The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-07-15
CAUGHT BY CARMENCITA.
Savannah Captured by Her Dancing
Gautier's Wonderful Ways.

| Gautt0r5 WOnQ6rful ways.
Carmenoita and Gautier danced their
way into the hearts Of an audience that far
outnumbered the seats In the theater asst
night. II ever there have been dancers
here before who have had such an
audience and such reception, the
memory of them has gone. OF the
hundreds who saw Carmencita aud Gautier
last night there were few who could com-
pare their dancing with anything they had
ever seen before, and they could
merely compare 1t what they had seen the
two do elsewhere. Each Is e queen In her
beautiful uniqueness Their own past WORK
is the only standard by which they can be
| measured.
| Carmencita Is an example Of the loving
prodigality of nature toward its fnvorites.
She Is endowed with an extravagance OF
Rraoefulness OF person to which art has
added bus few gentle touches. The poetry
OF her motions and her poses are not
the result of education. Training,
no matter how assiduous, could never pro-
duce a CArmencita. Too much Of IL, though,
might readily spoil one. One feels conscious
from the moment her bright smiles and
glRnces have warmed the audience into re-
sponsiveness that this dancing, the resliza-
ton of all the stories one has read Of the
NautJh girls of the east, is not thing of
forced culture. obtained under the rigorous
discipline OF some skillfui master, but is
rather the spontaneous movement of an
untutored child OF nature to whom the
kindly destintes have given a form every
inch of whose shapely, ourving contours
possesses mobility aud expressiveness.
Carmencita seems to be simply obeying
the impulses Of her own consciousness. No
one receives the impression that shs is sim
ply dancing for effect There seems
to be as much pleasure to her
10 her performance as there Is TO the specta-
tor. Her whole soul is thrown into it, her
face brightens and CLOVIS and smile of de-
light chases smile, as, with perfect abandon
ment. aud yet with charming modeSty, her
arms. and head. and neck and body bend
and toss In undulating curves, seeming and
yet not seeming suggestive. Every part of
her reminds one of swans neck. Its fool
ish TO talk of her movements as Delsartian.
Delsarte presumed to copy nature; this is
nature itself.
Before last night Carmencita was but a
name. Henceforth she will be a memory,
one that viii be tinged with thoughts of oil
things of grace and beauty. There was
wave of applause when the Spanish girl
came on. 1t was between the second
and third acts of the princess
Of Trebizonde," Ofrenbach's bright opera.
which was sang in good style by Deshon's
company. Everybody was anxiously await
mated in rattle of applause when, with the
toss Of kiss and languorous bow, she
began. There was O steady movement of
heads to keep pace with her movements, and
the audience sat in admiration. At the
end, when, with a quick and unexpected
movement, she darted behind the wings, it
seemed to awaken from a semi-stupor. The
void that she had left must be filed and no
one but Carmencita could fill 1t. Twice, 10
response to continued enoores, she returned,
aud twice the audience sank back in rapt
| attention. When, for the last time, she
fitted from the stage it seemed as IL cloud
had fallen tpon it. And then each one tried
TO tell some one else just what it was all
like ana no one could find words that ex-
aotly expressed the sentiments she had
created. And this very defiance Of defini-
ton is one OF CAFmencita's chief oharms
Gautier, who is not Spanish, as some peo-
pie believe, but French, has shown what
can be done with the folds Of a voluminous
skirt before Carmencita's appearance. She
Is pretty and vivacious girl, still in her
teens, and there was that same naturalness
about her that was so pleasing In the other
dancer. To those who have ouly seen
the so-called skirt dancers, who
seemed TO accompany nearly every
| travelling troupe during the past two
seasons, her work was perfect revelation
Art and gracefulness in this line have
reached their highest development In
Gautisr. Her every movement produced a
delightful change, and her performance
was like a panorama OF novel pictures
Under her subtle fingers the folds OF
her skirt seemed to become animate
and TO form of their own volition into
shapes Of surprising beauty. Her deft
transformations, for such they really were,
were startling in their rapidity. Admira-
tion and praise was given as unstintedly TO
her as to Carmencita.
The Spanish students played for each,
and, In addition, rendered a num-
Der of selections. They responded
to several encores and at the end gave
"DixIe." That stirring melody took on
new and hitherto undroamed of charms
when played by them. There was soft
ness that ran through 1t all. and yet there
seemed to be none the less of the mar tial fire
that has made 1t the south's favorite. Much
| could be written and yet much
would remain to be said Of the pleasure of
an evenings entertainment by these mu-
| sicians.
| This afternoon at $3.50 o'clock there will
be a matinee performance The Deshon
| Opera Company will present 'Girofe- Giro
fla" Tonight the opera will be "Boc-
cacio }" with May Douglass IN the leading
role. Carmenclta Gautier and the Spanish
students will appear at each performance.