No, this is not the Russian ballet. It is the English Folk Dance
Society, and their performances at the Royal Horticultural Hall at
Westminster the other day showed that the Russian ballet is not to have
things all its own way. I am not going to moralise upon the salacious
quality of some of the themes of our exotic visitors, but certainly it
would be difficult to find a stronger contrast to their ruling passion
than is presented by the purity and simplicity of these country dances.
"Sellinger's Bound," danced to an air that lulled _Titania_ to sleep all
through the winter at the Savoy, was the most popular, with its ring of
a dozen dancers, hands joined, running together into the centre of their
circle, as if to honour some imaginary deity--possibly Mr. Cecil Sharp,
director of the Society, who has collected and revived the airs to which
they dance.
Then there were the Morris-dances, "Shepherd's Hey" (with nothing about
a "nonny-nonny" in it), and "Haste to the Wedding." There might perhaps
be a greater propriety in the latter if it were confined to men; but at
least it raised no apprehension that anybody was going to "repent at
leisure." In the "Flamborough Sword" dance, the men (with no Amazon
assistance) raced through the figure and out again, eight of them, armed
with bloodless wooden swords--a finely ordered riot.
"Lady's Pleasure," a Morris-jig for two men, lays hold of you at the
first bar, and again with a fresh grip and a tighter as the music slows
up for the dancers to do their "capers"--all to the music of Mr. Cecil
Sharp at the piano and Miss Avril at the fiddle.
The object of The English Folk Dance Society is to teach rather than to
perform in public. Hence the rarity of their displays, and the better
reason why we should seize, when they come, our chances of assisting at
these delightful exhibitions of an art whose revival has done so much to
restore to the countryside the unpretentious joys that gave its name to
Merrie England.
* * * * *
"It was the time when Henry III. was batting with Simon de
Montfort and his Barons"--_Straits Times._
But not at Lord's, which has only just celebrated its centenary.
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