The Washington times., 1922-10-26
AnAnlerican B Ballet
Backed By Congress !:
osed By Artist

tain Day 10 Corning When
" 0oysrnmsnt Wnl subsidizs
Great Arts. ~ st
Russia has supplied most. sof; our
famous ballets, but y must; be re-
membered that the school Of dance
H. subsidized by the government.
somehow or other st. seems almost
a foolhardy waste OF time to think Of.
Congress- doing anything similar.
and yet II Will come. Speed. the day.
Iinterpretative dancer and sponsor or
the movement for an American bal
let. st SFI9
= III am going ahead with nay plans
with the 5mosf generops .co-operation
Gnd encotstaEementN from lovers Of
art" she adis.a But what q won.
derful inspiration II would be to have
the ballet Officially recognized by
this great Government. There arc
no pretfief girls In the world than
lour American product, and certainly
there are none 10 uniformly intel!i-
eeht, Ahisrica ~ AI AturA1ly artistic.
We5all howe besutlful thinsA5 but We.
are such atyoung country that II has
lbeen, inevitable we organize our
selves In the more practical things
than dancing, or dny, other Of the
arts. However. that which IL near
TO, our hearts must come % the sur.
face. That eis whyEwe find newly
rich people clamoring. for art, OF
course, i do not mean the vulgar
newly rich. But there ,is, an inclina-
ton In America to. take. up the arts,
once we have earned enough money
70 assure o competence. So, In q
larger. sense, Il believe the tirns viii
come at . not very distant date when
the Government Of The United States
viii see fit to give encouragement to
art students ofgevery kind. rJatur.
ally, The ballet would come INTO Its
own II we had. for tpetapc&a ma.
tional theater, whiclr moYensnt has
been under way for seyrrd years
hast In the fnAantimsl IrayD Belect-
Ing girls Of talent and giving them
the necessary finihE q give the
American bailet hs'foothoM and Inn.
petus."S o. ~ ~. ~. T;sst,sE, =
& Remarkable SuCcess.
!. Miss Hoffman,, who hag remark.
able success in teachint Gthe art OF
linterpretative, dancihE 70 si,1s ani-
bilious for.' stage careers. has dis
! tinctive and almost revolutionary
IDEAS with regard 10 the. training OF
those who must begin their pro
fessionai life in the, ensemble.
THE chorus business In the aver.
age musical comedy does not mean
anything. ~ she says ss"You can
hardly blame the girls II they be-
come mere ,aptomotons In their
work. I seek to impress on every
girl In thes show that she Ii an
important member Of the cast, act.
Ing a specific roles: that she must
always be In the. picture and the
development OF the. story,
II do not uses any number that
has mo plot aof story which viii
give. scope foe ensefhbleS .apd In
divfduai work by everyone f'find
that the girls. most OF whom are
seriously ambitious. ENTER into the
work with great enthusiasm. They
quickly grahp my idea and pu;'.
pose. the result being ! receive "a
co-operatiop from them which Ia
the hest guarantee OF success q
| producer or teacher can have" .,
Individual Effort. >
THE advantage Of individual work
for the ensemble Is that there is no
limit set to progress and production.
Under the old methods IN musical
shows there was very well defined
mark beyond which the producer
could not reasonably hope to i'm.
prove, and one show was Just like
another good one. - 3 '..t =
Breaking down the old stage con
\ Sentions OF musical comedy has been
a treft1endoust task I win not say
II has been accomplished as yet, ex.
cept as far as the revue form is CON.
cerned. ~. >sVEt, ~. :
IAN Of the girls in my dances have
now reached the point where tho
are capable OF solo, work. u mean
\ poise, self-assurance. and an ability
to conport with ease and grace under
the glare Of the spotlight and before
an audience OF critical eyes. il a
natural aftermath .ef this > new
method" y =. - - -. - ! =
| During her Washington engage.
ment at tho Belaseo Theater next
| Uvaek aha, sat<,SSnoa~Itn o.rI !. ..~..scJ