An American Woman Creates a New Ballet

Catherine Littlefield 'Remarkable,' Says Noted Critic

"Catherine Littlefield is a very remarkable woman," writes Arnold Haskell, the great critic of the ballet in his "Dancing Round the World," which has just been published in London.

Then he goes about the business of telling why: "She has realized that a young American venture needs young American musicians and young American artists, and instead of buying up some of the names discovered by Diaghileff, she has decided to discover for herself.

"The first name that she has made has been her own. She is a choreographer of very great promise--musical, and essentially theatrical. Her "Barn Dance" is a little masterpiece, and the problem of translating floor dancing into terms of the stage is one of exceptional difficulty. "Barn Dance is a work that can be seen over and over again, because while at first glance the action seems simple, it is in fact, complex, made up of many centers of interest."

It was in London that Mr. Haskell first saw the Philadelphia Ballet and its premiere danseuse and director, Catherine Littlefield, who are to play in Richmond at the Mosque on January 28 under the auspices of the Richmond Civic Musical Association. Mr. Haskell knew about them before they ever went to London--and European cities; but he was skeptical, and did not make the trip from New York to Philadelphia to see what this new American ballet that was taking the town by storm was all about.

'Most Welcome' Visitors to London

He made amends--handsomely--later.

For he says, in his book, "The most welcome visitors to London for a very long time have been the Philadelphia Ballet--I missed them in America, almost on purpose, having not sufficient faith to make the hour's journey from New York.

"Their example underlines the points I have made...that a company develops best out of a school; that co-operation can achieve rapid results; that national movements in ballet are becoming increasingly important...

"Fokine, Massine and Balanchine have been working for considerable periods in America," Mr. Haskell adds, "but it has taken an American woman to produce the first important American works for American dancers to find favor both in Paris and in London; that perhaps is natural, but, in addition, she has trained all the dancers in her own studio. The Russians have performed in America, taught in America, but the Americans are showing the first tangible results.

Mr. Haskell thinks it was "a daring and reckless thing" for Miss Littlefield to present "Moment Romantique, a Chopin Ballet, as the first London offering. Comparison was inevitable, he explains, especially when the music overlapped with that of "Les Sylphides," one of the offerings of the Russian Ballet.

"But even then," he says, "Catherine Littlefield's quality was revealed in original flashes..."

The company itself immediately charmed one by its spontaneity, something not seen since the young Russians of 1933. These Philadelphians seemed to be (and actually were) enjoying themselves, quite oblivious of the fact that they had to make any effort to please a highly critical audience with no previous knowledge of them, and prejudiced, if anything, against the very idea of an American ballet. The dancers were naturally musical, pretty and well-built, and their miming was on an exceptionally high level. The men, too, showed virility that I have not seen in any other company. Catherine Littlefield, herself, is a dancer of charm, intelligence and strong personality.

"Barn Dance" is among the numbers which the Philadelphia Ballet will present in Richmond, and some of the music for this dance was composed by the Virginia composer, John Powell, who wrote it many years before the Philadelphia Ballet was even thought of--music that has caught to perfection the infectious spirit of this typically American pastime, and which has found a happy collaboration with this American ballet.

Just as American singers had tough sailing for a time when first they invaded the hallowed opera houses of Europe, so has this American ballet had to bear the not always easy burden of being a pioneer. One celebrated American dancer who was hailed by European critics for her "magnificent technique" was also blamed for being "too American."

But those who knew most about the ballet and who had watched many "schools" of the ballet come and go, saw in the performances of the Philadelphia Ballet not only a group of remarkable dancers, but a warning to the Russian Ballet "to put its house in order."

"There was much that the Philadelphians had to teach both to the audience and to other dancers (Mr. Haskell is speaking again) not technically so much as artistically. This may sound shocking to the more hysterical balletomane; it is a fact.

"Compare two presentations new to London the same season, June 1937: Barn Dance and Les Elfes, the first the work of an unknown--she won't be for long--the second of a great master. The first was musically self-contained fresh and original, its costumes and scenery exploiting the movement to the full and adding to the picture; the second was arranged to a combination of music by Mendelssohn, an overture, two parts of a concerto; with its costumes, in my opinion, a very definite handicap. Diaghileff might or might not have approved of "Barn Dance"; he would have most certainly abhorred "Les Elfes" as a production, in spite of much interesting choreography.

"Two more comparisons, since my proposition savors so much of lese-majeste that it needs further support: Jota Aragonesa and Terminal.

The first by the master is an altogether insignificant and formless evocation of Spain, Ole, beautifully and expensively dressed, which further accentuated its poverty, the second, not a major work by any means, sets out to capture the spirit of contemporary life in America and succeeds. It is complete. I could draw even more vivid examples in my contention that non-Russian ballet, Philadelphian and otherwise, has a multitude of lessons and a grave warning to convey to the Russian ballet.

Barn Dance Has 'Deacon and Mae West'

The "Barn Dance" is superior both as Americana and as ballet to the Russian ballet's "Union Pacific." Mr. Haskell believes, the music of "Barn Dance," beautifully orchestrated, is certainly superior and the production far tauter and more compact. Catherine Littlefield says all she has to, and then lets the curtain down. Also the more one sees this work, the more the detail grows, yet the very first time it makes an extraordinary effect. It has its stock figures--Mae West and the Deacon--but it is gloriously fresh and original. And how well it is danced."

For its Richmond program the Philadelphia Ballet will include "Terminal" and "Viennese Waltz" in addition to the "Barn Dance." "Terminal" chooses scenes from American life as seen in a metropolitan railroad station. Six trains arrive with their own special cargo of passengers: "Commuters' Special," train from Reno (featuring the Dance of the Divorcees), Dixie Limited, which boasts a Mammy and pickaninnies; Train for the West (a crooner departs for scenes of new triumphs with his wife and a radio announcer), Train from Hollywood (and Honeymoon Express, bound for Niagara Falls.

In "Viennese Waltz" the music is of course, furnished by Johann Strauss.

Henri Elkan is the musical conductor of the Philadelphia Ballet, which will be accompanied by a symphony orchestra.