New York Review 5-1-1915 (by Helen Ten Broeck)

CHILD DANCER CAPTIVATES BY SKILL AND GRACE

Seven-Year-Old Virginia Myers Astonishes
    Audiences of Artists at Berkeley Lyceum

Little Virginia Myers, the seven-year-old daughter of Artist, Jerome Myers, gave her annual program of dances at the Berkeley Theatre on Thursday evening last. It is far within the truth to speak of this baby as a prodigy. She is a finished creative artist, and her interpretations of the musical classics, which she makes a visible grace, leave nothing to be excused on account of her youth. Not a single artist of note at present in New York was absent from her dance on Thursday, and not a dissenting opinion as to her genius was expressed by the sternest critics of physical grace.

Among the musical selections visualized by the little dancer were Tschalkowsky's Andante Cantabile; the four numbers of the Suite Romantique, by Ethelbert Nevin; the well-known Vieuxtemps Reverie, “Starlight” by de Zuleuta, a new Algerian dance by Steinway, and the four movements of the Ballet Egyptienne, by Luigini. To each of these numbers the child brought a marvelous vividness of realism, and the effect of her interpretation of the Egyptian dance electrified an audience familiar with all the great dancers of the day.

Little Virginia’s dances are quite her own. She has never been permitted to take a lesson or to see a public dancer, but her interpretations of the different emotions in the dance bear comparison with the great artists in mime and the classic dance.

Other knowledgeable observers, seeing the dances that Virginia was creating, felt that what she was able to do with her art might also open a door to a greater understanding of the nature of dance and music and what might be able to be accomplished by a gifted artist when given total freedom of expression.  On a later page titled “Reflections” three well-known writers of the time reflect on the importance of her performances in such a light. But the most important page in terms of important research is the next in view. It’s title is “The Journey.”