Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-28
DIAGHTLEFFS BALLET
OPENS IT'S SEASON
AT METROPOLITAN
Famous Corps of Russian
Dancers Seen in a Notable
Program of Classic and
Modern Ballet
COMBINATION OF 8 ARTS

After all the glowing things that have
been said, and after all the silly things
that have been done in connection with
Serge de Diaghileffs Ballet Russo, the
first performances by this wonderful
group of dancers at the Metropolitan last
night tended to have something of the
atmosphere Of ant-climaX. The nature
of the ballets and their personnel, the
details of costuming and scenery, the
music and the choreography, were all
set out with much circumstance in the
EVENING LEDGER Of last Saturday, and
two Of the ballets danced last night were
reviewed from New York performances
more than a month ago. The higher CEN
Eors of art have sat in the police courts
of other cities and found this strange
importation offensive or inoffensive, ac-
cordng to the dictates of their infallible
judgment The dilettante has waved his
hands and the stold man of affairs has
been captivated. The Russian ballet has
been called a new philosophy of life,
which 1t probably Is not. and an outrage
TO public decency, which It certainly Is
not. And now for the week before the
return to New York 1t is ours.
Yet 1t Is In the nature of this singli-
larly energetic and magnetic blending
of three arts that 1t retains n freshness
end an appeal in spite of the ravages of
time Last night the representations
ranged from the gnomes and Eeni of a
fairy story through the fantastic per-
sonages OF a commedia dell arte to the
sensuous and bloody characters of a
tragedy of love, and at each moment
there was the impress of clear and NOV
Ing reality. 1t was to be sure. not the
reality of every day: that is what saves
the ballet from discussions and prob
lens. 1t was the more significant reality
of an artistic Illusion.
of the three sets two were by Leon
Balkst and one by Golovine. and of those
by Bakst the second. for "Carnaval" was
undistinguished and i'll lighted. For
IL Oiseau de Feu" CThe Firebirtl), Colo
vine designed a set as whimsical, as
variegated and fantastic as the music of
Igor Strawinsky for the same ballet. Grin
ming faces in the gates and in the windy
clouds, arabesuues towering into the skies
carmine turrets which flashed into scar
let, as the light of an unearthly day
sprang upon them, and out of such details
scene which grew with the progress OF
the fairy drama from the exotic to the
sinister and then into joyous and exultant
actuallty-these were the achievements of
Golovine For the "Scheherazade" there
was the new decoration of Bakst, no
longer in the soft yellows and contrasting
blues, Instead the harem was in green.
dark and with brownsh splotches. and
four scarlet pillars burned at one side.
For this the costumes were transposed to
monies and the same dssonances. They
were pink and green and blue, and the
indescribable investture of the fathless
queen all beautiful to the eye and, in the
weaving of the dances dazzling.
With the eye and the ear so disposed
Of there should have been another fac
ulty which could attend to the dancing
and the drama of the ballets. Actually |
the appeal came through the vision and
was blended, as said before, with the |
glorious settings devised There was much |
in this modern dancing which stemmed |
from the older, the now unfairly desplsed |
five positions ballet Indeed, the "Carna-'I
val" was a bit of this exquisite ancient |
dance remade with new passion, yet |
restrained and delicate as 1t must be- In |
the other two 1t would be more just to |
speak of mimicry, of pantomime, first and I
dancing afterward. For essentially the |
"Scheherazade and "L'Oiseau de Feu" |
are dramas enacted in posture and line |
and movement and gesture and express
sion. Whenever these elements fit into
the scheme of choreography they are so |
utilized but they have their place apart.
1t was impossible as one sat before the
ballets to separate them into their COM
ponents. 1t is equally impossible, when
one is away from them, to give any sense
of their unity Even to catalogue the
emotions portrayed were not easy for
they ranged from the chlldlike simplicity
of faith in the first piece to the mad riot
of lust and death in the last, In each,
the suggestion of love or death was made
through beauty--of line, of color, of light,
of movement. To be touched by the elo-
quence Of II all was inevitable, but IL was
an eloquence beyond translation. The
passion for beauty, the fervor of energy
are a little ill-at-ease in our lives and
the overwhelming of the senses which
they bring we are inclined TO fancy un-
or, If we be humorists immoral
But we recognize the higher power, and
even our protests are homage 10 1t.
C. " S.