The Fine Art of Dancing. 
SOME VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES 
TOLD BY 
ANNA PAVLOVA. 
In the following article the world-famous dancer gives many interesting personal impressions on the art of 
dancing in England as compared with dancing on the Continent. Her views as to how English dancers may 
achieve skill equal to that of many of the most famous Continental dancers cannot fail to be of great value to 
those interested in the light fantastic art. As Mme. Anna Pavlova is a foreigner, her article has naturally 
required a little revision. 
From Photographs by Fouls ham & Ban field , Schneider , Bert , Bassano, Dover Street Studios , 
L.N.A., and Hoppe. 
EFORE I paid my first visit 
to England I was told that 
the classical art of the grand 
ballet had become quite out 
of date^ and that the last 
generation who saw the 
Taglioni dance had pro- 
claimed that public interest in the art had 
died with her. I have noticed that such is 
very far from the case. If only more real 
encouragement were given in England to 
ballet dancers the day would not be far 
distant when the English dancer would prove 
a formidable rival to the Russian. 
How r can this be done ? In the first place, 
I am strongly of opinion that the English 
nation ought to endow a National School of 
Dancing, so that it might take the sadness 
out of the gait and manner of the English 
people. It is not sufficient that the art of 
dancing should be preserved on the stage. 
It should be taught in the schools, so that 
the workman and the work-girl may get 
more happiness in their lives. And one 
of the simplest, most economical, and 
healthiest forms of enjoyment is surely the 
dance. 
Dancing enters into the life of the Russian 
people far more than it does into the lives 
of the English nation. For nearly five hun- 
dred years the Czars of the Russian people 
have endowed the art of dancing. When- 
ever a great dancer arose in Italy, France, 
or Spain, that dancer was invited to Russia, 
and while wt have, as far as possible, 
developed all that was best in our own dancers, 
we have seen that -we have also had the best 
of the art of foreign artistes. 
The National School of Russian Dancing 
has grown with rapid strides during the 
reign of the present Czar, who spends 
four hundred thousand pounds each year 
on the Opera House, the French Theatre, 
and the School of Dancing. Pupils who are 
received for the National School are carefully 
guarded and taught. They are placed in 
special residential quarters, and must undergo 
a very serious training. Dancing, indeed, 
is so much a part of our Russian life that it is 
no unusual thing for our great artistes to give 
free lessons in the poor schools. 
Dancing helps the Russian to express 
himself or herself, whether in absolute sad- 
ness, wild joy, or abandon. Our Russian 
work-girls in their garrets frequently express 
their moods by gestures which they have 
learnt in dancing. They feel tired ; they 
express that fatigue in perfectly natural move- 
ments. I wonder could your English work- 
girls so express themselves ? I think not, 
because they have not learnt the true art of 
dancing, and have thus been deprived of the 
pleasure of expressing their feelings by poetical 
and rhythmical gestures which invariably 
bring about a sense of relief. 
I have often been asked which I consider 
is the saddest and which the most joyous 
nation of dancers. To the former query 
I should reply, “ The Russians.” The 
Spaniards are the gayest, then the Italians ; 
the French are gay and insouciant, the 
Germans merry but somewhat heavy. The 
Russians can express melancholy, sadness, 
and the other extremes — complete joy, gaiety, 
and mirth, more than any other nation in the 
world. And the English ? What do I think 
