Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-10
WY ASHINGTON, May 4.-"The Dance of
M the Machine Gun" was recently en-

"
M the Machine Gun" was recently en-
w acted by a young man at local
amateur performance before hlghly eolIleu
audience. In this artistic effort the young
man took something distinctlVely modern
and tried to interpret the emotions which II
would arouse in sensitive beholder, just as
the early Greeks, the early Egyptians, the
American Indians and many other ancient
and primitive peoples have interpreted the
familiar and striking features OF their lives III
dance.
Opinion was divided as to the merits of the
young mans performance. 1t was, in TACT,
rated all the way from the sublime to the
ridiculous But it had to be conceded that
he was an artistic pioneer OF high order.
Ever since certain stage stars populaHzeo
interpretive dancing in this country some
years ago, the vogue Of it as an art has been
spreading. There are schools of interpretive
dancing in nearly all of our cities. Plump
ladies dance to get thin and thin ladies dance
to get fat, and all Of them dance, OF course,
to express their souls. In addition to the
women, there is a small and courageous band
of male dancers. These are the real martyrs
of the cause, for, although among most prlml-
tive peoples dancing has been more male
than female art, although David in the
Bible danced for the glory of Jehovah in the
face of his Wife's disapproval, solo dancing
has now come to be regarded as primarily
feminine art. Social dancing by couples, of
course, is an entirely different thing, being
a form of communal counting, and llneal
descendant of the social orgies of savage
tribes, and not an artistic effort at all.
But the important point is that this brave
young man of the machine gun dance was
trying to invent an American and modern
interpretive dance, and so get away from
the initiative character of all our dances
Just as our architecture in this country is a
grotesque mixture of Greek, Gothic, English
and Italian with dabs of Oriental, so our
ipto dom hos mi tati Of
Greek, Egyptian and Hipdoo efforts. In
mother is there anything original, anything
100 per cent American" Now our litera-
ture just recently is showing strong signs of
indigenous originality, and our architecture,
dancing and other arts should be able to fol-
low suit.
Some Possible Themes
II the young mans mechanical notion was
followed out, we should have likewise the
dance of the steam drill, the dance of the
steam shovel, and, above all, the dance of
the steam roller, which would afford special
opportunities for the heavy talent which is
so abundant in dancing circles. But the new
American cshOol of dance should express the
soul of the great American people rather
than the mere mechanical externals of it's
Industrial technology. For example, opposed
to the famous bacchanal of the ancient Ro
mans we should have the prohibition dance.
The imagination fairly riots w;th possible
details. Likewise the dance of the blue laws
would surely be one of our masterpieces,
embodying the very soul of our traditional
puritanism. Imagine also dances which in
terpreted the spirit of a great American
amusement park, and think of the effects
which could be wrought in a dance of cleo
ton night, or a dance of the red peril.
Does it strike you as ridiculous? 1t is by
just such interpretations of their national
and racial life that the ancient raised the
dance to a plane of equality with music and
painting as an art. And it is by our failure
to interpret ourselves that we have let it
degenerate into jigging and clogging.
We are at a disadvantage in creating
dance form typical of our period, because
dancing has held almost no place in our lives
as rite or for self-eXpression. In the be-
ginning of the race, the primitive man began
spontaneously to initiate the attractive
rhythm of the waves or grass in the wind.
Then rhythm became an accessory to WOr-
ship, and for centuries, savages, Egyptians,
Creeks and Hebrews danced before their al
tars. But in the early medieval times reli-
gious dancing began to lose favor, until now
only in Spain among civilized nations. is
there any religious dancing, and even there
it has survived by evasion of an edict. Mod
ern religion, with indoor services, has no
place for the ecstatic dance.
Our UnrhythmiC Lives
Nor do our amusements and occupations
lend themselves readily to rhythmic mimicry.
We are told that the Greek maidens played