amateurs, professionals and teachers, and is preceded in every case by
the Ned Wayburn Foundation Technique, which includes my limbering and
stretching process, and is one of the most important courses ever
devised for the student of dancing in that it saves years of study.
This original technique is described in a succeeding chapter.
In addition to the types of dancing mentioned above, we also give
instruction in the art of making up for the stage.
Accompanying the technical instruction, each class and pupil receives
without cost the benefit of the valuable stage-craft, managerial and
producer's knowledge that I have acquired during my years of activity
in the theatrical world. This is given in occasional lectures or
inspirational talks before the class. Students also, when duly fitted,
will be informed as to where and how to obtain engagements, correct
forms of contract to be entered into, and other valuable business
information concerning the practical side of selling their services to
the best advantage, saving them much time and possible embarrassment
and loss.
In all probability, if you love dancing and aspire to make it a
career, you possess an innate sense of rhythm. You feel the swing of
music and love to move your body to the strains of a lilting melody.
The first great possessions of the successful stage dancer are a love
of harmonious sounds and a sense of rhythmic motion. If you haven't
these, you might better abandon the idea of studying with me as far as
any hope is concerned of my developing you into a stage artist. While
you would find much to enjoy and to benefit your health and
appearance in taking my dancing exercises, if you are minus the very
first dancing essentials you could not expect us to advance you beyond
your own limitations.
Another important qualification for the stage dancer, which if not
possessed at its fullest may be acquired under our instruction, is a
sense of direction. This sense of direction is of maximum importance
in stage dancing, because, as you can readily understand, since you
have your audience in front of you and to your left and your right,
you must do your dances so that they will appeal to all sections of
your audience. And there are certain stage directions which you must
know in order to grasp my method of instruction.
That you may get absolute precision in direction, let us proceed as
follows: Imagine that you are standing on a stage, in a circle the
diameter of your own feet; we will call that circle "your place."
[Illustration: _Your Place_]
Divide the stage into eight different directions. You are now facing
the "front." Face the "left," the "back," the "right," and then
"front" again. That makes four directions--front, left, back and
right. Face half-way to the left--that is called "left oblique." Face
half-way to the back--that is called "left oblique back." Now face
back. Face half-way to the right--that is called "right oblique back."
Now face half-way to the front. That is called "right oblique." That
makes eight different directions, very easy to memorize and never
forgotten after once learned, and you will employ them in your stage
work every day. That they may become familiar with the necessary
directions, students are given brief instructions at their first
lesson, as I stand before them and take the turns with them and
announce the name of each direction as I take it.
[Illustration: _The Eight Different Directions_]
[Illustration: _Left Turn_]
[Illustration: _Right Turn_]
In making the turn from wall to wall, when you turn to the left
around, you should turn on the right heel, which thus acts as a pivot
and keeps you in "your place"; like this--left oblique, left, left
oblique back, back, right oblique back, right, right oblique, and
front. In going around to the right turn on the left heel. Fix these
directions firmly in your mind. You will need them when you get into
stage dancing.
[Illustration: _Turning the Head_]
The eight different directions are in eight counts. The first
direction to the left is left oblique. That is counted "one." Left is
"two." Left oblique back, "three." Back, "four." Right oblique back,
"five." Right, "six." Right oblique, "seven." Front is "eight."
All of our steps are taught in counts of eight. We begin to count from
one and go as far as eight, then repeat. We count, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, or we count "1-and, 2-and, 3-and, 4-and, 5-and, 6-and, 7-and,
8-and," as may be required. After the steps have been taught by counts
and learned properly, through much patient practice, they are fitted
to music.
Without turning the rest of the body, turn the head sharply to the
left wall, so that your face is square to the wall. You are now
looking left. Look front. Look to the right (square around). Look
front. Look left oblique. Front. Right oblique. Front. Now throw the
head back and look up (without straining the muscles of the
neck)--hold the head at an angle of about 45 degrees. Your head should
not be tilted to one side, but straight back. Now look "front"
again--now "down," now "front." There is a difference between
_turning_ it to the left or right and _inclining_ to left or right.
Incline your head to the left shoulder--hold your face up a little
and keep it square to the front--chin high--now incline your head to
the right shoulder--up straight--now turn it to the left (around as
far as you can)--turn it front--turn it to the "right"--turn it
"front"--throw it "back"--look up, now "front"--drop "down" and now
"front."
[Illustration: ONE OF OVER TWENTY DAILY DANCING CLASSES AT THE NED
WAYBURN STUDIOS.]
[Illustration: _Inclining the Head_]
THE LESSON TO A CLASS IS AS FOLLOWS
Now, be careful to keep your lines straight up and down, directly
behind one another. Let those in the first line _across_ raise the
right hand. Second line across raise hands up; third line across, and
fourth line across. This is called across stage (indicating left to
right). This is called up and down stage (indicating front to back),
and going down this way (to the footlights) is moving down-stage.
Going toward the back wall is moving up-stage or back-stage.
[Illustration: _Diagram of Modern Theatre Stage_]
CONCERNING ENTRANCES AND EXITS
If you come in sight of the audience from that side (indicating left)
you are making an entrance from the left. If you leave in that
direction, you are making an exit to the left. It is an artistic feat
to make a good exit. It requires not only specialized training, but
also practical experience in front of an audience. It may be a vocal
exit, a dramatic or spoken exit, or a dancing exit, and one must reach
a decided climax at the exit. If the dance consists of eight steps,
properly spaced, the most effective steps are put in where they will
provoke applause. The last or finish step must get the most applause
or the dancer fails. So we put a climactic "trick" step in for a
finish, and then we top that with the exit, and the exit must be a
_surprise_. Otherwise, the dance has not built up from the time the
dancer makes an entrance and gets the attention of the audience. So
making an effective exit is really a difficult thing to do. You are
taught in the advanced instruction how to enter and exit properly.
One draws the applause on the eighth step by assuming a certain
attitude or by "striking a picture" which asks the audience for the
applause, and on the exit another round of applause can be earned, and
in this way the dance "gets over," or is "sold" to the audience, as we
say in the show business.
[Illustration: _Correct Standing Position_]
Now face the right, please. If you make an exit on that side you are
making an exit to the right. If you come on from that side (meaning if
you come in sight of the audience from that side) you are making an
entrance from the right.
The proper way to stand to learn my kind of stage dancing is with the
left toe pointed left oblique, and the right toe right oblique. Have
your knees together, heels together, with the weight equally
distributed between the feet, hands down at the side, arms relaxed,
heads up and direct your gaze straight ahead on a line with your eyes.
Never recognize anyone over the footlights. Always look straight front
on a line with the eyes. Never look at the floor when dancing unless
specifically so instructed. To look at the floor while dancing gives
an audience the impression that you have no confidence in yourself and
that you are laboring to perform your dance.
[Illustration: _Movements of Eyes Only_]
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
analyze 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.
[Illustration: _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 butter" 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.
[Illustration: _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 classes a day; some take three; others two;
and still others but one class 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.
[Illustration: 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 class 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 classroom, 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.
[Illustration: NW]
[Illustration: PAULETTE DUVAL AND NED WAYBURN PUPILS, FOLLIES OF
1923]
NED WAYBURN STAGE DANCES
[Illustration]
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
classify them. That is not at all surprising, since the classification
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
classified, 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 classification 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 classification 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 attitudes 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,
"butterflies," 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, classical
dancing, character dancing, interpretive dancing, covering all kinds
of National and folk dancing. These have attention elsewhere in this
volume.