The Art of Stage Dancing Part 7

In dancing, the head and arms and upper part of the body (torso or trunk) are as important as the feet and legs.

The eyes are the most expressive agent of the body.

Now, without turning your head, using your eyes only, look left oblique, look front, look right oblique, front, look left oblique down, look front, look left oblique up, look front, look right oblique down, look right oblique up, look front.

Most of my instruction is based on the eight different directions which you have been told about, and on the four different parts of the foot, which you must also understand thoroughly. This makes it easy to a.n.a.lyze any dancing steps that we teach.

These four different parts of the foot are:

1, the toe, or end of the shoe.

2, the ball of the foot (the half sole).

3, the heel.

4, the flat of the foot.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Four Different Parts of the Foot_]

Tapping the toe of the left foot to the floor makes the first count; stamping the ball of the left foot, the second count; the heel of the left, the third count; and the flat of the entire foot the fourth count. These four different parts of the foot become an exercise by counting 1, 2, 3, 4, with the left foot, and 5, 6, 7, 8, with the right foot, beginning with the right toe on the count of 5. This exercise if practiced faithfully will give flexibility to the muscles and ligaments that control the entire foot, all of which are used in musical comedy dancing, for the American tap, step and specialty work (clogging), for social or ballroom dancing, for exhibition dancing, as well as in the acrobatic dancing work, and for my Americanized ballet training, including toe dancing.

Do this exercise first with the left foot, then with the right foot, to the count of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and practice it often, till it becomes a perfectly natural action. It is the basis of the best "bread and b.u.t.ter" dancing steps, as you will discover in later lessons.

In doing this exercise, remember that in dropping the toe to the floor it must be placed _straight_ back, and not left or right oblique back; straight back from the "place" where you stand. The knees should be kept together. When you stamp the ball of your foot, the feet are directly opposite each other.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _The Development of a "Tap" Dancing Step_]

I want you to note that each of the four movements of this exercise has a distinct sound. The dropping of the toe, the stamping of the ball of the foot, of the heel, and of the flat foot, each creates a separate and distinct sound. I have named these sounds "taps," and it is the various combinations of these sounds that are used so effectively in musical comedy dances, in tap, step, and American specialty dancing (sometimes called clogging), as well as in some of our choicest acrobatic dancing.

Some of our pupils are apt at tap and step dancing, others are more apt at ballet dancing, musical comedy or acrobatic dancing. Some of our young ladies take four cla.s.ses a day; some take three; others two; and still others but one cla.s.s a day. In addition to this, there are pupils, among them a great many young gentlemen, who take private lessons in their chosen style of dancing every day while some only take one private lesson a week.

Try to perfect yourselves as solo dancers. It is there that fame and fortune await you. You may not appreciate it now, but when you have mastered the Ned Wayburn courses, you will look back with satisfaction and realize the wonderful opportunity my simple courses have afforded you. There is no other school in the world that teaches the five basic types of dancing in the same thorough, rapid manner and with the same satisfactory results.

The student who has industriously performed the essential preliminary work as I teach it has obtained a satisfactory mastery of the body, and has a large range of movement at command; is now able to control the source of movement and to relax opposing muscles so that the movement may follow through; that is, may continue from its initiative in any part of the body to the desired climax, without muscular obstruction. The entire body is now ready and responsive to any call upon it, and the act of dancing becomes a pleasure and a joy it never was before, and never would have been but for the preliminary work as I have arranged it for the making of beautiful and efficient dancers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIVIENNE SEGAL]

The result is a harmony of rhythmical coordination that will echo far beyond the dancing courses and into the various activities of one's whole life.

The great freedom and abandonment of movement now acquired is not a combination of erratic movements and gestures distributed at random.

The freedom gained is the result of perfect control, not in any degree the result of unguided abandon. My dancers know how to work because they are sure of themselves; the controlled individual is the free individual.

But the dancer has gained more than mastery of movement. Valuable as are strength and skill, even more so is the resultant balance and soundness of the nervous system that directly results from such rhythmical coordination, fitting one for meeting the complex and often disturbing demands of life. Now, too, in the process of acquiring such a splendid state of general physical well-being, the pupil has absorbed and acquired some understanding of the power and the wonder of a physical self, and will proudly treat this newly discovered self with respect and consideration.

The mental gains as the result of this work have a right to consideration, also. The handicap of self-consciousness is largely overcome by the complete mastery of the movements of the body; the mind becomes freed, the mental horizon enlarged, as the direct result of body and nerve control.

The delight of free and expressive movement with a body that responds joyously to the slightest impulse of thought and feeling, develops a new resource of pleasure, and in perfection of bodily response is found a new source of beauty with endless promise for the future.

If you begin the courses with the feeling, "make me a dancer if you can," and act with indifference throughout the instruction that is given for your benefit, you are doomed to failure. No one succeeds unless they want to and work very hard.

You are here to prepare for an honorable calling, a beautiful, respected and profitable profession, that when once you acquire will remain at your disposal all your life. Most of our pupils recognize this and sincerely strive, with our help, to perfect themselves through incessant patient practice. We have no intention ever to let a small minority of indifferent, "I don't care" pupils, hold back the ambitious ones. Those who merit success shall have every opportunity always.

You, no doubt have been to good shows, seen good dancing and attractive posing and grouping, with rich scenery, proper lighting and appropriate music, and have wished that you, too, might share in the applause of the audience for your own merit as a dancer.

I want to help you become what so many others of my scholars have become, the best in their line of endeavor.

I am enthusiastic about my part of the work, and ask and expect you to be just as enthusiastic as I am. Really, you should have _more_ enthusiasm than I have, since it is _you_ who are to go before the audiences and get the applause and the pay, and not me. Whether or not you are enthusiastic about your work will show in your results. Your degree of interest and improvement is recorded, so I know just what you are accomplishing.

You must expect to get tired, really "tired out," in your earliest lessons and practice. That is what has invariably happened to all others before you, who are drawing down the fat salaries today. I expect it, and should be surprised indeed if any student proved to be an exception. In fact, if you do not tire, and perspire and pant after an hour of working your every muscle in a set of movements new to them, then you surely are not getting the benefit that the exercises are intended to promote. Soreness during your first four or five lessons is a sign of your having taken the lessons earnestly and honestly and actively, as you should in your own interest. The soreness will work out and be gone for good after a few lessons.

Please get sore! Then I know you are all right.

But do not overdo at any time, now or later, in cla.s.s work, private lessons, or home practice, and especially be careful while you are new at the work, and the novelty of it tempts your ambition to keep on and on. Alternate work and rest, strenuous toil and complete relaxation, is the ideal way to build yourself into beauty and strength and suppleness by my method, without danger of straining or injury.

In the cla.s.sroom, if a pupil needs to sit and rest a bit occasionally it is permitted. But do not let our consideration for your comfort become an excuse for mere laziness! There are lazy girls as well as lazy men in the world, I have heard, and it is barely possible that one or two might decide to take my courses sometime. If they do, our required work will give them inspiration, as well as perspiration, and enable them to overcome an inclination to indolence that they must master if they hope to succeed as dancers--or in any other vocation.

Let me encourage you by saying, what I know to be true, that you will harden yourself in a few days' time so that the muscles of your body will pleasantly respond to your demands without crying out loud when called upon. Just keep at it. Don't get discouraged because it wearies you on the start. If you could see our advanced pupils going through their routines, and how easily they perform the same simple exercises you are required to do in the beginning, their muscles ready, trained and responsive, and every motion of their bodies a pleasure to them and a satisfaction after patient practice, you would be encouraged and would be able to smile at the few temporary discomforts of a few sore muscles. But do not be too ambitious and work to the point of exhaustion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: NW]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PAULETTE DUVAL AND NED WAYBURN PUPILS, FOLLIES OF 1923]

NED WAYBURN STAGE DANCES

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I have already named the five basic types of stage dancing taught in my courses. In this chapter I shall describe them in detail in such a manner that anyone can distinguish them from one another.

No doubt when you have seen dances of the new type executed on the theatrical stage you may have been unable in some cases to correctly cla.s.sify them. That is not at all surprising, since the cla.s.sification is my own, as well as some of the steps themselves.

You have realized that so-and-so did a pleasing, pretty and complicated dance, but what it is called, or if it is called at all, you are unable to state. All my dances have names and are properly cla.s.sified, and what these are and to what distinct type they belong is going to be spread before you here and now.

First let us consider the type that I have named American Specialty Dancing, the one that is more truly and distinctively American than any other type of dancing to be seen on any stage today.

This cla.s.sification comprises every variety of tap and step dancing, and also what is commonly known as "Legmania," the latter including the high-kicking features, where the leg will execute front, back, and side kicks, and other forms of the acrobatic type of dancing. Legmania is not a possible development for every student of dancing, as nearly every other form of the art is, but is available to the few who are adapted to its exacting technique, which insures that this interesting field will never grow too many blossoms, and that supply is not likely to equal demand. I will mention Evelyn Law in "Legmania" and Ann Pennington in "Tap and Step" dancing as "sample" stars from my studios in this beautiful and lucrative type of dancing, though their dancing limitations are by no means confined to this one branch of the art.

Tap and step dances are made up of a series of steps that involve certain movements of the four parts of the foot as described in another chapter; namely, the toe, the ball of the foot, the heel, and the flat of the foot, which produce distinct rhythmic sounds or "taps"

as they separately strike the floor or stage.

Under the cla.s.sification of tap and step dancing, we teach the buck and wing dance, the waltz clog, the straight clog (which is like an English clog or a Lancashier clog), jigs, reels, and the old form of what we call step dancing, which was popular forty years ago in the old "variety" days. They did the jigs, reels and clogs then, and these different types of dancing modernized combine to make what we today call the American Specialty type of dancing. My course in tap dancing, for instance, includes beginners' "buck" and "soft-shoe" dances, intermediate, advanced, semi-professional and professional "buck" and "soft-shoe" dances. Of course, when you get into the semi-professional "buck" and "soft-shoe" you will begin to get complicated "taps," and you will get difficult triple-taps in professional "buck" dancing.

You are no doubt familiar in a general way with the Musical Comedy type of dancing, which is really an exaggerated form of fancy dancing.

It includes the now popular but simpler "soft-shoe" dances, dainty, soft, pretty movements with many effective att.i.tudes of the body, all sorts of "kicking" and "fancy" steps. As a matter of fact, this type of dancing is perhaps the most difficult of all to define exactly, because often musical comedy dances include a few tap steps and sometimes simple ballet movements, or combinations, as we term them.

Our musical comedy dances are arranged in routines, or sequences of not less than ten steps, including an entrance, eight steps to the dance, and an exit movement. The entrance is a travelling step, a step which gets you onto the stage; then comes the dance itself consisting of eight steps; then the exit which must include a step which will make a decided climax to the whole dance. I have already explained the importance of making an effective exit. In a subsequent chapter, I will describe more in detail a musical comedy routine.

Perhaps Acrobatic Dancing is the most difficult of all the types to master--that is, it most certainly requires a degree of strength that the other dances do not demand; sufficient strength in the arms to support the weight of the body in the hand-stand and the cartwheel, flexibility of the muscles in order to do the "limbers" and back-bends. All of the acrobatic tricks--hand-stands, cartwheels, splits, roll-overs, back-bends, front-overs, inside-outs, nip-ups, "b.u.t.terflies," flip-flops, Boranis, somersaults, etc., are very difficult and require special adaptability and inexhaustible patience, but almost any normal human being between the ages of four and thirty can learn even the advanced tumbling tricks in time, but only by keen application and persistent practice.

The fourth of the basic types of dancing is my Modern Americanized Ballet, a most graceful type of dance which requires and developes beauty and grace of motion of the head, the hands, the arms, the feet and legs, of the whole body, in fact. This Americanized ballet is subdivided into various types of dances--toe dancing, cla.s.sical dancing, character dancing, interpretive dancing, covering all kinds of National and folk dancing. These have attention elsewhere in this volume.