Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29

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1AE M, Of the commence
flHSVNN)M ment Of the Paris
GM .py$SNNp autumn season in
HGtt9AAN amusements m y
~A @ thoughts go back re-
M HCWW,, gretfuIly to the
W1E Ir grand opera of Vien-
ma, and that what I
most look forward to in Paris for the COM
ing winter is the advent to the New Olym-
pia of a fine ballet troupe from London.
Shall 1 ever forget my first impressions
Of the ballet at Vienna? had come fresh
from the anatomical displays Of half
trained and completely willful pretty girls
in the scratch companies Of our own
dear land, as unruly and as fieshly as the
heifers In the meadows. whom no ballet
master could drill into shape without
spark Of sentiment or understanding or
imagination; fresh from the comic opera
and extravaganza choruses. all swaying
rhythmically, idiotically. in three long rows
to an interpolated waltz song, executed
by a prima donna by the footlights. 1t
was a change to sit in the Vienna Opera
House of a serious ballet night. 1t was
an education to watch the unfolding scenes
Of the ''Tanzmarchen."
This one piece lasted three hours. exclu-
sive of the introduction, on Mount Par
nassus. where pretty Marie Kohler tripped
alone upon her toes, then taught an amia-
BILE but clumsy goat-legged Pan to dance.
He played his pipes while going through
his steps. 1t was the birth Of dancing.
Scene after scene succeeded, religious
dances by the holy Nile and on the heights
Of Gibea, the feast Of Mars in Rome. with
nothing lacking, for 1t Is the Story of the
Dance, until it's modern apotheosis In the
Hof-Operntheater-veryn aturally-with all
the pretty modern ballerinas Of Vienna
going up to glory in blaze Of gold and
pink and white.
Throughout the piece an extra human in
terest was kept up In the sentimental his
tory Of a nymph. On Parnassus she was
given her choice, either as a reward or
punishment; the Genius of Time was called
upon to pass her through the future; and
she chose to know the future of the dance.
In every scene there was this sweet girl
changed-by the altar of the dog-faced An
nubs, In the holy mysteries of Davids dane
ing worship, in the oak forests of Britain
and of France where silver-bearded Druds
worked themselves to fury. There was one
scene by a castle of the middle ages. where
some yokels came to dance beneath an elm.
Attracted by the sound of flutes, two ras-
cally young pages from the castle slip upon
the scene to lead away the daZzled country
beauties from their hayseed lovers. Again
1t was a dance school in the middle of the
present century, where opportunity was
given to see measures trod whose names
are scarcely known now-the courant, the
pavane. the Sarabande, the minuet and the
gavotte.
In another Of their classic pieces-the
Observation-Disclosures was the history of the
Vienna waltz, from its conception in the
brain Of an old dancing ma ster a century
ago down to the dainty fancies Of the
modern ba1lerfnas shown to him. by es-
pecial favor, in prophetic dream. He had
70 nolA tb> AIa
lessons in graceful steps, which he had been
giving to party Of pretentious country
gentlefolks. The room begins to darken
and great mirror seems to change into a
door, as films of gauZe rise one by one
Out step a dozen delicate and pretty dano-
ing girls In modern ballet costume. They
nod knowingly to each other as they tip
toe about the somber little room. holding
their fingers to their lips for silence. Then
one sits at the rickety, tinkling, little spinet
OF the time. commences gently one of
Strauss waltzes, while the orchestra gives
discreet and gently modulated accom-
panfment to the nofseless steps of the kind
hearted dancing girls of 1S93-who are
dream shadows, not Of the past, but of the
future.
The French Way.
Now I respectfully submit that this Is
different from the skips and turns of bold
eyed Frnch girls at-well, say the Paris
opera, If you ever get a chance to see
them-for these dancing ladies seldom con-
descend to dance; the bold-eyed girls who
leave you no Illusion. their armpits black
ened with burnt cork, even when they are
blondes; their mouths obscenely painted out
Of shape dancing Of love and only love and
always love. You will not see the pup
penfee' in Paris, the childrens story Of the
fairy doll who anip1ates the dolls at mid
night In the doll fair. The French would
laugh at its simplicity and childishness,
when no
can act, and when you have a German poet
to conceive the plot-but these you have not
got in Paris
The Paris opera scarcely gives ten ballet
nights throughout the season, There are
dance interludes in operas, but even these
are cut down or cut out outrageously. In
That's tho composer, Massenet, placed a
great deal of very pretty ballet music. AS
originally produced there was a long and
pleasing ballet In the second act with
demons and good angels and trials and en-
five nights passed when 1t was all cut out
Perhaps Miss Sanderson, who is extremely
Influential, thought that the public ought
to be content with what she showed so
generously Perhaps the dancing girls Of
the grand opera-who all hold government
positfons-ttred of dancing. Perhaps the
Paris public-that is to say, the public Of
the opera-does not care for ballet
This latter has been often given as the
explanation Of the actual decline Of serious
ballet in the gay French capital, where all
things seem to be upon reckless gallop
straight to a vulgar anarchy, where what
Is gross and mean and low will rule. The
great restaurants have disappeared before
the triumphant advance of the beer and
sauerkraut brasserie and taverne; the great
cafes have disappeared. because the public
prefers to sit between, before and after
meals in the same brasseries. The vulgar
music halls are emptying the theaters
For eight years past the gay French cap
ital has been more celebrated for the dane
ing horrors of the Moulin Rouge and the
Casino than for the classic or even the
spectacular ballet. The chahut, the ''eccen-
trio quadrille," with it's split and carry
arms" has been well termed the 'phyl-
loxera of choreography." And after It, the
specialties in all the music halls. The state
ment Of the bare fact that Otero with her
diamonds, with her crows voice and her
stamping heels and silly movements, was
the real dancing celebrity of the last WIN
ter season, and that the Sisters harrison
Cfrom America) ran her a hot second in
the popular estimation, Is to sum up the
whole situation. 1t Is very different from
the times one reads of when the Eden
Theater was doing Sieba, Messalina, Vivi-
ane and Djemmah.
There are six places In the Paris of today
where ballet continues to hold on as some
thing of speciality. They are the Grand
Opera, the Gaiete Theater, the Chatelet
Theater the Folies Bergere variety thea
teri. the Olympia Music Hall and the Nou-