ADELINE GENEE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1890, 27 October 1913, Page 2

ADELINE GENEE.

AN INTERVIEW. [BY IMOGEN.] For a long time Wellington peoplo have been looking forward to the visit of Mdlle. Gonee. .In England and America.it is stated that she is regarded with a roverenco that almost reaches idolatry, so completely has she captivated til® people. She is very potito and dainty in appearance; with all the fairness that has corao to bo associated with. Norso aneostry, and she speaks' with just ,tho slightest suspicion of a foreign accent, in a voice that is expressive and full of dclicato inflexions. Geneo is evidently a vagrant by nature, for travelling is one of her freat-est pleasures in life. "That is wily have como out here," sho ; answered, in reply to a question as to whether she did not liate leaving England for so long a time. "It is beeauso I love travelling so that I have visited America, Australia, and New Zealand. And after all is it not something to have pioneered danoing in Australia,, and also, I be* lio'/o, in New Zealand, for they toll me, it 19 tho first timo that a dancer, carrying on the tradition of the true ballot, has visited this •country. We are not mercenary, and to realise beauty so that others may see it as' they have not yet seen it is worth something." Hsr Recreations. The greatest drawback fai connection with such distances lay 'in the fact that- while on board the steamer she was not able to practise. For eight weeks she was idle—eight weeks out .• of a lifetime— and tho look of Mdllo. Geneo suggested ■unutterable horror at the bare remembrance of such a waste of time in connection with her belovtxl art. Can yeu go in for sport, such as tenuis or golf, or anything _ else that way, or does such.exorcise injure the surencss and balance of tho muscles? she was asked. "Dancing and walking are the only 'sport* I go'in for." she smijod back. "You see, using, the muscles of the arms and tho chest in tho way they would be used m these games, Would spoil their smoothness in movement, and would develop them where they were not wanted to bo developed. One would lose tho power ef using tho arms in just the way that was wanted, and although there aro dancers who do these things, their art suffers." The Wedding of Muslo and Movement Holding her art in such rovejonce as she docs, it is natural that only the very best of musie must bo associated with it, and so it is that madame looks to Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, X)elibes, and also Dora Bright, for her inspiration. In it's earliest forin dancing wa3 only the expression of feelings, but now it is the expression of tho music which contains and represents those feelingß, and is a dramatisation of movement in harmony with the music. Mdllo. Geneo has been surprised, at the susceptibility to artistio impressions, of the people in Australia, and also in Auck-' land, and tho rapidity with which they, seized upon tho meaning of tho ballot she might bo dancing. "They might not realise the intricacy of the steps and all the finesse of tho art which is being placed before them, but they Sensed its core. The. other, of course, could not bo expected, as they had not had tho opportunity and tho training for realising all that was involved in tho representation. It is in tho history of her art that tho great dancer is particularly interested, and all the characters she has represented have been carefully studied from productions, drawings, and historical records to be found either' in • the British Museum or. in tho 'Wallace collection, as in the caso of La Margo, who was tho first woman to wear tho now traditional short ballot skirts, and who, being a pioneor in this direction, - had to undergo the usual storm.of abuse and ridicule that all pioneera have to undergo. La Camargo was the pupil of Madame Provost, who was the first , woman to take part in the ballot which had up to then been performed by men only. The World's Eldorado. The passing of the Waterside Workers' Band in tho street bolow, and playing as it wont, made Mdllo. Geneo give utterance to an impression she. had formed. ■ "I think Australia and New Zealand must bo the Eldorado of the- working peoplo," she said with a laugh. "Docs anyone ever dp any work"? Wherever I go it is always a holiday. Just before I left Auckland I sent my maid out to do somo shopping for me. She returned without tho things. It wan a holidny, so wo had to lenvo without them. ' The next place we stopped at she went out again to get thorn, and returned as she went. , A holiday I Tho next placo, it was tho samp, and on Saturday when I arived in Wellington, I am told it is a holiday and the shops aro closed. What a land! And yet you aro always having : strikes 1" Apart from tho sTftject- of strikes and holidays, tho famous artiste thinks New Zealand n wonderful and beautiful country. "Look at- the colouring—tho preens, the bliio of the mountains, and the 1 glory or the gorse. It is beautiful," 6ho : said, with onthusiiism. ,