ENTERTAINMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 1, 20 May 1914, Page 4

ENTERTAINMENTS.

MAUD ALLAN. APPEARANCE AT NEW PLYMOUTH. Maud Allan, the world's most famous classical dancer, will open at the Theatre Royal on Tuesday next, May 8«. in her book, entitled "My life and Daneing," Maud Allan says; "The origin of (fenting )0 panoplied with the dim magnificent* of myth. *We are not to believe,' says Lucian in a well-knowi dialogue, 'that dancing is a modern invention, bom recently, or even that our ancestors saw its beginning.' Tho»» who ha,ve spoken, with truth of th» orlgin of tahie art affirm that it takes iU birth from the time of the creation o» all thin©, and that it is as old u lofe, the most ancient of the gods. Oybele henselJ, Haughter of Earth and. Syk, wife •! fiatarm and mother of the sods, ' taught «he art of dancing to Pwryjbantca on the Mount Ida, and it tlto Ouretes in Crete Among the servants of the Pantheon, the priests were (jailed Balkboraa—the dancers— and the dance of Uie Ouretes was said to be that of Daedalus engraved, as Homer tells vain the Iliad, upon the shield of Achilles, These dances interpreted the nnul/M [the Sphere and the harmonio progression of the stars. We have representations of dances in 'honor of Apis, the Bull, and Diodorus Siculus (that tender : master of Chronicles) tells us that Osiris I was served by nine maidens skilled fa all the arts that relate to musical expression, who came to be called by tils Greeks the *Nine Muses.' You hate i> your midst, on the tablets and *Me»> from Thebes in the British Museum, pictures of the dances that accompanied >« their funerals and festivals, and modem - travellers in Egypt may seo in thV dances of .the Gazawis the dance of The Bee' and of The Bottle'—the survival of those very modes depicted upon tfao«* ancient decorations. Born in Egypt, - the dance became nurtured in the cradle of the art—Greece—and 1 love to see in, imagination the Nine Muses led JJ9J| Terpsichore as they were seen by Hcfflp treading in their beautiful measures ttA I violets of 'ffippocrenc. And in other - moods my mind conjures up the Bac» jehantes encircling Silejras with iholi J riot of spontaneous movement. We have it from Aristotle that in danoisg all 1 passions of the man found illustration three thousand years before ttie Aug- . : ustan era, and no Athenian festivity was shorn of this art, which Simonides aptly described as 'Silent Poetry.'" The box plan opens at Collier's o» Friday morning at 8 o'clock.

THEATRE ROYAL PICTURM. DespUo the rough night, th«a wu a fair audience at the Theatre Royal Pictures to witness the second screening of tie present programme. The Vitagraph drama, "Mystery of ■ the Silver Skull," was again greatly enjoyed, and the Keystone comedy brought tortk screwne of laughter. To-night will b» the bst opportunity of seeing this programme. To-morrow night there wiH be a ehange, the star drama beinj "Tha Suffragist."

EMPIRE PICTURE PAUOE. This evening a eonip'.cte change q! programme takes place featuring a mag--nificen,t A.B. "alar," ''Man's Jaw," a dramatic, work asking a question and demanding an answer—a theme of woriti-wido interest. Supporting flints include "Hindoo Charm," and a. bitstcry play, "The Actress," Edison -drama "King of Marksmen," Gaumont ,drara» "Lifo in India,' 1 "Interrupted Courts! ip,** Warwiek ChronMe, etc., etc. This programme is of a first-class order, and intending paifcrona can rely on a splendid evening's entertainment. Scats may b« reserved at, Theatre, or ring up "phone 365.