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The Dance (by An Antiquary),  Anonymous
continued....

The Modern Theatre Dance.

Although the theatrical ballet dance is comparatively modern, the elements of its formation are of the greatest antiquity; the chorus of dancers and the performances of the men in the Egyptian chapters represent without much doubt public dancing performances. We get singing, dancing, mimicry and pantomime in the early stages of Greek art, and the development of the dance rhythm in music is equally ancient.

The Alexandrine Pantomime, introduced into Rome about 30 B.C. by Bathillus and Pylades, appears to have been an entertainment approaching the ballet.

In the middle ages there were the mysteries and "masks"; the latter were frequent in England, and are introduced by Shakespere in "Henry VIII."

In Italy there appears to have been a kind of ballet in the 14th century, and from Italy, under the influence of Catharine de' Medici, came the ballet. Balthasar di Beaujoyeulx produced the first recorded ballet in France, in the Italian style, in 1582. This was, however, essentially a Court ballet.

The theatre ballet apparently arose out of these Court ballets. Henry III. and Henry IV., the latter especially, were very fond of these entertainments, and many Italians were brought to France to assist in them. Pompeo Diabono, a Savoyard, was brought to Paris in 1554 to regulate the Court ballets. At a later date came Rinuccini, the poet, a Florentine, as was probably Caccini, the musician. They had composed and produced the little operetta of "Daphne," which had been performed in Florence in 1597. Under these last-mentioned masters the ballet in France took somewhat of its present form. This passion for Court ballets continued under Louis XIII. and Louis XIV.

Louis XIII. as a youth danced in one of the ballets at St. Germain, it is said at the desire of Richelieu, who was an expert in spectacle. It appears that he was encouraged in these amusements to remedy fits of melancholy.

Louis XIV., at seven, danced in a masquerade, and afterwards not only danced in the ballet of "Cassandra," in 1651, but did all he could to raise the condition of the dance and encourage dancing and music. His influence, combined with that of Cardinal Richelieu, raised the ballet from gross and trivial styles to a dignity worthy of music, poetry and dancing. His uncle, Gaston of Orleans, still patronized the grosser style, but it became eclipsed by the better. Lulli composed music to the words of Molière and other celebrities; amongst notable works then produced was the "Andromeda" of Corneille, a tragedy, with hymns and dances, executed in 1650, at the Petit Bourbon.

The foundation of the theatrical ballet was, however, at the instigation of Mazarin, to prevent a lowering of tone in the establishment of the Académie de Danse under thirteen Academicians in 1661. This appears to have been merged into the Académie Royale de Musique et de Danse in 1669, which provided a proper training for débutants, under MM. Perrin and Cambert, whilst Beauchamp, the master of the Court ballets, had charge of the dancing. The first opera-ballet, the "Pomona" of Perrin and Cambert, was produced in 1671. To this succeeded many works of Lulli, to whom is attributed the increased speed in dance music and dancing, that of the Court ballets having been slow and stately.

The great production of the period appears to have been the "Triumph of Love" in 1681, with twenty scenes and seven hundred performers; amongst these were many of the nobility, and some excellent ballerine, such as Pesaut, Carré, Leclerc, and Lafontaine.

A detailed history of the ballet is, however, impossible here, and we must proceed to touch only on salient points. It passed from the Court to the theatre about 1680 and had two characteristics, one with feminine dancers, the other without.

It is not a little curious that wearing the mask, a revival of the antique, was practised in some of these ballets. The history of the opera-ballet of those days gives to us many celebrated names of musicians, such as Destouches, who gave new "verve" to ballet music, and Rameau. Jean Georges Noverre abolished the singing and established the five-act ballet on its own footing in 1776. In this it appears he had partly the advice of Garrick, whom he met in London. The names of the celebrated dancers are numerous, such as Pécourt, Blaudy (who taught Mlle. Camargo), Laval, Vestris, Germain, Prevost, Lafontaine, and Camargo (fig. 61), of the 18th century; Taglioni, Grisi, Duvernay, Cerito, Ellsler, etc., of the 19th century, to those of our own day. A fair notice of all of these would be a work in itself.

The introduction of the ballet into England was as late as 1734, when the French dancers, Mlle. Sallé, the rival of Mlle. Camargo, and Mlle. de Subligny made a great success at Covent Garden in "Ariadne and Galatea," and Mlle. Salle danced in her own choregraphic invention of "Pygmalion," since which time it has been popular in England, when those of the first class can be obtained. There are, however, some interesting and romantic circumstances connected with the ballet in London in the last century, which it will not be out of place to record here. Amongst the dancers of the last century of considerable celebrity were two already mentioned, Mlles. Duvernay (fig. 62) and Taglioni (fig. 64), whose names are recorded in the classic verse of "Ingoldsby."

Mlle. Duvernay was a Parisian, and commenced her study under Barrez, but subsequently was under Vestris and Taglioni, the father of the celebrity mentioned in the verse.

Duran hangs over the mantelpiece of the refectory of the presbytery.

Having made a great Parisian reputation, she came to London in 1833, and from that date until 1837 held the town, when she married Mr. Stephens Lyne Stephens, M.P., a gentleman of considerable wealth, but was left a childless widow in 1861, and retired to her estate at Lyneford Hall, Norfolk, living in retirement and spending her time in good works. She is said to have spent £100,000 in charities and churches, and that at Cambridge, dedicated to the English martyrs, was founded, completed, and endowed by her. She led a blameless and worthy life, and died in 1894. Her portrait by Mlle. Taglioni (fig. 64), her co-celebrity, married Count Gilbert de Voisins, a French nobleman, in 1847, and with her marriage came an ample fortune; unfortunately the bulk of this fortune was lost in the Franco-German war. With the courage of her character the Countess returned to London and gave lessons in dancing, etc., in which she was sufficiently successful to obtain a fair living. She died in 1884 at 80 years of age. Of the other celebrities of the period—Carlotta Grisi, Ferraris (fig. 65), and Fanny Ellsler (fig. 63)—some illustrations are given; besides these were Fanny Cerito, Lucile Grahn, a Dane, and some others of lesser notoriety performing in London at this great period of the ballet.

 

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he recent encouragement of the classic ballet has introduced us to some exquisite dancers: amongst these are Mlle. Adeline Genée (fig. 66) and Mlle. Anna Pavlova (fig. 67); the latter, with M. Mordkin and a corps of splendid dancers, are from Russia, from whence also comes the important troupe now at the Alhambra with Mlle. Geltzer and other excellent dancers. The celebrated company at Covent Garden, and Lydia Kyasht at the Empire, are also Russian. It is not surprising that we get excellent dancing from Russia; the school The recent encouragement of the classic ballet has introduced us to some exquisite dancers: amongst these are Mlle. Adeline Genée (fig. 66) and Mlle. Anna Pavlova (fig. 67); the latter, with M. Mordkin and a corps of splendid dancers, are from Russia, from whence also comes the important troupe now at the Alhambra with Mlle. Geltzer and other excellent dancers. The celebrated company at Covent Garden, and Lydia Kyasht at the Empire, are also Russian. It is not surprising that we get excellent dancing from Russia; the school formed by Peter the Great about 1698 has been under State patronage ever since.

Notices of all the important dancers from Italy, Spain, Paris, or elsewhere, performing in England in recent years, would occupy considerable space, and the reader can easily obtain information concerning them elsewhere.

That the technique and speed of the classic dance has considerably increased is historically certain, and we must hope that this speed will not sacrifice graceful movement. Moreover, technique alone will not make the complete fine-artist: some invention is involved. Unfortunately, some modern attempts at invention seem crude and sensational, whilst lacking the exquisite technique desirable in all exhibitions of finished art.

Before concluding it is almost imperative to say something about the naked foot dancers, followers of Isidora Duncan. Some critics and a certain public have welcomed them; but is it not "sham antique"? It does not remind one of the really classic. Moreover, the naked foot should be of antique beauty, which in most of these cases it is not. Advertisements tell us that these dance are interpretations of classic music—Chopin, Weber, Brahms, etc.; they are not really interpretations, but distractions! We can hardly imagine that these composers intended their work for actual dancing. One can listen and be entranced; one sees the dancer's "interpretations" or "translations" and the music is degraded to a series of sham classic postures.

The idea that running about the stage in diaphanous costumes, with conventional mimicry and arm action, is classic or beautiful is a mistake; the term aesthetic may cover, but not redeem it. There is not even the art of the ordinary ballet-dancer discernible in these proceedings.

On another plane are such as the ballets in "Don Giovanni" and "Faust." Mozart and Gounod wrote these with a full knowledge of the method of interpretation and the persons who had been trained for that purpose—the performers fit the music and it fits them. This opera-ballet is also more in accordance with tradition before the time of Noverre.

Neither do the "popular" and curious exhibitions of Loie Fuller strike one as having a classic character, or future, of any consideration, pretty as they may be.

The operetta or musical comedy has given us some excellent art, especially at the end of the 19th century, when Sylvia Gray, Kate Vaughan, Letty Lind, Topsy Sinden, and others of like métier gave us skirt and drapery dancing.

This introduces us to the question of costume. That commonly used by the prima ballerina is certainly not graceful; it was apparently introduced about 1830, presumably to show the action and finished method of the lower extremities. If Fanny Ellsler and Duvernay could excel without this ugly contrivance, why is it necessary for others?

At the same time it is better than indifferent imitations of the Greek, or a return to the debased characteristics of Pompeiian art, in which the effect of the classic and fine character of the material are rendered in a sort of transparent muslin.

With these notices the author's object in this sketch is completed. Of the bal-masqué garden dances, public balls and such-like, he has no intention to treat; they are not classic dancing nor "art," with the exception perhaps of the Scottish reels. Nor is he interested in the dancing of savage tribes, nor in that of the East, although some few illustrations are given to illustrate traditions: for example, the use of the pipe and tabor in Patagonia, the dancer from Japan, winged, like that in the "Roman de la Rose" (fig. 40), and the religious dance of Tibet, showing the survival of the religious dance in some countries. In Mrs. Groves' book on dancing there is an excellent chapter on the Ritual dance as now practised, to which the reader can refer.

Baron, A. "Lettres et Entretiens sur la Danse." Paris, 1825.

Emmanuel, M. "La Danse grecque antique." 1896.

Ménestrier, Père. "Des Ballets anciens et modernes." 1682.

Bonnet. "Histoire générale de la Danse sacrée et profane." 1723.

Cahusac. "La Danse ancienne et moderne." 1754.

Noverre. "Lettres sur les Ballets." 1760.

Charbonnel, R. "La Danse de Lettres, &c." 1807.

Pougin, A. Dict. Hist, du Théâtre. 1885.

Aulnaye, De l'. "De la Saltation théâtrale." 1789.

Olaus Magnus. Gent. Septentr., Hy., Book III., Chap. VII. See Bourne's "Vulgar Antiqs.," p. 175.

Abbeau-Thoinot (Canon Jean Tabourot). "Orchésographie." 1643.

Strutt. "Sports and Pastimes." London, 1801.

Thomson, Chas. and Samuel. Collection of 800 Dances. 4 vols. 1770-1773.

Playford. "Dancing Master." 2nd ed. 1652.

Wilkinson, Sir G. "Ancient Egyptians." 3 vols. London.

Dennis. "Etruria." 2 vols. London.

Compan. "Dictionnaire de la Danse." 1802.

Blasis, C. "Traité de la Danse." Milan, 1830.

---. "Code of Terpsichore." London, 1823.

Vuillier, G. "La Danse à travers les Ages."

Menil, F. de. "Histoire de la Danse à travers les Ages."

Fonta Laure, Mme. "Notice sur les Danses du xvi. siècle."

Guihelmi. "Hebraie Pisauriensis, de practica seu arte trepudis, &c." 1463. MS. Bib. Nation.

Domini, Johan. "Pisauriensis," ditto. MS. Bib. Nation. 1463.

Caroso, F. "Il Ballarino." 1581.

Cesare Negri. "Nuovo Invenzioni di Balli." 1604.

Vestris, D. "Les Danses autrefois." 1887.

Desrat, G. "Dictionnaire de la Danse." Paris, 1895.

Rameau, P. "Le Maître à danser."

Magny. "Principes de Chorégraphie." Paris, 1765.

---. "Nouveau Guide de la Danse." 1888.

Gawlikowski, P. "Guide complet de la Danse." 1858.

Angiolini. "Discuzzioni sulla dansa pantomima." 1760.

Saint Léon. "De l'etat actuel de la danse." Lisbon, 1856.

Giraudet, E. Traité de la danse, 1890.

---. Nouveau Guide, 1888.

Grove, Mrs. Lilly. "History of Dancing." London, 1890.

Skalkovsky-Pleshcheev. "Nash Balet" (our Ballet). 1899. A History of the Russian Ballet, in Russian.

Fig. 1: Dancing to the clapping of bands. Egyptian, from the tomb of Ur-ari-en-Ptah, 6th Dynasty, about 3300 B.C. (British Museum.)

Fig. 2: Greek Figures in a solemn dance. From a vase at Berlin.

Fig. 3: The hieroglyphics describe the dance.

Fig. 4: Egyptian hieroglyphic for "dance."

Fig. 5: Cyprian limestone group of Phoenician dancers, about 6½ in. high. There is a somewhat similar group, also from Cyprus, in the British Museum. The dress, a hooded cowl, appears to be of great antiquity.

Fig. 6: Phoenician patera, from Idalium, showing a religious ritual dance before a goddess in a temple round a sun emblem.

Fig. 7: Female Figure smelling a lotus. From a painting in the British Museum.

Fig. 8: Dance of Bacchantes, painted by the ceramic painter, Hieron. (British Museum.)

Fig. 9: Dancing Bacchante. From a vase in the British Museum.

Fig. 10: Greek terra cotta dancing girl, about 350 B.C. (British Museum.)

Fig. 11: The Gěrănŏs from a vase in the Museo Borbonico, Naples.

Fig. 12: Panathenaeac dance, about the 4th century B.C.

Fig. 13: A military dance, supposed to be the Corybantum. From a Greek bas-relief in the Vatican Museum.

Fig. 14: Greek dancer with castanets. (British Museum.) See also Castanet dance by Myron, Fig. 63a.

Fig. 15: Cymbals (about 4 in.) and double flute. (British Museum.)

Fig. 16: Greek dancers. From a vase in the Hamilton Collection.

Fig. 17: Bacchanalian dancer. Vase from Nocera, Museum, Naples.

Fig. 18: Greek dancers and tumblers.

Fig. 19: Etruscan bronze dancer with eyes of diamonds, found at Verona. Now in the British Museum.

Fig. 20: Etruscan dancer. From a painting in the Grotta dei Vasi dipinti—Corneto.

Fig. 21: Etruscan dancing and performances. From paintings in the Grotta della Scimia Corneto, about 500 B.C.

Fig. 22: Etruscan Dancing. From the Grotta del Triclinio.—Corneto.

Fig. 23: Funeral dance in the obsequies of a female. From a painted tomb near Albanella.

Fig. 24: Funeral dance. From Capua.

Fig. 25: Funeral dance from the same tomb.

Fig. 26: Bacchante leading the Dionysian bull to the altar. Bas-relief in the Vatican.

Fig. 27: Bacchante. From a fresco, Pompeii, 1st century B.C.

Fig. 28: Dancer. From a fresco in the Baths of Constantine, 4th century A.D.

Fig. 29: Gleemen's dance, 9th century. From Cleopatra, Cotton MS. C. viii., British Museum.

Fig. 30: Dancing to horn and pipe. From an Anglo-Saxon MS.

Fig. 31: Anglo-Saxon sword dance. From the MS. Cleopatra, C. viii., British Museum.

Fig. 32: Sword dance to bagpipes, 14th century. From 2 B vii., Royal MS., British Museum.

Fig. 33: Herodias tumbling. From a MS. end of 13th century (Addl. 18,719, f. 253b), British Museum.

Fig. 34: A tumbler, as caryatid. Rouen Cathedral, 13th century.

Fig. 35: 14th century dancers. A and C are tumblers; B, tumbling and balancing to the tambour; D, a woman dancing around a whipped bear; E, jesters dancing.

Fig. 36: A, man dancing and playing pipes, carrying a woman; B, jumping through a hoop; C, a stilt dance. 14th century.

Fig. 37: Italian dance. From an engraving, end of 15th century, attributed to Baccio Baldini.

Fig. 38: Italian dancing, the end of the 15th century.

Fig. 39: Chamber dance, 15th century. From a drawing by Martin Zasinger.

Fig. 40: Dancing in a "pleasure garden," end of the 15th century. French, from the "Roman de la Rose," in the British Museum.

Fig. 41: Fancy dress dance of Wildemen of the 15th century. From MS. 4379 Harl, British Museum.

Fig. 42: Comic dance to pipe and tabor, end of 15th century. From pen drawing in the Mediaeval House Book in the Castle of Wolfegg, by the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet.

Fig. 43: A dance of Angels and Saints.

Fig. 44: Dancing angels. From a 'Nativity' by Sandro Botticelli, circa 1500 A.D.

Fig. 45: Albert Dürer, 1514 A.D.

Fig. 46: Albert Dürer.

Fig. 47: Scenes from dances. German, dated 1546, by Hans Sebald Beham.

Fig. 48: A torchlight military dance of the early 16th century. From a picture by Hans Burgkmair.

Fig. 49: La Galliarde. From the "Orchésographie" of Thoinot Arbeau (Jean Tabourot), Langres, 1588.

Fig. 50: Morris dancers. From a window that was in the possession of George Tollett, Esq., Birtley, Staffordshire, 16th century.

Fig. 51: Court dance. From a drawing by Callot, 1635 A.D.

Fig. 52: Comic dancers. By Callot, from the act entitled "Balli di Sfessama," 1609 A.D.

Fig. 53: Country dance. From a drawing by John Evangelist Holtzer, 17th century.

Fig. 54: A ball-room dance, Le Bal Paré, of the 18th century. From August de l'Aubin.

Fig. 55: A dance in the 18th century. From a painting by Hogarth.

Fig. 56: Caricature of a dancing master. Hogarth.

Fig. 57: Spring dancing away from winter. From a drawing by Watteau.

Fig. 58: The Misses Gunning dancing. End of the 18th century, from a print by Bunbury, engraved by Bartolozzi.

Fig. 59: Dancing. Close of the 18th century. From Derby ware.

Fig. 60: Spanish dance in the Hall of Saragoza, 19th century.

Fig. 61: Mlle. de Camargo. After a painting by Lancret, about 1740 A.D.

Fig. 62: Pauline Duvernay at Covent Garden, 1833-1838.

Fig. 63: Mlle. Fanny Ellsler. From a lithograph by A. Lacaucbie.

Fig. 63a: Dancing satyr playing castanets, by Myron, in the Vatican Museum. The action is entirely suggestive of that of Fanny Ellsler, and might be evidence of the antiquity of the Spanish tradition.

Fig. 64: Mlle. Taglioni. From a lithograph of the period.

Fig. 65: Pas de Trois by Mlles. Ferraris, Taglioni, and Carlotta Grisi.

Fig. 66: Mlle. Adeline Genée, 1906. Photo, Ellis and Walery.

Fig. 67: Mlle. Anna Pavlova, 1910. From a photo by Foulsham and Banfield.
 

Fig. 68: Mlle. Sophie Fédorova.

Fig. 69: Japanese Court Dance.

Fig. 70: Indian dancing-girl.

Fig. 71: Patagonian dancers to fife and tabor.

Fig. 72: Tibetan religious dancing procession, 1908 a.d.

End of The Dance (by An Antiquary),  Anonymous