Art of Stage Dancing — Chapter 2: Modern Stage Dancing

MODERN STAGE DANCING

Modern stage dancing differs from social or ballroom dancing in that it is the kind of dancing that one can commercialize.

Most of the artistic and financial successes of the stage today are built upon music and dancing.

We find these two essential elements in opera, revue, musical comedy, pantomime and vaudeville, while the place of the dance in moving pictures may well be recognized.

Should the old-time minstrel show come back, as it is certain to do, there will be added another name to the list of active entertainments that call for a union of music and dancing to insure their prosperity.

The Follies, the Frolics, the Scandals, the Music Box, the Vanities, the Passing Shows--by whatever name the modern revue is spread before an eager public, the basis of its appeal is always the same.

And when the Junior Leagues--the various charity organizations and the social and college clubs of our cities stage a performance that shall appeal to the interest of their public, and consequently gather in the shekels to their coffers, these amateur organizations turn naturally to music and dance and spectacle as the mediums with the widest appeal; an appeal to both the performer and the spectator.

Incidentally, let me say that the appeal of music and the dance to the performer, whether on the professional or the amateur stage, is not given the consideration to which it is entitled.

Perhaps nobody in the audience cares whether or not the dancer is enjoying the dance.

But let me tell you, the dancer is having just as good a time up there on the stage as you are down in front; and probably you never gave the matter a thought!

The dancers' enjoyment of the art is an essential factor in the causes that lead to the popularity of our modern type of stage entertainment.

To have acquired proficiency in their chosen profession the dancers have labored strenuously and long, and now the reward of years of effort is theirs.

They love their art as well as its emoluments.

By industry and perhaps frugality they have acquired an independent career for life.

They have made much of their opportunities.

They have a right to be happy.

And they are.

Probably no man ever lived who knows personally so many dancing folks as I do, and among all my stage acquaintances and friends I can count on a very few fingers the number that I would not class as supremely happy in their profession, and those few who might be considered as unhappy are made so by circumstances entirely apart from the stage, or, in a few instances, because of their own folly and indiscretions.

The stage world is a happy world in the main.

Its rewards are abundant in friendships as well as in cash, and the happiness radiated to you from behind the footlights is the direct result of the happiness that permeates the very being of the smiling favorite of the gods whose efforts to please you have met with your approbation.

So the pleasure of dancer and spectator are in a degree mutual, which in great measure explains the fascination that the dancing show has for the public.

In nearly every amateur stage performance in my long experience there have been present some few who exhibited natural ability as dancers, and possessed foundation requirements for professional stage work.

In cases where these favored ones have placed themselves under my instruction their improvement has been rapid and sure.

There is no such thing as an untrained successful dancer; there never has been; there never will be.

Given that one has the ability requisite to a knowledge of the dance, the rest comes from active training, and nothing else.

And by "ability" I do not mean experience, but rather that natural talent to step to music and observe tempo and rhythm that every dancer must possess.

It is a talent inborn in the dancer, and needs only proper development under competent instruction to bring out all the possibilities that are in one.

Beyond that, and after the days of instruction are over, the only limit is the personality, the mental ability and the originality of the dancer himself, and these we encourage in every possible manner, for that way lies the electric sign in front of a Broadway Theatre, and all that goes with it in glory and gold.

It is to the amateur dancer of today that the professional stage looks for its recruits.

There never before has been so great a demand for stage dancers as exists now, and the supply for both solo and ensemble work barely suffices.

Talent naturally is encouraged by this condition of the market for its wares, and all who take advantage of this popularity and qualify for the better grade positions will find little difficulty in securing what they are entitled to.

I am anxious to get over with one part of this book that seems necessary to its complete understanding by a reading public, and that is the very personal subject of myself, its author.

I am going to permit entrance into these pages of a brief biography of Ned Wayburn for two distinct reasons: First, to establish by what route I came to be an authority on stage-craft and stage dancing; and second, by a recital of my personal struggle and effort and final success, to encourage all young men and young women of ambition to themselves enter upon the stage of our great calling, with every hope of future success.

To that end, I am permitting a friend to come on the stage with his story of my stage career and experience.

As I look back upon my own history, it seems like a romance.

And it is; a romance in real life; every word of it true, and the entire scenario as wonderful as anything in the movies.

[Illustration: NW] [Illustration: LACE BALLET, FOLLIES OF 1922] NED WAYBURN--AN INSPIRATION