Dancing — the rhythmical2 movement of the limbs and body to music — is, as I have endeavored to point out, instinctive3, hardly a people, savage4 or refined, but has certain forms of it. When, from any cause, the men abstain5 from its execution it has commonly not the character of grace and agility6 as its dominant7 feature, but is distinguished8 by soft, voluptuous9 movements, suggestive posturing10, and all the wiles11 by which the performer knows she can best please the other sex, the most forthright12 and effective means to that commendable13 end being evocation14 of man’s baser nature. The Japanese men are anti-dancers from necessity of costume, if nothing else, and the effect is much the same as elsewhere under the same conditions the women dance, the men gloat and the gods grieve.
There are two kinds of dances in Japan, the one not only lewd15, but — to speak with accurate adjustment of word to fact — beastly, in the other grace is the dominating element, and decency16 as cold as a snow storm. Of the former class, the “Chon Nookee” is the most popular. It is, however, less a dance than an exhibition, and its patrons are the wicked, the dissolute and the European. It is commonly given at some entertainment to which respectable women have not the condescension17 to be invited — such as a dinner party of some wealthy gentleman’s gentlemen friends. The dinner-served on the floor — having been impatiently tucked away, and the candies, cakes, hot saki and other necessary addenda18 of a Japanese dinner brought in, the “Chon Nookee” is demanded, and with a modest demeanor19, worn as becomingly as if it were their every day habit, the performers glide20 in, seating themselves coyly on the floor, in two rows. Each dancing girl is appareled in such captivating bravery as her purse can buy or her charms exact. The folds of her varicolored gowns crossing her bosom21 makes combinations of rich, warm hues22, which it were folly23 not to admire and peril24 to admire too much. The faces of these girls are in many instances exceedingly pretty, but with that natural — and, be it humbly25 submitted, not very creditable — tendency of the sex to revision and correction of nature’s handiwork, they plaster them with pigments26 dear to the sign painter and temper the red glory of their lips with a bronze preparation which the flattered brass27 founder28 would no doubt deem kissable utterly29. The music is made by beating a drum and twanging a kind of guitar, the musician chanting the while to an exceedingly simple air words which, in deference30 to the possible prejudices of those readers who may be on terms of familarity with the Japanese language, I have deemed it proper to omit — with an apology to the Prudes for the absence of an appendix in which they might be given without offense31. (I had it in mind to insert the music here, but am told by credible32 authority that in Japan music is moral or immoral33 without reference to the words that may be sung with it. So I omit — with reluctance34 — the score, as well as the words.)
The chanting having proceeded for a few minutes the girls take up the song and enter spiritedly into the dance. One challenges another and at a certain stage of the lively song with the sharp cry “Hoi!” makes a motion with her hand. Failure on the part of the other instantaneously and exactly to copy this gesture entails35 the forfeiture36 of a garment, which is at once frankly37 removed. Cold and mechanical at the outset, the music grows spirited as the girls grow nude38, and the dancers themselves become strangely excited as they warm to the work, taking, the while, generous potations of saki to assist their enthusiasm.
Let it not be supposed that in all this there is anything of passion, it is with these women nothing more that the mere39 mental exaltation produced by music, exercise and drink. With the spectators (I have heard) it fares somewhat otherwise.
When modesty’s last rag has been discarded, the girls as if suddenly abashed40 at their own audacity41, fly like startled fawns42 from the room, leaving their patrons to make a settlement with conscience and arrange the terms upon which that monitor will consent to the performance of the rest of the dance. For the dance proper — or improper43 — is now about to begin. If the first part seemed somewhat tropical, comparison with what follows will acquit44 it of that demerit. The combinations of the dance are infinitely45 varied46, and so long as willing witnesses remain — which, in simple justice to manly47 fortitude48 it should be added, is a good while — so long will the “Chon Nookee” present a new and unexpected phase, but it is thought expedient49 that no more of them be presented here, and if the reader has done me the honor to have enough of it, we will pass to the consideration of another class of dances.
Of this class those most in favor are the Fan and Umbrella dances, performed, usually, by young girls trained almost from infancy50. The Japanese are passionately51 fond of these beautiful exhibitions of grace, and no manner of festivity is satisfactorily celebrated52 without them. The musicians, all girls, commonly six or eight in number, play on the guitar, a small ivory wand being used, instead of the fingers, to strike the strings53. The dancer, a girl of some thirteen years, is elaborately habited as a page. Confined by the closely folded robe as by fetters54, the feet and legs are not much used, the feet, indeed, never leaving the floor. Time is marked by undulations of the body, waving the arms, and deft55 manipulation of the fan. The supple56 figure bends and sways like a reed in the wind, advances and recedes57, one movement succeeding another by transitions singularly graceful58, the arms describing innumerable curves, and the fan so skilfully59 handled as to seem instinct with a life and liberty of its own. Nothing more pure, more devoid60 of evil suggestion, can be imagined. It is a sad fact that the poor children trained to the execution of this harmless and pleasing dance are destined61, in their riper years, to give their charms and graces to the service of the devil in the ‘Chon Nookee’. The umbrella dance is similar to the one just described, the main difference being the use of a small, gaily62 colored umbrella in place of the fan.
Crossing from Japan to China, the Prude will find a condition of things which, for iron severity of morals, is perhaps unparalleled — no dancing whatever, by either profligate63 or virtuous64 women. To whatever original cause we may attribute this peculiarity65, it seems eternal, for the women of the upper classes have an ineradicable habit of so mutilating their feet that even the polite and comparatively harmless accomplishment66 of walking is beyond their power, those of the lower orders have not sense enough to dance, and that men should dance alone is a proposition of such free and forthright idiocy67 as to be but obscurely conceivable to any understanding not having the gift of maniacal68 inspiration, or the normal advantage of original incapacity. Altogether, we may rightly consider China the heaven appointed habitat of people who dislike the dance.
In Siam, what little is known of dancing is confined to the people of Laos. The women are meek69 eyed, spiritless creatures, crushed under the heavy domination of the stronger sex. Naturally, their music and dancing are of a plaintive70, almost doleful character, not without a certain cloying71 sweetness, however. The dancing is as graceful as the pudgy little bodies of the women are capable of achieving — a little more pleasing than the capering72 of a butcher’s block, but not quite so much so as that of a wash tub. Its greatest merit is the steely rigor73 of its decorum. The dancers, however, like ourselves, are a shade less appallingly74 proper off the floor than on it.
In no part of the world, probably, is the condition of women more consummately75 deplorable than in India, and, in consequence, nowhere than in the dances of that country is manifested a more simple unconsciousness or frank disregard of decency. As by nature, and according to the light that is in him, the Hindu is indolent and licentious76, so, in accurately77 matching degree, are the dancing girls innocent of morality, and uninfected with shame. It would be difficult, more keenly to insult a respectable Hindu woman than to accuse her of having danced, while the man who should affect the society of the females justly so charged would incur78 the lasting79 detestation of his race. The dancing girls are of two orders of infamy80 — those who serve in the temples, and are hence called Devo Dasi, slaves of the gods, and the Nautch girls, who dance in a secular81 sort for hire. Frequently a mother will make a vow82 to dedicate her unborn babe, if it have the obedience83 to be a girl, to the service of some particular god, in this way, and by the daughters born to themselves, are the ranks of the Devo Dasi recruited. The sons of these miserable84 creatures are taught to play upon musical instruments for their mothers and sisters to dance by. As the ordinary Hindu woman is careless about the exposure of her charms, so these dancers take intelligent and mischievous85 advantage of the social situation by immodestly concealing86 their own. The Devo Dasi actually go to the length of wearing clothes! Each temple has a band of eight or ten of these girls, who celebrate their saltatory rites87 morning and evening. Advancing at the head of the religious procession, they move themselves in an easy and graceful manner, with gradual transition to a more sensuous88 and voluptuous motion, suiting their action to the religious frame of mind of the devout89 until their well-rounded limbs and lithe90 figures express a degree of piety91 consonant92 with the purpose of the particular occasion. They attend all public ceremonies and festivals, executing their audacious dances impartially93 for gods and men.
The Nautch girls are purchased in infancy, and as carefully trained in their wordly way as the Devo Dasi for the diviner function, being about equally depraved. All the large cities contain full sets of these girls, with attendant musicians, ready for hire at festivals of any kind, and by leaving orders parties are served at their residences with fidelity94 and dispatch. Commonly they dance two at a time, but frequently some wealthy gentleman will secure the services of a hundred or more to assist him through the day without resorting to questionable95 expedients96 of time-killing. Their dances require strict attention, from the circumstance that their feet — like those of the immortal97 equestrienne of Banbury Cross — are hung with small bells, which must be made to sound in concert with the notes of the musicians. In attitude and gesture they are almost as bad as their pious98 sisters of the temples. The endeavor is to express the passions of love, hope, jealousy99, despair, etc, and they eke100 out this mimicry101 with chanted songs in every way worthy102 of the movements of which they are the explanatory notes. These are the only women in Hindustan whom it is thought worth while to teach to read and write. If they would but make as noble use of their intellectual as they do of their physical education, they might perhaps produce books as moral as The Dance of Death.
In Persia and Asia Minor103, the dances and dancers are nearly alike. In both countries the Georgian and Circassian slaves who have been taught the art of pleasing, are bought by the wealthy for their amusement and that of their wives and concubines. Some of the performances are pure in motive104 and modest in execution, but most of them are interesting otherwise. The beautiful young Circassian slave, clad in loose robes of diaphanous105 texture106, takes position, castanets in hand, on a square rug, and to the music of a kind of violin goes through the figures of her dance, her whiteness giving her an added indelicacy which the European spectator misses in the capering of her berry brown sisters in sin of other climes.
The dance of the Georgian is more spirited. Her dress is a brief skirt reaching barely to the knees and a low cut chemise. In her night black hair is wreathed a bright red scarf or string of pearls. The music, at first low and slow increases by degrees in rapidity and volume, then falls away almost to silence, again swells107 and quickens and so alternates, the motions of the dancer’s willowy and obedient figure accurately according now seeming to swim languidly, and anon her little feet having their will of her, and fluttering in midair like a couple of birds. She is an engaging creature, her ways are ways of pleasantness, but whether all her paths are peace depends somewhat, it is reasonable to conjecture108, upon the circumspection109 of her daily walk and conversation when relegated110 to the custody111 of her master’s wives.
In some parts of Persia the dancing of boys appareled as women is held in high favor, but exactly what wholesome112 human sentiment it addresses I am not prepared to say.
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1
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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agility
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| n.敏捷，活泼 | |
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dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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8
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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posturing
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| 做出某种姿势( posture的现在分词 ) | |
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wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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forthright
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| adj.直率的，直截了当的 [同]frank | |
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13
commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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evocation
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| n. 引起，唤起 n. <古> 召唤，招魂 | |
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lewd
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| adj.淫荡的 | |
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decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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addenda
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| n.附录，附加物；附加物( addendum的名词复数 )；补遗；附录；（齿轮的）齿顶（高） | |
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demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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pigments
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| n.（粉状）颜料( pigment的名词复数 )；天然色素 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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entails
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| 使…成为必要( entail的第三人称单数 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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forfeiture
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| n.（名誉等）丧失 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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nude
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| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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42
fawns
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| n.（未满一岁的）幼鹿( fawn的名词复数 )；浅黄褐色；乞怜者；奉承者v.（尤指狗等）跳过来往人身上蹭以示亲热( fawn的第三人称单数 )；巴结；讨好 | |
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43
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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44
acquit
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| vt.宣判无罪；(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
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45
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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47
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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48
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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49
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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50
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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51
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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52
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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53
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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54
fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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55
deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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56
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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57
recedes
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的第三人称单数 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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58
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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59
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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60
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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61
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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62
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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64
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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68
maniacal
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| adj.发疯的 | |
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meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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cloying
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| adj.甜得发腻的 | |
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72
capering
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| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的现在分词 )；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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rigor
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| n.严酷，严格，严厉 | |
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appallingly
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| 毛骨悚然地 | |
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consummately
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| adv.完成地，至上地 | |
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76
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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78
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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80
infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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81
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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82
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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83
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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84
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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consonant
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| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
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impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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expedients
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| n.应急有效的，权宜之计的( expedient的名词复数 ) | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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eke
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| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
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mimicry
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| n.（生物）拟态，模仿 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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diaphanous
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| adj.(布)精致的，半透明的 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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