The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-08-15
FAMOUS BALLET DANCERS.
Stories of La Tagiioni, Fanny Ellis
Ter and Lola Montez.
LOndOn MaH.(

tAOiluOll Adii-f
A feature of this years opera season
will be the revival of the ballet at CO.
vent Garden, with Mile. Boni, from
Brussels, as principal dancer.
1t has been asserted that the grand
ballet died when the famous Taglioni
retired in 1S45. AT any rate, the ballet
and colored limelight. Except for a
very few performers, dancing as high
art has vanished.
There is no one now to set beside La
Taglioni, who was the queen of the
stage sixty years ago. BalZac intro
duced her into his novels. Even
Trackery cOndescended to notice her
and declared enthusiastically in 'The
Newcomes" that the young men of
the day will never see anything so
graceful as Taglioni in La Sylphide.' "
AT that time she was the rage. Stage
coaches had great-coats were named
after her.
La Taglioni owed her charm to a
wonderful lightness and grace. Her
style was rather ideal than realistic
and voluptuous, as was then the vogue.
The hideous ballet skirt of today she
never wore, but a skirt that reached
nearly to her ankles. 1t was one of the
her all she learned of the art, that the
dancer should be modest in dress, in
movement and in expression.
Another famous master, who called
himself lie Dieu de la Danse," always
told his pupils to use all the coGuetry
| they could.
| Vestris, who founded the famous Yes
iris family, was an eighteenth century
celebrity. and quite remarkably con-
ceited even for a dancer. There are
but three great men alive" he used tC
say, myself, the Prussian Frederick
and Voltaire." Ut is interesting tC
compare Southey's remark that a male
dancer deserves to be hamstrung.
That profession of which he was 81
proud is, indeed, an arduous one. Yes
iris used to practice for about six hour:
a day. A dancer must be extremely
strong and supple.
A curious story is told about Fanny
Ellsler, German dancer with Goa
black hair. which illustrates the ex
IRENE muscular strength a dancer &C
quires. She was crossing to America
when she entered her cabin one da!
and discovered a thief abstracting tn,
jewel case which she kept hidden undel
her pillow. Before he could attack he
|
and killed him on the spot.
1t is curious that no English woman
has ever achieved supreme success a.
a dancer. 1t is possible, as foreigner
assert, that that lifelong devotion
and arduous apprenticeship are essen
tial to any expression through the me
dunn of dancing. The rats" the be
| ginners at the Paris Opera, are arti
cled for five years, and then unless the.
have danced from their cradle the.
cannot hope 20 attain the first rank.
Another quality essential to the grea
dancer is infinite patience. The Onl,
English dancer who ever gave promis
of attaining the front rank failed il
this respect. Lola MonteZ was tn
somewhat foreign name she had taken
She lost her temper one day with tn
manager at rehearsal and expressed
her feelings so dramatically as t.
break an umbrella over his head. Man
ayers will endure much for arts sake
but this was too much.
Carlotta Grisi is another famou
name OF the old opera. 1t was she VIII
first introduced the polka into England
"a Bohemian dance that came to stay
1t was for her. too, that Heine, eau
tier and Adolphe Adam collaborate
in writing "Giselle."
There were a score more famou
names that were familiar words i
those days. OF the twelve leading dan
GERS engaged at the Kings theatre il
1924 for a two months session five wer
a sufficient attraction to receive NOR
than 200 each.