The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-12-26
TRAINING BALLET DANCERS.
A Premiere D:>::Sc--s> Recalls Her Own
Bitter Experience.

Bitter Experiences.
Nile Dorst. the premiere. sat in the
psrlor of the LacleGe the other day recall
ing the trials she had to undergo as ~
unfedged ballet dancer and prosperity;
premiere ''People little know, she said
chow much labor and misery so to make
up the pirouette Of u dancing girl :.
child should not begin 10 sJUIv dancing
after she is 10; is the best are. the
limbs then are at the right degree Of sup
pleness to take pupil over the first di-
fculties and help her on to the lowe.
'quadrille, which size may not hope Il
win before she is IS. The form then has
gained the round:!ess and the flesh anc
muscles the frr2neSs requisite to tae
rore In my case the daily torture corr
menced at o'clock; Every morning ~
feet were imprisoned in groove box, hcI'
By this process nv feet accustomed the,n-
selves naturally at last to fell into par
allel line. This is what is called 81,
tourner After half al hour of tho
groove was subjected TO another variet?
of torment. This time had to raise my
foot and, place it on bar level with my
head, which bar was obliged to hold IL
horizontal line with the hand opposite
the foot. I was exercising. This they
term Sc casser After these preliminary
labors we were obliged to go through >
variety of steps and movements.
The teaching is necessarily long ano
painful, the primary object being to bring
by sheer exercise extreme agility and
strength to the joints of the limbs and
feet. Even in the education Of the two
great toes, so as to make Us capable Of
standing and pirouetting on them, q vast
amount Of care and time is expended
And rot only must the power be acquired
but it must be kept up, for which pur-
pose constant exercise is required Other
wise the joints become. stiff and relapse
to an ordinary degree of strength. 4
week of repose must be redeemed by
two months of redoubled, incessant toll.
On this condition only can the dancer pre-
serve her suppleness and ightness. Tc
acquire, later, skill and grace in the
movements Of the dance is a subordinate
object. One of the most difficult parts
of dancing girls education is, for IL
stance, to make her smile with the rest
of her companions and look gracefully at
the public.
''There is no rest for great dancer ct
any time of her csreer. I have seen the
time when, after four hours lesson. j
have fallen exhausted on the carpet OF my
room, where was undressed, sponged
and resuscitated, totally unconscious OF
my situation The agility and marvel
Gus bounds Of the evening were obtained
only at price like this. But there are,
nevertheless, some dancers who, having
by nature greater difficulties to sErmount,
martyrize themselves with Q willingness
scarcely credible. Nathalie Etzjames was
an example Of this. She invented new
method, de Sc tourner ct de Sc casser. al
one and the same time. The art of dane
ing has two branches-en balloune and en
tacauette. The banoune is the school Of
Tagioni; it is the lightness combined
with grace, the dance which seems to Ge.
light in and float in the air. The tac-
quette is vivacity and rapidity; it IS the
little sparkling steps and measures on the
point of the feet; in word, it is what
Fanny Ellsler made it."-St. Louis Re
oSEc