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Show RISE AND PROGRESS OF DANCING. 41 the performance. Vivacity and nimbleness are essential requisites to a good dancer : the spectator delights to see in him an appearance of something more than earthly. This is what is so much admired in Madame Leon, the wife of a distinguished Ballet-Master, and occasioned the celebrated poet, Count Paradisi, to say in one of his finest odes, which he may not be displeased with my quoting- " Pagile Pi6 d' Egle (Madame Leon), la decente Mollezza, e la pieghevole Salma, che in alto lieve Par che qual piuma o neve, Perda al vento di scendere il vigor." 11. Uprightness and equilibrium are essential requisites. The grands terns must be made with elegance and correctness. The dancer must endeavour always to display his person in a graceful manner, and minutely vary his attitude at every rest. 12. No monotony in the steps and entrechats. Let the charms of novelty adorn the performance throughout. Our best masters do not speak otherwise than the poet. 13. Rapidity gives a brilliancy to the steps, which renders their effect more delightful. 14. The modern Ovid, in this stanza, alludes to terns vigoureux, to terns enlevis, to entrechats, steps in turning round, pirouettes, &c. His description is a faithful painting of his thoughts, and nothing could be said with more precision on the performance of the first dancers of our age. 15. Marino points out the harmony that must exist between the music and the dance, and how necessary it is for the artist to render his legs, arms, and whole body responsive to the sound. This, together with the skill of appropriating the steps to the time, cadence and character of the music, are essential qualities in our art, and indeed the very life of it. 16. Pliability, agility, and a kind of graceful negligence are the most pleasing things in a dancer. I remember on one occasion dancing with Madame L£on a pas de deux, which I composed myself, and wherein wc each held one end of a scarf, that contributed much to the variety and novelty of our • |