Music: Ice Age, Stone Age

Bankers, poets, conductors and even femmes fatales have shown thatcareers need not be over at 60. Last week the fact was emphasized againby two elderly ladies who kicked up their heels with the enthusiasm ofdancers a third their age. ¶ In the Hollywood Bowl Ruth St. Denis,grandmother of the modern dance, unveiled her first new productionsince 1934, The Ballet of Light, set to Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy.Surrounded by nine young men and women in short, Romanesque costumes,”Miss Ruth,” 74, impersonated the spirit of light, moving majesticallyin yards of billowing silk, her hands articulate, her youthful-lookingneck arched attractively, showing her years only when she attempted afast step. An audience of 10,000 cheered Dancer St. Denis. Her dreamfor the future: a “ballet of the states,” in which she would be theStatue of Liberty. ¶ At Massachusetts’ famed Jacob’s Pillow DanceFestival, Britain’s Margaret Morris, 64, was appearing with her newdance group, the Celtic Ballet of Scotland. Paris-born Dancer Morrishas few illu sions about her own barefoot dancing and choreographicstyle. Says she: “Isadora Duncan and Ruth St. Denis are the Ice Age;I’m about the Stone Age.” But her kilted troupe charmed the criticswith Scottish folk dances done with a freshness rarely seen in theU.S., delighted audiences in a heathery number telling how BonniePrince Charlie escaped to Skye, while warriors fell and their womengrieved. At one point, while the group was demonstrating MargaretMorris’ own exercise movements, the audience spotted a typicalburlesque grind. As old as the Scottish hills, the grind used to beconsidered “too rude” in Scotland, explained Dancer Morris, but U.S.movies and musicals have made it “respectable.” Altogether, fans foundthe Stone Age full of good fun and interesting dancing.