“The Belle of the Ball” gave place to a revival of “Coppélia” and--the return of Mlle. Adeline Génée. Many as her triumphs had been during her ten years’ unbroken reign, that Wednesday night, June 10th, 1908, must be recorded in Mlle. Génée’s memory in letters of gold, for even she can never have seen such a house, so crammed from floor to ceiling with a distinguished audience, including King George (then Prince of Wales), and been welcomed with such thunderous cheering and applause as greeted her on her first appearance through the little brown door of Swanilda’s balconied house, when she floated down the stairs to the centre of the stage, so lightly indeed that she seemed almost to flutter before the storm of enthusiasm which welcomed her return. And how she danced! Only her peer among poets could describe it, and then he would probably feel as Thackeray felt when endeavouring to do justice to Taglioni in “Sylphide!” For some seasons past we have had the Russian ballet as a standing dish, over which various epicures have gloated as if no other fare had ever been. But it is interesting to note that the first of “all the Russias” was Mlle. Lydia Kyasht, who made her London _début_ at the Empire, in some dances with M. Adolph Bolm, on August 17th, 1908. For the present, and to preserve historical order, let the fact be merely recorded, leaving further reference thereto until the time it becomes necessary to chronicle the handsome Russian dancer’s later successes. On September 7th of that same year came the production of one of the most perfect gems yet seen in the historic gallery of Ballet, namely, “The Dryad,” a pastoral fantasy in two tableaux, by that brilliant composer, Miss Dora Bright. From time to time, in such productions as “The Milliner Duchess,” “Coppélia,” and “The Débutante,” we had had an opportunity of realising something of Mlle. Génée’s gifts as an actress apart from her supremacy as a dancer, but it was mainly as a dancer, surrounded by dancers, that we have seen her. Now, however, we were to have a conclusive revelation of the fact that had Mlle. Génée not elected to become a great dancer she could have achieved distinction as an actress. The story, of which she was the heroine, gave her an opportunity of proving that; and with herself in the title-_rôle_, that artistic singer, Mr. Gordon Cleather, as a shepherd, and with the support of wonderfully expressive and beautifully orchestrated _mimodrame_ music, the sister arts of dance, song, mime, and music, were brought together to give us a balanced harmony of lovely and memorable impressions.