The 1800's - setting/costume/ romantic ballet

The scenery of the ballets at the time also helped to create the supernatural stories. Along with pointe work, wires were used to help suspend dancers for short periods. Other equipment that was used were trap doors, sliding painted flats and backdrops, and gas lighting. Music was used even more to evoke the atmosphere of each scene.

Costumes were still evolving and the Romantic tutu was now in vogue. Although the term tutu was not used until 50 years later. This was the skirt that Marie Taglioni made popular when she danced in La Sylphide. It was a white bell-shaped skirt that fell from her bodice. The skirt helped to create her spirit like character.

Marie Taglioni was the first ballerina that made the public take notice to dancing on pointe. Dancing on pointe then became the norm for ballerinas. At this time as well ballerinas were taking over in the ballets. No longer were the men the stars. The public wanted to see the females float on air.

http://www.wish-upon-a-ballet.com/the-1800s-and-the-romantic-ballet.html

Giselle - the storyline

Boston Ballet’s production of Giselle, one of the most famous ballets every composed, contains more than enough emotion and virtuosity to satisfy any fan of the ballet. For those who prefer technically-difficult, plotless ballets, the demanding solos and variations in Giselle give the dance-lover a chance to “ooh” and “aah” at the dazzling skill of the dancers. And for those who prefer acting-filled story ballets, Giselle has enough drama to fulfill regular watchers of soap operas.

The basic storyline of Giselle follows a peasant girl, Giselle, who is cruelly betrayed. She discovers that her poor lover is not who he appears and is already engaged to another woman. Upon learning the truth, Giselle goes mad with grief and dies after a fit of frenetic dancing.

If this weren’t tragic enough, Giselle’s spirit then enters a fantastic world of limbo where she must dance every night with other maidens who have experienced the same heartache. If any man crosses their path, these women, the Wilis, revenge themselves by forcing him to dance until he dies.

Of course, Giselle’s lover, Count Albrecht, skillfully played by Gaël Lambiotte, comes to visit her grave, repentant of his deceitful behavior. He stumbles into the fatal rituals of the Wilis, doomed to die unless the woman he wronged intervenes or he dances non-stop until dawn breaks.

With such a melodramatic piece, the principals face the potential of delivering overwrought performances. To their credit, though, the dancers remain steadfastly earnest. The result is powerful. Audiences see the real pain of Giselle and the deep regret of Count Albrecht.

Giselle’s descent into insanity, danced to a haunting effect by principle dancer Larissa Ponomarenko, is wonderfully powerful. When she finally collapses in the arms of her mother, the audience almost heaves a sigh of relief that Giselle has found some support.

The production’s marriage of acting and dancing is perfectly balanced. After Giselle has been formally converted into a Wili, she encounters Count Albrecht at her grave and the two dance a pas de deux of regret and longing on Count Albrecht’s part and of cautious forgiveness on Giselle’s part. The lifts of the pas de deux are breathtaking in their fluidity and perfect line. Ponomarenko’s extensions during promenade defy gravity.

Since the ballet involves dance integrally in its plot, many scenes face the difficulty of displaying dancing for the sake of dancing—the scenes impress nonetheless.

In the first act, a peasant couple entertain local nobility. The wife, portrayed by Sarah Lamb, must perform a series of difficult, technical maneuvers: She hops across the stage en pointe while performing a ronde de jambe. Such flawless, joyful execution is simply awe-inspiring http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/2/22/giselle-beautiful-dance-of-death-boston/

Marius petipa - choreographic style

The choreographic style in Petipa's ballet seems to be devoid of personal features. It seems rather purely academic, with no clear stamp of individuality (as in Perrot's case). In Petipa's ballets the overall structure as well as the composition of various dances is subjugated to an established impersonal pattern. We might call it ballet abstracted to a brilliant ideal. Yet, this statement is only partly true, for Petipa's academic style is multi-faceted and internally fluid. His classical choreo-

graphic style absorbed his own artistic experience and the changing aspirations of at least three generations of St. Petersburg ballet artists.

Let us note, however, that Petipa valued the touches of womanly fascination no less than he valued a woman's spirituality or tenderness. All those details and impulses went to create Petipa's Ballerina Myth, at once graceful and grandiose. Petipa applied that combination of grace and grandeur to his choreography, to his dancers and to ballet in general. This was the standard of beauty which is the foundation of his choreographic style. He combines subtle touches with grand style, stylistic finesse with sense of space, nuances with expansive movements. 

http://www.aha.ru/~vladmo/d_txt20.html 

Marie Taglioni

She taught Queen Mary of England how to curtsy. Victor Hugo dedicated a book to 'her feet, to her wings.' Yet her French ballet teacher complained: "Will that little hunchback ever learn to dance?" He also called her an 'ugly duckling' and rejected her at the age of six.

Certainly Marie Taglioni was not a beauty - she was very plain - yet she became one of the most famous Italian ballerinas. She did have a head start, however. The Taglioni family founded by Carlo and his wife, Maria, in the late 1700's was a well-known dancing family. Two of his sons, Filippo, whose wife was Swedish, and Salvatore, became choreographers. Filippo had two children, Marie and Paul.

After her unfortunate rejection by her Parisian teacher, Filippo decided to train his young daughter himself. He put her through six hours of rigorous practice each day and at night she was reportedly so exhausted that someone had to undress her and put her into bed!

At the age of twenty in 1822 Taglioni made her debut as a dancer in Vienna to great acclaim. She soon became famous across Europe, especially for her starring role in La Sylphide set in romantic Scotland. She performed this at the Paris Opera. The ballet's fey story about forest fairies and witches appealed greatly to audiences in this Romantic age of Keats and Byron. Choreographed especially for Marie by her famous father, Filippo, it originated the style of the romantic ballet. Marie in her long, white tutu dancing lightly on her pointe shoes became the new image of the romantic ballerina and began a new fashion, replacing the classical style. The transparent fairy wings that she wore would have helped her bewitch her audience even more. Women copied her hairstyle, and little girls bought La Sylphide dolls. Even Queen Victoria had a La Sylphide doll.
When the prima ballerina was faced with a younger rival in Fanny Ellsler she is said to have cried when she first watched her dance at the Paris Opera House. 

Ballet tutu

• Romantic Tutu: three quarter length bell shaped skirt made of tulle. The hemline falls between the knee and the ankle. The romantic tutu is free flowing to emphasise lightness, to suit the ethereal quality of the romantic ballets such as Giselle or La Sylphide. It is said to have been invented, or at least popularized, by Marie Taglioni, first in 1832 in La Sylphide.
• Classical Tutu (bell): A very short, stiff skirt made with layers of netting with a slight bell shape and fitted bodice. It extends outwards from the hips and does not use a wired hoop. It is usually longer than a classical (pancake) tutu. These can be seen in the famous ballet paintings by Degas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballet_tutu

1800's and Romantic ballet - Marie Taglioni

When we think of ballet dancing in the 19^th century we think of romanticism. It was just after the French Revolution and the middle class was gaining power. This new middle class wanted to experience all the art world had to offer. They also wanted to escape. The themes of the ballets were often about man versus nature, the supernatural and exotic lands.

The first ballet that is considered to be of the romantic era was Robert le Diable performed in 1831. It was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni. Taglioni is one of the major choreographic figures of this time. His ballet La Sylphide rose his daughter Marie to stardom.

Marie Taglioni was the first ballerina that made the public take notice to dancing on pointe. Dancing on pointe then became the norm for ballerinas. At this time as well ballerinas were taking over in the ballets. No longer were the men the stars. The public wanted to see the females float on air. The Austrian ballerina Fanny Elssler was one of Taglioni's rivals. She became well known for her role in Le Diable Boiteux in 1836. The epitome of the Romantic ballets is Giselle. It is about an aristocrat who is haunted by spirits. This gave another ballerina fame named Carlotta Grisi.

We cannot forget that there were also many great male dancers at this time. Some of them were Jules Perrot, Arthur Saint-Léon, Lucien Petipa and Joseph Miller.

The scenery of the ballets at the time also helped to create the supernatural stories. Along with pointe work, wires were used to help suspend dancers for short periods. Other equipment that was used were trap doors, sliding painted flats and backdrops, and gas lighting. Music was used even more to evoke the atmosphere of each scene.

Costumes were still evolving and the Romantic tutu was now in vogue. Although the term tutu was not used until 50 years later. This was the skirt that Marie Taglioni made popular when she danced in La Sylphide. It was a white bell-shaped skirt that fell from her bodice. The skirt helped to create her spirit like character.

Most of the Romantic ballets were performed in France and London. However other countries were advancing in ballet as well. At this time Denmark and Russia were developing their own styles. August Bournonville had a great career as a dancer until he settled back in his homeland and become a teacher and choreographer for the Royal Danish Opera. This is where he created his own style of dance called the Bournonville School.

Russia first knew the Romantic ballets through the dancers that toured there. Soon they would have dancers and choreographers of their own. Choreographers such as Charles- Louis Didelot, Christian Johansson and Marius Petipa would help raise Russian ballet so much that it would eventually surpass France. http://www.wish-upon-a-ballet.com/the-1800s-and-the-romantic-ballet.html

Louis XIV and the french influence

Louis XIV and the French Influence

When Louis XIV was crowned his interest in dancing was strongly supported and encouraged by Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, (formerly Mazarini), who assiste Louis XIV. The young king made his ballet debut as a boy, but it was in 1653 as a teenager that he accomplished his most memorable feat as a dancer. He performed a series of dances in Le Ballet de la Nuit and for his final piece he appeared as Apollo, god of the sun. Wearing a fancy golden Roman-cut corselet and a kilt of golden rays he came to be known as the Sun King.

Cardinal Mazarin promoted Italian influences in the French spectacle. The ballet master he imported from Italy was Giovanni Baptista Lulli, who was rechristened Jean Baptiste Lully for work in France. Lully became one of the king's favorite dancers and rivaled the king as the best dancer in France.

In 1661 Louis established the Académie Royale de Danse in a room of the Louvre, the world's first ballet school. Also in 1661 he attended a party put on by the finance minister to show off his new home in the country. The entertainment was Molière's ballet Les Fâcheaux which pleased the king to no end, although he thought that the finance minister was a treasonous servant. As it turned out, the finance minister was arrested, and the ballet master, the home's architect, and the gardener were hired by the king.

At court, Molière and Lully collaborated, with Molière choreographing and Lully composing the music for ballets. Pierre Beauchamps, another ballet master, also worked with them choreographing interludes in the dramatic parts. Beauchamps eventually was named "superintendent of the king's ballets" in the dance school that Louis established in 1661 and is now one of the most famous of the "fathers" of ballet. It is Beauchamps who has been given credit for standardizing the five foot positions of ballet, (first through fifth positions).

In 1669 Louis, (still Louis XIV), established the Académie Royale de Musique for Lully to run. Then, in 1670 the king, past his physical prime, retired from dancing, allowing other, better dancers to take lead roles.

In 1672 Lully established a dance academy within the Académie Royale de Musique. This dance company survives today as the ballet of the Paris Opera - the world's oldest continuously running ballet company.

Lully's seriousness towards the study of dance led to the development of professional dancers as opposed to courtiers who could dance. Up until 1681 ballet was performed almost exclusively by men. Then, in 1681 Lully staged Le Triomphe de l'Amour, featuring Mademoiselle de Lafontaine, (1665-1738), one of four ballerinas in the production; we do not know who the other three ballerinas were. Since this time, Lafontaine has been hailed as the "Queen of Dance."

In 1687 Lully died from an injury he received by accidentally stabbing his foot with his time marking stick. At this time, ballet was normally performed in the same productions as opera, a theatrical form known as opéra-ballet. The music academy that Lully had run set the standard in the opéra-ballet, which people attended as much, if not more, for the dancing as for the music, and the composer of one opéra-ballet, L'Europe Galante, (1697), suggested making the opéra-ballet more popular by lengthening the dances and shortening the skirts of the now common female dancers.

In 1700 Choréographie, ou l'art de décrire la danse was published by Raoul Auger Feuillet. This book wrote down both conventions of stage and ballroom dancing and attempted to create a dance notation similar to music. Although this notation was never finalized and standardized, it is the system that is still in use today as no other system has been developed. The word choréographie gives us the English word choreography and is derived from the greek khorea, (to dance), and graphein, (to write). By 1700 many of the words and movements common in today's ballet were already in use, including jeté, sissone, chassé, entrechat, pirouette, and cabriole.

In 1713 the Paris opera established its own dance school, which taught a technique based on Feuillet's writings. Two years after this, in 1715, King Louis XIV died.

In 1725 The Dancing Master was published by Pierre Rameau, (1674-1748), a former dance master for the queen of Spain. In his book Rameau formally documented the five foot positions for the first time. At this time French dance concentrated on well-mannered lordly elegance where Italian dance was full of acrobatic vitruosity. Also, in France the dance sections of the opéra-ballet continued the story, whereas in Italy they were simply dances put in to give the audience a break from the singing.

In 1735 Rameau put on an opéra-ballet called Les Indes Galantes, based on a theme of four romances in different exotic locations. In this production the dancers were definitely doing ballet, as the ballroom and ballet dance forms were now recognized as separate, and it was recognized that turning out the legs had become much more important in ballet, although it was still desirable in ballroom dancing. Now, ballet requires almost flat turnout and in ballroom turnout is not really necessary at all.

Some prominent male dancers of the time were Michel Blondy, (1677-1747), and Claude Balon, (1676-1739), who may have inspired the term ballon for light jumps. Women were still in the shadow of men at this time, because they started dancing later and they had to wear huge heavy costumes. Some of the leading female dancers were Marie-Thérèse de Subligny, (1666-1735), and Franoise Prévost, (1680-1741). These two ladies became known as France's Queen of Dance as they reached their primes, and they danced with the likes of Blondy and Balon. Prévost made her claim to fame by choreographing a solo called Les charactès de la Danse depicting several romances - in which she played both parts. Two of her pupils, Marie Sallé, (1701-1756), and Marie-Anne de Cupis de Carmargo, (1710-1770), performed this piece.

Sallé became famous for her incredible ability to portray character. Because of this she transformed her teacher's solo into a duet, allowing her to interact dramatically with her partner. Carmargo, or La Carmargo as she was known, pursued pure dance. In the solo, she concentrated on the jumps and developed the "beating" steps, orbatterie. Both La Carmargo and Sallé contributed to shortening the ballerina's dress by performing in shorter skirts, (the were just barely above the ankle). In their shorter skirts, the ballerinas had to wear calçons de précaution, ("precautionary "), so that the audience would not see anything inappropriate.

In 1739 Barbara Campanini, (1721-1799), came to Paris from Italy and became well known as "La Barbarina." Where La Carmargo could do an excellent entrechat-quatre, a jump in which the legs cross each other, or "beat", twice, La Barbarina could do an entrechat-huit, a jump with four beats .http://www.the-ballet.com/louisxiv.php