LOTTIE.

Evening Star, Issue 3126, 25 February 1873, Page 3

LOTTIE.

Female acrobats (says the H. Z. Herald] are becoming quite an institution in the world of gymnastic wonders. But two or three years since female gymnasts were unknown ; now they are known, with what extrao .dinary wonders they can do and accompli«h. Those who have witnessed them arrive at the conclusion that a woman acrobat can do more dating and skilful feats than the most daring and skilful male acrobats ever ventured on. We have in the city of Auckland, within the last two months, witnessed some extraordinary feats of females. There was little Lulu, the sister of Mr Loyal, who, aided by her brother, did seme very extraordinary trap ze feats, with a grace and composure which made it a spectacle well worth looking at Next in order, was to be witnessed astonishing equilibristic powers of a Japanese girl, who was certainly not more than fifteen years of age. This performer walked on a perfectly slack rope, which oscillated and swayed from side to side by her weight and movements. She not only walko I this sla k rope, but she ran on it backward and forward. She danced on the rope, knelt on it, laid down full length on it, and rose again. All this, and many more extraordinary things, did she do without any aid in maintaining her equilibrium beyond ho’diug gracefully in her right hand an open parasol of the Japanese type. Following on this clever and interesting Daughter of the Moon came a young lady w’th the Chiarini Company, who did moat excraordi nary things on the tigbt-rope without aid of any kind but practice to maintain her equipoise. But the performances, extraordinary as they were, of Lula, or those of the little Daughter of the Moon, or the t hiarini lady, are completely eclipsed and thrown into the shade by the marvellous acts ef Lottie, now nightly performing at the Prince of Wales Theatre, risking the breaking x>f ber neck, or the dislocating of her limbs, or the smashing of her body at every feat she accomplishes. It is hard to describe what Lottie does on the trapeze, jointly with htr brothers. All is so complicated and involved, and is done so rapidly, and with such apparent recklessness of the danger involved, that the spectators for the time are dazed, as it we e, v\ ith woadtr. At one mo ment Ihe performer is sitting on the trapeze, at the next she falls down, is seized by the foot by one of the brothers in the act of her dropping—she springs upwards, her foot being disengaged at the same instant of time, and catches him by the hands. A miss by just eo much as a hair’s breadth must result in a dislocated neck, a broken spine, or a deadly injury. But these are merely two of the many complex and dating evolutions performed by Lottie. Hanging now head downwards, and holding by the mfere strength of one toe on to the foot of one of her brothers, she lets go, and is caught at the moment of falling by the second brother. What is called the triple trapeze a.t. in which these things are done, c umot be described. The difficulty of tin m, the hazard incurred, and the ease and graceful planner in which every feat is accomplished inust be seen before they can be believed, and then it will be doubtful whether people will not be under some vague impression that they are witnessing something umbr an optical delusion, But'the triple trapeze, with all its wondrous complications and rapid movements, are again as nothing compared to the terrific flying leap which Lott e makes from the dress circle on to her brother’s hands, who is himself suspended, head downwards, and hang my on by one leg to a trap: ze-bar, placed as high up as the elevation of the ceiling covering the stage will permit. This is in itself something never beL re-attempted by any acrobat—male or female. But again, this act pf combined skill and daring sinks Into insignificance when' Lottie repeats the trick backwards The act is one of the most marvellous of the kind ever witnessed. Anything Blondin cr Pablo Fauque ever has performed on the tight-rope, or Leotard on the Hying traptz.% fades into an ordinary accomplishment beside what is done by Lottie. Of course we ought to protest against an exhibition of this kind. It is not immoral that we know of. There is nothi g that can be considered improper. But t-till, people ought not to go and witness Lottie’s performances, and so encourage her to court Imtymely enej.