Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-06-28
Dancing as a Fine Art.

In dancing, the performer processes
and avows that he shows grace and a9ili-
ty. Bearing this in mind, it will per
haps be sufficient definition to saw that
dancing is 8 rhythmical and agile mo-
ton of the body for the sake of such
grace and such expression as the motion
may involve. Now the general estimate
of the expressiveneSs of dancing is arath-
erShigh one. Adam Smith, in his essay
on the initiative arts, says that it ismuch
more expressive than music, and perhaps
more so than any other art. He remarks,
indeed, that our dances at the present
day have little imitation in them, but he
seems to think that they were In soma
cases derived from more expressive
types. Thus he tells US that the minuet,
IN which the woman, after passing and
repaSSing the man several times, gives
him first one hand then the other, then
both, was originally a Moorish dance,
presenting emblematically the passion
of love. Most writers, however, while
admitting that our modern dances can
hardly be said to initiate anything, as
sure us that anciently all dances were
initiative and expressive. The present
condition of dancing, considered as fine
art, is certainly nothing but eneourag-
ing. The ease with which it may be de-
graded has been only too fully turned to
account, and one cannot wonder that
mPny persons sdiscountenanee it altogeth-
er Here and there a dancer may be
found who really tries to evoke some
thing like grace and beauty from the
art, but any intelligent pursuit of its
higher developments is conspicuous by
its absence. The vast majority of mod
ern dancers are mere posture-makers, or
else vigorous gymnasts kicking up their
heels in defiance of all laws of beauty.
The ballet consists principally of the
grouping of the differently-colored dress
es-in itself not bad thing, if the dane
ing connected with it were worth seeing;
but the premiere danseuse is usually
person distinguished by the extreme
paucity of her dress, who places herself
in a variety of unnatural attitudes, and
displays movements and gestures which
in their merely artistic aspect are ugly,
and from moral point of view some
thing worse. The decline of the art has
been aided by the wholesale introduc-
tion of what may be called the monkey
and-lobster element, in which persons
clad in a ridiculous parody of the skins
and shells of apes, alligators, oysters, and
the like, go through a series of frantic
gyrations which are supposed to do duty
for dancing. Upon this our theatres now
largely rely, together with a gorgeous
display of scenic glitter and as lavish
presentment of the human form as the
management thinks it may venture on.
In the midst of such state of things it is
hard to realize how much poetry might
characterize the art of dancing. We must
remember, however, that most things in
the world are liable to corruption, and
the fact that dancing has been applied to
ignoble uses is no argument against its
capability for better things. Nothing
that is really beautiful ought ever to be
despised by US, and that the human me-
chanism is exquisitely beautiful no one
will deny. Not only is the human form,
the crown of Gods creation, beautiful,
but the movements with which it is en-
dowed are capable of exhibiting the very
perfection of grace.
We think it well to take pleasure in
the bending of the harebeIl, the waving
of the cornfeld, the dance of the forest
leaves, we fail not to delight in the
bound of the fawn, the fit of the swal-
low, the majestic sail of the sea-gull
Surely it would not be wise to ignore in
the movements of our own marvellous
human frame a source of greater aesthetic
pleasure still. A dancer who is worthy
to be called an artist will find out all
kinds of subtle grace and delicaeies of
movement, and set them before US with
all simplicity and refinement There is
in such movement beauty which should
be connected with none but pure and
wholesome thoughts "a beauty given
us to be enjoyed, which, if we use it
rightly, will tighten our hearts and re-
create our minds, and SO make us filter to
difficulties of life.