Show 0 no fI n I L Jj I A iJ Y Ya tt q M MK K L S o j a I W a q r of z tia i r w w y e r re rf f j f fd 1 wrY d i a as s f v h hl a S l 4 a e ei i 1 R t z fi C f r rt Y Ya R to toz j t r b br r n nl ps f i r a t ra r f d fT w Y y yi re r kw a i 1 aa a a L i iii v d da df dA f A I i 0 A C i r t ii alb g gC rr y b f r N w wM t tM a 1 z Sr t F y 1 1 M Jh q M f f T hM Y i d 1 i a ar m t n y ry q qa A 5 1 v r as asb ast b S M 7 1 A t y- y t r no- no now w A A w w MY T TA Two groups of rhythmic gymnastic pupils one strain A ing every muscle as vigorously as they can and andl li l the other letting their bodies droop into corn com complete relaxation lt d 1 m J p t i 7 Y ir 1 yG Me 1 I Ir I r 1 Lf iP i r as B L 1 F FB Fl l j P 9 I l 1 Lt t 12 J L i 0 T Tu u 7 ita 1 S i F FM Fy J t t t t- t ti i a r Q H j t t YI i M t y t h y c ES t W AF Very you you-ig girls gals practicing the leaps and bounds which form the basis basi of the health and bringing beauty exercises VEN tho those thoe e who ho still retain a feeling feel- feel feeling EVEN E ing of hostility toward Germany will Ill admit that it is a most reo re- resourceful re resourceful I and seeing far nation This was demonstrated many times during the war It is being demonstrated e even een en mOl mole e in m the strenuous efforts the nation is making to repair the damage done by the great conflict and to pie pie- pie pare pare Iare itself for possible future great great- greatness greatness greatness ness in science and and industry industry and some sa say in war oar One of the most serious things Ger- Ger Germany Ger Germany many many has to deal with Ith is the damage to I her man power Her stamina was as weak weak- weakened weakened ened both on the battlefield and also 1 through privations suffered by those who stayed at howe home It is obvious that I If she is to resume an anything hing like her i heri former place among the nations she must do something to re restore tore health and strength to those who ho are left I A most important phase of Germanys Germany's great effort to recover her strength IS the mental and physical training of girls to mak make hem healthy and beautiful and able to produce healthy and beautiful children One of the most interesting of the various vanous forms this training takes is found in the numerous schools of rh gymnastics for girls and young oung women which are arc being opened all over the country There Thele every ivery day one can see the pupils going through performances of rhythmic regularity regularity- exactly like dancing in some ways not at all like it in others This system of gymnastics is not new but it is being given a wider and more practical use uge m in Germany just now than it ever eHr has had before The exercises eJ look insane in fact they might be said to be deliberately insane for a fundamental alteration of the con con- con con movements and carriage un- un im imposed posed by civilized life liCe is no small part of their purpose But these of the arms frantic leaps into the air and ether actions all have a very definite and md sensible purpose e Every little move move- movement ment has a meaning of its own These exercises are arc not dances in the tho true sense bense of the thc word having no tech technique rique laque be beyond ond a sort pf fit animal ammal grace V They can be described only as natural spontaneous motions bringing into play lay all 1111 the important m q systems that the animals use Continuously continuously and in instinctively and which we too often neg neg- lect beet neglect a They rhey are done to music and and nd are de- de desCribed de do described scribed as plastic that musIc music that is music Interpreted in m motion But this musical accompaniment does not make them any different deferent from the movement of the Jaguar inguar leaping over the jungle angle undergrowth undergrowth under- under 5 growth or the graceful grace grace- ful runs and bounds a 4 Z of a herd of antea antelopes ante- ante U a lopes V 1 x The music sImply helps to release the feeling part of the mind that civilized people have in ina ina ina a large measure suppressed but which nevertheless ne novel seems to insist upon coming Into action every once in a whole while without warning This subconscious mind of ours is what controls our impulses andas and as we weare weare are unable to obey our impulses as freely free free- freely ly freely ase as ve we once did it ceases eases to be rhythmically cally co with Ith the rest of us usand usand usand and upsets our whole mental and physical physical cal life Me The German scientists who ho are build build- ing building up the little mothers of the future have decided decided that the rhythmic rh or co coordination of this feeling mind and the muscles beautiful is the key to making a ful happy and healthy race And nd rhythm they decided could be found by gOing right back to nature where every every- thing everything is rhythmical Of course they could hav have hava obtained much the same results with some of the themore themore themore more conventional exercises ses or drUb drills but girls and boys too have ha always ays found these rather boring Furthermore they realized that lifting dumbbells pulling chest weights and other similar exercises benefit only a limited set of muscles I Rhy Rh exercises on the other hand bring into play all the great muscle systems at once and allow them to work together in perfect harmony And most girls find them great fun The rhe champions of rhythmic tics gymnastics are turning to the animals for natu natu- natural natu- natu natural natural ral healthy forms of exercise They think the animals are perfectly attuned to Natures Nature's rhythmic scheme and that we can do no better than imitate them They have kept in mind the fact that the nervous s system system tem and the mus mus- muscular muscular cular system developed slowly through the ages side by side aide In the forms where here thereas there was as little motion I How Derma ILi 4 bas 4 a yr 4 M a i ix x zui dw f 0 F Fd Ss d Amy a r e ff 1 4 U A tI- tI A t b a c S 4 8 f a L F Sfia a a Two of the topsy poses t c t that a are not at all difficult when a girl has haa progressed far enough jf f in the course om h Y j I Sq t 9 r r I r c cr 5 thereas there there was as very little nervous system and no mind at all Later on with Ith the development de- de de development of a skeleton sl and muscular system something resembling a mind and a more complicated nervous system began to appear at the same time If the muscles are so closely connected with Ith the centers of thought and and the nervous up make-up of a living thing will not perfection in muscular ordination co-ordination co affect the subconscious mind thus cre cre- cre a perfectly rhythmic human ani- ani animal ani animal mal moll sound in m body and clear in thought ready ready forDY for any DY emergency That IS the way the professors reasoned And naturally the best way to give girls who have been deprived by civilization tion of the opportunity to make all their their muscles work ork in rhythmic operation co-operation co with each other and with their nervous systems is to allow them then to act like the graceful tiger and the bounding antelope which have no nervous afflic- afflic afflictions afflic afflictions and know nothing of digestive dis- dis disorders dis disorders orders In the future these girls will not need the tho aid of a n psycho psychoanalyst to take the kinks kins out of their subconscious minds because there wont won't be any kinks Healthy pel poisons persons sons are almost always h happy persons In the the light of the new scientific knowledge ledge of the effect effect- of muscular expression on consciousness it may be M b safely said th that that t healthy persons are rhythmic persons persona poisons in whom thought and action are arc working to together gether in harmony I f Because of the manner in which the nervous and muscular systems s have been attuned to each other through the ages it is necessary ary in order to be healthy and happy to use methods of training human beings in line with Ith the methods used by hy nature in developing S iy y Is Using Rhythmic Gym Gym- t to Help i Repair the Damage 4 the War Did t to vt Her Man Power n and Insure a Sturdy r Future Race t Advanced pupil flying over the f ground with allI all A Athe I the rhythmic ease 1 J and grace of jur- jur jurgle jun Jun-i Jun i 5 gb gle beasts I C n if man and thus thusY 1 Y t work Ork in m har- har hara har har ti i J Jt t a mony ony with na- na nafe t fe tore ture tures ture's e o 0 own w n na nry 1 w W a laws ry 1 is Rhythm M Cound through through through-f's r rout out the urn uni- uni uniL L verse erae There is rhythm rh in the 11 winds the tides are rhythmic rh and there are aiD some who believe e that the gJ eat scheme of things so rhythmic that the moment of our birth and death is beaten out Inexorably at some moment or other fitting in with Ith the unending flow of cosmic music Music is the medium through which luch this sense of oneness with Ith nature IS caught and so it is music that is ex- ex expressed expressed ex expressed pressed in the plastic motions of the German girls whose hose bodies are to be perfect and beautiful because their minds are in m tune with Ith the great rh rhythmic scheme of all things and whose hose minds aro are to be clear because theIr muscles are in tune tune with their del ii orga organization To those who ho hn have e lost all sense of their Identity with the simplicity and quiet of natures nature's great grent oneness who have become dyspeptic morose d al aid harassed the new German method of relaxing rhythmically is said to be a blessing Incidentally of course it ac- ac accomplishes ac accomplishes all the benefits of ordinary exercises thus making motherhood a aless aless aless less perilous adventure nd and making strong healthy children more likely In choo choosing mg this form of exercise lor fOr future mothers the German scientists think they have found something on that strikes at the soot of the matter much the ll tin of dumb dumb bells more closely than lifting pf bells or performing similar stunts ten tenor or Of twenty t times a day It is the use of ot the whole skeleton and its muscles that is going to do the work for these their thes prospective mothers And this it is cannot be properly ac- ac accomplished ac accomplished without the unconscIous operation co operation of the subconscious mind ml d the part of the mind that feels rather than thinks It i is this co co that results in duplicating the Rha he grace lIace ot of man Elan or animal Of course attention is given in III the tha schools to individual cases and every student is thoroughly studied for cor cor- corrective corrective work ork Girls with Ith deformities and handicaps typical of the highly cIvilized woman such as weak backs abdol abdominal mal muscles or deformed bone construction are given special rh rhythmic el Relaxing mg the muscles is held to be as important as using them and in eer tarn cases the girls bra bre arc taught to let themselves go and relax as the animals do dohen when hen they feel the need To relax during the day is something most of oC us never do wo do wo should be thought crazy crazy it If we did lu Iu these German schools of rhythmic gymnastics the older pupils wearing fio Greek costumes are arc often di ch divided vided into two Those of one group will sham every muscle from head to toe as vigorously as they can charging along together to the rhythm of music In the other group the girls relax letting their heads and arms arias nearer and nearer the ground with the accented beat of every measure Very young oung girls dres dressed ed in bathing SUits are arc taken out into the open coun- coun country coun country try and taught a R series of leaps and bounds that would prove difficult for their brothers Leaping from left to the right the graceful side leap leaI of an nn ani ant animal animal mal moll getting out of the way ay of some some- something is thing thing is one of the most interesting of these lumping Jumping jumping stunts First the girls jump lump from a 8 raised platform landing with bend bended d knees and andon on their toes Then comes the grace grace- graceful graceful graceful ful side spring high in the air from left leCt to right hen When this is done gracefully And rhythmically it brings all the muscles into play at once with the nervous centers rhythmically controlling the whole Prancing with high leaps into the air to music along a wide open plain is an- an another another an another other exhilarating performance perform for of making eyed bright sturdy mothers the future There is nothing ungraceful or ungainly about a flock of pretty girls bounding through the air when you get used to it On OJ the whole it very closely resembles classical dancing except that the motions are spontaneous and studied or taught Jumping hurdles with the arms and legs curled up as s a cats cat's would be just before before the graceful landing is is sn- sn another an another other stunt bringing into play all the muscles and expressing the subconscious desire to do things thing |