THE DANCING OF MAUD ALLAN

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2013, 21 March 1914, Page 6

THE DANCING OF MAUD ALLAN

Upon an Attie jar of the seventh century before- Christ there is the earliest 1 example- of Greek writing that we pos- , sess to-day, and the inscription, says ; that tho.jar shall ho given as a prize ': to. the da&eer who expresses joyousness [ more yividly thai! all the rest. Ours is not an ago which holtls dancing in ' such honour; wo tio not erect statues ; to our most illustrious dancers, as the ( ancient Greeks were wont, to do. Wo . forgotten that dancing was ing ill those days, aild as 'result have ' tho pirouetting and' posturing of this tec-- ; totum ballet girl. But 'dancing stteh as Maud Allan lias recreated'is a'• noble, oxprossivo art that has been' too long neglected, Her dancing has not been: acquired by painful practice on bo;r toe» '. tips; but, as n little girl, she has lain' an tho grass for hours Watching th ' 'ferns, anfi feathery grasses and the swaying branches of the trees, learning' from them themes of motion ] sto has' . watched in her San Franciscan home. flowers danciiig in tho spring wind, with : the morning sunlight iipon them. "It is all music to.we," she has said, "and ' the- echo is dancing." And after years ■ spent in learning to become a musician —five of them at' the Royal High School : of Sivisie at Berlin—Miss Allan found j that, for her, dane-ing was the dearest'! mode of self-expression, H-ffir stage- i s draped deeply in great swaying curtains of grey-green velvet, which give the illusion of tho cool depths of a woodland glade, into Uio- rcsy siinlighfulaying on the greenwood thereglides a-, sweet giri whoso soft; brewii : «air is- massed above- grave eyes and a thoughtful hraw, fhc requisite draperies of sftiofe-cfflourccl chiffon,, disposed in the classic- manner of great (winters' . studifis^tho'nymphs of .Leighton ami CL ■■■']?. light as thjstled6V&i : . when the dancer glides in-to the. joyous .pastocalo, illustrating early dawn ml the ■.. coast of Morocco/ Miss Allan, has studied well tho paintings of great mastera. Tiiese_ dances of tho "'Peer Gjnt" suite to Grieg's music a,ro a revelation to the audience. At- her appearance the audi' emoe begin to applaud., but soon become silent-, . iirtefestedi fascinated.' The dancer is a faun, a dryad, aii olf, skipping in joyous delight of living; playing tho Pan pipes, smiling, radiant as sui> shine. Tho ntusie changes, and into the ■ violet shadows of evening there glides « sombre veiled figure, bowed with'woe. I Tire walling notes" qf "Tie Death of : Asa 1 ' smites the- slow moving rlamer to tlie ground, hands raised to ward tif tho i figure of Death. Slowly she glides, in., ■ , draperies of purple . and mauve, while 'i her arms and hands waver about her i . bead, and sgbs break from her lips, j The dancing accentuates the weird niusi© to au uncanny extent. Then combs a ■ full-blooded, wmijdjiuj mazurka of the' daughter of tho Bedouin chief, dnnceil : in a joyous red.glow. The tod light plays upon the sprightly girl, Ml o; ; vitality and abandon as she springs and skips and runs backwards & sheer loro'' of lifo and motion. . Then comes the \ duiico Of t]i& gnomes in tho nail of the Mountain King, into iviiidi Miss Allan; pats stt-cb energy as tho wild music ■demands, Sho gets Up slowly frcni the Bflllapse _of oxliaustiott, aiid, towing deeply like a flower swaying in the wind, disappears behind green curtains. Tho vision o{ this lovely girl, Jjounding ■ like a joyous, wild child of Natare to ttio exquisite music, is an intense and unique pleasure. One watching Miss' Allan can eojijurfe up what dauping really meant to the Greeks,, who held' it m such high lioiiovir. . .-.