A CANADIAN DANCER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 183, 28 April 1908, Page 3

A CANADIAN DANCER.

' AN ECHO OF ANCIENT GREECE ■ ■'■"V /'■ ■■■■' ' .A.. ycar: or two;ago; English -v art r journal' published a- description of:tlic exquisite dances 1 , invented . forVhcrself: by" • ■ Miss .Maudr "Allan,: 'a. young Canadian- girl. * •\ Miss' Allan had had only a.few,, if. any, les-. - sons .111 -the art 'of glancing as now taught, but by. carcful study of pictures' and statues m European'art galleries she had learned,to .• V reproduce the . poses of .the ancient ''dances; ' and had woven them, into the most 'graceful dances, imaginable. After a successful . career on the - Continent, • Miss Allan' has - • gone /.to. Lqndon. •, Savs/the "Daily Mai\"': i'. London ,is . to-havo..another artistic sensai tion,. which is .likely;to' cause m'oro stir even i than the "Sicilians;" -Miss Maud Allan, the 'l Canadian -^dancer, ijwho 'has .: aroused tho ■ ; j ■ wildest , enthusiasm sho'performed .■ oil the Continent, is to'lmrfke her appearanco : ,i. at .the Palace Theatre. In Miss Allan, all ;, i ,thc .noblest, arts,..the - -music,; of. the masters/ • i: r j('the rhythm,ofamagiharypo'ei^ of Greek; itculpturc and T of Botticelli's brush, '! 4 v,v ara'-csprcEsod '.or,'suggested "nn■•'the measured • -mdveiucntsef-fa'pcrfectly-shape'd/'body. 0 '•:». . • •.•;3fiss AUsn, d3hccs?i;ot •bijly-Chftpin's Valse' . in .A, Einor.'i aiid * 1 ','Yalse ' Cap-' ' •}'•. rice"; the 'dances;' Mendelssohn's ~;"Spring ' ■ Song," and Chopin's - '"Marche' Funebre" . And she dates' "The Vision 6f "Salome"!. I ' The! subtlest,; .nuahce's-. music '.are ' echoed in the quivering movements of her .body—movements,iithe'ilike of which -have . not..foeh seen;in modern days and in western ' countries. .Greete:may-have known - such ; dancing'. . ,Who knows?. • Again' and-,\&gam;'.-MisK>tAn^'j-;ti r w£lates'-Xlntd: jlifc".; the" ■ dancing and :- piping:.'' ; maideiis'' painted on'. ' Greek vases',and .carved in Greek reliefs.''- . ■ ' Then, suddenly,'Sßotticljlli's Allegory,' of 11 Spring", is .called;into t lifo. by her,^figure - by figure, .:>ttitudeMby; «attitude; : .' .Her . body, ' shrinks andfexpands .with; the movement'and './. accentuation .of ,the mu'sic./;;Now' > she - is'' an impish. sjmtq. dancing! in : rhythm; across -the stagethen'.'suddenly, she' •becomes a r y'piane,,'."Chasseresso".v ,of. ; the 1 . #,■} .the-, intoxieition qfi-'the '•' music, a' reeling Bacchante, re'elmg, but still'rhytliitii- .. caUy ntfjviiijg, zmtil. she collapses with; the- '.. same , grace Twith which she was just. spinning . round the stage.,. She makes us • realise, as we have rieyer realised before, the ■ v close linksi that .the', plastic' arid'pictoi'ial arts'bf''period? divided by many centuries—from;'the. Etruscan vase, . through Botticelli, to/Carpeaux. .'-•■ ; ■ .' Miss Allan' dances not/only' with her 'legs ■" arid .feet; 'but; with ; every, part-.of tier body; ;with, her Very skin/-'that, has:;ihrills. aiid • eliirers sudi ;as are,produced the sudden contact ; wM; cold : water., The •' moVemorits , o'f,hor :arms are indescribably^and, strangely ' , 'beautiful., / She' moves''them: hot as ive have - v Been/ other ' ■ dancers' - move, them', ' but as though longitudinal' waves wore running . .from shoulder to finger-tip.; - And her hands '■ dance;, every .finger dances; everything lic--.v comes movement and rhythm. ;• '* .In the "Vision of, Salome''' the classic Greek maidon .'is transformed into a hotr blooded, sensual--Oriental; the lithensss of . her body becomes snakelike,'seductive. ■ She glides-and slides around the head of St. John with movements suggesting-a, cat exer,,cfsing its . 'agility, and; venting, its cruelty upon a helpless'mouse.' It 'is.the "Salome"- . dance that will; draiy.;London to: the Palace* but Miss Allan's'supreme'artistic achieve-. ; ment is'the; "Jalse'Capfice^l,