St. Paul daily globe., 1893-04-03
ORIENTAL DANCING GIRLS.

| Sensuous Dances of the GeiSha at
banquet in Japan.
Lafcadlo Helrn in Atlantic Monthly.
Then, all at once, with little burst of
laughter, a number of young girls enter,
make the customary prostration OF
greeting, glide into the open space be-
| tween the ranks of the guests, and be-
gin to serve the wine with grace and
deXterity of which no common maid is
capable.
They are pretty; they are clad in very
costly robes of silk; they are girdled
| like queens; and the beautifully dressed
hair of each is decked with fresh flow
erS. with wonderful combs and pins,
| and with curious ornaments OF gold.
They greet the stranger us If they mad
always known him; they jest. laugh and
utter funny little cries. These are the
geiSha, or dancing girls, hired for the
banquet.
Samisen tinkle. The dancers with
draw to clear space at the further END
of the banQueting hall, always vast
enough to admit OF many more guests
than ever assemble upon common oc-
casions. Some form the orchestra.
under the direction of woman OF ull-
certain age: there are several Samisen,
and tiny drum PLAYED by child.
Others, singly or i'll pairs. perform the
dance. 1t may be swift and merry. COLI
Sisting wholly of graceful pOsturlng-
two girls dancing together with
such coincidence of step and
gesture as only years of train
Ing could render possible. But more
frequently it is rather like acting than
What we OccidentalS call dancing act
ing accompanied with extraordinary
waving of sleeves and fans. and with a
play of eyes and features, sweet, subtle,
subdued, wholly Oriental.
There are more VoluptuOus dances
known to geiSha,bu upon ordinary oc-
caSi0nS and before refined audiences
they portray beautiful old Japanese
traditions, like the legend OF the fisher
Urasbima, beloved by the sea gods
daughter; and at intervals they sing
ancient Chinese poems, expressing a
natural emotion with delicious vivid
ness by few exquisite words.
And always they pour the wine-that
warm, pale yellow. sleepy wine which
fills the veins with soft cOntentment,
making faint sense of ecstasy, through
which, as through some popped sleep,
the commonplace becomes wondrous
and bliSsful, and the geiSha Maids of
paradise. and the world much sweeter
than. in the natural order OF things, it
could ever possibly be.
The banquet, at first so silent, slowly
changes to a merry tumult. The COM
pany break ranks, form groups; and
from group to group the girls pass,
laughing. prattling still pouring sake
into the cups which are being eX-
changed and emptied with low bows.
Men begin to sing old samurai songs,
old Chinese poems. One or two even
dance. A geisha tucks her robe Well up
to her knees; and the samisen strike up
the quick melody. "Kompira fune
fune." As the music plays she begins
to run lightly and swiftly in a figure of
s, and a young man, carrying sake
bottle and cup, also runs in the same
figure of 8.
Ii the two meet on line, the one
through whose error the meeting
happens must drink cup of sake. The
music becomes quicker and quicker,
and the runners run faster and
faster, for they must keep time
to the melody, and the geisha wins. In
another part of the room guests and
geiSha are playing ken. They sing as
they play, facing each other, and clap
their hands, and fling out their fingers
at intervals with little cries; and the
samisen keep time.