, 1884-09-28
LIFE ON TIP.TOE.
It's Financial Value to the stags
Fairies Who Live It.
Wages of CoryPhee., seeundas and
Premieres-SuPpIy Exceeding De-
mnnd-The Public Insati-
able for Now Faces.

New York Journal
Considering the trouble ballet-dancers have
to learn their business they are not well pail
hardly, il at all, better than a chorus-
singer In a comic opera. Anybody can be
come a chorus-singer, almost That Is 70
say. it needs no very extensive vocal acquire
ments and a practice Of only a few weeks,
whereas 10 be a ballet dancer OF any ability
whatever takes years Of study and constant
daily practice, Considering how hard they
work, and how much, it IS marvellous few
OF them ever amount to enough 10 rise out
OF the corps de ballet 10 become cory
phee5, secundas, or premieres. Tho fact
Is thai one must begin at a very early age.
Most good ~premieres have had parents or rs-
latives in the business, and thoy have usually
studied ever since they could control the use
OF their legs. Considering all this the reward
il insufficient, because a premiere may be
come celebrated at 10 or II, and she Is done
for at 20 or 27-that is she has 10 descend
70 the second rank. Take a season
OF forty weeks for ten years at about tho ut
most a premiere can mako-say $500 "A weak
and tho total earnings of her prime arc not
moro than $4,000. This Is the utmost, and
1t IS not much when we think that Il Is spread
over ten years.
But the very great majority OF eyeA those
who hav studied all their lives make no such
money as this They all seem 10 sink into
obscur1ty or poverty after a few years unless
they happen to mako a good marriage, which
is seldom tho case In this country, where the
hard sense Of the people is against such senti-
mental connections
The secundas at the theatres here aro
paid an average OF $50 a week. This Is much
more than they can earn In Europe. The
~eoryphees require $50 q week at Niblo'a and
about go at the Star, aud the corps de ballet
anything they can got, the general price DO
ing from ere 10 e15 week. This is the price Of
n ehorussinger IN every good comic-opern
company. But the work OF the ballet-dan-
ceris infinitely the harder. II you follow
the work OF one Of them during an evening
you are not amazed that they are ready 10
fall with fatigue whom tho performance Is
over. They must dance and march, and
tLen must stand for hours looking on at the
cvolutions of tho principals, whose dances do
not last more than six minutes At a time.
But ever this Is nothing to the rush and haste
that is made when the dances arc over, and
thoy have 10 get to tho dressing rooms 10
change their costumes, which in a spectacle
occurs five or six times in the course Of an
evening, often more. There are women in
"Sioba" who have 10 change as often as ten
times, In itself a work Of no Light conss-
quence.
"But, - said the maitre do ballet, 10 a re-
porter at Niblois one night between two Of
the scenes, himself In a torrid heat OF per
Hpiration after having watched and filed
and cent out a couple Of hundred
women, closely following their gyrations.
clapping his hands At every change Of move
ment 70 guide them TO a new one, but even
for this hard life there is always a greater
supply than a demand. dare say there are
400 or 600 women in New York to-day who
are out Of an engagement, but who can
dance pretty well Tho public, you see, is
Unsuitable for new faces. II IL finds In a bal
let half a dozen faces with which 1t Is IA
miliar It Is dissatisfied, and accuses the
management Of foisting old baliets on it.
That Is why the supply must necessarily
come from Europe, where tho wages are
even much smaller than here, Mere numbers
on tho stage do not count much If they do
not know how 10 dance. 1t Is better 70 have
a small row Of good dancers and pretty, well
formed women than a big row Of people who
do not know how 10 dance and who are not
good looking. Fill your stage well, but do
not overcrowd II, for the effect Is worse that
way than TO have no lady at all upon the
stage
Most Of these newly imported women live
in cheap foreign boarding houses near the
theatc,, where'tho fare, however, at s. and
50 a week is infinitely better than what would
be obtained in an American clearinghouse
at the same price. The ~better-paid women
live further uptown and In a better class Of
houses, but IL ia noticeable that they
nre very economical and save os much
Of their money as they can. They come TO
America TO sayo money, not to spend IT, Tho
conduct Of the women b very good, and here,
particularly, there Is an absence of the stage
door mnshing business, which would be in
full blast II we weru running n comic opera
or n bnrlesque compeny with English or
Americans. II is not at all hnbitual 10 find
among ballet companies mainly formed OF
Italians the loveliness that prevails among
those named.
Tn best dancers are divided between the
merits Of the Grnndo Eoole, which is that Of
Milan, and the Ecole Moderne, which is that
Of Paris and Nicfma. The FIRST adheres to
the old-fashioned pas seul and pas de deux
and groupings, with great bounds and diff
cult pirouettts. The modern school seeks to
be pretty and graceful and eccentric, and is
now most in vogue, though not so legitimate.