THE BALLET.
TIIE term is a misnomer, for ballet we have had none ; Ln Guiana being a tedious divertissement in two scenes. Now that the ELLSLERS are come, it might not be unreasonable to hope for one, but the manager has discovered that dancers draw as well without. TAULIONI made her penultimate appearance on Thursday, and the ELLSLEIIS their first courtesy this season : the sisters only danced a pas de deux, by way of showing that their style has lost nothing of the certainty and finish that prove the excellence of their iniabode, and make their exercises satisfactory,—ffir these displays are nothing more, hieing mere exhibi- tions of skill and power, not manifestations of inventive fancy and lively sensation. TAULIONI is pronounced " on the wane," by those who estimate the quality of dancing by the steadiness of the aplomb and the ease with which the difficulties of the art are surmounted : " she has lost," say these critics of the dancing-school, " the elasticity of muscle requisite to perfectionate the performance of tours de force." That is to say, she has lost sonic of that delicate flexibility necessary to make de- formity- of action wear the grace of nature, to round off the stiff angular attitudes of French posturing, and to conceal the mechanism of the art even in its mechanical exercise, by the flowing phrases (so to speak) of the poetry of motion. "TACLIONI is only tit for character dances," is their cry. So be it : we rejoice to know this fact. We do not care ever to see her practice her lessons again : we shall now have the results of her training ; and if they be such as we had on Thursday night, she will be more charming than ever. If Mazourkas and Cachouchas are to be the pis oiler of dancers that are passe', may FANNY Eimsiaut "grow instant old," and inca- pable of any thing else but expressing-sentiment and emotion in looks and gestures eloquent of meaning, and giving to the vivacious impulse of the animal spirits, that finds vent in national dance, the refinement and grace of her beautiful art. We never desire to see human beings turned into twirligigs or spindles, nor elegant forms distorted into the likeness of a pair of tongs in motion or a jumper on stilts. The fascinating naïveté and rustic gayety of TAumoxis character dance in La. Gitana is not to he described : the quick, gliding move- ment, scarce interrupted by the courtesies she dropped with equal celerity and winning grace, pointing the salutes with an arched manner, was inexpressibly charming ; and she bounded over the stage as though buoyant in air. Little I3ELt.ox, clever and agile though she be—she is an excellent tiniest too—was but a humming-top to TAGUONI.
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