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| Adeline Genee (1878-1970) |
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In Press and Literature |
(Atlanta Constitution, 15th December, 1907)
GREATEST DANCER IN THE WORLD TO CAPER IN THE UNITED STATES
Special cable - London, December 14
One evening towards the end of November, 1907, I was talking to Mme. Katti Lanner in her Corner on the prompt side of the stage at the Empire. A young girl in a conventional costume of the prima ballerina passed us, and the veteran maker of balets said to me: "I want to present you to our new first dancer, Mlle. Genee." I saw that the newcomer was quiet and self-possessed, and when we had exchanged a few words and she was moving up stage I noticed that she walked very lightly and gracefully and remarked as much to Mme. Lanner. "Genee is one of the best dancers we have had here for a long time." remarked my old friend; "go back to the front of the house and see her, for she Will only be here six weeks."
Six weeks! Ten years have passed since that night, and Adeline Genee has not succeeded In outstaying her welcome. Year by year she has added to the number of her admirers, season after season has found her strengthening the appeal of ballet, and impressing the beauty of the prima ballerina's art upon those who believed that it was dead, and that the spoils of ballet had been divided between the skirt and serpentine dancers. In another six weeks New York is to claim London's favorite dancer, but only for a little time; she will come back to town with the spring, and one hopes and believes that the return will not be less pleasant to her than to us.
Tiny Girl as Dancer
On the wall of my study there hangs the portrait of a tiny girl dressed in dancing costume and wearing a cap covered with sequins. This portrait is signed: "From the little Genee," and is one taken perhaps twenty years ago, when the child was starting her life work under the direction of her uncle, Alexander Genee, and his wife, both famous dancers of a past decade.
While with them the young Adeline, who comes from Copenhagen, made her debut as a dancer, pleasing the cultured audiences of many a continental city. Her training was very thorough. She learned before she was in her teens that no success can come to the dancer who does not practice assiduously day in, day out, and that the most difficult "ballon" movements, the most intricate "pas," can be mastered only by those Whose physical fitness is complete. Even today, when the tendency of modern ballet is to make first-rate dancing necessary, when a prima ballerina is asked to appear in high-heeled shoes or boots — in short, when her art is neglected, and only her personality is taken into account. Adeline Genee continues to practice as hard as she did in the years when her most elaborate steps would be criticised by an understanding and appreciative audience.
"It may come back," she says simply. "There are still ballets that respect the traditions, and they are the only ones I really care about." And so she continues to work, with a perfect faith in the future of her own art, and an unflinching, though not always successful, opposition to work that she regards as second-rate.
The Task of a London Dancer
While her sisters of the continental theaters and opera houses are not required to dance for more than three or four nights in the week, Adeline Genee must appear every evening, but none has known her to perform as though true dancing were other than a labor of love.
What is the secret of her success, or, to speak more accurately, what are the secrets? First and foremost comes the natural aptitude, the gift that makes great artists in the world of singing and painting and playing, the natural inclination to do certain work, the innate capacity to do it well. Then early training must be considered — the teaching that enabled Adeline Genee, when newly in her teens, to delight the connoisseurs of Berlin, Stockholm, and Copenhagen.
Add to this her complete understanding of the art of gesture, the ability to express emotion in dumb show, so that it conveys even more than the spoken word. This branch of dramatic art is shamefully neglected today. I believe it has even been dropped at Mr. Tree's academy, where the greatest living exponent of the art, Mme. Cavallazzi Mapleson, was giving distinction to the pupils.
Adeline Genee has studied gesture since she was a little girl, and is hardly less an actress than a dancer. The next secret underlying the charm of her work is its spontaneity. Those of us who know something of the difficulty belonging to certain steps will wonder when we see the dancer execute them so easily that they seem to grow out of the movement of which they are a part.
Her Freshness
Finally, she is never tired, she is never slack; the joy that underlies her every movement is the expression of her mind. She does not offend with the hackneyed smile of the "prima ballerina absoluta," but smiles because she is never quite so happy as when she dances, never feels so completely content as when she is accomplishing work that has been reached by the way of hours of labor.
Success unparalleled in our generation has done nothing to spoil her; she regards it as a tribute to the art rather than the artist.
The Future
I am not going to appear In orthodox ballet in New York, she said a few days ago. "I don't think America wants real ballet yet. I don't even know," she added simply and seriously, "that the Americans want me, though of course I hope they do. If they will persuade themselves that they want me, and I can persuade them that they want real ballet, I shall be quite happy."
But shall we be equally content if New York will mount real ballets for the sake of the first dancer of our time? A hundred times, No. At the time of writing several London houses are making offers, and, as the Empire is still negotiating with its favourite there is at least a sporting chance that she will return to the house in Leicester Square, whose directors have given her work so many beautiful settings.
London can dispense with many of its greatest entertainers. A Melba goes to America, but a Tetrazzini comes to Covent Garden; a Joachim passes away, but a Mischa Elman arises. The art of the dancer is in no wise inferior to that of the singer and player; It speaks to the soul through the eye as music speaks to the soul through the ear. But we cannot replace Adeline Genee, and consequently, whether it be to Empire or Palace or Alhambra, she must come back to us. Her art adds to the joy of life, and none but herself can be her parallel.