New-York tribune., 1908-08-12
Of Interest "
~ TO 6Uon7en.
EDUCATIONAL DANCES
The Grace and Spontaneity Of the
Stage an Those at n. I. University.

Stage an Those at n. Z. CHsOeTSatY.
Suddenly the teachers foot goes up in the air
far. far; the knee curves, and makes swimming
line of beauty. ending with the high arched instep
poised in air. gently, gently the foot falls tll the
toe rests, soft as velvet on the floor. Then the
teacher pirouettes, and the pirouete is precise as
mathematics and enhancing music. And a long
row OF women watch her and do the same, so far
as in them lies. 1t is odd scene for university
gyrnasiurn-odd. that is, to who doesn't under
stand the new education. AS a matter of fact. this
is physical culture. To the naked eye it looks just
like dancing. but it is really nothing but physical
culture. the educators staid old friend under a
new and more charming form When the teacher.
for instance, bends without bending her knee ex-
tending her taper first finger touch her slim little
olack shppered toe danty poised on the floor, it's
all part of the dance. apparently. But the on
locker perceives, with admiring surprise that it's
just that hackneyed old motion, the ten command
ments of all physical cuturists. Touch the floor
without bending your knees" How, many time,
with knit brow and grim determination. has she
done that notion fifty times before breakfast! How
fngeniously cunning to disguise tiresome thing
as part Of the danceI
Ihe class dances to waltz music. It isn't waltz:
II is fancy dance danced to waltz time by each
one standing alone in her place. The music
changes to a schottische. and the teacher breaks
into a gay little heel and toe. almost as gay and
lnsouclant as a Jig, but velvety in it's grace and
prettlness- Suddenly she grasps her skirt either
Sluc-d IuI niack pallet skirt IT is, coming
Just 10 her knees-and with a change in the music
swings across the hall in a glorious skirt dance
Across and across the gym goes the class with
leaps and twirls and kicks and pirouettes and the
observer wonders how it is that it ali be so
very STACEY without being bit vulgar
And then one grasps the whole idea that under
lies the new conception OF educational dancing.
Dancing. real dancing. is art, Just as much an
art as painting or sculpture only IL expresses itself
in the human body instead of copying the latter
in, 15r,&< IL,
to serve the purposes of the suggestive the vulgar
or the vile These girls are not pirouetting for
champagne suppers. automobiles European tours
They are dancing for the pure Joy of 1t They are
not kicking high in order to display their legs, but
because ii is part of the system which they are
learning for the deliberate purpose Of training
their whole bodies The purpose behind the dane
ing is refined; therefore the art expresses only re-
7nement.
TRAINING EVERY MUSCLE.
The Gilbert dances. which Miss Susan H. Gilman
Is teaching at the summer session of New York
University this year. have been invented or com
posed. for the express purpose of training every
muscle in the body. They develop the breathing
capacity. they ma Ike the limbs supple and grace
ful, they exercise the great muscles around the
torso which never get any exercise in the ordinary
motions Of life They fulfil every function of gym
nastic training. and. in addition they are beaut-
ful. Women take to them as they do to chocolate
creams spring hats anything else which
the sex adores with feminine passion. Moving the
body in time to music has always possessed fas-
cination for humanity. With men the pa ssion
breaks ont chiefly in marching and military drill.
The attra action of gymnastic exercises in team
work comes largely from the same source But
Of all combinations of movement and music dane
ing Is the most fascinating AS far back as his
tory tells it has had peculiar fascination for
women It is essentially a feminine art ANYBODY
loves anything that he well. The great
dancers Of history have been as entirely women as
the great athletes have been entirely men
And as one watches the absorbed unconscious.
happy expression the faces Of Miss CSflmans
class. one realizes the enjoyment that have
always got ont Of sports and games These girls
are apped in pure enjoyment of physical motion.
II is delightful game. game in which they have
power. ease and grace and in which there is also
an aesthetic quality that satisfies the beauty low
ing feminine soul.
As one watches the long line Of swaying figures
one wonders how much Of the excessive physical
inferiority Of woman is really due TO her body and
how much of it only to her clothes. Those women
not strong men. but they just as
supple graceful and light upon their feet Picking
up . pin from the floor possesses no terrors for
them They can mount five flights Of stairs without
q gasp: they could board a moving streetcsr with
ease and grace They have mastered their own
muscles. hut more than that they have escaped
for the moment from the prison house of wornan's
clothes. Put them back in the corsets and long
ing will nullify their hampering restrictions.
The Gilbert dancing is not social dancing. it is
not folk dancing, and It is not stage dancing. II
is species of fancy dancing in which the undery-
ing idea is the correct development Of the whole
body- II is taking the place of heavy work for
women in the gymnasi1Jn1s: private schools are
t1Imbling themselves 10 introduce IT, fashion
able women are taking it part Of the beauty
cult, and the public schools putting II in as
fast they For the last there are the Gil
bert school dances adaptations both of folk dances
and of chiIdrens games like Bean Porridse Hot.
suited to public school work. The class dances one
Of them. the How do you do dance. in which the
sets shake hands when they meet in perfect time
! to music. It is a good deal IKE old-fashioned
quadrille but suddenly the teachers leg up in
/ the air. Then she cuts pigeon wing and puts in
/ gay little double shuttle
Put IN all your fancy steps" she calls, any
/ thing that fits the music
So instead of the walking marching that
makes the ordinary quadriiIe such a stupid thing
/ the class really dances the quadrile. Hands catch
up skirts. the fancy steps come in, one girls hair
comes down and hangs far below her waist. and
| the school dance finishes in rornp-a gay, grace
ful, charming romp.