But it is a blissful state to be reached only after training. No figure must be improvised on the spur of the mo ment; the dance, however unconventional and full ot'un restrained joy it may appear to the spectator, must be carefully studied and thought out beforehand, for only in that way can it escape amateurish futility and rise to the domain of real art. Just as the training of the Russian ballet afforded Serova the' technical groundwork of her art so the vase paintings of ancient Greece were her inspiration in work ing out the idea of the Nature Dance which she thinks particularly adapted to the needs of the American public.