Felix Cherniavsky - News Clippings 1930s & 1940s

Added 18th Mar 2022 by Beth Dobson (Archives and Programming Assistant, DCD) / Last update 18th Mar 2022

Maud Allan 611a 51 2008-1-32.jpg
Maud Allan 611a 51 2008-1-32.jpg
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Felix Cherniavsky - News Clippings 1930s & 1940s

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Maud Allan Research Collection
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51.2008-1-32
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A Pioneer Returns Maud Allen Approached Dancing Thru Music and Became Internationally Famous Liberator of the Dance . as a ; by DOROTHI BOCK PIERRE or T MAUD ALLAN O DANCE lovers and students Maud Allan needs no introduction . Her fame closely followed that of Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis . These three were the leaders in the movement which liberated danc ing from the stereotyped technique of the old ballet and led to the modern dance . Maud Allan today is a poised , beautiful , intellectual artist , with sparkling eyes , a well spring of humor and a deep desire to give to others the freedom and exquisite joy she has found in her work . After an absence of eight years she came to this country from her home in England this spring to lecture in the east and vacation on the west coast . But such an artist could not expect a vacation and she has already given one delightful concert at the Redlands Bowl , and plans are now under way that will keep her in the West until next spring giving con certs on the coast . As is true of every artist who achieves fame and soccess there are many stories circulated as to Maud Allan's early beginnings and how she acquired her technique and developed her art . Consequently I was eager to meet her to find out for myself what had prompted her to take such a revolutionary step . Maud Allan was born in Toronto , Canada , and almost as soon as she could walk she showed such unusual musical ability that , in addition to the English governess she already had , her parents engaged a German governess who was a musician . Her earliest recollec tions are of this German woman who was a very excellent teacher , standing over her as she practised at the piano . This was when she was three years old , but she still remem bers how the tutor watched every move and would strike her sharply on the knuckles with her pencil if she was lax in her technique . It was this rigid training , however , that made it possible for her to appear in public in concert when she was only eleven years old . When she was fourteen she was sent to Berlin , Germany , to enter the Royal Academy of Music . It was very difficult to obtain ad mission to the Royal Academy for it was only possible if there was a vacancy made by some student leaving , and then they had very exact ing entrance examinations which eliminated many aspiring students . When Miss Allan took the ance examinations there were seventy - seven applicants to fill seven vacan cies , and although she was only fourteen years old she was not only one of the seven chosen for entrance , but she also was awarded added high honor marks . She studied piano with Von Petersen , Pro fessor Barth and Feriuccio Busoni , the great concert pianist . The work was very arduous and included a thorough and complete educa tion in music , as well as in French and Ger man . Maude Allan especially feels the need of every artist to speak other languages than his native tongue . It opens great vistas of literature , and she thinks the language barrier is one of the most important causes of mis understanding and war between nations . Her life in Germany was wrapped up in music and she had little time for relaxation or play . Feeling the need of physical exercise and something that would be a complete change from her work at the Academy , she decided to take some dancing lessons and en tered a class in the city where she was taught ballet technique . It aroused absolutely no enthusiasm in her . She simply went through the motions just as she would take a medicine if she thought it good for her , but it did give her poise and balance and muscular control , and opened her mind to the idea of dancing . Naturally she attended every musical con cert which was given , and as she watched the various conductors directing the orchestras , it suddenly occurred to her that the director who brought forth such beautiful music from a group of musicians was really dancing . Just as the Greeks had no separation be tween music and dancing in their orchestric work , the director was bringing forth the music through rhythmic motions . She became more and more interested in this idea and as she watched the dance of the orchestra direc tor it seemed to her that if one who was untrained danced so , a dancer would be able to interpret the music , to draw it forth through rhythmic movement , even better . Especially a dancer who was also a musician . The more she thought about it the more sure she was that her idea was sound and right , so she enthusiastically started to work out her theory . No one had ever done it before in just this way ; it was quite new and she had to evolve her own technique and way of dancing . Going to Italy for her summer vacation , she studied the works of the old masters , and there Marcel Remy , a Frenchman , who was a great musician , literary critic and Greek scholar , assisted her in gaining a knowledge of the Greeks and their orchestric methods . Finally she chose some music and played it over and over as she worked out her idea . Her theory was that music be not added to nor detracted from , by the dance . “ Through the movement of dance the eyes are given what the ears are given by the music . ” This form of dance is for all time , just as the great classic music is ageless and in no way tied to the present . Technique and popular forms of today never last . Evolution goes on , and the expression of one's soul should remain free and uncontaminated by any time limitation so the dance will exist as long as the music . When she felt her dance form was ready to be presented , Maud Allan gave her first con cert in Vienna before an audience of cultured artists and musicians , at the age of sixteen . The reaction of the audience more than con firmed her own belief and she was encour aged by the enthusiasm of all of the artists who thought she was doing a great thing both for music and the dance . In Berlin her first concert was given in a hall that was reserved only for great music . No dancer had ever appeared there . At the end of the concert Professor Joachin came upon the stage and publically complimented her , admonishing her that if she would al ways be true to her ideals she would go far . After this success Maud Allan's fame spread and she was eagerly sought by every country for concerts . In the years to follow , she ap peared before every crowned head in Europe and gave two command performances for the King of England . Her first American concert was in Carnegie Hall with the New York Symphony Orchestra , when she received a great ovation , after which she made a tri umphant tour of the entire country . This method of creating a dance upon a musical structure had lain dormant for cen turies , and until this time dancers had been held in such poor repute by fine musicians that it was an unheard of thing for a dancer to appear with a symphony orchestra . Danc ing had not kept abreast of the advances made in music and the two arts which once had been closely allied grew apart . Because Maud Allan , who was first a really fine concert pianist , friend and companion of musicians approached dancing with a fine mind and from a musician's view point , she was able to translate music through dance in a way musi cians understood , and they eagerly supported her and felt honored when she consented to dance with their orchestras . Musicians have been moved to tears by the beauty of her music interpretations . Eight years ago Miss Allan decided to make England , the home of many of the world's great dancers , her home . For some time she had had a desire to have a school where she might pass on to eager students her ideas and ideals . She felt the lack in most schools of dancing was their failure to teach the student to create on his own initiative . In the old ballet the dancers were beautifully trained puppets . Only a few were able to create anything themselves and these exceptions , Fokine , Bolm , Massine and a few others , stood out like brilliant stars . Even the exquisite Pavlowa was not able to create . Maud Allan's theory was that the fault did not lie in the dancer but in the training itself , that dancers should all learn their art in a creative not an imita tive manner . As she formulated these plans for a school she appeared in a number of dramas in Lon don and was very successful . She found the work very interesting and feels that dancers have a great deal to offer the dramatic stage through their understanding of facial expres sion and significant body movement . The hardships of the depression finally brought her to the opening of her school . All around her she saw so many talented children who were losing the joy of dancing and the opportunity to study at their most formative ( Continued on page 22 ) 10 October 1936 . Tun AMERICAN DINGER

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