Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-02-07
Is Dancing an Aid
to FIaWIesS Beauty?

sichore is to have reason to think 50.
IL Nearly every mistress of the light
fantastic toe now displaying her skill
to the American public Is almost suff1-
GENTLY well endowed with pulchritude TO
be worth seeing. even though she lacked
the skill to dance q single step.
Adelaide Genee. Zelma Froelich. Maud
Allen. Isadora Duncan. Odette Valery,
Gertrude Hoffman, Carmencita, Anita
Malinverni and Dazzle are all superb beau
ties.
In days Of ancient Greece dancing was
held In high esteem by ladies of the Hell
lenic realm. who put physical perfection
above everything else as the ideal OF life.
All that could be achieved by exercise.
by thought. by painstaking effort to pro-
duce a perfect body and beautiful face
was done for the Grecian woman as we'll
as man.
to be one Of the modes OF exercise by
which the Greek woman not only gained
grace of bearing and movement. but &C.
tually added to her physical charms.
exercise in a closed room. at night. with
the air made foul by the presence OF hun
dreds of spectators.
The dance OF Greece was a dance in the
open air. in the woodlands, in the sun
shine. with flowers plucked by the way
and woven into garlands as picturesque
incident of the beautiful evolutions.
1t is not difficult to understand that
such exercises would conduce to beauty.
But 1t can hardly be said to afford prec-
edent for the charms OF the dancer OF
today.
Isadora Duncan has revived these clas-
sic dances OF bygone centuries, SO has
Maud Allen. but neither of these fair
artists can produce the conditions of the
smiling, sunny landscape of Greece.
The exigencieS of the box office nave
| made 1t incumbent on them to do their
dancing indoors, within an Enclosure TO
| which admission can be charged.
In not less than 800 Of the 365 days OF
! the year these queens of graceful motion
are submitted to the glare of the foot
| lights and take their exercise In the at
| mosphere OF crowded auditoriums. yet
every one Of the nine named here has
beauty in most superlative degree.
| Genee Is about as dainty and attractive
as can be imagined. She looks her ma
tionality; she is dainty, piquant. arch and
| sweet.
During her stay in this country she has
| delighted thousands, and her attractive
manner has helped as much to 1t as the
| marvellous dizziness of her trained toes.
| y +
| It might be expected that she would
have q figure. In fact. 1t is not easy to
imagine a dancer lacking in proper pro-
portions but the wonderful part Of it is
| that Genee in common with most OF her
| sisters in the art of graceful motion, has
not been unevenly developed by the con-
| slant exercise OF one set of muscles.
Take, for example. the professional
| strong man who is constantly putting
weights up In the air and using his
| shoulder and back muscles under con-
tn In fpo0 10 m, q.
cles become SO knotted and bullying that
| while they are impressive they lose all
| semblance of beauty.
It might be expected that the constant
| w exercised legs Of the dancer would be-
tray signs Of a similar experience, but as
a matter of fact this Is not SO. Genee
| is lust as trim and dainty as a child. and
her wonderful complexion. fresh face.
saucy eyes and bounding health and
youthfulness make her a veritable pic
ture.
Odette Valery represents somewhat
different type. She is the French dancer
brought over by Oscar Hammerstein to
dance In connection with his operas.
| Whereas Genee Is trim and dainty. Val
cry is built on Juno-like lines. She is he
| voic In physique. tall as man and most
superbly proportioDed.
Although her figure IS marveiously
everything about her In exact proportion.
the greatest feature Of the beauty of Val
cry Is her wonderful pair OF arms.
Never were arms SO eloquent. They
are perhaps somewhat larger than the
canons of proportion call for. but Valery
Is big woman.
They are white and faultlessly rounded
and with them she can introduce into
her work q thousand different shades OF
meaning These arms can convey terror,
! dangerous charm, rage, suffering, every
thing, almost as eloquently as 1t could be
depicted by the face.
Carmencita's Spanish beauty was much
admired when she first came to this coun-
try: in fact, 1t contributed much to her
success, for at that time there was not
the rage for dancing there is now. and the
artist who would make good in this line
of work had to be more usually well
equipped.
Carmencita recalled the beautiful Span
ish ladies of romance. Her hair was
black, so were her big lustrous eyes. and
the redness of her cheeks-a natural red
ness, by the way-completed the rich col
oring OF the picture.
AS BELTS the kind Of dancing she does,
the beauty of Isadora Duncan Is distinct
ly classical. Far more cold than the
charms OF Odette Valery, nevertheless 1t
Is genuine beauty. The Crown Prince OF
Germany thought SO. and 1t took all the
power Of the edict of his august father.
the Emperor OF Germany. to prevent the
crown prince from making a .mesalliance