Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-01-28
HOW THE FEET
AND BODY SPEAK
Continued from page 10

COHHEHtd Vo" P06e ~
preston, is based on the same thing as it
obtains in the workaday world. If you have
| seen a man of your acquaintance consumed
| with hatred, and have noticed his feet at the
moment when his feeling of anlmosity was
screwed up to its highest PITCH you have un-
doubtedly observed that his feet actually
looked heavy, that they literally Rugged the
ground. Accordingly in the silent drama
of motion, this is the first lesson to the pupil
in the conveying of the quality of hate in the
danced play. The feet, however, are only
one item. The body must shoot the idea of
hate across the stage into the auditorium in
lieu of dialogue and in lieu of the usual large
reliance upon mobile features and facial ex-
preston. The secret of conveying the idea
of hate, as of the numerous other emotions,
through the body, has been gained by the
Russians only after long and thorough
study and observation of men and women
in real life when they were enveloped IN a
spirit of hatred. As many persons who have
not studied the matter IN point carefully
may suppose, the body IS not inclined for
ward toward the object of hatred. Neither
is the body drawn back.
As a matter of fact, when a man Tor
woman) hates another man, his hatred pro-
iects back into his head a spirit of strength
in himself, and his body takes on upright
rigidity. Show this through the body of the
dramatic dancer, and your audience will
feel the quality of hatred that has to be pro-
jected by the dancer at once, even if the
audience has long believed that the body
takes on different attitude in hatred. This
may seem bit of paradox; but it is not 1t
is quite the same as in the case of laughter
in your spoken plays. The playwright
writes the laughter, "Ha, ha, ha' and the
actor Stimulates laughter by giving vent to
these sounds. Probably not one person in
five hundred, when he laughs, makes a
sound like @Ha, ha, hal; but the fact re-
mains that laughter, closely analysed, does
resolve itself into the sound of the combined
H and A. So, too, in hating, no matter
what variations of physical attitude indi-
ciple, the analysis of the body poise in the
case, is the same. And the audience is forced
psychologically to realize this.
The professor of body drama, Furthermore,
is careful not to confuse himself with equivo-
cal synonyms. Despite the fact that abhor
and abominate, for example, are held to be
synonymous with hate. they really are not
exactly synonymous. This is a proved fact
in dance drama Poise and movement must
be carefully shaded to suit the slightest change
of thought that the alleged synonyms regis
ter in the audiences mind.
For many years the danced drama, as seen
in Russia, was merely remote imitation of
that of the Italian and French schools; but
the silent drama of movement, the ne1u art
that am trying to tell you Of here, had its
birth with the foundation of the Govern
ment-fostered Mariensky Institute. Allied
with the Interpretation of drama through
motion, is the Interpretation of the work of
the great composers through action. Just
as dramatic feeling may be conveyed with
| the body SO may the feeling, the message, of
| music be conveyed in the same way Would
you believe, for instance, that in studying
| the manner in which to interpret music with
| the body, scales are sometimes used on which
feet are employed in place Of musical notes?
Thus are the changing positions of the dane
ing feet regulated to the music. Thus are
the dramatic musical messages Of famous
composers translated by physical action. To
explain this secret more simply, allow me to
speak in simpler terms.
| Take yourself, for instance and the re-
spouse your body makes to music. You will
admit | am certain, that your body-yes,
mean body, and not merely heart and mind
responds to different kinds of music in
different ways. If the music is of the mar
| tial order, your body unconsciously assumes
an erect poise, your shoulders straighten
themselves out YOUR head sets itself bit