The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-02-19
Comedy, Winning Mssc Bfjou

lection. For more than 100 years the land of the Czar has given special atten- ton to developing dancers, and 1t is upon | this art that Russia lays one of her chief claims to distinction
 | In Moscow and St. Petersburg there are | two ballet or dancing schools, the Marian sky institute at Moscow being perhaps the | more noted because 1t is from this insti- tution that the greater number of the worlds famous dancers have been grad | rated. Mariansky was originally sort | ot orphans home, haven for waifs and | fcundlings. This was a century ago. | Ballet training was one of the features | of the curriculum. The government sec | ing the possibilities in some of the stu dents decided to make Mariansky train l ing school for dancers. In 75 or more years this school has grown in extent and Influence until attendance there Is looked | upon as one of the highest of honors. Once each year the Czar or some of his agents selects six boys and six girls of ages ranging from to 9 years. These children are usually the sons and daugh- ters of the higher class of merchants and
 men of affairs generally. Nominations for entrance to this school is a rare honor | and is eagerly sought after. Once a child | Is entered in the school he or she becomes | ward of the Russian government, and
 Is subject to discipline far stricter than that which American youth undergo at Annapolis or West Point. When the chill dren enter their minds and bodies are easily formative so that all the art they | learn in the succeeding years becomes a 1 part of their very natures With them 1 1t Is work. work, work. 12 hours day, l six days week, 12 months a year, with never holiday until they reach the age | ga fnIl | and drama; the finer passions and spirit
 ual aspirations which have found express
 sion through physical motion. Music, lit erature, science, and all of the academic
 and liberal arts must be studied before
 the. student Is ready for entrance to the Imperial ballet in St. Petersburg Either
 the students succeed by the time they are
 Is or they are forced to leave the school. l At the age of 1S Russia sends her Terp- | sichorean children out into the world
 to dazzle and enthral. From then until
 they are 32 when 1t would seem they had
 reached the very heighth of fame, flash | and flame across the Armament of their
 art. and then sink quickly and quietly into oblivion to retire on comfortable pen sion for the rest of their lives
 It Is in such a stern school that Mile Pavlowa and M. Mordkin have been
 pupils. She Is 26 and he Is 2S Artistical- | ly. they have but a few years to live. To-
 
 poetry of action, the art these wizards
 Interpret, have our opportunity. Tomor- row 1t may be too late.
 Last March Pavlowa and Mordkin came to America for a three weeks appearance
 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New
 York They and their art were unknown ono night but the next day all the city
 was singing their praises; they had
 danced their way into the hearts and heads Of all, for never. before had such
 whirlwind of pure artistry of a char
 acter unheard of in the United States been
 presented to dazzle and elevate. But great as was these dancers success they
 were called home by Czar Nicholas. Their going was astounding and occasioned
 sincere regret. Because of the wonderful
 success of the Russian ballet, the Metro polftan Opera House management In con junction with Messrs Max Rabinoff and G. P. Centanini, arranged with the Rus
 sian government to bring these artists
 once more to America A 2s weeks
 tour was planned. The Metropolitan Opera
 house, New York. claimed six weeks, and 20 weeks were given to a whirlwind tour of America. extending from Boston to Los Angeles and from Montreal to New Or leans. The company of 75 or more artists
 started from New York on October 10, and whirled about from city to city in a, spe- cial train. playing single engagements in large cities in the United States and Can ada. New Orleans Is the only city aside from New York where an engagement of
 more than two days is scheduled sThe appearance here at the Shubert theatre Is for single performance.
 Everywhere the artists have been greeted by more than capacity audiences, hundreds of persons in every city being unable to gain admission to the audi tcriums in which these artists have ap- peared. Newspaper critics throughout
 the land have fairly. raved over these ar tfkts and their art Never before has such praise been given. The other day, well known New York writer wrote his estimate of Mile. Pavlowa and M. Mord- kin His words. which follow. seem to ex- press exactly the personalities of the two stars:
 "Pavlowaanah, she is breathing jewel. Ono moment she seems to laze and softly glow, as pearl before 'tis uncoated or topaz e'er 1t has known the wheel; then of sudden she dartles and flames, flashes and fiares-until the sense of heat,
 soaring heat. comes with her. Pavlowa Is darkness and sunlight. mysticism and materialism, she Is all of hate and all of love; she is the rainbow in the form or a woman; she is the storm and peace
 of nature-she is the most perfect thing I ever saw--except it be Mordkin
 And MOrdkin-he comes down from
 Olympus holding the ages in their beauty by the hand show us how far we have
 wandered from the ideals which the
 Greeks set for us. He Is classicism
 made fiesh-with warm blood running in
 its veins Still almost a youth. his mus
 cles cling about his heroic proportions
 like coiled snakes. After he takes his first step he is a mobile figure of bril-
 liant bisque with midnight locks and flashing teeth. His leaps. his turns his panther-like bounds, have in them the n mt a an1 of living" f<
 Such flowers have been laid before few heroes. .ss
 On the programme which will be pre- sented here there are Russian national dancers, Bohemian dancers, Polish dan cers, Hungarian dancers, waltzes of half dozen different characters. and, in fact, dancers of all kinds to please all tastes;
 and then there are the two wonderful
 ballets-the ocular operas perfected-"Gis- ellie or the Fairies of the Forest" and
 'sThe Arabian Nights" '"The Legend of