The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-05-11

and even there It has survived \,
evasion Of an edict. Modern ,.
lieion, with indoor services, haa n
place for the ecstattstic danca
Oar Unrythnic Lives,
Nor do our amusements and -.
cupationc lend themselves rea6ii,
70 rhythmic Ynimicry. We are ~
that the Greek mAidens plavss
knuckls bones In their dances. a.
the Indians have ARROW, bead, feath.
q and spear dances. symbolic -
their interests.
But when we take modern pa,,,
lels-golf, the automobile, mschin.
cry and airplanes-rhythmic mai.
bilities have seemed negligible Yst
1t may be that the fault is In on,.
selves. Adelaide Genee, the famon,
ballerina. is noted for her remark.
able dance Of the hunt. WHY No,
dance symbolic of the motorist. a.
II It that We are SO close to TIM
automobile that We cannot see In
it the picturesque qualities that
We note At once in the Roman char.
lot? Any tyro at dancing could
give you . chariot dance.
Amateurs gek their ideas Of fre.
dancing from accounts saying thst
the Greeks danced spontaneously
and did not spend long periNi,
training for their festival DANCING
The point overlooked Is that tn
Greeks had strict physical tram
ing In gymnasium, and generally
the heritage of q strong physique
to begin with. The average person
today can with difficulty hold a
pose on one foot for ten seconds
Yet to e5press lishtness in dancing.
the individual must have the BOW.
or to put his body into positions
that are really easy and graceful.
For US, VINO lack the heritage Of
the Greek, this means hard work
But the casual deyotees Of art nut-
ter along. trying to build a TOP
story Of bacchanals and Amazon
dances or q wobbly foundation.
Another scarcely understood fact
is that the Greeks used in their
dances the natural ways of expfess-
ing emotion that are used in real
life. When Jealousy, grief, hatred
and love are strong enough, evya
the fingers, eyes and shoulders re-
spond With certain reactions. Isa-
dora Duacan understood this. She
found the Greeks inspiring because
their dancing expressed emotions
in ways which seemed to her nat
ural and beautiful Her aim was
for the dance to interpret some as
pect Of LIE Just as poem or paint
ing does, not to initiate Greek poses
for the sake OF doing a classic
dance.
Many barefoot dancers. however,
have wandered from this ideal Of
art. They take it that the same
gestures can be used in every
dance and that SO long as 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 a deadly precision
that reduces them to the inspira-
tional level of a Swedish clap
dance.
Greek dancing has been most
popular with US because, in dane
ing, as In other things, we have
more in common with the Euro
pean than with the Oriental. Egyp-
ton and Hindu dancers with
angles. elbows, contortions and,
Turkish trousers have added a
dash OF the exotic to our artistic
efforts. but their vogue has been
limited.
Strangely enough. the American
Indian has never figured to any ca
tent in our REVEALS Of different
styles of dancing. Yet the prim-
tive Indian put religious and emo
tional expression in his dances 10
less than the Greek. The form Of
the Indian dances is often attrac-
tive. It is q mistake to think Of
them as nothing but monotonous
leaping in = circle with grunts from
tho chorus. Indian dancing should
appeal to US. too, because Of its
symbolic and dramatic qualities
Al a people. we respond most
quickly to dancing that tells
story.
We seem to be drawing more or
less inspiration from the various
peoples who made OF dancing an
art. We have this for founda-
ton. And now that the rhythm of
machinery has been put into the
language OF the dance by one pion-
Ger, it il possible that school
may grow up and that we shall
have descriptive and dramatic
dancing with modern themes. 1t
may be the beginning of an Ameri-
can dance art.