the ballet seemed to have abandoned... its appeal to the heart in favour of a more superficial concentration on technical virtuosity and visual spectacle written by Lexi Mondot Both Swan Lake and La Sylphide are influential pieces of ballet history and of contemporary repertoire. They have evolved into fashionable interpretations of the past, while indicating a specific time and aesthetic passed down through generations. Although these pieces remain at the forefront of ballet’s memory, they differ from one another in both process and presentation. Each facet of these ballets was specific to the time of creation, which affects their popularity with the public today.
Romantic inspiration for the ballet, La Sylphide, is found in fashion, art and way of thought from1800-1840. Many artists of all mediums practiced Romanticism, a genre that revolted “against aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of the Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature”(wikipedia). Romantic Ballet, specifically, had its beginnings in 1832 with the premier of Filippo Taglioni’s La Sylphide (McAndrew 2). According to Pudelek, it was the success of La Sylphide that guaranteed a place for ballet in the Romantic movement (229). The use of Romantic elements, such as folk dance, color, stories of peasants, and an ominous supernatural current, truly fed the audience’s desire to use their heart over logic. After 1840, many things changed in Ballet, including the move away from Romanticism. Italian influence in the arts became impossible to overlook, as did Russian influence on the choreographer, Petipa. During this time, “the ballet seemed to have abandoned... its appeal to the heart in favour of a more superficial concentration on technical virtuosity and visual spectacle” (Au 58). Swan Lake exudes the qualities of this classicism, including virtuoso technique, and the use of divertissement. These classical ballets spread across Europe and grew quickly in popularity. They are some of the most popular pieces in repertoire today. We may ask what makes ballets such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Coppelia ‘THE’ classics of ballet. It is “difficult to pinpoint the precise historical moment when works were transformed in the public imagination from the fashionable to the 'timeless' and entered the canon as 'classics'” (Genne 132). At the time, people sought to be distracted and enjoyed spectacle and craft more than heart-wrenching theatre. As for today, the desire for high craftsmanship has left Swan Lake in the heart of most every ballet company’s repertoire, while La Sylphide is performed less often. Looking to the choreographers of the ballets will reveal character and intention. Originally choreographed for Filipo Taglioni’s daughter in 1832, La Sylphide famed Marie Taglioni for her charm, and lightness. According to Pudelek, “when she finished dancing, the audience remained silent for a moment. Then pandemonium broke loose. According to one contemporary account, the enthusiasm, shouting, and applause that greeted her performance could not be described or compared with any previous event in the history of the ballet” (Pudelek 238). The libretto was written by Adolphe Nourrit for Marie, inspired by moonlight affects from gas lighting (Au 49). This inspired the choreographer to put his own daughter in the moonlit spotlight as the sylph that drove men’s imaginations wild. The intentions are clear in the creation, however is must be noted that the choreography we know today was set by August Bournonville in 1836. In both cases, however, the choreographer’s intention was to tell the story through body language. Technical feats and pointe work were explored with the aim of expressing an ambiance of the surreal characters. This changes enormously for Swan Lake, as Petipa begins working in conservative Russian courts with his quick and precise, Italian inspired movement. His Sleeping Beauty was one of the first ballets to have dance excerpts simply as divertissement. He was considered great at the time, for being able to play within the conservative rules and use his artistry to make classicism spectacular. He was considered a master, like Taglioni, but in a new way, “his importance in the history of ballet is largely based on reputation... he was the greatest choreographer... to whose poetical creation and aesthetic taste contemporary ballet is wholly indebted.” (Wiley 42). Though he may be considered the greatest, some critics argue this is simply because he left behind only his reputation, and not his process. Without much biographical information on Petipa, it is hard to ignore the accounts of him, “as a dictator who finally stripped of his authority, ungracefully left the stage” (Wiley 43). The music for Bournonville’s La Sylphide differs from the original and is composed by Lovenskiold. Music was meant to remain in the background to accentuate the dance, not to detract attention. According to Pudelek, the “composer was subservient to the choreographer” during Romantic era ballet (230). She concludes that because of the tight constraints put onto composers, very few “outstanding composers were eager to write for the ballet”(230). At the time, concepts of ballet and dance as the most important aspect of Romantic desire, left craftsmanship of collaborating artists to fall to the wayside. Perhaps this is why Swan Lake became ‘timeless.’ During the classical period, spectacle of all forms was highlighted and pushed to more intricate crafting. It was Tchaikovsky who brought the music standards in ballet to where they were between 1875 and 1891. According to Wiley, Tchaikovsky refused to allow the restraints of the dance to restrain his music and “revolutionized the relationship between choreographer and composer”(639). Although many critics claimed Tchaikovsky’s music was too overbearing; the agency of the musician had returned to dance and the complexity and rigor began to be something desired by the people. La Sylphide was told using two act entities that would feed the hunger for desire, hope, the impossible and illogical; for a beauty that is out of this world and cannot be explained. The story is of a young Scottsman who is to marry a woman named Effie, when the enchanted Sylph seduces him. He leaves his own wedding, but as soon as he embraces the Sylph, her wings fall off and she is no more. In the background, he hears the procession of his bride to be with another man. The storyline is speaking of a love and beauty so extreme, it can only live in the imagination. In a sense, it’s hopeless; leaving the man alone, and the woman as a pure, unreachable beauty. The trends of storytelling for these ballets changed significantly when Petipa began choreographing. Petipa, among other choreographers and dancers were more familiar with the advancement of Ballet vocabulary, and began to challenge the extent of technique. Librettos of the ballets became less important than the spectacle. In Swan Lake, the structure consisted of four Acts instead of two, which allowed for quicker transitions. The story could then focus less on the prologue, and national dances, and more on the grand pas des deuxs and ensemble pieces. The story remained in the supernatural, however not in the sense of impossible unreachable beauty. It’s a tragedy about Odette who is put under a spell, and her lover tries to save her. Different versions end with her lover conquering the Sorcerer, and others end in tragedy with both of them drowning themselves to end the Sorcerer’s powers (Wikipedia, Swan Lake). During the late 1800s, this story worked well because it fed the need for supernatural fantasy, and also had hopeful resolution. The storyline choices highly affected the impetus for a modification in technique. The purpose behind Marie Taglioni’s piece was pretty clear. She was the center, and the unreachable perfection. Thus she needed to fly. Taglioni did not invent the use of pointe, however, “it was the Romantic ballet that first found a true artistic use for this new mode of stage movement, which was an intermediate link between walking on the ground and the aerial flights of female dancers on specially constructed wires known as ‘flugs.’” (Pudelek 229). One could say the Sylph was the first ballerina to fly, and Taglioni’s popularity sprung for her mastery of technique and artistry together. Her image is a large part of her technique, especially as a woman wearing a corset and a dress. Taglioni, “dressed in a white gown reaching to her calves... achieved total supremacy, gradually reducing the male dancer to the role of a porteur.” Skirts were getting shorter to show intricate foot work, and women became the central figure of ballet during her reign as the Sylph. During this time, Male dancers became the supporter, and demands on the female body were just beginning. The Sylph is the only one en pointe in the first Act, and the first act has a national dance. These ‘folk’ dances and characterizations were very common, to be used to set up the atmosphere for the story. The technical abilities of the dancers at the time, also influenced the use of strategic storytelling as the focus as opposed to technical showcases. About 40 years following La Sylphide, there was Swan Lake. This piece shows the mechanization of the ballet to a notable degree. The original piece was choreographed by Reisinger, however it was highly criticized for costumes, scenery, choreography, music… just about everything. The most popular version which is still staged today was choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, performed in 1895. The ballet is an indicator for big change in dance and in the world. The romantic use of the tutu and the white ballets were used, however, they appeared in the beginning and the end, replacing national dance time for whole choruses of women en pointe. Higher demand for technical abilities evolved the form to be more precise and, thus more impressive to audiences. Petipa felt it was his duty to provide spectacle and impressive turns and battements, as “a practical man of the theatre, who considered it his duty to please the public, and he love applause; he gloried in it.” (Moore 278). The audiences would flock to see Pierina Legnani who could supposedly do 32 fouettes, the most anyone could at the time (Wikipedia, Swan Lake). Technical skill moved to the forefront as Petipa was placing more pas de deuxs and divertissements in between storytelling. He made things just to be beautiful, and not move the story forward. This was the beginning of abstraction in dance, where dance didn’t have to mean a literal thing, but could be just dance. In both ballets, the aesthetic of gender was upheld in that it was the woman to be looked at and adored in the pieces. The frailty and weightlessness created a fragility that was common for the status of women all through the century. Both ballets use men on the stage only for the purpose of supporting the women ‘jewel’ as she dances, or to move the story along. As the pas de deuxs grows larger in Petipa’s works, we see that the times will start to change in the near future for the representation of men and women in ballet. According to Smith, Levinson “canonised La Sylphide (1832), a ballet that he, like his nineteenth-century predecessors… gendered as feminine. He promulgated the term 'ballet blanc', a feminising but misleading term”(Smith 33). Levinson also claimed that Marie Taglioni “evicted men from the stage”(Smith33). In Swan Lake alone, the roles within the story itself seem to be just a little less demanding of each gender. The first wave of feminism was beginning to take place, however I believe it was mere coincidence. Ballets were still places for men to search for sex, and dancers still had a reputation for being prostitutes. To be on the stage as a woman was risqué, in both of these pieces, and we’ll see gay male sexuality claim a place on stage hundreds of years before female autonomous sexuality or independence. The changes in the ballet between the time of La Sylphide (1832) and Swan Lake (1895) are very large. There is great social change between the two periods, and the choreographers, musicians, dancers, and public wholly decide the direction of this art. This is why they were shaped as they were in time periods that asked specific duties of each member of society. It is mostly through the stories that we see the values of upper class Europeans during the 19th century. Works Cited Au, Susan, and Susan Au. Ballet and Modern Dance. 2nd ed. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2002. Print. Cohen, Selma Jeanne, and Katy Matheson. Dance as a Theatre Art: Source Readings in Dance History from 1581 to the Present. 2nd ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book, 1992. Print. Genné, Beth. "Creating a Canon, Creating the ‘Classics’ in Twentieth‐Century British Ballet." Dance Research 18.2 (2000): 132-62. Edinburgh University Press. JSTOR. <http://0-www.jstor.org.fintel.roanoke.edu/stable/1290849>. McAndrew, Patricia, and Knud Arne Jürgensen. "Darling Helene: August Bournonville's Letters from France and Italy, 1841 Part One." Dance Chronicle 25.1 (2002): 1-50. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. JSTOR. <www.jstor.org.fintel.roanoke.edu/stable/1568177>. Moore, Lillian, and Selma Jeanne Cohen. "Russian Ballet Master: The Memoirs of Marius Petipa." The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 18.2 (1959): 278. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The American Society for Aesthetics. JSTOR. <http://0-www.jstor.org.fintel.roanoke.edu/stable/427286>. Pudelek, Janina, and Jadwiga Kosicka. "The Warsaw Ballet under the Directorships of Maurice Pion and Filippo Taglioni, 1832–1853." Dance Chronicle 11.2 (1987): 219-73. Taylor & Francis Ltd. JSTOR. 3 April 2012. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1567698>.
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