The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1935-02-20
WORLD the
DANCE
Outstanding Program BY
Dance League
By ELIZABETH SKIP

~ LAN44NSN lAAC nCAACo VI ENEAbS
v celebrating International The
atre Week, and closing its own
Eastern Council, the Workers Dance
League presented a program of its
outstanding group and solo dances
at the Center Theatre last Sunday
for the benefit of the Daily Worker.
Standing room was sold out for the
first time in the history of Radio
City, and, what seemed to this re-
viewer one Of the most encourag-
ing manifestations of cultural ac-
tivity in the revolutionary move
ment, received the most encourag-
ing support from its audience.
Viewed as a cross section of the
revolutionary dance, the recital was
significant in more than one re-
spect. The League presented under
its sponsorship various approaches
to the problem of the proletarian
dance, and the separate performers
gave increasing evidence Of sin
certify and professionalism, display
ing, at the same time, a diversity of
style and subject matter. No at
tempt at RECOMMENDATION by the
League was seen; no one style nor
form Of dancing was labelled the
revolutionary form, and in view of
the youth Of the dance movement
at large, such a policy is wise for
the time being.
This was evident also; that the
infusion of revolutionary theology
in the dance has Of necessity led
to valuable experimentation in
form. The earliest type of expert
ment, the agit-prop dance, repre-
sented by Black and White, has
made way for the styled dance
satire Charity, New Dance Group
which in its revised version received
an ovation; the poster dance Para
site, and the dances to word accom-
paniment, Van der Lubbe's Head,
Time Is experiments which
should be carried to still higher
points of artistry. The Dance League,
in supporting these, as well as the
more generally accepted forms, es-
tablishes a broad base for further
experiments in the dance.
The variety of subject matter
presented at the recital gave the
evening an interesting panoramic
aspect. Black and White, the beau
tiful folk quality in Themes from
a Slavic People, the condemnation
of war in the Anti-War Cycle, or
of Fascism in Van der Lubbe's
Head, the conflict of bourgeois and
proletarian women in Conflict, or
of organized activity VS.. disorgani-
zation in Forces in Opposition, the
JOY of workers in Socialist coun-
tries in Work and Play, all were
instrumental in varying and en-
Iriching the program.
THE presentation of these dances
was not always happy one,
however. Van der Lubbe's Head
VASTLY improved by the effective
reading of the poem by Tony Ross +,
Forces in Opposition mot the best
of the Dance Units work., and
Parasite suffered from bad light
ing. The changes in the two dances
by Tamiris' Group was not we'll
advised; the play section in Work
and Play has become too acrobatic,
and there was an unnecessary sacri-
flee of sublety for humor in the
part of the bourgeois women in
Conflict.
The work of the soloists, on the
other hand, seemed uniformly good
Sophie Maslow's quiet strength and
power grow more effective with
each successive appearance, Nadia
G hi1kov sky's sarcasm, Miriam
Blecher's lyricism, Anna Sokolows
wit, Jane Dudley's dynamic inten-
sity, and Lily Mehlman's fiery vio-
lence, invariably electrify the au-
dience to lusty applause. 1t is to
be hoped that they will soon add
new dances to their still limited
This recital should serve not only
as survey of past work, but
prophecy of future activity. New
groups and soloists need to be de-
veloped, and new works should be
presented by already established
groups. The repertoire of the Work
ers Dance League, although it in
cludes wide range of subject mat
ter, still has comparatively small
number of dances to present to au-
diences.