopatra finally sees Amoun dancing, and falls
+madly in love with him. There are many passionate
+and dramatic scenes. ‘Like the sea-foam, her body is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">225</span>
+tempest-tossed. Her eyes burn into his soul. The music
+sings songs of the desert, invocations to the Nile,
+hymns to the god of love. Around the royal divan of
+Cleopatra we see a medley of men and women, twining
+and grouping themselves. The music sounds like a
+gentle breeze, full of love and enchantment, which
+longs yet fears to slake its thirst. We see Egyptian
+dancers moving slowly and quietly. String instruments
+are thrumming like nightingales. We see a whole
+company of men and women dancing in the torchlight.
+The sight of the costumes pours a spell of the Nile
+upon us. The stars of the desert and the passionate
+music of string instruments, the beautiful girls and the
+black virile bodies of the slaves, the waves of light
+and the distant wall of soldiers and priests, fill the
+air with something tragic and black. We get a glimpse
+of Cleopatra and Amoun, he standing beside her couch.
+The high priest of the temple holds between his hands
+the sacred cup filled with the poisonous wine that
+Amoun must drink. He takes the cup firmly and looks
+into her eyes, and smiling he drinks. She smiles, too.
+At this moment Amoun drops the cup to the ground.
+Death lays hands upon him. His agony is brief. Cleopatra
+stands waiting. When he falls his fingers clutch
+the air. A shiver shakes the Queen’s body. Cleopatra
+goes out from the night passing through the vast pillars
+of the temple into the dawn of the desert. After
+her comes Ta-Hor, looking for her lover. But she finds
+the dead body. We see her warm brown body shiver
+and shrink. She would tear out her heart. A soft
+wind comes whispering over the desert bringing with
+it the red of the rising sun. It is the end of a ghastly
+picture.’</p>
+
+<p>Impressive as <i>Cléopatre</i> is in its scenic and pantomimic
+vigor and tragic atmosphere, yet it is hardly a
+ballet in the modern sense. There is no unity of music,
+this being altogether a patch-work. It may sound exceedingly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">226</span>
+pretty and appropriate occasionally to the
+accompaniment of the mute drama, yet it is by no
+means dance music. This is an example of the patchy
+ballet music that the Diaghileff company is continually
+trying to employ. Musically less patchy is <i>Le Pavillon
+d’Armide</i>, with music by Tcherepnin and setting
+by Benois. But the theme is old-fashioned and over-perfumed.
+The story takes place in mediæval France
+at the castle of a certain Marquis, a magician. It is
+night. Winds blow, rain pours down and thunder rolls.
+A nobleman is to meet his sweetheart near the Marquis’
+castle and takes refuge from the bad weather.
+The Marquis places his <i>Pavillon d’Armide</i> at his disposal.
+In the pavilion he sees an old Gobelin tapestry
+representing the beautiful Armide, beneath it, a great
+clock supported by Love and Time. The nobleman
+goes to sleep and at midnight sees the figures of Love
+and Time step down from the clock. Armide becomes
+alive. The nobleman falls in love with her and Armide
+embraces him. This is the beginning of an animated
+dance. It is a fantastic scene, the old Marquis taking
+part in the feast. Finally Time triumphs over Love
+and they return to their places. It is an interesting
+short phantasy, a poem in pantomime.</p>
+
+<p>A ballet which has created the greatest comment and
+discussion in its dramatic and scenic beauty is the
+<i>Scheherezade</i>, with music by Rimsky-Korsakoff. This
+is a symphonic suite of which Bakst and Fokine have
+manufactured a kind of pantomime-ballet. Though
+the music is magnificent as an orchestra piece by itself,
+yet it is a perversion to employ it to accompany a queer
+pantomimic drama. Rimsky-Korsakoff had no idea of
+a Zobeide played by Karsavina, of her negro lover,
+danced by Nijinsky, of Schariar, the Grand Eunuch,
+and of the Odalisque, who are the characters of the
+ballet. This again is a patch-work and not a dance
+in its real sense. If it is a dance, it is such that only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">227</span>
+one artist or at most two could depict. According to
+the scenario writers it draws the story of a Sultan’s
+harem from ‘The Arabian Nights.’ All the harem beauties
+are dancing with their lovers and slaves. Among
+them we find the pretty Sultana. The Sultan enters
+and suspects that Zobeida has betrayed him. He finds
+her lover. We see death and passion. It is picturesque,
+but the dance is only an incidental affair. <i>Scheherezade</i>
+without Karsavina’s vivid mimicry and youthful
+beauty, and Nijinsky’s agility, would be nothing.
+In the words of a Russian critic, ‘Nijinsky makes us
+understand that a gesture is, as Blake said of a tear,
+an intellectual thing. His gestures, by which I do not
+mean the technical steps, are different in manner and
+in spirit from those of the traditional Italian school.
+With the conventional gestures of the academies,
+which mimic such attitudes as men are supposed naturally
+to adopt when they perform certain actions or
+experience certain emotions, he will have nothing to
+do. Nijinsky’s gestures mimic nothing. They are not
+the result of a double translation of idea into words,
+and words into dumb show. They are the mood itself.
+His limbs possess a faculty of speech. Wit is expressed
+in his Arlequin dance as lucidly as in an epigram. His
+genius consists in a singular pliancy of the body to the
+spirit.’<a id="FNanchor_C" href="#Footnote_C" class="fnanchor">C</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_C" href="#FNanchor_C" class="fnanchor">C</a> S. Hudekoff: ‘History of Dancing’ (in Russian).</p></div>
+
+<p>If Karsavina had not joined the choreographic revolutionists
+her dramatic talent would have had little or
+no opportunity to express itself, for the exponents of
+the old classic ballets are strictly opposed to display
+of natural gestures and acting. While she now exhibits
+a talent equal to Pavlova’s, in the old ballet she
+would be only half of what she is. Although her excellent
+dramatic sense is displayed in <i>Le Spectre de
+la Rose</i>, <i>Scheherezade</i> and in several of Stravinsky’s
+ballets, still we have not had a chance yet to become<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">228</span>
+enthusiastic over any of her abstract dances.
+This view we notice also expressed by many French
+and English critics. ‘Of her performances at Covent
+Garden, all were marked by such rare technique and
+instructed grace that it is difficult to put any one before
+another; but certainly she never surpassed her achievement
+in <i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i>. Her dancing caught
+the very spirit of a maiden’s revery, and nothing could
+have been more finely imagined than those transitions
+from languor into quick rushes of darting movement,
+which illustrate the abrupt and irrational episodes of
+a troubled dream. She was the very embodiment of
+faint desire. We felt, as it were, a breath of perfume,
+and were troubled in spite of ourselves. Moreover,
+the long partnership between the two performers
+seemed to have resulted in a very special and intimate
+harmony. For the most part they simply floated about
+the stage as though borne upon a common current of
+emotion. There was a marriage, not only between
+their bodily movements, but between their spirits, such
+as I have never noted in the union of any other
+dancers.’</p>
+
+<p>Like the ballet <i>Prince Igor</i>, music by Borodine, scenario
+by Fokine, <i>Le Carneval</i>, music from Schumann,
+Liadoff, Glazounoff, Tcherepnine and various other
+sources, are nothing but dances from an opera, dances
+taken here and there. Neither is there any unity of
+theme or style in these trimmed-up panoramas. The
+Polovetsi dances of Borodine’s opera <i>Prince Igor</i> are
+magnificent examples of savage Tartar art. The music
+is the very image of the hot and restless Mongolian
+temperament, the very breath of battle lust, the exaltation
+of victory. Fokine has taken a scene from the
+second act of the opera and patched a story together
+with some characters of the opera. The dance in the
+opera itself is wonderful. But in the ballet form, as
+arranged by Fokine, it is a mediocrity.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">229</span></p>
+
+<h3>IV</h3>
+
+<p>In the repertoire of Diaghileff’s company there have
+been, thus far, only two more or less satisfactory ballets,
+<i>Le Pavilion d’Armide</i>, by Benois and Tcherepnin,
+and <i>Le Spectre de la Rose</i> by Weber and Vaudoyer.
+But both might be termed choreographic sketches in
+one scene rather than ballets. Without Nijinsky and
+Karsavina even these would not be very charming. The
+aristocratic sentimentality and poetic pathos of the
+two dance pantomimes are perfectly displayed by these
+two most talented artists of the revolutionary group,
+as their miming and dancing are characterized by a
+certain natural softness of movement, the quality of
+languor and passion. But it was the music of Igor
+Stravinsky, a young Russian composer working in the
+impressionistic style, that saved the situation of the
+new ballet. Stravinsky has a genius for the ballet, such
+as perhaps the world has never seen before. However,
+he seems to be greatly hampered by lack of proper conception
+of what constitutes the modern ballet. It is
+evident that he is influenced in his compositions too
+much by the Diaghileff-Fokine tendencies, as most of
+his ballets are built up in the old form of construction,
+though the phonetic images and spirit are new. His
+music is graphically vivid, as it should be, has a strong
+rhythm and inspiring modern spirit. It is the form of
+construction that he has not grasped yet fully, except
+in his <i>Petrouchka</i>.</p>
+
+<p>This <i>Petrouchka</i>, Stravinsky’s masterpiece, is a Russian
+burlesque taken from an old fairy-story of Harlequin
+in love with the Clown’s wife. In this ballet
+the scenes are splendidly arranged by Fokine and the
+music is thrilling. The puppet has always exercised
+a curious fascination upon the human mind. The animated
+doll is a fantastic and yet pathetic symbol of our<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">230</span>
+emotions. <i>Petrouchka</i> is the Russian counterpart of
+English ‘Punch and Judy,’ though differing in its more
+sentimental character. <i>Petrouchka</i> represents the
+character of a real puppet. Stravinsky has woven
+a dramatic plot around the puppet stage. ‘To
+take us behind the scenes and show the mingled comedy
+and tragedy of the puppet world, was a true and
+dramatic inspiration’ of the composer. The scenic
+effect of <i>Petrouchka</i> is calculated to create a melancholy
+feeling in the spectator with its bleak gray background
+and dull frigidity. It gives a striking contrast
+to the barbaric colors of the crowd on the stage. One
+has the feeling of opaque leaden skies, of snow and gay
+people at a fair. The costumes and scenery designed
+by Benois are true to Russian life and strikingly in
+harmony with the dance. In every phrase of the music
+the composer shows himself a master of the art of
+writing ballet music. ‘Throughout the four scenes he
+displays not only a nice sense of dramatic firmness,
+but a shrewd appreciation of character. In the treatment
+his humorous percept is of large assistance. In
+the trumpet dance by which the Blackamoor is first
+lured into the fair one’s toils or in the slower <i>pas
+de fascination</i>, by which the conquest of him is completed,
+Stravinsky’s sense of the ludicrous has turned
+two slender occasions to most diverting account. A
+piece of clever orchestration is a passage at the outset
+of the opening scene where the composer succeeds not
+only in reproducing the peculiar sounds of an old
+hurdy-gurdy, but weaves the opposition between two
+such competing instruments into a most entertaining
+and harmonious discord.’</p>
+
+<p>As in all the other Stravinsky ballet compositions,
+the orchestration of <i>Petrouchka</i> is realistically true to
+the action and the characters of the play. It is full-blooded
+and modern. It breathes an air of the unsophisticated
+joy of a simple people who attend to their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">231</span>
+affairs regardless of conventional restrictions. Nijinsky,
+with his dramatic flexibility and vigor, makes the
+play a vivid fairy tale in actuality, or rather gives life
+to a dream of a fairy tale. ‘That the ballet is thereby
+endowed with meaning, an inwardness, which it might
+not otherwise possess, must be accounted as a tribute
+to the dancer’s genius,’ writes an English critic.</p>
+
+<p>Another splendid Stravinsky ballet performed by
+the Diaghileff company is <i>L’Oiseau de Feu</i>. Fokine
+has arranged the music successfully in this ballet.
+Like <i>Petrouchka</i>, it is based upon a folk-tale. The
+overture of the play indicates that a fantastic story is
+to follow. Strange mutterings and unexpected harmonies
+dispose the hearer to an atmosphere of another
+world. The adventurous pantomime opens in a gloomy
+forest emanating an air of midnight mysteries. But
+the music glows gradually like the magic glow in the
+forest. One sees the spectacular Fire Bird floating
+downward toward the stage. Now dancing and music
+melt into one fascinating picture of two dimensions,
+to which the brilliant scenic effects add a special spiritual
+note. Performed by Karsavina, as the Fire Bird,
+the ballet is excellent.</p>
+
+<p>But Stravinsky has succeeded less well in his post-impressionistic
+<i>Le Sacre du Printemps</i>. This consists
+of two tableaux of ancient pagan Russia. The first
+scene is the adoration of the earth; the second, the
+adoration of the sun. The music is less spontaneous
+and less graphic than that in Stravinsky’s other ballets.
+But, all in all, Stravinsky remains the greatest
+drawing card and the greatest æsthetic factor in the
+art of the Russian ballet rebels.</p>
+
+<p>A charming number in the repertoire of the Diaghileff
+company is Balakireff’s <i>Thamar</i>. Balakireff
+wrote this as a symphonic poem on an Oriental theme,
+but Bakst has manufactured out of it a ballet. The
+music is very beautiful and typically Russian. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">232</span>
+story is a thrilling tale of Caucasian life, which takes
+place at an ancient castle built in a gorge of romantic
+mountains. But because it is an artificial construction,
+it is less interesting musically and choreographically
+than the Stravinsky ballets.</p>
+
+<p>The Russian new ballet has attempted to perform
+Claude Debussy’s <i>L’Après-Midi d’un Faun</i>, and Richard
+Strauss’ <i>La Légende de Joseph</i>. In the latter ballet a
+new Russian dancer, Leonide Miassine, was introduced
+in the title rôle. Neither Miassine nor <i>La Légende de
+Joseph</i> proved great attractions. Magnificent as Strauss
+and Debussy are in their modern compositions otherwise,
+in ballet music they remain mediocrities. Their
+rhythm is so anæmic, their images so hazy and their
+episodes so disconnected that not even a Nijinsky or
+a Karsavina could put life into them.</p>
+
+<p>In criticising the new Russian ballet of Diaghileff
+and Fokine, Prince Volkhonsky writes: ‘Their main
+defect is that they develop [the dance] independently
+from the music; they are a design by themselves—complicated,
+interesting, very often pleasing to the
+eye, yet independent of the music. And we have already
+seen when we spoke of the old codas that the
+most unpretentious figure, even when banal, becomes
+inspiring when it coincides with the musical movement,
+and, on the contrary, the most interesting “picturesque”
+figure loses meaning when it develops in discord
+with music. Look at some dance, definite, exact,
+that has crystallized itself within well-established limits;
+you may look at it even without music. But try
+to watch a pantomime without music. In the first
+place, it will be a design without color, quite an acceptable
+form; in the second it will be a body without
+skeleton—something unacceptable.’</p>
+
+<p>The Russian new ballet is an interesting proof of
+the far-reaching effect that the naturalistic school of
+dancing indirectly exercised upon the development of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">233</span>
+the art of dancing. The efforts of the reform that
+Fokine is attempting to achieve are admirable and
+show the great possibilities that the revolutionists face
+in the immediate future. Their whole drawback has
+been in their conception of the form and music. Even
+Stravinsky has not been able to shake himself loose
+from the old pantomimic form. But sooner or later
+they will see the new point of view and acknowledge
+the mistake that every reformer is apt to make in his
+first step. The Russians have the technique, the music,
+the innate talent and the traditions for all future choreographic
+inspiration. The solution lies, to a great
+extent, in the coöperative work of their composers,
+writers, critics, painters, designers, teachers and
+dancers.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">234</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’ system—Body-rhythm;
+the plastic expression of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings
+of the Dalcroze system—Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics
+to the dance.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">What</span> apparently proves to be the elementary step
+in building up a new school of choreography—perhaps
+that which some of the younger dancers have chosen
+either by accident or by roundabout ways—are the
+Jacques-Dalcroze Rhythmic Gymnastics or ‘Eurhythmics’
+on the order of the ancient Greeks. Thus far this
+style of dancing is merely in its preliminary form.
+Therefore it is now as difficult to draw any definite conclusion,
+as it was about 1905, when the Swiss composer
+Dalcroze, who had been since 1892 a professor
+of harmony at the Geneva Conservatoire, first launched
+the movement. However, the systematic work of instruction
+by Dalcroze began in 1910, when the brothers
+Wolf and Harald Dohrn invited him to come to Dresden,
+where, in the suburb of Hellerau, they built for him
+a College of Rhythmic Gymnastics. From this time
+on the inventor of the new method began a systematic
+training of young men and women.</p>
+
+<p>Ethel Ingham writes of the life at the college at Hellerau:
+‘The day commences with the sounding of a
+gong at seven o’clock; the house is immediately alive,
+and some are off to the College for a Swedish gymnastic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">235</span>
+lesson before breakfast, others breakfast at half-past
+seven and have their lesson later. There is always
+a half hour of ordinary gymnastics to begin with. Then
+there will be a lesson in <i>Solfège</i>, one in Rhythmic Gymnastics,
+and one in Improvisation, each lasting for
+fifty minutes, with an interval of ten minutes between
+lessons.’</p>
+
+<p>‘One of the most marked tendencies of the modern
+æsthetic theory is to break down the barriers that convention
+has created between the various arts,’ writes
+Michael T. H. Sadler of the value of Jacques-Dalcroze’s
+eurhythmics to art. ‘The truth is coming to be realized
+that the essential factor of poetry, painting, sculpture,
+architecture and music is really of the same quality,
+and that one art does not differ from another in anything
+but the method of its expression and the conditions
+connected with that method.</p>
+
+<p>‘The common basis to the arts is more easily admitted
+than defined, but one important element in it—perhaps
+the only element that can be given a name—is
+rhythm. Rhythm of bodily movement, the dance, is
+the earliest form of artistic expression known. It is
+accompanied in nearly every case with rude music,
+the object being to emphasize the beat and rhythmic
+movement with sound. The quickness with which
+children respond to simple repetition of beat, translating
+the rhythm of the music into movement, is merely
+the recurrence of historical development.</p>
+
+<p>‘To speak of the rhythm of painting may seem fanciful,
+but I think that is only lack of familiarity. The
+expression is used here with no intention of metaphor.
+Great pictures have a very marked and real rhythm,
+of color, of line, of feeling. The best prose-writing has
+equally a distinct rhythm.</p>
+
+<p>‘There was never an age in the history of art when
+rhythm played a more important part than it does to-day.
+The teaching of M. Dalcroze at Hellerau is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">236</span>
+brilliant expression of the modern desire for rhythm
+in its most fundamental form—that of bodily movement.
+Let it be clearly understood from the first that
+the rhythmic training at Hellerau has an importance
+far deeper and more extended than is contained in its
+immediate artistic beauty, its excellence as a purely
+musical training, or its value to physical development.
+The beauty of the classes is amazing; the actor as well
+as the designer of stage-effects will come to thank M.
+Dalcroze for the greatest contribution to their art that
+any age can show. He has recreated the human body as
+a decorative unit. He has shown how men, women and
+children can group themselves and can be grouped in
+designs as lovely as any painting design, with the added
+charm of movement. He has taught the individuals
+their own power of gracious motion and attitude. Musically
+and physically the results are equally wonderful.
+But the training is more than a mere musical education;
+it is also emphatically more than gymnastics.</p>
+
+<p>‘To take a joy in the beauty of the body, to train his
+mind to move graciously and harmoniously both in
+itself and in relation to those around him, finally, to
+make his whole life rhythmic—such an ideal is not
+only possible but almost inevitable to the pupil at Hellerau.
+The keenness which possesses the whole College,
+the delight of every one in his work, their comradeship,
+their lack of self-consciousness, their clean sense
+of the beauty of natural form, promise a new and
+more harmonious race, almost a realization of Rousseau’s
+ideals, and with it an era of truly artistic production.’</p>
+
+<p>Dalcroze’s school has emphasized that its purpose is
+not merely to train dancers but to educate for life
+generally. His theory is that all the people should
+be raised to feel and appreciate the intrinsic value of
+the rhythm, which is best proven in M. Dalcroze’s
+own essay, <i>Le Rhythme</i>, which was published in 1909.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">237</span>
+‘Schools of Music,’ he says, ‘formerly frequented
+only by born musicians, gifted from birth with unusual
+powers of perception for sound and rhythm,
+to-day receive all who are fond of music, however
+little Nature may have endowed them with the necessary
+capacity for musical expression and realization.
+The number of solo players, both pianists and
+violinists, is constantly increasing, instrumental technique
+is being developed to an extraordinary degree,
+but everywhere, too, the question is being asked
+whether the quality of the instrumental players is equal
+to their quantity, and whether the acquirement of extraordinary
+technique is not joined to musical powers,
+if not of the first rank, at least normal.</p>
+
+<p>‘Of ten certified pianists of to-day, at the most one,
+if indeed one, is capable of recognizing one key from
+another, of improvising four bars with character or so
+as to give pleasure to the listener, of giving expression
+to a composition without the help of the more or less
+numerous annotations with which present-day composers
+have to burden their work, of experiencing any
+feeling whatever when they listen to, or perform, the
+composition of another. The solo players of older days
+were without exception complete musicians, able to improvise
+and compose, artists driven irresistibly towards
+art by a noble thirst for æsthetic expression, whereas
+most young people who devote themselves nowadays
+to solo playing have the gifts neither of hearing nor
+of expression, are content to imitate the composer’s
+expression without the power of feeling it, and have
+no other sensibility than that of the fingers, no other
+motor faculty than an automatism painfully acquired.
+Solo playing of the present day has specialized in a
+finger technique which takes no account of the faculty
+of mental expression. It is no longer a means, it has
+become an end.</p>
+
+<p>‘There are two physical agents by means of which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">238</span>
+we appreciate music. These two agents are the ear
+as regards sound, and the whole nervous system as regards
+rhythm. Experience has shown me that the
+training of these two agents cannot easily be carried
+out simultaneously. A child finds it difficult to appreciate
+at the same time a succession of notes forming a
+melody and the rhythm which animates them.</p>
+
+<p>‘Before teaching the relation which exists between
+sound and movement, it is wise to undertake the independent
+study of each of these two elements. Tone is
+evidently secondary, since it has not its origin and
+model in ourselves, whereas movement is instinctive
+in man and therefore primary. Therefore I begin the
+study of music by careful and experimental teaching
+of movement. This is based in earliest childhood on
+the automatic exercise of marching, for marching is
+the natural model of time measure.</p>
+
+<p>‘By means of various accentuations with the foot, I
+teach the different time measures. Pauses (of various
+length) in the marching teach the children to distinguish
+duration of sound; movements to time with the
+arms and the head preserve order in the succession of
+the time measures and analyze the bars and pauses.</p>
+
+<p>‘Unsteady time when singing or playing, confusion
+in playing, inability to follow when accompanying, accentuating
+too roughly or with lack of precision, all
+these faults have their origin in the child’s muscular
+and nervous control, in lack of coördination between
+the mind which conceives, the brain which orders, the
+nerve which transmits and the muscle which executes.
+And still more, the power of phrasing and shading music
+with feeling depends equally upon the training of
+the nerve-centres, upon the coördination of the muscular
+system, upon rapid communication between brain
+and limbs—in a word, upon the health of the whole
+organism; and it is by trying to discover the individual
+cause of each musical defect, and to find a means of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">239</span>
+correcting it, that I have gradually built up my method
+of eurhythmics.</p>
+
+<p>‘The object of the method is, in the first instance, to
+create by the help of rhythm a rapid and regular current
+of communication between brain and body; and
+what differentiates my physical exercises from those
+of present-day methods of muscular development is
+that each of them is conceived in the form which can
+most quickly establish in the brain the image of the
+movement studied.</p>
+
+<p>‘It is a question of eliminating in every muscular
+movement, by the help of will, the untimely intervention
+of muscles unless for the movement in question,
+and thus developing attention, consciousness and will-power.
+Next must be created an automatic technique
+for all those muscular movements which do not need
+the help of the consciousness, so that the latter may be
+reserved for those forms of expression which are purely
+intelligent. Thanks to the coördination of the nerve-centres,
+to the formation and development of the greatest
+possible number of motor habits, my method assures
+the freest possible play to subconscious expression.</p>
+
+<p>‘The first result of a thorough rhythmic training is
+that the pupil sees clearly in himself what he really
+is, and obtains from his powers all the advantage possible.
+* * * The education of the nervous system must
+be of such a nature that the suggested rhythms of a
+work of art induce in the individual analogous vibrations,
+produce a powerful reaction in him and change
+naturally into rhythms of expression. In simpler language
+the body must become capable of responding to
+artistic rhythms and of realizing them quite naturally
+without fear of exaggeration.</p>
+
+<p>‘Gestures and attitudes of the body complete, animate
+and enliven any rhythmic music written simply
+and naturally without special regard to tone, and, just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">240</span>
+as in painting there exist side by side a school of the
+nude and a school of the landscape, so in music there
+may be developed, side by side, plastic music and music
+pure and simple. In the school of landscape painting
+emotion is created entirely by combinations of moving
+light and by the rhythms thus caused. In the school
+of the nude, which pictures the many shades of expression
+of the human body, the artist tries to show the
+human soul as expressed by physical forms, enlivened
+by the emotions of the moment, and at the same time
+the characteristics suitable to the individual and the
+race, such as they appear through momentary physical
+modifications.</p>
+
+<p>‘At the present day plastic stage music is not interpreted
+at all, for dramatic singers, stage managers and
+conductors do not understand the relation existing between
+gesture and music, and the absolute ignorance
+regarding plastic expression which characterizes the
+lyric actors of our day is a real profanation of scenic
+musical art. Not only are singers allowed to walk and
+gesticulate on the stage without paying any attention
+to the time, but also no shade of expression, dynamic
+or motor, of the orchestra—crescendo, decrescendo,
+accelerando, ralletando—finds in their gestures adequate
+realization. By this I mean the kind of wholly
+instinctive transformation of sound movements into
+bodily movements such as my method teaches.’</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>This is briefly the essential part of the Jacques-Dalcroze
+school of Eurhythmics. The method falls into
+three main divisions: (1) ear training; (2) rhythmic
+gymnastics; and (3) improvisations. The ear method
+is nothing but the training of the pupil in an accurate
+sense of pitch and a grasp of tonality. However, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">241</span>
+system of teaching rhythmic gymnastics is based upon
+two different methods: <i>time</i> and <i>time-values</i>. Time is
+expressed by movements of the arms; time-values—note
+durations—by movements of the feet and body. A
+combination of these two methods is called the plastic
+counterpoint, in which the actual notes played are represented
+by movements of the arms, while the counterpoint
+in crotchets, quavers or semi-quavers, is given by
+the feet. The crotchet as the unit of note-values is expressed
+by means of a step. Thus for each note in the
+music there is one step. Notes of shorter duration than
+the crotchet are also expressed by steps, only they are
+quicker in proportion to their frequency. ‘When the
+movements corresponding to the notes from the
+crotchet to the whole note of twelve beats have, with
+all their details, become a habit, the pupil need only
+make them mentally, contenting himself with one step
+forward. This step will have the exact length of the
+whole note, which will be mentally analyzed into its
+various elements. Although these elements are not
+individually performed by the body, their images and
+the innervations suggested by these images take the
+place of the movements.’</p>
+
+<p>The first training of a pupil in the Dalcroze school
+consists of steps only. Simple music is played to which
+the pupils march. After the pupil has an elementary
+command of his legs the rhythmic training of his arms
+and body begins. At this stage the simple movements
+to indicate rhythms and notes are made a second nature
+of the pupil. This can be compared to the pupil’s
+learning of the alphabet. Plastic reading consists of
+composing more or less definite images from the elementary
+rhythm-units. This is done either individually
+or in groups. The pupil is taught to form clear mental
+images of the movements corresponding to the rhythm
+in question and then give physical expression to those
+images. As a child learns to compose letters and syllables<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">242</span>
+to words and words to phrases, a Dalcroze pupil
+is taught to understand the elementary parts of the
+music and the rules of its composition and to recompose
+it into a lengthy series of body movements.</p>
+
+<p>The main object of Dalcroze’s method is to express
+by rhythmic movements rhythms perceived by the ear.
+The exactness of such expression is the main aim of
+the school. The body must react momentarily to the
+time and sound-units of the music that the ear perceives.
+As the wind creates waves in the sea, music is
+meant to create motion in the human body. Percy B.
+Ingham writes that characteristic exercises of this
+group are ‘beating the same time with both arms but
+in canon, beating two different tempi with the arms
+while the feet march to one or perhaps march to yet
+a third time, e. g., the arms 3/4 and 4/4, the feet 5/4.
+There are, also, exercises in the analysis of a given time
+unit into various fractions simultaneously, e. g., in a
+6/8 bar one arm may beat three to the bar, the other
+arm two, while the feet march six.’</p>
+
+<p>According to Dalcroze’s plastic theory the arms
+should express the theme in making as many movements
+as there are notes, while the feet should mark
+the counterpoint in crotchets, quavers, triplets or semi-quavers.
+A compound rhythm can be expressed by the
+arms taking one rhythm, the feet, another. This is
+meant to correspond to the technical exercises of orchestral
+music, by training the body to react to the
+various tones of different instruments. The general
+purpose, however, is and remains the development of
+feeling for rhythm by teaching the physical expression
+of body rhythms. There is no doubt that shades of
+crescendos and decrescendos, fortes and pianissimos
+are achieved by this method, yet the question remains:
+how near does the Dalcroze school come to visualizing
+the music in all its symbolic and spiritual depths?</p>
+
+<p>Music is more than rhythm; it is a subjective symbolic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">243</span>
+language of our soul and the universe. It is a
+mystic factor of life, human and cosmic. There is an
+unaccentuated language in every genial and great composition,
+an æsthetic image and philosophic meaning
+that we can grasp not by means of the intellect but
+mostly through the emotions, and it is in expressing
+this that Dalcroze’s school has failed in so far. Dalcroze
+has aimed to express the elemental factors of
+the music, and in this he has succeeded. The performances
+given by Mr. T. Jarecki, one of the most talented
+of the graduates of Hellerau, are sufficient proof of the
+fact that the school has its shortcomings in the above-mentioned
+directions. He performed a Prelude by
+Chopin, a composition of Rachmaninoff, one by Schubert,
+and several numbers of other classics in a costume
+that looked like a bathing suit. Powerful as he was
+in all his rhythmic grace, he yet failed to translate the
+musical language of the compositions by means of
+bodily plasticity. Chopin’s and Rachmaninoff’s preludes
+possess distinct tonal expressions and designs
+of something very human and emotional that lies beyond
+mere rhythm. Poetry is based on the laws of
+rhythm, yet it is not alone the rhythm that makes a
+poem beautiful, but the image that it creates. Thus in
+the art of dance it is not only the rhythm but the æsthetic
+episode that concerns a dancer most of all. It
+is the transformation of this phonetic episode into plastic
+forms, the visualization of the audible beauty, that
+lies at the bottom of every great dance. This requires
+certain symbols and those lie beyond the achievements
+of the Dalcroze graduates.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>The great value of Dalcroze’s method lies in his insistence
+on perfect rhythm as an elementary training<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">244</span>
+upon which the coming art of dancing can be based.
+The various folk-dances are outspokenly rhythmic, but
+they contain that peculiar racial flavor which is very
+difficult to keep outside its proper atmosphere and race.
+We have found that the best Russian dancers could not
+give the simple folk-dances of another race with the
+racial perfection which a native untrained folk-dancer
+would have imparted to it. In the same way foreign
+dancers with their best efforts fail in trying to dance
+what a Russian dances. The national dances can be
+employed as valuable bases for the individual art, but
+that is all. They lack the cosmic element, the language
+of the world. An Italian understands his <i>Tarantella</i>,
+a Spaniard his <i>Fandango</i>, a Russian his <i>Trepak</i> best
+of all. The future art of dancing needs a universal
+element of choreographic design and it is in this that
+the Dalcroze school may be of immense value. It
+bases everything on rhythm only, which is very significant,
+but its aim should lie far beyond that. Rhythm
+is the syllable and the word, but words must be combined
+into phrases and phrases into paragraphs before
+we can read a story. It is after all the story in which
+the mind is interested, not the words and phrases.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen in previous chapters that the foundation
+of the ballet lacks the firmness and soundness of
+a natural art. It is decadent and altogether shaky. No
+genius could build anything lasting unless the foundation
+is firm. The aim of dancing is not acrobatic nor
+gymnastic effect, but plasticity. Symmetry is the chief
+element of architecture, rhythm that of music. If we
+can combine the symmetric rules with those of the
+rhythmic we have the basis upon which a new choreography
+can be built. Isadora Duncan, Fokine, Lada,
+Trouhanova and many others are trying to grasp the
+truth in their individual ways, but the elemental truth
+lies in Dalcroze’s system. That Dalcroze has not aimed
+to train any stage artists is evidenced by the bathing-suit-like
+costume that his pupils wear, which in itself
+is unæsthetic and objectionable to our eye, though it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">245</span>
+may fit well for regular class-room work. It is at illusion
+that the stage aims, and this is not to be found in
+naked realism but in something else.</p>
+
+<div id="ip_245" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">
+  <img src="images/i_244.jpg" width="506" height="332" alt="" /></div>
+
+<div id="ip_245b" class="figcenter" style="max-width: 32em;">
+  <img src="images/i_244b.jpg" width="505" height="439" alt="" />
+  <div class="caption"><p>A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics)</p></div></div>
+
+<p>Some writers and critics seem to think that the great
+importance of Dalcroze’s system lies in his Neo-Hellenism,
+in that it is so close to the ancient Greek ideas.
+This view is particularly widespread in Germany, the
+country of classic adoration. But Greek spirit and
+ideals cannot help but only mislead a modern man.
+We have our problems, so many thousand years of
+evolution after the Greek civilization, that differ fundamentally
+from those of the bygone centuries. It is not
+in looking backward, but in looking forward that we
+have to find the great cosmic ideal of beauty. Dalcroze
+is by no means an imitator of the Greeks, but a man of
+to-day. He maintains emphatically that his method of
+eurhythmics is meant to be a general educational subject
+in all the schools—an elementary rhythmic training
+for life.</p>
+
+<p>It is to be hoped that the Dalcroze system of training
+dancers will be employed as the elementary step in
+all the dancing schools, for only then we may hope to
+see the rise of a new art of dancing. Without learning
+the alphabet thoroughly or without knowing the
+most elementary rules of a science nothing could be
+obtained by a pupil in his later studies. Here is the
+elementary system in all its primitive simplicity and
+truth. All we need is to adapt it to the higher schools
+of choreography. What the Dalcroze schooling of to-day
+gives is insufficient for a stage art. But it is by
+far a more thorough elementary training than any ballet,
+naturalistic or individual school can give, as it
+makes a student feel the music in his body and soul
+before he expresses it in his plastic forms. Then again,
+there is a strict system, a method of gradual development<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">246</span>
+of those essentials which lie at the bottom of
+every art dance.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the many shortcomings the Jacques-Dalcroze
+school can be considered as the first move towards
+a new stage art. It means the beginning of a new
+school of dancing altogether. However, it needs another
+reformer to begin where Dalcroze ended. Can
+we expect this of Fokine, Volkhonsky or some one else?
+Dance in its highest sense is symbolic. The symbols
+that it expresses should not be others than those of
+music. We know only that they should form images
+of the symmetric and rhythmic elements, but their exact
+nature remains either for an individual artist or a
+future school to determine.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">247</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY</span></h2>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new
+ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories—Lada and choreographic symbolism—The
+question of appropriate music.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<h3>I</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> have witnessed the various phases and changes
+which the art of dancing has undergone during the
+past centuries. The ancient Egyptians danced the
+movements of astral bodies, the Greeks danced the
+hymns of their mythology, the Romans their war songs,
+the Middle Ages danced the aristocratic etiquette of
+gilded ball-rooms, the French Ballet danced to stereotyped
+tunes with marionette-like manners, the Russian
+Ballet danced to dramatic scenarios that had musical
+accompaniment, the various nations danced to their
+simple tunes, the Duncanites to the mood-creating elements
+of the music, the Jacques-Dalcrozists to the
+rhythm of a composition only. It is inconceivable that
+none of the reformers, none of the new schools, danced
+the music itself. Those among the partisans of ‘natural’
+or ‘classic’ dancing who claim to interpret the music
+have given us thus far supposed imitations of the
+Greek, Oriental or fantastic styles of some kind, based
+upon hazy rhythmic mood-producing forms of a composition.
+We have seen only fragmentary passages
+here and there, single numbers of the celebrated dancers,
+which expressed the phonetic designs of the music
+in true plastic lines. Pavlova has certainly succeeded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">248</span>
+in expressing all the emotional fury of Glazounoff’s
+<i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>, the grace of Drigo’s <i>Papillons</i>,
+and Saint-Saëns’ ‘The Swan.’ We must give all due
+credit to Karsavina, for her dancing of Stravinsky’s
+<i>L’Oiseau de Feu</i>, and half a dozen others of her repertoire
+depict truly the very soul of the music. The child
+pupils of Miss Duncan dance all the ethereal grace of
+Schubert’s <i>Moments Musicals</i>. In the same way we
+find in one or several dances of Mordkin, Nijinsky
+and Volinin, of Lopokova, Fokina and Kyasht that they
+have succeeded in dancing the music. We are pretty
+safe to say that each of the celebrated dancers of history
+has probably been able to translate into visible
+‘plasticism’ only a few of the phonetic forms of one or
+another composition of his repertoire. And this is what
+we may term ‘dancing the music.’</p>
+
+<p>We have attended innumerable dance performances,
+have seen many new and old ballets, in Russia and
+abroad, have seen the new and ultra-modern dancers,
+yet we have so far seen but a microscopic fragment of
+what we here call ‘dancing the music.’ Certainly the
+greatest part of the repertoire of all the celebrated
+dancers has been the dancing of something else than
+the music. All the Pavlova ballets that have been
+given in America, all the elaborate ballets of the Russian
+classic school, all the ballets of the Diaghileff-Fokine
+group, are and remain dances to preconceived
+plots, dances to a style or a mood, but rarely dances of
+the music. We should like to have any of the celebrated
+dancers show us where there is expression of the music
+in all the spectacular pirouettes of Pavlova, Karsavina,
+Nijinsky and Fokina, in their dramatic acting to a musical
+composition, even in the most modern ballets of
+Stravinsky. The dancing that they perform during the
+whole ballet is pantomimic acting to a certain plot,
+arranged to music. We are not by any means biased in
+making the statement, but make it with deliberation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">249</span>
+Dancers of various schools and ages have failed to
+see the point. Though Prince Volkhonsky is preaching
+exclusively the Jacques-Dalcroze rhythmic gymnastics
+as the basis of a new school of dance and therefore
+sees nothing more in a dance than the rhythmic expression,
+yet he has described aptly the defects of the
+Russian ballets, old and new, of the Duncanites and
+other modern schools of dancing. ‘Their main defect
+is that they develop independently of the music,’ he
+writes; ‘they are a design by themselves—complicated,
+interesting, very often pleasing to the eye, yet independent
+of the music. And we have already seen when
+we spoke of the old <i>codas</i> that the most unpretentious
+figure, even when banal, becomes inspiring when it
+coincides with the musical movement, and, on the contrary,
+the most interesting picturesque figure loses
+meaning when it develops in discord with music. Look
+at some dance, definite and exact, which has crystallized
+itself within well-established limits; you may look
+at it even without music, but try to watch a pantomime
+without music. In the first place, it will be a design
+without color, quite an acceptable form; in the second,
+it will be a body without skeleton—something unacceptable.</p>
+
+<p>‘The main fault of the leaders of the modern ballet
+is that they put the centre of gravity of the ballet in
+the plot, in the event, in the story: what in painting is
+called literature. Whereas the subject of the ballet is
+not in the plot, the subject is in the music. Any picture
+which is not dictated by music, any independent movement,
+is synonymous with abandonment of the subject,
+the essence; it is in the end an interruption of art, an
+interruption caused by a rupture between the two
+equivalent elements of the visuo-audible art—sound
+and movement. This rupture with music is all the
+more felt the more participants there are in the picture,
+and the more markedly it tends towards “realism.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">250</span>
+Only look at them when they represent scenes of disorder;
+and by and by we lose the impression of “art”;
+we see real, not represented, disorder; and finally we
+are turned to the dramatic point of view, and we are
+called upon to admire the “acting crowd.” And if you
+are musical, if you live in the movement of sound,
+this independent visible movement cannot but appear
+as a sort of unasked-for interference of some intruder.
+The acting crowd is not admissible where a rhythmically
+moving crowd is required. Acting leads the artist
+out of music and conducts him into the plot; and
+the subject of ballet, I repeat, is not in the plot, it is
+in the music; the plot is but the pretext.</p>
+
+<p>‘Only through the rhythm will the ballet come back
+to music and accomplish the fusion which has been
+destroyed by independent acting. Schopenhauer said
+that music is a melody to which the universe serves
+as a text; take away the music from the ballet—it will
+have nothing to say. There is quite a clear parallel
+here with the vocal art. The musician composes a
+song; he puts words to music. Imagine a singer coming
+out and telling us only the words; he will be far
+from the fulfillment of his task; he will have accomplished
+but the half of it, the lesser part of it. It is
+the same with the ballet; the musician composes the
+ballet, he puts the plot to music. Imagine a dancer
+coming out and acting the plot alone; he will be far
+from the fulfillment of his task; he will have accomplished
+but the lesser part of it. For the ballet does
+not relate how the Sleeping Beauty, for instance, fell
+asleep and awoke (this is the business of literature,
+declamation and drama); the ballet relates how music
+tells it. Music is the only real essence in that which
+forms the subject of the ballet. All the remaining
+“reality,” the real man with his real movement, is
+nothing but a means of expression, nothing but artistic
+material. It is evident how wrong, how offensive it is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">251</span>
+(for a musician) when this material of living movement
+embodies a new moving formula which is not
+implied in the music. Have you seen those “processions”
+of maidens, slaves, priests, etc.? Have you ever
+been shocked by the discord of their walk with music?
+Have you noticed that the pace which you see is quite
+different from the one you hear? Have you ever felt
+offended on seeing that they step between the notes
+and thus give you the impression of syncopes which
+are in no way justified by music? I am afraid you
+have not. Few are those who realize the importance
+of the accord of movement and sound, who long for its
+realization, and, together with Schiller, desire that
+“Music in its ascendant ennoblement shall become
+Image.”</p>
+
+<p>‘The music we hear is the subject of the image we
+see. And in fact the singer sings music, the dancer
+dances music, and cannot dance anything else; he cannot
+“dance” jealousy or grief or fright, but he can and
+must dance the music which expresses the feeling of
+jealousy, grief or fright. And when he has rendered
+the music he will, by the same means, have rendered
+its contents, and naturally the silly question will be
+dropped: “How is it possible that on the stage the
+people should dance everything, whereas in life only
+dances are danced, or, at the utmost, joy?” The question
+is strange, to be sure, yet no less strange are those
+who forget that the only thing they may dance is
+music, and think they may dance a “rôle.” The dramatic
+principle based upon an arbitrary division of
+time is directly opposed to the choreographic principle,
+which is wholly founded on the musical, consequently
+regulated, division of time. Therefore the introduction
+of the element of “personal feeling,”<a id="FNanchor_D" href="#Footnote_D" class="fnanchor">D</a> of individual
+choice, and even more, destroys the very essence of
+the choreographic art, and eats away its very texture.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_D" href="#FNanchor_D" class="fnanchor">D</a> As the Duncanites do.—Editor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">252</span></p></div>
+
+<p>I do not speak against the working out of such; I
+speak against an independent working out—that is, a
+separate one running a course other than that in which
+music is the greatest essential. I remember one of
+the best <i>ballerinas</i> contorting herself in wild movements
+of anguish while the notes of the violin were
+dying away in one long sound of a trill. She “acted,”
+and there is, of course, no harm in this, but she acted
+according to her ideas, instead of acting according to
+music. It is just the same sin against art as if a singer
+were to execute a lyric song with bravado. Would
+you forgive him? Why, then, do we not forgive a
+singer, yet forgive a mimic, even admire his “acting”?
+Why is it every one understands that singing must
+agree with music, and so few, almost nobody, feel
+the offensiveness of movement which disagrees with
+music? And yet how sensitive to the observation of
+the musico-plastic principle are those who are so indifferent
+to its non-observation. How much they enjoy,
+though unconsciously, every manifestation of that concordance!
+We may say with certitude that for the
+best moments, the moments of greatest satisfaction in
+the living art—that is, the musico-plastic art combining
+the visible with the audible—we are indebted to
+the simultaneous concurrence of the plastic movement
+with the musical; in other words, to the equality in
+division of space and time. In an old French treatise
+on the dance, published in the year 1589, the author
+says among other bits of advice: “It is wrong for the
+foot to say one thing and the instrument the other.”
+In its naïve conciseness this sentence represents the
+germ of all that has been said, perhaps with some prolixity,
+in these pages.</p>
+
+<p>‘Space and time are the fundamental conditions of
+all material existence—and for that same reason the
+inevitable conditions of all material manifestation of
+man within the limits of his earthly being. If we agree<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">253</span>
+that art is the highest manifestation of order in matter,
+and order in its essence nothing but division of
+space and time, we shall understand the fullness of
+artistic satisfaction which man must feel when both
+his organs of perfection, eye and ear, convey to him
+not only each separate enjoyment, but the enjoyment
+of fusion; when all his æsthetic functions are awakened
+in him not separately but collectively, in one unique
+impression: the visible rhythm penetrated by the audible,
+the audible realized in the visible, and both united
+in movement. This is the combination of the spacial
+order with the temporal. And when this combination
+is accomplished, and still more when it is animated
+with expression, then no chord of human impressionability
+is left untouched, no category of human
+existence is neglected; space and time are filled with
+art, the whole man is but one æsthetic perception.</p>
+
+<p>‘And, once we have understood all that, how is it possible
+not to express the wish that the leaders of the
+art of the ballet should assimilate the principle of concordance
+of motion and music? Without this there is
+no art in movement, and all our old “pointés” and
+“fouettés,” all those records of rapidity and difficulties
+are nothing but words without significance, whereas
+the new “choreographical” pictures are but a dramatization
+of movement to the sound of an accompanying
+music.’</p>
+
+<h3>II</h3>
+
+<p>One of the first among living dancers to realize
+the truth of the above-described lack of concordance
+between motion and music in all the ancient and new
+schools, and to devise, intuitively, a method of her own
+in expressing only the music, is Lada, a young American
+girl, who had been assiduously studying dancing
+in Europe and in Russia. She felt so keenly the discord<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">254</span>
+in the ballet, in the art of Isadora Duncan, in the
+dances of so many modern celebrities, that she was led
+to draw her inspiration from the folk-dances of various
+European countries. Here was something simple and
+primitive, the simple and naïve harmonic relation between
+the audible, and the visible, the plastic, conception.
+It was the concordance of motion and music.</p>
+
+<p>Lada’s New York début in the late spring of 1914
+was, in spite of so many unfavorable circumstances,
+a choreographic triumph such as few dancers have
+achieved under similar conditions. The New York
+musical and dramatic critics, though unfamiliar with
+subtle choreographic issues, declared her an artist of
+the foremost rank. Yet this girl has not had yet the
+chance to display the best of her art. Her art may be
+divided into three different categories: those based
+on the racial, on the dramatic and on the symbolic
+principles. Her Brahms’ Hungarian Dance, Glinka’s
+<i>Kamarienskaya</i>, and Schubert’s <i>Biedermayer</i> are distinct
+ethnographic plastic panoramas; her Sibelius’
+<i>Valse Triste</i> is a masterpiece among her dramatic and
+realistic dances, while MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance,’
+Sibelius’ ‘Swan of Tuonela,’ Glière’s <i>Lada</i>, and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s
+<i>Antar</i> are perfect choreographic gems
+of unusual symbolic breadth. In the <i>Valse Triste</i> the
+sad majesty, as if absorbed in infinite grief, overcomes
+the spectator so irresistibly that he almost forgets the
+morbidly beautiful music of Sibelius. On occasions,
+impressively executed with unsurpassed loftiness and
+freedom, she places before us a visionary being, though
+on the verge of death, in whose presence everything
+low falls from us, and our feelings express the same
+elevation that they do in genuine tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>But, however excellently Lada may interpret the
+sentimental issues of various ethnographic compositions
+and how well she may portray the tragic vigor of
+the dramatic music, the best of her art lies in the symbolic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">255</span>
+visualization of phonetic beauties. In these she
+appears like a supernatural being raised above common
+humanity. Her rendering of Gretchaninoff’s
+‘Bells,’ which we have seen so far only in rehearsals,
+makes an impression as if she were lost in sacred revery.
+A touch of religious feeling pervades the beautiful
+panorama. In other dances of similar religious character
+she seems floating in mid-air, unsubstantial as
+the moon whose pale beams pour a magic beauty over
+sleeping Nature—and yet so far removed. Her art is
+an absolute image of the music. Lada is by no means
+a mood creator or a believer in genial spontaneity that
+requires nothing but a stage and orchestra. She
+possesses in her simplest folk-dance-like choreographic
+sketches the same technical perfection, the same
+strenuous practice, as the most accomplished ballet
+dancer. This is what makes her body seem like a
+highly strung instrument, whose strings the slightest
+breath of wind can set quivering. Let us hope that she
+will not change her views and aspirations for the sake
+of managerial or timely requirements, as so many successful
+dancers have done. It would be a loss to the
+evolution of the art of dancing.</p>
+
+<p>To this school of dancing belongs also Natasha Trouhanova,
+a fascinatingly beautiful Caucasian girl, whose
+appearances in Russia and Paris have attracted great
+attention. Being of semi-Oriental descent herself, Trouhanova’s
+art has verged on Oriental conceptions. Russian
+music is rich in excellent Oriental themes; Borodine,
+Rubinstein, Balakireff, Ippolitoff-Ivanoff and
+Spendiaroff have written a large number of instrumental
+works of Oriental cast, which adapt themselves magnificently
+to dancing. Indeed, the composers of other
+countries have not been able to approach the Russians
+in the treatment of Oriental subjects. Mlle. Trouhanova
+has specialized in a romantic Oriental symbolism, in
+which she has succeeded more than any of the other<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">256</span>
+living dancers. There is an enchanting, exotic atmosphere
+in Trouhanova’s plastic expressions, something
+that breathes of the Thousand and One Nights, seductive
+and saturated with passion, yet beautiful in every
+detail. Her best performances have been those which
+she has given in Oriental surroundings, in the atmosphere
+to which such expressions belong. Like Lada,
+Trouhanova seeks the solution of choreography in the
+music itself. She has been inclined to a kind of symbolism
+that pertains to the romantic emotions, and in
+this particular field she stands supreme.</p>
+
+<h3>III</h3>
+
+<p>How important Lada’s illustration of the theory of
+concordance of motion and music is at this time of
+dancing evolution can be more concretely grasped by
+the coming generations than by an average dance-lover
+to-day. It is perspective that gives the true visual
+impression of a mountain. ‘In the unison of plasticity
+and music, of the visible with the audible, of the spacial
+with the temporal, lies the guarantee of that new
+art which we so ardently desire and so unsuccessfully
+seek,’ writes a celebrated dance authority. But here
+comes the question of music, the phonetic image that
+should guide the choreographic artist. Lada complains
+that she has a very limited choice of compositions
+that can be danced. The problem of proper
+dance music is more serious than one would think.
+Sibelius’ <i>Valse Triste</i> is perhaps the best sample of
+dramatic dance music that corresponds perfectly to a
+dancer’s requirements. MacDowell’s ‘Shadow Dance’
+is another gem of this kind. There are quite a few
+by other composers. The sum is slight. But the dancer
+can hardly blame the composer alone, for the latter
+knows only the old ballet, the naturalistic school or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">257</span>
+folk-dance themes. He has never heard of any other
+dance music than the one which has been danced,
+either socially or on the stage.</p>
+
+<p>Dancing to music requires short phonetic episodes
+with sufficient poetic, symbolic or dramatic element,
+and images clearly depicted in strong rhythmic measure
+and sufficient background for the story. The more
+variety of figures, the greater contrasts and the more
+‘chapters’ in such a composition, the better for the
+dancer. The modern decadent, unrhythmic, vague
+mood music of the radical French and German schools
+is of little appeal and practically impossible to render
+in plastic forms. It is the Russian school of music,
+as also the works of modern Finnish composers, that
+have all the rich, clear and powerfully vivid magic
+of the north, and appeal so strongly to a dancer’s
+imagination. Sibelius’ <i>En Saga</i>, a tone-poem for full
+orchestra, would be the most grateful composition for
+this purpose had it not been written in the old symphonic
+form. It belongs to that baffling and unsatisfactory
+class of symphonic poems to which Sibelius has
+failed to give a clear literary basis. The music suggests
+the recital of some old tale in which the heroic
+and pathetic elements are skillfully blended. The music
+is vigorous and highly picturesque, but its interest
+would be greatly enhanced by a more definite program.
+Again, the same composer’s ‘Lemminkainen’s
+Home-Faring’ would make an excellent dance for a
+man dancer, had the composer rearranged it for a
+smaller orchestra and for dancing. It is an episode
+from the <i>Kalevala</i>. Sibelius’ Fourth Symphony is a
+composition that could be danced, being based on a
+series of single episodes of extremely imaginary character.
+But the score is written for a large symphony
+orchestra, therefore unpractical for dancing in a general
+way. Sibelius’ incidental music to Adolf Paul’s
+tragedy, ‘King Christian II,’ and the other to Maeterlinck’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">258</span>
+‘Pelléas and Mélisande’ are large ballets rather
+than music that could be performed without any particular
+difficulties by dancers of Lada’s type.</p>
+
+<p>The question of appropriate music for the latest
+phase of the art of dancing is so serious that it requires
+earnest consideration. In considering the best dances
+of all the great dancers of all ages and schools we find
+that among the phonetic images the symbolic element
+renders itself most gratefully to plastic transformation.
+By its very nature dancing is the symbolic rendering
+of music. The more symbolic the subject of a composition
+the better chance it has of being transmitted into
+a visible language. A dancer represents in his vibrating
+body lines the symbolic complex of all the phonetic
+unities of a composition. He is, so to speak, the unset
+type. Music is the text that he has to print in such pictorial
+forms, in such symbols that our mind can grasp
+it. Throughout his dance, he remains a kaleidoscopic
+tracer of the musical designs of the composition.
+The plastic positions of the human body, the mimic
+expression of the face, the gestures and the steps, are
+the mediums that can suggest certain phases of emotion
+and feeling, certain ideas and impressions of soul
+and body. There is a certain tonal and pictorial
+‘logic,’ a kind of unarticulated thinking, in music as
+well as in dancing. But this cannot be depicted in
+any other than symbolic form. Essentially both arts
+are composed of a succession of peculiar emotional
+symbolic images. Music is the vibration of the sound,
+dancing the vibration of the form. Both arts appeal directly
+to our emotions, music more than dancing, the
+latter being more mixed with our intellectual processes.
+Dancing may be termed the translating of the absolutely
+subjective language into a more objective one.
+According to this theory all the ballets in the old form
+of drama, where the characters dance their rôles, is
+against the principle of pure art dancing. It is impossible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">259</span>
+to imagine that there is any music on the order
+of our conventional dramas, of so or so many characters.
+At the utmost there can be only two dancing
+figures, two characters that we could imagine in a tone-drama
+of this kind; but even so, the other could be only
+the acting, the pantomimic character, while only one
+dancer at a time can render the real transformation
+process of the musical theme.</p>
+
+<p>To comply with the requirements of the above-described
+theory of musical dancing, the writer has composed
+a scenario, ‘The Legend of Life,’ to which Reinhold
+Glière is composing the music. In this ballet, or
+more correctly <i>plastomime</i>, which is arranged in three
+scenes, there is only one single dancer throughout the
+whole performance, and she is the symbolic image,
+the visualized imagination of a young monk, who is
+sitting in the evening before the festival of ordainment
+in his gloomy cell and thinking of the girl he used to
+love outside. Here he begins to hear the worldly music
+that is interrupted by the chimes and the choir of
+the church. The girl of whom he is thinking appears
+before him and dances romantic episodes—dances, so
+to speak, his vivid reminiscences. The monk is the
+realistic figure, the dancing girl the symbolic image
+of the music. It is a whole drama, which takes place
+in the monk’s mind. The drama is in music, and is
+his love, his romantic emotion, which is often interrupted
+by ecclesiastic surroundings. The second scene
+is the dream of the monk at night in a beautiful garden.
+The vision of the dancing girl. The third
+scene depicts him watching his own ordination in
+the church and the people arriving solemnly through
+the courtyard to witness the ceremony. Among them
+he sees his beloved. This scene is laid in the monastery’s
+courtyard. The charm of the dancing girl here
+becomes so overwhelming to the monk that he throws
+off his robe and rushes to her. Here she vanishes like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">260</span>
+a phantom and the plastomime ends. This, briefly, is
+an attempt at the sort of literary basis upon which the
+author considers dance music can be constructed in
+concordance with the new symbolic ideals.</p>
+
+<p>The above-described scenario is merely one of the
+innumerable dance themes that modern composers
+could employ in their future dance music. It is to be
+hoped that composers will grasp the idea and enrich
+musical literature with works that adapt themselves
+to the requirements of a new choreography.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">261</span></p>
+
+<h2 id="EPILOGUE">EPILOGUE<br />
+
+<span class="subhead">FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE ART OF DANCE</span></h2>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">As</span> in the physical so in the spiritual world there prevails
+a kind of circulation of energies and life; growth,
+maturity and decline. Individuals seem nothing but
+the beginnings where the universes end, and <i>vice versa</i>.
+As a man mirrors the world in his soul, so a protoplasm
+mirrors the man. An invisible hand pushes a
+worm along the same road of evolution as it does an
+imperious Cæsar. One and the same feeling heart
+seems to beat in the breast of man that beats in the
+action of the constellations. Yet the hand of evolution
+that tends to adjust the equilibrium between the individual
+and the cosmic will gives by every new turn a
+new touch of perfection to the subjective and the objective
+parties. This tendency manifests itself in the
+history of individuals and races, and also in the history
+of art. The greatest genius of to-day is surpassed by
+another to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>The art of dancing, as it stands to-day, promises
+much encouragement for to-morrow. It is near the
+beginning of a new era—the era of the cosmic ideals.
+The past belongs to the aristocratic ideals, in which
+the Russian ballet reached the climax. The French
+were the founders of aristocratic choreography; the
+Russians transformed it into an aristocratic-dramatic
+art; to the Americans belongs the attempt at a democratic
+school.</p>
+
+<p>‘The chief value of reaction resides in its negative,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">262</span>
+destructive element,’ says Prince Volkhonsky. ‘If, for
+instance, we had never seen the old ballet, with its
+stereotype, I do not think that the appearance of Isadora
+Duncan would have called forth such enthusiasm.
+In Isadora we greeted the deliverance.’ The chief
+merit of Duncan lies in destroying the aristocratic
+foundation of the ballet, and in attempting to find a
+democratic expression. She meant to find the solution
+in ancient Greek ideas and tried to imitate them. But
+she forgot that she was an outspoken American individualist
+and grasped only the democratic principles of
+a young race. All she achieved was to prove that the
+democratic essentials are no more satisfactory in the
+future æsthetic evolution of the dance than were the
+aristocratic traditions of the bygone centuries. The
+question remains, where is to be found the true basis of
+the coming choreography?</p>
+
+<p>It is strange to contemplate what different directions
+the development of the dance in various countries
+and in various ages has taken. In ancient Egypt and
+Greece the primitive folk-dances developed into spectacular
+religious ballets, in Japan they assumed the
+same impressionistic character as the rest of the national
+art, in aristocratic France the folk-dances grew
+to a gilded salon art, in Italy they became acrobatic
+shows, while in Russia they transformed themselves
+into spectacular racial pantomimes. In every age and
+country the art of dancing followed the strongest æsthetic
+motives of the time. If a nation worshipped
+nobility it danced the aristocratic ideals, if it worshipped
+divine ideas it danced them accordingly. The
+social-political democratic ideals of the New World
+have exercised a great influence in this direction upon
+the art of the Old. Though imitating aristocratic Europe,
+America has not failed to add an element of its
+own to the æsthetic standards of the former. But had
+America been only democratic there would be little<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">263</span>
+hope left that it could attribute anything to the future
+beauty, particularly to the future dance. There are,
+however, other elements that give encouragement to
+something serious and lasting, and this is the cosmic
+tendency in American life and art.</p>
+
+<p>The chief characteristics of the American mind are
+to condense expressions and ideas into their shortest
+forms. This is most evident in the syncopated style
+of its music, in its language and in its architecture.
+Like the American ‘ragtime’ tune, an American skyscraper
+is the result of an impressionistic imagination.
+Both are crude in their present form, yet they speak a
+language of an un-ethnographic race and form the
+foundation of a new art. Instead of having a floating,
+graceful and, so to speak, a horizontal tendency like
+the æsthetic images of the Old World, the American
+beauty is dynamic, impressionistic and perpendicular.
+It shoots directly upwards and denies every tradition.
+The underlying motives of such a tendency are not
+democratic but cosmic. While a nationalistic art is
+always based on something traditional, something that
+belongs to the past evolution of a race, the cosmic art
+strives to unite the emotions of all humanity. The task
+of the latter is very much more difficult. It requires
+a universal mind to grasp and express what appeals
+to the whole world. It requires a Titanic genius to
+condense the æsthetic images so that in their shortest
+form they may say what the others would express in
+roundabout ways. This gives to beauty a dynamic
+vigor and makes it so much more universal than the
+art of any nation or age could be. But this requires
+the use of symbols, and tends to subjectivism. However,
+the symbols employed in this case are fundamentally
+different from those employed by the Orientals.
+Since the earliest ages the Orient has made use of
+symbols in art and religion. But the Oriental symbols
+have been mystic or philosophic in their nature. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">264</span>
+American symbols will either be purely intellectual or
+they will be poetic.</p>
+
+<p>The future of the art of dancing belongs to America,
+the country of the cosmic ideals. This is evident from
+its evolution since Isadora Duncan’s début. The Russian
+New Ballet (of Diaghileff’s group) is the best proof
+that the traditional racial plasticism is being transformed
+into a cosmic one. Compare the steps and
+gestures of Karsavina and Nijinsky with those of Pavlova
+and Volinin. Where the former have become
+realistically dramatic, the latter remain acrobatically
+academic. There is more symbolism in Karsavina’s
+and Nijinsky’s art than in that of Pavlova and the followers
+of the old ballet. But the plastic symbols of
+Lada are far more condensed than those of Karsavina.
+This is what we have termed the essential of a cosmic
+choreography.</p>
+
+<p>The tendency of every art is from the simple to the
+complex and then again from the complex to the simple.
+The greatest dancer is the one who can express
+the most complex musical images in the simplest plastic
+forms. Dancing in the future will be nothing but
+a transformatory process of the time-emotions in the
+space-emotions. ‘Rhythm is in time what symmetry is
+in space—division into equal parts corresponding to
+each other,’ said Schopenhauer. Arthur Symons called
+dancing ‘thinking overheard.’ ‘It begins and ends before
+words have formed themselves, in a deeper consciousness
+than that of speech. * * * It can render
+birth and death, and it is always going over and over
+the eternal pantomime of love; it can be all the passions,
+all the languors; but it idealizes these mere acts,
+gracious or brutal, into more than a picture; for it is
+more than a beautiful reflection, it has in it life itself,
+as it shadows life; and it is farther from life than a
+picture. Humanity, youth, beauty, playing the part of
+itself, and consciously, in a travesty, more natural than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">265</span>
+nature, more artificial than art: but we lose ourselves
+in the boundless bewilderment of its contradictions.’
+It follows that a neo-symbolism is the logical outcome
+of the future dance. Dancing will become an independent
+stage art and take the place of the obsolescent
+opera. But before it reaches that stage, composers will
+be compelled to realize the importance of the new
+choreography, and produce music that contains all the
+graphic designs, the plastic possibilities, the dynamic
+drama and, above all, that structure of sounds which
+gives ample possibility for symbolic plasticism and yet
+contains a message.</p>
+
+<p>The real future dance will be expressionistic and
+subjective. Instead of copying life it will suggest its
+deepest depths and highest heights by combining the
+plastic symbols with the musical ones. It will not
+try to imitate nature but transpose it, as a painting
+transposes a landscape. Our mind is growing tired of
+the prevailing naked realism and its photographic
+effects. The realistic drama is gradually losing its
+æsthetic appeal. The aristocratic opera seems to belong
+to past centuries. Opera has lost its grip on the
+modern mind. Our æsthetic conception has reached
+the point where our subjective mind requires not imitation
+but inspiration. Instead of traditional beauties
+we require dynamic ones. We enjoy a suggestion of
+an æsthetic sensation more than an accurate description
+of it. This proves that the symbolic sensations
+will sooner or later take the upper hand, and symbolic
+dancing will be the watchword of the coming age.</p>
+
+<p>Since, according to our theory, the future of the art
+of dancing belongs to America, we should take into
+consideration those primary elements of musical art
+that form the foundation of every dance. American
+art naturally lacks fundamentally national elements;
+it strives toward cosmic ideals instead. Miserable as
+is the syncopated form of American popular music it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">266</span>
+yet constitutes the musical <i>Volapük</i> of all the nations.
+This same syncopated form of expression manifests
+itself in American architecture and in its social dancing.
+The broken lines, the irregular dynamics, and the
+restless corners here and there that we find predominant
+in American architecture are nothing but a transposed
+form of popular music. It is evident that neither
+one of the arts has yet found its foundation. A New
+York skyscraper is a silent ‘ragtime’ tune, and <i>vice
+versa</i>. But the ‘ragtime’ rhythm can be modulated to
+the same æsthetic expressions as the skyscrapers. Unconsciously
+the dance follows the patterns of architecture
+and music. The future choreography does not
+necessarily need to be based upon syncopated rhythm
+only, but upon the various factors of the style, the
+method of expression and the spiritual issues.</p>
+
+<p>The physical and spiritual bases of every folk-art
+lie in the rural life. A folk-song or a folk-dance is
+and remains the product of idyllic village atmosphere.
+It mirrors the joys and sorrows, hopes and passions of
+the country people. It has been molded under the blue
+sky, in sunshine and storm. The songs of birds and
+the voices of nature form its æsthetic background. A
+village troubadour or poet is usually its creator, and
+simplicity is its fundamental trait. It exalts the rural
+atmosphere, poetry and characteristics. The place of
+the birth and growth of syncopated rhythm and broken
+symmetry is exclusively the city. It exalts the noise,
+rush and triviality, also the alertness and forces of
+the street. It suggests motion and intellectual fever.
+It leaves images of something artificial and fatal in
+the mind. The spirit of the country is different in
+every nation; but the spirit of the city is a similar one
+all over the world. It is in this very fact that we have
+to look for the logical foundation of the future choreography.
+It will emanate from no particular race, from
+no particular country, nor from any particular element<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">267</span>
+of national art. It will come from the artificial city,
+the mother of cosmic idealism. The symbolism of the
+city is destined to take the place of the symbolism of
+the country. The New York plasticism will be also the
+plasticism of Paris and Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>The ethnographic and aristocratic era in the art of
+dancing has reached the climax of æsthetic development.
+We are entering the era of cosmic art. We
+begin it with the same primitive steps that our ancestors
+made so many centuries ago; only with this difference—that
+now we view the problem from a universal
+point of view while our forefathers beheld it
+from a nationalistic and aristocratic point of view.
+We are in the cosmic current of evolution and begin
+our circle where it was left by those who had passed
+the current of a certain race or class. The future dance
+will grasp beauty from a broader stretch and deeper
+depths than the greatest virtuosi of the past and present
+could do. The fundamental law of all spiritual
+as well as physical evolution is to bring about a better
+equilibrium between the individual and the universal
+powers.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">269</span></p>
+
+<div id="lit" class="chapter">
+<h2 id="LITERATURE_FOR_VOLUME_X">LITERATURE FOR VOLUME X</h2>
+
+<h3><i>In English</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">S. A. Barrett</span>: The Dream Dance of the Chippewa and
+Menominee Indians (Milwaukee, Wis., 1911).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Caroline and Charles Caffin</span>: Dancing and Dancers of To-day
+(New York, 1912).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Havelock Ellis</span>: The Philosophy of Dancing (Atlantic
+Monthly, Boston, April, 1914).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">J. E. Crawford Flitch</span>: Modern Dancing and Dancers (London,
+1912).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marcella A. Hincks</span>: The Japanese Dance (London, 1910).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A. Holt</span>: How to Dance the Revived Ancient Dances (London,
+1907).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Troy and Margaret West Kinney</span>: The Dance (New York,
+1914).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cecil J. Sharpe and Herbert C. MacIlwaine</span>: The Morris
+Book (London, 1910).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">G. Vuillier</span>: A History of Dancing (New York, 1898).</p></blockquote>
+
+<h3><i>In German</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">W. Angerstein</span>: Volkstänze im deutschen Mittelalter (Berlin,
+1868).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">F. M. Boehme</span>: Geschichte des Tanzes in Deutschland (Leipzig,
+1886).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hans Brandenburg</span>: Der Moderne Tanz (Munich, 1913).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Émile Jacques-Dalcroze</span>: Der Eurythmus (Dresden, 1913).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">H. Flach</span>: Der Tanz bei den Griechen (Berlin, 1880).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">G. Fuchs</span>: Der Tanz (Stuttgart, 1906).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">G. Mohr</span>: Die deutschen Volkstänze (Leipzig, 1874).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Heinz Schnabel</span>: Kordax: Archeologische Studien (Munich,
+1910).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">R. Voss</span>: Der Tanz und seine Geschichte (Erfurt).</p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">270</span></p>
+
+<h3><i>In French</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Castil-Blaze</span>: Histoire littéraire, musicale, choréographique,
+etc. (Paris, 1847).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Auguste Ehrhard</span>: Une vie de danseuse: Fanny Elssler
+(Paris, 1909).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Maurice Emmanuel</span>: La danse grecque antique (Paris, 1896).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">J. G. Noverre</span>: Lettres sur les arts imitateurs en général
+(Paris, 1907).</p></blockquote>
+
+<h3><i>In Italian</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">G. B. Dufort</span>: Trattato del ballo nobile (Naples, 1728).</p></blockquote>
+
+<h3><i>In Russian</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Bulletins of the Russian Imperial Ballet School (Petrograd,
+1900–1914).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">César Cui</span>: Istoria Russkoi Musyki (Petrograd, 1903).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">S. Hudakov</span>: Istoria Tanzev, 2 vols. (Petrograd, 1914).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">N. Rimsky-Korsakoff</span>: Memoirs (Petrograd, 1910).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Prince S. Volkhonsky</span>: The Ballet (Petrograd, 1913).</p></blockquote>
+
+<h3><i>In Danish</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Bulletins of the Danish National Theatre (Copenhagen, 1910–14).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tobias Norlind</span>: Svardsdans ock Bagdans (Copenhagen,
+1911).</p></blockquote>
+
+<h3><i>In Finnish and Esthonian</i></h3>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>Kalevala (Helsingfors, 1880).</p>
+
+<p>Suomen Kansan Sävelmiä (Helsingfors, 1898).</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Dr. F. Kreutzwald</span>: Kaliwipoeg [in Esthonian] (Tartu, 1900).</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">271</span></p>
+
+<div class="chapter"><div class="index">
+<h2 id="INDEX_FOR_VOLUME_X" class="nobreak p1">INDEX FOR VOLUME X</h2>
+
+<ul class="index">
+
+<li class="ifrst">A</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Abdallah</i> (Bournoville and Paulli), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Academicism (French, Italian), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Academies_of_dancing"></a>Academies of dancing, <a href="#Page_151">151f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Chinese), <a href="#Page_31">31f</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Cadiz, Spain), <a href="#Page_46">46f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(French), <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94f</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_90">90f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Copenhagen Ballet School), <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(College of Rhythmic Gymnastics, Hellerau), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Accentuation, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Accompaniment (in Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Accordion (in English folk-dance), <a href="#Page_116">116f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Ach, du lieber Augustin</i>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Acting (in relation to ballet), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Adam, Charles-Adolphe (as ballet composer), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Æschylus, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">African Bantu, <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">African guitar, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Ai Ouchnem</i>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Akté, Aino, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Albinus (Roman consul), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Alexander I, Czar of Russia, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Alexis Mihailowitch, Czar, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Algiers, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>All in a Garden Green</i> (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Allan, Maud, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Allard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Allemande</i>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Alliamatula (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Almeiis, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Amaterasu (Japanese deity), <a href="#Page_35">35f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">America (future of dancing in), <a href="#Page_261">261f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="American_Indians"></a>American Indians, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ammon, Temple of (Egyptian school of dancing in), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Anabasis</i> (quoted), <a href="#Page_55">55f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Andalusia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Andersen, Hans Christian, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Androgeonia (Greek hero), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Angerstein, Wilhelm (cited), <a href="#Page_128">128f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Anglin, Mlle. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Anna, Empress of Russia, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Anna Ivanovna, Empress of Russia, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Anne of Denmark (English Queen, patron of the masque), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[d’]Annunzio, Gabriele, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Antagonism to dancing (of Western Church), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(of Roman consuls), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Antoine et Cléopatre</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aphrodite, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(compared to Venera), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(mysteries), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Apollo, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(mysteries), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Apostles, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>[L’]Après-midi d’un Faun</i>, (Debussy), <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Arabesques (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in French ballet step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Arabia (<i>Stomach Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(<i>Graveyard Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(<i>Axis Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(character of dancing), <a href="#Page_46">46ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Arabian Nights,’ <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aragon (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Arcadia, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Architecture, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(development of, synchronous with dancing), <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(American), <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Areja, Francesca, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Arensky, Anton Stephanovich, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ariadne, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aristides, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aristophanes (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Ark of the Covenant,’ <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Arkona</i> (Hartmann), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Armenia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_138">138f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Artemis, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Arts (primitive, in India), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(common basis of), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Asparazases (Indian nymphs), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aspasia (Greek dancer), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Assemblé (French ballet step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Astafieva, Seraphine, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Astral Dance (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13f</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Athenæus (quoted), <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(cited), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Athens (dancing at festivals), <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(theatre of Dionysius), <a href="#Page_64">64f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Mænad Dance), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Auber, Daniel-Esprit, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Augustus (Roman Emperor), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Aulos (Greek flute), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Austria, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>L’Autômne Bacchanale</i>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Auvergne (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Axis Dance</i> (Arabian), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">B<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">272</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Baba Yaga</i> (Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bacchanalian dance, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bacchus (Greek and Roman god), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Roman orgies), <a href="#Page_75">75f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bach, Johann Sebastian, v, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(bourrées), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(courantes), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bacon, Sir Francis (cited on masques), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bagpipes (in Morris dance), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in English Sword Dance), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Irish jig), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Roumanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Baken Amen (Egyptian tablet), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bakst, Léon, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Balakireff, Mily Alexejevich, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231f</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ballerina’s tunic, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ballet (origin), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(18th cent.), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <i>170ff</i>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(French), <i>86ff</i>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(defined by Noverre), <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Italian), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(classic), <a href="#Page_151">151ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Danish), <a href="#Page_162">162ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(plots), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Ballet des Ardents</i> (French court dance), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Ballet du Carrousel</i> (performed at Tuileries), <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ballet slipper, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ballotté, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Barefoot dancing, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Barrett, S. A. (cited on plot of <i>Dream Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Barrison, Gertrude, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[Le] Basque (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bathyllus (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Battements, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bayaderes, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>[Les] Bayederes</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beauchamp (director of French Academy of Dancing), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beaugrand, Leontine (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beck, Hans (Danish ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beerbohm, Max (quoted on Genée), <a href="#Page_167">167f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Beethoven, v, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Begutcheff (director of Moscow ballet), <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bekeffy, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Belle Fatma [La] (20th cent. Egyptian dancer), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bellicrepa saltatio (Roman dance), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bells (in Morris Dance), <a href="#Page_114">114</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Benares, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Benois, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Benserade, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Berlin, <a href="#Page_203">203f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Berlin Museum (painting of Sword Dance), <a href="#Page_115">115f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bernay, Mlle. (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Berri, Duchess de, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bibasis (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bible (cited), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>; (quoted), <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bilibin, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Birds (courtship dances of), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Björnson, Björnstjerne, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Blache (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Black Forest (dance of the), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Blasis, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on Bolero), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bogdanova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bohemia (folk-dancing). See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bolero (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bondina (Andalusian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Borodine, Alexander, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Botta, Bergonzio, di, <a href="#Page_81">81f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Botticelli, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bournoville, Antoine August, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162f</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164f</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bourrée, <a href="#Page_121">121f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Boyars, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Boys (training of, as dancers), <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brahma, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Brahma und Bayaderen</i> (German ballet), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brahminism (relation to dancing), <a href="#Page_25">25ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brahms, Johannes, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brandenburg, Hans, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brass instruments (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brass plates (Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Breobrashenskaya, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Breton dances, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Brisé (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="British_Museum"></a>British Museum, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Buckingham House (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Buddhism, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Bugaku Dance</i> (Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Bulgaria (folk-dancing). See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Burchard, Bishop of Worms, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Burette (cited on Greek dance), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Buriat dances (compared to American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Butterfly Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Byzantium (painting of Hebrew dancing), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, in Lithuanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_135">135f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">C</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cabriole (in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Bibasis), <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(French ballet step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cachucha (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cadiz, Spain (centre of ancient dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(dancers from, in Rome), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Calcutta, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Caligula (Roman emperor), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Calumet (American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Calzvaro, <a href="#Page_34">34f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Camargo, Mlle. (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Canaries</i> (English and German social dance), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>The</i>] <i>Caprices of Galatea</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">273</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Carmencita (Spanish dancer), <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Carnaval de Venise</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Caroles (mediæval dances), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Carpæa (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_55">55f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Caryatis (Spartan dance), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Castanets (in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Castil-Blaze, François-Henri-Josef, quoted (on mediæval strolling ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on French ballet), <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on Camargo), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on origin of waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Castor and Pollux, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Catherine the Great, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Caucasia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cerezo, Sebastian (Spanish dancer), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cerito, Fanny (ballerina), <a href="#Page_158">158f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cervantes (cited on Chaconne), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chaconne (Italian and Spanish social dance), <a href="#Page_145">145f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Changement de pied, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Charles I, King of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Charles II, King of England, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chassé (ballet step), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cheremias (Spanish instruments), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="China"></a>China, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(attitude of moralists in, toward dancing), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(musical instruments), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(dancing of, adopted in Japan), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Chinese Wedding</i> (ballet by Calzevaro), <a href="#Page_34">34f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chippewas, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chironomia (in Greek choreography), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Choirs (in Egyptian temples), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chopin, Frédéric, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Choral dances (of Russian peasants), <a href="#Page_177">177f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Choreographic principle (vs. dramatic), <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Choreography (Chinese), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(mediæval), <a href="#Page_78">78ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 17th cent. France), <a href="#Page_87">87f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(French development), <a href="#Page_94">94f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of democracy), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Finnish), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_195">195ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(plastomimic), <a href="#Page_247">247ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chorley, Henry Fothergill (quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chorovody (Russian ballad folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Chrisis</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Christian moralists (antagonism to dancing), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Church_Roman">Church, Roman</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chronos, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Chrotal (Greek instrument), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Church_Roman"></a>Church, Roman (hostility to dancing), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(dancing in, during Middle Ages), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cicero (quoted), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Cinquantaine</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Clary</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Classics, musical (dance music by), v.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>The</i>] <i>Clemency of Titus</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cleonica (Greek dancer), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cleopatra (as dancer), <a href="#Page_17">17f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Cleopatra</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Cléopatre</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_223">223ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Clermont, Comte de, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Clothing (decorative purpose of, for the dance), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Collins, Lottie, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Comédie Française, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Confucius, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(honored in Japanese dance), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coördination (of intellect and nerves), <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Copenhagen School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coperario, John, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Copiola, Galeria (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Coppélia</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166f</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cordax (Greek Satyr dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Corkscrew (folk-dance), <a href="#Page_134">134f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Corpus Christi (festival of, with church dancing), <a href="#Page_78">78f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Corsaire</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Corybantes, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cosiers (Spanish church dancers), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cossack folk-dances, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Costume. See <a href="#Dress">Dress</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cotillion, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Country Dance (English), <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coupé (in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coupé dessous (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Coupé lateral (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Courante, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87f</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Court ballets (French), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Court_dancing"></a>Court dancing (in China), <a href="#Page_32">32f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(at Jerusalem), <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Seville), <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in England), <a href="#Page_83">83ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in France), <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Germany), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Russia), <a href="#Page_141">141f</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Social_dancing">Social dancing</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Courtship dances (of birds), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Covent Garden (Mlle. Sallé at), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Craig, Gordon (cited on French ballet), <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Crane Dance</i> (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Crete, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Crimea (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Crowne, John, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Cupid and Bacchus</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Curetes (Cretan dancers), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cybele, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cyclops, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Cymbals (in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Czardas (Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_125">125f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">D</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Daedulus, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dalcroze. See <a href="#Jacques-Dalcroze">Jacques-Dalcroze</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Daldans (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance music (classical), v.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of Baskets (in Eleusinian mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of Feathers (Chinese court dance), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Five Senses (modern Indian dance), <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Flag (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">274</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Four Dimensions (Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Glasses (pseudo-Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Golden Calf, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of Greeting (Arabian), <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of Humanity (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Dance of Innocence</i> (Greek), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Knees (in Dionysian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance of the Mystic Bird (Chinese), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dance principles, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dancing defined, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dancing girls (Greek), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dancing Mandarins, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Dancing the music,’ <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Danish ballet (influence on Russian), <a href="#Page_164">164f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Dansomanie</i> [<i>La</i>] (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dante (cited), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Daphnis and Chloë</i>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dargason (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dargomijsky, Alexander Sergeyevitch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dauberval, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Daughter of the Pharaoh</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Davenant, Sir William, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">David, King of Israel, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Davillier, Baron, quoted (on mediæval church dance), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on Seguidilla), <a href="#Page_110">110f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Death Dance (Fakir dance compared to), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>The</i>] <i>Death of Ajax</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Debussy, Claude, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Degeneration (of ballet), <a href="#Page_189">189ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Delians, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Delibes, Léo, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Delicias caditanas (Cadiz dancers in Rome), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Delphic Festivals, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Delsarte, François Alexandre, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211f</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Demetrius, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Mysteries), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Demi-cabriole (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Demi-coupé (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Democracy (effect of, on choreography), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Democratic basis of dancing, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Denmark (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(ballet), <a href="#Page_162">162ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Déserteur</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Desmond, Olga, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Despreaux (Parisian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Desrat (cited on Eleusinian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Devadazis (Indian temple dancers), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Devil’s Dance (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Diaghileff, Warslof, <a href="#Page_219">219f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Diaghileff ballet, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Diana (Greek goddess), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Didelot, Charles-Louis, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164f</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Diodorus (cited), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Dionysian_Mysteries"></a>Dionysian Mysteries, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dionysius of Syracuse, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dionysos, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dipoda (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dohnányi, Ernst von, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dohrn, Wolf and Harald, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dolci (painting of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dominique (Parisian harlequin), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Don Juan</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Don Quixote,’ <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Doré (painting of church dancing in Seville), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dorians, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dostoievsky, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Drama (influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dramatic principle (against choreographic), <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Dream Dance</i> (American Indians), <a href="#Page_38">38ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Drehtanz, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dresden, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Dress"></a>Dress (in Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(of dancers in Seville Cathedral), <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in English masques), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 18th cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_89">89f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in ballet during French Revolution), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dances), <a href="#Page_112">112f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(of Morris dancers), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in English Sword dance), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_127">127f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Dutch folk-dances), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Slavic dances), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Minuet), <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Drigo, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Drum (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Chinese), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in <i>Lou Gue</i>), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Armenian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_138">138</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Drury Lane, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Dryad</i> [<i>The</i>] (ballet), <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dryads, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dubois, Théodore, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Duncan, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Duncan, Isadora, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <i>197ff</i>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted), <a href="#Page_196">196f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(compared with St. Denis), <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence in Russia), <a href="#Page_218">218f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(pupils), <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Duncan School, <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Duport (Paris ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dupré (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dutch folk-dancing, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Dynamic expression, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">E</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ear-training (in Jacques-Dalcroze School), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Education (necessity of, for Greek dancers), <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(liberal, of ballet dancers), <a href="#Page_172">172f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Edward VII, King of England, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">275</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Egg Dance (Dutch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Egypt (temple dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(musical instruments), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(relation of dancing and religion), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(secular dancing), <a href="#Page_15">15ff</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, in modern choreography), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Hebrew dancing), <a href="#Page_43">43f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(worship of Pan), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(strophic principle in choreography of), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(history of, in Greek education), <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Egyptian Wedding Scenes (pseudo-Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Electricity, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Eleusinian_Mysteries"></a>Eleusinian Mysteries, <a href="#Page_67">67f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Elisseieff, Prof, (cited on Egyptian dancing), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ellis, Havelock, quoted (on American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on relation of rhythm to life), <a href="#Page_viii">vi</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(on modern Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Elssler, Fanny, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Emerson, Ralph Waldo (quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Emmanuel (cited on Greek choreography), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Emmeleia (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Endymatia (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">England (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(social dancing), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">English Cathedrals (rhythmic ritual used in), <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Entrechat, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Erfurt, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Esclatism (Greek gymnastics), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Esmeralda</i> (Perrot and Pugni), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Esthonian folk-dances, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Eugenius IV, <a href="#Page_78">78f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Eurhythmics (of Jacques-Dalcroze), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Excelsior</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">F</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fabiol (in Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fackeltanz, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fakir dances, <a href="#Page_28">28f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Falkenfleth, Haagen (quoted on Jörgen-Jensen), <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fandango (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106f</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Farandole (French folk-dance), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(as court dance), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Farandole</i> (Dubois), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[La] Farruca (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fauns, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Faust</i> (ballet by Perrot), <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Feodorova, Sophie, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ferrabosco, Alfonso, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Festen i Albano</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Festival of the Sacred Bull (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Festival of the Supreme Being (French strolling ballet), <a href="#Page_93">93f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Festivals (Roman), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Finland (folk-dances), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(compared to American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(rune tunes), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(horn dance), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Fiorella</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Fire Bird</i> [<i>The</i>], <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fire Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fleure (ballet step), <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fleury (quoted), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Flitch, J. E. Crawford, quoted (on Fuller), <a href="#Page_190">190f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Floralia (Roman festivals), <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Flore et Zéphire</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Florence (court ballet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Flower Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Flute (in Egyptian dance music), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Indian dance music), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Chinese dance music), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Japanese dance music), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dance music), <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Arabian dance music), <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dance music), <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58f</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Roman dance music), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fokina, Vera, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fokine, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219f</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Folk-dances, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(rel. to sex instinct), v;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Spanish), <a href="#Page_105">105ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Italian), <a href="#Page_122">122ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(German), <a href="#Page_128">128f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Finnish), <a href="#Page_132">132f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Scandinavian), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Dutch), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Lithuanian), <a href="#Page_135">135f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Polish), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Slavic), <a href="#Page_136">136ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Armenian), <a href="#Page_138">138f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_139">139ff</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Folk-songs, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Russian), <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Forlana (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fouetté (French ballet step), <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fouetté pirouette (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fountain of Magic Dances (in Eleusinian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fox Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">France (rhythmic church ritual), <a href="#Page_viii">iii-f</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121ff</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(grand court ballets), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(democratic influence), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">French Academy of Dancing, <a href="#Page_94">94f</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">French ballet, <a href="#Page_86">86ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(modern criticism of), <a href="#Page_214">214ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">French Revolution, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93f</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Froehlich (Danish composer), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fuentes (cited on Seguidilla), <a href="#Page_109">109f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fuller, Loie, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Fuller, Margaret (quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Funeral dances (Japanese), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">G<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">276</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gade, Niels W., <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gaita (Spanish instrument), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Galcotti (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Galeazzo, Visconti, Duke of Milan, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Galen (quoted), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Galeotti, Vincenzo Tomaselli, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Galicia (church dancing), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Galliard, <a href="#Page_149">149f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gardel, Maximilian (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[El] Garrotin (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gautier, Théophile, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gavotte, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gedeonoff, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Geltzer (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Genée, Adeline, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Generalization, theory of (in ballet), <a href="#Page_216">216f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Germany, v;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_128">128f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(the waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(social dancing), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of Duncan), <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gesture (relation between, and music), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Pantomime">Pantomime</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Ghiselle</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ghost Dance (American Indian dance), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gia (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gilchrist, Connie, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Glazounoff, Alexander Constantovich, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Glière, Reinhold, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Glinka, Mikail Ivanovich, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Glissade (ballet-step), <a href="#Page_97">97f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gluck, Christoph Willibald, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gogol, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Golden Calf (in mediæval ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Goulu [La] (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grahn, Lucile (ballerina), <a href="#Page_163">163f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grand ballets (of French court), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Gratiereness Hulding</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Graveyard Dance</i> (Oriental), <a href="#Page_21">21f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gravity (in naturalistic dancing), <a href="#Page_196">196f</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Greece (philosophers of, quoted on dancing), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(religious dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52ff</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(writers of, cited on Spanish dancing), <a href="#Page_46">46f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(its choreography), <i>52–71</i>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(festival dancing), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Greek dancing (modern ‘revivals’ of), <a href="#Page_195">195f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Jacques-Dalcroze system), <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Greek Church (dancing in), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Greek Mysteries, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gregory, Johann (ballet master in Russia), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gretchaninoff, Alexander, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Gretna Green</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grétry, André Erneste Modeste, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Griboyedoff, Teleshova, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grieg, Edvard, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grisi, Carlotta, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Grouping (decorative), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Guerrero, Rosario, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Guild dances (German), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Guillaume Tell</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Guimard, Madeleine (French ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Guitar (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(African), <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Gustave Vasa</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gymnastics (rhythmic), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Gymnopædia, <a href="#Page_59">59f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">H</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hailii (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Handel, George Frederick, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(bourées), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(courantes), <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Harlequin, Parisian (Dominique), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Harp (in Egyptian dance music), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dance music), <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dance music), <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Roman dance music), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Esthonian folk-dance music), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Finnish dance music), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hartmann, Johann Peter Emil, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hatton (English dancer), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hawasis, <a href="#Page_20">20f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Haydn, Joseph, v.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hebrews, <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43ff</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Jewish_marriage_dances">Jewish Marriage Dances</a>, etc.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Helen of Sparta, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hellerau (College of Rhythmic Gymnastics), <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hempua (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Henri IV, King of France (patron of dancing), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Henrietta Maria, Queen of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Henry VII, King of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Herculaneum, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Hercules in Love</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hermes, Egyptian god (Thoth), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Héro et Leandre</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Herodotus (cited), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hesiod (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Heteræ (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hieroglyphs, <a href="#Page_12">12ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">High Kickers, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Highland Fling (Scotch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hilferding, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hincks, Marcella A. (cited on Japanese dancing), <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Historical Ballet (Chinese), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Homer (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53f</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56f</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hoppe, Johann Ferdinand, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hora (Roumanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Horace (cited), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Horatii</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hormos (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Horn (in Finnish dance music), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">277</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Horn Dance (English folk-dance), <a href="#Page_117">117f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hornpipe (Scotch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hovey, Mrs. Richard, <a href="#Page_195">195f</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Huang-Ta, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Humpty-Dumpty</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Hungary (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Hymn to Apollo</i>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Hymnea</i> (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Hyporchema</i> (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">I</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ibsen, Henrik, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Idealism (classic), <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ilia Murometz (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Iliad (cited), <a href="#Page_53">53f</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Impatiencem (17th-cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Imperial Ballet School (Russian), <a href="#Page_90">90f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Imperial Dramatic Dancing School (Russian), <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Improvisation (course in Jacques-Dalcroze school), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="India"></a>India (relation of dancing and religion), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(choreographic art), <a href="#Page_24">24ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(effect of music on dancing), <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(dances of, in European imitation), <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Indians. See <a href="#American_Indians">American Indian</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Indulgences (sold by clergy for dancing), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ingham, Ethel (quoted), <a href="#Page_234">234f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ingham, Percy B. (quoted), <a href="#Page_242">242</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Innocence, Dance of (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Innsbruck, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Instruments (in Egyptian dance music), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ionic Movements, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i> (Gluck), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ippolitoff-Ivanoff, Mikail Mikailovitch, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ireland (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_119">119f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Irvin, Beatrice, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Isabella of Aragon, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Isis cult, <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Istomina (Russian ballerina), <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Italy, v, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dances), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(mediæval strolling ballets), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_171">171</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Ivan the Terrible’ (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ives, Simon (composer of masque music), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ivi-Men (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">J</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Jack Sheppard</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Jacques-Dalcroze"></a>Jacques-Dalcroze, Émile, <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(eurhythmics of, compared with Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jacques-Dalcroze School, <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jaernefelt, Armas, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>El</i>] <i>Jaleo</i> (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">James I, King of England, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Japan"></a>Japan (pantomimic character of dancing), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(dance of, adopted in China), <a href="#Page_33">33f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(funeral dances), <a href="#Page_35">35ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(European choreographic imitations), <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dances), <a href="#Page_262">262</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>de</i>] <i>Jaulnaye</i> (cited on Roman dancers), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Java (pantomimic choreography), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jerusalem, Temple of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jeté, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Egyptian dance), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Bibasis), <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Jewish_marriage_dances"></a>Jewish marriage dances (in Morocco), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jewish moralists (antagonism to dancing), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jig (Irish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_119">119f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jota (Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jones, Inigo, English architect, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jonson, Ben, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jörgen-Jensen, Elna (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_165">165ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Judgment of Paris</i> [<i>The</i>] (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Jupiter, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Juvenal, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">K</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kaakuria (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kaara Jaan (Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kagura (Japanese dance), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kaiterma (Cossack dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kalevala, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kalewipoeg, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kalmuk dances (compared to American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kamarienskaya (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Karsavina, Tamara, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227f</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kasatchy (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Kia-King</i> (ballet by Titus), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kinney, Troy and Margaret West (quoted on Arabian dances), <a href="#Page_47">47ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on <i>Fandango</i>), <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on <i>La Farruca</i>), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on modern Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_210">210f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kirchoff (cited on Greek dance), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kolla (Slavic folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kolossova, Eugeny, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kon-Fu-Tse (Chinese moralist), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kosloff (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kostroma (folk-dancing in), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kreutzer, Rodolphe, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Krohn, [Dr.] Ilmari, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kshesinskaya, Mathilda, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kshesinsky, Felix, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kuljak (Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kuula, Toiwo, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">278</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Kyasht, Lydia, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">L</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lacedæmonian dance, <a href="#Page_59">59f</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Spartan_dance">Spartan dance</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lada, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lancelot (quoted), <a href="#Page_137">137f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lande (ballet director), <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lange-Müller, Wilhelm, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Laniere, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lanner, Katty, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lantern Festival (in China), <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Larcher, Pierre J., <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Laurette</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lawes, William, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Leap with Torches’ (in Eleusinian mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Légende de Joseph</i> (Strauss), <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Leggatt, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lesginka (Cossack dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lessing, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lessogoroff, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lettish folk-dances, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Levinsohn, A. (quoted on Duncan School), <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on the old ballet), <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Liadova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ligne, Princess de, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Li-Kaong-Ti (Chinese monarch), <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Lily</i> (ballet by San-Leon), <a href="#Page_34">34f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lind, Letti, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Liszt, Franz, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lithuania (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Little Mermaid</i> [<i>The</i>] (ballet), <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Littré (cited), <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Livingston (cited), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Livry, Emma, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Livy (cited), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Locatelli, Pietro, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lopokova, Lydia, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Loti, Pierre (cited on Indian dancing), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Lou Gue</i> (mediæval ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Louis XIV, <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Louis XV, <a href="#Page_86">86f</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Louis, Pierre, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Love’s Triumph Callipolis</i> (masque by Ben Jonson), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lubke (cited on ballet dancing), <a href="#Page_173">173</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Lucas et Laurette</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lucceia (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lucian (quoted), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(cited), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ludiones (Roman bards), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lully, Jean-Baptiste, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(sarabandes), <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(gavottes), <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lupercalia (Roman festival), <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lutes (in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lyre, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Hebrew), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dance music), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 15th cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Lysistrata’ (comedy by Aristophanes), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Lysistrata (Greek dance), <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">M</li>
+
+<li class="indx">MacDowell, Edward, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">MacDowell Festival (Peterboro, N. H.), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mænad Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Maeterlinck, Maurice, <a href="#Page_257">257f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mahabharata (Indian epic), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Maillard, Mlle. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Malakavel</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[La] Mancha (its folk-dances), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mandarin dances (Chinese), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Maneros (dancing Pharaoh), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Marathon games, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Marie Antoinette, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Marriage ceremonies, masques performed at, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Jewish_marriage_dances">Jewish marriage dances</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mars, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Mars et Venus</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Marseillaise</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Martial (cited), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Masai (war dancing), <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Beauty</i> (Ben Jonson), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Blackness</i> (Ben Jonson), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Cassandra</i>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Castillo</i> (John Crowne). <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Masque of Owles</i>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Masques (English), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mathematics (relation of, to dancing and architecture), <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mauri, Rosetta (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mazurka, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mediævalism (relation to dancing), v.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Middle_Ages">Middle Ages</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Medici, Catherine de’, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mek na snut (Egyptian pirouette), <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Melartin, Erik, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Melkatusta (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Memphis (temple dances to Osiris), <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Merchant Taylor’s Hall (masques performed at), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Merikanto, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Messertanz (of Nuremberg), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mexicans, <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Meyerbeer, Giacomo, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Miassine, Leonide, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Middle_Ages"></a>Middle Ages (choreography of), <a href="#Page_78">78ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Milan School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Military dance. See <a href="#War-dances">War dance</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Milon (French composer and ballet master), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mimii (Roman dancers), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Minerva, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Minuet (comparison of, to Greek dances), <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in <i>Lou Gue</i>), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 17th-cent. French court), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Miriam (Biblical character), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mirror Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mohammedans, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Molière, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mongolian tribes (dancing of, compared with Indians), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(use of Pyrrhic dance by), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Monteverdi, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Moors, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">279</span></li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, on Spanish dances), <a href="#Page_50">50f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mordkin, Mikail, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Moreau (painting of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Morocco (Almeiis dancing), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Morris Dances, <a href="#Page_113">113ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Moscow (Imperial Ballet School), <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(<a id="opera_house"></a>opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Moses, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Moujiks, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mount Ida, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Moussorgsky, Modest, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Movement (rel. to sound), <a href="#Page_238">238</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mozart, v, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102f</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Müller, Max (cited), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Munich (guild dance), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Muravieva (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Murcia (folk-dances of), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Muses (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Museums. See <a href="#British_Museum">British Museum</a>, <a href="#Petrograd_Museum">Petrograd Museum</a>, <a href="#Naples_Museum">Naples Museum</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Music (of Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(as underlying principle of dancing), <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in relation to eurhythmics), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236f</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(relation to gesture), <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in rel. to modern ballet), <a href="#Page_249">249ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(syncopated, of America), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Musical_notation"></a>Musical notation (Arabic), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Spanish), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Chinese), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Muyniera (Galician folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mysteries. See <a href="#Eleusinian_Mysteries">Eleusinian Mysteries</a>, <a href="#Dionysian_Mysteries">Dionysian Mysteries</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Mysteries of Demetrius, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">N</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Naples_Museum"></a>Naples Museum, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Napoleon, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nationalism (expressed in folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(rel. to arts), <a href="#Page_104">104ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Scandinavia), <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Russia), <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Irish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_119">119f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Finnish folk-dances), <a href="#Page_132">132f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Naturalistic School, <a href="#Page_195">195ff</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nature (expression of, in dancing), <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nausicaa, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nautch Dance, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nautch girls, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Naxos, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Neo-Hellenism, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Neoptolemus, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nero, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nicomedes of Pithynia, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nielsen, Augusta, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nijinsky, Waslaw, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nijny Novgorod, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nile (centre of ancient dancing), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Nina</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Notation. See <a href="#Musical_notation">Musical notation</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Noverre, Jean Georges, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Novikoff (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Novitzkaya (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nude Bayaderes, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nudity (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in modern degenerate dances), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nuitter, Charles Louis Étienne (as ballet composer), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Numa (mythical founder of Roman sacred dance), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nuremberg (its guild dance), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Nut Cracker Suite</i> (Tschaikowsky), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Nymphs, dances of (in Dionysian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">O</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Oberammergau Passion Play (comparison with Chinese ‘Historical Ballet’), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Obertass (Polish dance), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Oboe (in Indian dance), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Odyssey (cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>L’</i>]<i>Oiseau de Feu</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ojibways, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Olaf den Hellige</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Olympic games, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Opera (influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in rel. to modern ballet), <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Opera houses, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Paris_Opera">Paris Opéra</a>; <a href="#opera_house">Moscow (opera house)</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>L’</i>]<i>Oracle</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Oranges and Lemons’ (British folk-dance), <a href="#Page_120">120</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Orchestra’ (in Greek dance), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Orchestration (in 15th-cent. ballets), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Orient, dancing in, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#China">China</a>, <a href="#India">India</a>, <a href="#Japan">Japan</a>, etc.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Oriental dances (European imitations), <a href="#Page_208">208f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Orpheus’ Descent into Hell</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Orpheus and Euridice</i> (17th-cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Osiris cult, <a href="#Page_15">15f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ostrovsky, <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[La] Otero (Spanish dancer), <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Owl Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">P</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paësiello, Giovanni, v.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paimensoitaja (Finnish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Painting, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influenced by Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in relation to eurhythmics), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pallas, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pan (Greek and Egyptian deity), <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pantin (amateur stage at), <a href="#Page_101">101</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Pantomime"></a>Pantomime (in Chinese dancing), <a href="#Page_31">31ff</a>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">280</span></li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Japanese dancing), <a href="#Page_36">36ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_41">41f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Arabian), <a href="#Page_47">47f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(mediæval sacred), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Roumanian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Salome dance), <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(used by Duncan), <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in rel. to music), <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Papillon</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paris (Italian court pantomime introduced), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(‘Fatima’ sensation), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(ecclesiastical attitude toward dancing), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(18th-cent. ballet), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(popularity of the <i>Psyche</i> ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Camargo), <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Taglioni), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Paris_Opera"></a>Paris Opéra, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paris School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas bourrée, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas coupé, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas d’allemande, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas de basque, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Passepied), <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas de bourrée emboîté, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas de cheval (in Egyptian dances), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas marché, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pas sauté, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Passepied, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paul, Adolf, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paul, Czar, <a href="#Page_178">178f</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Paul et Virginie</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Paulli, Simon Holger, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pavana (Murcian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pavane, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(characteristics), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 17th-cent. French court), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Pavilion d’Armide</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pavlowa, Anna, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175f</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186f</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pecour (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Peer Gynt Suite</i> (as ballet), <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Peri</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pericles, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Perrot (ballet dancer and composer), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Persian Graveyard Dance, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Peter the Great, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Petipa, Marius, <a href="#Page_x">vi</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182f</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on Petrograd Imperial Ballet School), <a href="#Page_173">173f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Petipa school, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Petit battements, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>Les</i>] <i>Petits Riens</i> (Noverre and Mozart), <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Petrograd_Museum"></a>Petrograd (Museum), <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Imperial Ballet School), <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Petrouchka</i> (Stravinsky), <a href="#Page_229">229ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pharaohs (dancing in the court of), <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Philip of Macedonia, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Philippus (Roman consul), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Philosophic symbolism (in Indian dance), <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Phœnicians, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Physical exercises, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pipe (Egyptian), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Pipes"></a>Pipes (in <i>Graveyard Dance</i>), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pirouette, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Egyptian dancing), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Plaasovaya (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Plastomimic choreography, <a href="#Page_247">247ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Plato (quoted), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(cited), <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Plots (for ballets), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Plutarch (cited), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Poetry, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pointes, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Poland (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pollux, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Polo (Moorish dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Polonaise (Polish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Polowetsi dance (Cossack), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Portugal (mediæval strolling ballets), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Positions. See <a href="#Steps">Steps</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Poushkin, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Prévost, Mme., <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Priapus, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Price, Waldemar (Danish ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Primitive dances (rel. to sexual selection), <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Primitive_peoples"></a>Primitive peoples, <a href="#Page_3">3ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Prince Igor</i>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Professional_dancing"></a>Professional dancing, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Provence, <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Prussia (<i>Fackeltanz</i>), <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pskoff, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Psyche</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Psychology, <a href="#Page_1">1ff</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pugni, Cesare (ballet composer), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Pygmalion and Galatea</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pylades (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pyrrhic dance, <a href="#Page_60">60f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Pythian games, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Q</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Quadrille (French social dance), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Quintilian (quoted), <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">R</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rabinoff, Max, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Racial characteristics, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">‘Ragtime,’ <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rainbow Dance, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ramble (Indian goddess of dancing), <a href="#Page_24">24f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Realism, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Réception d’une jeune Nymphe à la Court de Terpsichore</i>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Reed pipes. See <a href="#Pipes">Pipes</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Reger, Max, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Regnard (quoted), <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Reinach, Théodore (cited on Greek arts), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">René of Provence (author of mediæval ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Reno (painter of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rheinländer (German dance), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rhythm, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in naturalistic dancing), <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(as basis of all arts), <a href="#Page_235">235</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Jacques-Dalcroze system), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in ballet), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">281</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rhythmic gymnastics, <a href="#Page_234">234ff</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Richelieu, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rigaudon, <a href="#Page_148">148f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rimsky-Korsakoff, Nicolai, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Rinaldo and Armida</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Risti Tants (Esthonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Robert of Normandie</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Robespierre, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Robinson, Louis (cited on dance instinct), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rodin (quoted), <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Romaika (Slavic folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rome (dancing in), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72ff</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(sacred dancing), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(imitation of Greek dances), <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Pyrrhic dance), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Roman Church. See <a href="#Church_Roman">Church</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Romulus, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Rondes"></a>Rondes (similarity to Eleusinian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(French folk-dance), <a href="#Page_121">121</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Roses of Love</i> (ballet by Noverre), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rossini, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rouen, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Roumania (folk-dance), <a href="#Page_137">137f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Round. See <a href="#Rondes">Ronde</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Royal Academy of Dancing (French), <a href="#Page_86">86</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rubinstein, Anton, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(composed ‘Tarantella’), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rubinstein, Ida, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ruggera (Italian folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Rune tunes (Finnish), <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Russia (Imperial Ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of, on choreography), <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(nationalistic tendencies), <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_139">139ff</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influences on ballet), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(ballets of opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(influence of Duncan school), <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Russian Imperial Ballet School, <a href="#Page_90">90f</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Russian Imperial Dramatic Dancing School, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ruthenia (folk-dancing). See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">S</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sacchetto, Rita, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sacre du Printemps</i> (Stravinsky), <a href="#Page_231">231</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Sacred_dancing"></a>Sacred dancing (in rel. to folk-lore), <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Egyptian), <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Indian), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Japanese), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(American Indian), <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_73">73f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sadler, Michael T. H. (quoted on Jacques-Dalcroze School), <a href="#Page_235">235f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sahara Graveyard Dance, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sailor’s Dance (Dutch), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St. Basil (cited), <a href="#Page_vii">iii</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St. Carlos (celebrated by strolling ballet), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St. Denis, Ruth, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Saint-Léon, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St. Matthew (quoted), <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St. Petersburg (court ballet), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Petrograd_Museum">Petrograd</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Saint-Saëns, Camille, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">St. Vitus’ Dance, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sakuntala</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sallé, Mlle., <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Salmacida Spolia</i> (Sir William Davenant), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Salome dances, <a href="#Page_44">44f</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Salome</i> (Richard Strauss), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Saltarello</i> (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sangalli, Rita, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sappho, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sarabande, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sarasate, Pablo, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Satyr Dance (in Dionysian Mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sauvages de la Mer du Sud</i>, [<i>Les</i>] (French ballet), <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Savage peoples. See <a href="#Primitive_peoples">Primitive peoples</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Savinskaya, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Saxony (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Scaliger, Joseph Justa (cited), <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Scandinavia"></a>Scandinavia (folk-dances), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(nationalistic tendencies), <a href="#Page_104">104f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(waltz), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(naturalistic school), <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schafftertanz (of Munich), <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Scheherezade</i> (Rimsky-Korsakoff), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schiller, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schirjajeff, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schliemann (Egyptologist), cited, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schmoller (Saxonian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schnitzler, Arthur, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schönberg, Arnold, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schools of dancing, (Petipa), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Duncan), <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Jacques-Dalcroze), <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See <a href="#Academies_of_dancing">Academies</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schopenhauer (cited), <a href="#Page_250">250</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted), <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schleiftänze, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schreittänze. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schubert, Franz, <a href="#Page_103">103f</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Scotch Reel, <a href="#Page_118">118f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Scotland (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_118">118f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Scribe, Eugène. <a href="#Page_103">103</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schuhplatteltanz (Bavarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_129">129f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Schumann, Robert, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sculpture (in rel. to dancing), <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Seguidilla (Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sensationalism, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Seroff, Alexander Nikolayevitch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Serpentine Dance, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Servia (folk-dancing).</li>
+<li class="isub1">See <a href="#Slavic_folk-dances">Slavic folk-dances</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Setche, Egyptologist (cited), <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Seville (church dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(court dancing), <a href="#Page_47">47</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sex instinct (in rel. to folk-dancing), v, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Shakespeare (cited on the jig), <a href="#Page_119">119</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sharp, Cecil (quoted on Morris dances), <a href="#Page_113">113f</a>.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">282</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Shean Treuse (Scotch folk-dance), <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Shintoism (Japanese religion), <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Shirley, James, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sibelius, Jean, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Siberia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Siciliana (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>Le</i>] <i>Sicilien</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sieba</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Siebensprung (Swabian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Singing (in Finnish dances), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Singing ballet, <a href="#Page_177">177f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Singing Sirens, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Skirt Dance, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Skoliasmos (in Dionysian mysteries), <a href="#Page_68">68f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Skralat (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Slavic_folk-dances"></a>Slavic folk-dances, <a href="#Page_136">136ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sleeping Beauty</i> (Tschaikowsky), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Snake dances (Lithuanian), <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(American Indian), <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Snegourotchka</i> (Rimsky-Korsakoff). See <i><a href="#Snow_Maiden">Snow Maiden</a></i>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i><a id="Snow_Maiden"></a>Snow Maiden</i> (Rimsky-Korsakoff), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Social_dancing"></a>Social dancing (Greek), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Polish), <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in 17th cent.), <a href="#Page_144">144ff</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Court_dancing">Court dancing</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Socrates, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sokolova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Solomon, Hebrew king, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sophocles, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sound (in relation to movement), <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Source</i> (Delibes), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Spain (religious dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105ff</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210ff</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(choreographic art of Moors), <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(mediæval strolling ballets), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Spartan_dance"></a>Spartan dance, <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Spectre de la Rose</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Spendiaroff, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Spinning top principle, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stage dancing (in Middle Ages), <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Professional_dancing">Professional dancing</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="Steps"></a>Steps, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in courante), <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in classic French ballet), <a href="#Page_95">95f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Bolero), <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Seguidilla), <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Hungarian folk-dances), <a href="#Page_125">125f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Rigaudon), <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Bournoville’s reform), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stephania (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stewart-Richardson, Lady Constance, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stockholm (ballet dancing), <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stockholm school, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Stomach Dance</i> (Arabian dance), <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stone Age, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stramboe, Adolph F., <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Strassburg, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Strauss, Johann, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Strauss, Richard, <a href="#Page_204">204f</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stravinsky, Igor, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Strindberg, August, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">String instruments (Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Strolling ballets (mediæval), <a href="#Page_80">80f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in French Revolution), <a href="#Page_93">93f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Strophic principle, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stuck (painter of Salome dance), <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Stuttgart (court), <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Subra, Mlle. (ballerina), <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Su-Chu-Fu (dancing academy), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Suetonius (cited), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sun’s Darling</i> (English masque), <a href="#Page_84">84</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Svendsen, Johann, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Svetloff (cited), <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Swan, The</i> (Saint-Saëns), <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Swanhilde</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Swan Lake</i> (Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Swabia (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sweden (influence on Russian ballet), <a href="#Page_169">169</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Scandinavia">Scandinavia</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Sword Dance (English), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>La Sylphide</i> (Delibes), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>Les</i>] <i>Sylphides</i>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Sylvia</i> (Delibes), <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Symbolism (in Indian dancing), <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Hungarian folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Lada’s dances), <a href="#Page_254">254f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in modern ballet), <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Symons, Arthur (quoted), <a href="#Page_264">264f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Symphonic music (as basis for dancing), <a href="#Page_200">200</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Syrinx (Egyptian instrument), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Szolo (Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">T</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tabor (in Morris dance), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tacitus (cited), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Taglioni, Maria, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152ff</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Taglioni, Salvatore, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ta-gien (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ta-gu (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ta-knen (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Talmud, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ta-mao (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tambourine (in Hebrew dance), <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Indian dance), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(with bells, Chinese), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Spanish dance), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Tarantella), <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Taneieff, Sergei Ivanovich, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tarantella (Italian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_122">122ff</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tartar tribes, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tascara (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Taubentanz (Black Forest), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ta-u (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tcherepnin, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Technique (Duncan), <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(instrumental), <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(eurhythmic), <a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Telemachus, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Telemaque</i> (French ballet), <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Teleshova (ballerina), <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Telethusa (Roman dancer), <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Tempe Restored</i> (Aurelian Townsend), <a href="#Page_84">84f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Temple dancing (Hebraic), <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">283</span></li>
+<li class="isub1">(Greek), <a href="#Page_54">54f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Esthonian), <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li>
+<li class="isub1">See also <a href="#Sacred_dancing">Sacred dancing</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Terpsichore, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Terpsichore</i> (ballet by Handel), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Teu-Kung (Chinese dancing teacher), <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thackeray (quoted on Taglioni), <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thales, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Théatre des Arts, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Theatre of Dionysius, <a href="#Page_64">64f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Thebes, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Theseus, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">They (Chinese monarch), <a href="#Page_30">30</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tiberius (Roman emperor), <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tichomiroff, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Time, <a href="#Page_240">240f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Time-marker (in Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_70">70f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Time-values, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Titans, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Titus (Roman emperor), <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Toe-dance, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Toledo (church dancing), <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Toreadoren</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Torra (Murcian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tourdion (social dance), <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Townsend, Aurelian, <a href="#Page_84">84f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Trepak (Russian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Trescona (Florentine folk-dance), <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Triangle (in English Horn dance), <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tripoli (Almeiis dancers in), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Triumph of Love</i>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Triumph of Peace</i> (James Shirley), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Trouhanova, Natasha, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Trumpets (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tschaikowsky, Peter Ilyitch, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tshamuda (Indian goddess), <a href="#Page_26">26</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tuileries, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tunic, ballerina’s, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tunis (Almeiis dancers in), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Turgenieff, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted on Elssler), <a href="#Page_155">155f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Tuta, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">U</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Uchtomsky, Prince (cited), <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">U-gientze (Chinese dance), <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Ulysses, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Urbino, Duke of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">V</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vafva Vadna (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_133">133f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Valdemar</i> (Danish ballet), <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Valencia, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Valencian Bishop (advocate of dancing), <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Valentine, Gwendoline (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_206">206</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vanka (Cossak dance), <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Van Staden (Colonel), <a href="#Page_179">179</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vaudoyer, J. L., <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vaughan, Kate (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Veie de Noue</i> (in <i>Lou Gue</i>), <a href="#Page_80">80</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Veils (used in Greek dancing), <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Venera (Indian goddess), <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Ventana</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Venus of Cailipyge, <a href="#Page_76">76f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Verbunkes</i> (Hungarian folk-dance), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">[<i>La</i>] <i>Vestale</i> (ballet), <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vestris brothers, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Viennese court, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Viennese School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Villiani, Mme. (ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vingakersdans (Swedish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Violin (in 15th-cent. Italian ballet), <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vision of Salome (ballet), <a href="#Page_201">201</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vocal ballets, <a href="#Page_177">177f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vocal music (dependence of dancing upon), <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Greek dances), <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Voisins, Comte Gilbert des, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Volga, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Volinin (Russian ballet dancer), <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Volkhonsky, Prince Serge (quoted), <a href="#Page_197">197f</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212f</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215ff</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Voltaire (cited), <a href="#Page_99">99</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><i>Volte</i> (French folk-dance), <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vuillier (quoted on Spanish temple dancing), <a href="#Page_79">79f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vulcan, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Vulture Dance (Greek), <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">W</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wagnerian operas, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Waldteufel, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Waltz, <a href="#Page_131">131f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Walzer, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx"><a id="War-dances"></a>War-dances (primitive), <a href="#Page_5">5f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Pyrrhic), <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Roman), <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(Hungarian), <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Warsaw (opera house), <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Weber, Carl Maria von, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Weber, Louise, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Weiss, Mme., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wellman, Christian, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Whistles (in American Indian dances), <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(in Morris dance), <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Whitehall (masques performed at), <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wiesenthal, Elsa and Grete, <a href="#Page_202">202f</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wilhelm II, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, on Egypt (cited), <a href="#Page_18">18f</a>;</li>
+<li class="isub1">(quoted), <a href="#Page_20">20f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Women (earliest appearance of, in ballet), <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wood-wind instruments (Indian), <a href="#Page_27">27</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Wsevoloshky, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Würtemberg (folk-dancing), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">X<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">284</span></li>
+
+<li class="indx">Xenophon (quoted), <a href="#Page_55">55f</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Xeres, <a href="#Page_viii">iv</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Y</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Yorkshire (English sword dance of), <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Yu-Wang (Chinese emperor), <a href="#Page_33">33</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="ifrst">Z</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Zarzuela (Spanish comic opera), <a href="#Page_63">63f</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Zeus, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Zorongo (Spanish folk-dance), <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Zulus (war dances of), <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Zunfttänze, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li class="indx">Zwölfmonatstanz (Würtemberg), <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li>
+</ul>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="chapter"><div class="transnote">
+<h2 id="Transcribers_Notes" class="nobreak p1">Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
+
+<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
+predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
+were not changed.</p>
+
+<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
+marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
+unbalanced.</p>
+
+<p>The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
+references, with this exception: all references to pages iii–vi should
+be to pages vii–x. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks,
+the links have been corrected, but the displayed page numbers have not
+been changed in any version of this eBook.</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_110">110</a>: “Albacetex” was printed that way;
+probably is a misprint for “Albacete”.</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_131">131</a>: “3/4 rhythm” was printed as “3-4
+rhythm” but changed here to conform with the predominant form of
+notation throughout the original book.</p>
+
+<p>Page <a href="#Page_275">275</a>: “English Cathedrals” reference
+to page <a href="#Page_viii">viii</a> was printed as “iii-f”; changed
+here.</p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Dance, by Daniel Gregory Mason
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DANCE ***
+
+***** This file should be named 59104-h.htm or 59104-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/5/9/1/0/59104/
+
+Produced by Turgut Dincer, Charlie Howard, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
+specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
+eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
+for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
+performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
+away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
+not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
+trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country outside the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
+  are located before using this ebook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
+Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
+mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
+volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
+locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
+Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
+date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
+official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+
+    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+    Chief Executive and Director
+    gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>