The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-04-20

MISS RUTH full Hindoo and Yogi dances was miss ing
 There was none of the voluptuols
 mysticism the trange. fascinating, ori-
 entalism, the faintly silhouetted per speotive of the exotic east, nor yet the scintillating stars peeping out from a blue, blue sky, nor was there single suggestion of the queer silver sound of
 a tinkly little bell from some mosque nearby.
 snstead;
 Only the soft nuances and shades of a slowly setting sun fell slantingly upon the girl in question, and l realized that it was a far cry from the Ruth St
 Denis l had seen in New York years
 ago, in her Egyptian symphonies. to the
 earnest, gentle young woman who greeted me just as any old friend might have greeted another.
 l had rather expected to encounter
 some Budhistic sort of person in a heavily embroidered gown of cloth of gold with flowing sleeves, curious em- blems upon it;
 You may imagine my surprise when
  dark blue frock of soft chffons, her sil- vered hair coiled softly at the nape of
 the neck and waving about her face, making a sort of halo for her striking profile.
 However, In spite of mere everyday surround ings as soon as Miss St Denis spoke realized that there was about her mysticism and a power that savored of the east, and its surrounding-some- thing notwithstanding almost cryp- tic!
 1 To say that we talked of many things. in. the short shalf hour We were together, would be putting it mildly. 1 Miss St Denis has a mind stored full of rare and interesting lore and the sinuosities with which she handles one sub bject and fits to another is very like her dancing-never dull, never monot- onous.
 Maybe you've heard the story about Miss St Denis how she came from good old Puritan stock who didn't smile upon dancing but rather decried 1t, and so | in her did the repressed poetry and
 music of many old Plymouth Rock an
 cestors have it's fling.
 When I asked her about 1t she laughed a little tinkling bell sort or a laugh and answered:
 "Of course there is some truth In II. 1 I sprang from parents who were any thing but usual. My mother had all the executive ability and my father had the l inventive genius and the combination
 was handed down to me. Far more re-
 markable that the story of my birth to
 which you have alluded. is the one
 which was told in connection with my | East Indian dances and how l started | them l was dancing in Paris in nt- | tie theatre--the Marigny-when 1t came
 to me. At first I nearly cried my poor 1 little eyes out, but my sense of humor
 saved me In the long run. This Is what I it is: They said I was born in India I and that my mother who was heart 1 less creature, left me on the banks or I the Ganges I was carried to con | vent by the good sisters who founu
 me and there growing up learned the | Temple dances, acquiring my apprecia- l tion and Knowledge of the east in that way. Along now comes a flashing, hand some French soldier, who falls in love with me. You know there couldn't be story without handsome dashlng 1 lover in it, and the legend says mar ried him. but that I did not live happy ever afterward. for he, like my cruel mother. abandoned me- and having 10 do something for livelihood, began my Hindoo dances.
 Sounds very press agent-y to me- said knowingly. 1 Miss St. Denis laughed that same little tinkly bell sort of a laugh, and then told me the true. true story about her dances. 1 T was with MT. Belasco for sometime she said, dancing and acting. and doing anything that came up know you will think it was queer inspiration that | led to my dances, but nevertheless 1t IS | true A cigarette picture, the one or ISIS, | which everyone has seen, awakened Tn me something that can scarcely explain
 but it was the idea of the east and It's
 tremendous influence, and l at once re-
 signed from the drama and began to study dancing In Paris and London danced | and finally in Berlin. and it is there that
 I've had my greatest appreciation And why, may I ask?' was my query 1 "It Is odd, but do you know that many criticisms are made of the exposure of the body which dance must of ne- cessity maker" said Miss St. Denis l .-Somehow the older countries, with their | established traditions. can look upon the 1 figure in the nude without sense or being shocked, for there Is an idealism really deeper than the mere physical fig ure An attitude of an audience toward 1 the human body, whether of an actress or a dancer, or a model, registers the general altitude of their mentality. l There's an aesthetic taste that can view the figure in the nude without being of | fended which the wholesome cannot com prehend, hence the young nations cannot | understand. but always look for some I thing occult. something wrong in the ex- posture of the human body in the dance or in any other form of art. Why, the im- lpediment of clothes to the dancer would be like a veil before the mouth of a l singer"
 Dancing is just a means of expression with me of the inner thoughts-that in- tangible thing I am groping for" contin- ued Miss St. Denis, "and really did not understand myself for many years; Tn fact, until agore-Rabindranath Tagore- the great poet showed me certain things in his writings. In Sudhana' (The Real lization of Life) and in his wonderful play, 'Chitra,' I understood"
 "The Indian Love Lyrics of Laurence Hope" continued Miss St. Denis, ap-