The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-09-25

A Peep IutO the Big Bare Room Where
the Glasses Meet for Practice-PrOfes-
sOr and Pupils-Art Of SmiIing-MO-
ments of Rest.
BY some accident or another, we will
suppose, NJ. and Nine. Pipelet have decided
that their little Adele shall become q
dancer, and so the little dear is brought to
Nine Theodore, the professor of the
opera. who examines her and passes her
on to the doctor, who in turn examines
and pronounces her to be fit or unfit for
the profession. The verdict being favor
able little Adele henceforward belongs to
the opera; she is now aged z or years,
AMI if she works hard she will become q
passable danseuse in about ten or
twelve years The first stage is
the little girls class, la classe des
petites. Winter and summer, day after
day, every morning at 10 o'clock, Nine.
Theodore awaits her pupils, who come
accompanied by their mothers, each one
carrying little bag that contains regu-
lar Noah's ark full OF miscellaneous OBJ
iects necessary for the studies or the
happiness of pupil of the petite classe,
such as stockings, dancing shoes, a box Of
poudre de riZ, a comb, a button hook, some
bread, a bottle Of wine and water, some
cold veal, hard boiled eggs, sardineS,
apples and what not
In the tWinkling Of an eye the little
ones undress, put on their working cos
tune and come rushing up stairs pen
nell into the class room, bounding round
| the professor and kissing her.
A BIG BARE ROOM.
! Let us look at the room. It is large,
| bare room, with bars fixed parallel to the
walls on three sides and q sloping floor,
to accustom the pupil to the sloping stage
| of the theatre. Along the free wall are
| benches, and two cane seated chairs ac-
| commodate the professor and her assist
| ant, who plays a fiddle or sometimes
sort Of harmonium. The girls, of whom
| the Oldest is perhaps H. wear low necked
| corsages leaving their arms bare, white
| muslin skirts, broad sashes Of blue or red
| ribbon, pink tights and gray canvas shoes.
They are a lean, scraggy lot, not lovely to
| look upon individually, but full Of good
humor and vivacity.
Gallons, mesdemOiselles, q vos placesP'
| cries the professor, and the girls run to
the bars, and the fiddle gives the word Of
| command, just as the bugle calls direct
| the soldier. There is no melody, but
simply series of andante, allegro, pizZi
| cato and trin movements, each followed
| by a tremolo so that to the untutored ear
the sounds suggest the confusion Of the
| tuning of orchestra But the dancers
understand that such and such notes in
dicate such and such posture at the bar,
| which must be held as long as the pro-
fessor keeps up the tremolo; other notes
| followed by a tremolo indicate another
| posture. And at every moment during
the lesson the professor intersperses her
remarks with the words: 'Souriez! Sou
riez! Mais sourieZ dorc"' (Smilei Won't
YOU smiIe0 For in the midst of the most
difficult and torturing dislocatiOns the
ballet girl must smile, and the art of
smiling has to be learned just like step
| or a develOppe.
After half an hour of these general ex
ercises at the bar there comes a rest, and
the little girls begin once more to chatter
| and hutter, while the professor lays the
dust by watering the floor in geometrical
interlacements. Then follows the adage,
or second part Of the lesson, which con-
sists of an ensemble and composed steps.
The dancers take place in the middle of
the room in rows; Nine. Theodore holds
up her skirts and indicates the step, and
the little ones begin to bound, whirl,
pirouette, form groups by twos, and smile
in unison, while the fiddle scrapes queer
tunes and the professor cries in strange
terms: "Ballonne, fOndu, assembled,
soutenez, souriez Mais sOuriez doncr'
Always that smilel
At intervals there are moments Of rest;
but the jealous pupils do not rest; they
run to the bar and work their knees and
loins, multiplying the efforts to gain
their suppleness and hghtness that the
! public often seem to regard as natural and
innate.
The third part Of the lesson is the varia-
| ton. The pupils gather in group around
the professor, who with her fingers die
tates the steps that are to be executed
one finger of each hand representing the
two legs of the dancers. Attitude, pas
de boIIrree glissade, entrechat temps de
cuisse," ETC., says the professor in hel
wonderful language, as she expounds thu
variation that she dances with her fingers
So, too, in fencing one indicates the PLAY
of the foils with the index of each hand
Meanwhile the pupils carefully watch the
professors fingers, and initiate with theil
own, their bodies oscillating and undu
lating, and as it were feeling the steps
'Est-ce COMPRISE do you understand!
Eyes, madam every good. In posi-
ton, then" And they all promptly TAX
their places once more in the middle O
the room, and, with the professor, dance
the variation while the fiddle plays NOR
rapid measure.
Suddenly the fiddle stops. There is
rest and then the girls go through an
other course of dislocation at the bar, anC
then, with their sweetest smiles the
salute first to the right and then to tn
left, as if thanking an idolizing public 70
a deserved ovation. Then EAU revoi1
Nine Theodore. A demain.'' In q sec
ond the class room is empty; the littl
girls, painting and worn ont, don thei
paltry robes of poverty and return unde
, their mothers wings to Montmartre o
Belleville. Theodore Child in The Cos
mopolitan