weberian perspective dance history

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THE INTERNAL LOGIC OF DANCE:A WEBERIAN PERSPECTIVE ON TH E HISTORY OF BALLET

Introduction

Th e history of ballet has typically been written as a story of dance performancesan d personalities.' Ballet is thus often rendered as a panorama of artistic highsan d lows - vulnerable to the pressures on an d inspirations of its dominantpersonnel. A quite different record is seen if one looks more narrowly at thedevelopment of ballet technique, however, for this latter history is an unbrokenchain of interpersonal instruction which has existed for almost three centuries.Unlike th e aesthetic history of ballet, then, the technical history reveals little ofthe merely whimsical or fanciful but instead exhibi ts a discernable order, anaccumulative character that sociologist Max Weber called "rationalization." Inap ply in g t he Weberian perspective to ballet h istory we thus discover an

"internal logic" not heretofore stressed in ballet's development, ev en as wegain in appreciation for this central Weberian concept.

Max Weber 's Concept of Rationalization

Those who write about Max Weber appear un anim ous in judging-"rationalization" to be a central notion in his work. 2 Indeed, a common elementin Weber's discussions of economics, religion, law, bureaucracy, science, an dpolitics is the role played by rational action, rationality, or rationalization. Andyet Weber himself never provides an adequate definition. "We have to remindourselves," he wrote, " t h a t ' rat ionalism' may mean very differentthings . . . . The rationalization of life conduct with which we have to dealhere can assume unusually varied forms.,,3 At one time or another Weber usessome variant of "'rational" as s yn on ymou s w it h s ys temat ic , profitable,intellectualized, efficient, logical, bureaucratized, accumulative, cognitivelyencompassing, disenchanted, and/or as any change from the status quo.

Yet the concept is not a sponge in Weber' s hand. For one thing, rationality isnot a property of things but of people's views of things; it characterizes persons'orientation toward the world, not the world itself. Thus "increasingintellectualization an d rationalization do not . . . indicate an increased and

general knowledge of the conditions under which one lives.,,4 For anotherthing, rat ionaliza tion does not apply uniformly across a total society butproceeds instead at different rates in different institutional spheres.t

The most important clue comes in Weber' s discussion of the four types ofsocial action," Human behavior involves the use of means to achieve ends, and

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592 journal of social history

Weber sees people as variously aware of their choices in this regard. Affectualan d traditional actions are a-rational because persons behave as if they areunaware of any choice in their behavior. By contrast, rat ionali ty enters intowertrational an d zweckrational actions. In the first of these, an "absolutecommitment" is pursued by calculating any means possible; in the latter, theends as well as the means are weighed. Rationality obviously deals with thiscapacity or willingness to calculate means, ends, and the relationship betweenthem. Rationalization means, says Weber in his "Science as a Vocation" essay,"the knowledge or belief that . . . there are no mysterious incalculable forcesthat come into play, but rather that one can, in principle, maste r all things bycalculation "7

At least two key ideas are contained here, however. On the one hand,"calculation" implies a metric which permits the weighing of alternatives, the

choice being whatever is thought most efficient. On the other hand,"calculability" implies th e capacity or freedom to weigh alternatives. Thus,when Weber refers to rationalization as "deliberate adaptation to situations interms of self interest.V" his accent is on efficiency or the weighing of alternativecourses of action. But when he refers to rationalization as "substitution for theunthinking acceptance of ancient custom.l'" his accent is on the freedom orcapacity - intellectual an d ethical - to weigh alternatives. Th e latter isWeber's theme of "disenchantment," pursued in his investigations of religion'srole in social change. Th e former is Weber 's theme of "progress," seen in hisf ascina ti on with bureaucracy and science as accumulative endeavors.

Rationalization involves both themes, it is generally agreed.!"Weber's analysis of social change focussed on this double-barreled notion of

rationalization. On the one hand, he sought to understand the inhibiting factors- the "traditions" or "magical elements" - that prevent some alternativesfrom even becoming calculable. On t he othe r hand, he sought to understandhow people, to the degree disenchantment obtains, will calculate andsystematize. No one willfully chooses inefficiency.

Rationality, then, depends upon the degree to which persons have knowledgeabout alternatives an d have the capability to act on them. Therefore a centralimplication of the idea of rationalization is that a choice made at one timeinfluences the knowledge and capability - and thus choice - at a later time.So it is that many endeavors exhibit an "internal logic," an accumulat ivepat tern in which, as new developments occur, subsequent developments seemalmost to suggest themselves. '

This viewpoint offers a course between unrestrained cultural relat ivism onthe one side and hidebound determinism - whether materialist or idealiston the other side. Weber sees history as a series of "switching stations," as on arailroad track. Many factors account for the general direction and speed of thetrain, factors on which "society" may have li tt le impact, but at certain points

human decisions are made which thereaf ter inf luence the train's course. Thetrain of humanity - on the rationalization track - is neither f ree to "reverse"its di rection (as impl ied in radical relativism), nor is it "required" to follow apattern inexorably laid down in advance (as implied in radical determinism).

Rationalization applies in an interesting way in the artistic realm an d no

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THE INTERNAL LOGIC OF DANCE 593

doubt helps explain Weber's scholarly interest in music.l! For while nobodyengages in art in order to be efficient - by definition, the goal of art isaesthetic - various techniques ar e employed to achieve that goal, an d thesetechniques are calculable. Moreover, since dissatisfaction is frequent as artisticstyles come and go, a lot of calculating takes place. Aesthetic judgments mayoriginate anywhere, therefore, but th e history of an art's technical side revealsth e rationalization process.

Amateurism

Unemotionalism ofclassicism

Dissatisfaction with:

Crudeness of folk customs

Secondary role of dancing

Ballet Independence

Professionalization

Stage:

Th e BeginningThe Court Ballet

Rationalization i n th e Realm of Dance

Ballet as an aesthetic activity can be viewed as a product of its dominantperformances an d personalities. Cultural relativism characterizes such accountsas they emphasize t he unique contributions made by unique individuals. Bu tballet has a technical side also which, constrained by the process of

rationalization, is to a lesser degree the product of th e persons who happen to bedancers at any given time. This is no t to say that th e means employed bydancers to achieve their artistic goals have been predetermined since th e firsttime Terpsichore touched a dancer's soul, but neither have they been simply afree choice for each generat ion to accept, reject, or invent at will. Instead theyfollow the Weberian path. Agnes De Mille almost states the case: "Individualsare continuously trying to break away from inherited classic patterns an doriginate something new. When what they do is valid, they may change thedirection of th e classic course."12

De Mille subst itutes valid for rational; otherwise her view is essentiallyWeberian and contains th e crucial elements: dissatisfaction with prevailingballet practice leads to innovation, but only those innovations judged (i.e.,calculated) to be more efficien t means to dancers' goals will become th e newprevailing practice. However, whether a particular innovation will even beconsidered (i.e., be calculable) is determined in part by prior practice. Theresult is accumulative at th e technical level, giving ballet an internal logic.

This internal logic in ballet's history can be described in stages, eachexhibiting a dissatisfaction with then prevailing practice and a resultingtechnical development. Identified briefly, these stages are:

Resulting TechnicalDevelopment:

Courtesy of grand manners

Codification of th e fivepositions of the feetMaximum turnout of th elegsMastery of aerial space

Decline of Romanticism Artificiality of fantasy Maximum linear extensionTh e following pages will show that, whereas each technical development

arose ou t of dissatisfaction with th e status quo, and thus might have had amultitude of causes, it nevertheless bui lt upon the technical past. Together,such changes reveal a process of rationalization.

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Background to the Ballet: The Emergence of Grand Manners

Among bal let 's ancestors are folk practices of all s or ts : r el ig io usprocessionals, pagan rituals, an d wandering minstrels as well as village dances.

During the Middle Ages these pas times " we re ta ke n up by th e nobility,dignified an d elaborated . . . to serve the social function of courtly life.,,13 Tomaximize their effect, these cour t enter ta inments became increasingly theresponsibil ity of learned advisors, one of whom, Jean Antoine de Baif,advocated the unity of music, verse, an d dance - following the example ofancient Greece. "By this means," he wrote, "the minds of the auditors may becomposed so as to become capable of the highest knowledge after being purgedof the remnants of barbarism . . . . "14

Baif 's efforts were recognized by a French royal patent in 1570 to found anacademy, which led to more integrated courtly spectaculars. Thus did balletti

- dances in geometric patterns on the ballroom floor - become coordinatedwith music, verse (sung or spoken), lavish costumes, and scenic effects.P In1581, a par t icularly e labora te and coherent example of these spectaclesoccurred, the Ballet Comique de la Reine, usually cited by historians as the first"ballet" for which there is the full text an d music.

Th e director of this endeavor, Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, believed he hadrealized Baif's artistic aim: "" . . . I enlivened the ballet an d made it speak, andmade the Comedy sing an d play; and adding some unusual and elaborate decorand embellishments, I may say that I satisfied the eye, the ear, an d the intellectwith one well-proportioned creation. '* l Ballet was born, then , as a refinementof folk activities as these were moved into the Court, and it developed as theseact iv it ie s were coo rd in at ed i nt o artistic wholes, d anc e b ein g one of thecomponents.

Although there are scant clues to many aspects of t hese coordina tedenter ta inments, material does exist from the 15th century onward describingthe steps'" and style lH used in courtly dancing. It is that style which concerns ushere, because, as in most court entertainments of the time, "". . . in the BalletComique de la Reine. only lords an d ladies participate in all the roles . . . . ,,11)

While ballet has exhibited many changes through the centuries, the noble

demeanor charac te r is t ic of Rena is sance a ri stoc racy has remained adistinguishing characteristic of ballet technique. We refer to this characteristicas the courtesy of grand manners; it is the first of the technical features to beidentified in ballet's rational development.

The bow, or reverence, with which these courtly dances began an d endedsymbolize the politeness of their execution. Dancers moved with dignity anddanced according to rules. Careless manners, awkward stance, an d imprecisemovements were not tolerated. Fundamental to all was elegant posturestraight spine, l if ted chest, relaxed shoulders, long neck, erect head, hands andarms held without tension. It was the gesture of the aristocrat, as expressed on

the dance floor. I t was upper class demeanor converted into movement tomusic. It was a hallmark of ballet at its beginning, an d it remains so todaywithout exception in classroom training, if not always on the stage. Amongother things, ballet , even now, is a courtesy of grand manners.

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The Court Ballet and Five Positions of the Feet

The French 20 court ballet proved to be an incompatible mix of noble cast an dspectacular vehicle. By the middle of the 17th century it ha d declined into a

"stat ic low level of repetitious fantasy,,21 which aimed only to entertain by"exalting the image of monarchy." Th e ingenui ty of poets, musicians, andcostumers was being tested, but so was the physical dexterity of the nobleparticipants. Th e composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, a music and dance coordinatorof the time, was described by a contemporary as "continually embarrassed byth e "stupidity' of most of the noble dancers, many of whom appeared quiteincapable of master ing the more rapid steps. ,,22 Strain in the older order wasbeing felt.

Several changes had had th e effect of emphasizing technique. One changewas to make use of skilled dancers of less than noble class - although not yet inth e final entree, the most elegantly patterned dance. 23 A second change was th eshift of performances from th e ballroom floor to a raised platform at one en d ofthe room, which eventually became the pros cenium stage. The groupprocessions and intricate floor patterns characteristic of th e earlier court balletsthus gave way to greater emphasis on the movement of individual performers.i"

To Louis XIV, who brought court ballet to its "most brilliant phase,"25 mustgo some of the responsibili ty for these changes. In bringing together f irst -ratecomposers, poets, an d choreographers, the royal dancer/patron also helpedb ring a bou t the demise of amateur dancing. He himself gave up all publicdance performance after 1670, for example, although still in his energetic 30s.I t was he, moreover, who employed Lully an d in 1658 gave him a virtualmonopoly on all music composed for court balletsr" Thereafter skilled dancersassumed greater and greater roles in t he cou rt ent er ta in ment s, i nc lu di ngenventual participation in the final entree. And it was Louis who, in 1672,authorized that a "school to educate pupils as much fo r dancing as fo rsinging"27 be added to l 'Academie royale de Musique (soon to he known as theParis Opera), still an endeavor with royal sponsorship, but the precursor of aprofessional company. Ballet as a diversion of amateurs in private ballroomswas giving way to a professionalized activity in public theatres.

Th e French academy served to establish ballet technique an d set artisticstandards (and, of course, con tr ibute the vocabulary of ba llet , used eventoday). The chief choreographer for the academy, Pierre Beauchamp, iscredited with codifying the five basic positions of the feet, because he "foundthat nothing was more important to maintain th e body in a graceful att itude an dth e steps in a fixed space than to introduce these five positions."28 By 1700,Roaul Auger Feuillet had published Choregraphie, indicating "Positions, Steps,Sinkings, Risings, Springings, Capers, FaIlings, Slidings, Turnings of the Body,Cadences or Time, Figures , e tc .," including th e distinction between the five"true" positions (feet turned outward) and the five "false" positions (feetturned inward).29 The five positions (or similar prescriptions) were known an din use prior to Beauchamp and Feuillet, but their essential, foundationalquali ty was not establ ished unt il bal le t became a theatrical presentat ion, on aproscenium-framed stage, before an audience "out front. ' Why?

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As stated earlier, emphasis had shifted to the movements of individualdancers, bu t now these occurred on a proscenium stage, toward an audience.Wishing maximum frontal exposure while executing greater varieties of springsand turns, dancers moved more efficiently with the legs turned outward - thedistinctive quality of the five positions - and from a precise base. Other waysto move sideways, to turn, to jump, to pose, might have been used but, as ofmid-17th century, only movement with turnout reflected grand manners. Thelatter were still regarded as a "necessity of elegant bearing, "3 0 in ballet no lessthan elsewhere among the nobility.

As happened with the courtesy of grant manners, then, the five "true"positions of the feet became part of the technical basis of ballet. Their merit, tothis day, has not seriously been challenged:

Th e more one considers the five positions, the more absolute their logic seems. Simplicity

itself, the under ly ing princip le is based on o ur h um an anatomy reduced to its essentialcapacities. It permits a five-note scale from which an infinitude of v isual chords ininnumerable keys may be rationally arranged . . . . Th e five positions of the feet bear asimilar relation in the dance to the five Slaves of musical notion . . . . [A]ttempts toestablish new positions are not unknown. However, they usually resolve themselves ID

arguments of nomenclature without establishing any new principle of mechanics. 3

The spirit that le d to th e French academy thus brought about thiscodification of ballet technique, and in due time the five positions becameestablished throughout the dance world. Also established was the idea of theprofessional school, often attached to a theatre, as a place for specialized

instruction. The professional school remains "the life-blood of the ballet. Iteconomically provides all materials necessary for a mastery of technique. I t

holds the accumulation of residual information of generations of pedagoguesand p r a c t i c i ~ f lartists . . . . I t establishes a standard for style, proficiency, andinstruction.'" Without a generally accepted and precise recording device likethe musical score, written word, or painted scene, ballet had to rely oninterpersonal contact, and i t still does. In no other ar t were (are) "students" tothe same degree "taught" by practitioners. What they have been taught since1700, however, includes not only grand manners bu t also the five positions ofthe feet. A new phase had occurred in the rational development of ballettechnique.

Professionalization and 90° Turnout o f the Legs

Stage dancers were now professionals, bu t their strictly codified movementscontinued to reflect the styles of the ballroom; their costumes remained thecostumes of the court. 33 The 18th century complaint was that ballet was notartistic enough. As Jean-Georges Noverre, a dancing master, complained in1760: "Children of Terpsichore, renounce cabrioles, entrechats, and overcomplicated steps . . . away with those lifeless masks . . . take off those

enormous wigs . . . discard th e us e of those stiff and cumbersomehoops Renounce that slavish routine which keeps your art in its

infancy [L]et us gracefully set aside the narrow laws of a school to followthe impressions of nature. . . .3 4

While sounding at times as if he rejected all that had gone before, Noverre

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clearly had something else in mind. For example, HIn order to dance well," hesaid, "nothing is so important as the turning outwards of the thigh."35 But forNoverre, movements of the legs, no matter how brilliant, were only a part oftrue dancing where "everything must speak; each gesture, each attitude, eachport de bras [carriage of the arms] must possess a different expression. ,,36

In other words, Noverre - joined by others of his time, e.g., Weaver,Angiolini, De Hesse - fought against th e sterile dances the Paris Operagenerated from its courtly heritage. The ballet reformers of the 18th cen turybelieved that stage dancing could be more than a divertissement within theopera, that instead, dance movement an d gesture alone could tell a story.37

But first, movement must become more expressive. One way, as Noverresuggested, was to get rid of masks, wigs, courtly costumes, an d slavish attentionto footwork only. Thus, after masks were abolished in 1772, facial expression

became more important. Fashions ushered in by the French Revolutionreplaced cumbersome courtly dress with lighter, more flowing garb. These newstyles allowed greater freedom of movement, especially for the upper body an darms. Thus gesture could become more natural, a goal the dance reformers hadin mind.

However, expressive movement was not the only product of these changes incostume. Dance technique was also enhanced. In the case of women especially,shucking of the long hooped skirts allowed a freedom of leg movement hithertonot imagined,38 plus the possibility of supported adagio, for now their partnerscould get close enough to hold them. High-heeled shoes were replaced byheelless slippers, thus encouraging more steps of elevation.

Th e five positions of the feet, from which all these movements developed,meant th at the legs were turned outward, but dancers were now attemptingfaster beats, more controlled pirouettes, and higher leg extensions. They foundthose movements enhanced by even greater outward rotation of the legs.

This technical development, of course, bui lt upon the five "true" positionsof the feet which, at the beginning of the 18th century, were only at little morethan right angles (45 0 turnout), reflecting an earlier notion that "the naturalrotation of the leg will not permit it to exceed a right angle."39 Actually, the 45°turnout

gave greater stabilitythan

did the extreme 90

0

turnout. But it wassufficient only for the terre a terre footwork of the high-heeled dancers of 1700,not the more expanded movement of the lighter-clad dancers of 1800. Turnoutincreased during the century, therefore, reaching by 1800 a 90° angle - theangle maximally efficient as judged by the new technical standards.l"

Like grand manners an d the five positions, then, "complete" or 90° turnoutbecame a permanent characteristic of ballet technique. Virtually no balletdancer, male or female, since 1800 has gone' far without the capacity for greatturnout. "Unnatural" as it may be, it nevertheless allows the ballet-trainedbody to what no other body can. As De Mille says: "At the request of the

modern choreographer we may turn in ou r knees . . . but we first learn toturn them out . . . . And we practice turning them out every day for an houran d a half. ,,41

The centrality of all we have discussed thus fa r is nicely demonstrated by aM-page manual written early in the 19th century by ballet-master Carlo Blasis,

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Elementary Treatise upon the Theory an d Practice of the Art of Dancing.42Attempting a synthesis of what was then understood to be bal le t' s technicalelements, Blasis never forgets the importance of grand manners (pp. 14,23,41,55-58), bal le t' s origins in the court. He accents also the critical role played byprofessional, interpersonal training (pp. 7-8, 61-64), never ignoring that basicto that t raining are the five positions of the feet ( ~ p .12-13). Ballet as expressivemovement of the total body is also emphasized (pp. 23-25, 27-31, 33-39), justas is the necessity of 90° turnout (pp. 11-14, 48-49). Th e many illustrationsattest to Blasis' assumption that ballet dancers now wore only the costumesuitable for their freer movement.

Missing from his discussion of the ar t of dancing, however, was ment ion ofthe amateur dancer, the courtly ballroom floor, the cumbersome dress of thewealthy. Gone, indeed, were many of the artistic features of ballet as it had

developed during two and a half centuries. But the technical developmentduring this time is unmistakably accumulative (pp. 47-48).

Ballet Independence and Mastery of Aerial Space

By 1800 ballet was no longer a mere divertissement within opera or dramabut had gained a measure of artistic independence. As ballet d'action orchoreodrame, i.e., story-telling through movement, ballets could hold the stagealone, even if these were typically given between the acts of some othertheatrical event. Subjects, however, usually remained heroic characters frommythology. Th e Paris Opera stubbornly continued in ballets based on old Greekmyths, its choreography remaining "dignified, calculated, cold.,,43 Similarly,La Scala dancers assumed statuesque poses modelled on classical sculpture ,relying more on mime than dance movement.l" I t would seem that the technicaladvances of the century before were ignored by leading choreographers.Salvatore Vigano of Milan wished ""to engage the heart," so he claimed,45 buthis attempts were in fact "unrelieved stretches of rhythmic pantomime. "46

What was yet lacking was the artistic impetus to make use of the newlydeveloped technical base, an d many dancers no doubt felt frustrated. As Cohensays of them: "Now that thei r technical skills were approaching new heights, itwas unlikely that they would consent for long to appear in ballets that offeredno occasions for them to display their virtuosity.,,47

An artistic push did come along, of course; the Romantic Movement was feltin ballet no less than in music, painting, an d literature. Blasis, who had workedwith Vigano, recognized the possibilities for dancers an d urged them to: "Be aslight as possible . . . . I would like to see you bound with a suppleness andagility which gives me the impression you are barely touching the ground andmay at any moment take flight."48

Use had earlier been made in dance of the space above th e floor, wireshaving been attached to enable a body to fly across stage. Now in the 19th

century, however, such elevation would rely not upon wires but would buildupon the physical s trength an d disciplined turnout developed in the centurypreceding. Romanticism in ballet meant imaginative storyline an d elaboratestaging, but it also encouraged virtuoso performance in the vast opera houses of19th century Europe. With themes combining realism with fantasy, mortal with

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supernatu ral, romantic ballet wanted it - and had it - both ways: to be avehicle for real drama and to be a showcase for the masters of techn ique. Par isOpera's production of Giselle (1841) is thought by some to be the apex of this~ r i o d ,while others see the era culminating with Tchaikovsky's masterpieces(Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake) in the 1890s.

I t matters not here which aesthetic judgment is correct. All of the romanticballets exhibited an effort to tell fantastic stories even as they allowed thedisplay of highly developed technique, but the technique that developed was arational outgrowth from the preceding technical base. I t is tru e that the plots ofromantic ballets called fo r such female c reatures as fair ies, wilis, sylphs:u nd er st an da bl y, t he re fo re , b al le ri na s would have felt the urge to be"ethereal," to be light and heaven-bound. But wishing alone would not make itso. As Anderson puts it: "Homantic themes could be danced onstage only after

the mastering of a rational and ordered technical system;"!" Moreover, giventhe showcase afforded them in th e romantic ballets, female dancers "showedoff" what only persons with their technical training could do - dance on theirtoes, en pointe." Thus the deliberate rise to half-toe of the previous centurygave way to a delicate releve by 19th century sylphs on full point. One legextended backward became a waist-high arabesque, and, with th e other footpoised en pointe, a symbolic yearning to soar upward. Lifts in turn-of-thecentury ballets (where-by the ballerina was raised momentarily onto the hi p ofher partner) became, in the romantic ballets, sustained overhead lifts andspectacular catches. To th e previous terre 'a terre manner was added the

ballonnee style with its effortless looking jumps and leaps.The strength and training required fo r this kind of performance were

incredible when judged by previous standards. Whether observed in the dailyclassroom regimen of Blasis (e.g., including as many as 648 leg exercisesplies, battements , ronds de jambe - done at barre, then repea ted in centerfloor) or in the career of th e driven Marie Taglioni (who sometimes faintedfrom exhaustion at th e end of a grueling two-hour class taught by her father),the strenuous nature of ballet technique - even in the service of "fluffy,"romantic stories - was always a factor. Dancers strove, and what they strovefor was mastery of aerial space. The delicately pale, unworldly romanticballerina was, in fact, a fa r stronger technician than her robust, voluptuous18th century predecessor. Females, en pointe; seemingly enjoyed an edge inelevation, bu t male dancers too had their grands jetes and multiple tours enI'air.

And at least by mid-century all of this was as characteristic of ballet inCopenhagen or St. Petersburg, London or Milan, as of ballet in Paris.:" Not onlytechnique but personnel were exchanged. By the end of the century, bal let hadbecome a fully developed, autonomous art form, with th e three or four actballets of St. Petersburg choreographer, Marius Petipa, the model of ballet

productions. Moreover. everywhere did grand manners, codified foot positions.90 0

turnout, and now elevation, form the accumulated technical basis of ballet.Once again, the range of movement possibilities had been enlarged as 90 0

turnout p ermi tt ed , and even suggested, more rapid bourrees. "c leanerentrechats as well as higher arabesques. Moreover. as if anticipating ou r next

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stage of ballet's technical development , h istorian Kirstein even notes thatpointework "aids in the continuous line of the body."52

Decline of Romanticism and Maximum Linear Extension

While romanticism encouraged bal let to master aerial space, this masteryallowed technique to become paramount , an d once again artistic complaintswere h ea rd . Dan cing became "acrobatic.", ): \ I t "deter iorated" into a"stereotype" because of excessive rel iance on " technique and virtuosity.T'"August Bournonville, Paris-trained virtuoso dancer himself and later balletmaster of the Copenhagen ballet, saw it coming in the 1870s: "The artistic sideof contemporary ballet, that is to say grace, plasticity, mime, harmony andpicturesque groupings, has been pushed into the background . . . Lrudancers have now run to technicalities an d effects, choreography to decor,

fountains and panoramas.T" With characteristic pithiness, G.B. Shaw, writingas music critic in London in 1893, implored: '"Move us; act for us . . . butdon't put us off for the thousandth time with those dreary pirouettes andentrechats an d arabesques and what d'ya callems. , ,:ill

Clearly romanticism in ballet had run its course. Critical judgment hadturned against staged fantasy as simply an excuse to display bodies soaringthrough the air, ever higher jumps, and more turns on the toe.

Th e challenge ballet experienced from early in the 20th century might becalled the "modern dance" challenge. Such a term is not to be taken onlyliterally, however. Certainly Isadora Duncan is irrevokably linked with thebeginnings of modern dance, and she personifies the challenge to which werefer. Romantic ballet , she believed, called for "unnatural" movements whichwere therefore "sterile." "[T]heir purpose is to create the delusion that the lawof gravitation does not exist. . . . "57 And certainly Mary Wigman and laterDoris Humphrey, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and many othermodern dancers continued to exert the challenge.

But the challenge was from within ballet as well as from without. MichelFokine, dancer-teacher-choreographer at the Maryinsky Theatre in St.Petersburg, was calling for reform from the earliest years in this century. Dance

had degenerated into "mere gymnastics," he said, when it should "interpretmeaning. "5 8 A Russian contemporary of Fokine, Alexander Corsky, becameballet-master of the less renowned Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow in 1900, andattempted a number of innovations. Infatuated with Isadora Duncan's ideasshe visited Russia in 1905 but otherwise had little artistic impact thereGorsky called for freer use of the arms and torso, and he experimented withchoreography having neither theme nor storyline.i'''

However, R ussi an dancers who were prepared to move away fromromanticism moved away from Russia as well, jo in ing impressar io SergeDiaghilev who, in 1909 in Paris, began the revitalization an d redirection ofEuropean ballet. hO Ballet in Russia thus retained a 19th century tradition, anatt ribute paradoxically encouraged after the Revolution inasmuch as the newpolitical leaders l iked the romantic format, into whose full-length, fancifulstories could be inserted "social content." Th e modern dance challenge was felt

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least of all in Russia, therefore, and, partly as a consequence, Russian bal le t inthe opinion of many is, even today, the most traditional - this in srite of theobvious Russian impetus, through Paris, for 20th century innovation. "

A striking contrast obtained in Germany a nd th e United States, two countrieshaving no vital ballet companies in th e early 20th century. There the moderndance challenge was taken very seriously in de ed , a nd not surpr is ingly thetraditions of th e 19th century were more readily overthrown.

Overthrown by what? The complaint, recall, was with the romantic balletformat that served finally as lit tle more than a showcase for technical virtuosos.Going beyond Fokine's efforts to find new forms of expression within th e balletframework, th e modern dance challenge called for a return to elemental , noncodified, movement determined anew for each dance. Doris Humprhey called it"moving from the inside out. "h 2 Martha Graham initiated movement from the

center of th e torso, an area virtually ignored in ballet training. The inten t wasfor movement not to provide theatrical escape but to ref lect the contemporarymood. Eventually, such as in the d et ac he d c h or eo g ra ph y of MerceCunningham, the "rnood" was movement for its own sake. Inevitably thedesign of a body in space - linear expression - became th e ultimateabstraction.

Ballet moved in the same direction. Fo r George Balanchine, dancing is shapein time and space, and he found happy collaboration with composer IgorStravinsky in what have been called "pure dance" or "neo-classioal" ballets.Choreography for Frederick Ashton, of England's Royal Ballet, is "about

movemen t and steps and not ideas. " h : ~In other words, whether from moderndance or modern ballet the call was th e same - movement carries its own"message. "

The result in ballet was muc h b ro ad er physical movement, especially anincrease in th e range an d mobility of th e limbs - here referred to as maximumlinear extension. For example, th e leg which, in the 19th century, was raised toa point parallel to th e floor, is, in the 20th cen tu ry, capable of being extendedabove the h ea d, almost perpendicular to th e floor. This extension is possible,however, because it builds upon its technical predecessors - a capacity forextreme turnout and the strength-plus-lightness involved in mastering aerialspace. That is to say, it is a "classicism" which would have been impossible forthe classical dancer of th e 18th century.

This technical development is variously observed in the eclecticchoreography of th e present day, of course, bu t perhaps it is seen most clearlyin th e work of Balanchine. Hussian-born, Balanchine was part of the Diaghilevmovement, but in 1933 he came to New York to direct the School of AmericanBallet, from which emerged the New York City Ballet. His dancers are t ra inedf or fleetness and precision, a characteristic the Bri ti sh rev iewers found"" athletic" and the French, ""le style frigidaire. " h l Bal an ch in e h imse lf

descr ibed the ideal body for his ballets as "Iike toothpick."Such gamin-like quali ty should not be misinterpreted as physical weakness.As Kirstein said of dancers in Balanchines corps de ballet in th e 1950s, allwould have qual i fied technically as stars thirty years before, such ha d been theincreased demand on th e dance;'s capacity.l"

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This situation has been much the same elsewhere in the W e s t ~althoughbelatedly in Russia. 66 Not having exper ienced the modern dance challenge,Russia persisted in the acrobatic an d dramatic traditions of romanticism. Theconsequences have been remarkable. For one thing, the non-communist worldwas stunned in the late 1950s by the Bolshoi's virtuosity, especially those of itsmale danoers.l" For another, the defecting dancers have made it clear that notpolitics but ar t is what draws them out of the Soviet Union. And finally thosedefectors who have so captured the audiences of Western Europe an d theUnited States - first Rudolf Nureyev and t hen Natalia Makarova and MikhailBaryshnikov - did so initially with superior 19th century skills.

Into the Present

Linear extension is thus the latest technical addit ion in ballet development.

What is next? No answer can be offered until, as was true in the prior eras, theartistic situation is clear. But the present situation in ballet is not at all clear.Modern dance for example, having been created as an alternative to ballet, nowis somewhat integrated with ballet. Dancers in the two "disciplines" are ofteninterchangeable in performances because they have been tra ined in both. 6H

Some choreography for ballet comes from those trained primari ly in moderndance ( e . g . ~Alvin Ailey ~ Twyla Tharp] or equally in both ( e . ~ . ~Gerald Arpino,John Butler) . And works from the modern dance repertories (e.g., Jose Limon'sThe Moor's Pavane, Doris Humphrey 's The Shakers) appear on balletprograms. Artistically ~ then, ballet is very eclectic, a si tuation enhanced by itscurrent popularity an d the result ing diverse programming to please diversetastes.

T hi s e cl ec ti ci sm on the stage only u nd er sc or es th e difficulty ofunderstanding bal le t development - even defining ballet - throughperformances an d personalities, however. In the classroom an entirely differentpicture is to be seen, because "ballet is a conservative ar t in the best sense ofthe term, making daring experiments in the theatre but preserving its traditionsin the classrooms. "69 We have charted the development of these traditions asfive fundamental technical attributes: grand manners , five positions of the

feet, 90° turnout , mastery of aerials p a c e ~

and linear extension. Together theseattributes "outline" the technical side of ballet, marking it off from othermovement specialties. Thus while, like ballet, tap dance has a vast vocabularyof steps, it shares none of the five attributes. Modern gymnasts accent aerialspace and linear extension, but their gymnastic skills- are not founded oncourtly manners, five positions of the feet, or maximum turnout. Much ofmodern dance shares three of the technical characteristics - positions of thefeet, turnout, and extension - but not courtly elegance or ethereal lightness.

Yet all are found in ballet training. Moreover, students are introduced tothese attributes in the order of their historical development, as they must if

mastery of ballet vocabulary is to be accomplished efficiently ~ for each bui ldsupon its predecessors. Unlike t he e va lua tion of each generation's balletperforrnance, therefore, which always includes an artist ic judgment, no suchqualification is necessary in evaluating its technical capacity; each generation

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classicism, democratization of audiences, economic conditions, etc. Whateverthe aim, however, the techniques already in existence stand ready to permit butalso to suggest new techniques for reaching that aim. Thus the goal ofperforming well on a proscenium stage before an audience out front wasachieved by lateral movements made possible by leg turnout. Turnout however,formalized in five foot positions, was clearly inspired - not just allowed - bythe courtly grand manners that were already part of dancers' technical heritage.After the artistic goal shifted from incidental royal stage entertainment tovirtuoso performance by professional dancers , the efficiency of the fivepositions not only permitted but also led by extrapolation to the maximum 90°turnout. In turn, the infusion of romantic style brought forth the desire forelevated movement, which was not only made possible but also suggested bythe greater strength and ballon that accompanied the capacity for full turnout.

Finally, when artistic taste turned from romanticized fantasies toward abstractdesigns, the possibilities for linear extension were prompted - not justpermitted - by the dexterity that arose from having mastered aerial space.

The argument is not that external factors are unimportant when comparedwith techniques. I t is rather that what is judged to be efficient, and also what iscalculable, are, in important ways, products of previous techniques, thus givingan internal logic to ballet. Rationalization is the concept Max Weber offered toencompass and make sense of this internal logic. We have used Weber's conceptto analyze the changes in ballet technique, but it is hoped that appreciation forthe concept itself has also been enhanced.

University of California, Santa Barbara

FOOTNOTES

Phillip E. HammondSandra N. Hammond

A slightly different version of this paper was presented in October, 1977, to the Max WeberSymposium and Colloquium, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

1. See, for example, Fernando Reyna, The Concise History of Ballet (New York, 1965); WaiterSorell, The Dance through the Ages (New York, 1967); RichardKraus, History of the Dance(Englewood Cliffs, NJ., 1969); Ivor Guest, The Dancer's Heritage (Lonqon, 1974); Jack Anderson,Dance (NewYork, 1974).

2. Talcott Parsons, The Structure of Social Action (New York, 1937); H.H. Gerth and C.W. MillsinMax Weber, From Max Weber (New York, 1948); R. Bendix, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait(Garden City, N.Y., 1960: R. Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition (NewYork, 1966); Julian Freund,The Sociology ofMax Weber (NewYork, 1968); Donald MacRae, Max Weber (New York, 1974).

3. From Max 'Weber, 293.

4. Ibid., 139. Emphasis in the original,

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5. Weber, Protestant Ethic an d the Spirit of Capitalism: Trans. Talcott Parsons (New York, 1958),77.

6. Weber, Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Trans. A.M. Henderson and T. Parson(NewYork, 1947),85-157.

7. From Max Weber, 139. Our emphasis. Often, rationalization is viewed as the objective quality ofsome social arrangement, e.g., the systematic nature of a bureaucracy or the uniform nature of anassembly line. Such usage by others cannot be ruled out, but for Weber rationalization - theprocess - is subjective. He recognized, of course, that such a process tends to create socialarrangements that promote further rationalization.

8. Theory of Social an d Economic Organization, 123.

9. Ibid.

10. T. Parsons, Introduction in Weber, Theory of Social an d Economic Organization, 80; H.H.Gerth and C.W. Mills, In troduction in Weber, From Max Weber, 51; Don Martindale, et al.,Introduction in Weber, The Rational an d Social Foundations of Music, trans, Don Martindale,Johannes Riedel, and Gertrude Neuwirth [Carbondale, Ill., 1958), xlvi, li-lii.

11. Ibid.

12. The Book o f the Dance (New York, 1963/, 17.

13. Selma Jean Cohen, Dance as a Theatre Art (NewYork, 1974),5.

14. Quoted in Frances Yates, The French Academies of the Sixteenth Century (London, 1974), 23.

15. Roy Strong, Splendorat Court (London, 1973), 17.

16. Quoted in Cohen, 20.

17. Ingrid Brainard , "Bassedanse, Bassadanza, and Ballo in the lS th Century," Committee onResearch in Dance (l970), 64-79.

18. Joan Wildeblood, The Polite World (London, 1973).

19. Charles Silin, Benserade and His Ballets de Cour (Baltimore, 1940), 191.

20. Our focus here because dance continued to play a greater part in French royal entertainmentsthan it did elsewhere.

21. Lincoln Kirstein, Three Pamphlets Collected (NewYork, 1967), 177.

22. Quoted in James Anthony, French Baroque Music (NewYork, 1974),29.

23. Silin, 191.

24. Cohen, 39.

25. Guest, 8.

26. Silin, 186.

27. Joan Lawson, A History of Ballet and Its Makers (London, 1973),21.

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28. Pierre Hameau, The Dancing Master. Trans. C.W. Beaumont (New York, 1970),5.

29 . John Weaver, Orchesography. Trans . and augmented from Raoul A uger Feuil let ,Chon!graphie, Paris, 1701 (London, 1971),2.

30. Wildeblood, 94.

31. Lincoln Kirstein, Dance: A Short History of Classical Theatrical Dancing (New York, 1969),62-65.

32. Kirstein, Three Pamphlets Collected, 2.

33. Dancers were cont inually nudged toward m ore dynam ic expression by the popularity oftravelling troupes of acrobats who also "mimed, danced, acted, sang . . . " Marian H. Winter, ThePre-Romantic Ballet (New York, 1974),34. However, their use of the false or turned-in positionswas deemed appropriate for comic or grotesque characters, never for the noble roles.

34. Jean Georges Noverre, Letters on Dancing an d Ballets. Trans. C.W. Beaumont (New York,1968),29,99.

35. Ibid., 117.

36. Ibid., 99.

37. What dancer would n o t be s tung by th e fol lowing 18 th c e nt ur y c ri ti q ue ?"Dance is . . . not hi ng bet te r than irrational caprioling from th e beg inning . to the veryend Whoever knows one dance, knows them all; for, though dan cers may chang e theirdresses, the characters introduced are seldom varied." Francesco Algarotti, An Essay on the Opera

(London, 1767),66-67.

38. Male supremacy in technical prowess was challenged earlier by Marie-Anne de Cupis deCamargo, who made he r debut at the Par is Opera in 1726. Wish ing he r feet and ank les to be seendoing the complicated steps of which she was so capable, Camargo shortened he r hooped skirtalmost to mid-calf and modestly designed close-fitting knickers to wear under it. As the forerunnerof today 's ballet t ights, Camargo 's garment might even deserve th e hyperbole with which CyrilBeaumont speaks of tights: " . . . as great a change in dancing as the invention of gunpowder onwarfare." Ballet Design, Past an d Present (London, 1946), xx.

39. Thoinot Arbeau, Orchesography. Trans. Mary Stewart Evans (New York, 1967),81.

40. Which means that the feet, heals together, form a 180 0 angle or straight line perpendicular tothe direction the body faces. So important was turnout that a frame, called toume-hanche or hipturner, was used by the more zealous 18th century dancers in an effort to force their feet in anoutward position.

41. De MiIle, 192.

42. Trans. Mary Steward Evans (New York, 1968).

43. Cohen, 65.

45. Quoted in Waiter Sorell, The Dancer's Image (New York, 1971), 400.

46. Cohen, 42.

47. Ibid.

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all techn ique as well. These are the ones Kirstein had in mind when he wrote in the 1930s, "One ofthe troubles of the 'modern' dancer is that you never can tell who is a lay dancer." ThreePamphlets Collected, 91. Emphasis his.

69. Anderson, 48.

70. For example, The Rational an d Social Foundations of Music, 83.

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