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Of Oriental flavor are the Armenian folk-dances, which the writer saw many years ago performed by Armenian students to the music of a queer mandolin-like instrument and the rhythmic beats of the drum played by the dancer with his fingers. This drum gives a register of six or seven different tones and adds its peculiar effect to the whole. It seems that most of the Armenian dances are executed by a single dancer, either man or woman, in bent, erect, arched and twisted positions, often standing on a single spot for minutes. Though languorous and weird, they possess a grace of their own.
In no other country have the folk-dances reached such a variety of forms, such a high degree of development and an individuality so distinctly racial and rich in dramatic and imaginary poses, steps, gestures and mimic expressions as in Russia. In the Russian dances we can trace the elements of all the hundreds of ancient and modern tribes and nationalities who have been molten in one homogeneous mass of people, a world in itself. Here the Orient and Occident have found a united form for their æsthetic expressions, with no relation to those of the West-European nations. The Russian dances, like the country itself, are a mixture of contrasts and extremes: melancholy and yet gay, simple and even sweet; ghastly yet fascinating and seductive; mysterious and yet open as the prairies of its own boundless steppes; old and yet young. All these contrasts and contradictions may be found reflected in the essentials of the Russian folk-dance. Like the semi-Oriental style of architecture, now curved and gloomy, then suddenly straight and dazzlingly brilliant, occasionally bizarre and fantastic, but strongly inclined to the romantic and the mystic forms, are the innumerable figures and steps of the Russian dances. In Russia more than in any other country the sexual diversity in the style of the steps, poses and mimic display is subjected to a most careful consideration. The woman is neither equal nor inferior to the man. She occupies her dignified position in the slightest move, by remaining more subtle, tender and passively fascinating, while the man’s rôle often is extravagantly masculine, sometimes even rough. No Russian dance puts the two sexes on the same level æsthetically and dramatically. The couple dance is an unknown, or at best a rather crude, conception to a Russian.
Up to this time no one has yet made a thorough study of all the Russian folk-dances, as each province and district has its particular traditions and dances. The Volga region, having once been inhabited by Bulgarian and Tartar tribes, has a more nomadic and adventurous dance style than the dreamy peasants of Kostroma and Nijny Novgorod. The dances of the Little Russians are more joyful and humorous than those of more northern regions, but they are also less elaborate and less dramatic. The dances of the provinces of Novgorod and Pskoff possess an unusual tendency towards the legendary and towards free forms of plastic expression, as if meaning to express tales of a golden age in the past when they had a republican form of government and a democratic evolution. The dances of the Caucasian and Crimean regions are outspokenly romantic and epic, those of Siberia tragic and heroic.
Fundamentally, the Russian folk-dances can be divided into four different groups: the ballad dances, or Chorovody; the romantic dances of the Kamarienskaya type; the dramatic dances of the Kasatchy type; the bacchanalian dances of the Trepak type; and the unlimited number of humorous, gay, amusing and entertaining country dances—the so-called Pliasovaya—of purely local flavor. Besides these there are the historic ballad dances, such as ‘Ivan the Terrible’, ‘Ilia Murometz,’ and others. The Cossack dance, Lesginka, the Kaiterma, the Polowetsi dances, the Vanka, and others of this kind, are dances of a rather local character, though they have spread all over the country.
The oldest and most varied of Russian folk-dances are the Chorovody, or the ballad dances, performed only to the singing voices of the dancers themselves. This is a kind of ring dance like the old French Round. In some dances the men reach their hands to the girls, in others they touch each other with their elbows only, as the girls keep their hands on their hips, while the men cross them on their breast. The real dance is performed inside the ring, usually by a girl, who sometimes has a man partner; this dance may be pantomimic, humorous or full of wildest joy and agility. The writer has witnessed some Chorovody which were performed with such skill and finesse of plastic pose and mimic art as to leave many ballet celebrities far in the background. The Russian folk-dancer employs every inch of his body, his hands, legs, toes, heels, hips, shoulders, head and the mimic art so masterfully and correctly that you must often marvel his born talent and lively interest in dancing. However, in all folk-dances the women seem to play the leading rôle, the men merely supporting them with the contrasted figures.
The Chorovody were used by the mediæval Boyars in a more refined and poetic style for their social functions and the entertainment of their guests. Later they were introduced to the court and finally they were employed in the Russian ballets and operas. Ivan the Terrible was fond of Chorovody dances and often danced them himself, as did also other Russian rulers. The aristocratic Chorovody, however, grew more stately and artificial and lost their racial freshness. Catherine the Great sent her chamberlains to every province to invite the best folk-dancers to come to the court, which they did. All dances of this type are picturesque, romantic, poetic and restrained in their expression.
An entirely different dance is the Kasatchy, danced by a man and a woman at the same time. This is more a man’s than a woman’s dance. He selects his partner and proceeds to execute a series of seductive motions around her, while she demurely hangs her head, refusing for a while to be seduced by his allurements. At length she thaws and begins to sway in harmony with his manly but graceful movement. Now they bend and bow together, and swerve from side to side, the while performing a multitude of gestures depicting timidity and embarrassment, till finally from shy, half-tearful expression of love and flirting glances they proceed with gay eyes expressive of the most burning devotion. Now the dance waxes fierce and fast, in and out they circle, turn and twist, ever now and then reverting to that crouching posture, so commonly seen in the Russian folk-dances. Finally they meet in close embrace and whirl with incredible rapidity round and round, till thoroughly out of breath and dizzy from their effort, they sink exhausted on a friendly bench.
The Kamarienskaya is a bride’s dance, in which the girl symbolizes all the imaginary bliss and happiness of her future married life. In the first part, which consists of a soft legato, she dances dreamily but dramatically, using conspicuously every muscle of her body and her arms to express the imagined love motions that she will perform in meeting her beloved. Thus the pantomime continues on to the blissful moment of meeting, which she performs like a whirlwind, until, unexpectedly stopping, she ends the dance with a slightly disappointed, humorous expression.
Since our space is limited, the writer must refrain from more detailed and further description of the previously mentioned types of the Russian folk-dances. He need only repeat that they surpass by far the folk-dances of all the rest of the world, in that they are so much more racial, so rich in plastic lines, and so perfect in their artistic appeal; it seems as if a remarkable genius had presided over their invention and execution. They are masterfully original from the beginning and continually furnish new ideals of choreographic beauty. They draw their inspiration from some rich fountain unknown to the Occidentals. They are too fresh, vigorous and alive to be perverse.
Thus having drawn kaleidoscopic sketches of the primitive racial choreographic impulses of a number of the civilized and barbaric races, we can come to the conclusion that in these alone are to be found the sound and virile germs of lasting individual or highly developed national art-dance. Ethnographic essentials are the next stepping-stones to a more developed future cosmic choreography, and in this the folk-dances give the most eloquent elementary lessons. As from a mute conversation we learn from the ethnic dances in what manifold forms one and the same beauty can manifest itself to the human mind. The ethnic symbols are graphic and true to the spirit of the thing expressed; for this reason a folk-dance, no matter how coarse, how grotesque and how strange it seems, is yet sincere and intelligible to the open-hearted observer. It always impresses one as something manly and direct, sound and firm.
CHAPTER XI
THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST
The Pavane and the Courante; the Allemande and the Sarabande; the Minuet and the Gavotte; the Rigaudon and other dances.
Since we have devoted a chapter to the folk-dances, it will be fitting to describe a few of the most noted dances of the nobility in order to complete our comparative treatment of such a vast subject, so little systematized and so much ignored. While the general tone of all the folk-dances is masculine, that of all the social dances seems predominantly effeminate, rather soft and delicate. Their exceedingly graceful plastic lines, shaded movements, soft forms and subtilized gestures speak of gilded ball-rooms, silk and perfume, affected manners and the artificial air of a Rococo style. It seems as if a woman’s mind had worked out their embroidered figures and timid steps. They belonged to no particular nation, but to the rich class of all the world. The same Allemande that was danced by the French nobility was copied at the castles of the German barons, English lords, Italian and Russian counts.
The oldest and most ceremonial of the Middle Ages’ social dances was the Pavane, the celebrated peacock dance, in which kings and princes, lords and ladies took part, the men wearing gorgeous uniforms, the ladies flowery trains. It was distinguished by rhythmic grace, and by slow and stately measure. The dancers attempted to enshroud their very souls in majestic dignity, gracefully rounding their arms, while crossing and recrossing, keeping their heads away from each other. One big step and two small ones accompanied one bar of the music, which was sung by a chorus of hidden singers. Beginning side by side, hand in hand, with a curtsey and bow, the couple started with a pas marché down the floor, making four steps, the cavalier taking the lady’s left hand. After making a turn with four steps, they danced backward with four steps. He took her right hand and turned with four steps. Thus it went on in four different movements. The Pavane was a dance for cortèges and processions, and the lady’s trains were spread out like the tail of a peacock.
The next most conspicuous nobility dance was the Courante, which was practised for nearly three centuries at the European castles and courts. It was a great favorite of Louis XIV, and no one else danced it so well as he. It was danced at the court of Charles II and Queen Elizabeth was fond of it. The ladies danced it in short soft velvet skirt; bodice with basques and lace berthes. It had three movements and started usually with a deep curtsey, a springing step forward and back, both arms raised and each dancer turning outward. These movements occupied four double bars of the music. Handel and Bach wrote many Courantes, but they were too elaborate and quick, therefore they were used only by professional dancers.
Bach and Handel have also written numerous Chaconnes, which were dances in slow triple time, of a stately character, light and graceful. In the Chaconne two or three people could participate. This dance was said to be of Spanish origin, though the Italians claim that one of their blind musicians composed it in the sixteenth century. Cervantes writes in ‘Don Quixote’ that it was a mulatto dance for negroes and negresses, imported by the French. It is composed of a springing and walking step on the toes, at the end of which the heels must be so placed that the body is firm. The rhythm is slow and well marked. The dance has seven different movements. The fourth and sixth movements are in Mazurka steps, the fifth in skating steps and the last in bourrée step. In the third movement the lady turns under her partner’s arm.
A celebrated dance of more than four centuries was the Allemande, in which the head and arm movements played the foremost rôle. It had five movements, danced by any number of couples, placing themselves behind each other. The Allemande step is three pas marchés and the front foot raised. The lady stands in front of the gentleman and he holds her left hand with his left and her right with his right hand. For four bars they go forward and pose, repeat this four times and turn. The second movement has four steps around, after which the gentleman turns the lady with arms over head, and the lady turns the gentleman. The third movement is a polka step backward and forward and turned. In the fourth the lady takes four steps in front of the gentleman and turns. In the last they take four steps across the room, turn and pose; two steps back and pose, and repeat.
A dance of pretty music and more original design was the Sarabande of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which was danced as a solo by a man or a woman, although later it was danced by couples. It had a slow and stately step and consisted of four different figures. In the first figure the dancer raised the right foot and took a step forward, turned to the right and posed, and repeated to the left and the right. The second figure was a pas bourrée to the left and the right, with some turning in between. The third figure consisted of an accentuated hip movement, coupé, a pose with head movement, and a repetition to the opposite direction. The last figure consisted of springing on the left foot, stretching the right leg to the back, and bowing. This was carried on in several repetitions. The most effective Sarabande music was composed by Lully. For this the ladies wore a picturesque dress of cloth of gold, the sleeves and tunic in the form of gigantic oak leaves of red and gold, tipped with sequins; red shoes and stockings.
Probably the most celebrated and widespread of old social dances was the Minuet, which demanded much repose and dignity on the part of the dancers. It was performed by men and women, but was given also by ladies only. It began with a deep reverence on the part of the lady and a bow on the part of the man, the dancers turning towards each other at right angles to the audience, the lady with her left hand holding her dress, the elbow prettily rounded. They advanced, the lady turning around and assuming the position in which they started. This was repeated, and the dance ended with a bow and a curtsey. Then the lady held her dress in both hands, her head being turned over her right shoulder, while her partner’s head was turned to the left. A favorite step was that of lifting the foot high, rising on the toes, and then taking three little steps on tip-toes to the next bar. The Minuet requires much grace and deliberation, with every movement thought out and studied. The main rule is that in passing each other the partners should make a deep curtsey and bow. The fingers of the hand should be moderately open, the arms curved and graceful. The women often carried a feather fan. Louis XV was a virtuoso in the Minuet. The English kings used to take lessons in the dance. It is the one dance that England has looked on kindly. It created a perfect sensation in France and was in vogue until the Revolution swept it away. Many celebrated composers have written fine Minuet music, Lully’s being probably the best. It had nine different movements. The ladies wore for the minuet a satin petticoat, bordered with a deep flounce. The bodice had a pleating round à la veille, which was carried down to the open front of the skirt, on either side of the bodice, and round the back, which left a plain pointed front with a rosette in the centre of the neck. The sleeves were elbow length, the hair powdered and worn very high, a ribbon tied across the back from which rose three large bows of white plumes, the shoes pointed.
A dance as distinguished as the minuet was the Gavotte, performed by couples in joyous, sparkling little steps. Its foundation was three steps and an assemblé in quadruple time, commencing on the fourth beat of the bar. It starts in a line or a circle, one couple separating themselves from the rest. It has six figures. The first figure consists of four gavottes forward, four gavottes round, four back, four around again, the dancers hand in hand, the figures always accompanied by graceful head movements, the partners turning towards each other or apart. The following three movements are nearly the same, with slight variations. The fifth consists of four skating steps and gavotting around the partner. The sixth figure consists of gavotting forward three times, pirouetting back, raising the foot up to the heel, and advancing four times. In the Gavotte the partners generally kissed each other, as they did in so many other dances. In later days the cavalier presented a flower in the course of the figure instead. The Gavotte was a favorite dance of Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon. Lully, Gluck and Grétry composed pretty gavottes, and it was frequently performed on the stage by Gardel and Vestris.
The Rigaudon, which enjoyed a great popularity at all the European castles and courts till the French Revolution, was rather intricate. In it each figure occupied eight bars and both dancers started together without taking hands. The dance consisted of seven figures, the first being a sliding step and four running steps, turning, posing and repeating with the opposite foot. The second consisted of turning to left and right alternately four times, and sliding backwards. The third figure was danced diagonally to the right with running steps, turning, posing and repeating. The fourth figure was a graceful hopping and turning, repeating, running diagonally to the right and turning with the arms out straight. The fifth was in two half turns, one turn and repetition. The sixth was three steps left with arms over the head, hopping around, turning to left and right, posing with right hand down and the left hand above the head. The seventh consisted of balancing four times on the left foot and four times on the right and posing. Like the music of so many other old social dances, that of the Rigaudon was of extremely gracious cadences, with sentimental pathos and sweet, gay melodic turns. Music combined with dancing carried gladness and joy into the soft-shaded ball-rooms, bringing smiles and laughter to the lips of the picturesque gatherings.
Somewhat resembling the Minuet, but with quicker steps, was the celebrated French Passepied, with which most of the balls began, all the guests dancing around hand in hand. It originated many other old-time social dances with song. It opened with the dancers joining hands and facing each other, then setting to each other with the pas de Basque, bringing the first left shoulder forward and then the right, and changing their places with a waltz step. The partners cross hands, placing the arms round each other’s neck and making the pirouette with eight pony steps, pawing the ground and then turning. The dance consists of ten figures, each of which demands some dramatic talent.
Other celebrated old dances were the Galliard, consisting of five figures, that require some pirouettes, pas de bourrées, coupés, dessous and springing. Similar to this was the Tourdion, which was more of a glissade movement. The Canaries was a queer old dance, very popular in England and Germany. It had seven figures and started with a pas jeté, by throwing the right foot over the left, and the left over the right. In the last movement the partners held hands vis-à-vis, turning each other without separating hands, posing vis-à-vis one bar and repeating four bars. History tells us how in former times queens and princesses often fell in love with graceful male dancers as did their husbands with the pretty women dancers. Queen Elizabeth fell in love with young Hatton, an insignificant London lawyer, whom she first met at a ball dancing the Galliard. Sir Perro used to say that Hatton danced into the court by the Galliard. It is said that the favors which the virgin monarch extended to the young lawyer excited the jealousy of the whole court, especially that of the Earl of Leicester, who, thinking to depreciate the accomplishment of his rival, offered to introduce to Her Majesty a professional dancer whose performances were considered far more wonderful than those of Hatton. To this the royal lady exclaimed: ‘Pish! I will not see your man; it is his trade!’
A languishing eye and a smiling mouth were considered indispensable accessories to a fashionable society dance. Like the prevailing style of dress and manners, the dances were too delicate and artificial to last. The high-heeled shoes, the elaborately piled-up structures of powdered hair and ornament, and the dresses with long trains were by no means favorable to virility and sincerity. Like all effeminate art, the nobility dances of the past lacked spontaneity and inspiration.
The Ball
After a painting by Auguste de Saint-Aubin
CHAPTER XII
THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century—Maria Taglioni—Fanny Elssler—Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence of the classic ballet.
The end of the Napoleonic wars marks the beginning of a new era of European art, particularly of the ballet. To this period belong the great ballet masters, Taglioni, Bournoville, Didelot, and the greatest of all, Marius Petipa; the great ballet composers, Meyerbeer, Rossini, Adam, Delibes, Nuitter, Dubois, Hartmann, Gade, Tschaikowsky, and Rimsky-Korsakoff; the celebrated ballerinas, Taglioni, Grisi, Elssler, Genée, Teleshova, Novitzkaya, Liadova, Muravieva, Bogdanova, Sokolova and Kshesinskaya. It seems as if the evolution of the art of dancing is always stopped by political disturbances; during the middle of the past century, which was marked by revolutionary movements, in which even Wagner participated, we notice a sudden indifference to dancing ideals on the part of the public. The history of evolution seems to proceed in certain cosmic waves of public sentiment and ideals. They grow, reach their climax and die.
The foundation that the French Academy, particularly Noverre, Vestris and Gardel, had laid for the ballet, developed during the nineteenth century into a solid and essential stage art. We find the beginning of a rivalry among the various schools, of which those of Paris, Milan, Vienna, Stockholm, Copenhagen and St. Petersburg stand in the first rank. Like music and drama, the ballet strives either towards the classic or romantic. The most conspicuous ballets of this period are La Sylphide by Léo Delibes, Corsaire by Adam, Sakuntala by Gautier, La Source by Delibes, La Farandole by Dubois, Sylvia by Delibes, Gretna Green by Nuitter, Excelsior and Sieba by Manxotti, Flore et Zephire by Didelot, La Esmeralda by Perrot and Pugni, Iphigenia in Aulis by Gluck, Laurette by Galcotti, Ghiselle by Gautier and Adam, Abdallah by Bournoville and Paulli, Arkona by Hartmann, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and The Snow Maiden by Tschaikowsky, Baba Yaga by Balakireff, Scheherezade by Rimsky-Korsakoff, etc.
The main tendency of the nineteenth century ballet is to get rid of the mechanical contrivances, the monstrous etiquette and majestic solemnity and, like music, give it more coherence and better harmony with the plot. Between 1820 and 1850 it became an inseparable accompaniment to the opera to such an extent that the occupants of the gilded boxes preferred the thrill of the dancing to the music. The ballet represented at that time more than a stage filled with masses of elegant coryphées and a magnificent spectacle. The public interest began to centre in a few great dancers whose names were as familiar to the audiences as those of the prima donnas. The first phenomenon of this kind was the cult of Taglioni that spread with miraculous rapidity throughout the Occidental world.