THE GREAT PAVLOVA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19584, 8 June 1926, Page 3

THE GREAT PAVLOVA

CHARM IN COLOUR AND MOVE- | MENT. Anna Pavlova unfolded to theatregoers a new, wonderful world of beauty and grace at the Opera House last I night. In her exquisite dancing is cm- , bodied every conception of the witch- ' ery of magic movements. Light as thistledown, supple as the slender bow, Pavlova is the mistress of an enchant- . ing art, and her show last night was a composite picture fascinating in its rhythm, colour and daintiness. Out of the picture Pavlova stands as the superb genius, the glittering light of a glowing constellation. In her dancing is a world of legend. Centuries of romance are caught in her twinkling motions, cherished visions are given fresh life by the spirit of her skill and grace. Theriza Rogers is the great Pavlova’s miraculous disciple, a young Wellington girl whose supreme, talent has lifted her to the ranks of the gifted great. Of these two dainty ladies, mistress and acolyte in their own particular world of charming movement, there is little one can say —they say it all themselves. Anna Pavlova’s art is classic, and her pretty understudy has been a faithful student and observer. In “The Magic Flute” ballet (Drigo) she runs the gamut of a maiden’s romantic emotions when her graceful peasant-lover defeats an aristocratic rival by means of enchanted music and the aid of the beneficent obcron. Men and maidens move in fascinating measures, and the artful colour ' f peasant garments forms,, with trees and blossoms, an effective background for the scene. A ghostly landscape under snow, the earth a wintry carpet and the tree bowed beneath the drifts — , in this arresting setting is the snowflake ballet mounted. Pavlova—a figure of exquisite daintiness—is a fairylike personification of the spirit of the story. Here is seen her male partner, the beautifully-proportioned Novikoff, giant of limb yet elfin of movement, and round the pair revolve the supporting snowflakes, in disciplined evolutions alive with spirit yet tender with subtle charm and delicacy of poise. It is all an elaborate'dumb-show, in which grace of movement speaks for the silent tongue. Not a word is said during the performance. With the two principal ballets go “divertissement” —The Swan, Rondino, Christmas, and the like, all things of sheer beauty and abiding charm. From humour to pathos or the coquetry of my lady means a subtle transition when shades of emotion are expressed in silence. Pavlova says it all. In the Pizzicato, Gopack and Pastorale her company contributes joyous scenas. The Pizzicato (Drigo) was a dream of fragrant beauty, of tinted forms that move with precision on winged feet. Dolinoff, Algeranoff, Nilles, D’Arcy, Rogers, Crofton, Elkington, Mather, and Nicholls, all these are notable. And then there is the charm of the music of M. Lucien Wurmser’s orchestra, which provides a. tuneful background for the dancing. Tsehaikowsky, Drigo, Beethoven, Grieg, Saint-Saens, Strauss, those are composers who contribute to the musical festival this capable band'provides. And thus there is completed a programme of infinite delight. With ' all who saw them Pavlova and her i company will linger a precious memory. From Wanganui the party moves on to-day to Palmerston North and Hawke’s Bay.