The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-05-17
SklRT DANCERS IN TRAINING.
Careful Diet ana Electrical stImuu.-
ton Keep Them i'm Fit Condition,

The popular dancer who does the
rainbow act, ''the split" or the latest
French solo in the dancing line is COM
pick piece OF machinery which requires
great deal of care. She has to be oiled
mp and rubbed down, plastered over and
heated to the proper temperature, ane
then cooled off again until the human
principles on which she was originally
constructed are entirely lost sight of.
Even the vigorous constitulionals and
scientific training of the champion pueil-
ist iaii to convey any idea Of the pbysi-
cal education that the average skirt
dancer gets. First Of all, Says the New
York Advertiser, she has to ACQUIRE an
almost abnormal development OF the
muscular organization in order to do the
iaborious dancing that constitutes her
share in entertaining and edifying the
public. The skirt dancer has most OF the
ills. to which flesh is heir, to combat
with. Perhaps the most common OF the
fitful aches and ailments is general de-
rangement OF the breathing apparatus,
Any comfortably situated person who
views her spasmodic action from the
audience can realize why the writhing,
gasping, conyulsive celebrity should be
the most short-winded creature on earth.
1t seems marvel that some OF her cords
DO not snap and the whole tension sud-
denly give way and let her down in a re.
alistic heap in the middle OF the stage.
To get comprehensive view of her
in collapse-and she does colapse-it il
necessary to take peep behind the
curtain. At the ecstatic moment, when
the audience sees the bow, the farewell
wave of the hand. her retiring convulsion
OF the hip joint, at the same moment the
over-exerted, breathless and painting
artist falls exhausted into the arms of q
faithful attendant, who bears her gently
away to bottle OF brandy, and one Of
horse liniment favored with turpentine.
1t is when the skirt dancer reaches the
seclusion OF her own apartments, how
ever, that the real interesting part of her
performance begins. Electricity is one
OF her modes of treatment, but she natu-
rally eats something before she stsrts up
her battery. Eating and drinking are
prohibited by her code Of digestive ethics,
both before and between dances, for OBJ
vious reasons. When the embargo is
raised and the curtain goes down the
hungry celebrity repairs to the nearest
hotel and there follows the proclivities
nature endowed her with. II all this oc-
ours after matinee performance the
dancer next takes nap, the duration of
which is in inverse ratio to the amount
she has eaten. When she wakes up
again, with her head cleared and her
wasting tissues repaired, there are inter-
esting baths, messages and applications
of electricity.
There is a noticeable something about
the overstimulation to which the skirt
dancer is subjected that makes this grade
OF terpsichorean temperament an inter-
estine psychological study. The jealous
and enterprising high kicker invariably
has nervous constitution that IL strung
many degrees higher than that OF the
well-behaved and orderly young woman.
She Is irritable, hystericaI, spasmodic,
fretful and has an overweight sensl-
bility and tempestuousness Of emotional
capability that make her vicinity dan
gerous one to ell but the initiated.