DISGUISED DANCERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 August 1929, Page 8

DISGUISED DANCERS

DROPPING ENGLISH NAMES. After 40 years of dancing, Espinosa has made his last bow in public. “I am 57,” he told the “Sunday Dispatch,” in July, “and I feel it is time to retire. “In England we have a' great number of fine dancers. Our young dancers are the best in the world. “All who have had an opportunity ■to make good have done so. The socalled Russian Ballet holds its laurels largely through English material. “Most of its ensemble dancers are. English and some of its great names are those of English girls—changed to give them a chance. “In the eyes of nearly all theatrical managers it is a crime for a dancer to be English, and the public, too, seems to have the idea that a foreigner must necessarily be a better dancer than an Englishman. “Sokolova’s real name is Munnings, and she comes from Hampshire. Vera Sarvina is really Vera Clark. Anton Dolin is Pat Kay, and Irish. Hilda Bntsova was born in Nottingham, and her surname was Boot. Ninette de Valois took her name from France instead of Russia. Her name is Stannus, and she is English. “For myself I was fortunate as I am of Spanish descent, and did not need to change my name. “I attribute the great advance of English dancing in the last few years largely to the work of the Association of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain.”