“We don’t need it. Those you have just danced have been enough to stir the audience up. Don’t you hear the cheering?”
A moment later we were surrounded by a great crowd and I was almost dragged to my dressing-room.
Photo Lafitte
THE DANCE OF FLAME
From that day on I had adventure after adventure. Not until long afterward was I able to get the benefit of my fifth dance. Some years later I initiated at Paris the dance of the fire and the lily, and that once again at the Folies-Bergère. I remember an ovation very similar to that at my first appearance. This time, however, I was no longer an unknown performer, as in 1892. I had numerous Parisian friends in the house. Many of them came upon the stage to congratulate me, and amongst them, Calvé. She took me in her arms, kissed me and said:
“It’s wonderful! Loie, you are a genius.”
And two big tears coursed down her cheeks. I have never seen Calvé prettier than at that moment.
Well, that is the story of my first appearance in Paris.
VI
LIGHT AND THE DANCE
SINCE it is generally agreed that I have created something new, something composed of light, colour, music, and the dance, more especially of light and the dance, it seems to me that it would perhaps be appropriate, after having considered my creation from the anecdotal and picturesque standpoint, to explain, in more serious terms, just what my ideas are relative to my art, and how I conceive it both independently and in its relationship to other arts. If I appear to be too serious I apologise in advance.