The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-10
MAUD ALLAN ON DANCING.
A Natural, Spontaneous Expression of
 the Emotions.
From the London Chronicle

From the London Chronicle.
 To crowded meeting of the O. P club, held the other night at the Crite- iron restaurant In London, Miss Maud Allan discoursed the Attainable Ideal in Dancing. She has pleasant voice soft and low-"an excellent thing in wo- man." though not so excellent in lecturer.
 Whilst seeking advice how best to dis charge the task she had undertaken, she said she was told to explain her own attitude toward the subject 'I haven't one" said Miss Allan. q have not the faintest idea why dance as I do. have only one axiom to propound, one text upon which to preach my sermon. It is this: Dancing is the spontaneous express sion of the spiritual state. It has been so since the beginning of time, and will continue so until time is no more.
 of coure, by dancing I mean natural dancing, not the torturing and tortured contortions of schools. but the moveA ments evoked by, and which seek to give expression to. the imperious commands of ones own nature. movements which in- terpret the force. and even the philoso- phy of our own individual emotions. In such movements the body flies to meet the thought of the soul, and seeks to give them interpretation in the insistent eoquence of unconsidered gesture.
 What is the coroary? Why. just this: If the emotions are impure, the dance will be Impure; If they are arti- flcial the dance will be artificial and if they are noble and sweet, the dance will be noble and sweet beyond all powers of description.
 Dancing is not an acquired art" Miss Allan declared. Tt is spontaneous art; revealing perhaps, more than any other. the temperament of the dancer. Without that undefnable quality which is called ir rtpy Dancing is a spontaneous expression of spiritual state. The dancers art is the dancers life.
 Natural dancing expresses the music of which 1t is a part; it Is not drilled or compelled by it. The music and the dance are one. undivided, inseparable.
 ''These conditions show a tremendous, a terrifying responsibility upon the dan cer She feels that she is interpreting an art, in which the least error of tact or taste involves her in hopeless and re- pellant vulgarity. It Is dreadful to think that dancing may be made to illustrate and perhaps no art can illustrate so well the lowest and most brutal passions that sway humanity. Such things should not be mentionable in the same breath with natural dancing. which Is primarily healthful and beautiful.
 Tn the dawn of art, dancing was purely religious in character. Everything points today to the fact-1 am reverently proud to find myself in position to say it-that we are returning to the religious ideal, to the ideal of the Creeks Let us foster this ambition; let us once more cultivate the beauty of movement, and dedicate the results to the service of beauty and of truth, which are one"
 So with the claim that really beautiful dancing is the highest expression of civ ilization, Miss Allan brought her address to an end.
 As one of the subsequent speakers ad- mitted, 1t was bit above his head. Most of the congregation felt, perhaps. that they had been listening to sermon, and were vaguely disappointed. Aristotle and Dr. Johnson and the Niebelung legend and Theocritus are little remote from the ''star turn" ct the Palace theatre