FOR THE BALLET.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 281, 28 November 1938, Page 9

FOR THE BALLET.

A DANCER'S NEEDS. SHABELEVSKY'S OPINION. STARTED WHEN HE WAS TEH J linn is no royal road to smcess as a ballot dancer. Jt is not even a matter, in many eases, of personal inclination. 'I ho ballet dancer starts dnacing at about eight years of age, and from then on it is work, patience and more work . . . but if the ballet is in him, if ho can walk and dance both mentally and physically, in perfect co-ordination, there is a tut lire in it, and the satisfaction ot artistry. That, llt „„ y rntp u the op . nion (>f Mr. \urck Shabelevsky, a leading male dancer hi the Russian Ballet, at present m Australia, who is pausing through Auckland by the Niagara. Family rea-' s >ns have determined his return to his "" ,e 111 uiericH, but lie hopes to rejoin the company within a few weeks. Lightly but splendidly built, with a head that might well b ( > inodcllcd tut that ot some mythological (Jreek athlete. Mr. Shabelevsky looks the part, 'let lie admits that when he started ill the ballet at 10 years of o-e he did not know anything about it. An aunt did it lor liim. Nobody in the family was a dancer, and nobody wan on the stage. Mv ancestry was Polish, but my home was in America. When I won 10 years of aye an aunt came across, and suggested to my people that 1 should be put into the ballet, he said. "I didn't know anything about it, but T suppose T must have shown some precocity at dancing a# a hoy. ftowever, when I was at the ballet school in Warsaw, Poland, where the; went me, I started to love it." Few Good Male Dancers. Mr. Shabelevsky was the prize pupil of the school during the six vear* he was there, and from then on" he was on the stage, still learning, still training, still working. In Paris, in London, in America, and in various places in Europe he added to his knowledge and hia skill, and to-day, still a young man. he is one of the masters of the art in the world. To-day there are very few good male dancers, hi* said. Ihe new generation seemed to have other interests. It was a hard life, and required infinite patience. Many who took it up left it again for other occupations; sometime** it was because they needed to earn money, sometimes because they acquired other interest*, sometimes merelv because they did not have patience enough. "Hallet is generally good for voung people," he said. "Like a sport, "it develops them, and develops them perfectly." He believes that to be a good dancer the child must he started at from eight to ten years of age. Before eight years of age is too young, he said, and toe work is likely to spoil their feet. After "J t the bo,u " s got harder and too strongly Mr. Shabelevsky was asked whether it was likely that women ballet dancers would take the place of the male dancers. There were far more women ballet dance** than male dancers, he ndmitted, but he did not think they could ever take the parts of the male dancers successfully. Kara Nijinskv, daughter of the greatest of all ballet dancers had tried to take the place of her father in Paris, but had failed He said that the ballet had had a good season in Australia so far The Australian public was showing a keen interest in it.