1929-10-08 — Page 7

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1929.

A DREAM PLAY

Shadow Of The King's Umbrella

THE CAMBODIAN BALLET

Half Naked Brown Bodies of Dancers

[By Berl Lum]

Angkor. An the same

dances have been found in countries entirely out of touch with, and far distant from Cambodia, it is a very old and ancient tradition: a religious ceremony whose beginning is so ancient that it cannol

The special perfornianco of the King's Ballet to which we had been asked was to take place at 4 o'clock. Outside the palace entrancu natives passed and repassed, their brown bodies half naked, their clothes splashes of brilliant colour, and among them Bud-be traced. dhist priests in robes of yellow and Monsieur Grustier has proved inuch orange. The sun beat down with that that before was only supposition by intensity that gave the effect of every-checking back, piece by piece, the cas object swimming in light, making the down-flung shadows very dark with sharply eut edges-fat silhouettes with no softness.

As we crossed the street the walls of the houses glared brilliantly white an they rose to support the roofs of amber that sweep up in points at the corners and tear the sky with ragged vilges. Beyond the cone of silver pagoda, the sun, catching the points of the roofs, sent tongues of flame scek- ing to reach the aky.

tumes of the Cambodian dancers and Anding their exact reproductions in tho friezes of the temples in Madras and Bengal. The valvet fringes and small discs of metal which have been added to the costume were brought to Siam by the Portuguese. The mantle of the dancing girls is of Khmer origin; it is a conventionalised form of the wrap that the Cambodian wonten still wear.

An Ancient Art

These dances, the only living and breathing splendour of the Angkorean period which Cambodia has preserved, are the relics of a most beautiful an cient art. They are the soul and the) ideal of these people. The most in- portant troupe of disneers were, until recently, a part of the royal menage and lived in the palace; now they are at Phnom Penh and under the direc-

The Throne Hall is approached by terraces that rise one upon another, held together by balustrades formed of the intermingling bodies of Naga, the seven hended Cobra. Entering from the heat and brilliancy, the dinmess within was most delightful. A breath of music turned our steps to- ward the Dance Hall, which, as wution of the prolectorate. Often they reached the entrance, grew to a sob 'hing that rose in rhythmic waves to fill the room with the uncanny motif of a primitive dance. Sitting in the centre were the dancers with the mask ed faces on either side. The sun-flood- ing upon them from windows nt then far sound of a sobbing drum and back, gave figures and enuntenances a strange copper glow.

A Dream of Motion

give performances on the terraces of) Angkor Wat. At night when the moon is high it does not require the slight est imagination to know that this strange dead city has come to life. Out of the stil blue night there enmes

TALKIE FILM

MR. MCCORMACK'S ROLE

SINGING BLACKSMITH

THE CHINA MAIL,

Mr. John McCormack, the Irish tenor, who is to play his first film role (a singing blacksmith) in a new talking picture is to be paid between £80,000 and $100,000 for his five months' work in connection with the production.

SHADOWS BEFORE.

COMING EVENTS ANNOUNCED IN "CHINA MAIL"

Social Functions To-day-Dinner Dances at Hong Kong Hotel and Peninsula Hotel, 8.30 p.m.

To-day-Dinner Dance at Repulse Bay Hotel, 8.80 p.m.

To-day--Tea Dance at Hong Kong Hotel, 4.30 p.m.

Entertainments

This statement was made by Mr. Frank Borzage when he reached Southampton in the Cunarder "Aquitanta" from New York. Mr. "The Lion and the Mouse."

To-day Queen's Theatre; Borzage is a director of the Fox:

To-day World Film Company, which is to produce Girls

Theatre; the film. He said:

Gone Wild.” (Continuous The cost will be approximately pan.).

performance from 1.15 to 11.15 £200,000. Same of the Irlah are to be taken in the

Вседев

—

..

To-day star Theatre; "Faust."

Majestic Theatre; "A Thief in the Dark," at 5.20 and 9.15 p Wedding." (Chinese picture) at 2,80 and 7.15 p.m.

countryside around Dublin and To-day others in Killarney, and will be followed by interiors represent ing Milan. These will be filmed in the studios at Hollywood.

According to present arrange- ments, Mr. McCormack will sail from Southampton for Hollywood to complete his work.

He will sing eight songs, some of which will be popular num. bera.

THE LEAGUE

SOME WRONG IDEAS OF ITS IDEALS

"The Hermit's Own

To-day-At Star Theatre, Torcat's Roosters, at 5.30 and 9.20/p.m.

Oct. 10 and 11-Star Theatre; Warwick Revue Co. present "The Peep Show," 9.15 p.m.

Oct. 12 and 18-Star Theatre; Warwick Revue Co, present "High Lights," 9.15 p.m.

Oct. 14 and 15-Star Theatre; Warwick Revue Co. present "The Merry-Go-Round," 9.15 p.m.

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IN OTHER PLACES

CHRONICLES FROM JAPAN TO

JAVA.

The "City of Marseilles" is ex- pected to call at Singapore about November 25, to convey details to the United Kingdom.

The Hon. Mr. R. J. B. Clayton, M.C.S., British Adviser, Kelantan, and Mrs. Clayton, have been on a short visit to Bangkok.

The British Minister to Siam, the Hon. Mr. C. I. F. R. Wingfield, C.M.G., is leaving Bangkok for Home on Oct. 16. He will join the P. and 0. "Karmala" in Penang.

Kuomintang elder, who was former- Mr. Chang Chi, the well-known

Oct. 16 and 17-Star Theatre;ly president of the Senate, is ex- Warwick Revue Co.. present Airy pected to return from a trip to Japan Nothings." 9.15 p.m.

in a week or so.

Lee Theatre, 9 p.m.

Oct. 21-Nelson Day Concert at

said: "Nothing is more essential His Majesty King George has

than a strong and enduring League of Nations. Million of British

Home Mail men and women stand ready to little tongues of lame. Tongues that help if only they be shown the way.

To-morrow-Outward for Amer- coming nearer, and followed by others. I commend the cause to all the ica and port's ("Empress

of Lurn into an endless line of boys citizens of my Empire." Millions Russia"), 10 am. The music of gongu unt drums carrying torches. Along the causeway of British men and women stand swelled higher and higher as the cur

where, by a trick of the moon, the ready... True! Bat His Majesty tains parted and the premiere duz-reat god Naga along each side seems sease swirled on the stage with the.

to be alive and the sinuous curves of recognises also the chief difficulty

confronts the nation dewi Oct. 11-Steel Coulson's Billiard lightness of a thistle blown by the his body to undulate to the slow heat that

ing of the drums.

is League: Winners v. rest of league, Beyond, and re-manding international peace

Oct. 28-Twelfth bl-annual race for Ships Lifeboats, ("Trevessa Trophy") starting time, 4 p.m.

wind.

Sports

On naked' feet she pasturen flected in the moat, banyan trees flare demonstrated by clause, "if only Somerset Sergis. Meas 6 p.m.

2

Dr. Chu Min-yi, president of the Sino-French Technical Institute and Chinese head of the Sino-French Exploration Party, will soon leave Peking for Mongolis, Sinkiang and other provinces to investigate general conditions before the party starts out.

The following officers have been elected by the Medical Practitioners Association of Shanghai. Dr. Hau Nai-li, president; Drs. Yu Yun-wu. (one could not call it dancing, in the asuni acceptance of the word, a

out, weird silhouettes against the sky; they be shown the way." Never-

Tsal Yu-men, Hela Shun-cho, Ching dream of motion, a thing of moonlight bits of light shine and fade; will-o'-theless there is a way and that way

Han-chang (directons); Waung and fame, the soul of dance made the-wisps to lead

On to this lies along wider paths of know-

Chih-chang, C. Voongping Yui, secro- visible. A strange detachert intensity, pagan rite under the moon which, now ledge, greater familiarity with the

Meetings high in the sky floods the hundred work now being undertaken by the a spirit offered to unseen gols.

taries; Haich Chun-shou and Liu) To-day-Mecting of Hong Kong Chiung-tung, treasurers; Chu Min- Her costume of gold cloth covered steps of the temple pyramid: The with jewels and Liny flowers on small torch boys are massed along cach side, League of Nations, the realisation Football Association Council, 5.30yi and Way-sung New, publicity and

social secretaries. springs quivering from the upturned resting against Nuga, and their bodice that this organiation is not an p.m. corners of her jacket and headdress swaying to the beating of the drums, academic body but rather

Oct. 11-Hong Kong Cricket Club threw small sharp points of light The flame of the torches throws up practical. business-like concern, Meeting, 5.30 p.m. skuinst the dark curtains. As the rings of smoke which add

to the handling situations bigger than maste swelled, the stage filled with the mystery.

those with which other civic groups shimmering gold of quickly moving

Tomtoms beat and cymbals crash, have had to deal. Let us dismiss Bodies, intermingled

The wavering note of lutea is heard. the popular picture of idealistic with Rreen,

To-day-Official Opening of Radio The towers of the temple orange and fuchsia shades, weaving a brocade of intricate patterns and un-houettes against the moon, the porches elderly gentlemen and lady refor Broadcast Concert, 9 pm. believable beauty. Those who took the and entrances cast very black shadows mers employing

Today University Lecture on part of women wore jaamine and other and from out of their shadows com stenographers to type reams that "The Machinery ofWarships," flowers that sent an illusive, exotic per the dancing girls that are sculptured nobody ever reads, and substitute by Engineer Capt. W. H: Mitchell, funre through the rooms.

All wore along their walls, come down the steps in its place the League as it really 8.30 p.m. masks of grotesque shape and colour.to re-enact the legenda of Angkor

Oct. 10-Chinese National Day, busy organisation where "At Home," at Merchants' Club, certain ideals are applied to con- China Bldg., 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.

Oct. 10 Kowloon Chinese ditions, and a great deal of busi-

Gareda was there, the celestial bird of Vishnu, Hanuman, the monkey god, terrible with his white face. The green mask of Brahma and in dread ful>colief against this whirling sea of dancers, the black head of Ngos.

Wat.

are all.

£ number of

is. The League of Nations actually

j

સ

Miscellaneous

..

Spirit of Vanished Race Strange, is it not, that in a land where women are, and always hava been, considered of no Importance, ness-transacted much the same Y.M.C.A. Formal Opening, 4.30

us at a Labour Union meeting or a p.m. chartered accountants' conference— Oct. 11-Dance on tennis court, is accomplished.

Somerset Sergts. Mess, 9. p.m.

that they alone should have kept alive through the conturios the spirit of this vanished race. These dances are not It is not a dance but a religious dances in the occidental acceptance of

A Religious Ceremony

ceremony from a long vanished past, the word. They are more to be class the soul of a people developed, pre-ed as religious ceremonies: to be com served and passed through the forgot-pared with the Ne of Japan in their ten centuries by a king who passed it general form and also in that they are on to other kings down through the interpretations of legends and stories agus. A marvel of rhythmic expres of the past. The No are ghost -ion-unsurpassed today From the plays the time always between the

"time of Angkor Thom to King Norodom it was religious institution and there were.two hundred girls. Under King Sisiwath it was reduced to fifty and now it is only keeping up a tradition. A few more years and perhaps it will have passed into a niemory.

One can not but wonder of what is the lives of these girls who are given to the shadows. To be chosen for the ballet of the king is considered a great honour for the child's family. At the age of six she is taken to the palace never to leave it. A gift to the king, *therefore she is honoured above, others. A genii will protect her family and they received from three five hun- dred plastres for her besides many scarves and 'sampots. The child bids her family farewell and for her the world has ceased to exist. She is only another shadow within the walls of a king's palace. Eight weary hours must she work every day under the. direction of a boya- girl too old to dance but young enough to teach. First, to become a dancer she must be double joined, yet that is not enough; Joints are broken, then weeks and months upon months she must sit mak- ing circular movements to train and atretch the muscles and it le many years before she can even begin the training for dancing.

The Only Chance of Happiness.

She learns gestures they are al ways the same, gift offering and wor ship-traditions handed down of which no one knows the meaning. Besides training for the ballet she is made to understand 'every possible wish of the king for the only chance of happiness in to catch his fancy, and if she does the will have a house of her own, her nokot will be of pure gold, her jewels many. Yet even so, beyond a time, be yond the muzic and laughter and dance- ing feet is the god of poverty aniling his cruel, sinile, for he knows the chances are mostly, in Mia favours

And, as archaeologists go more deeply into the unreadable past of the vandfab Khmers, they find evidence that this nes magic fe older than the building kor Wat older than the city KTIȚIAN FREE, IE beginning has

setting and riding of the sun. They are stories of restless spirits who, be cause of unfulfilled desires while on earth, return again and again, always seeking rest for their sorrows.

being, uneconomic and stupid,

The League claims that war,

not the solution to international disagreements. Therefore it out- laws war. Its business is to dis- over a working basis upon which

tions may remain friendly and at the same time, protect their own respective interests.

Oct. 12-Third Annual Garden

Fete of St. Peter's Church, 2.30 p.m.

WOMAN'S £40,000

GIFT FOR TUBERCULOSIS ———.

RESEARCH

The Medical Research Council

the royal princesses, took part in the announces that has received dance. They played before many per- from Mra. Odo Cross £40,000, as The Cambodlin, Siamese and Indian sanages. On the other hand, the corythe endowment of. trust for the dances are stories of events that have pheos attached to the temple had establishment of research fellow- taken pino: legends of gods and godascred character and their dance was ships in the study of tuberculosis, desaca, princes and princesses, not that

Moreover,

the "Dorothy The bust was nude. and covered with a Temple Cross Research Fellowship wealth, of jewels and the sarong Fund." whose panels hung down on either side.

Marchal, who has given the subject their costume was always the same to be known as

of the theatre.

great deal of study, says:

"The dance was greatly honoured during the Angker epoch. There were two varieties. One inscription tells us that the daughters of the nobles, even

-

The amount is the total received greater freedom to the lega." was caught up at the reale to allow by Mrs. Odo Cross in respect of her daughter's estate, no part of which does she desire to retain for her own benefit.

RAT CAUSES SMASH

JUMPS FROM VAN DRIVER'S POCKET

While Walter Wood, of Peters field-road, Acton, W., wae driving a motor van loaded with bread in North Acton/rst jumped from his coat-pocket, causing, him to lose control of the vehicle, which crash. ed into a standard.

The driver, was returning: after |delivering a supply of · bread for the greyhounds at Wembley Stadium, where it is believed the animal gót into his pocket.

No-one-was, Injured in the

smash...

A Tibetan Mohammedan named Ha Chi-mel has arrived in Shang- hal from a world's walking tour. After visiting Fukien and Cheklang, he will return to Tibet. Ha Chi- mel began his long walk in 1920 accompanied by two companions, one of whom died in Turkey and the other was shot by Russian bandits. Ha Chi-mal also received wounds from which he has now recovered.

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