New-York tribune., 1910-02-27
London. February 16.

l'eoA SAS=S, JaClCSkd-Niio 10 I0-
tlring or has retired-and Nile. Pavlova
OF the St Petersburg Opera House;
Mile. ZambelIi at the Grand Opera in
Paris, and Mile. Maria Bordin at
La Scala in Milan. OF these four, only
one, Mile. Bordin. has been seen in pub
lie IN London. Mile. Paylova, who was
IL Paris last spring with a full Russian
company and turned everybody's head
danced for Mrs. Potter Palmer in Carl
ton House Terrace last summer at
private party. Toward the end of this
coming summer she is to appear under
contract with Mr.. George Edwardes at
the Adelphi for some weeks. London
viii then have one more opportunity Of
seeing what a great dancer is like
If you go back q generation there was
Mile Rosita Mauri at the Grand Opera
in Paris, easily the first dancer Of her
time Her primacy began early and
lasted late. Few dancers have been so
long on the stage. It was not by her
beauty that she kept the eyes Of Paris
fixed upon her for some fifteen years or
more It was by her art It was said
Of her. as it was said of the actress who
Francais, Nine. Bartel. that she never
made mistake. Mile. Rosita Mauri did
not perhaps make an imaginative use
OF her art but there was no secret or
technique unknown to her, nor were
her physical resources ever unequal TO
the demand she made on them AT the
end of a long and exhaustive ballet she
danced with the same lightness ana
grace and unfailing precision as at the
beginning It is the fashion here and
in New York TO praise Mile. Genee's
lightness. 1t is, no doubt, her one great
excellence but she attains it at the ex-
pense of that sureness in which. as well
as in lightness. Nile. Mauri was su-
preme. l am not comparing Mile. Mauri
! and Mile Genee. No comparison is pos
sible- 1 am only pointing out that In
the one particular in which Mile Genee
| is best Mile. Mauri was far her superior
But the two dancers are not in the same
class nor within measurable distance Of
| each other.
The only great dancer who has been
seen here in London for a generation is
Mile Bordin, who appeared some four
years since in Mrs. Ritchie's pretty pal
! let. "L'Amour." at the Alharbra She
! belongs to the classical school OF Whlch
La Scala at Milan is one home her
education began at nine years OLD: at
/ fourteen she was premiere danseuse' ana
| when she came to London she was t"eh-
/ ty-two or twenty-three. She had beauty
| of face and of body. and she had that
! iuestiua BILE gift called style. She danced
( IN the grand manner. For great effects
/ the great stage of the AIhanbra is none
/ too great. and every inch of 1t was used
/ She was & musician and knew every
/ note of the ballet. and the music OFTEN
seemed 20 respond TO her step rather
/ than the step to the music. In fact'
there was complete harmony between
| them Her technique was faQltless' ;
never flaw IN the execution OF the
most difficult figure She had that grace
which comes from complete control Oh
! The muscles. and from bodily sym
! rnetrv. There is a law of the paiiet
{ which requires that the face Shall
! ALWAYS wear a smile. 1t is sometimes
a constrained and painful smile with
Mile Rordin il was natural and brilliant
| I once said TO her:
"PeopIe like your dancing because you
I seem to like it yourself
But 1 do like it,
! And your smile is happy smile
..R7It why not? 1 am happy anu
after q pause-''I am always happy
So that the relation between TINS
| dancer and the public is a sympathetic
! relation.
/ 7 suppose dancing has never taken
| hold Of the American public as some
! o+bar-arts have but the fact remains
/ that a great artist IS a great artist anu
the particular form of art matters less
/ than the art itself Art is a fact Of such
/ in7portance in the development Oh tie
| frdfvfduaI and the nation that it IS wise
"a neglect no form Of il There IS an
/ arecdota of Emerson and MarsaTe'
! F,1ller which had its Gay, and may pe
ca far forgotten that it can be retoid'
! Fanny F,IIsler had come 70 Boston
r-r,e-son and Miss Fuller went to see
rer and exchanged views upon that
/ marvellous dancers AIT.
Margaret Fuller; Waldo. TINS -
. poetry
Emerson: NO, AaTsdIetr Il 10 ~
/ igion."
parbaps not an authentic dialogue, but
/ = s+a+es in extreme terms a doctrine
which Emerson thought his countrymen
needed to consider and the terms were
extreme because the doctrine was unwel-
come II may still be unWelcoIne' out
we have travelled far since those days.
! - any, view for which AEnerson's au-
! +boritv can be alleged viii be considered
for Emerson's sake as well as 1or lis
cwn.
All which connects itself easily with q
brief account Of Mile. Bordin- II /
sbo,Id write about Mile. Sarah Bern
1 trard4 or Irving-as I hope 10 some day
,,o,, would all read it. and 1 hope you
viii, read a line or two about Mile
Fso-din in exactly the same spirit For
cbe ie inst as much an artist in her way
a. Sarah is in hers
Ror5in seems French name, but II Is
not II is Venetian; and not unknown IL
Venetian history Mile. Bordin was porI
- x-icenza She still lives there, thousf
Ea- dancing home is in Milan The easy
! ,i4. of childhood ended for her at nin'
,rs of age. when she entered upon th'
-, business Of learning TO dance fol