FAMOUS RUSSIAN DANCER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19320, 6 May 1926, Page 11

FAMOUS RUSSIAN DANCER.

ANNA PAVLOVA'S VISIT. Anna Pavlova, the world-famous Russian dancer, will begin her New Zealand season in Auckland on May 26. She is a very determined lady with decided views on many subjects. She does not smoke and s?he refuses flatly to allow her raven hair to be shingled, bobbed, or in any way scissored. This determination manifected itself early. Eight-year-old Anna, living with a widowed mother in a poor quarter of St. Petersburg, was taken to see "The Sleeping Beauty" as a special treat. "Would you not like to be with them ?" asked her mother, meaning the corps de ballet. "No," said Anna, "but one day I shall dance as the princess." She has made her dreams come true. Pavlova lives to dance. She told t'fie English and the Australians that they should have national, schools of dancing. "It is not sufficient that the art of dancing should be preserved on the stage," she said. 'lt Sihouldbe taught in the schools so that the workman and the work-girl may get more real happiness in their lives. And .is not the dance the • simplest and cheapest and healthiest form of enjoyment ■ ?"

When interviewers ask her about "jazz" she.gives the slightest shrug of her shoulders. She cannot understand the bizarre, the furious music, or the actions of the

dancers. She likes to believe that the waltz and the gavotte, if not the minuet, will be popular in the ballrooms again. It may be her influence that has brought back the variety of waltz which is danced by the experts now.