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Show PREFACE. T H E works hitherto published on the Art of Dancing, the composition and performance of Ballets and Pantomimes, are few in number, and, in the opinion.of those who are best qualified to judge, deficient in sterling merit and general utility. The subject has certainly been treated by Noverre in a masterly manner, considering the time when he wrote, and the apparent intention of his labours; he threw many new and brilliant lights upon the art, but his letters were more adapted to instruct the Professor than to improve the Pupil, even at the time of their publication; and the art has since advanced with such rapidity, that his works are now of little use to either. The greater part of those who have written on this subject seem to have been persons of taste, talent and learning; but they, evidently, were not dancers: so that, however attractive their productions may be to the general reader, the lounger, or the literary man, they are of little practical utility to the Mime, the Dancer or the Ballet-master. They contain a string of theoretic and unconnected ideas, but do not developc |
