Ballet
DANCERS: SPANISI1 AND INDIAN OF the few kinds of folk dance that can be transferred intact to the stage, Spanish de- mands a consistent brilliance, a relentless dex- terity and attack from each dancer. The sup- porting company around Seflorita Pilar Lopez, at the Palace Theatre, work hard enough, but their (generally minor-key) talents have to cope with some very thin dance-ideas—most of which are familiar stuff in Spanish repertoires. The evening is saved by the two leading male dancers.
Paco de Ronda is smooth, suave, slickly elegant in serious numbers and a sound tech- nician. Antonio Montoya, a newcomer, is a real acquisition; a good technician, aware of his technique, using it fully and improving it all the time. He is at present very good and may become excellent; he has a faster, tighter- stepped taconeo than most of his rivals and a peculiar yet legitimate style of footwork that is a novelty in this town. He looks like (and his dancing reflects it) a handsome, carefree gipsy boy in a Murillo painting and he is as masculine as a top-class bullfighter.
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Ram Gopal, recognised as the high priest in Europe of the mysteries of the Indian Dance, appeared as soloist in a modest entertainment last week, promoted by the Asian Music Circle. What looked like new dances were—I suspect—old ones decently titivated up and with fresh sequentes of rhythms. He has that control which seems utterly effortless, and which, leaving so much unstressed, impresses the more. The rhythmic patterns with their many subtle modulations seemed perfectly flawless and each dance ended ever so slightly before one hoped it would: a splendid revela- tion of controlled artistry.
A. V. C.
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