Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-06-14
A "BENDER'Sy CONFESSIONS.
A Fair English Contortionist of Nineteen
Tells of Her Profession.

Tells of Her Profession.
The other day l called on bender. a
lady, not gentleman, who is well known
as most serpentine cOntortionist.
wished to ask Mile. Vonare few ques-
tions about her art, with view of throw
ing some light on the training of little
boys and girls for the profession. The
lady was sitting before the fire with her
sister, who has abandoned bending her
self, and exhibits troupe of highly edu-
Gated poodles A huge wicker basket con-
tanned her dress and other stage habits.
From its depths she produced bundle of
photographs of herself, tied and knotted
into all manner of curious folds.
That is the business of bender. The
body is thrown into score of unnatural
postures, which appear to the audience to
be achieved by dislocating every joint in
the human frame, and to be effected at
great risk to limb and life. Artists are
generally enthusiastic about their callings,
and must say that Miss Vonare declared
she would rather be a bender than a
queen or something to that effect. She be
gan at 4, at 81 she was before the public.
and remains bender still my father
saw a contortionist one night on the stage,
and he asked himself why he should not
teach me, aged 4. was put into train
ing at once, and enjoyed the fun, as a
: child will enjoy anything new. Was l
beaten? was starved? No. seemed to
take to it like little duck takes to
11y of
athletes, and. besides. l was a daughter
and not an apprentice. If the father is
the trainer he may not spare the rod, but
he is cruel only to be kind. My expert
ence is that less rod and more kindness is
the best plan. Father used to bribe US
into doing the different tricks. To be sue
cessful means years of hard work, prac,
tice and performance. am 10 now, and
my performance keeps me in capital train
ing.
In the business of contOrtion the first
lesson is the backward bend, first with
the arms and then without. You stand
on long mattress, so that there is no
danger, and at first your teacher controls
your movements with belt. 1t is much
the same with other forms of acrobatic
work, and the cruelty often takes the form
of taking away the mattress, which
creates sort of panic in the pupils mind.
If he has really tried his best and failed,
he is SO terrified that he is almost certain
to fail unless he has great deal of pluck.
II he has only been sulking, it may bring
him to his bearings. Of course, children
are often stubborn, and try the patience
of the teacher to it's utmost limit.
''The art of contortion," continued Miss
Vonare, lis learned by degrees. First the
backward bend, then the 'dislocation,
then the splits and SO on. What we
call 'closeness' distinguishes the best
bending. To the audience bending seems
most difficult. l experience no discomfort
or inconvenience. l was a puny cLild.
You see me now" The lady bender was
certainly most healthy and cheerful, stout
in body and ruddy in complexion, and she
strongly maintains that all women would
be greatly benefited if they took to bend
ing cit is quite mistake to think that
we put our limbs out of joint, Or that we
suffer from the curious nature of our per-
formance Of course, after one or more
difficult positions one may suffer little
pain, but it goes in no time. In some at
titudes can only remain for twenty Sec
onds, as the breathing becomes difficult.
But these are trifing Inconvenience. l
practice few minutes every day to keep
myself loose here in my room, and that is
about all need do. Pail Mall Gazette.