174 DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST 



some kind of " acting " — the representation of a hunt, a 

 fight, or a love adventure — is an important feature of 

 such dancing. Modern popular and Court dances are 

 intimately connected with and dependent on special 

 music, the rhythm and variation of time and strength in 

 which is, as it were, illustrated by the dancing, and serves 

 to guide it and to keep the dancers in unison. The 

 signification behind all such modern dancing is courtship 

 — the addresses of the man to the woman, and her 

 elusive reception or rejection of them. In the Cathedral 

 of Seville, however, you may still see, at the festival of 

 the Corpus Christi, a religious dance, a dance of worship 

 and adoration, performed by acolytes in front of the 

 high altar. In the early days of the Church such 

 ritual dancing, by both old and young, was a regular 

 thing, as it was in the still earlier religious ceremonies 

 of the ancient Romans and in the time of King 

 David. 



The development of dancing as a fine art has only 

 been rendered possible by the establishment, under the 

 patronage of various European princes, of great exhibi- 

 tions of dancing, called " ballets," and the creation of a 

 profession of dancers, who, like professional actors and 

 musicians, devote their lives to the study of their art 

 and the training necessary for efficiency in its practice. 

 In this, its highest development, dancing, whilst main- 

 taining its dominance, is entirely dependent on the aid 

 of music, and becomes blended with the art of the actor 

 and pantomimist. As in " opera " the effect of the 

 musical art is enhanced by the meaning of the words 

 sung, by the acting of the performers, and by the 

 accessories of scenery and costume, so in the ballet do 

 all these factors, except the human voice, contribute to 

 the artistic result. The latest development of the ballet 



