Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29
and you will have the tale of the ballet told.
The Grand Opera Ballet.


place his child in It, and have her education
go on free. on signing a five years engage
ment Tor her after graduation. After
srauuatlon' as an actual fact, only per-
centase OF the pupils are received into the
opera ballet troupe The others find places
outside. The fortunate girl first goes into
the quadr1iles, at a salary Of $3.50 a year.
.hea Decomes a coryphee at 500, and then
suolect at 500. and often finishes
among the stars If she has not stopped on
tne way In petit hotel" There is an
otner SIDE however. to the money QUESTION.
from the danseuse's point of view. Between
IL n,s ana tne creaking Of the bureaucratic
Wheeis an explanation may be found Of
why one seldom sees anything but vague
ana transitory dance interludes at the
Hrand opera. in spite Of its much boosted
An the best seats at the Paris Grand
opera are sold beforehand, for the season.
10 subscribers. Each subscriber has his
seat one night each week. An orchestra
b .",a eoSss EooO francs. box 10000 To
Dc subscriber to the opera gives the
right to enter the foyer Of the dance and
pay court to the ladies'. As the French say,
Volia tout. After a girl has passed her ex-
anilnatlons and Is received into the quad
ftffes' her great preoccupation is not to dis
Ilngulsh herself in her profession, but to
ma serious friend. 1t is an understood
tnlhg. Mothers count upon 1t when they
pace I,.. thslr daughters in the classes. The
little girls themselves count on It as they
90 their painful exercises. To have ones
horses, and ones house, to have q villa
ana 10 play the races-that is the ambition
OF the dancer of the opera Beside the
regular subscribers. who are pleased enough
10 chat with the danseuses, the transient
puDnc or the opera goes to see the house
admire and be admired. The great public
does not REQUIRE much dancfng-or much
singing either. If the truth be told-so there
Is little dancing. Pass the Grand Opera.
l. for one. have never had q moments
pleasure in II.
oil t,A
sun survives, the great majority of all the
more important subjects are girls trained
In the Grand Opera ballet school Now,
there Is something cut and dried about
french teaching which Is painful to the
foreigner wherever he encounters 1t, in
dentistry IN medicine, in social usages, and
even In religion. The girls who graduate
from the Grand Opera ballet school have
just so, as they have been taught. And
IN single word they dance like trained
dogs Last winter the Empire Music Hall,
In London sent over to the new Olympia a
company to play the ballet Brighton" 1t
had great success. The star Miss Love-
day q think that was her name), had move
ments full OF flowing grace a sentimental
race, and pretty pantomimic ways, that
seemed both honest and spontaneous. But
when the ballet Of Brighton" had got we'll
going. the Olympia manager, following
French custom. began to weed out, one by
one the foreign" dancers and to substitute
The WOOdenness of 1t.
1t is woodenness which characterizes
all French ballet of the present hour
think 1t comes directly from the ballet
school of the Grand Opera And It. perhaps,
has had no small effect in weaving the
great public from the classic ballet, to wan
der in the free and easy meadows of the
Moulin Rouge. The wooden girl spins, steps
and bounds. with her fixed smile of invita-
tion her bold eyes, her painted arm-pfts
and her mispainted mouth. To finish with
the new Olympia, the latest news IS that
It has been sold, together with the Moulin
Rouge and the Jardin de Paris, en- bloc to
the Empire Music Hall Company of London.
This winter the Olympia will be run as a
frst-class London music hall, with ballots
from the empire, which will have at least
the virtue of great novelty and life and &C.
ton.
At the Gaiete Theater 1t is the habit to
give long ballet pieces, often of considerable
merit, between the acts of some light opera.
like the Chimes of Normandy" They pay
such dancers as Litini-who, to be correct,
Is not dancer, but a mime" The ballet
Of the Chimes of Normandy''-"The Gath
ering of the AppleS'-which IS now on at
the Gaiete, Is long, and makes a very pref
ty picture. But it is not great ballet They
are also always on the lookout for novelties
at the Gaiete. Not long ago they had a
ballet interrupt itself to let a girl do the
''serpentine dance in a cage of lions. When
Loie Fuller was dancing at the Folies Ber-
gera she had a young American girl stay
ing with her. waiting for a London engage
ment. Her specially was wing dancing II
that Is what they call 1t, a kind Of negro
dance, and very enter tanning. The ballet
mistress of the Gaiete was present at one
OF her impromptu rehearsals one rainy win
ter afternoon, on the stage of the Folies
Bergere She liked the wing dance and she
offered the American girl a good sum week.
ly to interpolate 1t into a ballet of Breton
fisher girls. in the piece then running. The
far nod. ht,fx -l.a,.
went down to the first rehearsals, the mis-
tress of the ballet and the ballet also were
all scandalized because she said she must
black up and wear the costume of a SOUTH
ern negro girl. You can't dance BACKED
up! We canrot allow it!' How shall l do,
then?' You must wear premieres cos
tume-white gauze, white tights-you must
make yourself convenable and pretty"
The girl explained 1t was impossible to do
a wing dance that way-that 1t would be
ridiculous. But they were obdurate At
last they told her that she might dress like
Breton fisher girl. She refused. She said
1t would be too ridiculous. So the engage
ment was Cancelled on the spot The
French girls, who were interested and not
at all Jealous told her she was foolish
what difference does 1t make to you, II
you get your salary2' they would ask her
At the Chatelet Theater they run to fairy
pieces and spectacular representations, like
the ever-youthful Michael Strogoff The
ballet company Is recruited from all over;
than the Gaiete affords itself. But the
great majority Of the coryphees and lesser
lights are distressing in their personal ap-
pearance. 1t is not alone that they are
often well along in years: both Subra and
Mauri. the two stars Of the Grand Opera,
are fat and middle-aged, each having the
appearance of being somebody's aunt or
mother rather than a fairy of the dance
But the dancers of the Chatelet are also
very plain faced. Here. at least, America
has Its own advantage Most Of our girls
are pretty, to say the least
AT the Folies Bergere there Is a very
special company. All the girls are gradu-
ates of the Grand Opera school, and some
of them have left the Opera troupe to make
more money In the less aristocratic theater
Campana, the chief dancer, is a beautiful
young woman and a really good dancer.
There are scarcely more than thirty in the
company. Most all have pretty faces and
do we'll The Folies Bergere has long been
known for its ballots. Now and then such
men as Armand Silvestre and Catulle Mem
des write scenarios for this company. Do
ing so, they go in for the beautiful as the
French understand it-love pieces, which
are, nevertheless. utterly uhsentimental
What they amount to is scarcely more than
series of animated tableaux Loie Full
ler's long engagement at the Folies Ber-
gere raised the tone. Of the establishment