The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-06
Frederick Hask1n's Letter
A NesD Home for the Ballet
tsbecisl Corrcspondence Of

koff explains. THAT so many OF
the Russians are in this county
working in different cities proves
that the American people are inter
ested in the art.
whether America can add some
thing to the ballet, as Russia die,
remains to be seen. 1t is not easy
to evolve anything racially char
acteristic out of modern America
because of the melting pot atmOs-
phere. There are possibilities in
the Indian dancing, however. and
negro forms are an almost IN
shutting steps and manneFisms 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 a newspap n
cartoon as the germ of a ballet, get
Adolph Bolm is doing a ballet with
specially written music, based on a
newspaper comic sheet character
called Krazy Kat"
But whether America adds auv
of its personality to the ballet y
not, most of the important ballet
work of the near future will be
done here, Mr.. Tchernikoff believes.
Ballet is featured in operas, spec
tacular stage productions, vaude-
vile programs, and recitals.
Ballet is popular, and yet.
strangely enough, people know
very little of its history or tech
nique. Mr.. Tchernikoff tells Of a
series of recitals given by himself
and several other dancers which
accompanied by lecturers of the
history of ballet and demonstrl-
lions of the exercises and positions
on which ballet dances are built
To most of the audience these eK-
ercises were the novelty of the pro
gram.
Popular FalIacies.
There is a. great deal of misunder-
standing in this country regardinS
the ballet, Mr.. Tchernikoff finds.
For instance" he says, there
is a popular belief that a dancer
must begin studying as a small
child and spend years doing moth
ing but exercises. This idea dis
courages 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 IL years old, and even
then she studied a number of other
subjects at the school which she
attended.
Years of work do not necessar-
lily make great dancer. Many a
ballerina has worked as hard AID
as long as Pavlowa without achieY-
ing prominence because she lacked
the rare combination of a strong
constitution, body suited in build
for ballet work, personality, finish
ed technique, and gift for Panto-
mime Lacking any one OF these
qualities a dancer may just miss
being a star. Yet the idea persists
that the main requisite for a sue
cessful career as a dancer is 10
start training as a child of three.
Another miscOuception regard
ing ballet is that a dancer must be
a monstrosity of muscle. We know
now that there is such a thing a.
over training. The French ballet
dancers used to give unnecessary
attention to exercises that over de-
Veloped certain muscles. The bend
of the knees called a pile wouli
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 F1Hs-
cles so that they were not beauti-
full, and yet there was no paTticI-
lar benefit derived from pTaCticing
this simple bend of the knee 30
Strenuous1y.
Both the muscular back, arm
and leg, and the normal appearing
body are seen on the stage today.
The dancer of great muscle may bs
good technician, but not necRs-
sarily So"
Such fallacies about the ballet
have become deeply rooted, M.
Tchernikoff says, because so little
has been seen of the art in this
country. Until recently, ballet in
the United States was a familiar
spectacle mainly in New York and
Chicago where the big opera cnED-
panies maintain their corps u
dancers. Other cities saw exhibit
tions only enthusiastically. But
now, with the development Of com
munity opera and with ballet
schools springing up over tire
country We have the prospect OF
ballet as a popular American art