Since, according to our theory, the future of the art of dancing
belongs to America, we should take into consideration those primary
elements of musical art that form the foundation of every dance.
American art naturally lacks fundamentally national elements; it
strives toward cosmic ideals instead. Miserable as is the syncopated
form of American popular music it yet constitutes the musical
_Volapük_ of all the nations. This same syncopated form of expression
manifests itself in American architecture and in its social dancing.
The broken lines, the irregular dynamics, and the restless corners here
and there that we find predominant in American architecture are nothing
but a transposed form of popular music. It is evident that neither one
of the arts has yet found its foundation. A New York skyscraper is
a silent ‘ragtime’ tune, and _vice versa_. But the ‘ragtime’ rhythm
can be modulated to the same æsthetic expressions as the skyscrapers.
Unconsciously the dance follows the patterns of architecture and music.
The future choreography does not necessarily need to be based upon
syncopated rhythm only, but upon the various factors of the style, the
method of expression and the spiritual issues.
The physical and spiritual bases of every folk-art lie in the rural
life. A folk-song or a folk-dance is and remains the product of idyllic
village atmosphere. It mirrors the joys and sorrows, hopes and passions
of the country people. It has been molded under the blue sky, in
sunshine and storm. The songs of birds and the voices of nature form
its æsthetic background. A village troubadour or poet is usually its
creator, and simplicity is its fundamental trait. It exalts the rural
atmosphere, poetry and characteristics. The place of the birth and
growth of syncopated rhythm and broken symmetry is exclusively the
city. It exalts the noise, rush and triviality, also the alertness and
forces of the street. It suggests motion and intellectual fever. It
leaves images of something artificial and fatal in the mind. The spirit
of the country is different in every nation; but the spirit of the city
is a similar one all over the world. It is in this very fact that we
have to look for the logical foundation of the future choreography. It
will emanate from no particular race, from no particular country, nor
from any particular element of national art. It will come from the
artificial city, the mother of cosmic idealism. The symbolism of the
city is destined to take the place of the symbolism of the country. The
New York plasticism will be also the plasticism of Paris and Petrograd.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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