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Test Bank for ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The Art,
Science, and Process for Success, 3rd Edition,
Charles Bamford Garry Bruton
Entrepreneurship, 3e (Bamford)
Chapter 1 The Twenty-First-Century Entrepreneur
2) The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) provides a wealth of information and
assistance at all levels of organizational development and management for new entrepreneurial
businesses.
3) A critical element that an entrepreneur must solve for success is to develop the ability to
generate consistent and growing sales.
5) Corporate America employs more people now than it did 10 years ago.
6) Small companies can take advantage of economies of scale better than large firms.
8) Alexis de Tocqueville, the French statesman, stated, "United States was not so much a nation
with ventures … but instead a nation of innumerable small ventures."
9) Charles Wilson, secretary of defense for President Eisenhower, stated, "What is good for
General Motors is good for the nation."
10) In the late 1970s and 1980s, the United States occupied the dominant economic position in
the world.
12) Today many of the multinational firms in the United States are technology firms that began
in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
1
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
13) One of the huge advantages of starting one's own business is that someone else can be the
boss. Small business owners are motivated by two areas to start a business: the desire to be their
own bosses and to set their own working hours.
14) A customer of a small business could be considered an important stakeholder to the success
of a company.
15) According to Thomas Stanley and William Donko in their book The Millionaire Next Door,
50 percent of the millionaires in the United States are self-employed.
16) Self-employed people make up less than 20 percent of the workers in the United States.
2
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
17) The business time line demonstrates both constants and natural evolution in the development
of the United States.
18) Close to 50 percent of the millionaires in the United States are entrepreneurs.
19) Entrepreneurial businesses fail to provide a means to meet the varied demands that
individuals face in a society.
20) Success in an entrepreneurial business can only be achieved with brutally hard and long
hours.
21) Entrepreneurial businesses have the ability to make greater profits in markets that have been
ignored by larger corporations.
22) Large companies understand their customers more in the local area compared to a small firm.
23) In 2001, the federal General Accounting Office discovered that in the areas where military
bases closed, the unemployment rate was less than the national average. This is because of the
start-up of new small businesses in the areas.
24) Heather Schuck, owner of Glamajama, is an example of how women can concentrate on
more than one facet of life.
25) Small business growth is important in the United States and the world.
26) There are widespread efforts worldwide to encourage the development of small and medium
entrepreneurs.
27) The repayment rate on microloans is typically less than 50 percent, a much lesser repayment
rate than on most types of loans.
29) A venture capital start-up is oriented toward the personal goals of the founder(s).
30) The presence of venture capital for start-ups is limited outside of the United States.
31) The development plan of a venture capital start-up is oriented around positive cash flow.
32) According to the U.S. government, a small business is classified as any business with fewer
than 500 employees.
33) A small business's harvest plan is to put the profits back into the company.
34) When using a harvest plan, small companies are organized to grow rapidly and they have no
debt.
3
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
35) A small business start-up is typically self-funded or closely funded by the founder.
36) A small business start-up should be designed to take advantages of the skills of the founder
or founders.
37) A small business start-up is typically oriented toward the personal goals of venture
capitalists.
38) Facebook and LinkedIn were founded as entrepreneurial businesses, but they are more
accurately described as venture capital-backed businesses.
39) An entrepreneurial business's resources are less constrained than those of venture capital-
backed business.
40) Each business plan, like every business, should have its own voice, feel, and style.
41) A business plan should be a tool to think through a wide range of issues related to starting
and growing a business.
42) The latest U.S. Census reports indicate that firms with more than 500 employees represent
approximately 35 percent of all full-time employees in the United States.
43) What term is used to describe Walmart's ability to purchase more advertising space at a
lower cost per ad?
A) Advertising bonus
B) Buying bonus
C) Volume excess
D) Economies of scale
44) Small companies have flourished for all the following reasons EXCEPT:
A) they respond more quickly.
B) they operate more effectively.
C) they employ more skilled people.
D) they often expand easily in mature industries.
45) The development and implementation of a new business is part ________ and part
________.
A) luck; skill
B) genius; hard work
C) resources; hard work
D) art; science
46) What are the critical elements that an entrepreneur must solve for success?
A) An effective sales generation model
B) Sustainable operating profit margins
C) Being properly financed
D) All of these
5
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
6
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
47) Years ago, economists mistakenly predicted that small businesses would
A) be replaced by a smaller number of big businesses.
B) replace bigger businesses.
C) be replaced by franchises.
D) replace franchises.
48) According to the book, the development and implementation of a new business is
A) part art and part science.
B) part planning and part money.
C) a combination of creativity and art.
D) none of these.
49) ________ aid(s), counsel(s), assist(s), and protect(s) the interests of small business concerns.
A) The U.S. Small Business Administration
B) Stakeholders
C) Fortune 500 companies
D) Medium-sized businesses
50) Which one of the following is a huge advantage for small business owners to start a
business?
A) Desire to be one's own boss
B) Benefit the stakeholders
C) Desire to work for others
D) Desire to be efficient and productive
52) ________ lead(s) to a condition where a single firm making 100 percent of the product is the
most efficient.
A) Harvest plan
B) Stakeholders
C) Economies of scale
D) Business strategy
53) The success of entrepreneurial businesses occurs partially because they are ________.
A) more focused than their large corporate counterparts
B) invested heavily in policies and procedures
C) characterized by corporate layers of management
D) responsible to public stockholders
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
54) In the context of the initial developments of the industrial base in the United States, which of
the following statements is true about robber barons?
A) They ensured that smaller operations were effectively put out of business.
B) They quickly came to dominate new sectors of the economy.
C) They were unable to take advantage of the economies of scale that were possible with the
industrial age.
D) They came to dominate industrial sectors that had existed historically.
55) Until the mid-1880s, almost all U.S. businesses were ________.
A) small
B) medium
C) large
D) indifferent
56) Identify a true statement about the history of entrepreneurial businesses in the United States.
A) The 1880s saw the initial development of the nation's large industrial base.
B) The Great Depression of the 1930s was harder on mature businesses than on entrepreneurial
businesses.
C) Entrepreneurial businesses as a percentage of the U.S. economic output began to grow
exponentially following World War II.
D) Steel and automobile manufacturing in the United States flourished in the late 1970s and
early 1980s.
57) During Eisenhower's presidency, who stated, "What is good for General Motors is good for
the nation"?
A) Franklin Roosevelt
B) Henry Ford
C) Andrew Carnegie
D) Charles Wilson
58) During the 1970s and 1980s, the ________ occupied the dominant economic position in the
world.
A) Americans
B) Japanese
C) Russians
D) Germans
59) Throughout U.S. history, from the 1800s to today, how would you characterize the role and
impact of small businesses?
A) Small businesses in general had a real roller coaster ride and suffered along with everyone
else during the downturns.
B) Small businesses were not impacted much by either economic downturns or increased
prosperity.
C) The number of small businesses decreased more than big businesses.
D) Small businesses have proven to be more resilient than big businesses and have actually
helped to improve the economy.
8
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
60) Compared to large corporations, entrepreneurial businesses
A) play just as important a part in our economy.
B) attract more attention in the media.
C) are more visible.
D) have more resources at their disposal.
61) Which of the following was the outcome of the Great Depression of the 1930s?
A) It led to the initial development of a large industrial base in the United States.
B) It was harder on larger more mature businesses than on entrepreneurial businesses.
C) The government deregulated all small- and medium-sized enterprises.
D) Entrepreneurial business as a percentage of the U.S. economic output began to decline.
62) What term is used to describe individuals or other organizations that impact the success of a
business?
A) Corporate managers
B) Capitalists
C) Stakeholders
D) Owners
65) Which one of these large companies started out as a small business?
A) Apple
B) Hewlett-Packard
C) Facebook
D) All of these
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67) Owning a small business provides a means to meet varied demands that individuals face in
society. Which of the following is NOT a need mentioned in the text's discussion of how society
benefits from small business ownership?
A) Small business owners leave big businesses because of the lack of promotion opportunities.
B) Entrepreneurs prefer the flexibility to deal with the needs of family and children that business
ownership provides.
C) Small business owners have greater ability to attract financing from venture capital firms.
D) All of these
68) Which of the following is a difference between large organizations and entrepreneurial
businesses?
A) Unlike entrepreneurial businesses, large organizations have a better understanding of the local
community in which they conduct business.
B) Unlike entrepreneurial businesses, large organizations will regularly ignore business
opportunities if they fail to believe the results will generate high profits.
C) Unlike large organizations, entrepreneurial businesses are burdened by policies, procedures,
corporate layers of management, and public stockholders.
D) Unlike large organizations, entrepreneurial businesses do things more efficiently because they
are easily able to achieve economies of scale.
69) The term ________ refers to the fact that women, like minorities, may be hired by large
firms but experience limits placed on their advancement.
A) "grapevine"
B) "androcentric"
C) "glass ceiling"
D) "glass cliff"
72) Women entrepreneurs are starting small businesses for all but one of the following reasons
A) better ideas for small businesses.
B) greater control of their lives.
C) manage family needs.
D) hit the glass ceiling.
10
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
73) The World Bank estimates that one of the strongest factors in the growth of any nation's
GNP (gross national product) is ________.
A) small and medium-sized enterprises
B) large businesses
C) global trading
D) higher tariffs
74) In the context of entrepreneurship around the world, identify a true statement about
microloans.
A) Such loans typically see much lower repayment rate than most types of loans.
B) The failure of such loans has resulted in a decreasing dedication of the U.S. aid budget to
microloans for developing nations.
C) The repayment rate on such loans is typically 50 percent.
D) The success of such loans has been substantial, with great strides being made in many
desperately poor nations.
75) Microloans have been in existence for years; they are most commonly made directly to
________ for self-development.
A) men
B) women
C) young adults
D) Hispanics
76) Which kind of business is NOT likely to be eligible for a microloan program?
A) Telecommunication center
B) Meals delivery
C) Serving weaving baskets
D) Washing clothes
77) Characteristics of a small business start-up include all EXCEPT which one of the following?
A) Self-funded
B) Designed to take advantage of the skills of the founder(s)
C) Oriented toward positive cash flow
D) Over 100 employees
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
80) Entrepreneurial business resources are more ________ than venture capital-backed
businesses.
A) plentiful
B) constrained
C) restrained
D) inverse ratio
82) Which of the following terms describes a plan to exit a small business?
A) Harvest plan
B) Business plan
C) Entrepreneurial plan
D) General departure plan
83) You should not use a cookie-cutter business plan program because:
A) each business plan should have its own voice, feel, and presentation.
B) a good plan is best developed by the individual contemplating the business, not by a paid
consultant.
C) potential investors are often family members, which makes it critical that the entrepreneur
seeks to ensure the chances of success by doing thorough planning and thinking.
D) All of these
88) In the context of a harvest plan, which of the following is the deciding metric in a potential
public offering of a business?
A) Location
B) Nature
C) Size
D) Capital
89) The U.S. Census tracks employment by number of employees (among many other statistics)
and the latest census reports indicate that ________.
A) firms with fewer than 99 employees represent the majority of all firms in the United States
B) firms with more than 500 employees represent approximately 35 percent of all full-time
employees in the United States
C) there is an extensive presence of venture capital for start-ups outside of the United States
D) firms with fewer than 99 employees represent 35 percent of all part-time employees in the
Unites States
90) Which of the following statements is true about venture capital start-ups?
A) They refrain from developing operations in multiple locations very shortly after the initial
investment.
B) They are funded by angel investors who invest more than $2 million and expect extraordinary
returns.
C) They have a management structure designed to take advantage of the skills of the founder or
founders.
D) They ensure that the business is oriented toward the personal goals of the founders.
91) ________ is a list published annually by Fortune magazine of the largest corporations in the
United States.
92) During the 1970s and 1980s, the ________ occupied the dominant economic position in the
world.
93) ________ are individuals or other organizations that impact the success of a business.
94) In their book The Millionaire Next Door, Dr. Thomas Stanley and William Danko state that
________ percent of self-employed millionaires are entrepreneurs.
95) ________ are now the largest single group of new business founders.
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
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96) ________ are often worth only a few dollars and they are given to entrepreneurs, especially
women.
97) Why is small business the growth engine of the U.S. economy?
98) What is "economies of scale"? Compare the impact of economies of scale on both large and
small businesses.
100) What are stakeholders? What impact do stakeholders have on a small business?
101) Why does a small business act as a catalyst for social change?
107) Compare the business plans of a high-growth venture with those of a small business start-
up. What are the differences?
108) What are the three goals that one should keep in mind when developing a business plan for
an entrepreneurial business?
15
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Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
LE LAC DES CYGNES.
Pantomime Ballet by M. Tchaikovsky.
Music by P. Tchaikovsky.
Dances and Scenes by M. Petipa.
Scenery and Costumes by C. Korovin and A. Golovin.
T HE outstanding feature of “Le Lac des Cygnes” is undoubtedly the music of Tchaikovsky, which
is worthy of something better. For this is a ballet which falls within the same category as “Le
Pavillon d’Armide,” a survival of the formality of an earlier day. It has a story, and a good one; it
is not, indeed, without dramatic passages; but mainly the ballet is a mere background for a number
of isolated dances having little bearing on the real action. The “fairy tale” which forms its subject
has been treated much as the classic tragedies, one imagines, were treated by Noverre towards the
end of the eighteenth century. The dances are imposed upon it, rather than made the means of
unfolding it. As a result “Le Lac des Cygnes,” regarded in its entirety, falls short of the level
achieved in such a ballet as “L’Oiseau de Feu,” though in the matter of subject it has many points of
familiarity with the latter. It lacks proportion: the drama is nugatory, and the spectator retains in
memory rather a succession of dances, graceful, lively, and astonishing, than an impression of a
coherent and progressive whole.
This is the more to be regretted since the music, when occasion serves, is splendidly dramatic.
The occasions are only few, however, the real purpose of the story being to provide, as in “Le
Pavillon d’Armide,” a court scene which can be made the appropriate setting of a series of dances.
Certainly the poses of Karsavina and the ladies of the corps de ballet in their guise as swans of the
enchanted lake, in the opening scene, and the astounding performance of Nijinsky in the court
episode, go far to compensate the loss of unity, but such dramatic moments as do occur make the
mostly protracted action seem very nearly tedious. Incidentally the ballet presents Nijinsky in the
kind of rôle more definitely associated with Adolf Bolm, and it is interesting to note the emphasis
which it lays upon the essential difference between the two artists. Bolm is an actor who can dance
when occasion demands; Nijinsky, a dancer who seems almost ill at ease when constrained to limit
his movements to the actor’s pedestrian paces. One would prefer to see the part of the Prince taken
by Bolm, and an excuse found (as in “Le Pavillon d’Armide”) for Nijinsky’s appearance, in his true
function as dancer, in the court scene.
The lake to which the title of the ballet refers is an enchanted mere, beside which a number of
swans dance nightly by the light of the moon, in the semblance of young girls. The birds are the
victims of the evil sorcery of a wicked genie of the place, from whose clutches they are powerless to
escape. The opening scene discloses the wooded margin of the lake, the shining surface of which
stretches before the eye to a dim further shore. The swans are seen upon the water, and while the
orchestral prelude is in progress, they pass slowly across the gap in the trees, through which the
shimmering lake is visible. At their head, more stately than her fellows, and distinguished by the tiny
crown upon her head, swims the Queen Swan.
The birds vanish. The ripples of their passage subside. Moonlight floods the still lake and its
wooded bank. There enters a young man, armed for the chase, whose dress and mien proclaim him
noble. Retainers follow him. They cast searching glances around, and scan the placid surface of the
lake. But whatever it is they seek eludes their vigilance. A second young man joins them—the Prince
of the realm—who has been benighted in the course of a hunting expedition. He, too, looks eagerly
about him, but is no more successful in his quest than the companion who preceded him. They take
counsel together, and in the very midst of their conference are startled by a distant apparition. They
peer anxiously into the heart of the wood which fringes the lake’s edge, and obedient to the Prince’s
order, all retire stealthily into hiding. The Prince himself, cross-bow in hand, follows his men.
A moment later there enters a young maiden. She is fair to look upon, with a beauty that has a
fatal quality of fascination. She is indeed the Queen Swan, wearing her temporary human guise, and
only to be associated with her true form by the fillet of swan’s-down in her dark hair, and the snowy
plumage with which her dress is adorned. This is the mysterious apparition which the Prince and his
men have seen, lost, and now again discovered.
Lightly the fair creature flits across the glade, and as she nears the spot where he lies concealed,
the Prince starts forth and confronts her. The Queen Swan would fly, but is held back. The Prince,
already a willing victim to his captive’s beauty, would fain have the mystery of her appearance
explained. Who is she? What does she here, and at this hour? Reluctant at first to confess her true
nature, the Queen Swan yields to the passionate emotion which she, too, feels stirring within her, and
relates a part, at least, of her strange history. She tells of the machinations of the evil genie by whose
enchantment she and all her companions are bound, of their alternation between human guise and
that of birds. The prince listens in horror, jumping too readily to the conclusion that his captive is a
maiden doomed to periodic metamorphosis into the semblance of a swan, rather than a bird
permitted now and again to assume a human shape. At mention of the ogre by whose spells this
strange tyranny is maintained, he fingers his weapons menacingly, eager for an opportunity to
attempt deliverance.
Such a chance presents itself with startling suddenness. In the midst of her narration the Queen
Swan clutches her captor’s arm, and points upward into the trees. Peering down upon them, from a
branch overhead, is some strange object, only half visible amidst the foliage. The Prince seizes his
cross-bow and makes as if to shoot. But ere he can be sure of his aim, the apparition moves
stealthily, and is gone.
The young man lowers his weapon and turns to expostulate with his captive. Again the colloquy
is interrupted, this time by the invasion of a grim, gaunt monster, which silently regards them from a
mound upon which it has suddenly emerged. Again the Prince seizes his bow and strives to launch a
bolt at the intruder. But he is powerless to release the trigger. The genie’s magic paralyses him. The
monster recedes unharmed into the woody depths, and the Prince, perturbed by this discovery of
unseen influences encompassing him, impetuously urges his captive from the scene.
Hardly has the Queen Swan fled when her companions enter—a score of maidens in similar
attire, scarcely less fair than their leader. As is their nightly practice, they dance in the moonlit glade,
but have scarce begun when the Prince’s friend, followed by the huntsmen and attendants, break in
upon these mystic revels. The swan-maidens, frightened, fly to one another for mutual protection,
while the intruders, scarce knowing what to make of such unexpected objects of the chase, finger
their weapons hesitatingly. Some, indeed, are fitting bolts to the cross-bows, but the hasty return of
the Prince, who bids them stay their hands, prevents the wanton slaughter. Even as he gives his
orders, two more swan-maidens join their frightened sisters, and with them comes the Queen Swan
herself, who has sped the Prince from her side to avert the threatened disaster, and now comes
herself to lead the petition for mercy which the hapless maidens pleadingly urge.
The Prince needs little persuasion to grant the boon, and the swan-maidens resume their dancing
before the enraptured eyes of the Prince and his friend. In the midst of her companions the Queen
Swan, unchallenged in the supremacy of her charms, completes the fascination she has already
exercised upon the too susceptible Prince. With infatuated gaze he hangs upon her every movement,
drinking in her beauty, the grace of her dancing, the elegance of her form. Every moment that she
pauses, while her companions continue the movement of the dance, he woos her passionately, urging
his suit with an eagerness that increases as the reluctance which she strives to maintain appears to
give way.
The throbbing valse rhythm of the music hurries the young man’s hectic passion to a climax.
Inspired by the ardour which the Prince’s impetuous wooing kindles in her, the Queen of the Swan-
maidens surpasses herself in a dance which turns passion into ecstasy. She abandons herself to her
lover’s arms.
But at this fateful moment the dreaded hour has struck. The swan-maidens are seized with
nervous apprehension. They beckon their Queen, and as they see her recalled to her surroundings,
hurry timidly away. The huntsmen watch them go, too much surprised by this sudden flight to
attempt to intercept it. Not so the Prince. As the Queen Swan strives to release herself from his
embrace, he seeks to detain her. Reluctant to go, yet fearful to stay, she persists in the effort to
disengage herself. Ardently the Prince implores her to remain, but just as he would enforce the
entreaty by strength she slips from his grasp and gains the bank that leads into the wood. Her lover
would dash forward and restrain her, but she motions him back, waves a tender farewell, and is gone
from his sight.
Mystified, the Prince and his men peer wonderingly across the enchanted mere. And as they look
there glides across their vision a number of snow-white swans, swimming in stately procession
toward the further shore. In advance of the rest moves one, which bears upon its head, so delicately
poised on the slender sinuous neck, a golden crown. Upon the agonised Prince and his astounded
retinue, watching in silence this strange portent, the curtain swiftly falls.
One sees next an apartment in the royal palace, where festivities are in progress, to celebrate the
coming nuptials of the Prince with the heiress of a neighbouring realm. To the gay music of a festal
march, the royal guests are marshalled to their appointed places by a master of ceremonies; there are
stately greetings, and a formal interchange of courtesies. The Prince enters presently, accompanied
by the Queen-mother, whom he escorts to the seat of honour. His betrothed has then to be greeted
and similarly handed to her place.
These ceremonies the Prince duly observes, but with a formality of manner which indicates that
his attention is perfunctory. He seems moody and abstracted, and when presently he seats himself
beside the Queen-mother, the dances which begin fail to arouse in him more than a listless interest.
The first of these dances—a valse performed by eight couples—is scarcely ended when there is a
stir at one of the entrances to the hall. From the press of courtiers the master of ceremonies emerges,
ushering forward a tall man of sinister aspect, richly but strangely attired, who leads by the hand a
fair lady. The Prince rises to welcome the strangers. Courtesies having been exchanged, the Prince
raises his eyes—and finds himself looking into the face of the Swan-maiden to whom he lost his
heart so lately. He cannot restrain a movement of surprise—the sudden embodiment of his very
thoughts seems beyond credence. But the recognition, as he perceives, is mutual; the fair stranger, as
she suffers her forbidding escort to draw her aside, displays not less agitation than he.
Deep in perplexity the Prince resumes his seat. The master of ceremonies signs for the festivities
to proceed, but neither a dashing czardas, nor the brilliant mazurka which follows, can distract the
Prince from the anxious meditation into which he is plunged. Only when the beautiful stranger is
again led forward does he shake off his abstraction. Eagerly he offers attendance upon her while she
performs a pas seul before the court.
Standing unobtrusively at one side, the evil genie (for the Queen Swan’s escort is, of course,
none other) watches from beneath his disguise the consummation of his wicked plan. With every
attention that opportunity allows him to offer to the stranger, the Prince’s newly-fanned passion
burns more ardently. And as with him, so with the luckless Swan-maiden. The dance but serves to
melt the last icicle of her discretion, and when the Prince, remembering suddenly their situation,
conscious of the gaze of all the court, would leave her and regain the composure he has lost, she
holds and allures him with a beseeching look and gesture that is beyond resistance. Only when the
dance is ended, and the Swan-maiden, herself awakening momentarily from her all but trance, retires
hastily from the apartment, does the Prince resume command of himself.
The eyes of the courtiers are turned upon him expectantly, for the Prince himself is an
accomplished dancer, and the moment has arrived when he should entertain the company with his
skill. Fired by the ardour suppressed within him, he launches himself into a pas seul which astounds
by its vigorous grace, measured agility, and brilliant daring of execution. At the very climax of his
performance the beautiful stranger re-enters. Obedient to the Prince’s entreaty she dances once
again; then joins him in the crowning intoxication of a pas de deux.
As the infatuated pair thus yield to each other’s embrace an uneasy stir runs through the
watching ring of courtiers. The Queen-mother is perturbed, the Prince’s betrothed is wrath to be thus
publicly slighted. The climax is reached when the lovers, oblivious of all, abandon themselves to an
impassioned kiss. The Prince’s mother starts indignantly from her seat, and plucks him by the sleeve;
at the same moment the Swan-maiden’s grim escort strides forward and snatches her from her
lover’s embrace. In vain the Queen-mother urges her son to recollect the duty he owes to his estate,
in vain his betrothed demands reparation for the affront she has suffered. The Prince has no thought
save for the object of his passion, and is convulsed by overpowering emotion. Not less is the agony
of the fair stranger, who struggles helplessly in the genie’s evil clutch. Consternation seizes the
courtiers, which is increased as the lights are suddenly dimmed. In the confusion that ensues, the
genie throws the now fainting figure of the Swan-maiden upon his shoulder, and carries her off. The
Prince, seeing his beloved thus torn away, is nearly bereft of reason, but recovering himself with
violent effort dashes madly through the press in hot pursuit.
The scene changes to the dim night-enshrouded margin of the lake. With furious haste the genie
enters, dragging relentlessly behind him the drooping figure of the Swan-maiden. Piteously she sinks
upon the bank, as the wicked tyrant urges her onward. She turns a last entreating look backward, and
at that very moment the flying figure of the Prince appears. He falls upon his knees before her and
seeks to hold her with his hands. But the genie redoubles his force: the hapless Swan-maiden is
wrenched from her lover’s grasp, and borne out of sight.
The despairing Prince bows his head in mute and helpless agony. And while he yet kneels there,
a white swan glides serenely across the surface of the lake. The prince sees it, and a dreadful thought
clutches his heart. As the swan nears him he looks again—and lo, about its head, so delicately poised
on the slender sinuous neck, is a golden crown!
The young man staggers and falls dead. Smoothly the Queen Swan urges her placid way across
the shining surface of the lake.
ANNA PAVLOVA.
Nothing can well be written about the Russian Ballet without some mention of Pavlova. For
though that great dancer has not been associated with the troupe to whose performances the
foregoing pages have been devoted, it is largely to her art that London owes the revived interest in
ballet which paved the way for these later spectacles.
Much has been written in adulation of Pavlova. Comparisons and metaphors have been well-
nigh exhausted in enthusiastic attempts to convey a full appreciation of her dancing, and the result
has sometimes been ridiculous. This is almost inevitable, however, for if Pavlova’s praises are to be
sung at all, it must be in a word or else redundantly. Art so nearly perfect as hers permits of no
analysis, and stultifies all efforts at exposition.
So it happens that with Pavlova one can but state a bare opinion, and leave her art to speak for
itself. Mere description is impossible, since her method is subjective rather than objective. London
has had no opportunity of seeing her take part in a concerted ballet, at least of that dramatic type in
which the art of the performers is subservient to the action in which they are involved; and the
individual dances in which she is chiefly seen are to be regarded not so much as occasions for
impersonation as opportunities and means of self-expression. As already has been said of Nijinsky,
the art of Pavlova is something more than merely imitative; it is creative, her genius acting upon,
shaping, and impressing with the stamp of her own individuality the material selected.
There is a close analogy between her method and that of the composer of music. Saint-Saëns, for
example, in “Le Cygne,” and Pavlova in the dance which she has devised for the accompaniment of
that composition, have both taken the curved and undulating grace of the swan for motif. Adorning,
amplifying, and elaborating this initial theme, the dancer has achieved a result which in its complex
beauty, yet fundamental simplicity, is an exact parallel with the composer’s.
Doubtless a maître de ballet might have phrases at command which would convey, to the initiate
at least, the bare sequence of poses and movements, as one musician could recount to another the
main features of a composition. In neither case, however, would the hearer glean more than the
merest rudiments; with the dance as with music, direct contact alone is of avail. Even a literary artist
would encounter limitations as severe as those which beset the painter, who can show (witness John
Lavery’s “Le Mort du Cygne”) but a single moment of a single phase in a thing of prolonged and
continuous beauty.
In such a performance as this, Pavlova touches great heights. She is less happy when she
indulges in some of those “interpretations” of music which of late years have become so fashionable.
How, indeed, can the dancer’s art be expected to interpret music which was never written for the
dance? It is as idle as the similar attempt so often made by the painter. One work of art may provide
inspiration for another, but we cannot consider them simultaneously since they will not be in the
same plane. To watch the dance, or rather series of poses, by which Pavlova “interprets,” let us say,
Rubinstein’s “La Nuit,” is to delight the eye with an exhibition of rare grace. But only a very
assimilative and accommodating mind will imagine that the composer’s intention has been made any
clearer to him thereby—and probably it will
imagine quite erroneously. The critical mind receives no convincing impression of
unity.
In the case of “Le Cygne,” Pavlova is not interpreting Saint Saëns. Musician and
dancer have taken the same theme for treatment in their different ways, and the
welding of their separate efforts is the legitimate art of the ballet. It may be said,
perhaps, that this is the manner in which the so-called interpretations, to which
objection has been made, have been evolved. But this is to ignore the distinction
between so definite a theme as the graceful movements of a swan, known and
accepted by all men, and such an abstraction as Night, of which the conception must
be arbitrary, and for that reason probably different from the one upon which the
musician, nominally interpreted, has proceeded.
Pavlova is at her best (inevitably) when limited to the true functions of her art.
As with Nijinsky, the dance is her proper medium of expression, though perhaps not
so wholly. In some of her performances she displays a facile power of extrinsic
gesture suggestive of qualities as mime which whet the desire to see her in dramatic
ballet. The distribution of her favours betwixt Pierrot and Harlequin, her jealous
partners when she dances, as Columbine, in Drigo’s “Pas de Trois,” is inspired by
coquetry as frivolous and mirthful as the airy gaiety which her nimble feet express.
In “L’Automne Bacchanale” there is a passion and a fervour which owe something
to the actress’ art as well as to the dancer’s. It may seem idle to attempt a
discrimination between two things so nearly identical, but seeing the view so
commonly held in this country of dancing—that it consists merely of the rhythmic
movement of the limbs according to certain arbitrary rules, the greatest of dancers
being no more than the exponent of a perfect technique—it is perhaps worth while
to lay stress upon the part which temperament must play.
Possibly “L’Automne Bacchanale” is not the best illustration to cite of the
dancer’s conscious art; no one of the least susceptibility, it may be supposed,
certainly not Pavlova, could fail to respond to Glazounov’s tempestuous music.
Who has been spectator of that brilliant episode that did not feel his pulses quicken,
and thrilling through his veins an echo, however faint, of the pæan of youth and
love and joy? Pavlova at all events, if not her compatriots, has been able to
recapture something of the old Greek ardour.
But Pavlova’s sheer grace can never fail of appreciation. It would be an
egregious philistine who could find her, even in most conventional and academic
vein, other than a delight to the eye. Her superb mastery of technique, if nothing
else, must command his admiration. But it is her distinction that she delights not
merely the eye, but the intelligence; behind all that she does is the artist’s instinct of
selection and co-ordination. Other dancers one has seen who moved prettily, took
graceful poses, displayed a nice appreciation of rhythm—yet showed themselves no
more than elegant dabblers, failing to achieve the unity which proceeds alone from a
true artistic impulse. Pavlova does nothing meaningless. Her least step is full of
intention, and an intention made convincingly apparent. It may be the lightest,
airiest conceit—a butterfly’s capricious hovering, for example, so daintily suggested
in “Les Papillons,” or the roguish mirth she reads into the well-known pizzicato
passage of the “Sylvia” ballet music—but her art can make where a touch less
sensitive would mar.
But in such a case as this it is idle to attempt description, and comparisons are
equally futile. One must be content with a single word of highest praise, and say
that Pavlova, like every true artist, is unique.
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