I. - - -# t -x -~ c 4 -+b 7 Page Ten THE MICHIGAN AILY September 17, 1956 September 17. 1956 THE MICHIGAN DAILY 4 yrW },ll rl V4 - t . J / /v THE BALLET LESSON An Ageless Artist Tenor Roland Hayes Remains A Foremost Singer WORKOUT - Margaret Smith practicing "pose sur le pointe, sur le cou de pied" at the barre. SYLVIA HAMER .. just beginning. T HE outmoded idea that one has to go to New York or Hol- lywood to study dancing meets daily disproof in the person of Sylvia Hamer. Mrs. Hamer, who has been training Ann Arbor residents and students in the art of dance for 24 years, is a vigorous and in- formed teacher-artist who devotes the ma4Tr share of her time to working with both amateur and professional dancers. Most com- pletely interested in ballet, she possesses a thorough training as both performer and teacher in classical dancing that she has supplemented through the years with enthusiasm, study and hard work. Is ballet dying? Not for Mrs. Hamer, and most certainly not in the United States. "Ballet's just starting in this country," she says. "People are just beginning to be conscious that it's a scien- tific art and that you need to be scientifically trained to practice it." And by "scientific," Mrs. Ha- mer means dance training which incorporates a knowledge of hu- man anatomy, the knowledge be- ing necessary to "bring out con- tinuity of movement." "As a performer, you have to know what muscles to use and how to use them. And as a teach- er, you have to watch your pupils' development and know when to speed them up, when to slow them down. The training must coordin- ate with the normal growth and development of the child." S YLVIA HAMERdoesn't even re- member when she began danc- ing, but just recalls that it was "slipped in. My family was very musical and I was forced to study the piano. I didn't like it, so my father let me take dancing les- sons instead, opposing mother's family, who objected to dancing." At 22, she joined the Albertina- Rasch Ballet Company, an Italian group in which she was the only American girl, danced in New York for two-and-one-half years, after which she returned to Mich- igan to marry Ellsworth Hamer, now a local theater manager. It was then that she decided to teach, although, as she puts it, "I could dance, but I needed to study more before I could teach; I needed to learn anatomy to know what the body was made of' and how it worked." AMONG teachers,.Mrs. Hamer is a highly respected worker. Once a month she goes to Chica- go to coach professional dancers and teachers who travel from the Southern and Western states to work with her. She is past-president of the Cee- chetti Council of America, which fosters a graded system of danc- ing patterned after educational institutions; and she has been awarded a Licentiate from the Imperial Society of London, neces- sary for teaching in any of the British Commonwealth nations, a procedure which she calls "more advanced than anything in Ameri- ca, where untrained people can teach if they want. In London, you have to prove that you can teach." Mrs. Hamer numbers the fol- lowing among her teachers: Kath- erine Forbes of the American School of Ballet; Mary Skeaping and Peggy Van Praagh, both ex- balletmistresses of the Sadlers Wells Ballet Company; and Mar- garet Craske, Cecchetti's pupil. "These are the people I've stu- died with'," she says. "I've 'taken lessons' from many people that the public recognizes more easily, but there's a difference between 'taking lessons' and 'studying.,'' A T THE moment, Mrs. Hamer is preparing to resume her posi- tion as Artistic Director and Bal- letmistress of the newly formed Ann Arbor Civic Ballet. The group, which had its inception last spring, is what Mrs. Hamer calls "a sign of the new interest in bal- let. All of a sudden ballet compa- nies are starting to form. Ours is the first civic ballet in Michigan, but I've heard of three others that have since emerged - in Oregon, New Orleans and Georgia. "We're trying to prepare a place for the local people to dance, so they won't be running off to New York before they're ready. In this way they can acquire both ade- quate training and stage pres- ence." Mrs. Hamer notes that not only has ballet began to become an American art, the entire picture of dancing has changed in the United States in the past few years. "When I began teaching, no ballet dancer would have dreamed of doing tap, but there were so many calls for tap that I had to learn it. Today, dancers realize that while tap may not help their ballet work, it will not harm it either. "The call these days is for the all-around professional, who knows ballet, can do tap, Spanish and character dancing, and who has spent time studying mime." Mrs. Hamer recalls the summer of 1954 when she taught in Holly- wood. "Some of the kids had come out all the way from Michigan to take lessons - and who did they end up studying with? - Sylvia Hamer of Ann Arbor, Michigan." By BETTY GOSS ROLAND HAYES, the greatest male concert singer of his race, the first and oldest member of his race upon the concert stage in this country, lifted his tenor voice to echo through Rackham Audi- torium this summer. The concert singer is becoming white as to hair, but there is a vitality in his warm brown skin and luminous hazel eyes that be- lies the hair and his self-acknowl- edged sixty-nine years. His hands are one with his voice in that these are his most expressive instru- ments. When talking, as when singing, his hands become alive and seem to pull forth the words or the notes. Queried concerning the young people of the music and concert world today, Mr. Hayes spoke briefly. There can be no compari- son between his own. early strug- gles and those facing youth today. He reminds one that there have been two great wars, one small one and a great economic depression since he began his singing career shortly after the turn of the cen- tury. Roland Hayes believes that the emphasis today is upon the sensa- tional rather than upon the classi- cal in all musical fields. "It is combos rather than con- cert," he said. In his opinion the foremost singer today is Adele Addison. "Regardless of race or co- lor, hers is the voice of the true artist," the tenor averred. First and foremost, Roland Hayes is, himself, an artist. Then, he is an American of African descent. No one has ever been able to get Mr. Hayes to make a controversial statement with politicalovertones. For example, when asked for an opinion of Paul Robeson, he spoke of Robeson the folk singer and act- or, not of Robeson, the figure of international dispute. "I've never met the man," Hayes said. Yet, one is not allowed to forget that Roland Hayes is an American. No more does one overlook the fact that Africa is the country of his forefathers. Born to parents who had known bondage in Georgia, upon the property of a former slave owner, Mr. Hayes early years were fraught with legends of the War Between the States. Once, Hayes owned the 600-acre farm where he was born, but after the depression he lost his holdings in Georgia and went to Boston to make his home. Mr. Hayes began singing at sev- enteen in his native South, where he was heard and encouraged "by a man of my race." But it was in Boston that he first received pub- lic encouragement. Arthur Hub- bard of Boston was his teacher, his tutor and his guide for eight years. From the time he started singing and became interested in using his voice for something worthwhile until 1909 he worked, saved, sang in choirs. During this period Mr. This is Miss Goss's first ar- ticle for the Magazine Section A veteran writer with 34 years of experience, she has been published by both newspapers and magazines. At present, Miss Goss is enrolled in the Journalism department where she is working toward a degree. Hubbard became interested in the young man of tenacity. THE DEBUT took place in Bos- ton, in Symphony Hall, No- vember of 1917. The people of Bos- ton warmed to his tenor and his manner of presenting himself and the composers' works. They ap- proved to the tune of $P,000 which made possible his trip to England. In London, Sir George Henschel became his mentor. Sir George was to be his friend and teacher throughout his seven years of stu- dy in England and on the Conti- nent. An early concert in London found the British audience cold to young Mr. Hayes of America. His reception by the audience and crit- ics at that 1920 recital would have turned lesser men away from mus- ic as a vocation and profession. LONDON in 1922 liked the sing- er quite as much as they had been disapproving in 1920. The re- sults were brilliant and Roland Hayes left England for the con- tinent. It was these years on the con- tinent that gave Mr. Hayes his pol- ished concert manners, his exquis- ite diction in French and German that mark him high in the history of American tenors. Among his teachers, masters and tutors during this period were some of the great ones whose names are all but forgotten. Miss Ira Aldridge, Victor Beigel and Dr. Theo Lierhammer were some who taught the maturing singer his stage presence, trained his voice, instructed him in Chansons and Lieder, and the nuance of phrase that is an essential of the concert singer. IN the mid-twenties, 1926 and 1927, American audiences were to hear one of their-own return to this country in triumph. Carnegie Hall heard the richness of his tones. To the audiences of this country his decorum set him apart immediately. Here at last was a cultured artist of-American parentage. An American in the traditional sense of the word, one who in the established pattern of the success story had lifted him- self by his bootstraps and become one with the greats. Yet, Roland Mayes remained and remains a man of the people, an Afro-American, and a man proud of his heritage. As an artist today, he is still a great man. Before his concert in Rackham building, he comment- ed, "There's nothing to see tonight. I just hope that the audience will hear enough good music." ROLAND HAYES today reminds the music lovers of all time of the great ones who no longer sing. They either do not because they sing with the angels, they cannot, or for reasons of their own, they will not. Mr. Hayes is made of different stuff though. He lives in Boston most of the year, arranging his beautiful Afro-American religious folksongs and other music which appeals to him. He has an occa- sional singer whom he assists as mentor, tutor or with the wisdom that is his. Annually he goes on small tours where he does not have to physically exhaust himself. R EGINALD BOARDMAN flew in from Chicago the evening of the recital in Ann Arbor to accom- pany Mr. Hayes. Few in the audi- ence were aware of the fact that neither Boardman nor the soloist' had ever appeared in Rackham MR. HAYES: "IT IS COMBOS RATHER THAN CONCERT." A ti w a I s r I s a W~romp&A STU ADMIRERS - Watched by two younger class members, Miss Smith does a "pose 2nd arabesque." Try FOLLETT'S First USED BOOKS BARGAIN PRICES FOLL E T T'S STATE STREET at NORTH UNIVERSITY .*Latest Popular Records * Library of * Classical Records * Convenient * Sheet Music 312 S. Thayer . .. Across froni Hill Auditori TEACHER'S HELP - Mrs. Hamer adjusts hips for proper place- ment of legs "a la seconde." FLYING HIGH - Pamela Magoon executes a "Grande 'Jete' en avant?