The Washington times., 1912-03-15
Julia Murdock Tells of the Artistic
Temperament of Miss Lydia LopoukoCva

A little bit of floating thistle down,
ike a creature from another world: a
ghdlng, spinning, gleeful embodiment OF
poetic Keeling expressed in grace; q
Dody that depicts first laughing story,
.then mute but none the less dreadful
Tragedy; movements that tell tales of
the happiness, of living, of the Joy of
love, of intoxication, of terror, and of de-
spair In such soundless Cadences as only
the body In its primitive understanding
and expression knows how to use songs
with no notes to mar their mute mel
Iody; laughs that ripple from capricious
limbs, and sorrow that tells itself in
bended knees and broken body, disdain-
ing the art of words-this is lydia
.Lopoukowa, premiere danseuse assoluta.
who is here this week at the Belasco
'Theater.
And though she is the youngest pre-
miere danseuse who has ever come ont
OF her native country, and though the
Car of all the Russias has conferred
upon her his favor, and that of his
Czarina; though she had danced befoI e
monarchs of many other countries, and
though she has received ovations wher-
ever She has appeared, this little
creature from the land where tempera-
ment is supposed to run rampant, and
despite the fact that she has received
suficient admiration to turn the head
! of an ordinary mortal, this petite Rus
sian girl has remained unspoiled and
perfectly natural She has proven too.
to those who have watched her care err
since she first made her appearance
! IN America two years ago, that she has
something to recommend her besides a
pretty Cace, and the ability to dance.
And best of all, she IS not afflicted
with what is usually called "elephan-
tiaisis" of the temperament.
Artist Declares
She's Now American.
! There is usually considerable Of this
same temperament let loose on the
stage when manage are handling for
Ieign stars, especially those stars who
come from Russia. Nearly every one
of these people whose names begin
down toward the end of the alphabet
and travel all the way up without
missing a consonant en- route, have
the merry habit OF raising Cain now
and then. Sometimes it is because one
OF them finds his or her name not quite
SO near the top of the program as that
of some fellow artist. Sometimes il
is because one artist is favored with a
nice, Cozy dressing room, while the
other is consigned to an apartment in
the subbaSement of the theater, down
3 PmOnR the mice and the SteampiDeS. II
doesn't take much to set off a string
of cracking squirting verbal fireworks
when these foreign artists and artistes
are on the bill, but at all the outbursts
OF her Countrymen, the little Lopouko-
wa snaps her tiny fingers, smiles and
tosses her head and says, "Oh we'll
let them fuss if they wish ! am an
American now. so l shall not fight like
a Russian"
Yet Lydia Lopoukowa is impulsive.
nervous, and high strung. She is
genius. too, and as such she has a
right to display certain earmarks of the
abnormal woman, even to indulge in
Temperament" once in while, II she
desires. But she is a girl of a most
extraordinary type, as quick as light
ming to catch an impression, and as
wise and gentle as a saint when she Is
studying out some deep problem that
has presented itself. She is a brainy
girl. and has seriously taken up the
study of the English language, Ameri-
can literature and United States poll
tics. She Is a Roosevelt Republican,
for the name of Roosevelt was the first
American name she ever heard. At that
time she was tiny little girl in school
in her native town in Russia, and after
she learned more about Roosevelt she
was an omniverous devourer of every
scrap of information she could obtain
regarding the man who was then Pres
idant of the United States.
"1 would vote for him II | were a
man." she said to the writer yester-
day, land when I come of age, l shall