Carlo Blasis Theory of Theatrical Dancing

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. MY chief Object in producing this book is to enable the public to understand better than they do at present how difficult the art of Dancing is, and SO to induce them to appre ciate more fully the Dancers and their work. If, as Mr. Ruskin teaches, the artist is a person who has submitted to a law Which it was painful to obey, in order to bestow a delight which it is gracious to bestow, the Dancers are artists indeed. And Dancing is an art, let the public remember, which depends on their immediate support for its very existence. The Poet, the Painter, Ithe Sculptor can work for posterity: but the Dancer's art is fugitive, not permanent. If the contemporaries Of any Dancer fail through ignorance, or dulness, or bigotry, to appre ciate her, no one else can. They have prevented her God-given faculties from having the influence, which they were intended to have.