Great Falls tribune., 1922-04-19
The HQSki11 Letter 81 'ssRss.a1 %ssa
A NEW HOME FOR THE BALLET.

+, are in this country working in different
cities proves that the American people
are interested in the art.
whether America can add some
thing to the ballet, as Russia did, re-
mains to be seen. It is not easy to
evolve anything racially characteristic
out of modern America because of the
| melting pot atmosphere. There are
possibilities in the Indian dancing, how
ever, and negro forms are an almost
untouched field. The cake walk and
shuffling steps and mannerisms of the
negro dances adapted for ballet with
suitable music and settings would be
very interesting.
There are American institutions,
too, that offer dance material. Few
people would think of newspaper car
toon as the germ of ballet, yet
Adolph Bolm is doing ballet with
specially written music, based on q
newspaper comic sheet character called
Krazy Kat"
But whether America adds any Of
it's spersonality to the ballet or not,
most of the important ballet work of
the near future will be done here, Mr..
Tchernikoff believes. Ballet is fea-
tured in operas, spectacular stage pro-
ductions, vaudeville programs, and re-
citals.
Ballet is popular, and yet, strangely
enough, people know very little Of its
history or technique. Mr.. Tchernikoff
tells Of series Of recitals given by
himself and several other dancers
which we're accompanied by lectures on
the history Of ballet and demonstra-
tions of the exercises and positions on
which ballet dances are built. To most
of the audience these exercises were
the novelty Of the program.
Popular FaIIacies
There is great deal Of misunder-
standing in this country regarding the
ballet, Mr.. Tchernikoff finds.
For instance" he says, ''there is
a popular belief that a dancer must
begin studying as small child and
spend years dc ng nothing but exer
cises. This idea discourages many
aspirants to ballet who feel that they
cannot enter the work because they
missed this early training. Pavlowa
did not begin to study dancing until
she was about II years old, and even
then she studied a number of other
subjects at the school which she at
tended.
Years of work do not necessarily
make great dancer. Many ballerina
has worked as hard and as long as
Pavlowa without achieving prominence
of a strong constitution. body suited
in build for ballet work, personality.
finished technique, and gift for pan
tomime. Lacking any one of these
qualities a dancer may just miss being
star. Yet the idea persists that the
main requisite for successful career
as a dancer is to start training as
child Of three.
another misconception regarding
ballet is that dancer must be mon
strosity Of muscle. We know now that
there is such thing as over-training
The French ballet dancers used to
give unnecessary attention to exercises
that over developed certain muscles
The bend of the knees called a Pile
would be practised by ballet dancer
four times in each of the five positions
of the feet, alternating the right and
left foot, or 40 times in all. This would
develop the knee muscles so that they
were not beautiful. and yet there was
no particular benefit derived from
practising this simple bend of the knee
so strenuously.
"Both the muscular back, arm and
leg, and the normal appearing body are
seen on the stage today. The dancer
Of great muscle may be good tech
nician, but not necessarily So"
Such fallacies about the ballet have
become deeply rooted. Mr.. Tchernikoff
says, because SO little has been seen
of the art in this country. Until re-
Gently. ballet in the United States was
a familiar spectacle mainly in New
York and Chicago where the big opera
companies maintain their corps of
dancers. Other cities saw exhibitions
only semi occasionally. But now, with
the development Of community opera
and with ballet schools springing up
over the country we have the prospect
of ballet as popular American art.