Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-06-11
IMPERIAL Ballet and
Dancing in St. Petersburg

ting stout, for with them, TO lose their
figure means ruin.
Nowhere is the ballet appauded 50
enthusiastically as at ST. Petersburg.
Shouts or delight rend the air as the
fsvorites are called before the curtain
and pelted with flowers. Boy and Girl
students VIII go without a meal in
order to buy flowers to throw at their
faVorites.
eve always think London and Paris
so cold after st. Petersburg" said the
famous dancer. PavloVa, after what
, western Europe would consider an en-
thusiastic reception In London.
In ST. Petersburg on bitter winter
nights when the thermometer shows
10 or IL degrees below freezing point
and the Icy wind from the Neya cuts
through the thickest fur you can see
lines OF patient students waiting for
hours outside the box office OF the
opera house, where the ballet performs
every Sunday night The good seats
are almost unpbtainable. people pay
life subscri ptions in advance and be
queath their seats TO their best friends
at their death. When It is known that
q subscription to the first few rows Of
the stalls or one Of the boxes has fall
len In, the booking Office is simply be-
sieged with requests 10 sell the much
coveted seat-and the girl in charge Is
overwhelmed with presents intended to
secure her faVor,-and the seat.
Seeing the great popularity Of the
st, Petersburg ballet, IL II not sur
prising that there are more mandates
for the school than vacancies,
RUSSIAN DANCING AN ART.
Madamoiselle Rutkowskaia, whose
superior Intelligence and powers OF OBJ
serVation make her an authority on
the question, has given her opinion
about the difference between Russian
and American dancing:
In America, as in England, the
audience is content with plenty OF
artistic staging with well-shaped.
we'll dressed dancers and-an air of In
difference. Their dancing never eX-
presses anything but the movements
they have learnt for that particular
dance or ballet Now, in Russia, n
girl or man who danced like thot
Would be laughed at. He. " she Is
supposed not only to dance but 10 in
interpret the feelings and passions the
music arouses in him, or her, and
when the dancers happen to be Rus
sian their Interpretation is the same as
that OF their audience. Hence this huge
sympathy.
you can see the same thing in n
ballroom In New York man dances
be cause he has been invited for that
purpose; but II Is easy to see that IL
bores him. His limbs have no elastic
ity and his movements are Jerky and
ungrnceful Go into ST. Petersburg
ballroom What a difference there is
Everyone dances. not only with his
feet, but with all his heart and soul
because he loves II and knows and
feels It is the best and most natural in
depreciation of the JOY of life II Is no
uncommon thing for us Russians to
begin ball at II o'clock at night and
so on until II O'Clock next morning,
and nobody feel tired.
Coficc Is served at about .. the shut
tiers opened and we dance the White
Mazurka' $50 called because II Is
danced by day iighD with as much
spirit as though we had only just be-
gun 10 move our feet. And the same
evening we are ready TO begin all over
again.
SURPRISE DANCES.
YES. We Russians understand all
| the poetry OF motion, and that Is why
| people 20 20 a ballet which lasts for
three hours and more, and enthusiast
tically applaud the best dancers why.
people are so fond OF dancing that
surprise dances are very common dur
ing the carnival. Several friends
secretly plan to invade somebody's
house on a certain evening. Each con-
| spirator brings friends. who have not
the least idea whose house they are
going to until the sleigh drivers get
their directions, Everybody contrib
utes something 10 the supper, which Is
sent In after tho guests arrival. Some
times the peorle thus raided are on the
point OF going To bed. Do they mind?
Not bit Of H. They are delighted TO
entertain the surprise party. Furnl-
ture is pushed on one side. the must
clans. engag ed beforehand by the raid
crs arrive, the supper Is served and
dnncing begins. Everybody is en-
chanted. Yes, we know how to enjoy
ourselves In Russia
u. c. BAsKERvILLE.