DANCERS of the NATIONS

-64 A *a panse vient la danse," the/ \ old Gallic proverb, applies today.

\u25a0*\u25a0 Alter the feast we demand the dance,

and we have a wonderful treasure houseof beautiful dances to , choose from,ranging from the revival of the classicmovements of the golden days of Greece andthe sensuous flexions of the east to the newest

scheme of gyrations and combinations of steps

that western ingenuity has been able to devise.We Americans have welcomed the dancers ofall nations and have taken a leaf from the

\u25a0k of each.In the endeavor to discover novelties and to

witness exhibitions of skiil. society has goneto the cabaret, to the theater and the opera

and lias welcomed the artists of each to per-

!at private houses and to give lessons to

young girls eager to learn the dances of allnations. Even the little children of promi-

nent families have regular instruction in theballet nowadays by a master who drills the

opera ballet dances and in fancy dances thathave been introduced and adapted from other

countries. To be smart one must be familiarCMth dances that are not only novel, but at

slightly startling. The extreme to whichdancers went in their effort to achieve thisresult lias been abandoned by refined society,

but there is still more latitude and vivacity in

the dancing of today than in that which suf-ficed before the wave of picturesque foreigndancing reached its height of popularity.

French Lead in Stage Dancing

< hir earlier and more picturesque dancing,in which elegance and grace were the mosts< »ught far characteristics, was chiefly aFrench tradition. The origin of dancing inFrance is dimly associated with the rise ofchivalry. It is known to have followed Cath-erine de Medici to France and to have spreadfrom the elegant court entertainments whichshe arranged to all parts of the country. Jnthe ''great century'

,Louis XIV founded the

Academy of Dancing and himself took part inthe wonderful court ballets of the time.

In stage dancing the French are still in thelead, although within the last few years theRussians and Americans have been doing somewonderful work along these lines. The balletand other forms of dancing are effective attri-butes of the opera, of which there is a coa-

ly growing appreciation. The heavinesserious opera is relieved by such dancing

and the travety of lighter ones heightened by

its introduction. The color effects, the move-

meats and the music make a combination thatgives this feature an unfailing charm. Genee'sdancing this year has won an enthusiastic re-ception, as did that of Pavlovva and Mordkinwhen they appeared at the Metropolitan operahouse a few years ago. Her imitations of thefamous dancers of other times have been espe-cially effective. American dancers have wondistinction on the stage, too. Isadora Dun-can's unique and graceful dancing had a won-derful vogue, and her pupils who have fol-

lowed her methods have interpreted to an in-terested public the relation of dancing to otherarts. Maude Allan caused a sensation in twocontinents and Loie Fuller, years ago, madeher name famous with a clever arrangement oflights and colors to accentuate her dancing.Lately we have seen some clever dancing byanother young American, Miss Grace MurielWalters, of the same school as Miss Duncan.

All of our dancing in recent years has beeninfluenced by the rhythmic body movements

of the oriental dances, which in their originalform greatly shocked society, but which, asmodified, have merely infused a new fascina-tion into the western dances. One of the pub-lic dancers who brought the unmodified dancesof the east before audiences of the west wasSahary Djeli, of whom a critic wrote, afterwitnessing one of her performances: "As afemale contortionist she surpassed all her pre-decessors in Salome dancing. She almost suc-ceeded in tying herself in a hard knot, thenrolled down a flight of stairs and died at thefootlights. A large chorus of dancers and

negro slaves made an effective backgroundfor her."

Spanish dancing, too, has had an effect uponthat of other countries. The first thing anAmerican tourist wants to see when he goes toSpain is the dancing of that country. Thereis the fandango. All Spain thrills to it. If afew notes of the music are heard, young menwill spring to their feet, rattling their cas-tanets or snapping their fingers, the girls, re-markable for the willowy languor and light-ness of their movements and the voluptuous-ness of their attitudes, beating exact time withtheir tapping heels. The partners tease, en-treat and pursue each other by turns. Sud-denly the music stops and each dancer re-mains motionless, bounding into life as themusic strikes up again. The steps arc dancedby one person or by several couples, who fol-

century tells how the fandango scandalized thegood people of that time, as it has done thoseof our own. A protest reached the Vaticanand a proscription of those who indulged in itwas resolved upon, on pain of excommunica-tion. A consistory was convoked to try thematter, but some one suggested that it wasunfair to condemn a thing- of which they hadno personal knowledge. Two Spanish dancerswere, therefore, summoned, one of each sex,

who proceeded to show the reverend courtwhat the fandango really was. Atiirst the judges sat stern and frown-ing, but soon the grace and vivacityof the dancers so impressed themthat one after another of the car-dinals and other clergy present be-gan to join in the rhythmic move-ments and presently the councilchamber was transformed into adance hall. Of course, the fandangowas pardoned and restored to hon-

No Distinctive American DanceThe bolero, or volero, another

Spanish dance, is more dignified andmodest than the fandango, but has,like it, certain affinities with the se-guadilla. It is a dance for two per-sons, consisting of five parts ?thepromenade, the dififerencia, crossover, finale and bien parado. Themusic, which is varied, abounds incadences.

One gets some idea oi the preva-lence of the seguadilla in Spain bythe fact that fans, tambourine? andmany of the old carriages are deco-rated with pictures of the dance, inwhich there is always a fine lady,with arm akimbo, who is "notashamed of her garters." Nearlyevery Spanish province has its spe-cial seguadilla, modified by the tem-perament of the inhabitants andbearing a special name.

Russian dancing is of Slavonicorigin mixed \vith a Tartar element,and displays many of the featurescommon to all oriental dancing?quickness of movement of the hipsand naked feet. Much of the

Russian dancing represents a love drama andis both picturesque and moving. All of theSlavs are great votaries <>t the dance, none ofthem more so than the Bohemians, whosedances are perhaps the most varied of all, nobaptism, marriage or funeral services beingcomplete without the fitting dance.

We have levied upon the dances of all thenations for those with which to elaborate ourpageants, of which we have had so many inrecent years; we have watched with growingappreciation the dancing in "Coppelia," in"Bacchus," in "Orfeo ed Eurydice," in 'Tarsi-far, and in "Die Meistersinger." The dancersof all lands have made life gayer and brighter,both socially and in our public entertainments.There is no distinctive American dance, butthe Americans are distinctive in that they danceeverything.

The San Francisco Sunday Call