Romantic Ballet

romantic movement

• shared characteristics within art and entertainment as well as in the ballet of the time period

• people became fascinated by exotic, other , colorful worlds, making them interested in the places/experiences different from their own

themes of romanticism in ballet

• pining after supernatural and non-rational things, attracting people away from real life

• escapism - madness/craziness, sleepwalking, dreams (non rational thinking or opposite of enlightenment/scientific era)

• NEW emphasis on mystery, horror, and fear

• elevated idea of nationalism and folk (people-people group identities)

• developed individualism

• heightened sense of connection to sublime, untamed nature

effect of middle class audiences

• performers had to excel at their craft so the less cultured tastes would be entertained → pushed technique

• audiences were not as impressed by the refined courtly details since they did not grow up that way and couldn’t not understand

The Code of Terpsichore (1828)

• written by Carlo Blasis

• codifying/writing down ballet techniques/structures/expectations and saying dancers need to:

  • increase their turnout

  • formulate class to do exercises away from the barre and center work

  • include battere (beating of the feet) work

  • use rapid and fluent changes of direction to keep interest of the people

male and female dancers in the romantic era

• Ballet catered to the fantasies of the everyday man since males frequented the ballet more often than the women to escape everyday life

  • The ideal woman becomes unattainable and mythical, held above the men and were created to be “hard-to-get” to become more attractive to the majority middle-class male patrons

  • The perfect couple can only exist in the after life - makes real life not as fun, but the ballet even more wonderful

romantic changes to costuming

• Female ballerinas had dresses with long tutus down to mid-calf with arms and shoulders exposed → showed their intricate footwork and attractive shoulders

  • longer tutu

  • Pointe shoes - darning of a ballet slipper created a stiffness allowing females to momentarily “float” and balance on → helped with weightlessness and ethereal idea

  • Didelot’s “flying” harness - lifted the dancers up to “fly”

  • Gas lighting - like a horse wearing blinders, darkness was better to concentrate on the show in front of you and escape reality → the gas lanterns were able to control the intensity and were located all around the stage. Sadly, dancers caught fire a lot and sometimes theaters burned down so they installed espesticeh curtains which let the patrons escape, but was toxic for dancers to breathe in

types of romantic characters

• Sylphs - fairy characters

• Willis - fairy-like characters in Giselle which were women who died of a broken heart and came out at night to attack men as revenge, dancing them to death

• witches/sorcerers

• “Boring” women of correct rank and station - not attractive regular women of the time

• Byronic/tortured heroes - introspective men with dark, unruly tendencies who rebelled against institutions, etc

Marie Taglioni

• known for purity and coolness in character and noted for ballon, ability to bounce

• at the time, she was the first to dance on pointe for an entire ballet, but on pointe in their time so just the short time on her toes

• Debuted at Paris Opera in 1827 in Le Sicilien

• Joined Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet in 1837

• was a huge celebrity in her day

Fanney Elssler

• Known for her quick, sharp footwork and voluptuous figure → opposite/rival to Marie Taglioni

• Became famous in La Cachucha because of Spanish flair and tilting torso, showing exoticism and nationalism

famous romantic ballets

• La Sylphide (1832) - Choreographed by Filippo Taglioni (Marie Taglioni’s father)

• Giselle (1841) - Choreographed by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot

• Pas de Quatre (1845) - Choreographed by Jules Perrot and starred four of the highlight ballerinas at the time

romantic societal implications of dancers

• Stories told from men’s point of view but featured the woman onstage, showing objectification and the male gaze

• Women were criticized for demonstrating excessive energy/power since they still have to be graceful and delicate

• Liberated women were a fantasy compared to respectable/common women, but also deemed temptresses (evil) by luring men from the straight and narrow

• Dancers were given meager salaries so often accepted solicitations from wealthy protectors or husbands

• Motherhood was very much an inconvenience because they couldn’t remain stars

  • Present day things still crossover with the past

La Sylphide characteristics

Act 1 Pas de trois - Effie, James, Sylph

• James wears a plaid kilt, Effie wears the same pattern – kilt shows pride in one’s nation and tells audience it takes place in either Scotland or Ireland (or someplace similar)

• The Sylph is invisible to all but james

• Sylph has higher movements than Effie – literally/ choreographically elevated

• Much of the touching and partnering is done with Effie, while the Sylph gets in the way of and takes over his focus more

  • James’ variation focuses on jumps and turns

  • Effie’s variation is quick and playful with many small movements and a direction of her focus towards James

  • The Sylph’s variation has longer sustaining, elevated balances and movements without a specific direction of focus (James is not on stage)

    • Overall, still small intricate footwork and small delicate details, rather than big flashy jumps → shows the expectation and style of the time period the ballet was created in

Act 2 - James, Sylph, corps

• The Sylph gets lifted frequently, elevating her character, making her seem weightless

• The corps are incorporated as a kind of backdrop/background/scenery

  • Sorceress played by a man to make her more “ugly”

• While the Sylph dies, she still comforts James who is now distraught → here James is the tragic, tortured hero

giselle characteristics

Act 1 Opening Scene/Beginning

• Triangle becomes Giselle, Prince Albrect, and commonguy Helarion

• Many introductions and acting in Act I

• The act ends with Giselle’s mad scene where music is used to show Giselle’s replaying of the events and how she ends up going crazy then dies from heartache/unrequited love or stabs herself with Albrect’s sword (depends on director/interpretation)

  • Albrect becomes the distraught, tragic, tortured hero

Act II Woods

• Giselle becomes a Wili as a woman who died of unrequited love

• Helarion comes to pay his respects to Giselle’s grave and the Wilis dance him to death

• Albrect comes to put flowers on Giselle’s grave and her spirit saves him in their grand pas de deux

  • Giselle’s spirit movement is buoyant, otherworldly and delicate steps with repetitive lifts but also lots of intricate footwork

• Much more dancing than plot in this act