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Toi..D A N C I N G 

I^ID ANCIENT AND MODERN 

By ETHEL L. URLIN 




THE MORRIS DANCE 



LONDON 

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, 
KENT & CO., Ltd. 

4 STATIONERS HALL COURT, E.C. 



HABCLO a LEE UBRART 
PftOVO. UTAH 



The principal authorities consulted in com- 
piling this little hand-book are : — History of 
Dancing, Gaston Vuillier; Dancing, in the 
Badminton Library, Mrs. Lilly Grove (now 
Mrs. Frazer) ; Dancing in All Ages, E. Scott ; 
How to dance the revived Ancient Dances, 
Ardern Holt ; The Morris Book, Cecil Sharp 
and Herbert McIlwaine ; Jhe Romance oj 
Religion, H. and O. Vivian. 

The author also wishes to express her indebt- 
edness to Miss Eva Martin for her invaluable 
assistance in compiling the book and in revising 
the proofs. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



INTRODUCTION i 

PRIMITIVE DANCES 3 

The Wave Meke 5 

The Snake Dance 6 

Animal Dances of the Algonquin Indians 7 

The Sun Dance 10 

Other Dances of American Indians 12 

The History of the Cake- Walk 13 

Apache Dances 14 

Maori Dances. 15 

ANTIQUE DANCING 19 

Egyptian Dances 19 

The Funeral Dance 21 

The Astronomic Dance 22 

Hebrew Dances 23 

Dancing among the Greeks 27 

Dancing in Rome 34 

MEDIEVAL SACRED DANCES 39 

The Origin of the Christmas Carol 42 

Dances of Angels 43 

Religious Dances in Later Times 45 

The Religious Dance of Ethiopia 53 

The Dance of the Seises 54 

Dancing Dervishes 5^ 

SOME EUROPEAN DANCES S9 

Spanish Dances 59 

Slavonic Dances 63 

Dance of Dalmatia, The Kollo 65 



Contents 

SOME EUROPEAN DANCES (continued) page 

Gipsy Dances 66 

The Dance in Italy 6y 

The Romaica 7° 

Basque Dances 7* 

DANCES OF THE EAST 75 

The Almehs 75 

Chinese Dances 77 

Dances of Japan 79 

Hindu Dancing 85 

DANCES OF THE NORTH 89 

Ancient Irish Dances 91 

MILITARY DANCES 95 

THE REVIVAL OF DANCING IN 

EUROPE 103 

ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCES 121 

Morris Dances 130 

Masques 136 

THE BALLET 139 

MODERN DANCING AND THE 
REVIVAL OF ANTIQUE 
DANCING IN MODERN 

TIMES 153 

FINALE 167 

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF 

THE DANCE 171 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

APOLLO'S DANCE WITH THE MUSES. 

By Guilio Romano. Photogravure Frontispiece 

LA DANSE. By Jules Carpeaux. The Opera pagh 
House, Paris 6 

THE DANCERS. By Fantin-Latour. Pau 

Art Gallery 20 

DANCING NYMPHS. After a Painting by 

Van der Werff 30 

DANCE THROUGHOUT THE AGES. By 
Aime Morot. Fresco in the Hotel de Ville, 
Paris 42 

LA CARMENCITA. By John Sargent, R.A. 

Musee du Luxembourg 54 

BEFORE THE BULL FIGHT. By A. Zo 60 

NEAPOLITAN PEASANTS RETURNING 
FROM A PILGRIMAGE TO THE 
SHRINE OF THE MADONNA DELL' 
ARCO. By Leopold Robert 68 

JAPANESE STAGE-DANCING GIRLS. By 

Utdgawa Kunisada 80 

THE PLEASURES OF THE BALL. By A. 

Watteau 104 

A VILLAGE DANCE IN BRITTANY. By 

A. Leleux. Musee du Luxembourg. 114 



List of Illustrations 



PAOB 



THE CYPRIAN'S BALL AT THE ARGYLE 
ROOMS. After an Engraving by ^Robert 
Cniikshank. 128 

ROSITA MAURI IN THE BALLET OF LA 
KORRIGANE. After a Picture by F. E. 
Bertier 134 

MONSIEUR VESTRIS 140 

FANNY CERRITO. From the Painting by 

Jules Laure. Musee de 1' Opera 148 

MARIE TAGLIONI. From a Drawing by 

A. F. Chalon, R.A. 150 

MISS EDRIS STANNUS IN SOME CHAR- 
ACTERISTIC POSES 172 

MISS EDRIS STANNUS IN SOME CHAR- 
ACTERISTIC DANCES 174 

MARQUIS AND CLAYTON IN THE TANGO 176 

MAURICE AND FLORENCE WALTON IN 

THE TANGO 178 

MISS JOAN SAWYER AND PARTNER IN 

THE MAXIXE 180 

MISS JOAN SAWYER AND PARTNER IN 

THE AEROPLANE WALTZ 182 

THE YOUTH OF BACCHUS. By WilHam 

Bouguereau End Papers 

THE DANCING LESSON. By Edgar Degas 

Eftd Papers 



** The smile {s the dance of the face ^ an a the dance 
IS the smile of the limbs. ^^ 



** When you do dance ^ I wish you 

A wave of the sea, that you might ever do 
Nothing hut that ; tnove still, still so, 
And own no other function, ^^ 

'' Winter's Tale," IV. 3. 



^^ Loves t thou music? 
Oh! His sweet! 
Whafs dancing? 
E'en the mirth d the feet,"*' 

(From an old Masque) 



INTRODUCTION 

THE result of research into the history of 
primitive civilisations seems to prove 
that dancing is the first art, as it is the earliest 
impulse that takes an outward embodiment. 
Just as the individual infant makes its feelings 
known by cries and gestures, so pre-historic 
man, striving to find an outlet for the various 
passions which move him, resorts also to these 
primitive modes of expression. 

Dancing, in its first analysis, consists, there- 
tore, of bodily actions conveying ideas in a 
dramatic form, but even in its earliest stages it 
is more than this, it is rhythmic. 

All nature teaches rhythm, which manifests 
itself in the waves and tides, in the vibrations 
of light and sound, in the harmonious move- 
ments of the heavenly spheres ; and when man 
began to try to express his feelings by the 
rhythmic movements of his body, he was 
merely taking his part in the everlasting Dance 
of the Universe. 

It is perhaps difficult to realise that dancing, 
as an outlet of emotion, is prior to music — that 
in fact, the first music was composed or ex- 
temporised in order to accompany dancing — 
yet the origin of many of our oldest musical 
terms shows that this is the case. For instance, 

xi 



Introduction 

the words OrchestrUy Chorus, Chorale, Choity 
Carol, Anthem, all refer in their origin, not to 
music, but to dancing ; and only gradually 
came to possess an exclusively musical signifi- 
cation. An old poet speaks of " Sweet Music, 
dancing's only life "... and says : — 

" That when the air doth dance her finest 
measure, 
Then art thou born, the god's and men's 
sweet pleasure." 

The Greek Chorus, led by the Choragus, per- 
formed a ceremonial dance in the Orchestra 
(from orchester, a dancer, orcheomai, to dance) 
as an accompaniment to the tragedy being 
enacted on the stage, and the dance was 
accompanied by singing. Nowadays the word 
Chorus is generally used in its secondary mean- 
ing. The word Carol comes from an old 
French dance, performed at Christmas-tide ; 
and the Anthem, derived from the Greek word 
for flower, was an ancient Greek dance, the 
Flower-Dance. Other musical terms, being 
nearer in point of age to the dances of their 
origin, are, of course, still recognised as dances, 
e.g., Bourree, Gigue, Gavotte, Menuet, Sara- 
hamde, i^c, ^^^ 

JWith regard to the origin of dancing, it\ 

xu 



Round Dances 

seems in all cases to be a blend of at least three 
principles : — 

1 . Ceremonial, or religious dancing, imitative 
of the movements of the spheres, as they were 
called in the ancient cosmogony. 

2. Dramatic or histrionic representations of 
man's chief passions — Love and War — with 
other primitive themes as a basis. 

3. Mimicry, or imitations of the movements 
of animals, as an outcome of the belief in I 
animal ancestry. ^ 
^"ihc infinite variety of modifications found 
in ancient, in savage, and in modern dances, 
will all resolve themselves into one or other of 
these principles, or into a blend of any two of 
them. 

For instance, all Round Dances seem to have 
begun with a religious intention, as an element 
of worship, and the farther we go back into the 
history of antique dances the more apparent 
it is that they were in all cases survivals of 
solemn religious ceremonies. Hindu, Egyptian, 
Hebrew, Greek, and Japanese dances are cer- 
tainly religious in their origin, and it was only 
in their later modifications that they became 
expressions of pleasure, and existed, so to speak, 
for the sake of themselves alone. Some pro- 
minent examples are the dances of the Nautch 
girls, or Bayaderes, before their god Rondzu, 

xiii 



Introduction 

to whom they are vowed in early youth as 
virgin priestesses ; the Dionysiac, and other 
dances, expressive of reh'gious mysteries among 
the Greeks ; the Egyptian ceremonial dances, 
as depicted on the monuments ; the principal 
circular dance of the present day among the 
Fellahin, which accompanies the recitation 
of the ninety-nine names of Allah ; the dances 
described in the Bible, as forming part of 
Jewish worship, such as those, for instance, of 
Miriam, David, and Judith ; and, finally, the 
many beautiful Japanese dances, survivals of 
old Nature-worship in Japan — the Sun-Dance, 
the Flower-Dance, and others, the history of 
which will be traced in detail later on. 

Among those which spring from the 
expression of the emotions excited by Love 
or War, are the highly dramatic Spanish, 
Sicilian, and Neapolitan dances, in which love* 
dramas are vividlv enacted, and some similar 
Russian, Polish, and Hungarian dances. War- 
Dances, surviving from the practice of savage 
tribes, who use them to incite men to bravery 
and military ardour, exist in their primary form 
among the Red Indians, and as survivals, among 
Albanians, Dalmatians, Scotch Highlanders, 
and other essentially war-like peoples. 

The dances of the savage period, imitating 
the movements of animals, are seen in their 

xiv 



Modern Dancing 



most obvious form in the pantomime, where 
animal shapes are in use as part of an extremely 
ancient tradition. This goes back to the time 
when men executed fantastic movements 
clothed in animal skins, as in the Saturnalia and 
Lupercalia of Ancient Rome, and doubtless 
further back to the pre-historic civilisation 
which preceded that of Rome, and to whose 
dances analogies can still be traced among 
those of some Red-Indian tribes, as, for instance, 
the Bison Dance. 

Finally, we have modern dances, all so far 
removed in their intentions and aims from the 
origins here indicated, as to make some effort of 
the imagination required before we can believe 
in even the possibility of any connection, and 
yet all, as we shall see, potentially derived from 
some primary human instinct, such as Worship, 
Mimicry, Love, or War, however far evolved they 
may now appear to be from their original sources. 

Modern dancing begins where, the early 
intention having been entirely forgotten, the 
art survives solely on account of the pleasure 
it gives to the performer, or to the spectator ; 
when the rhythm, the harmony, the grace of 
movement, the enchantment of music, the 
delight of motion for its own sake, become 
sufficient motives to perpetuate, and in some 
cases to revive, the varied and beautiful forms 

XV 



Introduction 

which dancing takes at the present day. These 
dances have not the confessedly symbolical 
value which they had for ancient peoples, yet 
they contain an unconscious symbolism, and it 
is to this latent element that we must attribute 
the fascination they possess for the modern 
mind ; although now apparently meaningless, 
they are rich in the suggestion that once they 
were full of meaning. 

So we maintain that some specially inspired 
dancer, such as Michael Mordkin — to name 
only one out of the many admirable recent 
exponents of the dance — can convey to the 
sympathetic beholder of his graceful Mercury- 
like attitudes and movements, a mystical feeling, 
as of the time " when the Morning Stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy." For one moment, a human figure seems 
intuitively to embody, in its wonderful rhythm 
of curve and line, in the symmetry of its 
balance and poise, something of the motion of 
the Cosmos, giving us a glimpse into the primal 
joy of creation, even into the infinite bliss of 
" those solemn troops, and sweet Societies, 
that sing, and singing in their glory move " ; 
it realises, in one word, that Harmony which 
lies at the heart of things, and which ever has 
been, and ever will be the idea that the dance 
is endeavouring to express. 

xvi 



Dancingy bright lady^ then began to be^ 

When the first seeds whereof the world did springs 

The fire^ airy earthy and water did agree ^ 

By Love's persuasion^ Nature's mighty king^ 

To leave their first disorder' d combatiyig ; 

And in a dance such measure to observe ^ 

That all the world this motion should preserve. 

How justly then is dancing ter7ned new^ 
Which with the world in point of time begun^ 
Vea, Time itself {whose birth Jove 7iever knewy 
And which indeed is elder than the Su7i) 
Had not one m^oment of his age outrun ^ 
Wheri out leapt Dancing from the heap of things^ 
And lightly rode upon his nimble wings,'' 

Sir John Davies. 



PRIMITI\7E DANCES 

NO nation has yet been discovered which 
so uncivilised as not to possess some form 
of the dance. Among aborigines, everywhere, 
dances are described to us by travellers, either 
connected with magic, or employed to produce 
the actions proper to war and courtship, being 
part of the actual event, and not merely i 
symbolical of it, as in more civilised com- 1 
munities. — -^ 

The Maoris have a scalp-dance, likewise the 
Red Indians. The Sudanese also dance to cele- 
brate their victories over their enemies. The 
Dakota Indians paint themselves black, and 
sing and dance War-dirges to pacify the souls 
of the slain in battle. The wives of warriors 
who have left home for the field of battle, per- 
form day and night a perpetual ceremonial 
dance, to keep up the courage of their husbands. 
They also think it possible to destroy the malice 
of their enemies by the exercise of this species 
of magic. A Dance of Death is known among 
all savage tribes, on the principle of like 
counteracting like. They hope, for instance, 
to drive away a plague or epidemic by the 
sympathetic magic of the Death Dance. 
Exorcism of evil spirits is effected by the same 
means, and Devil and Ghost Dances are for 



Primitive Dances 

the purpose of driving away devils and ghosts, 
and for healing diseases. In point of fact, 
dancing is good for health, for it stimulates the 
circulation and exercises all the organs of the 
body, as Captain Cook found out when he 
prescribed for his crew a daily horn-pipe. The 
Tarantella and the Tigritia of the Tigris Valley 
are curative dances. The Obeah or Medicine- 
man of Jamaica cures patients by dancing a fas 
seul, and so do the Iroquois and the Veddahs of 
Ceylon. Other evolutions are used to avert 
lightning and storms. The Cingalese profes- 
sional devil-dancer is also a necromancer. 
Much dancing is specially connected with death 
and funerals, survivals of this practice having 
been found lately, even in Ireland. The Sun- 
dance of the Red-skins of Iowa was signalised 
by horrible sufferings and mutilations, and was 
connected with the ceremonies of initiation for 
the boys of the tribe. 

Many primitive dances are imitations of the 
motions of animals, and probably originated in 
Totemism. Imitations of the wolf, bear, 
gorilla, ox, frog, and many other animals have 
been found, in connection with the religious 
ceremonies of the Red Indians. Zulu dances 
are merely accompaniments to war and hunting. 
Music, however rude, usually marks time in 
primitive dances, and in some tribes it is the 



The Wave Mekc 

chief's privilege to play while the people per- 
form the actions. The Natal Kaffirs have a 
dance which is executed before going into 
battle, to inspire martial zeal. The Bushmen 
hold sticks in their hands by which they sup- 
port themselves, while they dance wildly with 
one foot, keeping the other motionless. The 
Gonds, a hill-tribe of India, dance in couples 
with shuffling steps. The movements of the 
Santal women are slow and graceful. The 
Kukis of Assam hop awkwardly to and fro, with 
bent knees. The Fijians hold their arms 
akimbo and jump sideways. The Javanese 
make expressive gestures with their hands. 

THE WAVE M^Z^.— Fijian dances are 
called " mekes," and in one of them, the 
" wave meke," the Fijian girls, standing in 
rows, imitate the movements of the sea, as it 
rolls in upon the reefs. 

First they bend down, and slowly sweep 
the ground with their hands, waving their 
lingers to represent the little wavelets, blown 
by the wind. Then they sway their bodies 
to and fro, to show the long roll of the tropical 
wave, until their figures are rising and falling 
like the breakers. The dance becomes more 
violent — the wave is dashing up the reef — 
the girls spring forward, clap their hands, and 



Primitive Dances 

sink to the ground with a long musical cry. 
The wave has surmounted the reef, and emptied 
itself into the glassy waters of the lagoon. Thus 
the dance comes to a peaceful end. 

THE SNAKE DANCE,— In the Pueblo 
cities ot Moqui, on the edge of the Arizona 
desert, there still exists one of the most extra- 
ordinary barbaric dances the world has ever 
known. The weird rite takes place every 
second year, in August, and is performed by 
seventeen priests in a small open court. The 
priests dance with a peculiar hopping step, 
each priest having as partner an " antelope 
man," holding in his mouth a deadly rattle- 
snake, whose fangs have not been extracted. 
The steps of the theme are repeated over and 
over again, and at the end of each round the 
dancers discard the snakes they are holding 
with their teeth, and take up fresh ones. Some- 
times over a hundred snakes are so employed, 
and there is no record of any of the devotees 
having been injured by a poisonous snake- 
bite. 

The dance lasts from half-an-hour to an 
hour, and ends when the sun sinks below the 
desert horizon. No white man who has 
witnessed it could ever forget this weird and 
astounding performance. The ceremony is, 




LA DANSE 

By Jules Carpeaux 

The Opera House, Paris 



Animal Dances 

of course, a sacred one, and is supposed to 
please the divinities of the Moquis. It is 
doubtless a relic of serpent worship. 

ANIMAL DANCES OF THE ALGON- 
QUIN INDIANS,— The Blackfeet tribe of 
Indians have a curious belief in the protective 
virtues of animals. They believe that the 
beaver, for instance, taught them all the arts 
of civilisation, and they worship it accordingly. 
They have a ceremonial dance and rite, symbol- 
ising the supernatural powers conferred on them 
by the beaver, called the " beaver medicine 
ceremonial, " the word " medicine " here 
bearing the signification of " magic. " They 
consider the buffalo, bear, elk, otter, eagle, 
and antelope to be sacred animals, endued 
with power from the sun, and these animals 
are painted on their tipis, or tents, as protectives 
against evil. The tents are considered so 
sacred that, when worn out, they must be 
destroyed, not sold, or handed on to anyone 
else. They secure the family of the owner from 
sickness and misfortune, procure him aid in 
danger, and have a magic influence on his 
fortunes generally. The spirit of the otter, 
or the beaver, or the buffalo, is worshipped as 
the Lares and Penates were in ancient Rome, 
and their images on the tipis have a symbolic 



Primitive Dances 

value and a religious significance. They are an 
ever-present reminder to the family of their 
obligations to their tutelary " medicine " and 
of the protection they may expect as a reward 
for their strict observance of its rules. 

The Animal Dances are a part of the cere- 
monial connected v^ith this belief. In the 
sacred " medicine bundle " animal skins of all 
kinds are preserved. These are taken out, each 
with its separate song and prayer, and each 
skin, of elk, or otter, or beaver, is used in exe- 
cuting a solemn dance, with mimic representa- 
tions of the actions of the animals whose skins 
are displayed. While singing the Beaver Song, 
they beat time on raw hides with rattles, to 
show how the beavers drummed on the water 
with their tails. In the Buffalo Chant, the 
women hold up their fingers curved like the 
horns of a buffalo. Then they take the elk 
skin, and the women imitate the action of 
elks rubbing their horns against trees. In 
the Antelope Song the women hold their hands 
closed one above the other, changing positions 
alternately with a quick, graceful movement, 
in imitation of antelope-running. The beaver 
skin is used to imitate the movements of a beaver 
while swimming, and at the same time the 
women gracefully sway their bodies to and fro, 
imitating the beaver building his lodge. They 

8 



Animal Dances 

dance round the fire with the skins on their 
shoulders, and by this process they expect to 
receive the peculiar virtues of the animal 
represented. The skins must not be allowed 
to touch the ground. The prayers are of this 
nature : " I take you, my child, (the beaver) 
that my husband and children may be free from 
sickness, and that they may live to be old." 

In the Weasel Song, they pray to the spirit 
of this animal for its skill in hunting and pro- 
viding food. Every song, prayer and dance 
must be performed correctly, and if any mistakes 
are made, it is believed that misfortune will 
follow^ An exact imitation of the animal's 
actions is essential to the correctness of the 
rite, which, otherwise, must be done over again. 

The Dog Dance is fast and lively, and is 
the most popular of the " Beaver Medicine 
Dances." It is a woman's function, in which 
all the women of the lodge are expected to 
join, the men urging them on, singing their 
loudest, and beating time with the rattles. 
The entire performance takes a day, from 
sunrise to sunset. 

The Sun Dance is a long and impressive 
ceremonial lasting some days. The " Sacred 
Woman," who is the high priestess of this 
ceremonial, has to wear several objects made 
of the skins of animals, and each time that any 



Primitive Dances 

particular garment is put on, the movement 
of the animal has to be imitated. The people 
prepare for this great event by fasting. Then 
they go out in procession to find a suitable 
place for erecting their sun tent or lodge. 
The principal medicine man wears a robe of 
very ancient origin, made of the skins and 
tails of many animals and birds, such as the 
weasel, mink, gopher, eagle, and owl. It is 
also decorated with a small bell, two shields, 
and some pieces of wood of the cotton tree. 
Marks are painted on the back to represent 
stars, especially the constellation of the Great 
Bear, and the Pleiades. In the centre of the 
back the Sun is represented, with a Maltese cross 
to signify the Morning Star. The face of the 
medicine man is also painted with emblems. 
Pipes are smoked together, as offerings of 
incense to the sun, and to promote good 
feeling. The whole is a festival of purification, 
and tribal rejoicing. 

The legend of the origin of the Red Indian 
Sun Dance is as follows : — There was a young 
Indian maiden named So-at-Sa-Ki, the 
** Feather Lady," who, sleeping in prairie 
grass in the Moon of Flowers, saw and loved 
the Morning Star. Of this love was born 
Star-child, in the house of Morning Star's 
father and mother, the Sun and the Moon ; 

TO 



The Sun Dance 

but they despised the bride, and bade her and 
her son Star-child depart. So they left the 
sky, and came to earth, and Poia (Star-child) 
grew up poor and despised. He followed 
the Blackfeet army at a distance, and he had 
strange scars on his face, whence he was called 
Poia, or " scarred," in derision. But, later on, 
he became the mediator between men and the 
Power in the sky, and taught men the Sun 
Dance, which heals alike mind and body. 
A virtuous woman, who alone can wear the 
elk-skin robe, is the protagonist in the Sun 
Dance ritual. No other Indian tribe but 
the Blackfeet have a dance in which the power 
and virtue of womanhood is so symbolised. 
The simple prayers of this tribe are : — 

" Mother Earth, have pity and give us food to 
eat. 
Father Sun, bless our children and may our 
paths be straight." 

Another prayer is : — 

" Great Sun-God ! continue to give us your 
light, that the leaves and the grass may grow, 
so our cattle may increase, and our children 
live to be old." 

{From " The Old North Trail,'' by Walter 

McClintock.) 

II 



Primitive Dances 

OTHER DANCES OF AMERICAN- 
INDIANS, — Some of the Red Indian dances 
are highly symbolical. One tells the whole 
story of the Creation of the World, and the 
dancers are dressed to represent the spirits 
who helped to educate man, and their own 
tribe in particular. Rattles are much used as 
accompaniments. 

The Pueblos have dances which are prayers 
for rain. All the movements have reference 
to the desired end, and the making of rain is 
invoked by means of imitative magic. The 
drummers make curious beckoning gestures 
to bring up the clouds. Sometimes the 
dancers carry jointed sticks to represent 
lightning, and others simulate the thunder. 
Sometimes water is thrown over them until 
they are drenched, in the hope that their 
villages and fields may also be drenched with 
rain. 

Before taking part in the religious cere- 
monies the dancers have to purify themselves 
either by bathing, by rubbing the body with 
sweet-smielling plants, by sitting in the smoke 
from the burning of sacred wood, or by 
fasting. 

The Sun Dance of the Sioux Indians has 
not been performed for some years, as on 
account of the terrible tortures connected 

12 



The Cake-Walk 

With it, it was forbidden by the United 
States Government. It was invented to please 
Wakantanda, the Sun. Buffalo skulls were 
used, a sacred tree was set up in the centre 
of the dancing ground, and around it a 
dance-house was built, where all the weird 
and dreadful ceremonies took place. The 
tortures were meant to test the bravery of 
the young men who took part in the dance, 
who prayed while undergoing them, and 
turned their faces to the Sun, saying : — 
" Pity me ; bring to pass all the things that I 
desire ! " 

THE HISTORY OF THE CAKE-WALK. 

— This dance was in vogue forty years ago in 
the Southern States of America. It originated 
in Florida, where it is said that the negroes 
borrowed the idea of it from the War Dances 
of the Seminoles, an almost extinct Indian 
tribe. The negroes were present as spectators 
at these dances, which consisted of wild and 
hilarious jumping and gyrating, alternating 
with slow processions in which the dancers 
walked solemnly in couples. The idea grew, 
and style in walking came to be practised 
among the negroes as an art. Classes for 
teaching it were founded, instead of dancing 
schools. The simple feat of promenading in a 

13 



Primitive Dances 

dignified manner developed into the " Cake 
Walk," and prizes were given to the best 
performers, ice-creams and chocolates at first, 
later on huge decorated cakes. At the end the 
winner cut the cake and shared it with the other 
dancers, and the evening concluded with Vir- 
ginia Reels, Barn Dances, &c. This custom 
gave rise to the slang expression : " That 
takes the cake." 

When Florida became a fashionable winter 
resort, the negroes began to dress in a special 
style for the performances — the men in long- 
tailed coats with high collars, the women in 
fluffy white gowns with bouquets of flowers. 
From Florida the " Cake Walk " spread to 
Georgia, the two Carolinas, and Virginia, until 
it reached New York, where the Darkies 
organized clubs, and gave champion belts to 
the best men-walkers, and diamond rings 
to the women. 

APACHE DANCES.— Ap2ichQ dances, the 
rage of Paris for some little time, are those 
which originated among the lowest class of 
Parisian roughs. The name " Apache " was 
given by a journalist to a class of Parisians who 
were engaged in a feud to the death, which arose 
out of a quarrel between two men about a 
woman. The case caused considerable excite- 



Maori Dances 

ment, and all the people of their class took sides, 
and " Apache " bands were formed, who gave 
themselves up to lawlessness, robbery, and 
murder. The name was accepted with pride 
and has clung to the class ever since. Apache 
is a generic term applying to the Indian tribes 
of North America. Breaking an arrow over the 
head of a woman is a sign of victory or courtship. 
The same symbolism occurs among the Kal- 
mucks, who twist a handkerchief round the 
bride's neck, and let fly an arrow over her 
head. 

MAORI DANCES.— Among primitive 
peoples dancing is far less individual, and more 
a matter of mass combination, than with us. 
Rhythm is its essence. Among the Polynesians 
it has shed much of its religious meaning, and 
has become an almost purely secular art. Yet 
it still consists wholly of posturing, of waving 
the arms and bending the upper part of the 
body, as if before a shrine. 

In the Funeral Dance of the Maoris the old 
religious significance is maintained ; perhaps 
also in their triumph dance, and war dance. 
In an island of the Marquesas group a religious 
festival is held to celebrate the maturity of the 
bread-fruit. The men alone take part in it, 
and dance naked, and whenever a dance is 

IS 



Primitive Dances 

monopolised by men it shows that something of 
the old religious intention remains. The War 
Dance of the Maoris is also confined to men, and 
is full of energy and frenzy. The dancers' faces 
take on the appearance of demons ; they thrust 
out their tongues, roll their eyes, and give vent 
to fierce cries. The legs are very little used, 
but one leg-movement used by Polynesian 
dancers is a backward kick, like that of a four- 
footed animal. 

The Maori pot-dance is full of rhythmic 
grace, but more resembles a game. Like most 
children's games, it is of prehistoric antiquity. 
Many games of the Maori children resemble 
those of Japanese or of European children. In 
the Corroborie dance of New South Wales the 
dancers paint broad white stripes down their 
arms and legs, and crossway stripes on their 
bodies, to represent ribs. When they dance 
thus by firelight in their native forests, they 
look like a company of skeletons, appearing and 
disappearing, for their dusky bodies are only 
painted in front, so that when they turn round 
in the dim light they seem to vanish. 

The growth of the art of dancing in Poly- 
nesia has been somewhat hampered by the 
elementary character of the music, but there 
is no doubt that it evolved oratory in New 
Zealand, and the histrionic art in Polynesia. 

i6 



** If sense hath not yet taught you ^ learn of me 
A comely m,oderation and discreet^ 
That yout assemblies may well ordered he : 
When my uniting power shall make you meet^ 
With heavenly tunes it shall be tempered sweety 
And be the model of the worlds s great frame y 
Andyouy Earth's childreny Dancing shall it name. 

' * Behold the world how it is whirled roundy 
Andy for it is so whirVdy is namid so ; 
In whose large volume many rules are found 
Of this new arty which it doth fairly show : 
For your quick eyes in wandering to and fro 
From east to westy on no one thing can glance^ 
Buty if you mark it welly it seems to dance,''* 

Sir John Davibs. 



ANTIQUE DANCING 

BETWEEN primitive dances, such as those 
just cited, and the dances of civilised 
nations, there is little in common ; the former 
is not dancing proper, but can only be compared 
to the games of children, which are, indeed, 
mostly corruptions of a very simple and primitive 
dance. " Sally, Sally Waters," " Kiss-in-the- 
Ring," and " Here we go round the Pvlulberry 
Bush," are all probably survivals of some very 
ancient marriage-dance or game in England, 
and are analogous to those found among peasants 
and simple folk of all countries. Dancing as a 
finished art, as a highly elaborated product of 
civihsation, is, however, very ancient in origin, 
and the dances of antiquity, while equally 
complicated, were probably much more 
ceremonious than any that can be named 
nowadays. Accounts of early historical dances 
have been handed down to us by many of the 
classical writers, and are corroborated by 
sculptures and vase-paintings. 

EGTPTIAN DANCING,--^3incing in 

Egypt was ceremonial, and a necessary part of 
all the most important events of life. A dance 
was held in honour of the Dead on the Feast of 
Eternity, and the image of the deceased was 

19 



Antique Dancing 

carried in a procession led by dancers. Dances 
were held at marriages, and in honour of the 
gods, and accompanied all royal functions and 
great banquets^ Women wore tights, or very 
scanty clothing, as professional dancers on 
these occasions, and their attitudes and postures 
were almost exactly those of the modern ballet. 
That dancing was a social amusement is rather 
difficult to prove from the monuments. In 
most Eastern nations it is done by a professional 
class, and people of rank do not join in, but look 
on and applaud, y The religious dancers were 
probably hired professionallyj and the Almehs 
of modern Cairo are the successors of the 
original Egyptian dancing-girl. \If the ladies 
of Egypt danced at all, it was most likely in 
private, and the dance was not held in honour 
as by the aristocracy of ancient Greece.") 

rtt is interesting to know that the positions 
01 the feet and hands in dancing, and the 
postures of the body, have scarcely altered for 
thousands of years. The toes had to be turned 
outwards and downwards, and the arms grace- 
fully extended. The -pirouettes used were 
those of the present day. The Egyptian 
dancers frequently employed jettes, coufes, 
caprioles, and toe-and-heel movements.) The 
instruments used were the Egyptian guitar, the 
single and double pipe, the harp, lyre, and 

20 



The Funeral Dance 

flute, while (dancing and playing were fre- 
quently executed by the same person. Masks 
representing Bes, the god of music and 
dancing, have been found, with ivory clappers 
for striking together. The goddesses were 
sometimes depicted as dancing-girls wearing 
lion's skins, and they were connected with the 
god Bes, who was a lion-headed dwarf. The 
professional dancing-girl was evidently of very 
early origin./ 

The goddesses who were patronesses of 
dancing were Hat-hot^ the goddess of pleasure, 
called " the Mistress of Dancing and Mirth " ; 
and, in the Delta, Bast or Bubastis, as the city 
called after her was named by the Greeks. 
She is lion-headed, or cat-headed, and Dancing 
Festivals were held in her honour. Sometimes 
she is called Pasht, The cemeteries round 
Bubastis are full of mummified cats, which 
were sacred to her. The ancient fable of the 
Egyptian Proteus simply means that by rapid 
movements he could assume all sorts of forms, 
thus imitating the fluidity of water, the vivacity 
of flame, the ferocity of a lion, or the agitation 
of a star. 

/^ THE FUNERAL DJNCE.— The Greeks 
and Romans borrowed from the Egyptians the 
idea of having, on the occasion of the burial of 

21 



Antique Dancing 

important personages, a man skilled in imitating 
the personal idiosyncrasies and manners of the 
deceased. The mimic was dressed in the dead 
man's garments, and, having his face covered 
with a mask as nearly as possible resembling 
the face of the deceased, he immediately 
preceded the hearse. As the procession 
moved slowly along to the sound of solemn 
music (probably the Linus) he performed 
a pantomimic dance to represent the most 
remarkable deeds achieved during his life- 
time by the man who was being carried to 
the tomb, j 

THE ASTRONOMIC DANCE,— This also 
(originated in EgyptN The order and har- 
monious motion of the Celestial Bodies was 
represented to the music of the flute, lyre, and 
syrinx. This dance is clearly connected with 
the worship of the sun — Ra. It was performed 
by the Greeks around the blazing altar of 
Jupiter. It was associated with the Dionysiac 
rites, Dionysos being the Greek representative 
of Osiris, and of Baal-Peor, the Semitic Sun- 
god. The Bacchic Dithyramb was probably 
a corrupt version of the astronomic dance. 
Among the Greeks it was held in high estima- 
tion, and Plato and other philosophers allude 
to it as a divine institution. 

22 



Hebrew Dances 

Flinders Petrie observes that the modern 
village dances in Egypt may possibly all be 
derived from very ancient Folk Dances. They 
take place round a pole set up in the middle of 
the village, in an open space. They are 
strictly devotional, and are performed at the 
time of the full moon. The people all stand 
in a circle led by a professional, repeating the 
name of Allah (pronounced " al-lah ") with 
the greatest intensity, and bov^ing themselves 
lower and lower to the ground. The word is 
monotonously intoned in a deep bass voice, 
which gradually lowers itself almost into a 
growl, and the pace gets quicker and quicker 
until the bodies of the performers move 
in unison like mechanical toys, and they 
leave off in a state of frenzied excitement, 
accompanied, in some cases, by actual nervous 
prostration. This is called the recitation of 
the ninety-nine names of Allah, or, in Arabic, 
a Zikr, 

The dancing of the Fellah boys is hardly 
what we should describe as such, as the per- 
former never leaves one spot, but stands, 
merely moving the hips from side to side, 
crooning a low chant at the same time. Eastern 
dancing, generally, consists almost entirely of 
posture and gesture and the legs are scarcely 
used at all. 

23 



Antique Dancing 

HEBREW DANCES,— It is admitted that 
these are derived from the Egyptians. The 
first mentioned in the Bible is Miriam's Dance 
to celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea, which 
she performed with other women, herself 
tal[ing the timbrel or tambourine in her hand 
(Exodus XV. 20). The dance round the Golden 
Calf in the wilderness was an imitation of the 
worship of Apis (Exodus xxxii. 19). Another 
dance of the Israelite women is mentioned after 
the victory of Judith over Holofernes. We read 
that they put a garland of olive upon Judith 
and her maid, and that " she herself went 
before all the people in the dance, leading all 
the women " (Judith xv.). 

The Israelite women nearly always came to 
welcome their defenders with song and dance. 
They thus met David after his slaughter of the 
Philistines " with tabrets, with joy, and instru- 
ments of music " (i Sam. xviii. 6). In a 
pathetic story, the daughter of Jephthah came 
to meet her father, dancing, after his subjection 
of the children of Ammon, little knowing that 
she was dancing to her death (Judges xi. 34). 

The most famous instance in the Old Testa- 
ment is that of David dancing before the Ark. 
His wife Michal sneered at him for wearing 
the slight vesture, which was all that was worn 
under these circumstances, but he showed her 

24 



Hebrew Dancing 

that she was in the wrong. It has been suggested 
that she herself had expected to lead the dance, 
as the women usually did on these occasions 
(2 Sam. vi. 14). 

The dance of Salome before Herod was 
probably not of the simple unpremeditated 
character of Hebrew dancing. It was most 
likely an elaborate performance, borrowed from 
the more sophisticated examples of the Greeks 
and Romans (Matt. xiv. 6 ; Mark vi. 22). 

There are many other allusions to dancing 
in the Bible. That it formed a part of high 
ceremonial worship is proved by Psalm cxlix. 3,4. 

" Let them praise His Name in the dance, 
let them sing praises unto Him with the 
timbrel and harp." 

Also Psalm cl. 4. 

" Praise Him with the timbrel and dance, 
praise Him with stringed instruments and 
organs." 

Dancing was also a social expression of joy — 

" Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, 
both young men and old together, for I will 
turn their mourning into joy" (Jer. xxxi. 13). 

But when Israel was depressed by enemies, 
war, and captivity, we read — 

" The joy of our heart has ceased, our dance 
is turned into mourning " (Lam. v. 15). „ 

Dancing, as in later times, proved a useful 

2*5 



Antique Dancing 

adjunct to marriage. We find, in Judges xxi. 
21, that when the men of the tribe of Benjamin 
wanted wives, and said " What shall we do for 
wives ? " they received the following advice — 

" Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and 
see, and behold if the daughters of Shiloh come 
out to dance in dances, then come ve out of the 
vineyards, and catch you every man his wife 
of the daughters of Shiloh," 

This plan they accordingly carried out, and 
no doubt we may conclude that they began 
their wooing by offering themselves as partners 
in the dance. 

Lucky people are thus described in the book 
of Job (xxi. II, 12) — 

" Their children dance, they take the timbrel 
and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ." 

Another instance of the dance as a psean of 
triumph occurs in i Sam., xxi. 11, and xxix. 5. 

" Is not this David the king of the land \ 
Did they not sing to one another of him in 
dances, saying — Saul hath slain his thousands, 
but David his ten thousands ? " ^ 

The mention of dancing in the New Testa- 
ment is less frequent, but it is deeply suggestive. 
Our Lord's saying of the children in the 
market-place, " We have piped unto you, and 
ye have not danced, we have mourned unto 
you and ye have not wept," is supposed to 

26 



Greek Dances 

allude to an actual dance of ceremonial intention 
which was current at the time. (Matt. xi. 17., 
Luke vii. 32.) 

When the prodigal son returned home he 
was welcomed with " music and dancing," 
to signify reconciliation and joy. (Luke 
XV. 25.) 

Finally there remains the dance of Salome 
before Herod. Many interpretations of the 
story have been suggested, but it would not be 
safe to adopt any of them as the true explana- 
tion. According to one author, Salome's 
dance is executed out of revenge for the 
indifference of John the Baptist ; according 
to another interpreter, Salome is an innocent girl 
who first dances in ignorance of the horror of 
the crime she is committing, and then 
realises it in a suddenly awakened passion of 
remorse. 

But the story is told without actually 
suggesting any particular motives, and the 
sentiments attributed to Salome are purely 
modern, for in her own day the beheading of 
a captive was a commonplace event. 

DANCING AMONG THE GREEKS,— 
Dancing was an essential part of Greek educa- 
tion. Great poets did not think it beneath 
them to lead the Dithyramb, such as Archilochus, 
or Sophocles after the victory of Salamis, 

27 



Antique Dancing 

The Dithyramb was a dance in the worship of 
Dionysos. 

The Pyrrhic and Gymnopaedic dances were 
solemn and stately, and were danced entirely 
nude. Helen was joining in the " Dance of 
Innocence " when she was abducted by Theseus. 
This was sacred to Artemis. 

" White-armed " Nausicaa is represented as 
leading her companions in the "choral" lay. 
Chorus, in Greek, denotes dancing, and not 
vocal music, which is only its secondary mean- 
ing. It is thus that she meets Ulysses. 
(Od. Bk. vi.) Again, Ulysses is entertained 
with dances at the court of Alcinous. (Bk. 
viii.) Dancing in the twenty-third book forms 
part of a wedding ceremony, a description of 
which again occurs in the scenes on the shield 
of Vulcan, where a dance is depicted, called the 
Necklace, in which youths and maidens 
form chains threading in and out of one 
another. In " Lysistrata " there is a des- 
cription of another called the Dipodia, sometimes 
represented on bas-reliefs. Yet another Spar- 
tan dance was called the Bihasis ; this was a 
lively measure, accompanied by springs into 
the air. 

The P<:ean was the choral dance of Apollo. 
The Choragus, or leader, was crowned with 
laurel and palm leaves. 

28 



Greek Dances 

The Pyrrhic dance was a war-dance ; the 
dancers had spears, and imitated thfi movements 
of javelin throwing. 

A beautiful mimetic dance among the 
Greeks represented the marriage of Bacchus 
with Ariadne, and another was a Flower Dance, 
called the Anthema, in which the dancers 
sang : — 

" O where are my roses, O where are my 
violets. 

And where is my beautiful parsley ? 
Are these, then, my roses ? Are these, then, 
my violets ? 

And is this my beautiful parsley ? " 
This seems similar in character to " Oranges 
and Lemons," or " Here we go round the 
Mulberry Bush." Other antique dances have 
the quaint names of " The Owl and the Lion," 
" The Pouring out of Meal," " The Taking 
Hold of Wood," ifSc, 

The theatre, with the Greeks, was the 
temple of a god. Thirty thousand spectators 
could witness the dances, and people would sit 
there for whole days. 

A remarkable dance was that of the Eumen- 
ides or Erinnyes. These awful beings could 
strike terror even in mimic show. 

Lucian, with his usual acuteness, remarks 
that the Greeks coveted distinction in dancing 

2Q 



Antique Dancing 

to such an extent, that " the most noble and 
greatest personages in every city are the dancers, 
and so little are they ashamed of it, that they 
applaud themselves more upon their dexterity 
in that species of talent, than on their nobility, 
their posts of honour, and the dignities of 
their forefathers." (Dialogues : De Saltat.) — 
Homer speaks of the dance as " irreproachable "; 
and Hesiod beheld the muses dancing in the 
dawn. 

The Greeks themselves attributed the origin 
of dancing to the goddess Cybele, or Rhea, 
who, on the birth of Zeus, in order to save him 
from being devoured by his father Chronos, 
or Saturn, placed him in charge of the Curetes, 
or Corybantes, her priests, whom she instructed 
to drown the infant's cries by dancing and 
clashing their shields together. This was a 
favourite subject for vase-paintings. The gods 
were thought, generally, to approve of dancing, 
and its practice is attributed to Zeus, to Apollo, 
and to Hermes ; also to the Dioscuri, and to the 
Muses, Erato and Terpsichore. It is said that 
Theseus taught the Cretan youths the Laby- 
rinth Dance, which afterwards became a 
favourite among the Greeks. It was also 
called the " Crane Dance," because the dancers 
imitated the movements of cranes in following 
a clue held by a personage representing Ariadne. 

30 




DANCING NYMPHS 
After a painting by Van der Werff 



Greek Dances 

Dances were held in Greece sacred to Apollo 
and to Artemis, and ballets were performed 
representing the births and histories of these 
deities. ® At the Delian Festival, held every 
five years in the spring, these ballets were wit- 
nessed, and the Theori, youths drawn from 
the most noble families in Athens, offered 
sacrifices at Delos, the birthplace of the children 
of Leda. After the sacrifice, women went 
through movements representing the tossing 
up of the Island of Delos (which was to be the 
birthplace of Apollo and Artemis) by the waves 
of the sea. 

Greek dances may be divided into : — 

1. Kubistic, or square dances. 

2. Spheristic, or round dances. 

3. Orchestric, or stage dances. 

The Dionysiac Festivals consisted almost 
entirely of dances, the principal one being 
before described as the Dithyramb, It was often 
led by public characters, and by celebrated 
poets and statesmen. 

Other dances in use in the Festivals were : — 
The Emmelta, which was slow and graceful, 
and danced by maidens. Such a dance was 
being performed by Nausicaa when she first 
met Odysseus, and by Helen in the temple 
of Artemis, when she was surprised and carried 

31 



Antique Dancing 

away by Theseus. This was the noble and 
serious style of dancing, which was connected 
with tragedy. 

The Kardax, which, was used as an accompani- 
ment to comedy, and was connected with 
riotous jollity. 

The Sikinnis, or Satyric Dance, which partook 
of both characters. 

On the Greek stage, or orchestra, the Chora- 
gus, or Coryphaeus, led the Chorus in the dance 
which was an inevitable part of all stage repre- 
sentations. The Chorus danced with slow 
steps, clothed in long robes, and crowned with 
palm or laurel. From the Paan^ or Choral 
Dance of Apollo, were developed the Gymno- 
paedic (a wrestling dance), the Pyrrhic, and the 
Hyporchematic varieties. All these dances 
required training in gymnastics and were led 
by professionals, though people of good birth 
did not disdain to join in them. The first 
two named were performed by men and boys. 
The dancers carried spears or torches, which 
were used in executing the various evolutions. 
The perfection of dancing which was attained 
by the Lacedaemonians, coincided exactly 
with the rise of their political power and their 
superiority in war. From their proficiency in 
this exercise proceeded their extraordinary 
suppleness, lightness, and adroitness, which 

32 



Greek Dances 

stood them in good stead against their 
enemies. 

The Hyporchema was performed by both 
men and maidens, and was a kind of mimetic 
dance, or a dancing and singing game. The 
Hymen was a marriage dance celebrating the 
victory of the Greeks over some pirates. The 
Caryatides were so named after some noble 
maidens of Caryae, a village of Sparta, who 
carried flat baskets of cakes on their heads, to 
offer in the sacrifice which accompanied their 
ceremonial dance. These baskets were called 
canea (from whence the maidens are also called 
Canephorae), and contained the sacred cake, the 
knife, the chaplet, and the incense required for 
the sacrifice. This is the origin of the beautiful 
figures of the temple of Erechtheus, on the 
Acropolis, which for ever immortalises the 
enchanting ceremonial dance of the Spartan 
maidens. 

Dances were used among the Greeks, as in 
later ages, for the promotion of marriage 
alliances. For this reason the Lacedaemonians 
allowed men and maidens to mingle in the 
dance, and even Plato alluded to it as a desirable 
object for this purpose. There is, however, one 
Greek tale of a young man who lost his bride by 
failing to please her father in the dance, which 

33 D 



Antique Dancing 

is narrated by Herodotus. Cleisthenes, the 
last tyrant of Sicyon, having been victor in the 
Olympic Games, gave out a proclamation that 
he would give his daughter in marriage to the 
most accomplished youth who should come to 
his court to display his prowess. The principal 
rivals proved to be Megacles and Hippocleides, 
the latter of whom was preferred by the lady. 
When the day arrived for the final trial of skill, 
Hippocleides, in order to display his agility, 
not merely excelled all other competitors 
in the dance, but resorted to acrobatic tricks 
in order to gain the applause of the spectators. 
Cleisthenes, after observing him gravely, 
remarked, " Young man, you have danced 
away your marriage ! " and the maiden was 
given to Megacles, and became the ancestress 
of Pericles. This event was proverbial 
among the Greeks ever afterwards. 

DANCING IN ROME.^Onc of the earliest 
instances was a military dance, celebrating 
the Rape of the Sabine women, called Bellicrepa 
saltatio. 

Numa instituted the Salii, or dancing 
priests of Mars. There were twelve of these, 
selected from citizens of the first rank. They 
wore an embroidered tunic and a brazen 
breast-plate ; they carried javelins, and the 

34 



Dancing in Rome 

shields called Ancilia, and thus equipped they 
went through the city, singing hymns, leaping 
and dancing. During the Lupercalta, half-naked 
youths rushed and danced about the streets 
with whips, striking all they met, and especially 
women, who looked upon it in the light of a 
favour. 

Rural Dances were performed in honour 
of Pan. The heads of the dancers were 
crowned with oak, and round their bodies 
were flung garlands of flowers. 

At the Palilia, or festival of Pales, solemn 
and magnificent dances were performed in the 
fields by shepherds, who during the night 
formed circles around blazing fires of straw 
and stubble. The Floralia, or festival of Flora, 
gave rise to the May Day customs still surviving 
in parts of England. It was the corruption of 
dancing in Rome which led to the expulsion of 
its professors, and to the low estimation in 
which it has subsequently been held in 
European life. From a religious solemnity it 
degenerated into an orgy. 

The Romans, not naturally an artistic 
people, borrowed the later developments 
of dancing from the Greeks. 

Pantomime originated in Rome, and 
flourished there until the end of the sixth 
century. It reached its climax in the age of 

35 



Antique Dancing 

Augustus, and represented everything, even 
the most solemn and sacred subjects. The 
Saltatio pantomimorum gave dramatic repre- 
sentations, consisting of movements and 
gestures only, and the two famous dancers, 
Pylades and Bathyllus, are said to have excelled 
all who preceded or came after them. Pylades 
was a tragic dancer, composing his repre- 
sentations from the Emmelia and Kordax 
of the Greeks. Bathyllus was his contemporary 
and rival, and each had their own admirers 
and factions. The latter was pre-eminent in 
agility, and renowned for his beauty, so that 
he became the idol of the Roman ladies. 
Actresses also took part in the Roman dances 
of the Empire, and some of their names have 
reached posterity — Lucceia and Galeria 
Copiola, for instance. 

At one time, when Rome was suffering from 
famine, and even the orators and public 
teachers were banished, three thousand foreign 
female dancers were allowed to remain, so 
necessarv was this amusement considered to be 
for the welfare of the city. 



i^ 



Kind Nature first doth cause all things to love^ 
Love Tuakes them dance and in just order move , . 
Learn then to dance ^ you that are princes hom^ 
And lawful lords of earthly creatures all ; 
Imitate theniy and therefore take no scorn y 
For this new art to them is natural ^ 
And imitate the stars celestial : 
For when pale Death your vital twist shall sever ^ 
Your better part must dance with them forever ^^ 

Sir John Da vies. 



SACRED DANCES 

IT has been fairly maintained that dancing 
was connected at a very early period 
with Church ceremonials, and that the dances 
still executed at Seville, and at the shrine 
of St. Willibrord, are survivals from a time 
when dancing formed a regular religious 
practice. 

It was not without strong protests on the 
part of the early Christian Fathers, and many 
repeated attempts at suppression on the part 
of the authorities, that these dances held their 
ground until the fifth or sixth centuries, and 
then began to be gradually extinguished as 
a more serious ideal of Christian worship 
prevailed. No doubt these dances, with hymns, 
and other heathen survivals, were tolerated 
at first as a concession to peoples to whom 
dancing had been an essential element in the 
ceremonies of religion. 

Notwithstanding the efforts made by the 
bishops, notably by Bishop Odo of Paris in the 
twelfth century, to suppress all ecclesiastical 
dances, they were practised in a modified 
form until comparatively lately. They sur- 
vived longest in France, for even so late as 
1683 Pere Menestrier had seen the Senior 
Canon leading the choir in a circular dance 

39 



Sacred Dances 

in a church in Paris. At Limoges the deacons 
danced on Christmas Day after vespers, 
and a Festum Asinorum was held in the Churches 
of Sens and Rouen, accompanied by the tossing 
of a balh At Besan9on up to 1738 there was 
a church dance called Bergerette. 

Then followed the mediaeval dancing mania. 
Various accounts remain of this curious 
phenomenon, which broke out spasmodically 
in different places at intervals during the Middle 
Ages. St. Vitus was a patron of nervous 
diseases, and his dance was originally of the 
curative order. The longest to survive was 
the dance of St. Willibrord, the Apostle of 
Friesland, which still exists at the present day. 
It takes place at his shrine at Echternach, in the 
Ardennes, for the cure of nervous diseases, 
and has been practised since the seventh 
century. Thousands of pilgrims may be 
seen, chiefly local, but also many from other 
countries, walking in procession eight abreast, 
and holding sticks or kerchiefs which they 
wave to enable them to keep the regulation 
step. At a certain distance from the shrine they 
begin to dance with a gliding motion to a 
traditional tune, and take about four hours in 
the performance. 

The ^arasque is a pantomime dance of 
Provence, symbolising the conquest of St. 

40 



The Carole 

Martha over the Monster, a huge effigy of it 
being carried in the procession. 

The dances of St. Jean and of St. Walpurgis 
are, of course, survivals of the old pagan 
festivals of the Summer Solstice, and have 
been described in a mediaeval ballad. The 
Carole has been alluded to in the Romance 
of the Rose, Chaucer says of the Parish 
Clerk :— 

** In twenty manners he could skip and dance 
After the Schole of Oxenforde tho'. 
And with his legges casten to and fro." 

The word Carole means a circle, and this name 
was given by the Trouveres to a dance in which 
men and women held hands, and moved round 
slowly in a circle, singing songs. In the 
" Doctrine des Filles," a French Abbe, gives 
the following rules : — 

" Fille, quant serez en Karolle, 
Dansez gentiment par mesure, 
Car quant fille se demesure, 
Tel la voit la tient pour folle," i^c. 

Dancing still forms an important part of the 
Breton Pardons. After the bells have been 
tolled, Mass said, and the statues of the 
Saints decorated and clad in national dress, 
and after offerings have been made to them 

41 



Sacred Dances 

of corn, flax, sheepskins and cakes, dancing 
is inaugurated to the sound of the national 
binyou round a moss-grown dolmen, in the 
true mediaeval spirit of gaiety and gravity 
combined. 

i:he origin of the Christmas 

CAROL, — It may be a surprise to some to 
find that the word Carol is derived from the 
old French Carole, which was " the name 
given by the Trouveres to a dance in which 
the performers moved slowly in a circle, 
singing as they went." There is an old 
carol in Cornwall, sung by the peasants 
eighty years ago, which alludes to a heavenly 
dance, an idea which goes back to the very 
earliest ages of Christianity. The carol, in 
fact, is a Christian version of the Greek chorus. 

That the Angels dance is an old belief, and 
is constantly set forth by the old Italian 
masters, including Fra Angehco. 

In this holy dance, Christ is the chorus 
leader, the Tenth or Perfect Number, who 
sings to all the nine choirs of Angels in turn^ 
while they sing back to Him their chants 
of praise in antiphon. 

The early Christians allowed mystical dances 
in their churches, as we know by tradition. 
But abuses crept in, and gradually they had 

42 




DANCE THROUGHOUT THE AGES 

By AlME MOROT 
Fresco in the Hotel de Ville, Paris 



Dances of Angels 

to be abolished, only surviving here and there. 
The part of the church called the choir (derived 
from chorus) is an historical witness to the fact. 
The cosmic mystery of creation is signified 
by this dance, which is constantly alluded 
to by the early Christian Fathers, who call 
it the " Cosmic Mystery of the Church." 
But a still more ancient origin is indicated 
in an early Christian apocryphal gospel 
incorporated with the Acts of John^ called 
the Hymn of Jesus. It states that the Apostles, 
holding hands, with Our Lord in the midst, 
circled slowly round Him singing a hymn ; that 
this elect enclosure protected the Church from 
the outer world, and that within this mystic 
circle the Holy Office proceeds, the neophytes, 
or new-born, personifying the " Sophia " (or 
church), and the Hierophantes or Initiator 
representing Christ. The words of Our Lord, 
" I piped unto you, and ye would not dance," 
are supposed to refer to this mystery. This 
is the earliest Passion Play, or Mystery Dance of 
the Passion, also the first and original Carol, 
and it symbolises the sacramental union of 
the human with the Divine. 

(G. R. S. Mead, " The Quest,'' Oct,, 1910). 

DANCE OF ANGELS.— The dance of the 
angels in Botticelli's famous picture of the 

43 



Sacred Dances 

Nativity has been said to refer to the tradition 
that Angels dance in a circle for joy. The 
idea of dances in Heaven has, indeed, existed 
from very early days. Saint Basil, we find, 
told his hearers that as dancing would be their 
principal occupation in Heaven they had better 
practise it on earth — and with reference 
to a part of Fra Angelico's picture of the Last 
Judgment, the following beautiful verses have 
been quoted : — 

" Dance they in a ring in Heaven, 
All the Blessed in that garden. 
Where the love divine abideth. 
Which is all aglow with love. 

" In that ring dance all the Blessed, 
In that ring dance all the Angels. 
Go they all before the Bridegroom, 
Dancing all of them for love. 

** In that court is joyfulness 
Of a love that's fathomless. 
All of them go to the dancing 
For the Saviour whom they love. 

(" // Ballo dei Angeli^^^ from the Italian,) 



44 



Later Religious Dances 

RELIGIOUS DANCES IN LATER 
TIMES, — In addition to the dance now 
surviving in the Cathedral of Seville, it was 
customary for the people of Limoges to dance 
in the Church of St. Leonard, on the festival 
of St. Martial. Also there was a dance in 
Toledo Cathedral, said to have been instituted 
by St. Isidor of Seville, and revived by Cardinal 
Ximenez. It was known as the Mussarabic 
Mass of Toledo. 

A mediaeval book called the Dieta Salutis 
is the probable source of Dante's description 
of the symbolical dance of the Blessed in 
Paradise. At Barjols in Provence a triple 
dance is danced at Mass on St. Marcel's day. 

The KoUo Dance (or Kolo) is seen depicted 
on very ancient tombs of the Bogomiles in 
Dalmatia, archaic in type ; it must therefore 
have been of ancient religious origin. 

Among other religious dances surviving in 
Europe may be mentioned the Guglia de S, 
Paolino, celebrated on June 26 at Nola, near 
Naples, to commemorate the arrival of the 
Saint, who was welcomed on his return from 
captivity in a foreign land by a dancing pro- 
cession. An analogy to this may be found in 
England, when St. Aldhelm on his return from 
Rome was similarly welcomed by his people, 
" who praised him in the dance." 

45 



Sacred Dances 

The dance of St. Carlo Borromeo, in Lisbon, 
was also commemorative of a ceremony of 
welcome. Gaston Vuillier says that Mohammed 
instituted the dancing dervishes in imitation 
of the Christian practices of his time, but it is 
more probable that the dancing dervishes 
are successors of a very ancient order of priests 
of the original sun-worship, or possibly 
planetary worshippers, such as even now exist 
among the Sabeans. 

Strolling Ballets were universal in Europe in 
the Middle Ages. These were originally pagan, 
but were adopted into Christianity, and pre- 
vailed especially in Spain. There is a dance 
of the Cosier s at Alaro, in the Balearic Isles. 
Six boys dressed in white assemble on the 
Feast of the Assumption (August 15 th). They 
are adorned with ribbons of various colours, 
and wear caps trimmed with flowers ; one is 
called La Dama and carries a fan ; another is 
a demon with horns ; they fight together, the 
demons are driven off, and they end by dancing 
round a statue of the Virgin. A performance 
curiously analogous to this takes place in the 
mining districts of Chili during May, the 
month dedicated to the Virgin. It is called 
el Baile de Pifano, and is danced by men clad 
in white smocks, wearing hats crowned with 
looking-glasses. One in red is called el Diablo^ 

46 



Dramatic Ballets 

and they proceed round the churches from 
chapel to chapel, and from altar to altar, in 
a shuffling position, heads bent and knees 
nearly touching the chest, for hour after hour, 
accompanied by a primitive one-noted instru- 
ment. Pxamati(L_ballets succeeded those of 
the Middle Ages, and were given on solemn 
occasions. For instance, the Council of Trent 
gave a ballet in which churchmen took part, 
representing the capture of Troy. A ballet 
was given in honour of the Canonisation of 
St. Ignatius Loyola in 1609. Pere Menestrier, 
who wrote an interesting book on dancing, 
gives other examples. In his ^raite des 
Ballets (1682), he says that he has seen the 
canons and choristers on Whitsunday take 
each other by the hand and dance while they 
sang hymns of jubilation, and he refers his 
readers to examples then existing of several 
ancient churches, where the theatrical form 
of the choir was still retained. 

GaUini relates that " not long ago at 
Limoges, the people used to dance the Round 
in the choir of the church, which is under the 
invocation of their Guardian Saint, and at the 
end of each psalm, instead of the " Gloria 
Patri," they sang : — 

** St, Marcel, pray for us, and we will dance in 
honour of youP 

47 



Sacred Dances 

To this day Spain has retained the use and 
practice of dancing in her churches on certain 
occasions of solemn processions, and theatrical 
representations are arranged expressly for great 
festivals under the name of Antes Sacramen- 
tales. 

Funeral dances were in all probability 
originally part of a religious service. The 
Jota in Spain is referred to later on, and 
the Wakes held in Ireland had a similar 
origin, though afterwards abused. The 
Catholics of South America still hold a funeral 
dance after the death of a child or a young girl. 

The extract now to be quoted gives a 
beautiful summary of the meaning of the 
mediaeval religious dance : — 

" The following lines are an almost literal 
rendering of a little bit of folk-song from 
French Flanders. They were sung to the 
accompaniment of peculiar ceremonies at the 
funeral of a young girl : — 

" ^ Up in heaven they dance to-day, 
Alleluia, 

The young maidens dance and play, 
They sing as they dancing ge-, 
Benedicamus Domino, 
Alleluia, Alleluia. 

48 



Funeral Dances 

" * 'Tis for Rosalie they sing, 
Alleluia, 

She has done with sorrowing, 
So we dance, and we sing so, 
Benedicamus Domino, 
Alleluia, Alleluia/ 

This was called ' La Danse des Jeunes Vierges.' 
So late as 1840, a traveller heard it sung by the 
lacemakers of Bailleul. He wrote : — 

" * La ceremonie religieuse terminee, et 
le cercueil descendu en terre, toutes les 
jeunes fiUes, tenant d'une main le drap 
mortuaire, retournerent a I'eglise, chantant 
la Danse des Jeunes Vierges, avec une verve, 
un elan, et un accent rhythmique, dont on 
peut se faire difficilement une idee, quand on 
ne I'a pas entendu.' 

* Alleluia,' is, of course, the song of home- 
coming. ' Alleluiare ' is Dante's beautiful verb. 
He speaks of the Blessed at the Resurrection, 

" ' La rivestita voce alleluiando.' (Purg. xxx., 

IS-) 

" The point, however, we wish to notice in 
this fragment of folk-song is the preservation 
of the ancient expression of religious joy by 
the image of a dance. There is no idea of 

49 E 



Sacred Dances 

motion allied to the endless music of the present 
conventional heaven. The popular hymns 
speak of it as a banquet, a feast, as anything 
you like, but never as a dance. But yet what 
simile for blessedness can be compared with 
that of joyful motion ? It is only since the 
sixteenth-century break with the inherited 
religious experience of mankind that the dance 
has been looked upon as profane, and unfitted 
to be the expression of worship and sacred joy. 
For instance, let us take Dante. A commenta- 
tor describes the ' dance ' as * the rhythmic 
movement which Dante attributes to the 
Blessed as the index of their felicity.' The 
reader will remember how, after the poet had 
been plunged into the water of Lethe to the 
strains of the ' Asperges me,' his Lady intro- 
duced him into the earthly Paradise. 

" ' Dentro alia danza delle quattro belle." 
{Purg, XXX., 103.) 

— her four handmaidens, who here were nymphs 
and stars in heaven. Again, the spirits whom 
he heard chanting the heavenly Sanctus, while 
they sang 

" * Mossero a sua danza, 
E, quasi velocissime faville 
Mi si velar di subita distanza.' {Par. vii., 7.) 

SO 



Heavenly Dances 

Once more, he describes the * carols ' woven 
by the heavenly dancers. They danced in 
such various measure that some seemed to 
stand still and some to fly (Par, xxiv.). The 
word * carol,' which Dante uses repeatedly, 
means, of course, a singing dance. Even in the 
restricted sense in which we now use the word, 
a carol is the purest expression of religious 
mirth and blitheness. In the Middle Ages, 
the angels of Christmas, for instance, as we may 
see in Fra Angelico's or Botticelli's pictures, 
not only sang, but danced. This came down 
from all tradition, Pagan, Christian, Jewish, 
and seemed to be, as indeed it is, the most 
natural thing in the world. To show that this 
dancing of Fra Angelico's blessed souls or 
Dante's angels was no mere private fancy of 
their own, one need only mention the Preface 
of a Syrian liturgy, where the ' dances of the 
Virtues ' are introduced as a matter of course 
among the songs of the angels and all those 
other adorations of the Heavenly Host of which 
the Prefaces of all liturgies speak. .« The ancient 
world knew little of music apart from joyful, 
rhythmic motion, and did not banish the 
latter from its sacred solemnities. 

" A dancing procession takes place every 
year near Grenoble to commemorate the 
simultaneous recovery of all the invalids in the 

SI 



Sacred Dances 

town during a procession in the sixteenth 
century. One sees the scene ; the arrival of 
the joyful news, the benign and portly father 
clapping his hands, and saying : * Qu'on 
danse,' the sudden striking up of flutes and 
fiddles, and the spontaneous outburst into 
joyful agitation. In the sixteenth century 
this would still seem a carrying-out of the 
apostle's advice : ' Is any man merry ? let him 
sing psalms." {R. L. Gales, in " ^he Nation,''^ 
March, 191 1.) 

The Lou Gue was a strolling ballet, invented 
by King Rene of Provence. It was a Corpus 
Christi procession with mythological charac- 
ters, first performed in 1462, and revived in 
1805 by Pauline Bonaparte. 

Gods and goddesses, nymphs and satyrs, 
trooped in, ending with the grim figures of the 
three Fates. Then devils came, surrounding 
Herod, and Jews surrounding the golden calf. 
The Queen of Sheba, the Magi, the Innocents, 
and finally a fearful figure of Death, were all 
portrayed. King Rene, himself a troubadour, 
invented all the music for this pageant, the 
best known air being the " Air des Luttes." 
This was the Festival of Aix in Provence. 

Here we have a transitional dance, indicating 
the change from the religious dance proper, to 
the secular representation of mythological 

52 



An Ethiopian Dance 

figures, which marked the later mediaeval 
epoch and the period of the Renaissance, when 
the old Roman ballets, masques, and panto- 
mimes were revived in all their glory. The 
mingling of both sorts of characters is curious, 
and shows the spirit of the age. 

The Danse Macabre^ or Dance of Death, is 
named after the Saint Macarius, to whom it 
was dedicated. It became known after a great 
outbreak of the Black Pest, and was perhaps 
designed to convey a moral lesson, but it 
degenerated into a wild orgy. The Danse 
Macabre was said to have been performed in a 
cemetery by people who were actual sufferers 
from plague, war, and famine. Dressed to 
typify all grades of society, from the highest to 
the lowest, they were led by a skeleton (so- 
disguised) who employed the most weird and 
frightful antics, Holbein's " Dance of Death " 
on the Bridge at Lucerne being no exaggeration 
of this ceremony. 

THE RELIGIOUS DANCE OF ETHI- 
OPIA. — A dance of the priests takes place at 
Trinity Church, Addis Ahaba^ which the 
Emperor Menelik often attends. The church 
is circular, and contains a Holy of Holies, which 
the priests alone are allowed to enter. Twenty 
priests assemble in an outer passage and form 

S3 



Sacred Dances 

two rows facing each other. Their vestments 
consist of brown blankets, or the national 
shamma, a dingy white cloak with a broad band 
of scarlet, and high white turbans. Each holds 
a long crutch tipped with a brass knob, or 
carved ivory handle. A small boy accom- 
panies by reading the Epistle and Gospel. 
They all sing loudly through their noses. 
The crutches are held in the middle, and are 
darted at the ground with a forward movement 
made by slightly bending the right knee. Then 
they all lift a foot into the air, poised, and swing 
to right and left, and dart at the matting, the 
exercise growing faster and faster, till all 
suddenly stop. 

In half an hour rattles are handed to the 
priests, and these are shaken carelessly, so that 
the metal discs jingle. All of a sudden these 
stop also. 

On a great Festival, a dance like a quadrille 
and minuet combined is gone through. The 
priests advance in two sections, and bow to the 
Emperor ; then a square is formed, the 
crutches are waved, the rattles are rattled, and 
occasionally the performers pirouette on one 
foot. It is not ungraceful, but it is mono- 
tonous. 

THE DANCE OF THE SEISES. — This 

S4 




LA CARMENCITA 

By John Sargent, R.A. 

Mus^e du Luxembourg, Paris 



The Dance of the Seises 

takes place in Seville Cathedral three times a 
year, during the Octaves of the Immacu- 
late Conception, Corpus Christi, and Holy 
Week. 

A legend attributes the origin of the dance 
to an incident which occured during an in- 
vasion of the Moors. The priests were en- 
gaged in removing the precious treasures of 
the Cathedral to a safer place, when a band 
of Moors, who had been despatched to loot, 
stopped to watch some children performing a 
country dance outside the Cathedral. The 
children, realising 'the importance of delay, 
went on dancing longer and longer, in order 
that the priests might have more time to convey 
the treasure away. Afterwards it was deter- 
mined to commemorate the occasion by a 
religious dance. Amid picturesque surround- 
ings, the Seises form up in two rows of five. 
Seis means six, so the others are merely super- 
numeraries. For Corpus Christi they wear 
scarlet silk dresses, on other occasions blue, 
trimmed with gold. The music has an old- 
world quality, and is taken up by the boys' 
voices, not very melodiously. The dance is a 
kind of Pavane^ the boys slowly swaying, 
and advancing towards each other ; then each 
one executes a pirouette, and swings back to 
the original position, till a square is formed. 

ss 



Sacred Dances 

They conclude with a quick figure accompanied 
by castanets, and end abruptly. 

DANCING DERFISHES.-These no longer 
perform in Cairo, but they may still be seen at 
Scutari, Constantinople. They are Moham- 
medan monks, and the dancing and bowing 
ceremony takes place in a square room with a 
gallery round it. The chief stands with his 
back to the east, facing the others, eighteen 
to twenty in number. They come up to him 
in single file and receive a blessing. The chief 
wears a flowing black gown, the others similar 
gowns of blue and green stuff, and turbans, or 
skull-caps. Prayers and readings from the 
Koran take place, and the Dervishes then stand 
in a row facing the east, various movements 
being gone through, while they recite the 
ninety-nine names of Allah. The litany is 
accompanied by a rhythmical motion of the 
body, swaying backwards and forwards and to 
each side, the motion growing ever faster and 
faster. The recitation grows louder, and ends 
in a cry like the growl of a wild beast. Towards 
the end, many are foaming at the mouth, and 
sometimes they fall in a fit. The next move- 
ment is turning rapidly to right and left, 
keeping up a springing motion with the heels 
and toes, and still reciting the ninety-nine 

S6 



Whirling Dervishes 

names. The Whirling Dervishes are at Pera ; 
there are thirty-two of them, each whirling 
separately, and spinning like a top. The motion 
is so hypnotic they occasionally go to sleep 
during the performance. 



S7 



^^ Dancing is Lovers proper exercise . . . 
For Lovers smooth tongue the motes such measure 

taught 
That they joined hands, and so the world was wrought. '* 

Sir John Davies. 



SOME EUROPEAN DANCES 

HAVELOCK ELLIS says, in The Soul oj 
Spain : " Dancing is something more 
than an amusement in Spain. It is part of 
that solemn ritual which enters into the 
whole life of the people. It expresses their 
very spirit." 

Spanish dancing in many respects recalls 
echoes of the dances of the old Greeks. Casta- 
nets, which we are accustomed to think of as 
exclusively Spanish, were also used in Greek 
dances, as we know from the vase-paintings, 
and references in literature, with many of the 
movements which we imagine to be peculiar 
to Spain. 

Even in their costumes, the modern Spanish 
dancers show an affinity with ancient Greece, 
and the custom of the spectators of keeping time 
by clapping their hands in rhythm seems to be 
another survival. Spanish dancing is also 
alHed to that of Ancient Egypt. The Spanish 
stringed instruments resemble those of North 
Africa, and the Spanish cymbals are exactly 
like those used 2,000 years ago in Egypt, as 
we can see by comparing them with examples 
now lying beside the mummy of Ankh- 
Hapi, a musician of Thebes, in the British 
Museum. 

59 



Some European Dances 

Spanish dancing includes the three principal 
varieties, namely : — 

(i) Dancing in which the legs are chiefly 
made use of, prevailing in Europe generally, 
and finding its most pronounced form in the 
orthodox ballet. 

(2) Dancing in v^hich the arms and hands 
are chiefly used, carried to high perfection by 
the Javanese and also in Japan. 

(3) Dancing in which the muscles of the 
body play the chief part, as seen in Africa and 
Western Asia. 

In the Spanish dance, every part of the body 
takes a share, though perhaps the feet are the 
least conspicuous of all, a contrast to the 
Italian ballet, in which the marvellously trained 
feet often seem to support a motionless body. 

One characteristic of Spanish dancing is the 
part the spectators take in the performance. 
In flamenco^ or gipsy dancing, especially, the 
lookers-on clap, stamp their feet, and give vent 
to prolonged cries, while at the end of the 
dance there is often no sound of applause, for 
the relation of performer and public has ceased 
to exist. It is a fact that the finest Spanish 
dancing cannot take place before an indifferent 
audience. 

If France is the nursery of dancing, Spain is 
its true home. Spanish dances are actually of 

60 




BEFORE THE BULL FIGHT 
By A. Zo 



Spanish Dancing 

great antiquity, and owing to the conservative 
nature of the people, have been handed down 
unimpaired to the present day. In the days 
of Imperial Rome, the most famous ballet 
dancers came from Cadiz. The Eastern blend 
in Spain, which must have been there even 
before the Moorish conquest, gives to the 
limbs a suppleness and languor mixed with 
ardour in action, which no other people possess 
in the same degree. 

Mediaeval religious dancing flourished in 
Spain, and many forms from the tenth and 
twelfth centuries have been preserved. Under 
Philip IV. dancing became a Court amusement, 
and foreign dances were introduced. 

Among the national dances are the Jota^ 
which is even now executed at funerals, before 
the corpse of a child. It is the national dance 
of Aragon, and is dignified yet lively. Gustave 
Dore has illustrated this subject. The casta- 
nets are clinked, and the evolutions express joy. 

The Cachuca is in triple time ; it is a light 
and graceful solo dance. 

The Jaleo de Jerez is a wild gipsy dance. 

The Saraband is danced by women to the 
guitar. 

Danzas are slow and dignified. 

Bailes are lively and the whole body is 
employed in their movements. 

6i 



Some European Dances 

No dance has ever been more popular in its 
day than the Spanish Fandango. Partners 
stand opposite to one another in lines, holding 
castanets. It was said that the dance was con- 
demned by a consistory of the Church, and in 
order to judge it, before condemning it, a row 
of prelates watched the movements of two 
performers, one of each sex, who appeared 
before them. Their grace and vivacity drove 
the frowns from the brows of the Fathers. 
One by one, their Eminences beat time 
with hands and feet, and gradually, tra- 
dition says, rose and joined the dancers. The 
Fandango was pardoned and restored to 
favour. 

The Bolero is not an ancient dance. It is 
for two people, and has five parts : — 

The Paseo^ the Di-fferencia, the Traversia^ 
the Finale^ and the Bien farado. 

It is generally in duple time, a slow and gliding 
step. The woman's part is more expressive 
than the man's in this dance. 

The Seguidillas is similar to the Fandango 
and the Bolero — an action dance. At the 
finale the performers stand as if petrified in 
certain attitudes. Little love-verses called 
coplas accompany each figure. It originated in 
La Mancha, and is mentioned in " Don 
Quixote." 

62 



Slavonic Dances 

SLAVONIC DANCES.— The country 
dances of Russia have nothing in common 
with those in other parts of Europe. There is 
no whirling or leaping, but the action is slow 
and dramatic, and usually embodies a love- 
story. The man bows profoundly, following 
the woman, who walks gently with a tender 
expression, waving her handkerchief and 
beckoning him on, and the performers sing 
an improvised song, expressing the action. 
This is more akin to the Chinese, Mongol, 
and Tartar methods. ^ 

The Pletionka, or the Braid, is similar to the 
Greek Chain Dances. After the performance, 
the whole troupe sinks on to the grass, and 
remains there in silent ecstasy. 

In the Khorovodi, a circular wedding-dance, 
girls crowned with flowers are the performers, 
and they enact a love story. One of the girls 
represents a young man who complains to his 
mother that he has no companion. The mother 
allows him to pay his addresses to one of the 
troupe of girls ; the one of whom he makes 
choice enters a circle, and the rest crown her 
with flowers which are brought by the lover. 

The Makovitza, or Dance of Cakes, is a 
form of Harvest Thanksgiving. Each girl 
taking part in it carries a cake made of honey and 
poppy-seeds, and eats it slowly while moving in 

63 



Some European Dances 

a circle : this is evidently a surviving feature of 
an old marriage rite. Russian ideas of marriage 
are peculiar ; as a Russian proverb has it, 
" I love thee like my soul, and beat thee like 
my fur cape ! " A woman who is not whipped 
periodically, among the peasant class, complains 
of neglect. 

Among the Kalmucks the women's dances are 
sad and slow, but those of the men are fierce 
and lively. This seems to typify the marriage 
relation among these peoples. 

A Pyrrhic Dance is executed by mounted 
cavalry with sword evolutions. A Labyrinth 
Dance consists of twenty to thirty couples, 
united together by handkerchiefs. The most 
lively dances are among the Ukraines or people 
of Little Russia. In Russian court society, 
national dances are now entirely superseded 
by those of foreign origin. The Polonaise 
usually opens a ball, and the Mazurka ends it. 
They have, however, a light and graceful 
waltz of their own, the Canaica. All ranks take 
part in the stately Polonaise, It is more of a 
procession than a dance. One rule is that the 
man has to surrender his partner to whomsoever 
comes to claim her. The new claimant bows to 
the lady, and then claps his hands together, 
while the discarded partner retires to look on 
moodily from a corner. 

64 



The Kollo 

In the Mazurka, the couples follow the 
leader, turning from right to left, in a circle oi 
an oval ; sometimes the woman kneels down, 
while her partner executes a chasse round her, 
and then the manoeuvre is reversed. 

The Hungarian Czardas begins with a slow, 
solemn walk ; the lady is placed in position, 
and, after several complicated movements to a 
melancholy tune, the dance ends in a mad whirl. 

The Polka or Pulka (which means half-step) is 
a revival of an old quick-step, described by 
Sir John Davies in his " Orchestra," a poem 
descriptive of dancing, written in 1596 : — 

"Yet there is one, the most delightful kind, 
A lofty jumping, or a leaping round. 
Where, arm in arm, two dancers are entwined. 
And whirl themselves in strict embracement 

bound ; 
And still their feet an anapaest do sound, 
An anapaest is all their music's song, 
Whose first two feet are short, and third is 

long." 

The Tzigane is a Hungarian dance of gipsy 
origin. 

DANCE OF DALMATIA, THE KOLLO. 

— The dance of the Morlacchi is a most inter- 
esting sight at the annual fair of Salona. It 

65 F 



Some European Dances 

sometimes begins before dinner, but is kept up 
with greater spirit afterwards. They call it 
Kollo or Collo (signifying circle), it being per- 
formed in a circle, like most of their national 
dances. A man has generally one partner, 
sometimes two, but always at his right side. 
In dancing he takes her right hand in his, 
while she supports herself by holding his girdle 
with her left ; and when he has two partners 
the one nearest him holds in her right hand 
that of her companion, who with her left 
takes the right hand of the man, and each 
set dances forward in a line round the 
circle. 

The step is rude, as in most of the Slavonic 
dances, including the Polka and Radovatschka, 
and the music, which is very primitive, is 
confined to a three-stringed violin. (Dalmatia 
and Montenegro. Sir J, Gardner Wilkinson.) 

GIPSr DANCES.— The Gipsies first intro- 
duced into Europe the Eastern dances which 
are said to have originated in Persia. Many 
of these are mere orgies. All take part, young 
and old, until they fall exhausted after long 
gyrating in a compact mass. Liszt calls it a 
" buff era infer na.^^ 

The Roumanian Gipsies are slow and graceful 
dancers. 

66 



Italian Dan 



cing 



The Tanana resembles the swaying of flowers 
in the wind ; the Kelehen is another gipsy 
dance ; and the Cascarrotac is mingled Basque 
and Gipsy. 

Gipsies first wore bells, like the Morris 
Dancers, and they were described by Dekker, 
the dramatist, in the i6th century. The 
Hornpipe was modelled on a Russian Gipsy 
Dance, called the Barina. The Witch 
Dances of Bohemia were derived from 
the Gipsies, who had also much to do with 
the development of the art in Spain and 
Hungary. 

The Romalis is the Gipsy Wedding Dance, 
and is described at great length by George 
Borrow in his Gipsies in Spain, It shows 
decided traces of an Eastern origin. Open 
house is kept by the bridegroom for at least 
three days, and the floor is strewn with 
comfits and sugary sweet-meats, which are 
danced by the company into a frothing 
mass. Castanets are used, and instru- 

ments are clashed and banged. It is 
evidently a Gipsy variation of an old 
Eastern dance which was popular all over 
the Roman world at the beginning of 
the Christian era. Some say it was identical 
with that which Salome performed before 
Herod. 

67 



Some European Dances 

THE DANCE IN ZT^Zr.— Italian dances 
were perfected in France, and among the upper 
classes, as in England, few but French dances 
are used. The ballet, which was invented in 
Italy and was supreme in the sixteenth century, 
was later on brought to its greatest perfection 
in France. Dances of local origin of course still 
exist in country places, for instance the Berga- 
mascOy from Bergamo, introduced by Mendel- 
ssohn into his " Midsummer Night's Dream." 

The Salurello is peculiar to Rome. It is 
in three-quarter time, and is a duet of a 
skipping character. The woman holds her 
apron, and trips gracefully opposite to the 
man. It is in use chiefly among the gardeners 
and the vintners. The Ruggera of Messina 
is distinguished by making use of two couples, 
who go round and round like the hands of a 
clock, singing love-duets. The Siciliano figures 
in the Nozze di Figaro^ and consists of 
choosing partners, alternately bowing and 
pirouetting, and waving a handkerchief. In 
the Trescona^ the lady takes the initiative and 
throws her handkerchief at her partner. The 
most charming description written of a 
Tarantella — the Neapolitan, not the Sicilian 
variety — is in Mme de Stael's Corinne. 
A tambourine plays the same part in Italian 
dancing as castanets in Spanish dancing. 

68 




< 



o 



o 

O 



o 

< 

w 
< 

o 






H 

w 

CO 

H 

< 

Ph 

< 

pu H 
< 



H 

o 

H 



Q 
O 
O 



The Tarantella 

" The Neapolitan girls," says an old 
writer, " dance to the snapping of their 
fingers, and the beat of a tambourine, 
and whirl their petticoats about them 
with greater elegance in the position 
than other Italians, and more airiness in 
the flow of their draperies ; striking like- 
nesses of them may be found in the paintings 
of Herculaneum." Their Greek origin is here 
indicated. 

" The young girls of Ischia," says Stolberg, 
" have many native graces. Some of them 
danced to the tambourine, in the court 
of the house where we lived, a dance called 
the Tarantella, because it comes from Taranto. 
Two people dance together ; never two men, 
sometimes a man and a woman ; generally 
two girls. The tambourine is always played by 
a woman. This is enlivened by the singing 
of the girls that dance. The songs they 
sing in general are the complaints of lovers, 
and the cruelties of the maiden beloved. 
You imagine you behold a priestess of Apollo 
seated on the tripod, and that the music is 
the inspiration of the god. No dance is so 
full of grace and decorum as this. The head 
inclining, the downcast eyes, the noble dignity 
of mien and the inimitable elasticity, are 
indescribable." 

69 



Some European Dances 

^he T^arantella is the great national dance 
of the Sicihans and Neapolitans. It is really 
an action or dramatic dance, and signifies 
the wooing of a fisher-girl by a fisherman. 
It is the most passionate and picturesque of all 
dances, and the Sicilian boys dance it with an 
abandon and a joie de vivre that recall what 
must have been the inspiration of the dance 
in classic ages. 

The derivation is from the city of Tarantum, 
from which the name of the great spider. 
Tarantula, is also derived, the theory being that, 
to cure the bite of the Tarantula, the Tarantella 
must be danced to the point of exhaustion. 

The partners salute each other, draw off, 
and dance timidly and separately ; they then 
return to each other, stretch out their arms 
and whirl madly together at the highest 
possible speed. They say in Sicily, " It is 
unlucky to dance the Tarantella alone." 

THE ROMAICA,— This ancient Greek 
Dance is still in fashion in Athens, and is 
described as follows : — 

The girls and the young men, while perform- 
ing the same steps and the same figures, dance 
at first separately, after which the two troops 
join and mix, so as to compose but one company 
of dancers in a round. Then it is that a 

70 



The Romaica 

girl leads the rest, taking a man by the hand, 
between whom there is displayed a handker- 
chief, or ribbon, of which the couple each 
take one end. The others pass and repass 
successively under the ribbon. At first they 
go rather slowly in a round, after which the 
conductress rolls the circle round her, making 
a number of turnings and windings. The art 
of the leader is to extricate herself from the 
maze, and to reappear all of a sudden at the 
head of the circle, showing in her hand, with a 
triumphant air, her silken thread, just as when 
she began the dance. Any number of girls 
and youths placed alternately can take part, 
and the movements of the leaders must be 
followed in a circular outline. The graceful 
attitudes depicted on ancient vases are often 
reproduced, for this is the famous Labyrinth 
Dance of the Greeks, and the leading maiden 
represents Ariadne. It is also called the 
Crane Dance because it resembles a flight 
of cranes in which one is always seen at the 
head, leading the rest, who follow in a circular 
form. The dance of Ariadne was said to have 
been invented by Daedalus, who was also 
the creator of the Labyrinth. Pausanias says 
that at Knossos is still preserved that choral 
dance, mentioned in the Iliad of Homer, 
which Daedalus composed for Ariadne. The 

71 



Some European Dances 

peasants perform this survival annually, at 
the conclusion of the vintage, the leader waving 
a handkerchief, and preceding the mules laden 
with grapes. 

BASQUE DANCES,— Th.Q Basques of both 
the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees 
have original dances, as might be expected 
of this interesting race. 

The Pordon-Dantza is slow and languishing. 
It is performed on the Feast of St. John. In 
Guipuzcoa an Edate or ceremonial dance is 
organized in every village by the Alcalde. 
After church on Sunday the girls are drawn 
up into a troop of amazons, and enact a 
drama, daring their lovers to fight, and 
encouraging them to join them. The men 
join in and there is a solemn parade. Then 
at a signal given by the Alcalde, the movements 
become brisk and whirling. The women play 
a very important part in this dance, as leaders 
of the men. In the Mutchico or Saute Basque^ 
two sticks are placed in the form of a cross. 
An old man calls " Houp ! " claps his hands, 
and sings. A young man comes forward, and 
pirouettes in an angle of the cross. The 
ZoTzico is another ceremonial dance regulated 
by the Alcalde, after church on Sunday. 
The national game " La Pelota," a kind of 

72 



The Zorzico 

tennis, is played first. It is opened by 
bachelors ; girls follow, and afterwards married 
people join in with the rest. The leader first 
dances alone, and then chooses a girl, who is 
escorted to him by two envoys. He throws 
his cap at her feet, and dances madly before her. 
They form a chain, and the rest follow, even 
children joining in. Now the pace becomes 
quicker, while they cry " Arin, Arin ! " snapping 
their fingers. The Angelus bell rings and all 
gtop suddenly. It is very decorous and simple. 



73 



'* Time the measure of all moving is^ 
And dancing is a moving all in measure. ^^ 



Sir John Davies. 



DANCES OF THE EAST 

nnHE ALMEHS.— The Almehs of Egypt 
y are a professional class like the Geishas 
of Japan, or the Improvisatori of Italy. On 
suitable occasions they chant unpremeditated 
poetry. Their education is greatly superior 
to that of the ordinary native women, and the 
dance and the song, the funeral and the 
marriage rites, are their peculiar province. 

No festival takes place at which the Almehs 
are not present, nor any entertainment at which 
they do not constitute the chief attraction. 
During banquets they are placed upon a ros- 
trum, and afterwards they descend into the 
saloon and perform pantomime dances. Sup- 
pleness, expressiveness, grace, and dramatic 
ability are all in requisition, with perfect ges- 
tures and attitudes. The instruments used are 
the flute, the tambour de basque, and cymbals. 
Upon the fingers little bells are worn, resem- 
bling small cymbals, and used in a similar 
manner to the castanets of Spain and Italy. 
The dancers sing together in monotone, and 
recite elegiac, love, and other poetry. They 
are an integral part of the domestic life of the 
east, and are called upon to perform in the 
Harems. They are hired at a very costly 
rate, but of course they have many inferior 

75 



Dances of the East 

and degenerate imitators. These women are 
in request at all marriage ceremonies, when 
they perform dances before the bride, playing 
on instruments ; and the aid of Almehs is 
considered equally necessary at the death 
of relatives, to accompany the procession, 
and sing sorrowful airs, breaking forth at 
intervals into shrieks of anguish and howls 
of lamentation. The difference between the 
notes of exultation and of woe appears to 
be little else than a continual and unvarying 
repetition of the syllable Al-alalalalah 
for the former, and of Ul-ulululah for the 
latter. 

In the East, generally, the same class oi 
dancing-girl everywhere exists. They are pro- 
tected by law, and live in little communities 
under the charge of an old woman. There 
was an instance in the Island of Goa, where, 
the archbishop having driven them out, they 
established their community elsewhere, and 
carried on a considerable speculation on their 
own account. Their dress is always sumptuous. 
They are loaded with jewels and chains of gold 
and silver, and are distinguished by a necklace 
composed of flowers strung together, called 
mogreeSy bearing some resemblance to Spanish 
double jessamy, but with a more powerful 
odour. 

76 



Chinese Dances 

CHINESE DANCES.— Dancing in China 
is highly ceremonial, and in its most ancient 
form is connected with ancestor-worship. 
There is a hymn extant to which the Mandarins 
danced, when celebrating the Confucian rite, 
and Confucius himself is said to have com- 
mended the practice. 

The Hierarchic order of the dance is very 
ancient. Every member of the Chinese Hier- 
archy was given a certain number of themes 
and performers of his own. In the Emperor's 
Palace were enacted by law eight different 
kinds of themes, performed by eight different 
sets of executants, sixty-four in all ! At the 
time of the Winter Solstice, when Heaven is 
worshipped, and at the Summer Solstice, the 
period of the adoration of the earth, certain 
sacrificial dances were obligatory. There is a 
ceremonial dance to the Emperor as well as to 
ancestors. Civil and military dances are 
solemnly performed, entirely by men, and evo- 
lutions are executed with a long feather, or a 
sword, respectively. It is obvious that women 
cannot dance in China. Ancient China had 
symbolic dances which represented works of 
agriculture, war, and other general subjects ; 
and processions of persons costumed as wild 
beasts, supposed to be in pursuit of the spirits 
of epidemics The Emperor devoted the 

77 



Dances of the East 

spring and autumn to ceremonial dances, 
and gave complimentary dances to his officers 
of state. 

For three days after the second month, the 
black-dressed Miaotse (Tseng-Miao) aborigines 
assemble to perform a religious dance, similar to 
the old English dances round the maypole, 
but far more solemn. The women wear 
black dresses, consisting of a sailor jacket open 
at the chest, and an accordion-pleated skirt, 
beautifully embroidered in coloured silks, 
white handkerchiefs on the head with broad- 
headed silver pins, and three silver rings 
on the neck. The youths dress in corresponding 
style and colours, with silver ornaments, and 
each youth carries a six-tubed flute. Circles 
are formed in groups of six or seven. The 
youths play a few bars, and then wave their 
flutes in the air ; the leader nudges his partner, 
who, with the chain of girls, moves sideways 
a few steps towards the left ; then all stop. 
The music recommences, and all gradually move 
in circles round the pole in the centre. At 
sunset they disperse, having exchanged rings, 
so that at the end of an evening some have 
as many as twenty rings round their necks. 

The Heh-Miao Dance takes place in the 
third month. Men stand with flutes in the 
centre, in groups of five or seven ; then a 

78 



Japanese Dances 

circle of girls, with a group of parents and friends 
on the outside for protection. The men lead, 
and the girls follow in steps like those of a 
Scotch Reel in series of threes. 

DANCES OF 7^P^iV.— Japanese art began 
with dancing. It was the spontaneous ex- 
pression of emotion. Confucius says — " When 
words and signs and exclamations fail to show 
forth the depth and strength of our emotions, 
we break out at last, and all at once, into music, 
poetry, and dancing." Dancing was the prin- 
cipal means of expression in Japan ; the chanted 
words and the dress in character were only 
to explain its meaning. The entire literature 
of Japan teems with allusions to the legend of 
the dance which celebrated the yearly return of 
the sunj and from other dances have been 
evolved the lyric dramas of the Middle Ages. 

The Miko, the " darling of the gods," still 
at this day performs the sacred mirror dance 
before many a village shrine. Half-a-thousand 
dancers may still be seen circling with waving 
arms in the Dance of Thanksgiving under the 
Harvest moon ; and on the Festival of the Dead, 
white-robed girls, issuing from the cemetery, 
perform the Dance of the Ghosts. At the 
Temple of the Green Lotus, in Kioto, may be 
witnessed the butterfly dance, welcoming the 
summer. The pilgrim bands dance the ondo 

79 



Dances of the East 

by the roadside every spring, on their way to 
the Shrine of the Sun-Goddess in Ise. But 
many of the ancient dances have fallen into 
disfavour, and many are quite forgotten, like 
the Geuroka Odori, danced about that symbol 
of royalty, the umbrella, and the dance of the 
" Creators " on the double summit of Mount 
Tsukuba. 

In some of the more out-of-the-way parts of 
Europe, where the Sun still dances on Easter 
morning in honour of the Resurrection, children 
are awakened early to see it ghde across the 
floor of their chamber, skip from wall to wall, 
and leap from floor to ceiling. The miracle is 
wrought by means of a piece of looking-glass 
which causes a ray to be thrown through the 
window. This custom is much older than 
Christianity, for our Pagan ancestors were wont 
to celebrate the return of the Sun with dancing, 
and, reflected from bits of shell or polished 
metal, they made the Sun dance with them. 

So in the Japanese folk-tale concerning the 
return of the Sun (who is a goddess in Japan), the 
dance of the mirror enshrines the myth. It 
describes how by means of a mystic dance the 
sky Sun-Goddess was compelled to return to 
earth, and was fastened by a straw rope, and 
now whenever she sees it she is compelled to 
earth again. The tale is thus told : — The 

80 




JAPANESE STAGE DANCING GIRLS 
By Utagawa Kunisada (1785-1864) 



Japanese Dances 

great Sun-Goddess once shut up her light from 
the world, because she was angry with her 
brother, his Impetuous-Male-Augustness the 
Sea-God. Then all the people came together 
to persuade her to reappear ; and, pretending 
that they had found another Sun, they rejoiced 
loudly, and held up a large silver mirror, till 
the Goddess, moved by curiosity, opened the 
door ever so little, and saw the glory of her 
own face reflected quivering on the silver shield. 
But the wily people, having got her through 
the door, shut it behind her, and captured her 
for ever ! 

(Sunrise Stories, Roger Riordan and Tozo Taka- 

jungi,) 

The Japanese have never forgotten that the 
light of the sun was brought back to them by 
means of dancing, and in their country it has 
been honoured as a religious ceremony from 
time immemorial, and is practised as a fine art. 
The Geishas, or professional dancing-girls, are 
very highly educated, and carefully trained. 
They are set apart for this purpose, and from 
earliest girlhood, when they are called Maikos, 
are taught to recite beautifully, and to be 
learned in all the chief branches of history and 
poetry. A finished Geisha is one of the pro- 
ducts of Japanese civilisation, and they are not 

8i G 



Dances of the East 

unlike the Hetairae of Ancient Greece. They 
do not mix with other women, but they are 
respected to a certain extent, and are the only 
really well-educated women in Japan. Their 
profession is a very arduous one, and no class 
works harder to attain absolute proficiency. 

The War Dances of Japan have also a 
religious origin. A legend tells of a certain 
deity who, when conquered in battle and 
threatened with death by drowning, painted 
his face red, and lifted his feet and waved them 
in an agony of supplication ! So originated 
the " Warrior-Dance," Hayato-Mai, which is 
still to be seen at the Imperial Court. 

Buddhist priests of great learning and refine- 
ment, used the dance in the thirteenth century 
as an instrument for refining the uncultured 
military class, together with the " tea-cere- 
mony," landscape-gardening, and other arts. 

The Japanese Dance, like that of ancient 
Greece, is almost entirely pantomimic. It has 
an esoteric meaning, in which each gesture has 
a symbolic value, and the uninitiated cannot 
readily comprehend it. The feet are not made 
prominent in Japanese dancing, their action 
being considered subordinate, but the technique 
is most elaborate, and requires rigorous 
physical training. 

The Bagaku is one of the most ancient 

82 



Japanese Dances 

religious dances, said to have been introduced 
from China two thousand years ago. The 
Kagura, the dance of the Shinto shrines, is of 
pure Japanese origin, and is said to be the same 
as that used to lure the Sun-Goddess from 
her cave. It was wont to be performed a\ 
night in memory of the dark hours when 
Amaterasu withdrew her light from the world. 
Modifications of it are employed, and out of 
it grew the Kabuki, or popular theatres of 
Japan. 

The No dances are those which have been 
developed and refined from the original popular 
themes of Japan, by the zeal of the Buddhist 
priests ; these being not unlike Greek 
measures, in that poetry, music, and dancing 
are all made of equal importance in them. 
The No dramas accompanying them belong to 
the classic literature of Japan, and some of 
them are masterpieces. The No theatres are 
quite distinct from the Kabuki theatres. The 
dances of the " Maple Club " at Tokio, to 
which foreigners chiefly resort, are popularised 
forms of the No. The Odori are the most 
ancient of all Japanese exercises. They have 
been called " the wild-flowers in the field of 
Japanese dancing." The Uta-gaki was a 
gorgeous display of youths and maidens, clad 
in blue silk robes with scarlet girdles, who 

83 



Dances ot the East 

danced before the Emperor, and through the 
streets of the city of Nara. When the Imperial 
capital was removed from Nara to Kyoto, 
A.D. 794, the inhabitants of Kyoto performed 
a new dance which they called the Honen- 
odori, in which each district of the city was 
represented by a special colour and costume, 
all of the latter being most exquisitely em- 
broidered. 

The Saibara were pantomime dances founded 
on sonnets set to Chinese music. In one 
of these the dancers strove to imitate the 
undulating movements of the sea. These 
popular kinds, indeed, touched upon every 
imaginable subject — the earth, the sea, the sky, 
the seasons, the emotions, ^c. 

In country districts the Bon-Odori are 
danced every August to welcome the spirits 
of the departed, who are then supposed to 
return and partake of a little feast prepared 
for them. This is a very important ceremonial 
dance connected with ancestor-worship, and 
every province has its own special form of it. 
The main feature, however, in which the 
peasants form a great living wheel — a circle in 
perpetual motion — is the same everywhere. 

The Tanabata-Odori is danced by children 
on the seventh day of the seventh month, to 
cdebrate the union of the two stars, the 

84 



Hindu Dancing 

" Herd-boy Prince," and the " Weaver Prin- 
cess." The little ones are so sumptuously 
clothed that their movements are necessarily 
restricted. 

The Genon-odori is the local dance of 
Wakayama, and is performed by seventy or 
eighty merchants in fanciful costumes. 

The dance in Japan is closely interwoven 
with the life of the people at every point, and 
in their dances, including those of the profes- 
sional Geisha, all phases of national life are 
faithfully reflected. It is the record of the 
artistic development of the country, and its 
influence has always been on the side of 
refinement and culture. It owes its high 
place to the value in which it has always been 
held by the Japanese, as a necessary element 
of their national life. 

HINDU DANCING,— The Hindus have a 
sacred dance round the Karam tree, called the 
Karama. Both men and women join in it, 
and it takes place at what we should call a 
Harvest Festival, when a branch of the tree is 
plucked and brought into the village, and 
offerings are made to it. It is characteristic of 
the Dravidian races, not the Hindus proper ; 
they enact this rite in the month of Bhadam. 

There is also a religious dance of ecstacy 

8s 



Dances of the East 

which represents that of Vishnu with the Gopis. 
But such dances are of a frantic nature, and are 
used at weddings to scare away evil spirits. 
The Harvest Festival dance is more of the 
nature of a game among children, moving in a 
circle as they sing, " Here we go round the 
mulberry bush," a solar dance, in fact, of 
solar-worship origin. The other dance seems 
to be more a species of possession, when the 
dancers assume an inspired or Bacchic char- 
acter. It is really a form of exorcism by 
dancing. 

The Bayaderes, or Nautchees, the dancing- 
girls of Benares, are carefully chosen for their 
beauty, when very young, to become the 
priestesses of the god Rondzu. Their profes- 
sion is to dance before the images of the god 
of 1 08 faces. A Hindu may devote any one 
of his daughters to the god, but it is usual to 
devote the fifth daughter in a family. The 
Devadassis, as they are called, are then deco- 
rated with a jewel of gold inset with the 108 
faces of their god, to whom they are mystically 
given in marriage. The string which holds it 
is stained with saffron as a tribute to the 
goddess Lakme, or Joy, for their dance signifies 
a prayer of Love. 

Asiatics hire them largely for feasts, to 
honour special guests. The dance has certain 

86 



Hindu Dancing 

affinities with the Fandango, and the style is 
classic, ~"and consists of poses and attitudes 
similar to those of antique dancing. The 
costume, though very rich and covered with 
jewels, is extremely modest, and there is no 
voluptuous excitement about the dance, though 
it has been much exaggerated in erroneous 
accounts. Postures, attitudes, and chants con- 
stitute the official Nautch Dance, 



87 



* * Let foreigners brag and crow 
That dancings their devotion^ 
*Tis little the craychurs know 
Of the poetry of motion ; 
Their polkas or quadrilles 
Are nothin^ else but prancin^ 
An^ Irish jigs and reelsh :^^^ 
The king and queen of dancin\^^ 



DANCES OF THE NORTH 

THOSE of the Faroe Isles are the most 
important. In the Sagas we read much 
about the Reihen and weapon-dances. They 
were in honour of Thor, and the Vikings 
were wont to dance round the drinking-horn, 
at marriage-feasts. Faroe music is originals 
and is supposed to be derived from the ancient 
Norse chants. Swedish dances are mostly 
dramas of love. Many are very lively, and 
400 varieties are known to exist. The national 
dance is the Polska. The old " Weaving 
Dance " of Sweden represents the crossing of 
warp and woof, while little children, running 
between the couples, represent the shuttle. 
Iceland has a national dance called Fikivaka, 
and another called Hringhrot. In this latter ten 
or more form a chain, the first going under the 
arched arms of the last. The Lapps still per- 
form the ancient Sword-dance. The Scotch 
dances partake of the Scandinavian quality. 
The Scots are naturally given to dancing, but 
it was much repressed at the Reformation, 
and dancing at funerals was put down after 
many edicts. In the Highlands the ancient 
Reels and Strathspeys were never quite 
abolished, and the Reel and the Fling are still 
the two principal forms of Highland dancing. 

89 



Dances of the North 

The Reel is of Celtic origin (righal), and a 
gliding, graceful movement is practised in the 
foursome, sixsome, and eightsome Reels, danced 
respectively by two, three, and four couples. 
The Strathspey is slower in time, but requires 
even more quickness and agility in execution. 
The reel of Tulloch can be danced by a man 
simultaneously smoking, talking, and playing 
the bagpipes. In the Highland Fling a kick is 
always essential. These are the only true 
national dances of Scotland. All others are 
importations, except the Sw^ord Dance, des- 
cribed elsewhere. The tunes to them corre- 
spond to the rhythm of the stanzas of Ossian. 
The time is — 

Two steps to one bar, 
One step to one bar, 
One step to two bars 

respectively called minor, single, and double. 
Self-restraint is invariable in Scottish dancing; 
there are no unexpected spontaneous gestures. 
Cries, and cracks of the fingers are the only 
outlet allowed, and the conventional rules and 
steps are always followed. After the set dances 
of an English ball-room there is something 
refreshing in the charmingly dignified dances 
of the young Highland lairds at the Northern 
Meeting at Inverness. The national costume 

90 



Ancient Irish Dances 

lends an added grace, and the Scotch 
aristocracy are quite at their best when 
seen in their ancestral dances. 

It is noteworthy that the Welsh, although 
they dance often, have no strictly national 
dances. 

ANCIENT IRISH DANCES.— In Ireland 
circular dances, called " Serpent Dances," are 
still practised round a tree on May-day. The 
dancers move in curves from right to left, as if 
imitating the undulations of a serpent. They 
seem quite unconscious of any symbolical 
meaning as they circle round a tree or 
a bonfire, yet the name of the dance is 
Rinke teampuill, corresponding exactly to 
Chorea temfli. In ancient times, if the 
omens were wrong in any way the priest blew 
a horn, as a curse, and it was danced from 
left to right. 

In the " Field Dance," handkerchiefs are 
used to connect the dancers. Three abreast 
hold the ends, and the others follow in couples. 
All the couples pass under the handkerchiefs of 
the first three, wheeling round in semi-circles ; 
they form a variety of figures, performed with 
occasional entrechats^ otherwise cross-capers ; 
finally they unite and go back to their places. 
Espringall was the hopping-dance, a kind of 

91 



Dances of the North 

carol. One person sang the carol, while the 
rest danced to it {JFer Ceagail), 
» Jigs are not specially Irish, but are cosmo- 
politan. Only within the last century or so 
have they been described as " Irish Jigs." The 
following are well known Jig Tunes : The 
Washerwoman, The Hunt, Gather up the 
Money, Blackberry-blossom, Wc. 

The Jig {Gigue, Giga, Geige) can be traced 
back as far as 1300. In style it is similar to the 
Cinque Pace, and the Galliarde. It may be 
well described in the words of Beatrice, 
in " Much ado about Nothing " (Act II. 
Sc. i) : " Wooing, wedding, and repenting is 
as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinque-pace ; 
the first suit is hot and hasty, like a Scotch 
jig, and full as fantastical ; the wedding 
mannerly — modest, as a measure, full of state 
and ancientry ; and then comes repentance, 
and with his bad legs falls into the cinque- 
pace, faster and faster till he sink into his 
grave." 

The Irish jig is danced with arms akimbo 
and legs crossed, to a quick, lively measure 
There are generally two partners, the man 
holding the shillelagh, shouting and slapping 
his legs, or snapping his fingers, the woman 
with both arms akimbo. Sailors' hornpipes 
are dances of the same character, for the 

92 



The Irish Jig 

performer can sing, play an instrument, and 
loot itj at one and the same time. Gigue, 
or Giga, originally meant a stringed instrument. 
It has been said that the Irish jig can express 
all shades of emotion, from maddest gaiety 
to deepest sadness. * 



93 



Ohy Tullochgorum^ s my delight^ 

It gars us a^ in ane unite ^ 

And ony suntph that keeps up spite y 

In conscience I abhor him ; 
For blythe and cheery we's he a\ 
Blythe and cheery ^ blythe and cheery ^ 
Blythe and cheery we^s be a* 

And mak' a happy quorum. 
For blythe and cheery we^s be a\ 
As long as we ha^e breath to draw^ 
And dance till we be like to fa\ 

The reel of Tullochgorum, 

J. Skinner. 



MILITARY DA NCES 

DANCING was from the earliest ages 
associated with war. We have already- 
remarked that among savage tribes it is an 
actual incitement to courage. It also is a 
symbol of victory. 

The Greeks encouraged military dances, 
which were taught as a part of a boy's education. 
The Spartans invented the Gymnopaedic Dance, 
to stimulate courage among their children. 
It was executed in public by men and children 
divested of clothing. The children's choir 
regulated their motions by those of the men, 
and all danced at the same time, singing the 
poems of Thales, Alcmeon, and Dionysodotus. 

The Enoplian or Pyrrhic dance (so named 
after Pyrrhus of Epirus, among the Romans) 
was performed by young men armed cap-^-pied, 
who executed all the proper movements for 
attack or defence. It consisted of four parts. 
The first was the Podism or footing, a quick 
shifting of the feet, necessary for overtaking 
or getting away from an enemy. The second 
was the Xiphism, a mock fight in which the 
dancers imitated all the movements of com- 
batants, aiming a stroke, darting a javelin, 
dexterously dodging or parrying an attack. 
The third part was called the Komos, and 

95 



^ 



Military Dances 



consisted of very high leaps, as practice for 
jumping walls or ditches. The Tetracomos was 
a square figure, executed by slow and majestic 
movements. The Spartans inaugurated the 
dance by a set chorus, called trichoria, 
as follows : — 

The old men opened by singing : " In time 
past we were valiant " — 

The young men took it up : " We are so at 
present " — 

The children joined in the refrain : " We 
shall be so when our time comes." 

Real arms were always used in these dances. 
Later on, flasks and ivy-bound reeds were used, 
and lighted torches in lieu of javelins or swords. 

There is a modern Greek dance of a pyrrhic 
nature. Two men armed with poniards 
advance, with measured step, flourishing their 
weapons, and pointing them first against 
their own breasts, then against each others' ; 
aft er which the dance is continued with violent 
leaps, requiring great strength and agility. 

The Albanians preserve much of the character 
of the ancient Greek War Dances. They 
use the curious contortions and twirlings 
described in the dances of the Lacedaemonians, 
with sudden inflections of the body into 
every posture, as if to ward off a blow. They 
are called Arnauts. A solo dance executed 

96 



The Robbers' Danee 

by one of these Arnauts is thus described : — 
" He began in a slow time, gradually increasing 
the celerity of his motions. He held a hand- 
kerchief in his hand, dropped frequently on 
his knee, and showed his force and dexterity 
in a variety of attitudes. 

Another dance common among the Athenians 
was called " the Robbers' Dance." It was 
described as being performed in a gloomy 
hall, before a Pasha surrounded by his guards, 
who were ready at a moment's notice to strike 
off the head of any performer who did not 
please his Highness. The Coryphaei formed 
a circle, each with an arm round one neigh- 
bour's neck and a hand stuck into the 
other neighbour's girdle. They began at a 
slow pace which got quicker and quicker, 
accompanied by horrible cries, and occasionally 
a pyrrhic figure was introduced, as before 
described. After a time, the circle broke 
up, and the performers dispersed in pursuit 
of the imaginary robbers, whom they captured 
and brought forward in triumph. 

The Celtic nations took with great zest to the 
Pyrrhic Dance. It has been observed how 
curiously the Highland War-dances resemble 
those of the Greeks. " A number of young men 
in complete armour rushed in suddenly before 
the guests, at a certain period of the music 

07 H 



Military Dances 

danced with great agility, and kept time by 
striking their swords against their shields. 
Then they disappeared suddenly, and a band 
of girls entered, tripping hand in hand to a 
merry tune. They vanished, the young men 
returned as if engaged in action, and, to the 
sound of an accompanying instrument, exhibited 
all the incidents of a real battle." 

Gilly Callum is evidently a remnant of this. 
Another analogy to Scottish dancing is to be 
found among the Circassians. " Several natives 
placed themselves in a row, and beat time by 
clapping their hands and chanting A-ri-ra-ri-ra, 
The dancer stood opposite and danced on one 
spot, holding up his garnrents and bending 
so as to watch the movements of his feet. 
With these he made every possible inflection, 
much resembling the national dance of the 
Scotch, while he skipped about in a triangle 
with his toes almost perpendicular, and shouted 
in a plaintive voice." 

A dance called " Wine of the Gauls and 
Dance of the Sword " is still to be seen in Brit- 
tany. It h a successor of the Celtic Sword 
Dance, in !lionour of the sun, with a chorus in- 
voking fire aiid snow, oak, earth, and water. 
The young men move in a circle throwing their 
swords into the air, catching them in rhythm, 
and forming with the sword-points a circular 

98 



" Dance of the Sacred Bark '' 

figure called " La Rose,^^ This is identical 
with the dance described by Olaus Magnus, 
and Tacitus. A sword dance can be seen in the 
North Riding of Yorkshire, occurring between 
St. Stephen's Day and the New Year. Six 
youths are dressed in white, decorated with 
ribbons, and each carries a sword. They are 
accompanied by a fiddler, a figure represent- 
ing a doctor, and another nicknamed " Bessy." 
One dancer acts the part of a king, and while he 
and his courtiers are making a hexagon with 
their swords, " Bessy " gets in the way, and 
is killed in mock show. 

A very ghastly War Dance takes place among 
the Red Indian tribes, called the " Dance of the 
Sacred Bark." Scalping has all but died out, 
but the ancient relics are still preserved in the 
villages, and taken out and danced over period- 
ically. Although strangers are not allowed to 
witness this rite, facts about it have been elicited. 
The dancers form up in two lines, men and 
women alternately, men clad in war paint with 
bows and arrows, and women in their gayest 
dresses with silver ornaments. They move in 
perfect rhythm to a monotonous chant, and 
presently the " Bending Woman," official 
custodian of the scalps, carries the relics up 
and down the lines, on her back. The rite 
lasts four days, concluding with a Round Dance 

99 



Military Dances 

performed around a huge bonfire from evening 
until sunrise. 

Tacitus describes the Sword Dance as the 
national dance of the ancient Germans. 
It was common to the Saxons, Danes, and 
Norwegians, and existed in Spain at the time of 
Cervantes. Now it survives principally in 
Scotland. 

The following is a description of a Sword 
Dance performed by " seven Caithness men of 
extraordinary stature " : — 

" The first distinct figure was a circle, formed 
by each man holding his drawn sword in his 
right hand, and the point of his neighbour's 
sword in his left. The swords were then held in 
a vaulted position, and the dancers passed under, 
and leaped over them, forming innumerable 
figures, many of which seemed to be as danger- 
ous as they were beautiful. Finally they stood 
back to back with hands and swords crossed 
behind them, then, suddenly reversing the 
position, they interlaced their swords like 
wicker-work, so as to form a perfect shield, 
which each bore in turn till at once every 
dancer grasped his own sword and the magic 
shield disappeared. The whole was accom- 
panied by the wild music of the bag-pipes, by 
shrill cries and snappings of the fingers, and 
by an enthusiasm altogether indescribable," 

IOC 



The Sword Dance 

Brand mentions the Sword Dance which took 
place in his time (1810) in connection with 
the dragging of the " fool plough " on Plough 
Monday. He observes : " This pageant or 
dance, as used at present, seems a composition 
made up of the gleanings of several obsolete 
customs followed anciently." He also quotes 
a description of the " Sword Dance " from 
Olaus Magnus, of the Norse custom : " First 
with their swords sheathed and erect in their 
hands they dance in triple round. Then with 
their drawn swords held erect as before ; after- 
wards extending them from hand to hand 
they lay hold of each other's hilt and point, 
while they are wheeling more suddenly round, 
and changing their order, throw themselves 
into the figure of a hexagon, which they call a 
rose ; presently raising and drawing back 
their swords, they undo that figure, to form 
with them a four-square rose, that may re- 
bound over the head of each. At last they 
dance rapidly backward, and, vehemently 
rattling the sides of their swords together, 
conclude the sport.'* 



TOI 



Who doth not see the measures of the Moony 

Which thirteen times she dance th ev'ry year ? 

And ends her pavin thirteen times as soon 

As doth her brother y of whose golden hair 

She borroweth party and proudly doth it wear : 

Then doth she coyly turn her face aside, 

That half her cheek is scarce som^e times descry^ d.^^ 

Sir John Davies. 



THE REVIVAL OF DANCING 
IN EUROPE 

IT is said that dancing as a fine art was 
revived at a magnificent f^te, or ballet, 
given at Tortona by an Italian nobleman to 
celebrate the marriage between Isabella of 
Aragon, and Galeazzo, Duke of Milan. 

Catherine de Medicis is responsible for its 
revival in France. Movements such as the 
Branle and Pavane, the Tourdion, Gaillarde, 
and VoltUy were introduced hy her. ($'.^0 

The ballet, as a graceful and dignified 
pastime, was then approaching its zenith. The 
exquisite music of LuUy, Corelli, and other 
charming writers of Minuets, Gavottes, 
Pavanes, tifc, gives some of the poetry and 
feeling and dainty charm of the dances of this 
great period, the reigns of Louis XIII., XIV., 
and XV. 

France is the great modern school and 
nursery of dancing. It has had this function 
ever since the revival of dancing in Europe 
in the fifteenth century. All our modern 
terms and expressions, with our modern 
technique of dancing, come from France, and, 
until lately, all the most celebrated dancing- 
masters and greatest exponents of the art were 

103 



The Revival of Dancing 

French. France sets the fashions in dances, 
adopts them from other countries, adapts them 
to current taste, and launches them into the 
world, which then eagerly takes them up. 

Much of the finest dance-music was written 
in France, in the great age of dancing, from 
the time of LuUy and Rameau to that of 
Chopin. The Germans have produced the 
greatest music to one species of dance — the 
Waltz — but the French made it the graceful, 
gliding movement that it is now, under the 
name of False. Foreign dances have been 
given French names such as Polonaise^ Rhapso- 
die Hongroise, fife, and, whether native or 
borrowed, we note as of French nomenclature 
gavotte, bourree, quadrille, ballet, menuet, 
gaillarde, courante, tourdion, branle, cotillon, 
favane, fife. Even the English Country Dance 
was supposed to be a corruption of the French 
Contre-Danse, though this etymology is doubt- 
ful. However, a ball programme is as naturally 
printed in French as is a menu. In the 
matter of dance-music the Germans have 
lately developed a school, but this is only within 
the last twenty or thirty years. The dances 
of other countries have been accepted in 
society after receiving the cachet of Paris, such 
as the Polka, the Galop, the Pas de Quatre, &c. 

Books which have become great authorities 

104 




< 

W 

X 
H 

O 

CO ;^ 

W . 

W 



French Dancing 

on dancing were written in French, by Jehan 
de Tabouret (or Thoinot Arbeau), le Pere 
Menestrier, Rameau, Noverre, and Gaston 
Vuillier. Jehan de Tabouret was a monk in 
disguise, when he wrote a work entitled 
" Orchesografhiey He was the son of a 
bailiff of Dijon, and wrote in the old French 
of the sixteenth century, having taken monastic 
orders to fulfil a vow made by his mother when 
he was stricken with illness as a boy. On his 
recovery, in spite of his calling, he devoted 
his attention to the history of dancing, and 
wrote the Dialogue de la Danse under the 
name of Thoinot Arbeau. 

The IntermezzOy or Entremets, was originally 
written to fill up the intervals of waiting for 
the courses at great banquets, and can be traced 
back to a banquet given by St. Louis, King 
of France, to his brother Robert at Compiegne, 
at which the intervals were filled by dancing. 
The national dance of France, that to a great 
extent became the foundation of all the rest, 
was the Basse Danse, so called in contrast to 
the Danse s-hautes, or baladines, which were 
danced only by country-people. 

The Danses-hasses were employed at the 
Courts of Charles IX., and the Branle, the 
Pavane, the Courante, the Folta, and the 
Menuety were all evolved from these dances. 

105 



The Revival of Dancing 

The Branle passed to England, where it was 
called " the Brawl." The music of the Pavane 
was so stately that it was frequently played at 
weddings, " quant on meyne efouser en face de 
Saincte Egloise une fille de bonne Maison.^^ The 
gentlemen carried swords which made their 
cloaks project like the tail of a peacock, and the 
ladies swayed their long stiff trains to and fro. 

This noble and beautiful dance (derived 
from the Latin, pavo, a peacock), was in favour 
from the year 1530 to the minority of King 
Louis XIV., who preferred the Ballet and the 
C our ante. 

Some say the Pavane came from Spain, and 
some from Padua. It seems to have gradually 
assimilated itself to the character of the Basse 
Danse, and was essentially a dance of Courts. 
The following description in verse has been 
written of it : — 

" Splendeur doree, et rose, et bleue 
D'un innombrable Diamant, 
Le Paon miraculeusement 
Developpe son ample queue. 
En la largeur de ses deplis 
Tout un etal d'Orfevre tremble, 
Et la Pavane lui ressemble 
Mais avec les pieds plus jolis ! " 

The Gaillarde succeeded the Pavane in 

106 



The Courante 

favour, being much more lively and skipping. 
It also was introduced into England, and it 
was said that young Sir Christopher Hatton, 
by its means, danced his way into the favour of 
Queen Elizabeth. It may be remembered that 
Scott refers to this dance in " Young Loch- 
invar " : — 

" So stately his form, and so lovely her face, 
That never the Hall such a Galliard did 
grace." — 

alluding to the " measure " which young 
Lochinvar and his bride tread together, before 
they fly on horseback. 

The dances of the period always commenced 
by kissing the partner, to which allusion is 
made in Henry VIILy when the King says 
to Anne Boleyn : — 

" Sweetheart, 
It were unmannerly to take you out, 
And not to kiss you." 

K, Henry VIII,, Act /., S^. 4. 

The Courante was lively like the Gaillarde 
and the Gavotte. Originally it was in the form 
of a ballet, and simulated a love-drama. The 
ladies are disdainful and coy, and each stands 
separate from her partner, three in a row. 
The three gallants then join their forces, and 

107 



The Revival of Dancing 

approach the ladies in a solid line ; the partners 
give way, and all whirl together in the Courante. 

The Courante^ according to another account, 
is danced by three couples of supposed lovers. 
Each lover in turn deserts his own partner, and 
goes to the others' partners, ultimately each 
returning to his own. It is dignified and slow, 
like the Minuet, which has a very similar step. 

The Gavotte is a French dance called after 
Gavot, a native of the Pays de Gap, in the 
Hautes Alpes, where the dance originated. 
It is a variety of the Branle, Partners each 
chose and kissed their damsels, which ceremony 
was afterwards commuted for little presents. 

There is a description in verse of this dance — 



« 



Michaud prend Marion, la tire a la danse, 

Et apres avoir fait sa noble reverence, 

II la baise ^ la bouche, et cliquetant les 

doigts, 
Monstre a bien danser il ne craint villageois. 
Or, il a les deux mains au cote, puis se tourne, 
Et devant Marion presente sa personne, 
Puis resautant en Pair gambada lourdement, 
Haut troussant le talon d'un sot contourne- 

ment. 
La fille s'enhardit, et son homme regarde, 
Et a tout ce qu'il fait de pr^s elle prend 

garde, 

io8 



The Volta 

S'il danse de cote, elle fait tout ainsi, 
S'il fait un saut a Pair, Marion saute aussi. 
Tant qu'^ les voit danser, a tout le monde 

semble 
Qu'ils ont recorde leurs tricotes ensemble," 

The Gavotte consisted of three steps and an 
assemble. One springs upon the foot that is 
on the ground, at the same time pointing the 
other foot downwards. Gluck's and Gretry's 
Gavottes are the most beautiful extant. 

The Basse Danse is a triple measure accom- 
panied by hautboy and tabour. There are 
four parts to this dance : — 

I. The Reverence. 2. The Branle. 
3. The Passes. 4. The Tordion. 

In 1589 the Volta, or Volte, succeeded the 
Basse Danse, which was very lively at first, and 
part of it, the Branle, was the oldest form of 
figure dancing. It is performed to four bars 
of a song. In the first bar the dancer turns to 
the left, keeping the feet together and moving 
the body gently. During the second bar he 
faces the spectators on the right ; during the 
third bar he faces those on the left ; and on the 
fourth bar right again, stealing a discreet look 
at his partner. At one time every province 

109 



The Revival of Dancing 

had its own Branle, In the Gavotte Branle^ 
the damsel is not to be lifted, but she is to be 
kissed. In some Branles there is an admixture 
of the Volte, which in its early days, as its name 
implies, consisted of lifting the partner off the 
ground. 

The Chacone (originally the Ciacone) is slow, 
in triple time. It was an Italian dance trans- 
ported to France, and perfected there. Handel 
and Bach have written for this measure, and 
Purcell has left beautiful examples of it. It is 
mentioned in Don Quixote, and is a stately 
dance, consisting of gliding and bending the 
body over the right foot, and then springing 
back, and resting on the left. Two rows of 
dancers stand vis-a-vis. 

The Allemande is peculiarly graceful. The 
partners lift their arms, and cross them over- 
head. While turning and twisting, they never 
relax this attitude, which is the chief charac- 
teristic of the dance. The Rigaudon was of 
Proven9al origin. Gardel, the author of the 
Menuet de la Cour, encouraged it, and it 
follows a somewhat complicated figure. It 
was danced in 1709, to the tune, " Ah Chloe, 
when I prove my passion." Rigaudons were 
written by Purcell. It disappeared at the 
French Revolution. The Saraband was a 
Spanish dance which became fashionable in 

no 



The Minuet 

France at the time of Louis XIIL, and was 
practised at the court of Charles II. of England. 
The word is derived from the Arabic word for 
noise. It is slow and stately, and was taken 
part in both by men and women. 

The Volta was imported from Italy. It is 
described as a dance in which the man turns 
his partner round several times, and then 
assists her to make the Capriole^ or a high spring 
into the air, a form even now to be seen in 
Tyrol and Brittany. It was the origin of the 
waltz, which is a German modification of it. 
t The climax of dignified and graceful dancing 
is attained in the Menuet^ or Minuet. This 
became so important that the movements 
originally written for it are incorporated into 
the structure of the symphony. The Menuet 
was a development of the Courante^ a branle of 
Poitou. It is in three-quarter time and con- 
sists of four steps. It is called the " Queen of 
Dances." There were four principal forms : 

1. Menuet de Dauphin. 

2. Menuet de la Reine. 

3. Menuet de I'Exaudet. 

4. Menuet de la Cour. 

" Que de choses dans un Menuet ! " became 
the proverbial expression, denoting anything 
which required unusual tact, dexterity, and 

III 



The Revival of Dancing 

grace. The primary figure was an S, and after- 
wards it became a Z. The Menuet was 
supposed to produce the perfect art of being 
a successful courtier or lover, with its bowing, 
gazing, posing, and kissing of hands. 

The Minuet is slow and stately, the dance 'par 
excellence of Court circles. It is essentially 
a French dance, derived from the word Menuet^ 
a diminutive of Menu (small), from the small 
steps taken by the performers, and it was a 
favourite and most graceful subject for Dresden 
china figures and groups. It is constantly 
revived on the stage, but unless the costume is 
the appropriate one of the early eighteenth 
century, is not effective. 

Famous minuets have been written by 
Boccherini, J. Baptiste, LuUy, Mozart, and 
many other well-known composers. 

The beautiful male figure of Watteau's 
picture, entitled " VIndi-fferent " is dancing 
the steps of a Minuet. It was introduced into 
Paris in 1650, and was first set to music by 
LuUy. 

Rameau and Marcel have given elaborate 
instructions how to dance the Minuet, and the 
following is a correct description of the Menuet 
de la Cour, 

First. In the Menuet de la Cour there were 
only two salutations, one at the beginning and 

112 



French Dances 

one at the end of the dance. Each salutation 
consisted of two bows, and occupied eight 
measures of the music. 

Second, The track of each dancer in per- 
forming the figure princifale took the form of 
the letter Z. 

^hird. All Minuet steps {Pas de Menuet)^ 
whether taken forward, to the right, to the left, 
or in turning, invariably began with the right 
foot, both for the lady and the gentleman. 

Fourth. All real Pas de Menuet occupied two 
measures of the music and in executing them 
the balance of the body was transferred from 
one limb to the other only four times. 

The Kermesse is a country dance of Northern 
France ; it signifies Church Mass. 

The Farandole originated in the South of 
France ; all hold handkerchiefs, and follow 
their leader. 

The _Bourree is characteristic__of^_C^^_t?^l 
France. 

All French popular songs are founded on 
dances, such as the Fau-de-Fire, afterwards 
called Vaudeville^ of Normandy. The oldest 
French dance tune known is " Robinet 
et Mariette " ; and there is a French pro- 
verb : — 

" Apres la panse (repast) 
Vient la danse." 

113 f 



The Revival of Dancing 

The dances of Brittany remain to be described. 
They are the only ones which are of Celtic 
origin and can be traced back to the old nature- 
worship. They were held around the dolmens, 
on every Saturday in June at four o'clock, when 
the youths wore green ears of wheat, and the girls 
flowers of the flax in their hats. The following 
dances are described by an eye-witness : — 

In the north of Brittany, square dances and 
mazurkas are general, one of the figures in a 
quadrille being particularly quaint. The 
musician who sits in the centre, playing his 
concertina, calls out each figure. When he 
called out " Balancez les Dames," the couples 
turned and faced to corners. Then, each man 
getting behind his girl, seized her by the waist 
and threw her up into the air, to kiss or to 
touch the face of the girl who is held up by the 
partner opposite, the two girls thus kissing in 
the air. At St. Herbot, near Morlaix, the 
people danced without musical accompani- 
ment, two men singing to the measure. They 
came forward and sang two verses alternately, 
the first line of one verse over-lapping the last 
line of the other, and jigged up and down, 
until, all the other men joining them, they 
formed into a circle, and danced round and 
round. Then one by one, the girls joined in 
the circle, each slipping her hands into the 

114 




< 

H 
I— ( 



o 
a; 



w 



O 
< 

1— ( 
> 

< 



3 



French Dances 

hands of one of the men, who did not even look 
up to see whose hands they were holding. 

In the south of Brittany, the folk always 
dance to the sound of the Binyou^ or Bagpipes, 
various forms of the Pas de Quatre being 
popular. Every wedding concludes with a 
dance, and every Pardon and Church Festival 
is accompanied by dancing. 

Other old French dances are called : — 
The Tricotet^ beloved by Henry IV, to the 
refrain — 

" J'aimons les filles 
J'aimons le bon vin," d^c. ; 

the Passe-pied, a lively minuet, and UAlle- 
magne, a country dance, like our Sir Roger de 
Coverley. 

The Carmagnola was a dance of the French 
Revolution, 1793. A tree, on the top of which 
was suspended a cap of Liberty, stood in the 
centre of the group, and the dancers danced 
round it. 

The Contredanse, or Country Dance, in Eng- 
land, dates from the time of William the 
Conqueror, who brought it from Normandy. 

The Polka was a folk-dance of Bohemia ; its 
popularity is accounted for, by the fact of a 
tourist happening to see a peasant-girl dancing 
it, and he took notes of her performance, and 

115 



The Revival of Dancing 

brought it to Paris and London, where it 
became the rage in the middle of last 
century. It is in 2-4 time, the third quaver 
accentuated. 

The Polka Mazurka is a Polish variety of the 
same dance. It is written in 3-8 or 3-4 time. 
It was originally a round dance. Chopin's 
Mazurkas are famous. 

The Waltz, from toalzen, to roll, is identical 
in origin with the Italian Folia, or Folte, as it 
was called in France, when introduced by 
Catherine de Medicis, to succeed in favour the 
Basse Danse, the native dance of France. It 
was originally of a lively nature, but has of late 
years become slower, more graceful, and more 
gliding in character. In some countries it is 
still quick and tripping. 

Many great writers, such as Chopin and 
Strauss, are responsible for the altered and more 
serious character of the waltz. 

The Quadrille, so called from a card-game 
played by four persons with forty cards, consists 
of five figures or movements executed by four 
couples, each forming the side of a square. 

The Cotillon, or Cotillion, is really a peasant 
dance in origin, and was so called from the 
short skirts worn by the ladies, in contradis- 
tinction to the stately dress required by the 
Minuet. 

116 



The Cotillon 

A girl inquires of a friend : — 

" Ma commere, quand je danse 
Mon CotilJon, va t'il bien ? " 

It was re-introduced into England in 1863, 
and the institution of cotillon favours, and 
presents, was then begun. Many of the figures 
were used in the Basse Danse, or Branle, which 
in each province in France had customs of its 
own. For instance, a cavalier handed a torch 
or candle to a lady, and if she took it, she 
accepted him, and if she blew it out, he was 
rejected. He was then called " The Knight 
of the Sorrowful Countenance." 

The Cotillon in America is called " the 
German." It is most elaborate. Figures are 
invented, with favours and costly presents after 
each figure, often as many as twenty in an 
evening ; and at the end of each figure, the 
partners waltz, both with each other, and with 
other partners. Some of the principal figures 
in the Cotillon are : — La conversation, Le 
mouchoir, La trompeuse, Les dames cachees, Le 
8 entre deux chaises, Les quatre coins, Le fan- 
dango, Vartichaux, File ou face, La farafluie, 
La Loterie, La Peche a la ligne, Les Ballons, 
Steeplechase, Le chassi a course, Le postilion, 

yc. ■• 

117 



The Revival of Dancing 

More well-known figures are those in which 
a fan, a bouquet, a mirror, or coloured ribbons, 
play various parts. The names of the figures 
given above indicate the subjects which sug- 
gested them. 



Ii8 



See how those floiioers that have sweet beauty toOy 
{The only jewels that the earth doth wear 
When the young Sun in bravery her doth woo^ 
As oft as they the whistling wind do hear^ 
Do wave their tender bodies here and there^ 
And though their dance no perfect measure is^ 
Yet oftentimes their music makes them kiss," 

Sir John Davies. 



ENGLISH COUNTRY DANCES 

ENGLAND is the home of the country 
dance. The origin of the term has been 
explained by the French Contre Danse, meaning 
that the couples stand in rows facing one another, 
but this explanation is not now accepted. 
The old English dances are fairly proved to be 
of native origin. A great deal of folk-music 
of a purely English character survives, which 
proves that the old-fashioned country dances, 
though now almost entirely superseded by 
foreign importations, were at one time 
universal, and very popular. 
y The Saxon Glee-men were professional 
dancers and tumblers. One of the most ancient 
English dances was the " Egg-dance," in which 
the executant was blindfolded, and had to 
perform a hornpipe amongst a number of eggs 
placed in a certain pattern, without breaking 
them. After the Crusades, the dances of the 
Jongleurs came in, and they brought with them 
a number of others supposed to be of Eastern 
origin. The Morris Dance of modern revival 
is said to be descended from one of these. 
Remnants of them are found in many children's 
games, such as " Hunt the Slipper," " Kiss in 
the Ring," and " Here we go round the 
Mulberry Bush." All the Tudor Dances 

121 



English Country Dances 

introduced the ceremony of kissing, one of the 
most famous being called " the Cushion," or 
" Joan Saunderson," a very old tune for which 
was " Gaillarde Sweet Margaret," or " Gaillarde 
Anglaise," printed in 1615. The " Cushion 
Dance " is thus described : — 

" A ring of male and female dancers placed 
alternately was formed, and one of the men, 
taking a cushion in his hand, danced round the 
inside thereof till the end of the tune. Then 
he suddenly stopped, and began to sing " This 
dance it will no further go," whereupon the 
musicians demanded, " I pray you, good sir, 
why say you so ? " and to this he replied, 
" Because Joan Saunderson will not come to, 
and she must come to, whether she will or no." 
He then laid the cushion at the feet of one of 
the ladies, and on this she had to kneel down to 
receive the salutation. At first she was bound 
to show some reluctance, but after the kiss she 
got up, according to the rules, and danced 
round with the man, singing '' Prinkum 
prankum is a fine dance, and shall we go dance 
it over again ? " When it was the lady's turn 
to carry the cushion, she placed it at the feet of 
one of the men, and as she received the kiss, 
sang, " Welcome, John Saunderson, welcome, 
welcome." 

The names of other old English dances of a 

122 



"Merrie England 



)5 



similar character were : — " Dull Sir John," 
" All in a Garden Green," " If all the world 
were paper," " Pudding Pies," " Sweet Kate," 
and " Once I loved a Maiden Fair." Above all 
there was " My Lady Greensleeves," which, 
with its refrain : — 

" Greensleeves was all my joy, 
Greensleeves was my delight, 
Greensleeves was my heart of gold, 
And who but Lady Greensleeves ? " 

still survives in the tune of that name. Ours 
was the country of dancing in those days of 
" Merrie England ! " At one time the Judges 
danced annually on Candlemas day in the Hall 
of Lincoln's Inn, and there were four Revels held 
annually in the various Inns of Court, now so 
solemn and sad, save for the occasional revival 
of an old-time " Masque " at Gray's Inn. 
The Revels were held at "All Hallows," 
"Erkenwald," "Purification," and "Mid- 
summer." The French Branle was introduced, 
and called in English the Brawle, a very popular 
one being, " John, come kiss me now." An 
English form of the Minuet was called the 
" Canary " ; it was not so dignified and 
stately as the French form. 

Queen Elizabeth greatly encouraged dancing, 
and was a performer herself. She delighted in 

123 



English Country Dances 

the high jumps and hops cultivated by the 
English, and extracted a compliment on this 
score, for when comparing herself with Mary 
Queen of Scots to the Scottish Ambassador, 
he adroitly remarked " that the Queen of 
England could hop much higher than her 
Majesty of Scotland ! "X 

One of the most ancient dances, which still 
survives in its original form and is danced every 
year on May 8th, is the " Furry," or " Flora " of 
Helston, in Cornwall. It is known to have 
flourished in the time of William the Conqueror, 
and, like the Breton dances, is a survival of the 
old Celtic nature-worship. Early in the morn- 
ing the young men and maidens go out into the 
country {fade) to gather branches of May ; 
they return garlanded with these, and singing : 

" For we were up as soon as day — O ! 
For to fetch the summer in — the summer 

and the May— O ! 
For summer is a-come — O ! 
And winter is a-go — O ! " 

Then they form themselves into bands, and 
dance in procession, in and out of every house 
in the town, going in at one door and coming 
out at another, still singing — : 

" Robin Hood and Little John, 
They both are gone to the Fair O ! 

124 



Maypole Dances 

And we will go to the merry green wood 
To see what they do there O ! 

And for to chase O ! 

To chase the Buck and Doe, 

With Hal-an-Tow 

Jolly rumble, O ! " 
Chorus — 
" And we were up as soon as day, O ! " 

A country fair is held at the same time. 
All classes join in this dance. The servants 
do their round at 6.30 a.m., the gentlefolks 
at noon, and the tradesmen in the evening. 
The whole town is decorated with flowers, 
and the couples dance through the market- 
place, through every street, and in and out 
of every house, as described above, singing the 
" Furry " song. 

The old English Maypole Dances, now 
things of the past, were doubtless on somewhat 
of this pattern. The institutions of King and 
Queen of the May were survivals of pre- 
Christian Festivals, when, at our Whitsuntide, 
these symbols of the forces of nature were 
chosen and glorified in a procession with song 
and dance. 

The following are the directions for one 
of the old English dances, " All in a Garden 
Green " : — 

I2S 



English Country Dances 

" Long ways for six. 

" Lead up all a D. forwards and back, set 
and turne S. That again. First man shake 
his owne wo. by the hand, then the 2 
then the 3 by one hand, then by the other ; 
kisse her twice, and turne her. Shake her 
by the hand, then by the other ; kisse 
her twice and turne her. Sides all, set and 
turne S. That again. This as before, the 
woman doing it. Armes all, set and turne S. 
That again. This as before, the man doing it." 

^ During the Puritan regime dancing all but 
disappeared, but came into favour at the 
Restoration. French dances were usually 
practised at the court of Charles IL When 
Bath became the home of fashion. Beau Nash, 
who was master of the ceremonies at the 
pump-room, completely banished English 
dances. French dances were the only ones 
known in polite society, f Their vogue has 
steadily increased, and dances either borrowed 
from France, or French adaptations of those 
of foreign origin, are the only ones now seen in 
London ball-rooms. At Christmas an annual 
" Sir Roger de Coverley " is permitted, and 
country dances such as the " Swedish " the 
" Tempete," and the " Barn Dance," as well 
as an occasional " Highland Reel," may be 

126 



The Waltz 

seen in the country-house, or were, at least, 
in Dickens' time. 

The Waltz, now the reigning favourite 
of all English ball-rooms, is a German modifica- 
tion of the Italian Volta (or jump), the French 
Volte, and afterwards False, The first German 
Waltz-tune was " Ach I du lieber Augustin " 
written in 1770. It was first danced at the 
Paris Opera in 1793, in Gardel's ballet, " La 
Dansomanie,^^ In 1812 it was introduced 
into English ballrooms and roused a perfect 
storm of ridicule and protest. It did not 
become popular until re-introduced at 
Almack's by the Emperor Alexander in 18 16. 
The exquisite music written for the Waltz 
by the great Strauss, composer of the " Blue 
Danube," and other famous waltzes, has had 
much to do with its long-continued popularity 
of nearly a hundred years. Later on the lovely 
and entrancing strains of " Dolores " and 
" Chaniilly,^^ with their modern successors, 
" Reve d'Automne'' and " False Bleue'' (to 
name a very few examples), written in a minor 
key to convey a subdued undercurrent of 
passionate regret, seem to be responsible 
for its never-failing vogue ! It has now be- 
come a slow and graceful gliding movement, 
and all other dances are merely accessories to 
it. 

x27 



English Country Dances 

The Quadrille has been already described 
under French Dances. 

The Lancers were invented by Laborde of 
Paris, in 1836, and brought to England in 
1850. 

The Galop is a Hungarian Dance, first 
seen in Paris in 1830. 

The Polka has become universal and very 
popular in England. 

The Polka-Mazurka and Mazurka^ are now 
only taught in dancing-schools, together with 
the Schottische, Caledonian Quadrille, and other 
exotics. 

Of course some innovations like the Two- 
Step, Washington Post, or " Pas de Quatre," 
borrowed from the United States, may be 
the rage for a season or two, but young 
England has declared its preference for the 
waltz before all, mixed with occasional galops 
and polkas ; sometimes a set or two of 
quadrilles and Lancers, or a cotillon, occurs 
during the evening. These, however, are 
changed so frequently for the waltz during the 
course of the programme (except the cotillon, 
which is an elaborate affair) that it is difficult 
to anticipate a time when the latter will have 
either a rival or a successor. 

During the reigns of the Georges, public 
dancing-rooms became the fashion. The 

128 




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Sir Roger de Coverley 

Pantheon was frequented even by Dr. Johnson, 
and other famous assembly rooms were White's, 
Almack's, Boodles', and Ranelagh. 

" Sir Roger de Coverley " may be described 
as the last of the Old English dances. It is 
so arranged that, if carried to a conclusion, 
every dancer will have danced with every other 
in the room. The music was first published 
in 1685. 

Dancing from an educational standpoint has 
become universal in England. It has played 
an important part in physical development, 
as it not only improves, refines, and strengthens 
the body, but it exhilarates the mind and the 
whole nervous system. This idea was embodied 
by Froebel in his Kindergarten system, which 
has had such a tremendous influence upon the 
education of the English children of to-day. 

The revival of the Morris dances has produced 
already a great effect in our country schools. 
The children enjoy them thoroughly, and 
perform them gracefully. The Esperance Club, 
under the tutelage of Miss Neal, has done a 
good work in spreading this form of culture 
throughout the country, and Miss Nellie 
Chaplin has also had success in promoting the 
revival of ancient dances, especially among 
children. 

The " skirt-dance," which was the rage in 

129 K 



English Country Dances 

society a few years ago, did much to elicit the 
grace and self-confidence desirable among well- 
bred girls. Almost every girl out of her teens 
was equipped with an accordian-pleated skirt, 
in which she was taught to pirouette gracefully 
while manipulating its ample folds with 
dexterity, so as to produce harmonious lines. 
The figures of various flowers were imitated, 
and the ball-room threatened to rival the stage 
for a short time, so fashionable did skirt-dances 
become. The various dancing and acting 
games now taught in schools, have done much 
to take away from the young English girl the 
reproach of stiffness and awkwardness which 
had clung to her for so long in the eyes of our 
continental neighbours. 

The growing generation cm young people 
have infinitely more charm, aplomb, and ease 
of manner, than was possible in the past, before 
dancing, gymnastics, and sports had become 
the heritage of every boy and girl of nearly 
all classes in the land. 



MORRIS DANCES 

The Puritan reaction is thus described : — 

These teach that dancing is a Jezebel 
And barely break the ready way to hell ; 

130 



Morris Dances 

The Morrice idols, Whitsun ales, can be 
But profane relicts of a Jubilee ; 
These in a zeal t'express how much they do 
The Organs hate, have silenc'd bag-pipes too, 
And harmless maypoles all are railed upon 
As if they were the towers of Babylon. 

(Randolph's Poems. 1646.) 

The English Morris Dance, which is supposed 
to be of Moorish origin, was probably brought 
to this country in the reign of Edward III., 
when John of Gaunt returned from Spain. 
Instructions are given in the " Orchesografhie " 
of Thoinot Arbeau, for performing the first 
steps of the " Danse des Morisques.'^ A boy 
in good society would come into the hall when 
supper was finished, with his face blackened, 
his forehead bound with white or yellow 
taffetas, and bells affixed to his ankles. The 
boy then proceeded to dance the Morisque in 
the manner described. The great feature of the 
movement was to strike the right and left heels 
upon the ground twice alternately, and then 
both heels together, to produce a jingling of 
the bells. This is the original form of Morris 
Dance. The English performance included a 
Robin Hood, a Maid Marian, and a Friar Tuck ; 
and to these were added a musician, a buffoon, 



131 



English Country Dances 

and a hobby-horse. These old English dances, 
of which many varieties exist (chiefly acting, or 
miming figures) are revived with great success 
at the present day. Although formerly done 
entirely by boys and men, they are now 
performed by school-girls, and the costumes 
chosen are the old English print frocks and 
sun-bonnets of a hundred years ago. The 
old English tunes and words to them are also 
used, and others are successful imitations. 

The Morris Dance is a comic representation 
of every grade of society. The characters were 
dressed partly in English and partly in Spanish 
costume. Thus the huge sleeves were Spanish, 
but the laced stomacher English. Hobby- 
horse represented the King and all the 
knightly order : Maid Marian, the Queen ; 
the Friar, the clergy generally ; the Fool, the 
court jester. Other characters represented 
were a franklin, or private gentleman ; a churl 
or yeoman ; and the lower grades by a clown. 
The Spanish costume was to show the origin 
of the dance. Bells attached to straps were 
invariably worn round the ankles, the original 
intention of this having been to frighten away 
evil spirits. 

Tom Piper is one of the characters in the 
Morris Dance : — 



132 



Morris Dances 

" So have I seen 
Tom Piper stand upon our Village Green 
Backed with the May-pole." 

{''Shepherd's Pip,'' 1614. 

William Brown,) 

" As 70U pipe I must dance " (I must 
accommodate myself to your wishes) ; " Pipe 
another tune," (to change one's bearing) ; 
" He that pays the Piper can call the tune " 
— these are all phrases which have passed into 
the language. 

The Pied Piper of Hamelin, that mediaeval 
Orpheus, who decoyed away all the children of 
the town, is a typical character. 

Morris Dances were originally performed by 
six dancers, but there was also a solo Morris, 
which was once danced by a man named Kemp 
in nine days all the way from London to 
Norwich. It was called the " nine daies Won- 
der "(1599).^ 

A feature in the history of Morris-dancing 
is that in the elder days the Morris-dancers 
became mixed up with the Mummers, who 
played the Robin Hood games on such occa- 
sions as the Leet-Ales, Lamb-Ales, Bride-Ales, 
Wc. The characters were identical, i.e,, a 
Bishop (or Friar), Robin Hood, the Potter (or 
P/Cggar), Little John, Friar Tuck, and Maid 

133 



English Country Dances 

Marian. The Morris Dancers in the stained 
glass windows of the sixteenth century in a house 
at Betley, Staffordshire, have among them 
other characters. 

The following phrases from Ben Jonson's 
" Gipsies Metamorphosed " supply evidence : — 

" l^hey should he Morris Dances by their j ingle ^ 
but they have no napkins,^^ 

" No, nor a Hobby-Horse,^'* 

" Oh, he^s often forgotten, thafs no rule, but 
there* s no Maid Marian, no Friar among them, 
which is the surer mark,"*^ 

" Nor a fool, that I can see.'*'' 

The Hobby-Horse was habitually associated 
with the Morris, until banished by the Puritans. 
" For O, for O, the Hobby-Horse is forgot " ; 
but at Minehead and Padstow it survives, and 
accompanies the original Morris-men at Bide- 
ford. 

A sword-bearer sometimes accompanied the 
Morris-men, holding a pound-cake on the end 
of his sword, with which he parted in slices 
for sundry coin. The music generally used was 
a pipe and taborer, or the bag-pipes. 

An old madrigal of 1600, runs : — 

" Harke, Harke, I hear the dancing 
And a nimble Morris prancing, 

134 





ROSITA MAURI IN THE BALLET OF LA KORRIGANE 
After a Picture by F. E. Bertier 



» 



Morris Dances 

The bag-pipe, and the Morris-bells, 
That they are not farre hence, us tells. 
Come let us goe thither 
And dance like friends together^ 

The dress of the Bideford Morris-men at 
the present day consists of a tall hat, with a 
broad band of plaited ribbons, red, green, and 
white ; an elaborately-frilled and pleated 
white shirt, tied at wrist and elbow with blue 
ribbon ; breeches of fawn-coloured corduroy, 
with rosettes pinned on the braces, back and 
front, of red, white, and blue ribbons. The 
Morris-bells are stitched on thongs, and tied 
to the shin in the traditional manner. The 
records show that treble and tenor bells were 
used ; the number varies, but sometimes is 
as many as twelve. Some dancers carry white 
handkerchiefs, with a hole through one corner. 
Stocks are used in some dances also. 

Some of the best-known tunes are : — 

Green Garters Handsome John 

Constant Billy Highland Mary 

Willow Tree Green Sleeves 

Maid of the Mill Trunk Hose 

Bob and Joan Cockey Brown 

The Old Road Moll o' the Wheel 

The Cuckoo The Cuckoo's Nest 

White Jock Hey Morris. 

135 



English Country Dances 

MASQUES. — Masques, so fashionable in 
England from the time of Henry VIII to that 
of James I, were a spectacular or theatrical 
set of dances. It was essential that they 
should be of an allegorical or mythological 
character. Their gorgeousness has never been 
paralleled. Kings, Queens, and nobles took 
part in them, arrayed in the most sumptuous 
costumes. They corresponded, in England, to 
the ballet in France. 

A masque danced at the wedding of the Earl 
of Somerset and Lady Frances Howard, in 1613, 
was called " The Golden Tree." It repre- 
sented a story of certain knights who were 
shipwrecked and then enchanted, and who 
could only be released by a branch from the 
tree of gold. Jigs and sarabands, pavanes 
and galliards were introduced. Another, called 
the " Vision of Twelve Goddesses," was com- 
posed by Samuel Daniel, and given at Hampton 
Court in 1604. It was " dramatic, festive, and 
singularly joyous." 

" The Masque of Flowers," held at Gray's 
Inn in 1614, and revived with almost its 
original splendour in 1887, was prepared from 
designs by Inigo Jones. Dancing of the 
minuet, the pavane, and the morisco occurred 
during its performance. Ben Jonson wrote a 
great number of masques ; he is responsible for 

136 



Masques 

the " Masque of Beauty," the " Masque of 
Blackness," the " Masque of Queens," " Hue 
and cry after Cupid," Wc. 

The greatest authority on English dances is 
John Playford, who in 1651 wrote the Dan- 
cing Master^ which went into many editions. 
He reprints an immense number of old tunes, 
such as ; " Chelsea Reach," " Dargason," 
" Kemp's Jigg," " Heartsease," ^c. 



137 



Each step trod out a lover's thought^ 
And the ambitious hopes he brought 

Chained to her brave feet with such arts^ 
Such sweet command and gentle awe, 
As J when she ceased, we sighing saw 

The floor lay paved with broken hearts. 

So did she move, so did she sing, 

Like the harmo7iious spheres that bring 

Unto their rounds their music's aid ; 
Which she performed such a way 
As all the enamoured world will say, 

" The Graces danced, and Apollo played! " 

Richard Lovelace. 



THE BALLET 

THE Ballet is said to have been invented 
in China many thousands of years ago. 
However, although mentioned by Confucius, 
we have not any authentic account of this 
very early ballet. It no doubt resembled the 
ancient pantomime performances common to 
all nations, from which arose manv of the 
dances flourishing in our own time. 

The Ballet, from which our modern Ballet 
is descended, may be said to have originated in 
Rome, at the period of the Empire, when Panto- 
mime was at its height. The Roman Ballets 
and pantomimes were so magnificent, recruited 
as they were from all the most famous dancers 
of Greece, Egypt and Spain, that there seems 
little doubt that they have never been surpassed, 
even in modern times. Lucian describes the 
qualifications of a really fine dancer and ballet- 
master. He says that to grace, elegance and 
refinement, a ballet master should add all that 
is great and valuable in knowledge : " Poetry 
was necessary to ornament, music to animate, 
geometry to regulate, and philosophy to guide 
his compositions. Rhetoric was required to 
enable him to move and express the passions, 
painting to delineate attitudes, and sculpture 
to form his figures. He should equal Apelles, 

139 



The Ballet 

and not be inferior to Pheidias. All times 
should be present to his mind, but most pro- 
foundly should he study the emotions of the 
soul, in order to paint its operations by the 
movements of the body. His conception should 
be easy and natural, his mind lively, his ear nice, 
judgment sound, imagination fertile, taste 
certain in selecting whatever is proper and 
necessary to his design. These are rare but 
indispensable qualifications, with which ancient 
history, or rather fable, will furnish materials 
for the most magnificent compositions. He 
must therefore inform himself of every impor- 
tant event that has happened in the world, 
from its rising out of chaos to the present time." 

{De Saltat . ) 

This passage contains a whole philosophy of 
dancing, as well as raising it to a supreme height 
as one of the finest of the fine arts, and we must 
look to the striking examples of the revival of 
dancing as a fine art at the present day, to find 
an equally high ideal expressed. 

Cahusac thus comments on Lucian's theory : 
" Lucian did not require too much of the 
ballet-masters of his time, as at Rome all great 
subjects of tragedy and comedy were included 
in the circle of pantomime. The composers 
of ballets were there at once poets, musicians 
and actors ; whereas in our time, the poet is 

140 




MONSIEUR VESTRIS 



The Roman Ballet 

seldom a musician, the musician never a poet, 
and the actor neither one nor the other." 

As an illustration of the perfection of the 
Roman ballet, it is said that a King of Pontus, 
on a visit to Rome in the days of Nero, saw a 
dancer delineate on the stage the " Labours 
of Hercules," w^ith such exquisite precision, 
by gesture only, that after the performance he 
requested the Emperor to allov^ him to take 
the coryphaeus back with him to his own 
country. He explained that he ruled over 
several barbarian tribes, to whom he utterly 
failed to make his own ideas comprehensible, 
but he declared that with such an interpreter, 
that would now become possible. What a 
brilliant suggestion for dealing effectively with 
uncivilised tribute peoples ! 

The professors of this art were held in such 
high estimation by the Romans, that actors, 
on the cessation of a public distribution of 
corn and wine during a famine, were expressly 
excepted. The popularity of Bathyllus and 
Pylades has already been described, and it is 
not till many centuries later that we have to 
record such an apotheosis of the ballet. 

It seems generally admitted that the revival 
of the ballet as a fine art, on a sumptuous scale, 
took place at Tortona, in Italy, to celebrate the 
marriage between Isabella of Aragon and 

141 



The Ballet 

Galeazzo, Duke of Milan. " Every resource 
that genius and wealth could supply was 
brought into requisition at this entertainment, 
when painting, sculpture and music were 
employed as accessories. The spirit of emula- 
tion was awakened, and princes and nobles of 
neighbouring states and countries all vied with 
each other in the magnificence of their enter- 
tainments, imitating the example of Bergonzo 
de Botta in producing masterpieces of choric 
and histrionic skill." {E. Scott.) 

Catherine de Medicis was responsible for the 
revival of the Ballet in France. It is said that 
it was her intention to further enervate the 
minds of her feeble sons, in order to distract 
their attention from State affairs. Certain it 
is that ballets, from this period up to the end 
of the reign of Louis XIV, became more and 
more elaborate, intricate, and gorgeous. During 
the reigns of Louis XIII, XIV, and XV, the 
ballet was at its zenith. Glorious music was 
written for it and dances were invented by 
Rameau, Lully, Corelli, Gluck, Weber, and 
other great composers. Cardinal de Bourbon 
gave a famous ballet, in which presents were for 
the first time exchanged, in 158 1. It is said 
that the custom of giving presents at the 
cotillon was then begun. Royal personages 
exchanged silver dolphins and medals and 

142 



Women in The Ballet 

branches of coral among themselves. Louis 
XIV, in his youth, did not disdain to appear 
in a Ballet of the Seasons, when he took the 
part of the " Roi Soleil,^^ clad in brilliant 
armour ornamented with silver and gold. 
Court ballets became the fashion, but the 
great professional class of ballet dancers had 
not yet arisen. 

The fascination of the steps used in the 
ballet is due to the idea given, " of much 
being safely supported upon little." But, 
if too much stress is laid on this idea, the dancer 
degenerates into the acrobat. It is clear that 
spontaneity, grace, and feeling will always 
be necessary to the ballet. Mere agility is not 
art, and this is why ordinary ballet-dancing 
gives so little real pleasure. It is not the 
" poetry of motion," it is tortuous and often 
painful to watch, and occasionally seems like the 
action of some automatic piece of mechanism ; 
whereas the charm of life and nature should 
always be present in the best ballet dancing. 

The appearance of women in the ballet 
did not take place until the end of the 
seventeenth century'. They first appeared at 
the Odeon in a ballet called " Le Triomfhe 
de VAmour,^^ in the reign of Louis XIV. 
They were then found to add so much charm 
to the performance, that they were never 

H3 



The Ballet 

afterwards omitted. Beauchamp, called the 
" Father of dancing-masters," was responsible 
for their introduction, but it has also been 
attributed to LuUy. Beauchamp was succeeded 
by other celebrated dancing-masters, such as 
Blondy, Pecour, Duport Dauberval, Gardel, 
and Marcel. Lord Chesterfield alludes to the 
latter in the well-known letters to his son. 

The immense vogue of dancing at and after 
this period may be gathered from the fact 
that Vestris, the famous dancing-master, con- 
stantly asserted that himself, Voltaire, and the 
King of Prussia were the three greatest men in 
Europe. Another instructor in the art was 
J. G. Noverre, whom Garrick calls the " Shake- 
speare of dance." He composed many ballets, 
and possessed a lofty ideal of his subject. He 
and latei on, Blasis, are still considered great 
authorities. 

Vestris the elder reached, perhaps, a height 
to which no male dancer, before or afterwards, 
ever attained. His grace of movement was 
so enchanting that he literally held his audience 
spell-bound, and if any admirer so far forgot 
himself as to applaud with his hands, while 
Vestris was dancing, " an instant check was 
put to his rapture, by a choral hush." A 
satiric poem was written to Vestris the younger 
and published in 1820, called " the Vestriad." 

144 



Vestris 

The hero is thus described : — 

** Vestris, thy birth Terpsichore approved, 
The Graces nursed thee, and Apollo loved. 

# # # # # 

" Devoid of thought and destitute of care 
His head, self-balanced, seems to swim in air, 
Whilst true, responsive to each note, the feet 
And the round calves the entrechat repeat. 
The sole forth darting with intrepid haste 
Describes swift circles, with peculiar taste. 
The quick revolve would threat to turn the 

brain, 
Were dancers' heads less voluble and vain. 

^p ^F ^F ^r "^ 

" Thus at a distance from the brindled flock 
High bounds the mountain doe from rock to 

rock ; 
Thus fleet Camilla skimmed the watery plain, 
Nor left upon the liquid glass a stain. 

^P ^p ^F ^F "II" 

" Full fifteen journals of two columns each 
Where arts are sermonised, and critics preach, 
The evening's triumph every morn prolong, 
In praise harmonious and prosaic song : 
The Apotheosis now by fate decreed. 
All Paris ratified the solemn deed." 

The poem closes with a description of a 

14s L 



The Ballet 

mimic battle between the hero and his rival 
and successor, Duport, in the guise respectively 
of Ulysses and Ajax, and of the eclipse of Vestris. 
One of the Vestris family took part with 
Mile. Carmargo in Gluck's ballet " Iphigenia 
in Aulis," and in " Hero and Leander," when 
for the first time in history the lady wore the 
conventional short stiif ballet-skirt. Mile. 
Camargo was one of the wonders of the age. 
She was born at Brussels and her father was 
a dancing-master. In her cradle it was 
prophesied that she would become one of the 
world's greatest dancers, because of the 
rhythmical way in which she responded to the 
strains of a violin. She showed at ten years 
of age signs of fulfilling the prophecy, and at 
sixteen she appeared in opera, and charmed 
all hearts by her grace and vivacity, though in 
private life she is said to have been *' sadness 
itself." People fought for places to see her, 
as they had previously fought to see Mile. 
Salle. She became the rage of Paris, and all 
ladies wished to be shod " a la Camargo^^^ 
thereby making the fortune of a certain 
shoemaker. She revolutionised the ballet by 
her fanciful and ingenious improvisations. 
She was fickle in her love affairs. Married 
at 1 8 to theComte de Melun, she soon left him 
for his cousin, Lieut, de Marteille. This 

146 



The Three Graces 

brilliant officer was killed in Flanders, and 
Camargo left the stage for six years. She 
retired finally in 1741, and lived in loneliness 
and seclusion until her death. 

The palmy days of the ballet in England 
were between 1820 and 1850, the great age 
of Carlotta Grisi, Taglioni, and Cerito, who 
were called " the Three Graces." The ballet 
was then an inseparable adjunct to the Opera. 
Carlotta Grisi, who impersonated Esmeralda 
in M. Perrot's opera, founded on the novel of 
Victor Hugo, " Notre Dame de Paris ^"^^ appeared 
in 1844. She was one of the most elegant 
dancers of the period. The fashion then 
demanded a sylph-like airiness and grace. At 
the same time Mile. Adelaide Frassi made her 
first appearance in this country as Fleur de 
Lys, and M. Perrot as Pere Gringoire. The 
production was on a magnificent scale. Another 
great dancer was Mile. Cerito, who made a 
sensation when she appeared in the ballet of 
" Lalla Rookh " in 1846. This also was 
composed by Perrot, and was founded on 
Thomas Moore's poem. It was a gorgeous 
spectacle, and another famous coryphee took 
part in it — Louise Taglioni, who danced the 
" Pas de Neuf " in the last scene with Mile. 
Cerito and M. St. Leon. Another wonder- 
ful ballet of the same period was " Les 

HI 



The Ballet 

Metamor^phoses^'* in which Carlotta Grisi and 
Paul Taglioni appeared. 

Madame Marie Taglioni was considered the 
finest dancer of the 19th century. Born in 
Stockholm of a celebrated family of dancers, 
her father and grandfather having been famous 
before her, she made her debut at Vienna in 
1822, after undergoing a most rigorous training. 
Scribe, Auber, and Meyerbeer composed music 
for her dancing, and Thackeray wrote : " You 
can never see anything so graceful as Taglioni." 
She received j^ioo a night, and hats, gowns, 
and even stage-coaches were named after her. 
She married in 1832 Comte Gilbert des Voisins, 
but they soon separated. She died in 1884 in 
great poverty at Marseilles, having for some 
years gained her living by teaching dancing 
and deportment. Although not beautiful, she 
had a charm so unique that writers like Balzac 
and Thackeray have striven to immortalise it. 

In 1845 the great Fas de Quatre was per- 
formed by command of the Queen. It is now 
almost impossible to realise the furore which 
this immortal ballet, danced by Taglioni, C. 
Grisi, Cerito, and Grahn, created throughout 
Europe. In the next year it was followed by 
the Pas des Deesses. 

In 1847 another magnificent dancer appeared 
from Germany — Fanny Elssler, who danced 

148 




FANNY CERRITO 

From the Painting by Jules Laure 

Musee de I'Opera, Paris 



Adeline Genee 

the Cachuca to perfection. O. W. Holmes 
said that her power was *' like that of Orpheus 
with his lute." Though Taglioni's supreme 
position was then threatened, it was not until 
the advent of Jenny Lind that singing drove 
dancing into the second place in opera. After 
her coming, a popular danseuse exclaimed, 
** La Danse est comme la Turquie, bien 
malade ! " By 1858 the great age of the 
ballet was over, and it awaited its modern 
revival. 

The successor to the Queens of the legitimate 
ballet is to be found to-day in Mile. Adeline 
Genee. She is a Dane by birth, born in 
Jutland. Her uncle, Alexander Genee, a 
ballet-master, and his wife, an Hungarian 
dancer, were her teachers. When she was three 
years old, they found she had all the charac- 
teristics of a great dancer, and at nine years of 
age she made her first appearances, at Christiana 
and at Copenhagen. 

A premiere danseuse must practise constant 
self-denial. She can never indulge in sports, 
because any exercise except walking and dancing 
is injurious to a dancer's muscles. Mdlle. 
Genee practises two hours a day, and rarely 
takes a holiday, because even two weeks' 
abstinence from practice hardens the muscles, 
and causes excruciating pain when dancing is 

149 



\ 



The Ballet 

resumed. The ballet dancer must also have 
a specially prepared floor of unpolished wood. 

Mdlle. Genee is frequently compared to 
Taglioni, of whom she is the artistic descendant, 
as well as of Grisi, Salle, Camargo and the 
premieres danseuses of the past. Even in 
appearance she resembles Taglioni. Her care- 
fully trained traditional style has nothing in 
common with the modern representatives of 
theatrical dancing such as Loie Fuller, Isadora 
Duncan, Carmen9ita and Ruth St. Denis, who 
have re-introduced a more natural and spon- 
taneous style. She may be said to fulfil the 
description of Camargo in Voltaire's poem, 
1730 :— 

" Ah Camargo, que vous etes brillante ! 
Mais que Salle, Grand Dieu, est ravissante ! 
Que vos pas sont legers et que les siens sont doux 
Elle est inimitable et vous etes nouvelle ! 
Les nymphes dansent comme vous, 
Et les Graces dansent comme elle ! " 



150 




MARIE TAGLIONI 
From a Drawing by A. F Chalon, R.A. 



For lOi the sea that fleets about the landy 
And like a girdle clips her solid waist ^ 
Music and measure both doth understand : 
For his great crystal eye is always cast 
Up to the moon^ and on her fixed fast : 
A nd as she danceth in her pallid sphere^ 
So danceth he about the centre here^ 

Sometimes his proud green waves in order set. 

One after other flow tmto the shore^ 

Which when they have with tnany kisses wet 

They ebb away in order as before. 

And to make known his courtly love the morcy 

He oft doth lay aside his three-forked mace^ 

And with his arms the tinCrous Earth embrace.'*^ 

Sir John Davies. 



MODERN DANCING AND 
THE REVIVAL OF ANTIQUE 
DANCING IN MODERN TIMES 

DANCING on the stage had become a 
purely mechanical form of action, a 
matter of technique and training only, when, 
a few years ago, it occurred to various original 
minds in divers countries that dancing was 
after all, the natural and spontaneous expres- 
sion in rhythm of the joie de vivre, and that, 
instead of being a stage convention of 
merely academic excellence, it could be treated 
as an art. It would be rather difficult to say 
to whom precisely the credit of this revival 
is to be attributed. All other arts, such as 
painting, sculpture, and architecture, have also 
had their periods of awakening, when some 
original genius or group of kindred spirits 
have put warmth and vitality into technique, 
and reclothed the dry bones of formal accom- 
plishment. It occurs at a time when 
technical skill has perhaps reached its zenith, 
and there is no more to be done on these lines, 
but the breath of life is wanting. The moment 
arrives, and some Pygmalion breathes life into 
the marble, and the statue glows and moves. 
This is what has happened to dancing within 

153 



Modern Dancing 

the last few years, and it is resuming its rightful 
place as a fine art, almost on a level with 
sculpture, music, and painting. 

Each new discoverer in the field has given 
fresh impetus to the pioneers of the revival, 
and we have now had, almost simultaneously, 
the revival of antique dancing as practised by 
Isadora Duncan and Maud Allan, with their 
followers and imitators ; the revival of the 
English Folk-dances, or Morris-dances, which 
have influenced both town factory-girls, and 
country school-children, throughout the length 
and breadth of the land ; and the great revival 
of the glories of the ballet, as instanced by the 
Russian troupe of dancers at the Palace 
Theatre, and those of the Imperial ballet at 
Covent Garden. So, in obedience to the 
public demand, lithe young men and beautiful 
girls, showing in their attitudes and movements 
all the exquisite grace and charm of the Greek 
sculptures and vase-paintings, but natural and 
spontaneous in every gesture, have arisen all 
over Europe and America. 

Dancing bids fair to become anew an in- 
spiration to its sister arts, painting and sculp- 
ture, as in the great days of Greece and Rome, 
for these arts have always acted and re-acted 
upon one another. 

About fifteen years ago there appeared a 

154 



Isadora Duncan 

very original and ingenious artist in Loie 
Fuller, an American, who invented the Serpen- 
tine Dance. She was one of the most dex- 
terous and extraordinary of the skirt-dancers, 
and by means of a voluminous piece of drapery, 
whirled round with sticks projecting from the 
hands, she simulated flames of fire, flowers of 
every kind, and iridescent serpents. Her 
machinery was simple, but her effects superb. 
Like Proteus, whirling in her flaming garments, 
which assumed all kinds of gorgeous colours 
melting into each other as the limelight played 
on them, she was alternately a sun-flower, a 
water-lily, a rose, a butterfly, a humming-bird, 
a fiery snake, or anything else she wanted to 
resemble. She had many imitators, but she 
was supreme amongst them all. 

About the same time arose, also in the 
United States, Isadora Duncan, who conceived 
the idea that the body could be made to express 
by its own actions and gestures all the emotions 
which the most complicated or passionate 
music could convey. She danced to Chopin, 
Mendelssohn, and other classical composers, 
and embodied Botticelli's " Spring," and other 
great pictures, in her classical dances. She 
had a theory which she lectured upon and 
illustrated at the same time, analogous to that 
of the Delsartian school of expression by 



Modern Dancing 

gesture and posture. She founded a school 
in Berlin, on similar lines, and has a large troupe 
of young pupils who carry out her ideas. 

One of the members of her school, who, how- 
ever, claims to have originated the revival of 
the antique style of dancing, is Maud Allan. 
Maud Allan is a Canadian, who came to study 
music in Berlin. She gives the whole history 
of the development of her art in a book entitled 
" My Life and Dancing," 1908. 

She describes Botticelli's " Birth of Venus " 
as having first suggested to her the idea of a 
classical dance, on seeing it in the Ufhzi in 
Florence. She was greatly encouraged, in her 
dreams of inaugurating a new vogue in the 
classical dance, by Marcel Remy, a Belgian 
composer and critic. He encouraged her to 
study Greek vase-painting, and so to weave 
the various beautiful poses on the ancient 
vases into one rhythmic whole, that there 
should be no perceptible pause between the 
first pose and the one following it. " It 
was my endeavour to disperse rhythm har- 
moniously to the tips of fingers and toes," as 
she states herself. 

She used as her first experiment in drapery 
an old Greek piece of muslin, about 200 years 
old, very fine, soft, supple, and clinging, 
getting the Greek effect into her dresses 

156 



Maud Allan 

by damping them and then rolling them up 
tight to produce lines when unfolded. She 
made her debut at the Royal Conservatoire, 
Vienna, dancing, in a two hours' programme, 
pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and 
Schumann. Since then Maud Allan has 
appeared in most of the principal cities of 
Europe. She surpasses all other " natural " 
dancers in her moments of sheer, unpremedi- 
tated inspiration, which cause her to resemble 
a wave of the sea, a flower, a dryad, or a leaf 
blown by the wind. She embodies the spirit 
of pure unmitigated joy, and her interpre- 
tation of some of Chopin's Waltzes and 
Mazurkas, of Mendelssohn's " Spring Song," 
and Rubinstein's " Valse Caprice," is " a thing 
of beauty, and a joy for ever." 

Her Salome Dance acquired an immediate 
reputation, though most critics agreed that 
it fell below the high artistic level of her other 
performances. It was quite original, and her 
interpretation expressed all the vivid feelings 
of an inexperienced girl called to witness 
for the first time a fearful crime. This is an 
analysis of her own account of her conception : 
Salome was brought up in luxury, a spoilt 
child. When she first hears what is to be the 
prize of her dancing, her feeling is sheer 
triumph. This is succeeded by one of horror. 

157 



Modern Dancing 

Then comes repentance and a craving for 
forgiveness from the man she has so cruelly 
done to death. The final state of her soul is 
depicted by her sudden collapse, caused by 
humiliation, awe, and grief. 

Maud Allan inaugurated the use of a natural 
and simple background of moss-green curtains, 
and a moss-green carpet on which to dance, 
thus obtaining an infinitely more artistic effect 
than by elaborate stage scenery. The dancers 
whom we may describe as of the aesthetic 
or classical school, have had a very great effect 
upon the traditional ballet. The free and 
joyous dancing of the children and young 
girls in Miss Marie Brema's recent productions 
at the Savoy Theatre gave a good example 
of this, and it is exceedingly interesting to 
compare the two styles as lately seen together 
at the Palace Theatre. A French company 
first appears, dressed all alike in black, white, 
and flesh tones, the scenery exactly corres- 
ponding to their own colour scheme. All is 
dainty and chic, and weirdly, even abnormally 
attractive, like a drawing by Aubrey Beardsley, 
but their dancing, light and graceful as it 
undoubtedly is, never leaves the conventional 
path as traced out by centuries of ballet 
dancers. It is highly sophisticated, and an 
artificial product in every way. A few minutes 

158 



Russian Dancing 

later, and the Russian Dancers appear, bringing 
with them the indescribable breeziness, the 
natural joy and abandon of the dance, as it 
must have existed among the Greeks, and of 
which the Slavonic peoples alone now appear 
to possess the secret. The Mazurka by Glinka 
is danced with a fervour, a wild and apparently 
untutored grace, which carries one away 
on a great wave of rapture. " O, the wild 
joys of living," one quotes, forgetting that 
these are professionals, and that their artless 
joy is in reality a very high form of art. Even 
before Michael Mordkin and Anna Pavlova 
appear, there is altogether a new atmosphere 
which the mysterious and beautiful scenery 
helps to create. When Michael Mordkin 
springs on to the stage like a veritable faun, it 
is the Golden Age again, and all the wild 
panther-like leaps and cat-like bounds, the 
clashing of the cymbals, the inexpressible 
symmetry of the sculptured figure, take one 
straight into Arcady, when the world was 
young : — 

" A little child, a Hmber elf, ^ 

Singing, dancing to itself, 
A fairy thing with red round cheeks, 
Which always finds and never seeks." 

We were all there once — long ago. 

159 



Modern Dancing 

Mordkin never loses his faun-like grace, 
whether as lover, as gipsy, or as the god of the 
golden bow, but when he first appears as the 
faun himself at play, he is unique and unsur- 
passed. 

Anna Pavlova is a link between the old 
ballet and the new. She executes manv of 
the traditional steps clad in her short 
skirts, and with an extraordinary amount 
of work on tip-toe. But she can also create 
a new and passionate thrill when she assumes 
the characters of the " Rose qui meurt^'* and 
" le Cygne^"^ and in Chopin's waltzes and 
variations her action is pathetic, and she is as 
if blown by storms of passion until she must 
perforce sink to earth in utter lassitude. 

A beautiful description may be taken from a 
contemporary : — 

" The music was a Rubinstein waltz. She 
wore some gauzy dress suffused with violet 
and green. Her dancing was the very spirit 
of Spring, all lilting, and thrilling, and throb- 
bing fresh delight. . . . Each gesture, each 
glance of her laughing eyes made a perfect 
harmony. The whole dance was as delicious 
as a perfect lyric in its gay spontaneity, and its 
impeccable beauty of detail. A subtler 
piece of work was the Bacchanal Dance to 

i6o 



Pavlova and Mordkin 

Glazounov's music. When Pavlova ran upon 
the stage with her partner, the flame-coloured 
veil v^aving about them, wreathed with vine- 
leaves and grapes, when the wild music 
clashed, and the dancers flung themselves 
to and fro in wild abandon, it was easy to fancy 
that the mad revels of Dionysos had come back 
to our world with the old conquering appeal." 

{Daily Telegraph.) 
Another paper says : — 

" It is something of a revelation to find that in 
a country like Russia, where the civilised arts 
and sciences are supposed to make slow head- 
way, the art of the dancer has reached its 
apotheosis. It is surprising to learn that 
to Russia more than to any other country 
the theatre owes the preservation of the 
Italian school of dancing — the Classical school — 
in its original purity." (Morning Leader.) 

All contemporary critics agree that Pavlova 
does not dance with the limbs alone. She has 
the power of throwing her whole personality 
into her dancing. Her face expresses all the 
emotions and delicate transitions of feeling 
expressed by the dance. She is not merely a 
human being going through certain evolutions ; 
she is, with Mordkin, her complete counterpart, 
the very spirit of the dance itself. " He is an 

l6l M 



Modern Dancing 

ancient statue come to life, fired with the passion 
of centuries. She is the symbol of life and fem- 
ininity, and of beauty, which is the soul of life." 

But one cannot close any account of these 
Russian dancers without mentioning the idyllic 
beauty of Liszt's Rhapsodic Hongroise, which 
eight of the company interpret. One can only 
say that until one has seen it so expressed, one 
has never fully comprehended it. The whole 
company are altogether worthy of the two 
stars of first magnitude whom they support. 

A well known writer on the subject, Marcelle 
Azra Hincks, says : — 

" The Russian dancers .... have 
solved this problem of the dance. For within 
the given form of the ballet, whilst adhering 
strictly to the rigid rules of their art, they 
possess the emotional and expressive qualities 
which Noverre and Blasis and the founders 
and systematisers of the ballet, in the eighteenth 
century, deemed essential to the dance." 

To cap the climax, the latest revelation of all 
in the art of dancing was provided by the 
Russian Imperial Ballet at Covent Garden in 
June, 191 1. This company act in dancing 
dramas in an incomparable manner. They 
are dominated by Nijinsky, who is described 
as the " greatest male dancer of his age." 

162 



Nijinsky 



** His precision, his agility, his balance are all 
admirable, but it is in the beauty of his postures 
that he excels. Every pose is a picture of grace, 
of exquisite line. . . . Nijinsky lives every 
character he portrays, whether he is lovesick 
Narcissus straining in frenzied passion over the 
pool's still waters, . . . whether he is the 
negro slave dying in long shuddering spasms 
at the feet of the Sultana, whose love cost him 
his life. In Petrouchka he succeeds in convev- 
ing with extraordinary success the staccato 
movements of a puppet, while subtly suggesting 
that the marionette's wooden body conceals 
somewhere beneath its motley, a heart slowly 
breaking over Petrouchka's little love for the 
pretty dancing doll. The puppet's despair 
. is strangely pathetic. He flings his 
jointless little arms over his head, and drops 
headlong over the waist .... and the 
bitter anguish on the wooden features, which 
the white chalk and scarlet dabs of paint seem 
to accentuate ! " 

A delicate little drama is the " Spectre of the 
Rose," which Nijinsky acts with Karsavina as his 
partner, — a dainty brunette — to Berlioz's ar- 
rangement of Weber's ^'Invitation a la Valse^^: — 

" A young girl in a quaint i860 dress, with 
a crinoline, returned from a ball, falls asleep 

163 



Modern Dancing 

with a rose in her hand. As she slumbers, the 
spirit of the flower appears, his head a rosebud, 
his supple form wreathed with roses. And he 
dances and pirouettes about the sleeping form 
as only Nijinsky can dance, and the maid 
awakens to join him. As she sinks to slumber 
again, the spectre flits away, and when he has 
vanished, the girl, awakening, presses her lips 
to the rose which has fallen to the ground." 

{The Daily Mail) 

The same paper says : — 

" All over Northern Europe the ballet still 
reigns, except in Norway, where they prefer 
more solid theatrical entertainments. In Italy, 
too, it is kept up, and in Paris ballets often 
supplement operas. But Russia has the finest 
ballets and the finest dancers. The best of her 
composers have written ballet music. So 
when you see a Russian ballet, you see the best 
thing of its kind the world has to offer." 

It was in " Le Pavilion d'Armide " that the 
Imperial Russian Ballet made their debut in 
London. The setting was " a perfect Fragon- 
ard " ; Nijinsky is described as " touching 
ground again with the lightness of a bubble." 
Schumann's " Carnival " was also danced to a 
" charming decor of a curtain half purple-blue, 
half black, with an audacious design of cockle- 

164 



The Russian Ballet 

shells." The dancing, the music, and the 
scenery perfectly corresponded to one another. 

Borodin's " Prince Igor " was next acted. 
Here at last was really Slav music as well as 
Slav dancers. " It was a fierce and splendid 
scene as the Tartar warriors, youths, and Slavs 
dance martially or voluptuously at the Tartar 
Chief's command, for the entertainment of his 
noble Slav prisoner, Prince Igor. The decor 
was remarkable with its rich harmony of sunset 
red and gold, and smoke from camp fires 
against a glowing sky." Nijinsky, the Russian 
premier, is still a boy. He appeared in public 
in 1897 when he was only six, but has worked 
very hard at his art for ten years since that 
date. He describes a scene in which he 
collaborated with Isadora Duncan, in a palace 
on the Grand Canal in Venice, when, in a dim 
mysterious gloom, lit with wax candles, he and 
she improvised dances before a small audience. 
Nijinsfy is described by another contemporary 
as " bounding into the air with the light joy 
of a Mercury with winged heels. No mood is 
too joyous or exuberant for this strange 
creature to express it with his gambols of 
incredible grace and agility. He seems half boy, 
half bird. No words can tell the airy gaiety 
of his leaping feet. He looks the realisation 
of some flight-gifted elf or faun." 

16s 



' * LOy this is Dmicing^s true nobility : 
Dancings the child of Music and of Love ; 
Dancing itself both love and harmony ^ 
Where all agree y and all in order move ; 
Dancing the art that all arts do approve : 
The fair chardcter of the world's consent^ 
The heav'n^s true figure y and th^eartUs ornamejit.^^ 

Sir John Davies. 



FINALE 

FROM the dances of all ages, and especially 
from the famous dancers who sum up in 
their own persons all the respective qualities of 
pose, gesture, buoyancy and grace, which each 
age has produced in varying proportions, some 
philosophy of the subject must finally b^ 
extracted. 

The similes drawn from Nature, the still 
higher suggestions of great art, ought to help 
us here. The magic influence of dancing on 
the mind, rousing it from stagnancy, torpor, 
lethargy, and even despair, is of much the same 
essence as that produced by a leaf scurrying 
round and round in its mad autumnal whirl, 
blown by the wind ; of a little boat tossing at 
anchor on a stormy sea ; of a bird swaying 
and curving in circular flight ; of a butterfly 
hovering over summer flowers ; of a young 
animal leaping and bounding v/ith unconscious 
grace. The charm is not merely rhythmic, for 
rhythm alone would become monotonous if 
prolonged. There must further be a sensation 
of unexpectedness, of precarious balance, of 
poise which has only a momentary existence, of 
risk which delights the soul ; an impression of 
something which is, but in one moment might 
cease to be, like very fragile Venetian glass 

167 



Finale 

which a touch could crumble and dissolve into 

nothingness. 

The essence of life is ever that magical 
moment of symmetry which bewilders and 
dazzles, that glimpse of perfection which like 
a vapour " appeareth but a little time, and then 
vanisheth away." How could any permanency 
give a feeling of perfect happiness in a world 
of which the whole gist is eternal change ? 
" All things are changes, not into nothing, but 
into something which is not at present " — so 
says Marcus Aurelius, and the universe itself, 
which is always becomings but never being, 
bears him out. The Dance typifies, not only 
harmony, not only joy, but that flashing 
iridescence of existence which refreshes us, 
when one special sensation, often repeated, 
w^ill pall even in its very beauty and perfection. 
Nature knows so well the secret charm of 
perpetual change that she gives us skies that 
always vary, seasons which glide in and out of 
one another like the colours in shot silk, and 
Life in all her myriad moods, to which Death 
adds poignancy and zest. We sometimes 
imagine that we want an eternal repose, an 
everlasting sameness, but Nature wisely gives 
us Joy and Sorrow, Night and Day, Life and 
Death, knowing that, like fretful children, we 
should weary of anything that is secure. God 

1 68 



Eternal Change 

Himself would weary us if He were always the 
same. In contrast, in duality, in perpetual 
variety, in apparent dissonance, in seeming 
strife, the real harmony, the true unity, the 
ever-abiding Source of Being conceals itself, 
that we may love it all the more because we 
never see it, never grasp it, and only comprehend 
what it is by the experience of that which it 
is not. 



169 



LATEST DEVELOPMENTS 
OF THE DANCE 

THE great revival of dancing as described 
in the foregoing pages, has led in the 
years i9ii-i9i4toa still greater and more wide- 
spread vogue. Even the frequenters of the 
fashionable drawing-room and ball-room, have 
been swept along on the great wave of this 
revival, and in France, England, and the United 
States a fresh impetus, not wholly, but in part, 
connected with the Stage, has produced the 
Tango^ the Maxixe Bresilienne and the Ta-Tao. 
No manual on dancing is complete without 
a description of these developments, which have 
resulted in an immense demand among young 
men and girls in all ranks of society for com- 
petent teachers of these new and graceful dances. 
For undoubtedly they are graceful, when 
properly danced, in spite of alarmed protests 
on the part of both Church and State, when 
certain exaggerations and vulgarities came to 
be connected with their names. 

But it must be candidly admitted that the 
Tango, notwithstanding that it can lend itself 
to an unrefined treatment, is a beautiful and 
graceful dance, whose chief fault is, that it is 
almost too complicated for the drawing-room 

171 



Latest Developments 

and that its exponents suffer from a somewhat 
anxious expression of countenance indicative 
rather of struggle than of joy. All the reproaches 
formerly heaped upon the waltz have been 
latterly showered on this dance, but it is fairly 
certain that it has come to stay, and that a 
7he Dansant, or Diner Dansant would be 
incomplete without a Tango or a Maxixe 
Bresilienne^ its successor. 

The increased number of society dances in 
the United States alone during the past year, 
has resulted in an enormous development in 
the silk trade. The silk dresses required for 
" Tango Teas " have been responsible for 
many millions more yards of silk than were 
ever before imported into that country. All 
countries during the past winter have kept 
themselves warm and lively with " Tango Teas." 
These are held more often than not in large 
hotels in London and on the Continent. A 
fixed charge is made for admission including 
tea, and a couple of young professionals engaged, 
who usually start the dances, a full programme 
of One-step and Two-steps being those most 
frequently desired, with a " Tango " or other 
dance of that nature interspersed to break 
the monotony. 

The modern fashion in dress and hats has 
been largely modified and even dictated by 

172 




MISS EDRIS STANNUS IN SOME CHARACTERISTIC POSES 



Dancing Masters in Conference 

" Tango Teas." Small close hats, and a simple 
compact style of hairdressing, a close-fitting 
skirt, and loose-fitting blouse, with conspicu- 
ously neat shoes and stockings, have become 
universal at these dances. The movement is 
arrow-like, the motions of the body willowy 
and lithe, and exhibit the tendency of frequent 
dancing to produce slim, graceful figures. 
Even women in middle life have resumed their 
" dancing days," and men of course have 
followed suit. The effect on health and spirits 
is said to be most beneficial and salutary. 

The Times of April 13, 19 14, stated that the 
dancing-masters of most of the European 
countries, and the United States, met in 
conference in Paris at Easter, to deliberate for 
the good of their profession. This is the first 
international congress of teachers of the dance 
which has ever been held, and its purpose is to 
settle for all countries the dances which shall 
be danced and the way in which they shall be 
danced. The leading spirit of the conference 
is M. Lefort, the inventor of the Ta-Tao^ 
and he has collected about him some forty or 
fifty colleagues of both sexes, all conscious of 
the importance of their high calling, and awake 
to the responsibilities which rest upon their 
shoulders as tutors of the civilised races in 
elegance and grace. 

173 



Latest Developments 

It seems generally accepted that some form 
of the Tango will be the dance of the future, 
though it is also prophesied that the minuet 
and other slow and stately dances of the past 
will be revived. There is a strenuous effort 
being made on the part of all prominent 
teachers to suppress unrefined methods of 
dancing with their accompanying exaggerations 
and improprieties. It remains for the general 
public to help them in their praiseworthy 
efforts to keep up the best traditions of the 
dance, so as not to provoke a violent reaction 
against all dancing, which has occurred more 
than once in the history of the dance, as these 
pages will have shown. What is done in the best 
society gradually filters down to the lowest 
stratum, therefore it is as well to take care 
that the reverse process does not take place. 
The enemies of the Tango have declared this 
to be the case, though unjustly, for the Tango 
is not either a " Nigger " or an " Apache " 
dance, as has been variously stated, but origin- 
ated in the Argentine Republic, being an 
imported dance from Spain, with gipsy elements 
in it, which accounts for its somewhat sensuous 
and languid character. It has therefore, ulti- 
mately a Moorish or Eastern origin, but when 
modified to suit Western tastes, it is none the 
worse on this account. 

174 




CO 
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5 

w 

u 

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Pi 
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en 

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Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle 

Some well-known writers on the dance, Mr. 
and Mrs. Vernon Castle, say that " The Tango 
correctly practised is the modern soul of 
dancing, the autocrat of the up-to-date soiree 
dans ant. It is not merely a dance, but a style, 
and it is necessary to absorb its atmosphere 
in order to dance it correctly. It appears that 
the Tango is not yet " standardised " ; many 
teachers do not agree as to what are its actual 
steps, and the great number of steps which 
it is assumed to possess have had a rather 
alarming effect on novices. 

Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle (who are teachers 
of a leading society set in New York) have 
made an attempt to " standardise " the Tango. 
They regard it as having not more than six 
principal steps, and declare that the CorUz, 
the Media Luna, the Scissors, the Promenade, 
and the Eighth Step are the most essential ones. 

The dancing-masters of London and Paris 
agree fundamentally with this list, which 
they give as follows : 

The Promenade, the Cortez, the Medio 
Cortez, the Media Luna, the Rondo, the Huit, 
the Pas Oriental, the Paseo con golpe, and the 
Scissors. 

It will be seen that there are some additional 
steps included. The Dancing Times, which 
represents the best London authorities on 

175 



Latest Developments 

ball-room dancing, says, quoting from Mr. 
George Grossmith, that " The Tango is 
fascinating to dance, and delightful to see — in 
a room. It is not a stage dance, for it is not 
spectacular. The endeavour to make it a stage 
dance generally results in something which is 
not Tango at all. Just in the same way one 
might vulgarise the waltz by throwing in all 
sorts of freak movements, but it would not be 
the standard waltz." 

It should be danced slowly, and with a gliding 
motion, so as to produce an absolutely smooth 
effect, without jerking, or any unnecessary 
movements of the arms or legs. Another writer 
in the Dancing Times speaks enthusiastically of 
the educative effect of the Tango. " It teaches 
novices how to hold themselves properly, what 
to do with their arms, how to execute with 
dexterity certain steps which they are apt to 
shuffle through, and finally to take a pride in 
their dancing." One great influence of the 
Tango is remarkable. Men have once again 
become interested in ball-room dancing. The 
diflBculty of getting men to come to dances in 
sufficient numbers to match the girls is now a 
thing of the past. The same writer remarks : 
" The Tango is an ideal dance for the man — 
he creates the design in it throughout, and in 
doing this, calls into play mental as well as 

176 




\Photo Foulshant and Banjield 

MARQUIS AND CLAYTON IN THE TANGO 



*' Furlana " 

physical powers, and as he develops a mastery 
over many divers steps, the more elaborate 
and interesting to him becomes the designing 
of the dance. Without holding his partner 
more closely, his control over her is more 
complete than in the Waltz." 

As this book is not a guide to dancing, but 
a history of dancing, I cannot do better than 
refer my readers to Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle's 
" Modern Dancing " (Harpers') for details as 
to Tango steps. 

There are other important modern dances 
which must be mentioned in this chapter. 
The Tango has had a forerunner — " the Rag." 
Its popularity was immense owing to the 
fascinating music which was written for it 
by numerous well-known composers. It is a 
fast measure, full of briskness and quick move- 
ment, and came at a period when dancers were 
tired of the slow and monotonous waltz measure. 

Another new dance, or rather a revival of 
an old Venetian dance, has lately been intro- 
duced called the " Furlana." The legend goes 
that the Pope, having seen two of his young 
relatives dance the Tango by request, because 
he wished to be able to judge of its propriety 
himself, is said to have been delighted with it, 
but to have suggested the " Furlana " as being 
more lively ! It was, however, revived by the 

177 N 



Latest Developments 

dancing masters of Rome, who, surmising that 
the Pope had banned the Tango, saved the 
downfall of their trade by starting the " Fur- 
lana," connecting it with this little story. It is 
thus described by Mr. Crompton : " Origina- 
ting with the Forlans, inhabitants of Frioul, 
Italy, it became the favourite dance of the 
Gondolieri three hundred years ago, and 
constituted one of the three national dances 
of Italy. During the sixteenth, seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries, the dance developed into 
a more elaborate measure, and eventually 
showed an equal popularity with the Pavane, 
Gaillard, Rigaudon, and other similar dances. 
Special music was composed for the dance by 
Wm. Byrd, later by Auber, Moret, and Rameau, 
the most recent composition being that of 
Giovanni Vinci, in the present year." 

The " Ta-Tao " may be described as a re- 
constructed Chinese dance, and comprises 
six figures, as follow : 

(i) Ta-Tao, or the Cadence. 

(2) Ho-ang, or the Phoenix. 

(3) Ta-ou-Hien-Tche, or the Wave (a figure 
suggestive of the movement of the sea under 
a gentle breeze). 

(4) Ta-Hyen, the central figure. 

(5) Ta-Kneu, or the Grand Turn. 

(6) Gen-Ou, or the Men's Dance. 

178 




[Phofo Foulsham and Banfield 

MAURICE AND FLORENCE WALTON IN THE TANGO 



" Maxixe Bresilienne " 

A great success is prophesied for this dance. 
In man^ ways it seems the exact opposite of the 
Tango. The word " Ta-Tao " means in Chinese 
" Sweetness and harmony " ; it is a slow 
graceful measure, full of quaint steps and 
languorous dipping movements. M. Lefort 
says — " It is quite an easy dance to learn, and 
is essentially an harmonious and delightful 
measure. The feet move in a one-two measure, 
and many of the graceful steps seen in the 
Tango — the balancing on one foot, the slide 
and dip, with one knee just touching the ground 
— are included in this old Chinese dance. One 
of the greatest charms of this dance is its 
unbroken swing, keeping time to a slow tuneful 
melody in a minor key. The Ta-Tao can never 
become a vulgar exhibition of romping." It 
must be noted that there is no record of this 
dance among the archives of China ! 

It seems generally accepted that the popular 
successor to the Tango will be the " Maxixe 
Bresilienne." As its name implies, it comes 
from Brazil, and it was introduced into Paris 
by M. Duque in 191 2. It is, as far as execution 
goes, very much easier than the Tango, and 
its actual steps can be quickly mastered, but it 
is far more difficult to dance gracefully. It is 
probably the only ball-room dance in which 
strict attention must be paid both to the 

179 



Latest Developments 

carriage of the head, and the graceful posturing 
of the arms. The foundation of it is the well- 
known Two-step. The Maxixe should be danced 
very smoothly with the knees slightly bent. 
The feet should be lifted neatly off the ground, 
especial care being taken that a smooth move- 
ment of the arms is secured when changing 
from one position to another. The body is 
swayed to the left if the right foot goes forward, 
and vice-versa. In one figure the partners lift 
their joined arms together over their heads, 
and the lady who is dancing in front of the 
gentleman is brought by this manoeuvre to 
turn and face him, with charming effect. The 
music is played faster than for the Tango, but 
not so fast that the twists and turns in which 
the grace of the dance consists should have a 
hurried appearance. One of the steps is called 
the Skating Step, and a good deal of the action 
is done on the heel of the foot ; during the 
Skating Step a deep dip is introduced, while a 
very pretty addition is provided when the 
couples turn around, change position and 
continue dancing in the same direction. About 
a dozen different figures make this dance com- 
plete. 

There is another variety of the Tango, called 
the " Innovation." In this dance the partners 
do not touch each other, but follow the Tango 

1 80 




[Photo Ira L. Hills, New York 

MISS JOAN SAWYER AND PARTNER IN THE MAXIXE 



"Hesitation" Waltz 

figures independently, dancing opposite to each 
other, and the man guides his partner into fresh 
figures by means of head and eyes and gestures 
of the hands and feet. It requires to be much 
more perfectly danced than when the partners 
are in contact. 

The " Hesitation " Waltz is a new variation 
of the Boston, the modern favourite form of 
the Waltz. It is not very easy to explain, but 
in following good waltz music there are natural 
pauses or hesitations in the music which must 
be corresponded to by sympathetic dancers in 
the dance, and this appears to be the gist of it, 
but a fixed alternative of dancing and hesitating 
• — dancing and hesitating — is to be avoided at 
all costs. 

The " Lame Duck " Waltz is another varia- 
tion of the " Hesitation " form of the Waltz, 
introduced from America, and said to be most 
fascinating, and very easily learnt. 

Leaving drawing-room dances, and returning 
once more to the classic home of the dance — • 
the ballet — there is still something left to 
chronicle within the last few months. 

The legitimate re-creatrice of the ballet was 
Adeline Genee, and to the sorrow of her 
many admirers, she is on the eve of her retire- 
ment from the stage. The history of the Empire 
Theatre in London has of late years been chiefly 

i8i 



Latest Developments 

a chronicle of the successes of Adeline Genee 
in such exquisite productions as the " Sylvia " 
and " Coppelia " of Delibes, the " Faun " and 
" Dryad " of Miss Dora Bright, and of her 
immediate successors — first, Miss Lydia Kyasht 
and later Miss Phyllis Bedells, who is described 
in one paper as " the hope of England." Miss 
Lydia Kyasht is a beautiful and charming 
woman of Russian birth. She was trained at 
the Imperial Theatre, St. Petersburg, and 
although entirely without the vehemence and 
abandon associated with Russian Dancers, 
she possesses au fond the same technique. 
She has a finely formed and balanced figure, 
and when Mdlle. Genee went to the United 
States, immediately assumed that favourite 
dancer's roles with most brilliant success. Miss 
Phyllis Bedells, the incarnation of English 
girlhood, in its youth, beauty and joy, after 
first taking minor roles, has succeeded Miss 
Lydia Kyasht, now that the latter has left for 
the United States in her turn, and does not 
compare unfavourably with either of her two 
famous predecessors. Her revival of the Shake- 
spearean ballet is considered most artistic, and 
her " Titania " in its lovely setting, a dream 
of grace and charm. 

Excellent schools of children's dancing are 
coming to the front in an almost bewildering 

182 




\Photo Ira L. Hil/s, Xew York 



MISS JOAN SAWYER AND PARTNER IN THE AEROPLANE 

WALTZ 



" Children's Welfare Exhibition " 

variety. It is difficult to chronicle so many new 
and rapid developments, but those of Mme. 
Loie Fuller, Miss Margaret Morris, Miss 
Lilah Field and Miss Susie Boyle should cer- 
tainly be mentioned. The " Children's Welfare 
Exhibition " (1914)5 g^ve demonstrations of 
children's dancing, comprising some 400 per- 
formers, and the new School of Eurhythmies 
founded by M. Jacques Dalcroze, which has 
had such an enormous success, also gave ex- 
hibitions of their skill. 

Among individuals we must single out that 
charming child-genius. Miss Edris Stannus 
(known on the stage as Ninette de Falois). Born 
of a good Irish family, she has no need, except 
for the passionate love of her art, to appear on 
the stage, but she is glowing to the finger-tips 
with all the enthusiasm of the artist, added to 
the unconscious charm and simplicity of the 
child. 

Those who have seen her interpretation of 
Chopin's Waltzes, and those of Rubenstein, 
have a memory which is ideal in its combina- 
tion of childlike innocence with artistic perfec- 
tion of form. It has been summed up in a 
criticism once made of her — " The child is a 
poem." 

Miss Joan Sawyer holds a unique position 
among American dancers. She has danced very 

183 



Latest Developments 

little outside of New York yet, but she has 
gained a national reputation. In New York, 
where she has only been dancing for a little over 
two years, she has opened the "Persian Garden" 
as an after-theatre resort, which, from the 
opening night, January 29th, 1 9 14, has been the 
favourite dancing place of New York's fashion- 
able society. Its success was immediate and 
continued. 

As a waltzer, Miss Sawyer stands pre-eminent. 
She has invented a waltz which she named ^he 
Aeroflane because of certain flying effects intro- 
duced in it. Her own " hesitation waltz," ^he 
Joan, is also very popular. 

Miss Sawyer has been called by the news- 
papers "The Tango Queen," because she helped 
to make that much discussed dance possible in 
drawing rooms. The popularity of the Maxixe 
also, in the United States, is largely due to her 
interpretation of its grace and buoyancy. Miss 
Sawyer has recently revived the Minuet and the 
once popular Varsouivenne with much success. 
Into the Minuet she introduces a waltz number 
which gives it a pretty and modern touch. 

There is nothing acrobatic or sensational 
about Miss Sawyer's dancing. Unusual grace, 
refinement and distinction are its characteristics. 



184 



INDEX 



" ACH DU LIEBER 

AUGUSTIN," 127 
" Acts of John," 43 
Addis Ababa, 53 
** Air des Luttes," 52 
Aix in Provence, 52 
Albanian dances, 96 
Alcmeon, 95 
Algonquin Indians, 7 
*' All in a garden green," 

,125 
Allah, ninety-nine names 

of, iv. 23, 56 
Allan, Maud, 154, 156-158 
Allemagne, 115 
Allemande, no 
Almack's, 129 
Almeh dances, 20, 75 
Amaterasu, 83 
Ancilia, 35 

AngeHco, Fra, 42, 44, 51 
Animal Dances, iii. 7-9 
Ankh-Hapi, 59 
Antelope dance, 8 
Anthem, ii 
Anthema, 29 
Apache Dance, 14 
Apelles, 139 
Apollo, 30, 31, 145 
Arbeau, Thoinot, 105, 131 
Archilochus, 27 
Ariadne, 29, 71 



Arnauts, the, 96 
Artemis, 28, 31 
Astronomic dance, 22 
Athenians, the, 31, 70 
Auber, 148 
Augustus, 36 
" Antes Sacramentales," 
48 

BAAL-PEOR, 22 

Bach, no, 157 

Bagaku, 82 

" Baile de pifano," 46 

Bailes, 61 

Bailleul, 49 

Baladine, 105 

" Balancez les Dames," 

114 
Ballet, 46, 47, 53, 61, 

103, 106, 139-150, 160- 

165 
" Ballo dei Angeh," 44 
Balzac, 148 
Barina dance, 67 
Barjols, 45 
" Bark, Dance of the 

Sacred," 99 
Barn-dance, 14, 126 
Basque dances, 72 
Basse-danse, 105, 106. 

109, 117 
Bast (Bubastis), 21 



185 



Index 



Bathyulls, 36, 141 

Bayaderes, 86 

Beardsley, Aubrey, 158 

Beauchamp, 144 

Beaver dance, 8 

Bedells, Miss Phyllis, 182 

Beethoven, 157 

" Bellicrepa Saltatio," 34 

Bergerette, 40 

Bergomasca, 68 

Berhn, 156 

Beriioz, 163 

Bes, 21 

Besancon, 40 

Betley, Staffs., 134 

Bibasis, 28 

Bideford, 134 

Bien Parado, 62 

Binyou, 42, 115 

Birth of Zeus, 30 

Bison dance, v. 

Blackfeet Indians, 7- 11 

Blasis, 144 

Blondy, 144 

" Blue Danube," 127 

Boccherini, 112 

Bogomiles, 45 

Bohemian, 67, 115 

Bolero, 62 

Bonaparte, Pauline, 52 

Bon-Odori, 84 

Boodles, 129 

Borodin, 165 

Borromeo, St. Carlo, 46 

Borrow, George, 67 



Botta, Bergonzo di, 142 
Botticelli, Sandro, 43, 51, 

I55> 156 
Bourbon, Cardinal de, 142 
Bourr^e, 113 
Branle, the, 103, 105, 108 

109, no 
" Brawl," the, 106, 123 
Brema, Marie, 158 
Breton dances, 41, 98,114 
Bright, Miss Dora, 182 
Brussels, 146 
Buffalo dance, 8 
Bushmen's dance, 5 

CACHUCA, 61, 149 

Cahusac, 140 

Cairo, 20 

Caledonian quadrille, 128 

Calf, Dance of the golden, 

24 
Cakes, dance of, 63 
Cake Walk, the, 13 
Camargo, Mile., 146, 150 
Canaica, 64 
Canary, the, 123 
Canephorae, 33 
Capriole, 20, in 
Captain Cook, 4 
" Capture of Troy," a 

ballet, 47 
Carmagnola, 115 
Carmencita, 150 
Carol, 41, 42, 43 
Caryatides, 33 



186 



Index 



Cascarrotac, 67 
Castle, Mr. and Mrs. 

Vernon, 175 
Cerito, 147 
Chacone, no 
Chain Dance, 63 
Chantilly, 127 
Chaplin, Miss, 129 
Charles II., in, 126 
Charles IX., 105 
Chaucer's "Parish Clerk" 

Chesterfield, Lord, 144 

*' Children in the Market- 
place," 26, 43 

Chinese dances, 77, 78 

Choir, ii. 39, 43, 47 

Chopin, 116, 155, 157, 160 

Choragus, ii., 28, 32 

Choral dance of Apollo, 
28 

Chorale, ii 

Chorus, ii 

Chronos, 30 

Cingalese dance, 4 

Cinque-pace, 92 

Circassians, 98 

Cleisthenes, 34 

Crane dance, 30, 71 

Creation dance, 12 

Creators, dance of the, 80 

Christiania, 149 

Compiegne, 105 

Confucius, "]"], 79 

Constantinople, 56 



Copenhagen, 149 
Copiola, Galeria, 36 
Coplas, 62 
Corelli, 142 
Corroborie dance, 16 
Corybantes, 30 
Coryphaeus, 32 
Cosiers of Alaro, 46 
Cosmic dance, vi., 43 
Cotillon, 117 
Country dance, 115, 121, 

126 
Courante, 106, 107, in 
Curetes, 30 
Cushion dance, 122 
Cyvele, 30 
" Cygne, le," 160 
Czardas, 65 

DAEDALUS, 71 
Dakota Indians, 3 
Dalmatia, dance of, 45, 65 
" Dama, la," 46 
Dance of Death, 3, 53 
Dancing Dervishes, 56 
" Dancing Master," the, 

137 
Daniel, Samuel, 136 

" Danse des Jeunes 

Vi^rges," 49 

" Danse Macabre," 53 

" Dansomanie," la, 127 

Dante, 49, 50 

Danzas, 61 

David's dance, 24 



187 



Index 



Davies, Sir John, 2, 18, 
38,58,65,74, 102, 120, 
151, 166 

Dead, festival of the, 79 

** Deeses, pas des," 148 

Delian festival, 31 

Delsartian school, 155 

Dekker, 67 

" De Saltat : " 30, 139 

Devadassis, 86 

Devil dances, 3 

Diablo, el, 46 

*' Dialogue de la danse," 

105 
" Dieta Salutis," 45 
Differencia, 62 
Dionysiac festival, 31 
Dionysodotus, 95 
Dioscuri, 30 
Dipodia, 28 
Dithyramb, 22, 28, 31 
" Doctrine des filles," 41 
Dog dance, 9 
" Dolores," 127 
Dore, Gustave, 61 
Duncan, Isadora, 155, 165 
Duport D'auberval, 144 

ECHTERNACH, 40 
Edate, 72 
Edward III, 131 
Egg-dance, 121 
Egyptian dances, 19-23 
Elk dance, 8, 11 
ElHs, Havlock, 59 



Elssler, Fanny, 148 
Emmelia, the, 31 
Enoplian dance, 95 
Erato, 30 
Erinnyes, 29 
Esmeralda, 147 
Esperance Club, 129 
Espringall, 91 
Ethiopia, Sacred dance of 

53 
Eumenides, 29 

FANDANGO, 62 
Farandole, 113 
Faroe Isles, 89 
" Feather Lady," 10 
Feast of Eternity, 19 
Fellah dance, 23 
Fer Ceagail, 92 
Festum Asinorum, 40 
Field dance, 91 
Fijian dances, 91 
Finale, 62, 167 
Flamenco, 60 
Fleur de Lys, 147 
FHng, Highland, 90 
Floralia, 35 
Flower-dance, 29, 83 
Fool, the, 132 
Fragonard, 164 
Frassi, Adelaide, 147 
French dances, 103-117 
Froebel, 129 
Fuller, Loie, 155 
Funeral dances, 4, 15,21,48 



188 



Index 



Furlana, 176 
Furry dance (or Flora), 
124 

" GAILLARDE SWEET 
MARGARET," 122 

Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, 
103, 142 

Gales, R. L. (quoted), 

48-52 

Galliarde, or Gaillarde, 
106 

Gallini, 47 

Galop, 104, 128 

Gardel, no, 127, 144 

Garrick, 144 

Gaunt, John of, 131 

Gavotte, 108, 109 

Geishas, 75, 81 

Genee, Adeline, 149, 180 

Genee, Alexander, 149 

German, the, 117 

Germany, the dance in, 
127 

Geuroka Odori, 80 

Ghost dances, 3, 79 

Gigue, 92 

Gilly Galium, 98 

Gipsy dances, 66 

" Gipsies Metamor- 
phosed," 134 

Glazounov, 161 

Gleemen, the, 121 

Glinka, 159 

Gluck, 109, 142, 146 



Goa, 76 

" Golden Tree," the, 136 
Gonds of India, 5 
Gopis, the, 86 
Grahn, Lucille, 148 
Gray's Inn, 123, 136 
Greek dances, 27-34 
Green Lotus, temple of 

the, 79 
Grenoble, 51 
Gretry, 109 
Gringoire, Pere, 147 
Grisi, Carlotta, 147 
Guglia, of S. Paolino, 45 
Guipuzcoa, 72 
Gymnopaedic dance, 32, 

95 

HAMPTON COURT, 136 

Handel, no 

" Harke, harke, I hear," 

134 
Harvest Festival dance,. 

86 
Harvest Thanksgiving, 63 
Hat-hor, 21 
Hatton, Sir Christopher, 

107 
Hayato-Mai, 82 
Hebrew dances, 23-27 
Heh-Miao, y8 
Helen of Troy, 28, 31 
Helston, 124 
Henry VIII, 107, 136 
Hercules, labours of, 141 



189 



Index 



** Here we go round the 

Mulberry bush," 19, 29, 

86, 121 
Hermes, 30 

*' Hero and Leander," 146 
Herodotus, 34 
*' Hesitation " waltz, 181 
Hiesiod, 30 
Highland reel, 90 
Hincks, Miss M. A., 162 
Hindu dances, 85, 86 
Hippocleides, 34 
Hobby-horse, 134 
Holbein, 53 
Holmes, O. W., 149 
Homer, 28, 30, 71 
Honen-odori, 84 
Hood, Robin, 124, 133 
Hornpipe, 4, 67, 92, 121 
Howard, Lady Frances, 

136 
Hringbrot, 89 
" Hue and Cry after 

Cupid," 137 
Hugo, Victor, 147 
Hungarian dances, 65 
Hymen dance, 33 
Hymn of Jesus, 43 
Hyporchema, 33 

ICELAND, 89 
Inigo Jones, 136 
Improvisator!, 75 
Innovation, 180 
Inverness, 90 



Intermezzo, 105 
Iphigenia in Aulis, 146 
Irish dances, 91, 92 
Iroquois, 4 
Isabella of Aragon, 103, 

142 
Ise, 80 
Ischia, 69 
Italian dances, 67-70 

JALEO DE JEREZ, 61 
Japanese dances, 5, 60, 

79-85 
Jephthah, daughter of, 
24 

Jig, 92 

Jig tunes, 92 

" Joan Saunderson," 122 
Jongleurs, 121 
Jonson, Ben, 134, 136 
Jota, 48, 61 
Judith's dance, 24 
Jutland, 149 

KABUKI, 83 
Kagura, 83 
Kalmucks, 15, 64 
Karsavina, 163 
Keleben, 67 
Kemp, 133 
Kermesse, 113 
Khorovodi, 63 
Kioto, 79, 84 
Kiss-in-the-Ring, 19, 121 
Knossos, 71 



190 



Index 



Kollo dance, 45, 65 
Komos, 95 
Kordax, 32, 36 
Kubistic dances, 31 
Kukis of Assam, 5 
Kyasht, Miss Lydia, 182 

LABYRINTH DANCE, 

30, 64, 71 
Lacedemonians, 32, 95 
Lakme, 86 

*' Lalla Rookh," 147 
" Lame Duck " waltz 181 
Lancers, 128 
Lefort, M., 173 
Limoges, 40, 47 
Lincoln's Inn, 123 
Lind, Jenny, 149 
" Linus," the, 22 
Liszt, 162 
Lochinvar, 107 
Lovelace, Richard, 138 
" Lou Gue," the, 52 
Louis XIII, 103, III 
Louis XIV, 103, 106, 143 
Louis XV, 103 
Lucceia, 36 
Lucian, 29, 139, 140 
Lully,J. B.,103, 104, 112, 

142, 144 
Lupercalia, v 
Lysistrata, 28 

MAID MARIAN, 131-133 
Maikos, 81 



Makovitzka, 63 
Maori dances, 15, 16 
Maple Club, 83 
Marcel, 112, 144 
Mars, dancing priests of, 

34 

Marseilles, 148 

Marteille, Lieut, de, 146 
Mary, Queen of Scots, 124 
Masque, the, 136 
Masque of Beauty, 137 
Masque of Blackness, 137 
Masque of Flowers, 136 
Masque of Queens, 137 
Maypole dance, 125 
Maxixe Bresilienne, 179 
Mazurka, 65 
McCHntock, W., 11 
Mead, G. R. S., 43 
Mediaeval dances, 39-57 
Medicis, Catherine de, 103 

142 
Megacles, 34 

Mendelssohn, 68, 155, 157 
Menelik, Emperor, 53 
Menestrier, Pere, 39, 47 
Menuet, or Minuet, iii- 

112 
Melun, Comte de, 146 
" Metamorphoses, les," 

148 
Meyerbeer, 148 
Miaotse dance, 78 
"Michaud prend Marion," 

108 



191 



Index 



Miko, the, 79 
Minehead, 134 
Miriam's dance, 24 
Mohammed, 46 
Moore, Tom, 147 
Mordkin, Michael, 159- 

161 
Morisco, the, 131, 136 
Morlacchi, the, 65 
" Morning Star," 10 
Morris-dances, 130-135 
Mount Tsukuba, 80 
Mozart, 68, 112 
Mussarabic Mass, 45 
Mutchico, 72 

NARA, 84 

Nash, Beau, 126 

Natal Kaffirs, 5 

Nausicaa, 28 

Nau tehees, 86 

" Necklace," the, 28 

Neal, Miss, 129 

Neapolitan dance, 69 

Nero, 141 

Nijinsky, 162, 164, 165 

No dances, 83 

Norse dances, 89, 10 1 

North, dances of the, 89- 

93 
North Riding, 99 
'* Notre Dame de Paris," 

147 
Noverre, J. G., 105, 144 
Numa, 34 



OBEAH, THE, 4 

Odo, Bishop of Paris, 39 

Odori, 83 

Odysseus, 31 

Olaus Magnus, 99, loi 

"Old North Trail," the, II 

Olympic Games, 34 

Ondo, the, 79 

" Oranges and Lemons," 

29 
" Orchesographie," 105, 

131 
Orchestra, the, 32 

" Orchestra, The," a 

poem, 65 
Orchestric dances, 31 
Orpheus, 133, 149 
Ossian, 90 
" Owl and the Lion, The," 

29 

PADSTOW, 134 

Paean, 28, 32 
PaliHa, 35 
Pan, 35 

Pantheon, the, 129 
Pantomime, 35, 139 
Pas de Quatre, 104, 115, 

128, 148 
Paseo, 62 
Pausanias, 71 
Pavlova, Anna, 159-162 
Pavane, 55, 105, 106 
" Pavilion d'Armide,"i64 
Pays de Gap, 108 



192 



Index 



P^cour, 144 

Pelota, la, 72 

Pera, 57 

Pericles, 34 

Perrot, 147 

Persia, 66 

Petrie, Flinders, 22 

" Petrouchka," 163 

Pheidias, 140 

Philip IV, 61 

Piper, the Pied, 133 

Piper, Tom, 133 

Plato, 33 

Playford, John, 137 

Pletionka, 63 

Podism, 95 

Poia, II 

Poi-dance, 16 

Polish dances, 64 

Polka or Pulka, 65, 66, 

115 
Polka Mazurka, 116, 128 

Polonaise, 64 

Polska, the, 89 

Polynesian dances, 15, 16 

Pontus, King of, 141 

Pordon Dantza, 72 

" Pouring out-of-Meal," 

the, 29 

" Prince Igor," 165 

Proteus, 21, 155 

Prussia, King of, 144 

Pueblos of Moqui, 6, 12 

Purcell, no 

Pylades, 36, 141 



Pyrrhic dance, 28, 29, 64, 
95, 97 

QUADRILLE, 116, 128 
Queen EHzabeth, 107, 123 
Quixote, Don, 62, no 

RA, 22 

Radovatschka, 66 
" Rag," the, 177 
Rameau, 104, 105, 112, 

142 
Randolph's Poems, 131 
Ranelagh, 129 
Red Indian dances, 7-13 
Reel of Tulloch, 90, 94 
Reihen, 89 
Remy, Marcel, 156 
Rene, King, 52 
" Reve d'Automne," 27 
Revels, 123 
" Rhapsodie Hongroise," 

162 
Rhea, 30 

Rigaudon, the, no 
Rinke teampuill, 91 
Riordan, Roger, 81 
" Robinet et Mariette," 

113 
Robbers' Dance, 97 
Roger de Coverley, Sir, 

115, 126, 129 
" Roi Soleil, le," 143 
Romaica, 70 
Romahs, 67 



193 



Index 



Roman dances, 34-36, 

139-141 
Rondzu, iii., 86 
** Rose, la," 99, loi 
" Rose qui Meurt," la, 160 
Rose, romance of the, 41 
" Rose, Spectre of the," 

163 
Roumania, 66 
Round dances, iii, 31, 47 
Rubinstein, 157, 160 
Ruggera, 68 
Russia, Little, 64 
Russian dances, 63, 64 

SAGAS, 89 

Saibara, 84 

Salii, dance of the, 34 

Salle, Mile., 146, 150 

" Sally, Sally Waters," 19 

Salome, dance of, 25, 27, 

67> 157 
Salona, 65 

" Saltatio pantomim- 

orum," 36 
Salterello, 68 
Saraband, 61, no, 136 
Saturnalia, v. 
Saute Basque, 72 
Sawyer, Miss Joan, 184 
Schottische, 128 
Schubert, 157 
Schumann, 157, 164 
Scotch Highlanders, 90, 

100 



Scott, E., 142 
Scribe, 148 
Scutari, 56 
Seguidillas, 62 
Seises, dance of the, 54 
Seminoles, 13 
Serpent dances, 91 
Serpentine dance, 155 
Seville, cathedral of, 45 

55 
" Shepherd's Pipe," 133 

Shiloh, daughters of, 26 

Sicilian dances, 70 

Siciliano, 68 

Sikinnis, 32 

Skinner, 94 

^Skirt-dance, 129 

Slavonic dances, 63-66 

Snake dance, 6 

So-at-sa-ki, 10 

Somerset, Earl of, 136 

Sophocles, 27 

Spanish dances, 59-62 

Spheristic dances, 31 

St. Aldhelm, 45 

St. Basil, 44 

St. Denis, Ruth, 150 

St. Herbot, 114 

St. Ignatius Loyola, 47 

St. Isidore of Seville, 45 

St. Jean, dance of, 41, 72 

St. Leon, M., 147 

St. Leonard, church of,48 

St. Louis, 105 

St. Macarius, 53 



194 



Index 



St. Marcel, 45, 47 
St. Martha, 41 
St. Vitus, dance of, 40 
St. Walpurgis, dance of, 

St. Willibrord, dance of 40 
Stael, Mme. de, 68 
Stannus, Miss Edris, 183 
"Star-Child," 10 
Stockholm, 148 
Stolberg, 69 
Strathspey, 89, 90 
Strauss, 116, 127 
Strolling ballets, 46 
Sudanese dance, 3 
Summer solstice, 41, "j^j 
Sun-dance, Japanese, 80 
Sun-dance, Red Indian, 

9-13 
Sun-goddess, 80 

" Sunrise Stories," 81 

Swedish dances, 89, 126 

Sword-dances, 89, 99, 100 

lOI 

TABOURET, JEHAN 

DE, 105 
Tacitus, 99, 100 
Taglioni, Louise, 147 
Taghoni, Marie, 148 
Taglioni, Paul, 148 
Takajungi, Tozo, 81 
** Taking hold of wood," 

the, 29 
Tanabata-odori, 84 



Taiiana, 66 
Tango, 172 
Tarantella, 68, 69 
Tarantum, 70 
Tarasque, the, 40 
Ta-Tao, 178 
Tempete, 126 
Terpsichore, 30, 145 
Tetracomos, 96 
Thackeray, 148 
Thales, 95 
Theori, 31 
Theseus, 28, 30, 31 
Tigritia, 4 
Tokio, 83 
Toledo, 45 
Tortona, 103, 141 
Totemism, 4 
Tourdion, 103, 109 
" Traite des ballets," 47 
Traversia, 62 
Trescona, 68 
Trichoria, 96 
Tricotet, 115 
" Triomphe de TAmour," 

143 
Trouveres, the, 42 

Tseng-miao, 78 

Tuck, Friar, 131 

Tunes, Morris, 135 

Tunes, Old EngHsh, 123, 

137 
Two-Step, 128 

Tyrol, III 

Tzigane, 65 



195 



Index 



UTA-GAKI, 83 
United States, 128, 155 

VALSE, 104, 116, 127 
Valse Bleue, 127 
Vaudeville, 113 
Vau-de-Vire, 113 
Veddahs of Ceylon, 4 
Venice, 165 
Vestriad, the, 145 
Vestris, the elder, 144 
Vestris, the younger, 146 
Vienna, 148, 157 
Viking dance, 89 
Vikivaka, 89 
*' Virtues," dances of, 51 
Vishnu, 86 

" Vision of Twelve God- 
desses," 136 
Voisin, Comte de, 148 
Volta, no, III, 127 
Vuillier, Gaston, 46,105 

WAKANTANDA, 13 
Wakes of Ireland, 4, 48 
Waltz, 116, 127 



War dances, iv, 3, 16, 

29> 35, 95, loi 
" Warrior dance," 82 
Washington Post, 128 
Watteau, 112 
" Wave Meke," 5 
Weasel dance," 9 
" Weaving dance," 89 
Weber, 142, 163 
Welsh, the, 91 
Whirling Dervishes, 57 
Whites', 129 
Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner, 

66 
" Wine of the Gauls," 98 
Witch dances, 67 
" Woman, bending," 99 
" Woman, sacred," 9 

XIMENEZ, CARDINAL 

45 
Xiphism, the, 95 

ZIKR, 23 
Zorzico, 72 
Zulu dances, 4 



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