New-York tribune., 1908-04-08
OUR LADY OF DREAMS.
Il Dithyramb Ouer the Dancing Of
Maud 4Ian.
From The London Times.

Miss Maud Allan is the mode Of the moment.
much Of London. as can squeeze itself into the
e1s he"fT b9F For OF the erre Is ran o ee 2
old and young equipped with opera glasses, it is
that the lady attired for one of her dances IL:
little else than beads. But the mundane danes
scrutiny may even reveal a genuine amateur OF
turn arrives, at a quarter past 10, there is the
sudden silence that beJokens eager expectation, The
aarnbeaux. and for background there are plain
bows glide softly into the first strains OF Ch9pln
& hs1Se IN ba 1hGI ,Ir 'o p r + rea & Is v6IDg y girl
you perceive her that Is to say 10 be siFl Wheil
you wake again but TO your dFeaaihs Ten5d she & Is
slips through the curtains, and then appears 10
music Say rather that she becomes part Of the
nrusic-muSic made visible, She wears light classic
her to serve ambient air wherein she
supple limbs. feet that seem rather to caIess the
ground than 10 be supported by IT Whea her arms arms
finger tips Her hands have something Of the leaf
or petal about them, gently opening and folding
or curving back upon their stem Ike Daphne i :
has caught her and t s3 Is 81 Just IlTang T 70
can only compare them with the hands OF ~ Luse sII
whom D Annunzio has SO well called aGtf % oetse
we merely state the fact-a penstve melancholy,
the vague sad reverie OF ChoPtn's music But the
times into the relative major. and then the dan
and her hands and limbs and all the movements
Of her body express hope and Joy o9{ , for hact
into the minor key and you see the JOY fading
hands. and she dances as one oppressed faI-lng al
last into wan despair The music ceases. the
that iifeless; then she glides quietly through
the eurtan-and you awake rom rom [o4G cream +b y
in this Palace Of Varieties amid its very worldly
looking crowd of aigretted women and cigar smok-
ing Inen-lite reading De Quincey on racecourse
Your next dream is TO the familiar rather too
familiar. tune Of Mendelssohns Spring Song,
gretto graZiosO-in pursuit Of an imaginary but
teTtfy This is of course no time for languorous
rapid; She makes little Tushes bae ekVsrd and for
ward or, like Camilla, SKINS along the plain,
now swiftly bending to the ground, now set
Ting" for moment like the butterfly she pur-
sues-in short gives you the quntessence Of the
paPilionaceous This you count day-dTeam, YOU
sion curiousIy incongruous with your actual sur
roundings In the true sense ot the word. then.
this dancers art Is enhancing It converts you
into hypnOtiZed subject
for the last This Vision Of saoe has not only
made mad he her but has so hqgn5ng f3senaoR
Keep aWay rom rom II ana Ts6grn t 10 the Paiace 10
world will go anywhere in search of dreams. TAX
ing. Calderon's vida es sueno for our motto and
through the Gate OF Ivory the Gate of Horn.
bre To the strains of weird Oriental music Salome
slowly descends the palace steps There are jewels
Eastern dancing to show rhyfhmjc r9nveme5ts Of
the body round itself so to speak, pivot, which
means. Of course, that it may become, as in the
notorious of the danSe du ventre. something
lascivous and repulsively ugly. Now IL is obvious
that this dancer could make no movement or
posture that is not beautiful and in fact her dane
ing as Salome, though Eastern in spirit through
and through, is absolutely without the slightest
suggestion of the yulgarities so familiar 70 the
tourist in Cairo Tangier- She achieves the dis
tinction-we admit 1t risks being a nice dstinc-
tfOn. but she achieves tt-between the lasCiyous
and the voluptuous Salome dances fasci-
mated. slowly advancing toward the head and
swiftly recedng from it, gradually dra wing nearer
and nearer, then falling upon hands and knees
and gloating half savagely half amorOusly. IL
then pouncing upon 1t like a hawk upon its prey
Thereafter she dances fear, qUiverng, shuddering
dance, and finally COllapses a huddled-but still
graceful. still beautiful-mass And there you
have secret of her sheer beauty. line
every rhythm. every movement. every post
ure. every pause, is beautiful. And Maud Allan
gives you beautiful dreams. and do
der that all the dreamers in London and all the
lovers OF beauty for beauty's sake crowding
10 see her, and return 10 her again and again