BALLET
"Paul Draper." Ballet Workshop. (Mercury.) BALLET WORKSHOP, in their Sunday-night programmes at the Mercury Theatre, are giving a very rare treat in the presentation of Paul Draper. This American may, I suppose, be called a tap dancer. But such a• description falls so short in suggesting the subtlety and brilliance of his art that it is almost an insult to use it. If one is seeing Draper for the first time, as I was, one gets a peculiar and not unpleasant shock as he quietly walks to take his position in the centre of the stage—a tall, lanky figure dressed in an everyday black suit with waistcoat, but coat discarded ; obviously a man come to do a job of work which, without knowing, one might guess to be juggling. Then the pianist begins to play a gigue by Bach, and a strange miracle happens. Almost as if a wondrous mechanical toy had started to move, Paul Draper begins to dance ; his body more or less rigid from the waist upwards, his head either fixed in front of him or moving mechanically from side to side, a whimsical, half- vacant expression on his face, his arms moving in restricted classical positions, his feet talking the most eloquent and expressive of languages, and his whole being possessed by an innate sense of rhythm. His first three numbers—one of which was danced without any music save that of his own making—were pure dancing, in that they contained no theme. These alone were evidence enough of one of the most personal forms of expression I have had the good fortune to witness. They showed that what Paul Draper has to offer owes nothing to any man, but has grown out of, and is absolutely part of, his own delightful personality. And this was not all. For the second part of his programme Draper gave examples of character dancing—" A Sharp Character" and "Portrait of a Man Making a Vehement Speech." Both were brilliantly witty. They showed the artist's profound powers of observation and his wonder- ful ability to translate into his own very special medium. On the technical side Draper's control, balance and timing seemed to me to be flawless, but even these attributes—whilst necessary to the perfection of his presentation—fade into insignificance before his artistry. And this artistry takes the happiest of forms, for it is joyfully exciting and leaves one in a state of exhilaration which is not merely momentary but lasting. LtWAN BROWSE.
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