CHAPTER I

. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DANCING 1

Æsthetic basis of the dance; national character expressed in dances; ‘survival value’ of dancing; primitive dance and sexual selection; professionalism in dancing--Music and the dance; religion and the dance; historic analysis of folk-dancing and ballet.

II. DANCING IN ANCIENT EGYPT 12

Earliest Egyptian records of dancing; hieroglyphic evidence; the Astral dance; Egyptian court and temple rituals; festival of the Sacred Bull--Music of the Egyptian dances; Egyptian dance technique; points of similarity between Egyptian and modern dancing; Hawasis and Almeiis; the Graveyard Dance; modern imitations.

III. DANCING IN INDIA 24

Lack of art sense among the Hindoos; dancing and the Brahmin religion; the Apsarazases, Bayaderes and Devadazis; Hindoo music and the dance; dancing in modern India; Fakir dances; philosophic symbolism of the Indian dance.

IV. DANCES OF THE CHINESE, THE JAPANESE AND THE AMERICAN INDIANS 30

Influence of the Chinese moral teachings; general characteristics of Chinese dancing; court and social dances of ancient China; Yu-Vang’s ‘historical ballet’; modern Chinese dancing; dancing Mandarins; modern imitations; the Lantern Festival--Japan: the legend of Amaterasu; emotional variety of the Japanese dance; pantomime and mimicry; general characteristics and classification of Japanese dances--The American Indians: The Dream dance; the Ghost dance; the Snake dance.

V. DANCES OF THE HEBREWS AND ARABS 43

Biblical allusions; sacred dances; the Salome episode and its modern influence--The Arabs; Moorish florescence in the Middle Ages; characteristics of the Moorish dances; the dance in daily life; the harem, the Dance of Greeting; pictorial quality of the Arab dances.

VI. DANCING IN ANCIENT GREECE 52

Homeric testimony; importance of the dance in Greek life; Xenophon’s description; Greek religion and the dance; Terpsichore--Dancing of youths, educational value; Greek dance music; Hyporchema and Saltation; Gymnopœdia; the Pyrrhic dance; the Dipoda and the Babasis; the Emmeleia; The Cordax; the Hormos--Greek theatres; comparison of periods; the Eleusinian mysteries; the Dionysian mysteries; the Heteræ; technique.

VII. DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE 72

Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the _Bellicrepa saltatio_; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age; importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.

VIII. DANCING IN THE MIDDLE AGES 78

The mediæval eclipse; ecclesiastical dancing in Spain; the strolling ballets of Spain and Italy; suppression of dancing by the church; dances of the mediæval nobility; Renaissance court ballets; the English masques; famous masques of the seventeenth century.

IX. THE GRAND BALLET OF FRANCE 86

Louis XIV and the ballet; the Pavane and the Courante; reforms under Louis XV; Noverre and the _ballet d’action_; Auguste Vestris and others; famous ballets of the period--the Revolution and the Consulate; the French technique, the foundation of ‘choreographic grammar’; the ‘five positions’; the ballet steps--Famous _danseuses_; Sallé, Camargo; Madeleine Guimard; Allard.

X. THE FOLK-DANCES OF EUROPE 104

The rise of nationalism--The Spanish folk-dances: the Fandango; the Jota; the Bolero; the Seguidilla; other Spanish folk-dances; general characteristics; costumes--England: the Morris dance; the Country dance; the Sword dance; the Horn dance--Scotland: Scotch Reel, Hornpipe, etc.--Ireland: the Jig; British social dances--France: Rondo, Bourrée and Farandole--Italy: the Tarantella, etc.--Hungary: the Czardas, Szolo and related dances; the Esthonians--Germany: the _Fackeltanz_, etc.--Finland; Scandinavia and Holland--The Lithuanians, Poles and Southern Slavs; the Roumanians and Armenians--The Russians: ballad dances; the Kasatchy and Kamarienskaya; conclusion.

XI. THE CELEBRATED SOCIAL DANCES OF THE PAST 144

The _Pavane_ and the _Courante_; the _Allemande_ and the _Sarabande_; the _Minuet_ and the _Gavotte_; the _Rigaudon_ and other dances--The Waltz.

XII. THE CLASSIC BALLET OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 151

Aims and tendencies of the nineteenth century--Maria Taglioni--Fanny Elssler--Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerito; decadence of the classic ballet.

XIII. THE BALLET IN SCANDINAVIA 161

The Danish ballet and Boumoville’s reform; Lucile Grahn, Augusta Nielsen, etc.--Mrs. Elna Jörgen-Jensen; Adeline Genée; the mission of the Danish ballet.

XIV. THE RUSSIAN BALLET 170

Nationalism of the Russian ballet; pedagogic principles of the Russian school; French and Russian schools compared-- Begutcheff and Ostrowsky; history of the Russian ballet--Didelot and the Imperial ballet school; Petipa and his reforms--Tschaikowsky’s ‘Snow-Maiden’ and other ballets; Pavlowa and other famous _ballerinas_; Mordkin; Volinin, Kyasht, Lopokova.

XV. THE ERA OF DEGENERATION 189

Nineteenth-century decadence; sensationalism--Loie Fuller and the Serpentine Dance--Louise Weber, Lottie Collins and others.

XVI. THE NATURALISTIC SCHOOL OF DANCING 195

The ‘return to nature’; Isadora Duncan--Duncan’s influence: Maud Allan; Duncan’s German followers--Modern music and the dance; the Russian naturalists; Glière’s ‘Chrisis’-- Pictorial nationalism: Ruth St. Denis--Modern Spanish dancers; ramifications of the naturalistic idea.

XVII. THE NEW RUSSIAN BALLET 214

The old ballet arguments _pro_ and _con_--The new movement: Diaghileff and Fokine; the advent of Diaghileff’s company; the ballets of Diaghileff’s company; ‘Spectre of the Rose,’ ‘Cleopatra,’ _Le Pavilion d’Armide_, ‘Scheherezade’-- Nijinsky and Karsavina--Stravinsky’s ballets: ‘Petrouchka,’ ‘The Fire-Bird,’ etc.; other ballets and arrangements.

XVIII. THE EURHYTHMICS OF JACQUES-DALCROZE 234

Jacques-Dalcroze and his creed; essentials of the ‘Eurhythmic’ system--Body-rhythm; the plastic expression of musical ideas; merits and shortcomings of the Dalcroze system--Speculation on the value of Eurhythmics to the dance.

XIX. PLASTOMIMIC CHOREOGRAPHY 247

The defects of the new Russian and other modern schools; the new ideals; Prince Volkhonsky’s theories--Lada and choreographic symbolism--The question of appropriate music.

EPILOGUE: FUTURE ASPECTS OF THE DANCE 261

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Odalisque in ‘Scheherazade’ (Russian Ballet) Frontispiece

PAGE Egyptian women dancing with cymbals 21

Greek and Roman Dances as Depicted on Ancient Vases 68

Danseuses en Scène (The Ballet) 102

The Ball 150

Sylphides; a Typical Classic Ballet 156

Pavlowa 174

Duncan 200

Maud Allan 211

A Plastic Pantomime (Dalcroze Eurhythmics) 245

THE DANCE

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