Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-22
RUSSIAN BALLET INVADES
AND CONQUERS AMERICA
Scenery, Dancing, Costumes and Music Com
bined in a Revelation of What the
Arts Can Accomplish

xrr1TH all the glory Of its European tri-
w umphs shining bravely about its
,sad. the Russian Ballet came to America
,.s, Monday night. Some time In March
~. same ball seasoned by long tour,
.or,ss TO Philadelphia for week, which
.a,st he the grand climax of the years
..,,s,ic. efforts In Paris the Ballet Russo
mare than a sensation; 1t was almost
soandal: duels were fought, Auguste
1odin lost standing with the Government,
~. n,ices scared to 80 francs for seat
"a the art of decoration was revolution
,.od Here there win probably be no
auels, except of wits, but the spectacle Of
,bree arts, magnihcently conceived and
sarhined will create tremendous i'm
.,,so toward beauty, and every word
rhicb can be spoken In welcome should
" For another week the ballet will be Wis
,hi. at the Century. and the Philadel-
nhIan who finds himself in New York Of
an evening need have no doubts as to
where to go. But, unless one is warned
heforehand a disappointment surely
swsits those in quest of the old ballet
sor II exists in the troupe of NJ Serge
Az Diaghileff only by courtesy. In the
dress rehearsal, which anticipated In
avery respect the first program, there was
hut one number which could be identi-
aed as pure ballet. The rest, and the i'm
nortant feature of the season, is really
uantomime, with music, and gorgeously
costumed and set Movement, gesture.
( eIpression of emotions by attitude of
limb of body or of face predominant in
the ''FIrebird" LOiseau de Feu) and in
"scheherazade" In THE Midnight Sun"
isoleil de Nut) arrangement and COM
bination of dancers are far more impor-
tant than the dancing itself And in no
|. case. since Nljinsky is not of the com
many, is individual dancing to be COM
pared with the total effect of groups.
II would be useless to attempt lodging
!. the Nijnsky- Karsavina issue. The first
thing that needs to be said is that there
has been no breach of good faith VI.
de Diaghieff Is not an American, and the
direction of the Metropolitan is not COM
posed purely of business men. Moreover,
the presumption is all in their favor, for
n these two artists were never expected
the publicity department would not have
wasted four months, and heaven knows
how many columns of newspaper and
magazine space, in advertising them. NJ.
Njnsky is held in Austrian Poland.
Should he be freed in time for the latter
part of the season, that would be a mir
acle and blessing. But 1t is rather good
not to have great individuals in ballet
where so much attention must be given
to the whole.
The Four Ballets
The four ballets exhibited in the first
program, and seen by the writer at the
dress rehearsal, introduced music by Igor
Strawinsky, scenery and costumes by
Golovine, Bakst and Laronof. and chore-
ography by Fokine, as novelties. The
1scheherazade' has been danced in
america before; the STYLE of dancing I'm
The Enchanted Princess is more than
familiar. And 1t must be said that for
, Individual dancing the fragile beauty of
Anna Pavlowa and the dash of Michael
Mordkn are not eNcemed by the stars of
the present aggregation. What Paw
Iowa has always lacked has been just
such a director as Diaghileff and just
such feeling for the united trinity of
( the arts as is making the Ballet Russo