| OCR Text |
Show Dance of Fijian Girls. "Dancing?" said tho old traveler scornfully. "You folks at homo, with your twoH-unt waltzes and polkas don't know whnt real dancing Is. You should see tho girls dance In FIJI as I have seen them. "They call their dances 'mekes,' nnd tho best of them all Is tho 'wave, moko,' A lot of pretty girls, in two or threo rows, act the movements of tho sea as It rolls In upon tho reefs. "First of nil, they bond down In unison uni-son nnd sweep tho ground slowly with thoir hands, waving their fingers In order to tcprcsent tho little wavelets flecked by tho wind, Then thoy sway their bodies to and fro to show tho long roll ot tho tropical wavo; nnd prosently their figure rlso nnd fnll i do tho breakers. Tho action of the danco becomes moro nnd more violent, Tho wavo Is dashing up tho barrier roof, Tho girls spring forward nnd clap their hnnds, and then drop to tho ground with a long.mtislcal cry. Tho wave has surmounted the reef and emptied Itself Into tho glassy lagoon. Tho danco Is over. "Every movement of tho 'wavo meke' Is graceful and refined. Tho b03t ballet girls In your American theaters the-aters nro not better trained thun these young Fijian maidens, who spend a good half of their happy .caroless, lazy lives dancing their 'wekes' or playing In tho surf. Thorn nro no finor dnnc-crs dnnc-crs In tho world. Nearly nil their ballets bal-lets descrlbo the scones arou J them or tho Incidents of thoir dally Uvc3. Other 'mekes' plctuio the palms swaying sway-ing In tho breeze, the canoes tossing In a gnlo, nnd, tho clouds sailing across tho sky." |
