THE NEW DANCER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 206, 25 May 1908, Page 4

THE NEW DANCER.

; :V/.'jShe;'is not;an: Australian—r,wish shewere! :V Still, .all .. colonials'link hands '.ih ; 'a common; '/^•''■■%Enipire' : b6nd. : v;And..Maud Allan is straight • ..v from' Canada.. \ '...-V';.: 7 '"l-':am dreaming ;of her. stiH—the { ' yisibii, of. her haunts mei "> •••O'.;-'. .i Who is .slio? -Why, - nobody seems; exactly. • ■ ; to •know...' , Sho arrived with, but .'small 'itrrim-: ■ pot, apparently -'holds with no interviewer iof ;16wer'.i'ank; than a .bishop* and having ,vton' tho • of' the Church, glides on her. :. graceful way undufflcd—as . well slip may. For sho has danccd. into. London's. heart,: and. ..." .'left it quivering. . " • : , I went to ( see'.horVlast. Monday ;night r . with. - - expectant-'curiosity.''■;-I 'had . heard :of"; her,. •!;<;'^i.'Wondrbus}m^q''-bf^bmki<igi'Tn^h''tKidila6n^ ... ;.y; and , 1 expressing tho ' emotionsin ; .classic, ■■: ". fashion.. l . - Yet; I had ..riot quite /' anticipated VthisvGreek -nymph, barefooted,, in,- diaphenous i grey;} glidiiig, ■|: trembling,. ■. bounding' acita'the 'stage—ajveritabloV.embbdimeivt of. Miq the; glad''.;sj»irit;' : ' : 6f' : tho,; woods;-' her varied ' Mendelssohn's? Spring . Song. Had ' this been. a.U,>-1. should-, have v.f; ; carried away the impression'' of exquisitelyformed nrra, suppln; .ofi a dryad V]'. under; the old. Greek,', skies'./ ■■ But '.' that Jol- .. lowed; which effaced ,tho memory of ,tbis.'' .;' ,; , ; 'The'.curtain rose on'a Vraagiiilieeut Oriental ; betting. } Salomestood upon .the' marble ; steps. : A, Salome whoso "glittering. coifpearl breast-plates, transparent . purple draper/, hung with gold, might, have been copicd from somo. Egyptian Imoririrnpnt; alist-ehing ■ y 7 '.-: y - 'Salome, waiting, as. slio-stirred down to the . footlights, for tho head; of John the 'Baptist. ; i Never on civilised; stago..have\l witnessed ' anything like the 'marvellous scene which fol- ; lowed; '• Tliose long, sinuous arm3j>with,their' . 'I. Bnake-liko' movements,' 'wriggled . up' and down' my very-spine,' that supple : form : enlaced'-m'p' ' . with; the ' fascination of. a 'lamia las tiio. dancei went through her creepy pantomime ; '. ' . — down - the : ,head ' with . triumphant glee, shrinking away' from.it' in' ; ti'reversion' .. .•. or -horror,, anon executing' a • bacchanalian' •• .'.whirl of delirious "delight; then, shudrjering;v".. quivering,.'sickening .with, remorse - till she ;falls, prone ..-'and writhing, .• faint' with'self-" . abhqri-enco. She left .'us prone : likewise. ,:Her . glamor, her dramatic magnetism, had caught '.us .hack '.hincteeii -centuries ; tho passion and "*?% ,the. Weak/jess ■ .of the daughter.'of Herodias had entered into our soiiis: ■ On 'suddsiily realising tho !|falara|V.surronndihgs-with'' > an:' .j>V'' i :\%'.orima'iyv. music-hall . turn .coining" - on,-' wo '•, j- :■ caught up our wraps' and fled '• from desecra- . tion—iled into the dripping' London streets i ■■■ there to dream awhile of Oriental skies and■ Oriental tragedy. : .1: . -This girl who so subtly blends' tKo fragrant" purity,-; of , 'tho >North'.' with'' 'the - , pa^slciiiatb 1 langor of the. South,. : who, can. stir ; your r.,depths jfchb;.silent.elbquence. of ' padenced' - -' motion/'whose- dancing 'is, a'rpvelatibn, Will doubtless have many imitators, / but tho 0 ... imitator's - will -.find -it hard. to. go. to ' Her' nchool. For sho is instinct with the spirit of'hcr native woods. One can imagine her as Coleridge's little'child, 'a limber elf, sing-, ing, ;daneing to itself, beneath tlib leafy, archways ere sho had learned to spell ,the word footlights. Arid you imagine ilieW.otherwise. : - ' For, unless Maud Allan be an Elsie Tenner; •'v. i she must .assuredly.-.' liave trained among the. Redskins; only - where. Naturo,- untram-' . melled by modern ..convention do' wo meet such wondrous - dramatic oxpressibn of limb, and muscle. . I said I had never seen.aught liko it on civilised stage-;-but,'as; 1 .watched,. I was carried back to tho South Seas, and '.a'native "Siva" performed in the glowing firelight, the woird shadows of- a' Samoan hut. In this caso tho ' 1 Si'v'p,''' is . , tempered, by;cultured study, with results which- may, bciiko, make for classic grace in our womenfolk. Wherewith I make my' - curtsey to Canada.—Rose de Boliem'e, in' , - tho Sjdney "Daily Telegraph."