The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-11-21

ber- the walls
Of the studio were lined with mir
rorS.
This, It seemed, was the home
Of the Ballet Theater, the FORE
most American ballet company in
all the land. According to MT.
Alexander Kahn, short, cheer
fun and emphatic man who is the
organizations shepherd, the war
has shifted the ballet capital Of
the world from London to New
York, and the magnet for all the
truly great choregoprahers is now
the Ballet Theater.
What Mr.. Kahn and Mr.. Rich.
ard Pleasant, another Of the bal
let's progenitors, would like to
see is a truly American ballet,
freed from the rigidity Of the old
Imperial Russian school and yet
retaining all the great contribu-
tions to ballet that this school
has given.
FUSION
BALLET
The word American" Is used
in Its best sense - the fusion Of
the best OF many foreign talents.
Thus, although the corps de ballet
is predominantly native, 1t also
boasts Russian, Danish, Italian,
Mexican and English dancers. One
girls grandfather was the Gov
ernor Of Greenland and her
grandmother an Eskimo.
am not q "ballet-maniac," but
to say that we were intrigued
when we learned that william
Saroyan was contributing the see
mario of a ballet to this group Is
putting 1t mildly. Just what, we
inquired, would be the subject
chosen by the author Of 1.-THE Time
of Your Life, which tickled the
critics to death without any Of
them knowing why. The title, I
discovered, was IAN Episode In
the Life of the Great American
Goof," and the actual choreogra-
ply was to be by Eugene Loring.
In addition to being something
new for Mr.. Saroyan 1t Is going to
be something pretty startling for
the ballet -- since this one will be
the first to employ dialogue.
While telling all this, Mr.. Kahn
was shutting me from one re-
hearsal room to the next. In one
we saw kindly, bald-headed old
gentleman seated In a chair call
ing out directions rapidly either
in Auglicized Russian or Russified
English-we couldn't tell which.
This was the great F'okine,
whose ballet composition for the
old Diaghiliev company are still
being given all over the world.
He was rehearsing a group to do
q revival Of his famous "Caraa.
val" In the corridor I ran into
Miss Patricia Bowman on her way
to another rehearsal and ! follow
ed her.
UNCANNY
TRANSFORMATION
The ballet in which the lovely
Miss Bowman figured was called
Lady Into Fox" an adaptation
Of the novel by David Garnett. Or
iginally done In England 1t was
brought here for q special presen-
tation by its choreographer, an
English miss named Andree How
ard. The crux Of the ballet Is the
transformation Of the girl dancing
the part Of the Lady, into a Fox.
The movements Of Miss Bow
man, as I watched her, changed
from that of woman to that Of
an animal-an uncanny sight that
raised the hairs on the back Of
my neck. The dancing was inter-
rupted frequently by Miss How
ard. mo, no, Pat" she would
tell Miss Bowman, you see, the
idea Is to keep the hands before
the face with the fingers quite
closed. DO you follow me?" Pat
invariably did.
We learned q lot Of things
watching the dancers practice be-
fore the mirrors. For instance,
nowadays, well-trained ballerinas
never have the bunchy muscles
and oyer-developed thighs once
thought an inevitable consequence
Of work. Also, ballet dancing Is
recommended by doctors In GER
tain cases Of infantile paralysis to
overcome defect Of carriage. We
could hardly believe this until
introduced to Mana Gollner, CO.
starring ballerina, who was af-
flicted with the disease as q very
small child and danced her way
to complete recovery. She en-
joyed 1t SO much she kept right
at 1t and made dancing her liveli-
hood.
Eventually the Ballet Theatel
hopes to become an established
foundation where doting mamas
may bring their children who as
pire to dance at an early enough
age to train them correctly. The
best age to begin is seven. Then,
II 1t Is discovered that they have
no talent It will save parents
money and children heartbreak to
find out at once.