BALLET
"Rosario and Antonio." (Cambritige.)
"Pearl Primus." Her company of Dancers, Singers and Musicians. (Princes.)
I DON'T suppose it is often that artists have to stop half way through their performance to beg for a lessening of applause, but this is precisely what happened in the Cambridge Theatre on Monday, night, where Rosario and Antonio are again holding a season. London has gone mad over this brilliant young couple who, though obviously moved by the warmth of their reception, had to point out that, as there were many more items to follow, they could not give encores ad infinitum. Most of the numbers were different from those presented during the last season, but the favourites were again Antonio's amazing Zapateado and the traditional charming dances of Valencia. Personally it is their humorous dances which delight me, on this occasion an adorable Mexican folk-lore number. For in Jarana Yucateca their personalities as artists really emerge, and as Rosario and Antonio's astounding technical qualities are beyond dispute it only remains for them to develop this artistry to the same high level. The evening ended with a youthful display of spontaneity which again sent the audience into raptures for, tearing their numerous floral tributes to. pieces, the dancers threw each flower far out into the stalls.
Pearl Primus at the Princes Theatre has.been both over ambitious and ill-advised. The former, because although she has a sympathetic and eager personality, this in itself is not enough for the heavy task she has set herself—that of carrying almost an entire programme on her own shoulders. It is a physical impossibility to achieve on a stage, and with a company of only six performers, effects which largely depend upon the wildness of the setting and the collective emotions of a vast mob. To quote two instances. The programme says of Royal Ishadi: "Three hundred and fifty women dance at the coronation of the King. . . . It is like a forest of stately palm trees swaying in the wind." Pearl Primus dances this number by herself ! Again, the War Dance can be wonderfully exciting and not a little terrifying when danced by about 50 men, their bodies glistening in the sun, their voices hoarse with shouting, their stamping feet beating the dry ground into clouds of dust until they, musicians and audience are worked up into a near frenzy. But this kind of thing should not be attempted in the theatre.
LILLIAN BROWSE.
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