Ballet Dancing

Art, music, balance, movement, and beautiful costumes!...
Its origin... and what have we of it?

Our talk of the "ballet" is a talk of the interplay of authentic art with descriptive music and grace of movement — it is a talk of the polishing of beauty in woman, soul and body!

Stories... the ballet tells them in the splendor of its bearing. Is it the story of love, or of hate? The story of life, or of death, that the feminine body relates? Now it sways forward questioning, now it advances beckoning; joy is drawn upon its face, and then in a moment it shrinks back retreating — and with what stirring twist does it fold in upon itself??

The civilized peoples look upon the ballet as the first classical theatrical dance, and of old they pressed to spread it and perfect it in their societies, counting it one of the forms of high cultivation. Yet ballet is almost a luxury of the elite, for the abundance of its material demands — beautiful and varied costumes beyond the reach even of the middle class, and long years of training that consume a fistful of money!

In France ballet was born and grew up. From France issued most of the principal steps, or "movements," now known in the world, and it spread especially in Parisian circles, where theaters abound, where atmosphere and purpose agree, and where women's talk is of wine, music, and love!

The word "ballet" may perhaps go back to the word "ballon," since the ballerina, or ballet dancer, is distinguished by lightness and suppleness... But the ballerina goes beyond these two qualities, to a delicate sensibility and the power to express lofty musical meanings — in yearning release, or gentle disdain, or an upsurge of pride and loftiness... besides the utmost skill in keeping perfect balance. How much understanding and feeling, then, must the ballet dancer store up within herself, to be capable of total absorption in acting her part, turned away from everything around her...

If music has its effect through hearing, and painting and sculpture theirs through sight, ballet has its wondrous power to stir the feelings through hearing and sight and all the senses. What a concord of senses, what an ease of soul, works upon the beholder!! It is as if the ballerina, when she enters the stage rising on the tips of her toes to perform her part, ascends into a second world! There she is, putting forth all her powers — bodily and spiritual — to put on her role and live it wholly... And what an arduous task that is, upon my life! Thousands of girls yearn to scale the peaks of glory and fame, but only a gifted few among them reach the summits.

What have we in Lebanon?

Not long ago — I mean at the dawn of the second quarter of this century — ballet found its way to our Arab East, and Egypt was the first to embrace it. In Lebanon, the first credit for spreading it and smoothing its way goes to Madame Silvi, who for the last ten years has never ceased polishing the artistic gifts in our girls, until one may boast, repeating a saying of hers: thanks to the efforts of years, we now have a cluster of those whom we may rightly call "brilliant ones"! Among them the Misses Nadia and May Saikali, Salwa Aoun, and Valerie Sarruf.

On more than one yearly occasion Madame Silvi's pupils, who approach a hundred, give displays, bringing out with skill and finish masterpieces of music and the stage, such as: "Swan Lake," "The Sleeping Princess," "Suzanne," and "Madame Butterfly."

And one of us asks: where is the theater, here in Lebanon, to bring out these talents in a practical way? The truth is that there still lie before these girls years of training and testing before they win a distinguished place that can be turned to account — and this is not done here, but in Europe, in the institutes of specialization — and some of them intend to storm this door and visit France or England. And who knows what brilliant future awaits them??

...At the age of a rosebud on the verge of opening, Valerie Sarruf will not complete her fifteen years for another six months. She put on her first ballet shoe, trying to keep her balance on the tips of her toes, when she was five years old, and her two small feet have not stopped to this day — training and steady advance...

Nor has the only daughter of Mr. Fuad Sarruf neglected her music lessons, in recognition of their importance in refining taste and deepening the understanding of melodies, so as to render them, in the end, in their finest details and their subtlest emotional shadings. For the ballet dancer, says Valerie, must be far-reaching in fancy, rich in powers of imagination, to succeed in devising the expressive, stirring movements that fall into complete harmony, in one all-embracing unity, with the musical airs and with the story...

And the ballet dancer forgets herself, absorbed in the atmosphere of the story and in its melody, to bring forth a splendid art...

How far has Valerie Sarruf succeeded?

That question is answered by whoever has had the fortune of watching her dance, whether at Madame Silvi's recitals or at the American University of Beirut. Even those who have not seen her dance can imagine what leaping sensations lie behind her graceful movement and her proud, elegant advance — it is enough that she welcome you, or invite you to sit down, for you to feel in the turn of her foot... "Pierrot and Columbine."

And in her withdrawings, then in the play of her face with every shade of meaning, and in her retreat into far-off thought — what a ballerina Valerie Sarruf will make!

And this budding young girl assures you, in the flood of virgin shyness, that ballet has given her much confidence in herself, and much harmony among the members of the body. If anything troubles her, it is a tendency of the calf muscles to thicken...

She aspires to become one day a ballerina of world rank, and by way of preparation she will travel next year to England to complete her studies for three years. And if in the end she chooses ballet as her profession, it will be in England, not in Lebanon — there where public opinion's view of the arts is lofty and respectful...