The frequenters of the Italian Opera were startled on Saturday
night by the apparition of a stately Spanish damsel, who, shrouded in a black mantilla, emerged from a Moorish archway and performed one of her national dances in the native manner. Donna Low, MosirEz is the name of the lady : her proportions are rather large than symmetrical ; her style is more remarkable for character than refinement, and her execution has no pretensions to finish or brilliancy : yet her performance was of a very striking kind. The movements of the dance resemble those familiar to us in the Cacbuca, Saragossa, and other ballet- versions of Spanish boleros ; but Donna MONTEZ threw a grave and almost melancholy langour over their voluptuous character : in effect, it was not so much a dance as a grand and solemn display of expres- sive pantomime. The singularity took the audience by surprise : they did not well know what to make of the exhibition. Some applauded, and showered bouquets on the stage ; others, seeing something so totally different from French dancing, dispare;rd the Spanish beauty. Compared with FANNY ELSSLER and other accomplished dansenses, Donna MONTEZ is an inferior artiste ; but her performance is novel, and unique in its way : it might be liked better on a second trial—which, however, it does not appear she is likely to have, her name having been withdrawn from the bills.
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