The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1888-06-29
ARTISTIC coNroRrloNs.
How Little Boys and Girls Are Trained
for the Profession.

for the Profession.
The other day 1 called on bender.
n lady. not a gentleman. who Is we'll
known rs a most serpentine contor-
to list. l wished to ask Mile. Vonare
n few questions about her art with
view of throwing some light on the
training of little boys and girls for the
profession. The lady was sitting be-
fore the fire with her sister. who has
abandoned bending herself and ex-
hbits troupe Of highly educated
poodles A huge wicker basket con-
tanned her dress and other stage hab-
its From its depths she produced
bundle of photographs of herself tied
and knitted into all manner of curious
folds.
That Is the business of a bender.
The body is thrown into score of I'M
natural postures. which appear to the
audience TO be achieved by dislocating
every joint in the human frame. and
TO be effected at gre at risk TO limb aud
life. Artists are generally enthusiastic
about their callings. and l must say
hat Miss Vonare declared she would
rather be bender than a queen. or
something TO that effect She began Mt
four years; at five years and
eight months she was before
the public, and remains q
bender still. MY father saw q con-
tortionist one night on the stage. and
he asked himself why he should not
teach me. aged four was put into
training at ones. and enjoyed the fun.
as child will enjoy any thing new
Was oeatene Was l starvedP M
seemed TO take to it like little duck
takes TO water You see. we were
family of athletes AMI. besides. l wa'
a daughter and not an apprentice. II
the father is the train,P he may not
SPARE the rod, but he Is cruel only tn
be kind. My experience is that less
rod and more kindness is The best
plan. Father used to brlbe us into
doing the difficult tricks To be sue
| cessful means years of hard work.
practice and performance. am
nineteen now, and my performance
keeps me in capital training"
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.
il is much the same with other forms
nf acrobatic work and the cruelty
| fen takes the form IF taking away
the mattress. which creates sort
of panic in the pupils mind II
he has really tried his best and
failed, he is SO terrified that he is al
most certain TO fall unless he has
great deal of pluck II he has only
been sulking. il may bring him to his
bearings. o. course children ara often
5 unborn. and Try the patience Of the
teacher 10 its utmost limit
'1h art of eontOrtion." continued
Miss Vonare, rs learned by degrees
Frst the backward bend. then the
| sIislocation. then the splits. and so
on What we call eloseness' dis
tinguishes the best bending To the
audience bending seems most difficult;
but experience no discomfort or. in
convenience. was puny child You
see me now" The lady bender was
certainly most healthful and cheerful.
stout il body aud ruddy in complex
ion, aad she strongly maintains that
all women would be greatly benefited
If they took to bending. lit is quite
a mistake to think that we put our
| limbs out of joint or that we suff r
| from the curious nature of our per-
formance OF course after one or
more d fficult positions one may suf-
fer little pain, but it goes in no time.
In some attitudes may remain for
twenty seconds. as the breathing be-
comes difficult; but these are tr.fling
nco .veniences. Ipractice few min
utes every day 10 keep myself loose.
here in my room, and that is about all
/ need do. - Pail Mall Gazette.