“There is much to appeal on this week's bill at the Pantages theatre, what with a rich offering of jazz music and song and dance, a splendid native ballet from the Ted Shawn school of dancing, a ragtime dining car, in which laughs and songs are about equally mixed, and the funny sleight-of-hand of a funny fellow.”

This is the opening to the Sun's review on September 2, 1920 of the first vaudeville bill on which Xochitl appeared in Vancouver. Ted Shawn had made Xochitl, an Aztec spectacle, for himself and the young Martha Graham, and it proved popular during 1920 and 1921, when it played throughout the West, including Victoria and Vancouver.

During its second run a year later, also at the Pantages, Martha Graham is singled out as “a talented danseuse.” Camilla's Birds, 17 well-trained cockatoos, an interesting act that “differs from the usual 'clumsy' bird acts,” also received attention (Sun, May 24, 1921). (next page)

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