Download - Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
1/7
The Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet
Author(s): Lynn GarafolaReviewed work(s):Source: Dance Research Journal, Vol. 17/18, Vol. 17, no. 2 - Vol. 18, no. 1 (Autumn, 1985 -Spring, 1986), pp. 35-40Published by: Congress on Research in DanceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478078 .
Accessed: 09/11/2011 03:58
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Congress on Research in Dance is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Dance
Research Journal.
http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=crdhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1478078?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1478078?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=crd
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
2/7
The
Travesty
ancer
n
Nineteenth-Century
allet
Lynn
arafola
More
than
any
other era
in
the
history
f
ballet,
the
nineteenth
entury elongs
o the
ballerina.
he haunts ts
lithographs
nd
paintings,
n
ethereal reature
ouched
with
he
charm f nother
ge.
Yet even when she turned
into the fast, leggy ballerina of modern times, her
ideology
urvived.
f
today
he
artof
ballet
elebrates he
danseur
early
s
often
s the
danseuse,
t has
yet
o
rid ts
aesthetic f
yesterday's
ultof the eternal
eminine.
ike
her
nineteenth-century
orbear,
oday's
ballerina,
n icon
of
teen
youth,
thleticism,
nd
anorexic
ulnerability,
n-
carnates a feminine deal
defined
overwhelmingly
y
men.
The
nineteenth
entury
id
indeed create he
mystique
of
the
ballerina.
But t
also
gave
birth o
one
of the more
curious
phenomena
of
ballet
history.
Beginning
with
romanticism,
twenty-year
olden age stretching
rom
the
July
Revolution
o
about
1850,
he danseuse
n travesti
usurped
he
position
f
the
male danseur
n
the
corps
de
ballet ndas a partnerotheballerina. teppingntoroles
previously
illed
y
men,
women now
impersonated
he
sailor
boys,
hussars,
and
toreadors who made
up
"masculine"
contingents
f the
corps
de
ballet,
ven as
they
isplaced
real men
as
romantic
eads. Until
well
nto
the wentieth
entury,
hefemale ancerwho
donned
he
mufti f a
cavalier was a
commonplace
of
European
ballet.
In real
ife,
onning
men's
clothing
meant
ssuming
he
power
and
prerogatives
hat went with
male
identity.
Cross-dressing
nthe
stage,
however,
had
quite
different
implications.
oming
nto
vogue
at
a
time f
major
ocial,
economic,
nd
aesthetic
hanges,
t
reflected he shift f
ballet
from
courtly,
ristocraticrtto an
entertainment
geared
to
the
marketplace
nd
the tastes
of
a
new
bourgeois ublic.
Thus
the
danseur id
not
vanish
n
Copenhagen,
where
August
Bournonville
uided
the
destiny
of the
Royal
Theater
for
nearly
five
decades,
or at
the
Maryinsky
Theater
n
St.
Petersburg,
here
Marius
Petipa
ruled
he
Imperial
Ballet
for
a
similar
tenure.
On these
courtly
stages
the male
remained,
even if
eclipsed
by
the
ballerina.
Where he
fought
a
losing
battle
was
in
those
metropolitan
enters
hat
tood t
the
forefrontf henew
aesthetic-Paris nd
London.At
the
prestigious
radles f
ballet
romanticism
n
these
cities,
he Paris
Opera
and
King's
Theatre,
he
was
edged
gradually
ut
firmly
rom
the
imelight
y
a
transformationn
thesocial relations f
ballet s
thoroughgoing
s the
revolution
aking lace
in
its rt.
Unlike
the theaters f the
periphery,
where
govern-
ment
ontrol
f
rts
rganization
emained
ntact,
hose
f
the
European
core
operated,
or
began
to
operate,
as
privateenterprises.1ntrepreneurs
tood at the
helm,withsubscribers
aying
ll or a substantial hare ofthe
costs-even at theParis
Opera
which ontinued o
receive
partial ubsidy
rom he
government
fter
osing
ts
royal
license
n
1830. This
change
n
the economic tructure
f
ballet
placed
the
audience-particularly
he
key
group
of
monied subscribers-in new
and
powerful
osition.
t
led
to a
new
kind of star
ystem,
ne
based
on
drawing
power
rather
han
rank,
while
eliminating,
or
purposes
of
economy,
he
pensions
nd
other
enefits
raditionally
accruing
to artists
n
government
mploy.
The
disap-
pearance
of the male
dancer coincidedwiththe
triumph
ofromanticismnd
marketplace
conomics.
The ban on male talent
was
not,
trictlypeaking,
b-
solute.
Even
in
the second
half
f the
century
n
England
andontheContinent, encontinued oappear ncharac-
terroles uch
as Dr.
Coppelius,
he
doddering,
ovestruck
Pygmalion
f
Coppelia,
parts
that
demanded
of
dancers
skill as
actors
and
mimes and
could
be
performed
y
those
ongpast
their
rime.
Men
on the
ballet
tage
were
fine,
t
seemed,
o
long
s
they
eft ts
youthful,
eardless
heroes
o
the adies and so
long
s
they
were
elderly
nd,
presumably,
nattractive.
Initially,
hen,
he
"travesty"
roblem
defines
tself
s
one
of
roles,
pecifically,
hat
f
the romantic
ero,
who
incarnated,
long
with
his
ballerina
counterpart,
he
idealized
poetic
of
nineteenth
entury
allet.
n
the
new
era
opened by
the
July
Revolution,
his
esthetic nd
the
styles
f
masculine
ancing
ssociatedwith ts
xpression
became
gradually
feminized." corned
by
audiences as
unmanly, heybecame theproperty fthe danseuse n
travesti,
hat
curious
androgyne
who
invoked both the
high
poetic
and the
bordello
underside f
romantic
nd
post-romantic
allet.
Although
ravesty
oles
were not unknown
before
1789,
they
were
rare,
especially
n
the
so-called
genre
noble,
he
most
levated
of
the
eighteenth
entury's
hree
balletic
tyles.2
ndeed,
ts most
distinguished
xponents
were
men,
dancers ike
Auguste
Vestris,
who
brought
supreme
legance
nd
beauty
of
person
to the
stage
nd
majestic
perfection
o
the
adagios
regarded
as
the
touchstone
f
their
rt. No
one
embodied
more thanthe
danseur oble he
courtly
rigins
f
ballet,
ts
aristocratic
manner,
and
the
masculinity
f a
refined,
eisured
society.
Alreadyby 1820,thedanseur oble ppealed to a very
Dance
Research
ournal 7/2&
18/1
1985-86)
35
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
3/7
"Rats
d'opera,"
aris,
854. "Rat" was
the
lang xpression
or he
ballet
irl.
Note
he
rapturousxpression
n
thefaces
f
he
lderly
gentlemen
n
the
tage
ox
nd
themanwith
he
pera
lasses.
Note,
too,
the
youth
f the
dancers nd
their
yes,
rained n
their
d-
mirers.
limited
ublic-connoisseurs
nd
menof refinedastes.
To
the
ncreasing
umbers rom hemiddle
lasses
who
began
o
frequent
heParis
Opera
n
the ater
ears
f he
Restoration,ismeasuredignityndold-fashionedress
betrayed,
ike he
genre
oble
tself,
he ristocratic
an-
ner
nd
frippery
ftheAncien
egime.
In
the
hanging
ocial limate f he
1820s,
hen,
new
kind
f
gendering
as
underway.
he men bout
own
who formed he backbone
f the
growing
ourgeois
public
aw little o admire
n
the
tately
efinements
f
the danseurnoble. Their
taste,
nstead,
ran
to the
energized
irtuosity
f danseuredemi-caract&reike
An-
toine
aul
whose crobatic
eaps
and
multiplepins
f-
feredn
analogue
f
heir wn
ctive,
elter-skelterives.
The
high oetic
f
ballet,
he oftinessf
feeling
mbodied
by
thedanseur
oble,
ame
to be seen s
not
merely
b-
solete,
ut also
unmanly.
With he
triumph
f
roman-
ticismnd he
new,
thereal
tyle
f
Marie
aglioni
n
the
early 830s, oetry,xpressiveness,ndgracebecame
the xclusive omain
ftheballerina. tthe ame
ime,
advances
n
technique,specially
he
refining
f
pointe
work,
ave
her second
ictory
ver
hemale: he now
added oher rsenal
f
rickshe
irtuosity
f he
anseur
de demi-caractere.
y
1840,
critic ould
write,
If
male
dancing
o
onger
harms
nd ttracts
oday,
t s because
here s
no
Sylphide,
o
magic-winged
airy apable
of
performing
uch
miracle nd
doing
omething
hat s
endurable
n
male
dancer."3
In
appropriating
he
aestheticdealism nd virtuoso
technique
ssociated
ith
he
lder
enres
fmaledanc-
ing,
he allerina nmanned
he
anseur,
educing
im
o
comic haracter
nd occasional
lifter."
ut
her
gain
had
another
ffect,
ore
asting
ven han hebanishment
f
themale from hedancestage.Beginningith oman-
ticismnd
continuinghroughout
henineteenth
entury,
femininity
tself ecame
he
deology
f
ballet, ndeed,
the
ery
efinitionf he
rt.
deology,
owever,
urned
out obe
a false riend.ven s
nineteenth-century
allet
exalted
he
feminine,
etting
t
on
a
pedestal
o be wor-
shipped,
ts social
reality
ebased
the
danseuse
as
worker,
woman,
nd n
artist.
From he omantic
rawith ts
riumphantourgeoisie
and marketthos
amethe
dual
stigma
f
working-class
origins
nd sexual
mpropriety
hat randed
hewoman
dancer
well into the twentieth
entury.
he
great
ballerinas
ontinued,
y
and
large,
o
emerge
rom he
theatrical
lans
that
had
survived
rom he
eighteenth
century,
kind
of caste
that
trained,
romoted,
nd
A
caricaturef he
period
hat
eaves ittle oubt f he
growing
on-
tempt
or he
maledancer.
protected
ts
daughters.
Taglioni,
or
nstance,
rrived
n
Paris n
1827
with
brothero
partner
er nd a
father
who
coached
her,
horeographed
or
her,
nd
acted
s
herpersonalmanager.)herest, owever, elongedo
the
urban lums.
Most
of the
dancers,"
wrote
Alberic
Second n
1844,
first
aw the
ight
f
day
n
concierge's
lodge."4
ournonvilleummed
p
the otof
he
majority
succinctly-humblerigins,
ittle
ducation,
nd
wretch-
ed
salaries.5
Poverty,
naturally,
nvites sexual
exploitation,
especially
n
a
profession
f
flexible
morals.
Liaisons
sweeten lmost
very
allerina
iography.)6
n
the
1830s,
however,
he
backstage
f the
Paris
Oplra
became
privileged
enue of sexual
assignation,
fficially
oun-
tenancednd
betted.
liminating
lder ormsf
caste"
separation,
he
theater's
enterprising
anagement
dangled
efore
he lect f ts
paying ublic commodity
of
indisputablearity
nd
cachet-itsfemale
orps
of
dancers.
Imagine
or
moment
he nside f he
ldParis
Opera.
Descending
ier
y
tier
romhe
gods,
we move
up
the
social
cale,
until,
inally,
e
stand
t
the
golden
orse-
shoe of
wealth,
rivilege,
nd
power
where,
n
boxes
three-deep
n either ide
of the
proscenium,
it
the
pleasure-minded
portsmen
f
he
Jockey
lub.
AstheOpera's
most nfluential
bonnes,
he
ccupants
of
hese
oges
nfernales-all
ale,
f
ourse-enjoyed
er-
tain
rivileges:
he
run
fthe
oulisses,
or
xample,
nd
entry
o
the
Foyer
e
la
Danse,
large
oom inedwith
barres
nd
mirrors
ust
behind
he
stage.
Before
830,
lackeys
n
royal ivery
ad
warded
ryingyes
rom
his
warm-up
tudio.When henew
regime
urned
he
Opara
over to
private
management,
he
Foyer
de la
Danse
acquired differentunction.7o ongerffimitsomen
ofwealth nd
fashion,
efore
nd
after
erformances
t
became n exclusivemaison
lose,
with
madams
n
the
shap
of
mothers
rranging
erms.Nowhere
was the
cla
evoked
ime nd
gain
n
ithographs
nd
paintings,
between he dealized
emininity
fballetic
deology
nd
the
reality
f female
xploitation
o
striking
s
in
the
Opera's
ackstage
orridors.
The
commerce
n
dancers'
odieswas not
peculiar
o
Paris.
n
London,
emarked
ournonville,
t
acked ven
the
pretension
f
gallantry
hat
ccompanied
uch ex-
changes
cross heChannel.
o be
sure,
ome ancers id
eventually arry
heir
protectors."
any
morebore
children ut of
wedlock,
ending
hem
n
secrecy
o
distant
elationsr
country
amilies
obe reared.
ordid
36
Dance
Research
ournal
7/2
& 18/1
1985-86)
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
4/7
Caricature
y
Marcelin
f
Eugenie
iocre s
Frantz
n
CoppAlia.
marriages etween dancers farewell in this tmosphere
of
libertinage:
ne thinksof the
choreographer
rthur
Saint-Ion, Fanny
Cerrito's
on and
off-stage
artner,
who,
ealous
of the
gifts
howered on his beautiful
nd
brilliantwife
(which
he could neither
duplicate
nor
reciprocate),
eft
the
field
of
battle to
his
competitors.8
The
association
of ballet and
prostitution
as
so
per-
vasive that vor Guest
in
his
history
f ballet under the
Second
Empire
makes
a
special point
of
noting
the
Opera's good
girls-model
wives,midnight
oets,
uthors
ofbooks of
religious
eflections.
ut
such cases
were
only
exceptions.
For
pleasure-loving
aris,
dancers were the
cream f
he
demi-monde.
Aesthetics
oday
stresses
he
dancer's
symbolic
func-
tion:
t
views
physicalprcsence
s the form f
dance
it-
self. n the nineteenth entury, owever,the danseuse
was first nd foremost
woman.
Like
her
audience,
she
saw
the
task
ofballetas
one
of
charming
he
sensibility,
not
elevating
he
mind.
Tilting
er face to the
oges
nfer-
nales,
lashing
hebrilliants fher atest
rotector,
aking
up
with
oquetry
he
hortcomings
f
technique,
he
pre-
sentedherselfs a
physical
ynecdoche,
dancer
without
the dance. For the
nineteenth-centuryublic,
ballet of-
fered
staged eplay
f he
class
and
bordello
olitics
hat
ruled thetheater
orridors.
Conventionalwisdom has it that
herewere
two sorts
of romantic allerinas:
Christians"who
evoked roman-
ticism's
piritual
earnings
nd
supernalkingdoms,
nd
"pagans"
who
impersonated
ts
obsession with
exotic,
carnal,
nd
material hemes.9 ut
this
paradigm,
nvented
by TheophileGautier odescribe hecontrastingtyles f
Marie
Taglioni
nd
Fanny
Elssler,
s at
best
misleading.
For no
matter
ow
patly
he
virgin/whore
chemeseems
to fit he
deology
f
romanticism,
t
gnores
oth he
danc-
er's totemic
eaity-her position
within he social order
of ballet-and that
troubling
hirdwho
articulated
he
common
round
f he
period's
balletic
vatars fEve.
As
an emblem
of
wanton
sexuality,
eminized
masculinity,
and amazon
unviolability,
he
danseuse n travesti
ym-
bolized
n
her
complexpersona
the
many
shades of ust
projected
y
the udience
on the
nineteenth-century
an-
cer.
Unlike heolder
genre
distinctions
ased on
bodytype,
movement,
and
style,
romanticism's
female
tryptich
aligned
balletic
mage
with
hierarchy
fclass and sexual
Angelina
iorettind
Blanche
Montaubry
n
the divertissementf
Hamlet,
n
operaby
Amboise
homas
1868),
horeographedy
Lu-
cien
Petipa.
practice.If Taglioni's "aerial, virginalgrace" evoked
romanticism's
uest
for he
deal,
t
lso summoned
othe
stage
the
marriageable
demoiselle, haste, demure,
and
genteel.
o,
too,
Elssler's
"swooning,
voluptuous
rms,"
like
her
satins, aces,
and
gems,
linked the
concept
of
materialism
with a
particular
material
reality-the
en-
ticing, igh-priced
leasures
f
grande
orizontale.
The
travesty
ancer
practised
none of
these
symbolic
feminine oncealments.
As
shipboys
nd
sailors,
hussars
and
toreadors,
he
proletarians
f the
Opera's
corps
de
ballet
donned
breeches
and
skin-tight
rousers that
displayed
to
advantage
the
shapely legs,
slim corseted
waists,
and
rounded
hips,
thighs,
nd buttocks
f the
era's ideal
figure.
ike
the
prostitutes
n
fancy
dress
in
Manet's
"Ball
at
the
Opera,"
the danseuse
en travesti
brazenly dvertisedhersexuality. he was thehussyof
theboulevards n theatrical
arade.
The
masquerade
of
ransvestismooled
no
one,
norwas
it
meant o.
The danseuse
n travesti as
always
a
woman,
and a
highly
esirableone
(a
splendid
figure
was one
of
therole's
prerequisites).
he
may
have
aped
the
teps
nd
motions
f the male
performer,
ut she never
mperson-
ated his
nature.What udiences wanted
was a masculine
image deprived
of
maleness,
an idealized
adolescent,
beardless
he-man.
Gautier,
n
particular,
as
repelled y
the
ruggedphysicality
f the
danseur,
hat
"species
of
monstrosity,"
s
he called
him.-0
Nothing,"
he
wrote,
"is
moredistastefulhan man who shows his red
neck,
his
big
muscular
rms,
his
egs
with he calves
of
parish
beadle,
and all his
strong
massive frame haken
by leaps
andpirouettes.''
His
critical
colleague,
Jules
Janin,
shared Gautier's
prejudices:
ven the
greatest
fdanseurs
aled
against
he
delicate
figure, hapely
leg,
and
facial
beauty
of the
travesty
ancer.
Janin,
owever,
dded another lement
to
Gautier's
ist
of characteristics
nbecoming
n
a male
dancer
-
power.
No real
man,
that
s,
no
upstanding
member f the new
bourgeois
rder,
ould
impersonate
the
poetic
idealism
of the
ballet hero without
ungen-
dering
himself,without,
n
short,
ecoming woman
in
male
drag.Janin's
emarks,
ublished
n
theJournal es
Debats,
are worth
quoting
at
length:
Speak
to
us
of
a
pretty
ancinggirl
who
displays
he
grace
of
her
figure,
who
reveals
so
fleetingly
ll
the
Dance
Research
ournal
7/2
& 18/1
1985-86)
37
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
5/7
~~~~~?:::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~*:
L
oR:ZnaRcar nF l86)
anyEsse a ergsinL Me
'Iguvle(15);LuieMrqe i rzi
(16)
treasuresf her
beauty.
hank
God,
I
understand
that
perfectly,
know what this
ovely
creature
wishes
s,
nd would
willingly
ollow
erwherever
she wishesnthe weet andof ove.But man, s
ugly
s
you
nd
,
a
wretched
ellow
ho
eaps
bout
without
nowing
hy,
creature
pecially
madeto
carry
musket
nd a sword nd to wear
uniform.
That hisfellowhould
ance as a womandoes
-
impossible
hat
his ewhiskered
ndividual ho
s
a
pillar
f the
community,
n
elector,
municipal
councillor,
manwhose usiness
t s tomake
nd ..
unmake
aws,
should ome before
s
in
a
tunic
f
sky-blue
atin,
is head covered
with hat with
wavingplume
amorously aressing
is
cheek,
a
frightful
anseuse
f the male sex
...
this was
surely
impossible
nd
ntolerable,
nd
we
havedonewell
o
remove such
...
artists rom
our
pleasures.
Today,
thanksothis evolutione have
ffected,
oman s
thequeen of ballet .. no longer orced ocutoffhalf
her
ilk
etticoat
odress er
partner
n t.
Today
he
dancing
man s no
onger
olerated
xcept
s
a
useful
accessory.12
As the
oncept
f
masculinityligned
tself ith
roduc-
tivity,
he effeminate
terility
f the danseur
ecame
unacceptable
o
ballet's
arge
male
public.
But n
defining
ower
s
male,
Janinmplicitly
efined
powerlessness
s female.n
photographs
f
thedanseuse
en
ravesti
osed
with
er
emale
ounterpart,
hemoder
eye
notes curtailment
f
cale,
reduction ot
only
n
the
height
nd
girth
fthe
masculine
igure,
ut
n
the
physical
ontrastf the
maged
exes.
What
s
missing,
above
ll,
s the
uggestion
f
dominance,
hat
ntimation
of
power
hat
ven the
most
elf-effacing
anseur om-
municatesohis udience.nappropriatinghemale ole,
the
ravesty
ancer
tripped
hat ole
f
power.
In
eliminating
he
danseur,
allet
turnedout the
remaining
n-house
bstacle
o
sexual
icense.
With
he
decline f the
clan,
only
his
lust,
hat
ast bastion f
power,
tood etween he anseusend
he
cheme o art-
ull
contrived
y
the
entrepreneurs
f
balletfor he
milionaireibertinesfthe
udience. orwhat
was the
Opera
f
not heir
rivateeraglio?
hanks othe
ravesty
dancer,
o
male now could
destroy
he
peace
of their
private
aremor
their
njoyment
f
performance
s
foreplay
o
possession.
In
appearance,
he feminine
ndrogyne
aid
claim o
another rotic exus.
Tall,
mposing,
nd
majestic,
he
addedto thecharm f
wantonnesshe
challenge
f the
amazon,
hat untamed
Diana who so fascinated
he
nineteenth-century
magination.
n Gautier's
escription
of
Eugenie
iocre s
Cupid
n
Nemea,
ote he
sapphic
allusions.
Certainly
ove was
never
personified
n
a
more
graceful,
r more
harming
ody.Mle.
Fiocrehas
managed
o
compound
he
perfection
othof the
young
irl
nd of
the
youth,
nd
to makeofthem
sexless
eauty,
hich s
beauty
tself.
he
might
ave
beenhewn rom
block f
Parosmarble
y
Greek
sculptor,
nd
animated
y
a
miracle
uch s
that
f
Galatea.To
the
purity
f
marble,
he adds the
up-
pleness
f ife.Her
movementsre
developed
nd
balanced
n
a
sovereign
armony...What
dmirable
legs
Diana
thehuntressould
nvy
hemWhat n
easy, proud
and
tranquil
grace
What
modest,
measured
gestures ...So
orrect,
hythmical
nd
noble
s her
miming
hat,
ikethat
f the
mimes f
old, tmight e accompaniedytwo unseen lute-
players.
f
Psyche
awthis
upid
he
might orget
he
original.13
Fiocre,
n
exceptionally
eautiful
omanwhocreated
the ole fFrantzn
Coppelia,
as
oneof he
most amous
travesty
eroes f he1860s nd
1870s. ike
number
f
Op6ra
ancers,
he hared he
oards
with
sister,
hose
shapely
imbs
ommanded
early
s much
dmiration
s
her
ibling's. y
far,
he
most
ascinating
ister
air
f he
century
ere
the
Elsslers-Fanny,
he
romantic
empt-
ress
with
he
body
f
a
"hermaphrodite
f
antiquity,"'4
and
Therese,
er
partner
nd faithful
avalier. or
oVer
ten
years
they
danced
together,
ived
together,
nd
traveled
ogether.
n
stage hey
ommunicated
veiled
eroticism,hileoffstageheir elationshipuggested
feminizedelic f he lder
lan
ystem.
A
giraffe
f
a
dancer t
5'6",
the
"majestic"
her'ese
served er
iminutiveister
n
he
multiple
oles eserved
in
n
older rafor he allerina's ext
f
kin.
he
handled
all of
Fanny's
usiness
ffairs,
ecidedwhere nd
what
she hould
ance,
nd
taged,
ithout
redit,
any
f he
ballets nd
numbers
n
which
they
appeared.
As
a
woman,
owever,
hereseacked heclan's
patriarchal
authority,
hile as a
dancer,
he would
always
be
without
he
wealth
nd
power
f
the
"protectors"
ho
increasingly
aterialized
ehind he
cenes-
promoting
favorites,ispensing
unds s well s
maintaining
ancers
and heir
mpoverished
amilies.
ndeed,
ne
uch
rotec-
tor,
he
elf-styledarquis
e La
Valette,
ho became
38
Dance Research
ournal
7/2
& 18/1
1985-86J
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
6/7
Fanny's
over
n
1837,
eventually estroyed
he sororial
menage:
his
scorn
for he ex-dancer
who shared
her
bed
forced herese
o eave.
One
expects
hat he ikesof the
Marquis
de La Valette
relished he
ight
fhis Elssler
girls
harming
onfreres
f
the
oges
nferales.
But one also
suspects
hat he
travesty
pas
de deux
was not so
completely
unsexed
as the
householdhe ruled.
Certainly,
t
had
been
neutered
by
the substitutionfa woman for he
man,
but that
hardly
means
it
was
devoid of erotic ontent.
Might
not audi-
ences haveperceived nthechoreographic layof female
bodies,
something
ther han two women
competing
o
whet
the
aded appetites
f ibertines?
onsider
Gautier's
account
ofa duet
performed
y
the twoElsslers:
The
pas
executed
by
Mile.
T.
Elssler
nd her sister
is
charmingly rranged;
here s one
figure
n
par-
ticularwhere the
two sisters un from he back-cloth
hand in
hand,
throwing
orward heir
egs-at
the
same
time,
which
surpasseseverything
hat can be
imagined
n
the
way
of
homogeneity,ccuracy,
nd
precision.
One
might
lmostbe said
tobe
the reflec-
tion
f
the
other,
nd that ach comes forwardwith
mirrorheld
beside
her,
which follows her
and
repeats
ll
hermovements.
Nothings moresoothingndmore harmonious o
the
gaze
than
this dance
at once
so
refined nd so
precise.
Fanny,
to whom Theresa has
given
as ever the
more
mportant art,displayed
child-like
race,
n
artless
agility,
nd an
adorable
roguishness;
her
Creole costume
made her look
ravishing,
r rather
she made thecostume ook
ravishing.15
Th6rese
had
choreographed
a Voliere
"The
Aviary"
in
English),
which
ikeher other allets nd dances made
no use of men:she cast herself
n
the
masculinerole.
Yet
despite
he
differences
n
their
ttire,
hat struck
Gautier
was the oneness of the
pair:
he saw them
as refracted
images
of a
single
elf,perfect
nd
complete.
n
evoking
an Arcadiaof
perpetual
dolescence
untroubled
nd
un-
touchedbyman,thetravesty uet hinted t an ideal at-
tainable
only
in
the realms
of
art and the
imagination-not
the real world of stockbrokers
nd
municipal
ouncillors.
But
dancing
by
ts
very
nature s a
physical
s
much as
symbolic
ctivity.
n
theformalized
mating ame
of the
travesty
as
de
deux,
wo
women
touching
nd
moving
n
harmony
conveyed
an
eroticism
perhaps
even more
compelling
han
their
ndividual
physical
charms.
The
fantasy
f
females
t
play
for he
male
eye
is
a
staple
of
erotic
iterature,
kindof
travesty erformance
nacted
in the
privacy
f
the
magination.
allet's
travesty
as
de
deux
gave public
form o this
private
fantasy,whetting
audience
desire,
while
keeping
afely
within he bounds
of
decorum.For
ultimately,apphic
ove interfered ith
the mooth unctioningftheseraglio s much as theob-
streperous
male.
In
the case
of
the
Elsslers,
where
Therese eems
to have animatedher
choreography
ith
something
kinto
personal
eeling,
he
ncest
aboo coded
as
sisterly
evotion
what
might
therwise
ave been
con-
strued
s love.
And
one cannot
help
thinking
hat the
buxom
travesty
eroes of
the Second
Empire
and
sub-
sequent
decades flaunted n
outrageous
femininity
o
ward offthe
sapphism
mmanent
n
their roles.
In
so
doing,
however,
ballet robbed
the danseuse
of erotic
mystery.
Today,
thanks o the
example
of the Ballets
Trocadero,
we are
apt
to
think hat
ravesty
n
dance
inherently
f-
fers
critique
of sexual
role
playing.
But the
travesty
dancers of
nineteenth-century
allet offered
no
medi-
"La
Belle"
Otero
tation on the
usages of
gender,
no
critical
perspec-
tive on the
sexual
politics
that ruled
their
lives,
no
revelation
of
the
ways
masculine
and femininewere
imaged on theballetstage.Whattheyexemplifiedwas
the
triumph
of
bordello
politics
ideologized
as
the
feminine
mystique-a politics
nd an
ideology
mposed
by
men
who remained
n full
ontrol f ballet
hroughout
the
century
s
teachers, critics,
horeographers,
pec-
tators,
nd artistic
irectors.
The advent
n 1909 of
Diaghilev's
Ballets
Russes
with
its
dynamic
new aesthetic
shattered
the
travesty
paradigm.
eeing
real men
on
the
stage
n
choreography
that
xploited
he
strength,
thleticism,
nd scale
of the
male
body
simply
lectrified
udiences,
causing
them
to
look anew at the
travesty
ancer.
But the
audience itself
had
changed
dramatically.
he new
following
orballet
came
from he
highly ophisticated
milieuof
e
tout aris.
The
great onnoisseurs, ollectors,
musical
patrons,
nd
salonnieres f the Frenchcapital-manyofwhom were
women-replaced
the
portsmen
nd roues
of
the
oges
n-
females.
At
the same
time
a
new
androgynous
hematic
and
iconography,
articularly
vident
n works created
for
Nijinsky
where
images
of sexual
heterodoxy
rans-
gressed
igid ategories
f
masculinity
nd
femininity,
e-
gendered
he
ideology
f
ballet,
ending
the
reign
of the
feminine
mystique.
he era
ofthedanseuse n travestiad
come to
an
end.
NOTES
1.
For he ramatic
hanges
n he
rganization
f he aris pera fter
the Revolution f
1830,
see Ivor
Guest,
The
Romantic allet
n
Paris,
forewordsinette e
Valois
nd Lillian
Moore,
nd
d. rev.
London:
DanceBooks, 980), p.22-25. n England, ineteenth-centuryallet
appeared xclusively
na commercial
etting. ohn
bers,
former
ticket
gent,
ssumed he
management
f he
King's
heatre
n
1820,
an
associationhat nded n
bankruptcy
n
1827.He
was succeeded
n
1828
by
Pierre
aporte,
ho,
with
he
xception
fthe 1832
eason,
controlledhe
opera
houseuntil
is death
n
1841,
whereupon
en-
jamin umley,
n
charge
f
financesince
836,
ssumed he heater's
management.
n
thehands f
his
olicitor/impresario,
er
Majesty's
(as
the
King's
heatre adbeen
enamed)
ntered
pon
neraof
glory.
In
the 1830s nd
1840s,
nder he
management
fAlfred
unn,
he
Theatre
oyal, rury
anebecame
nother
mportant
enue or
allet.
During
he atter
art
f he
nineteenth
enturyp
to
the ve ofWorld
War
,
ballet ived n
in
the
music-halls,
bove
all,
the
Empire
nd
Alhambra. vor
Guest,
The Romantic
allet
n
England:
ts
Development,
Fulfilment
nd
Decline
London:
hoenix
ouse,
1954),
p.
33, 46,
83-
87, 128-131;
he
mpire
allet
London:
ociety
or
heatre
esearch,
1962);
The
Alhambra
allet,"
ance
erspectives,
utumn
959.
Dance
Research
ournal
7/2
&
18/1
1985-861
39
-
8/9/2019 Travesty Dancer in Nineteenth-Century Ballet.
7/7
In
France,
t
should be
noted,
the
commercial
oulevard
tage
was
the
breeding
round
for
heatrical omanticism.
ong
before
he Paris
Opera's
Robert
e
Diable,
usually
considered
he official
oint
f
depar-
ture
for
omantic
allet,
pectacular echniques
nd
supernatural
ffec-
ts were
commonplace
in
the melodramas and
vaudevilles
of the
popular
theaters.
Ballet was an
important omponent
of
these
spec-
tacles.
ndeed,
t
was at theaters ike the
Thatre de
la
Porte-Saint-Mar-
tin,
which maintained
resident
roupe
nd
regularly resented
new
ballets and revivals, hat
the aerial
style
of
dancing
associated
with
romanticism
egan
to
crystallize arly
n
the 1820s.
Among
he talents
associated
with he
flowering
f romantic
allet
t the Paris
Opera who
gainedearly xperience n the boulevard tagewereJeanCoralli,who
produced
everal
ballets
t
the
Th6etre
e
la
Galte.
Guest,
The Roman-
tic
Ballet n
Paris,
pp.
4-5,
13-14,16,
Appendix
D,
pp.
272-274;
Marian
Hannah
Winter,
he
Pre-Romanticallet
London:
Pitman,
1974),
pp.
178-179,
93-197.
2.
Some
instances
f
gender
wappingprior
o
the nineteenth
entury
are
Marie Salle's
appearance
as
Amour
n Handel's
Alcina
which
Salle
choreographed
erself)
nd the three
graces
mpersonated
y
men
in
Plathee,
Jean-Philippe
ameau's
spoof
of his own
operatic
tyle.
The
lover
n
disguise
la
Shakespeare's
Twelfth
ight
was a
popular
onceit
that
called
for
cross-dressing.
am
grateful
o Catherine
Turocy
for
this
nformation.
or the
response
of the London
audience to
Salle's
performance,
ee
Parmenia
Migel,
The
Ballerinas
rom
the Court
of
Louis
XIV toPavlova
1972; rpt.
New
York: Da
Capo,
1980),
p.
25.
3. Le
Constitutionnel,
uoted
n
Guest,
The
Romantic
allet
n
Paris,
.
1.
4. Les
Petits
Mysteres
e
l'Opera,
quoted
n
Guest,
The Romantic
allet
in
Paris,
p.
25.
5.
August
Bournonville,
My
Theatre
ife,
rans.PatriciaN.
McAndrew
(Middletown:
Wesleyan
Univ.
Press,
1979),
p.
52.
6.
Fanny
Cerrito's
iaison
with
the
Marques
de Bedmar,
Carlotta
Grisi's
with
Prince
Radziwill,
Fanny
Elssler's
with the
Marquis
de
La
Valette,
Pauline
Duvernay's
with
(among
others)
Valette
and
Lyne
Stephens,
nd
Elisa
Scheffer's
iththe Earl
of Pembroke re a few
of
the
romances
that
dot the ballet chronicleof
the
1830s, 1840s,
and
1850s.
7.
For
the
changes
ntroduced
y
Dr. Louis
Veron
t
the
Paris
Opera
after he Revolution
f
1830,
see
Guest,
TheRomantic
allet
n
Paris,
p.
28. Under
Ebers,
the
Green
Room built t
the
Kings's
Theatre
perfor-
med
a
similar
unction s
the
Foyer
de la
Danse,
while at
Drury
Lane,
Bunn
allowed
the more influential
atrons
the
run
of the
coulisses.
Procuresses
f "of theworst
ype"
circulated
ackstage
t
Drury
Lane,
among
them
the
blackmailing
eauty specialist
known
as
Madame
Rachel.
Guest,
TheRomantic
allet n
England,
p.
36-37,
113.
8. Migel,TheBallerinas, . 218. Married n 1845 (to the chagrin f
Cerrito's
arents
who had
hoped
for
son-in-law
with fortune
r at
least
title),
he
couple
broke
up
in 1851.
Shortly
hereafter,
er iaison
with
the
Marques
de Bedar
became
public
knowledge.
Whenrumors
began
to circulate
n
1844 about Cerrito's
mpending
marriage
o Saint-
Leon,
the ballerina's
London
admirers,
eaded
by
Lord
MacDonald,
created
a
public
disturbance
when Saint-Leon
appeared
onstage.
During
ne
performance,
hedancer
topped
before
heir
ox
and with
a
"sarcastic
grin"
nd
an
"indescribable
esture"
hissed
menacingly
t
Lord
Macdonald. The word
cochonwas heard
to leave
Saint-Leon's
mouth,
gross
mpertinenceoming
from dancer.
Saint-LIon's
writ-
ten
apology ppeared
n the Times
few
days
ater.
vor
Guest,
Fanny
Cerrito:
he
Life
f
Romantic
allerina,
2nd
ed.
rev.
London:
Dance
Books,
1974),
p.
85.
9.
"Fanny
Elssler
n La
Tempete',"
n The Romantic
allet
s
Seen
by
Theophile
autier,
rans.
Cyril
W. Beaumont
London,
1932;
rpt.
New
York:ArnoPress,1980),p. 16.
10.
"Perrot nd Carlotta
Grisi
n
Le
Zingaro',"
bid.,
.
44.
11.
"The
Elsslers
n
La
Voliere',"
bid.,
.
24.
12. 2 March
1840,
quoted
n
Guest,
Romantic
allet,
.
21.
13.
Quoted
n vor
Guest,
TheBallet
f
he
econd
mpire
Middletown:
Wesleyan
Univ.
Press,
1974),
p.
200.
14.
"Fanny
Elssler,"
n
Gautier,
.
22.
15.
"The Elsslers
n
La
Voliere',"
p.
24.
40
Dance
Research
Journal
7/2& 18/1
1985-86)