THE BALLET
LONDONERS have no fewer than three ballet-companies to choose from for their holiday entertainment. The Sadler's Wells Ballet has returned to the New Theatre, where it is to produce a new version of Comus next week; at the St. James's Theatre is the Anglo-Polish Ballet; and at the Whitehall the oddly named Russian Ballet de la Jeunesse Anglaise, which has more of young England than of the old Ballet Russe in its composition. The Sadler's Wells company opened its Christmas season al-Ay with Les Patineurs, Ashton's delightful skating ballet with music mainly from Meyerbeer's L'Etoile du Nord, and Tchai- kovsky's Christmas-party, Casse-Noisette. Les Patineurs remains one of Ashton's most charming inventions in the lighter vein. It has both grace and wit. In this performance Leo Kersley danced the part created by, and one may say for, Harold Turner,
with an astonishing speed and vivacity. When this young dancer has gained more poise and can do the things he now does so quickly at half the present pace, he will be well on the way to being a first-rate dancer.
The Anglo-Polish Ballet has settled down after its year's work together into a coherent company. This gave a good per- formance of Les Sylphides, but is at its best in the vigorous and colourful folk-ballets of Poland, led by Alicia Halama and Czeslaw Konarski. In a divertissement these two dancers per- formed a very remarkable, dream-like dance to some music by Schubert, which gave a quite uncanny effect of levitation. The effect was strangely beautiful—but when will devisers of ballet learn that to take a short passage from a well-known symphony and patch it into an equally well-known song is an offence to musical ears? It was also quite unnecessary; for all that was wanted was some quiet music, the less recognisable the better. This company contains a good stock of individually talented dancers, among whom Helena Wolska, Denone Talbot and Florence Read are conspicuous in various styles.
DYNELEY HUSSEY.
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