The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-12
THE BALLET.

In the still grave it lies;
weep alouel
=
THE BALLET.
Concerning Nudity and Indccenoy.
We copy the following from recent article
in Blackwood:
ist that the ballet, though it partakes of the
character Of q pagan festival, is, OF necessity,
indecent or 1mmodest, and that it may not 10
made the source of much limo cent and refined
enjoyment. It is q mistake, too, to suppose
that the ballet has exclusive attractions for
men. Educated and accomplished women.
girl, handsomely dressed or draped. displaying
herself in the graceful figures and movements
OF the dance, upon the same principle that they
admire picture, poem, Hover, tree,
-mah that appeals to the sense Of beau
ty,. proportion and harmony. And If one
such young woman is beautiful sight,
women dressed Hike, or slightly differing
for the contrast OF color, are pd1i pdsSu,
beautiful spectacle, when they perform their
gylrations and evolutlons upon the stage, and
neither by gesture nor sign nor suggestion
convey, or seek to convey, to tho mind OF the
beholderany impression but that which springs
nom the legitimate exercise of their art The
Scanty drapery OF the ballet girls, when not
carried to the extreme that suggests-not
dancing, or the ease and grace Of dancing, but
something else-s no offence either against
modestv or good manners. Yet ever since the
,days CT Martial, and perhaps long BEFORE the
Prpdes, Puritans' and storner moralists OF So
scietY have seen in the public dance means for
the corruption OF public manners through the
EYE, which they have never wearied in de-
-.nouucing. Addison, in the article in the
Spectator, from which extract has already
been made, has q good-natured fling ct
the stage dancers Of his day when bal
let was as yet unknown. II" he says, who
k,,Nru NJ hv,ffr
oan give great guesses at the whole structure
of the fair sex by being innocently placed in
the pitt, and insulted by the petticoats Of the
sons are great help to dull play" The cos
tune OF this modern ballet OF thirty years ago
when Taglioni's graceful skirts barely display
sa TIE Knee was OBJ OBJECTED to by the prudes Of
good-natured AMI otherwise, the ballet has
continued to grow in popularity, and the skirts
Of the dancers to grow less: and such enter
tainments have spread from ths Italian opera
houses to the great and afterward to the minor
theatres, and, finally, have invaded and taken
possession Of the music halls
Bailey's lovely statue of "Eve at the Foun-
tain, IN which there is not the slightest pre-
tence @f drapery or conoealment Of the divine
form, fresh from the hands of the Creator, is
it has the impurty in his own heart. III the
same manner, there is no lndelicacy in the dis
play of the pretty bare legs OF little maidens Of
from four or five years old, or in the bare feet
intent theash shsrq .sea Ss ,a,asos;noy in re
of London or Edinburgh by full grown dam
sells, who made the display for @ meretricious
purpose. There are statues and statuettes
rs complete as it is beautiful; but when such
statues or statuettes are initiated by purvey ors
OF obscenity, and crowned with modern bon
net, wrapped in modern shawl, and encased
In modern stockings, and nothiog else, their
vile Intention becomes apparent, and they fall
properly und .r the cognlzance Of tho police.
z The display is not indecent per Sc, as when an
actress Of high attanments and genius, in de-
fault of an actor Of truthfulness and talent
enough to undertake the part, appears as Ro-
meo; any more than it is indelicate or impro-
per for man to hide the form by appearing in
petticoats to play the part of one Of the witches
in Macbeth. The intention is everything, just
as it is in killing. II you intend to Kill, you
are murderer. and deserve the murderer's
fate. Hyou kill in self Defence and in just
and patriotic cause-ike q soldier-you are
not bIamable, but virtuous. In like manner,
the s:anty drapery Of the ballet for the purpo-
good taste or good manners; but il the llet
girl-not for the sake OF art. but for the sake
Of attracting lewd attentlon-overdoes the
the scantiness and betrays the immodesty~ of
her mind by her motions or gestures, she
commits an offence, and ought to be hissed
from the stage which che disgraces.
II at any place of Pablic entertainment the |
men from introducing their pure-minded moth |
ers, wives, sisters. or daughters to witness the |
performance, suoh place OF entertainment is |
doomed to bankruptcy. 1t may drag on pre- |
carious existence for awhile, by keeping within |
hair's-breadth of the penalties OF the law that
prohibits the immodest exposure Of the per-
son; but the world and the worlds opinion are |
against It, and it must go the way Of all |
anachronisms and offences against the public |
conscience. But let us not. in the outcry
against short petticoats, commit treason |
against an art that ministers. like other arts to
the gratiacltion OF the sense of beauty. All |
true art is like music-it cannot be Indecent |
or 1mproper in ITSELF and Is only made so |
hy the; extraneops association OF words and
thoughts that come out of the mind c. c. the OBJ
server, and not out Of the things observed. |
ITO the pure all things are pure" '.In dane |
ing" says Hir Richard Steele, ''all the charms
OF an agreeable person are in their highest ex-
orcise: every limb and feature appears with it's
reflective grace. AS all art is mutation Of ma
highest excellence. The business Of dancing
10 TO display beauty, and for that reason all dis
tortion and mimicries, as such, arc what raise
aversion instead Of pleasure. s
4he dancers on our stage are very faulty in
this kind; and what they mean by writhi..: =
themselves into such posture. -. u wonld he
npam Tor n,iy one OF the spectators to stand
In, and yet hope to please those spectators. is
unintelhgible." And it is in this respect that
REFORM iS, in our day, still more needful than
it was In the days when Addison and Steele
were the arbiters Of taste and the high priests
OF criticism.
~ THE NEW REGIME,
The following dslaniti6n OF the new regime