BALLET
The Japanese Ballet. (Princes Theatre.) opened a season at the Princes Theatre. Of all the Asiatic dancers we have seen, these A mann troupe of Japanese dancers, under the peculiar title of Japanese Ballet, has are the most curious and perplexing, and it is not until the second half of the programme that we are given the key to their particular form of art. The programme says of Ningyo-Bouri (The Marionette) that 'In Japan, the history of the marionette goes
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back a long way; it has considerably influenced the theatre and dancing.' It is not by chance that this excellent number is die most successful of the evening, for in it we are frankly presented with an auto- maton, a mechanical emotionless creature which neither acts on its own volition nor is subject to the normal impulses of a man or woman. The Japanese tradition evidently sets this tenor of impassivity for all its actors and cLncers, for the warrior, the woman pining for her lover, the priest imploring Buddah to send peace, all wear this mask of insensibility which strikes a European audience as being so strange and so cold. But The Marionette at least enables us to understand, if not to appreciate, the con- ventions of the Japanese theatre. In our sense of the word there is very little dancing, in fact very little movement at all—nothing much seems to happen and this takes place at a most leisurely pace. It is therefore somewhat of a relief when Nounozarashi is performed, for 'the beauty of rippling movement' is here symbolised by women who skilfully manipulate their coloured scarves so that, continuously floating in the air, they make delightful patterns. Kotobouki- fish!, danced by Mr. Masao Takeuchi, is a most entertaining Lion of Happiness; and Mitsoumen (Three Masks) is performed by the directress of the company, Miss Miho Hanayagui, with great humour and with the dexterity that is associated with Japanese jugglers. But it is Miss Mihoko Hanayagui that, to our eyes, seemed to be the star of the evening. It is she who tries to catch the butterflies in one of the dances of the Seasons, and in another, appears with such charm and even some vivacity. Perhaps Miss Mihoko is considered too impulsive, not quite good style, by Japanese standards. We know too little about it to judge.
LILLIAN BROWSE
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