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Show T H E O R Y OF THEATRICAL DANCING. 95 who must shine and delight by lithsome and graceful motions, by neat and pretty terre-a-terre steps, and by a decent voluptuousness and abandon in all then attitudes15. All who are of an elevated stature, of either sex, the master must set apart for the serious and more noble kind of dancing. Those of a middle height, and of a slender and delicate form, let him appoint to the demi-caractere, or mixed kind. And those who are beneath that height, and of a thick-set, vigorous construction, let him devote to the comic branch and to steps of character. The master should finish his instructions, by instilling into his pupil's mind, to make him truly accomplished, the real spirit and charm of his art. He must carefully point out the difference that exists between one kind of dancing and another, fix with preciseness the manner of its performance, and, finally, render his pupil familiar with all the diversified modes of dancing, which the variety of costumes he will have to assume requires. If the pupil is endowed with a genius for composition, and a creative imagination, the master, skilful in his art, should let him exercise his powers of invention and combination of steps, and make him acquainted with the finest designs of choreography. At the age of twenty-three or twenty-four years, a dancer ought to have acquired the whole mechanism of his art, and possess the most brilliant execution he is susceptible of attaining. In dancing, merit is not to be estimated by the number of years the performer has devoted to its practice. Nor is it to be under-rated as he advances in life. A dancer at the age of forty, if he be of a good school, and has been diligent in the preservation of what he has learned, may still shine as an artist of the first order. Of this we have many instances. |
