RUSSIAN BALI .LEN TERFC y THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES WW MUMI unur THE RUSSIAN BALLET A NNA PAVLOVA in "The Passing of the Swan." "She takes a collection ^- of steps as a singer takes a collection of notes, and calmly and gracefully phrases them, in the manner of a bird beating the air with its wings" THE RUSSIAN BALLET IKS) i z? 7 ELLEN TERRY /jP//^ 'Drawings by 'ii-- 1 PAMELA COLMAN SMITH THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY New York ..... Indianapolis HARVARD COUEbt LIBRARY FROM THE BEQUT T OF EVERT JANSEN ' l/ELL 19' Copyright, 1913 The Bobbs-Merrill Company PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. -> / 1 ' ' LIST of ILLUSTRATIONS TITLE-PAGE: Border and Design .... Page v SCHEHERAZADE 3 HEADPIECE: "Les Sylphides" 5 SPECTRE DE LA ROSE 7 PAVILLON D'ARMIDE 11 TAILPIECE: " Le Carnaval" 12 TAILPIECE: "Spectre de la Rose" 17 LE CARNAVAL 19 LE CARNAVAL 21 LE CARNAVAL 23 LES SYLPHIDES 25 LES SYLPHIDES 27 LES SYLPHIDES 29 LE CARNAVAL 31 LE CARNAVAL 33 TAILPIECE: "Le Carnaval" 34 LE CARNAVAL 3 $ SPECTRE DE LA ROSE 37 SPECTRE DE LA ROSE 39 SCHEHERAZADE 41 SCHEHERAZADE 43 vii 787281 LIST 0/ ILLUSTRATIONS (continued) TAILPIECE: "Scheherazade" Page ^ SCHEHERAZADE 45 TAMAR 47 PRINCE IGOR 49 LES BOUFFONS ("Pavilion d'Armide" ) ... 51 NARCISSE S3 THE RUSSIAN BALLET THE RUSSIAN BALLET Introductory THE Russian ballet, at least that section of it which M. de Diaghiliev, patron and grand seigneur rather than agent, has taken all over Europe during the last few years, and more recently to America, is now more than a darling of its own nation, a naturally ballet-loving nation. It has become an international possession. In England the Russian dancers have perhaps been acclaimed with more whole-hearted fervor than else- where, because before their coming the land was barren. In France and Italy they had ballets of their own. They have a standard by which they can measure the visitors from St. Petersburg. But English audiences, like children presented with a new toy, first shyly wondered at the novelty of the agile strangers, Introductory and then fell into transports of enthusiasm. Uncritical enthusiasm toward art and artists is an amiable attitude of the English once they have been gained over. And this en- thusiasm has a way of persisting. "The English public may be slow," said a musician who had taken a long time to win their suffrages, "but they are damnably faithful! V If the fashion in Russian ballet should age elsewhere I feel sure it will not in England, the last country to adopt it. So these notes by an enthusiast have a good chance of being seasonable for many years. Yes, I claim to be an enthusiast, although, perhaps, the fact that I am not an English enthusiast but one who is half Irish and half Scotch makes me more canny than some of my fellow- admirers. I have never opened my mouth and swallowed the new ballet and all its works without thinking. These are, all the same, impressions rather than criticisms. And the impressions are not intended as an ex- planation of Miss Pamela Colman Smith's pictures any more than her pictures are SCHEHERAZADE Introductory intended to be an explanation of my im- pressions. Her pictures surely speak for themselves. And like the clerk, I need only cry "Amen 11 to her eloquent drawings. LES SYLPHIDES Dancing in General WHAT is dancing? The Russians have done much to show us that it is something more than sauterie, although they can sauter, or leap, with the best. As an actress I salute dancers with the reverence of a man for his ancestors. The dancer is certainly the parent of my own art, but he has other children. All arts, of which the special attribute is movement, de- scend from the dancer. The Greek word "chorus" means dance, and the Greek choruses were originally dances. It can be proved that dancing movements formed the first metres of true poetry. Why do we speak of ' i feet ' ' if not because the feet of the body used to mark the rhythm of inspired utterance? Religious Dancing IT seems strange that the Dance should have almost everywhere degenerated into some- thing base and trivial, while its children, Music and Poetry, in spite of lapses, should have preserved their dignity and beauty. It seems even more strange when we remem- ber that dancing had a religious origin. Among the Jews, as among other peoples, dancing was constantly associated with the ceremonies of faith. In Christian churches the choir was originally designed as a place in which the chanting of hymns and canticles might be conveniently accompanied by rhyth- mic movements. On feast days the honor of leading the dance was reserved for the bishop. This is why he was known in those days by the name of prcesul, the is, he who dances first. A bishop as premier danseur ! We can hardly believe it now, yet why should we not, seeing that the movements of priest and server at mass have the nature of a solemn dance? And there are places in France and Spain where liturgical dances still exist. The most notable is the dance executed before the 6 SPECTRE DE LA ROSE Religious Dancing altar at Seville in Holy Week. I am afraid that the one that used to take place in the choir of Saint Leonard's at Limoges, where, at the end of each psalm, the people sang in- stead of the Gloria Patri, "San Marceau, pray for us and we will dance for you," is. now extinct. The Russian Rivival ALL who regard dancing seriously, and there is nothing which should be re- garded more seriously than an art that is to give pleasure, must be glad that they have lived in a century which has witnessed a very fine and sincere endeavor to restore the dance to some of its primal nobility. There is much in the results of this endeavor to criti- cize, there are a few things to deplore, but in any refusal to recognize the magnitude of what has been accomplished, there is prob- ably some pique that it has been the nation which Europe still views as barbarously in- genuous in matters of art which has reformed the ballet on such refined and spiritual lines. 8 The Russian Revival I dislike the word "reformed," however. Reformations are generally tiresome. Trans- formations are far better ! Saint Francis trans- formed, Luther reformed ; and the Russians are with Saint Francis rather than with Luther! To appreciate the change which has come over the Russian Ballet we ought to know a little about its constitution. It is and has always been subsidized by the state. The Russian government supports schools of bal- let, where from the age of eight children are given a long and arduous training in the science of dancing, and from which they are drafted into the imperial ballets at St. Peters- burg, Moscow and Warsaw. A dancer's first appearance is generally made at the age of sixteen, and at thirty-six his or her career is over. The dancers are then retired on a pen- sion amounting to about one hundred and fifty pounds a year.l It is not my intention to give details of this training. They are written in many books by experts. But I should like to say at this point that one of the leading characteristics of the Russian system is the at- tention given to male dancing. 9 Male Dancers HAD the male dancers ever been excluded from the Imperial ballet its fate would have been very different. The men are trained on the " ballon' ' system, not on that which is known as the " parterre," and it is 4 'ballon" dancing which is one of the most beautiful features of the Russian ballet. After we have watched interminable exercises in- geniously performed "sur les pointes," with what relief have we seen Nijinsky, perhaps the greatest "ballon" dancer who has ever existed, bound on to the stage, rise high in the air, descend slowly and with such art that when he touches the ground he can use it again for a still higher flight. The presence of men in the ballet has an effect beyond the pleasure afforded by the virile agility of their steps. It does away with the necessity for those feminine travesties of men, known in our pantomimes as "principal boys," who introduce an element into ballet which at its best makes a disturbing demand on our capacity for illusion, and at its worst is a little degrading. What has made the 10 PAV1LL0N D'ARMIDE Male Dancers word "ballet" a sort of synonym for vice if it is not the idea that it provides an opportunity for women to attract admirers — not so much on account of their dancing as for the sake of their physical charm ? I think that a mixed ballet has the effect of concentrating attention on the art of the dance rather than on the seductiveness of the dancers. And the free and noble plastic of the male dancers in the Russian ballet has influenced the plastic of the women, making it far less sexual and far more beautiful. LE CARNAVAL 12 Sur les Pointes 1 FRANKLY confess that I have a dislike to ordinary dancing on the toes. It may be because in my youth it had degenerated into something so stilted, distorted and unrhyth- mical that it conflicted with all my ideas of beauty. And when the Russians give some of their older ballets, such as "Giselle," which bears the mark of Italian influence — it was, I think, arranged by an Italian mditre de ballet — I feel that all the improvements that the Russians have made in this so-called "classical' ' dancing cannot uproot my prejudice, although they can, and do, modify it. The Russian ballerinas accomplish the feat of being fluent on their toes. They do not hammer out steps — it is a false notion of rhythm that there is a hammer-stroke on every strong beat — but take a collection of steps, as a singer takes a collec- tion of notes, and calmly and gracefully phrase them, in the manner of a bird beating the air with its wings, rather than that of a blacksmith hammering on his anvil. Still I doubt whether the Russians would have conquered Europe had they come to us merely as revivers of classical dancing before it became mechanical and ugly. They owe this revival to a great extent to Tschaikowsky. 13 How Far a Native Ballet? TSCHAIKOWSKY was patriotic; he wrote music for the Imperial Theatre ballets, and was the first man of any position in Russia to protest against the importation of Italian dancers and Italian methods. Undoubtedly he gave good counsel in advising a return to the French style of classical dancing, the style which was at its best under Louis XIV. But if the Russians had been content to stop at an imitation of ballet as it was under the "Grand Monarque" they would still be giving us only a dead perfection of steps. There is a dead- ness about all Renaissance things, whether in architecture or dancing. What always sur- prises us about the Russian ballet is its life. This vitality came sweeping on to the stage with Russian maitres de ballet such as Fokine, who used tradition, used the technical per- fection of classical dancing, but would not be a slave to them ; with Russian composers such as Borodin, Rimsky- Korsakoff, Glazounof, Liadoff, Arensky, Stravinsky and Tscherepnin, the conductor of the ballet; with Russian artists such as Alexandre Benois and Leon H How Far a Native Ballet? Bakst; with Russian dancers such as Nijinsky. Is this ballet, then, distinguished from all other ballets by being a native ballet? When we see "Tamar" or 4 ' Scheherazade ' ' or the dances from "Prince Igor" we may answer, "Yes.' 1 But what about "Les Sylphides," "Spectre de la Rose' ' or ' ' Le CarnavaP ' ? Are they typic- ally Russian? I think they rather transport us into a country which has no nationality and no barriers, the kingdom of dreams. The Russian ballet has transformed itself in a little over a decade because its guiding minds have been more than national. The musicians, artists, dancers and ballet masters have de- pended more on invention than on reality. Many stories of widely different character have been drawn on for the new ballets, but all have been treated with an imagination which is neither the property of a nation nor the result of patriotism. *5 Personality — and Nijinsky THE Russians pride themselves on not having a "star system." Every dancer has a chance of distinction. A good idea, but personality will out, and genius cannot be effaced. ' I am only the centre-piece of a great mosaic," said Nijinsky once, but in his case it is a very big "only." Certainly the perfection of the ensemble 9 the well- ordered movements and groups of Fokine, assist this wonderful young god of the dance. When Anna Pavlova, whom I still regard as the best of the women Russian dancers, was torn from her original setting, many admirers of her exquisite art, in which all the essentials of the dance, noble gesture, beautiful line, lightness, elevation, that order of movement which we call rhythm, and perfect time, are to be found, congratulated themselves, "Now we shall get more of her." We got more — and less. Nijinsky, in the years when Pavlova was still in the ballet, was allowed to have talent. Lately we have all begun to use the word 'genius." Where does the difference be- 16 Personality — and Nijinsky tween the things talent and genius lie in the huge personality of the genius? used to say of Henry Irving, who expressed himself in a multiplicity of parts, that he was al- ways the same Irving. Certainly he was al- ways faithful to himself whatever he assumed. This is a sign of the presence of genius, not of its absence. In one sense we always have the same Nijinsky, as Miss Pamela Colman Smith has very happily shown in her drawings of him. Yet in an- other sense we never have the same Nijinsky. if not They SPECTRE DE LA ROSE D 17 Nijinsky 9 s Distinction WE must not belittle him by merely admiring him for his miraculously agile leaps and jumps. As I said at the start, dancing is not only santerie. There was pro- bably no sauterie at all in the dancing of the ancients. I am told that Nijinsky was much affected by the dancing of Isadora Duncan when, some years ago, she appeared in St. Petersburg, and I can well believe it, for there was manifested in her at her best what was probably the supreme object of religious dancing—and all ancient dancing was re- ligious — the training of the body to the point of making it docile to the rhythm of the soul. There are many young men in the Russian ballet who dance excellently with their bodies, even if they cannot leap as high as Nijinsky, but what really separates him from them is the fact that he dances not only with his body, but with his soul. Unfortunately this expression is often used lightly to mean merely "with enthusiasm." But it can be used in a graver sense, and it is in that sense that I use it. LE CARNAVAL Nijinsky Always a Dancer SO free and yet so disciplined!" said someone of Nijinsky' s dancing. It was a very good criticism. But I like even better these words from a French appreciation by M. Charles Meryel: "We should not begin by praising him for his prodigious physical ability for leaving the ground. Let us think first of his power of evoking, through the means of a human body in movement, a sort of beautiful dream, of his power of subjugating his material appearance so that he becomes a visitation divine and almost immaterial. " I remember in this connection something that was said to me by Christopher St. John after <£ Les Sylphides" : "This gives us a conception of what our glorified bodies after the Resurrection will be like, the same bodies, but spiritualized and agile ! ' I thought, 'This is too much!" and laughed at an excess of enthusiasm ! But the French writer and the English one were both ex- pressing the same idea. Whatever his ro/e y the young Russian dancer projects an interior emotion which has 20 LE CARNAVAL Nijinsky Always a Dancer in it all the force of spontaneity, but is at the same time conscious and considered. As an actress, that has always been my ideal of expression. But actors express emotions; it is generally their duty to realize, in fact, to recall a man. Nijinsky never recalls human experience, never suggests the passions of mankind. He is always the dancer. Now the miming of ordinary ballet-dancers has often in the past seemed to be more than a little ridiculous. Love and joy and pleasure, pain and hate and death — how could they be simulated by pirouettings, posings and posturings? Did I reject them as absurdly unconvincing because I did not understand the language of choreography? I think I was alienated because I had never heard the language spoken well. I am sure now that it can be infinitely expressive, but the better it is spoken by the dancer's body the less it will resemble the expression of mortals. I could never call Nijinsky a good actor. I can, and do, call him a great dancer. 22 LE CARNAVAL The Dance Poems IT has been said that the Russian ballet makes a vivid and brutal appeal to the senses, and certainly there is some truth in this as regards the ballets of which the artist Bakst is the guiding spirit. The old saying that you cannot see the wood for the trees may be borrowed to express a criticism. You cannot see color for the colors in some Bakst ballets. Yet even Bakst sometimes helps to aid that impression of a visitation divine which Nijinsky in his own person produces. You will see that Miss Pamela Colman Smith has given what some may think a disproportionate amount of space to her studies of