Page:The Art of Nijinsky.djvu/140

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NIJINSKY

for its existence on State patronage, and has inevitably preserved the bias of all things royal towards the conventional and the correct. But now that private enterprise has furnished an independent outlet, the ballet has become a splendid playground for that personal and adventurous spirit which is the first result of emancipation. This, of course, means many enemies in the country of its origin, and explains the fact that, like so many achievements of the modern Russian spirit, the new art of Russian dancing is an art of exiles.

In this country, however, the Russian Ballet has had to face no active hostility, and a recent pronouncement of Mr, Gordon Craig affords, I think, the only serious and public criticism of its principles.

Briefly, his complaint is that the appeal

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