Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-10
MODERN TERPSICHORES-By Frederic J. Haskin

knuckle bones in their dances, and the In
dians have arrow, bead, feather and spear
dances, symbolic of their interests.
But when we take modern parallels
golf, the automobile, machinery ana ar
planes-rhythmic possibilities have seemed
negligible. Yet it may be that the tault Is
in ourselves. Adelaide Genee, the famous
ballerina is noted for her remarkable dance
of the hunt. Why not a dance symbolic Oh
the motorist? Or is it that we are so close
to the automobile that we cannot see in 1t
the picturesque qualities that we note at
once in the Roman chariot? Any tyro at
dancing could give you chariot dance
Amateurs get their ideas of free dancing
from accounts saying that the Greeks danced
spontaneously and did not spend long pc
RODS training for their festival dancing. The
point overlooked is that the Greeks had strict
physical training in gymnasium, and gen.
orally the heritage of strong physique to
begin with. The average person today can
with difficulty hold pose on one foot 1or
ten seconds. Yet to express lightness in
dancing, the Individual must have the power
to put his body into positions that are really
easy and graceful. For us, who lack the
heritage of the Greek, this means hard work.
But the casual devotees of art flutter along.
trying to build top story of bacchanals and
Amazon dances on a wobbly foundation.
Another scarcely understood fact is that
the Greeks used in their dances the natural
ways of expressing emotion that are used in
real life. When jealousy, grief, hatred and
love strong enough, even the fingers,
eyes and shoulders respond with certain re-
actions. Isadora Duncan understood this
She found the Greeks inspiring because their
dancing expressed emotions in ways which
seemed to her natural and beautiful. Her
aim was for the dance to interpret some
aspect of life just as poem or painting
does, not to initiate Greek poses for the sake
of doing a classic dance.
haro
wandered from this ideal of art. They take
it that the same gesture can be used In every
dance and that so long a step is graceful
it is appropriate. This leads to the confused
waving of arms and legs with which so many
dancers greet the Hungarian Rhapsody
and Chopin's Funeral March, alike. Then,
too, we have the other extreme of Greek
dances produced with deadly precision that
reduces them to the inspirational level of a
Swedish clap dance.
Greek dancing has been most popular with
us because in dancing, as in other things.
we have more in common with the Euro
pean than with the Oriental. Egyptian and
Hindu dancers with angles, elbows, contor-
tions and Turkish trousers have added
dash of the exotic to our artistic efforts, but
their vogue has been limited.
Strangely enough, the American Indian has
never figured to any extent in our revivals
OF different styles of dancing. Yet the prim-
tive Indian puts religious and emotional ex-
preston in his dances no less than the Greek.
The form Of the Indian dances is often at
tractive. 1t is mistake to think of them
as nothing but monotonous leaping in cir
Gle with grunts from the chorus. Indian
dancing should appeal to us, too, because Of
it's symbolic and dramatic qualities. AS
people, we respond most quickly to dancing
that tells story.
We seem to be drawing more or Jess in
SEPARATION from the various peoples who made
of dancing an art. We have this for foun-
datIon. And now that the rhythm of ma
chinery has been put into the language of
the dance by one pioneer, it is possible that
a school may grow up and that we shall have
descriptive and dramatic dancing with mod
ern themes. 1t may be the beginning of an
American dance art.
Mrs. Robinson would never take her hus-
bands golf seriously. She was one of those
people to whom all games are an absolute
mystery.