ART OF THE DANCE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 253, 22 July 1936, Page 7

ART OF THE DANCE

Advent of La Meri

FINISHED PRODUCT OF MANY SCHOOLS Seventy Trunks of Dresses La Meri, one of the most famous of international dancers, who is much better known in Europe and America than on this side of the world, arrived at Auckland this week from Sydney by the Niagara, and is at present staying at the Hotel St. George. Wellington, in preparation for the inauguration of her New Zealand tour at the Grand Opera House on Thursday evening. It will perhaps convey 'something of the art of the dancer and its effect on the public when it is said that, so far, she has played only in Melbourne. There she was originally billed to give eight recitals, but such was the public demand that the season was extended to 22 recitills. There was not a theatre available in Sydney, so it was decided to tour New Zealand before opening there on September 5. La Meri, a solo recitalist since 1928, a slight, graceful, youthful figure, and a brunette of refined features and healthy colouring, is a delightfully natural and amiable person, who converses vivaciously on any subject; she is blessed with a lively sense of humour. She was born in San Antonio, in Texas, near the Mexican border, where there are still more than traces of the Spanish occupation of that country in the place names and those of the old families who date back to the days when it was part of Mexico. La Meri had the gift of dancing from childhood, and when old enough to understand she was sent to New York to undergo a strict training for a career as a professional dancer. What a business that means, let La Meri tell. “In New York I studied under Kosloff and Teresoff, maestros of the Russian ballet, and teachers who could lay the foundation of a certain school of dancing so much favoured in the world to-day,” said La Meri. “But I did not wish to become the particular disciple of any one school of dancing. I wanted to embrace the whole gamut 'of the. choreographic art. and absorb as much as I could of the spirit of the dance as it affected the culture of the various nations. So I had lessons from Miehioito, the Japanese teacher, of his own national dances, in both their ancient and modern forms. I also had lessons in Paris from Volinin, who was here with Adelina Genee; from Otero, in Seville, under whom I studied the technique of Spanish dancing; and

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the accepted ballet dancing from that grand old teacher, Cecchetti, who conducted a great school in London for so many years. Then there was the great field of. folk-dancing, which always interested me wherever I went, and which I lost no opportunity of learning. These, of course, included the dances of the Orient, which are amazingly interesting when one understands a little of their meaning. Dances of the East. “Of all the dances in the East that of the Hindus ie the most complex and subtle,” eaid La Meri. “As you know, the dancer of the Orient mostly "concern action from the waist upward. The lower extremities simply move in rhythm with the body, but it is the manner of using the body, the arms, the hands, the linger, the eyes, the eyebrows, and the mouth which count. For complexity and subtlety there are no dances to compare with those of India. ‘•The Javanese can also boast tjome interesting dances,” said La Meri, “and they appreciate the value of gorgeous dresses. Though dancing is said to have commenced with the Chinese, like so many other things, the choreographic art can scarcely be said to have progressed with the manual arts and crafts of that country. Then in Egypt, where really one i» etill in the East, one finds the dancing is not so much the spontaneous manifestation of the emotions or, the poetry of the people so much ae it appears to be something reflected from the attitudinisation of the figures on their ancient papyrus pictures or pottery. Here the use of the arms and hands is all important, but there is not the subtlety of meaning one finds in the Hindu dances. Spanish dancing is as interesting as any, as in Spain you get the blending of the Orient with the Occident, a form of ecstatic dancing which still retains something of the delirious fervour of the Arabian dancing, through the impinging of the Moors on that country in medieval times. You may notice that beyond a little stamping here and there, there is no decided leg movement in Spanish dancing. Once more it is the Eastern idea that beauty of motion is best conveyed by the tutored action of the body above the waistline. All the action below is made with the feet close to the floor. Spanish dancing is of the emotional order—all the subtlety of the Hindu dancing seems to have been lost in its transit to the Occident.” Grecian Ideal. La Meri went on to explain that the Grecian ideal in the dance was beauty of line and form in dignified motion. Her art does not only cover national dancing but it applies to all schools aud was to a great extent creative, as witness those dances which expressed the romance of Schumann’s music, the humour of Dvorak (in his “Humoreske”), and the sheer beauty of “The White Peacock’ (music by Grieffs). There is a gifted trio to supply the music of such dances, but when it comes to interpreting the dances of the East, records of the original music used in such dances in India are used, a superb machine having been brought along for that purpose. “Nothing could be more ludicrous, said La Meri, "than a Hindu dance done to the music of a pianoforte. You must have the right music for such dances or they fail in their mission.” La Meri has also brought with her a complete lighting plant and staff to work it, while she has 70 trunks of wonderful clothes in which she loses her identity.

L’wo minutes only tire allowed between ’rich dance, in which time, aided by skil’ul dressers. she is able to make a complete change of costume. In the meantime the trio gives continuity by playing ;be music of the masters.