Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1909-12-17
Old Teacher, Mourning Deca-
dence, Says Modern Public
Can't Appreciate Art.

tDANcING is almost a lost art to-
day." according to Alexander
Genee. one of the most famous teaol-
ers OF dancing In Europe. who is maxi
ing O. brief visit in New York. Mr.
Genee has taught dancing for nearly
forty years and thai he is a good
teacher is indicated by the fact that
the greatest dancer in the world today,
Adeline Genee, was taught everything
she knows of the art by him. Mr..
Genee, who is her uncle, took her when
she wa a child of seven and has taught
her constantly for twenty years.
In addition of being a teacher, Genee
was a famous dancer himself for many
| years. He has been the premier dansenr
! at all the leading opera houses In Eu-
| rope, and In her day his wife, Antonio
Zimmerman, was equally famous. Al
most from infancy he was trained to
be a dancer and consequently there Ia
no one knows more about the art of
| dancing than he.
1.-THE art OF dancing is almost for
gotten today he said the other day
to a writer for the Sunday Plain Dealer.
Thirty years ago the art was at It's
| height, but now 1t is at its lowest ebb.
The reason is evident; there are SO few
good dancers thai the public has no
interest in artistic dancing. And the
reason there are SO few good dancer Is
that there are so few great teachers. In
fact, there are no great teachers of
dancing today, and no great dancers
that can compare with the great
dancers of three decades 81
Twill the art of dancing ever be re-
stored to its former glory? I hope so.
I think Adeline Genee has don't more
to awaken the interest of the public In
artistic dancing than any one In reeent
years. However, the public is not
much interested in artistic dancing,
for the reason that it sees SO little of 1t.
1.-The dancers OF today, with a few
notable exceptions, have not had the
necessary training. Their dancing
teachers nave been too anxious to make
money out of them. Dancing has be-
come a b~usiness-it used to. be an art
Dancing teachers simply want to get
paid for their lessons. They do not
care about giving years of their lives
her They want quick returns and
their pupils are IN a hurry, too. They
also look upon dancing as merely a
profession or a mean of making a live
lihood. They want to be premier
danseuses in two or three years, when
1t really takes three or four times that
long. The commerciafism that La en-
tered the stage today has prevented
the development of great dancers.
Everything is money, money. Art is
lost sight of entirely.
Dancing is an art quite "a important
as singing and acting. At one time 1t
was regarded as more important. The
public demanded artistic dancing just
as 1t now demands artistic singing and
acting. Artistic dancing is not de-
demanded low, for the simple eason
that this public doesn't know what ar
tistic dancing Is. The dancers who are
hailed as the greatest today on~,the
American stage simply do acrobatic
stunts-they don't dance. The great
dancers of the past could do the splits
End oil the other stunts that modern
dancers do, but they never did them on
the stage. They did them for practise,
just as my niece does them for prac-
~tise-never for public exhibition.
There have never been any great
American dancers and I doubt very
much II there evcr win be. Americans
are too impatient to become good dane
ers. When they do undertake to learn
dancing they go into 1t with too much
vigor. Learning dancing is just like
learning painting oil any other art.
"a girl who wants to become a great
danger should begin her training be-
tween the ages Of 5 and IA years. After
she has reached the age OF IA it is too