Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-09-02
tfl1srfllaneDns.
Making Ballet Dancers.
Mr.. KIgALFY TELLS WHERE AND HOW
GREAr PREMIEREs ARE PRODUCED.

GREAT PREMERES ARE PRODUCED.
A reporter of the Courier Journal
called on Mr.. Bolossy Kiraliy and asked
him where he found his dancers. de
said
THE great school OF dancing is Italy,
and in Italy the headquarters are at Milan.
Here there are numerous private masters,
and these furnish the world with its great
premieres There are ballet schools at
every court theatre ia Europe, but these
do not make the premieres of the higher
/ grade. La Scala has its own school, but
not of the kind of which | speak. The
teachers instruct their pupils in large
room. that have sloping floors like a
stage. The room is hung with large mir
rors, so that the pupils may see themselves
as they dance. They are taught in class
es, which are graded according to skill
and experience Sometimes the more
advanced pupils are taught singly.
"In order to become a great
dancer, girl must begin to study when
seven OF eight years old. and she has to
devote eight or ten years to study. Then
she is fit to dance in public. The work is
severe and expensive. 1t is necessary to
practice every day, and four or five times
week the girls must take lessons OF three
hours duration. After the dancers leave
the school they frequently, during their
vacation, return to the masters to learn
some new pose or step, some new inven
ton in movement or to acquire greater
ease.
"A premiere who is dancing must
practice every day in order to do herself
justice at night. They go to the theatre
and practice in the morning in dresses
made tor the purpose. If premiere has
not been dancing for some time, it will
take her at least two weeks to get herself
in training for the public"
Does not this severe work break many
women down ?" asked the reporter.
"Oh, yes, many" said Mr.. Kiralfy at
very frequently destroys their figures 1t
is extremely rare to find great dancers
with so perfect figure as Mile. LaBru-
lere's. Their limbs become attenuated or
their chests become sunken. 1t is hard to
find dancers who have pretty faces, good
figures, and who are at the same time ac-
complished. The clever dancers are of
ten i'll looking"
Where was LaBrujere educated P"
asked the reporter.
AT Milan. She is French woman
whose mother was Spanish, but her
dancing is of the Italian school. She
has danced at BRUSSELS, Berlin and other
cities as a star. She is one of the best
dancers ever brought to America, and
she illustrates the advantage of school
ing. The uninitiated are often deceived
in dancers. by imagining that a tour de
force is the highest accomplishment OF
the art. 1t is not so by any means.
Quick motions in dancing are easier than
slow and graceful ones. The woman who
dances with much muscular effort is not
the great dancer. She is greater who,
while executing a difficult step with her
feet, is able to pose the upper part of her
body and her arms gracefully and without
effort"
docs America get the best dancers p''
asked the reporter.
"Yes, we get as good as any, except
the few engaged in the Berlin and Paris
opera houses, who practically hold life
positions. and can not be got for any
money. The foreign markets-that is,
England, st. Petersburg, America and
Germany-pay the highest price, and get
the best dancers, except the two or three
have indicated. We have to pay more
in America than is paid elsewhere. La
Brijore. for instance, gets 5000 week ~
"Do your secundas and coryphees ever
become premieres ?"
mo; they are taught in another school.
| They often become good character solo
dancers, but there is no chance of their
rising higher than this. My brother has
eight coryphees and have eight with this
company who can not be equalled in
America. They are the pick of the United
States. Some of them we have educated
in the chldren's ballet, but all are selected
Tor size, appearance and ability. They
are all young. | speak now of the eight
who dance with the xylophones on their
backs. We have here twenty coryphees
Some of them are nothing but children and
we are educating them. Our bale,
dancers are American, German and Eng,
! lsh."
do You ever make additions to your
ballet from the chorus of children that
you employ in the cities you visit ?"
mo, we do not get them that way
There would be too much trouble in that
though we often see children who would
do very well. The children here are par.
ucularlv bright and very young. They
are easily taught and show the advantage
of commencing early. You have seer
them. and you know how well they do
The six that have speaking parts are es
pecially clever. Where would you find
six grown amateurs, picked up hap-hazard
who would be so much at ease on the
stage as are those children, or who woulC
speak and act so intelligently.-LoutsutU,
| Courier Journal.