New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-05-03
VIOLET R0MER DANCES
California Girl Delightful in
OriginaI interpretations.

The pleasures OF the dance. depending az
they do not only upon the lightness and
grace and rhythm Of the dancer but upon
her power 10 create images and impulses
which the one who watches perhaps never
had before. require that the dancer be an
actress well.
Few dancers have this power. They
merely dance and pose in a certain har-
mony OF feeling and rhythm with the
music which they in this vague way inter-
pref.
The young California girl. Violet Romer.
the Oriental dancer in "Kismet,' who gave
her first dance concert IN this city yester-
day afternoon at the Kinckerbocker Thea
ire. is instinctively an actress IA we'll as
a born dancer. She is unframed. except by
constant practice, which may, in the case
Of dancing, be as good instruction as any
other But though her technique may not
be finished she is curiously original in her
movements and goes deep into the music in
her Interpretation Of what it means to her.
Accompanied by Nahan Franko and his
orchestra. Miss Romcr performed an I'M
usually trying and varied programme of
dances. In the first group were the Shep-
herds Dance. by German: Tschaik"wsky
Andante Cantabilc and William j. Nc
COy's Dance of the Young l1amadryad. the
last Of which was originally composed for
one of the revels Of the Bohemian Club OF
San Francisco.
The second dance group was an nterpre-
talon of the Psyche Myth. following both
i'm substance and feeling the exquisite rem
dering Of the story given bv Walter Pater
L.. ~. the
was taken from four different composers
Tschakowsky, Grieg, Elgar and Neruda.
The last dance on the programme was
the Danse Macabre of Saint-Saens, al
though Miss Romer gave Two encores-
Mendslssohu's spring Song and the HUI
Lloresque ot Dvordk.
Whether there WAS moro music in the
orchestra or ON tho stage II would be diai-
cult 10 say. 80 IUll Of the spirit Of music
we're all or the dancers m"vemrIts. Rather
than attempting TO impersonato the COM
position, however, she seemed 10 be re-
spending 10 it, dancing under the Influence
of the music. In the shepherds Dance
she was not only both pastoral and pagan,
but humorous tho hur1or Of a young ant
NAL at play. She beckOned 10 the sheep.
hallooed TO the Winds and laughed With
hooking glee-an IN charming pantomime.
In the andante of Tschaikowsky. on the
other hand. which she danced in tho mys-
FERROUS glow Of two single beams of Hight.
she was spiritual and ethereal TO a point
OF almost complete uureality. As the spirit
Of a tree in the dance of the Hamadryad
she had certain Enomelike hunor that
was both grotesquc and whimsical.
Of la nm INC
cessfuI features Of Miss Romer's ImaGin-
ings. In every case they revealed her slen-
der grace. her straight limbs. Her strange
~ expressive arms were always bare to the
shoulder. In the hndante Cantabilc she
foated on the music with her arms, through
which she seemed able 10 pass "A curious
wavelke motion slow ~ and without Effort.
! curtain Of plush In a soft dark green.
and hanging in rich folds. formed an en-
tirely satisfying background. aud IN some
way managed to suggest trees and deep
forest or a rich interior. 81 "a mysterious
night SKY. TO suit whatever dance was on.
Miss Romer was discovered IN san Fran
cisco by Mare klaw and sent by him 10
Paris and London. in the latter Of which
cities she danced during the coronation sea-
son last June at the Coliseum. Thence she
was brought here b. Harrison Grey Fiske
to do the Oriental dance In "kismet'
There Is nothing 10 complain about In
yesterdays delightful dance concert except
that there is as yet 10 promise II It's ropcu-
ten. There is something genuinely Amer
can IN tho ire and spirit. thu grace. refine
ment and self-possession ~ Miss Nomers
work. and IN cntirely original and fresh
Imagination which f. tho America OK tho