Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-05-26
WHEN DANCING IS
HARD W0RR
PAPINTA, THE FIRE DANCER, DE-
SCRIBES THE MANY Diff
CULTIES OF HER ART.

People in general seem to have he pin-
ion that stage dancing, and especially
that in which the effects are derived from
a gown of flimsy material, is the easiest
| thing in the world. They are willing to
! admit that the dancer of the jig n clog
has to work to some extent for the mon
ey that she receives, but the dancer who
has nothing to do but stand in the light
of the calcium and keep her skirts NOV
ing has no moral right to regard her per-
Torrance as labor. While this may
| seem just and right to those who know
nothing about such spectacular acts, peo-
pie who " had stage experience real
iZe hat there is a great deal more in the
work of the skirt or fire dancer than may
appear upon the surface.
From beginning to end 1t is hard work.
Let me make hat clear, for that fact
is the result of many years hard expert
ence on my part. I v earne that
it is not an easy thing to keep up a con-
tinuOus motion for twenty minutes,
swirling two hundred yards of silk about
| your head in such a name that it will
| produce the picture that you desire to
| present.
If there is any one who doubts this
| assertion let him go through a continu-
Gus exercise with light Indian clubs for
twenty inutes. He will find that very
firing, but it is nothing to the work that
I am compelled to perform during my
stay upon the stage.
AS the result Of this exertion of
strength the development of my arms
, and back are something remarkable for
a woman of my proportions. While my
work was not of the kind to make them
knotty, it has increased the sines gradu-
ally until, it is safe to say, these mus
| cles possess the strength of the average
! ell-built man.
The dance that I present is an elabor-
! o%;o- ~ tho nr1>a 4 Iayan v-i{h oil
kinds of new and startling spectacular
effects. The motion of the arms as the
draperies are whirled bou with great
! rapidity present a rhythmical move
ment, which, added to the dazzling eff
fects secured by original arrangements
| of the lights, produces a spectacle thai
| has met with many kinds of reception.
The manipulation Of draperies in order
to obtain certain beautiful effects Is an
art in itself, and before it can be master
ed the dancer must devote hours and
hours to study, for upon this depends the
good impression that every dancer is SO
desirous of making. In addition to this
one must keep studying more or less all
the time, for the most elaborate figures
wear out their welcome after a certain
! number of times. When the dancer feels
that the house is receiving her coolly,
there is but one thing that she can do. A
new dance must be invented, in spite OF
the great cost and trouble.
While the work of devising and per-
! fecting these new figures is, heart-break-
/ ing, the cost of such a change is ever
more unbearable. Silk gowns, such as
have been compelled to wear, with the1l
! two hundred or more yards of material
cost a great deal of money, n it is more
than probable that the necessary altera.
tons in lighting and like effects will cos
many times al much.
All this, however, must have no effec'
upon the dancer. The public must bt
delighted, though the heavens fall, ant
poor dancers fight against poverty fol
weeks At the same time the public il
willing to pay for all it receives, and j.