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TheTravesty DancerinNineteenth-Century Ballet LynnGarafola

More than any other era in the historyof ballet, the nineteenth centurybelongstotheballerina.She hauntsits lithographsand paintings,an etherealcreaturetouched withthecharmofanotherage. Yet even when she turned into the fast, leggy ballerina of modern times, her ideologysurvived.Iftodaytheartofballetcelebratesthe danseurnearlyas oftenas thedanseuse,ithas yetto ridits aestheticofyesterday'scultof the eternalfeminine.Like hernineteenth-century forbear,today'sballerina,an icon and anorexicvulnerability, inofteenyouth,athleticism, carnates a feminineideal defined overwhelminglyby men. The nineteenthcenturydid indeedcreatethemystique ofthe ballerina.But it also gave birthto one of the more curious phenomena of ballet history.Beginningwith a twenty-year from romanticism, golden age stretching theJulyRevolutionto about 1850,thedanseuseen travesti usurpedthe positionof the male danseurin the corpsde balletand as a partnerto theballerina.Steppingintoroles previouslyfilledby men,women now impersonatedthe sailor boys, hussars, and toreadors who made up "masculine" contingentsof the corpsde ballet,even as theydisplacedrealmen as romanticleads. Untilwell into thetwentieth thefemaledancerwho donnedthe century, muftiof a cavalier was a commonplaceof European ballet. In reallife,donningmen's clothingmeantassumingthe power and prerogativesthat went with male identity. on the stage,however,had quite different Cross-dressing implications. Comingintovogueat a timeofmajorsocial, economic,and aestheticchanges,it reflectedthe shiftof balletfroma courtly,aristocratic artto an entertainment geared to the marketplaceand the tastes of a new bourgeoispublic. Thus thedanseurdid notvanishin Copenhagen,where August Bournonvilleguided the destinyof the Royal Theater for nearly five decades, or at the Maryinsky Theaterin St. Petersburg, whereMarius Petiparuledthe Imperial Ballet for a similartenure. On these courtly stages the male remained, even if eclipsed by the ballerina. Where he fought a losing battle was in those centersthatstoodat theforefront ofthenew metropolitan aesthetic-Parisand London.Attheprestigiouscradlesof ballet romanticismin these cities,the Paris Opera and King'sTheatre,he was edged graduallybut firmlyfrom thelimelightby a transformation in thesocial relationsof balletas thoroughgoing as the revolutiontakingplace in itsart.

Unlike the theatersof the periphery,where governremainedintact,thoseof mentcontrolofartsorganization the European core operated, or began to operate, as private enterprises.1 Entrepreneursstood at the helm, withsubscriberspayingall or a substantialshare of the costs-even at theParisOpera whichcontinuedto receive afterlosingitsroyal partialsubsidyfromthegovernment licensein 1830. This changein theeconomicstructure of balletplaced the audience-particularlythe keygroupof moniedsubscribers-ina new and powerfulposition.It led to a new kind of starsystem,one based on drawing forpurposes power ratherthanrank,while eliminating, ofeconomy,thepensionsand otherbenefitstraditionally accruingto artistsin governmentemploy. The disappearanceof the male dancercoincidedwiththe triumph ofromanticism and marketplaceeconomics. The ban on male talentwas not,strictlyspeaking,absolute.Even in thesecond halfofthe centuryin England and on theContinent, men continuedto appearin characterrolessuch as Dr. Coppelius,thedoddering,lovestruck Pygmalionof Coppelia,partsthatdemanded of dancers skill as actors and mimes and could be performedby thoselongpast theirprime.Men on theballetstagewere beardless fine,it seemed,so longas theyleftitsyouthful, heroesto theladies and so longas theywere elderlyand, unattractive. presumably, Initially,then,the "travesty"problemdefinesitselfas one of roles,specifically, thatof the romantichero,who incarnated,along with his ballerina counterpart,the idealizedpoeticof nineteenthcenturyballet.In the new era opened by theJulyRevolution,thisaestheticand the stylesofmasculinedancingassociatedwithitsexpression became gradually"feminized."Scornedby audiencesas unmanly,theybecame the propertyof the danseuseen that curious androgynewho invoked both the travesti, highpoetic and the bordelloundersideof romanticand ballet. post-romantic Althoughtravestyroles were not unknown before 1789, they were rare, especially in the so-calledgenre noble,themostelevatedoftheeighteenth century'sthree balleticstyles.2Indeed, its mostdistinguished exponents were men, dancerslike AugusteVestris,who broughta supremeeleganceand beautyof personto the stageand majestic perfectionto the adagios regarded as the touchstoneof theirart.No one embodiedmorethanthe danseurnoblethe courtlyoriginsof ballet,its aristocratic manner, and the masculinityof a refined,leisured society. Alreadyby 1820,the danseurnobleappealed to a very Dance ResearchJournal17/2& 18/1[1985-86) 35

"Ratsd'opera,"Paris,1854."Rat" was theslangexpression forthe balletgirl.Notetherapturous on thefacesoftheelderly expression inthestageboxandthemanwiththeoperaglasses.Note, gentlemen too,the youthof the dancersand theireyes,trainedon theiradmirers.

A caricature oftheperiodthatleaveslittledoubtofthegrowing contemptforthemaledancer.

limitedpublic-connoisseurs and menof refined tastes. numbersfromthemiddleclasseswho To theincreasing theParisOperainthelateryearsofthe begantofrequent hismeasured andold-fashioned dress Restoration, dignity manlikethegenrenobleitself, thearistocratic betrayed, oftheAncienRegime. nerandfrippery In thechanging socialclimateofthe1820s,then,a new kindofgendering was underway. The menabouttown who formedthe backboneof the growingbourgeois of publicsaw littleto admirein thestatelyrefinements the danseurnoble.Their taste, instead,ran to the likeAnofa danseur dedemi-caract&re virtuosity energized toinePaul whoseacrobaticleaps and multiplespinsoflives. feredan analogueoftheirownactive,helter-skelter offeeling embodied Thehighpoeticofballet,theloftiness noble,cameto be seenas notmerelyobbythedanseur of romansolete,but also unmanly.Withthe triumph ticism andthenew,ethereal styleofMarieTaglioniinthe and gracebecame early1830s,poetry,expressiveness, theexclusivedomainoftheballerina.Atthesametime, of pointe advancesin technique,especiallythe refining overthemale:shenow work,gavehera secondvictory ofthedanseur addedtoherarsenaloftricks thevirtuosity dedemi-caractere. By 1840,a criticcouldwrite,"Ifmale nolongercharmsandattracts today,itis because dancing hereis no Sylphide,no magic-winged fairycapableof thatis sucha miracleand doingsomething performing ina maledancer."3 endurable In appropriating the aestheticidealismand virtuoso associatedwiththeoldergenresofmaledanctechnique himto thedanseur, unmanned reducing ing,theballerina Buthergainhad andoccasional"lifter." comiccharacter of morelastingeventhanthebanishment another effect, withromanthemalefromthedance stage.Beginning thenineteenth ticism andcontinuing century, throughout itselfbecametheideologyof ballet,indeed, femininity oftheart.Ideology, turned theverydefinition however, ballet Evenas nineteenth-century outtobe a falsefriend. it on a pedestalto be worexaltedthefeminine, setting shipped,its social realitydebased the danseuse as a woman,andan artist. worker, erawithitstriumphant Fromtheromantic bourgeoisie and market ethoscamethedual stigmaofworking-class thatbrandedthewoman and sexualimpropriety origins dancerwell into the twentiethcentury.The great ballerinas continued, by and large,to emergefromthe clans thathad survivedfromthe eighteenth theatrical and a kind of caste thattrained,promoted, century,

itsdaughters. forinstance, arrivedin protected (Taglioni, Parisin 1827witha brother to partner herand a father who coachedher,choreographed forher,and actedas herpersonalmanager.)The rest,however,belongedto theurbanslums."Mostof thedancers,"wroteAlberic Secondin 1844,"first sawthelightofdayina concierge's summedup thelotofthemajority lodge."4Bournonville littleeducation, and wretchsuccinctly-humble origins, ed salaries.5 Poverty, naturally, invites sexual exploitation, of flexiblemorals.(Liaisons especiallyin a profession sweetenalmosteveryballerina In the1830s, biography.)6 however,the backstageof the Paris Oplra becamea venue of sexualassignation, counprivileged officially tenanced andabetted.Eliminating olderforms of"caste" separation,the theater's enterprising management dangledbeforetheelectofitspayingpublica commodity of indisputable rarityand cachet-itsfemalecorpsof dancers. theinsideoftheoldParisOpera. Imaginefora moment tierby tierfromthegods,we moveup the Descending socialscale,until,finally, we standat thegoldenhorseshoe of wealth,privilege, and powerwhere,in boxes on eitherside of the proscenium, sit the three-deep oftheJockey Club. pleasure-minded sportsmen As theOpera'smostinfluential theoccupants abonnes, oftheselogesinfernales-all cermale,ofcourse-enjoyed tainprivileges: therunofthecoulisses, forexample,and entryto theFoyerde la Danse,a largeroomlinedwith barresand mirrors just behindthe stage.Before1830, lackeysin royalliveryhadwardedprying eyesfromthis studio.Whenthenewregimeturned theOpara warm-up over to privatemanagement, the Foyerde la Danse function.7 No longerofflimitstomen acquireda different ofwealthand fashion, beforeand afterperformances it becamean exclusivemaisonclose,withmadamsin the terms.Nowherewas the shap of mothersarranging claevokedtimeandagaininlithographs andpaintings, betweentheidealizedfemininity ofballeticideology and the realityof femaleexploitation so striking as in the corridors. Opera'sbackstage in dancers'bodieswas notpeculiarto The commerce Paris.In London,remarked itlackedeven Bournonville, the pretension of gallantry thataccompaniedsuch exchangesacrosstheChannel.To be sure,somedancersdid eventually marrytheir"protectors." Many morebore childrenout of wedlock,sendingthemin secrecyto distant relations orcountry families tobe reared.Nordid

36 Dance ResearchJournal17/2& 18/1(1985-86)

Caricature byMarcelinofEugenieFiocreas Frantzin CoppAlia.

marriagesbetweendancersfarewell in thisatmosphere of libertinage:one thinksof the choreographerArthur Saint-Ion, Fanny Cerrito's on and off-stagepartner, who, jealous of the giftsshoweredon his beautifuland brilliantwife (which he could neither duplicate nor reciprocate),leftthe field of battle to his competitors.8 The association of ballet and prostitutionwas so pervasive thatIvor Guest in his historyof ballet under the Second Empire makes a special point of noting the Opera's good girls-modelwives,midnightpoets,authors ofbooks ofreligiousreflections. Butsuch cases were only exceptions.For pleasure-lovingParis, dancers were the creamofthedemi-monde. Aestheticstoday stressesthe dancer's symbolicfunction: it views physicalprcsenceas the formof dance itself. In the nineteenthcentury,however, the danseuse was firstand foremosta woman. Like her audience, she saw the task of balletas one of charmingthe sensibility, notelevatingthe mind.Tiltingher face to the logesinfernales,flashingthebrilliantsofherlatestprotector, making oftechnique,she preup withcoquetrytheshortcomings sentedherselfas a physicalsynecdoche,a dancerwithout the dance. For the nineteenth-century public, ballet offereda stagedreplayoftheclass and bordellopoliticsthat ruled the theatercorridors. Conventionalwisdom has it thattherewere two sorts of romanticballerinas:"Christians"who evoked romanticism'sspiritualyearningsand supernalkingdoms,and "pagans" who impersonatedits obsession with exotic, carnal,and materialthemes.9Butthisparadigm,invented by TheophileGautierto describethecontrasting stylesof Marie Taglioniand Fanny Elssler,is at best misleading. For no matterhow patlythevirgin/whore scheme seems to fittheideologyofromanticism, itignoresboththedancer's totemicreaity-her positionwithinthe social order of ballet-and that troublingthirdwho articulatedthe commongroundoftheperiod'sballeticavatarsofEve. As an emblem of wanton sexuality,feminizedmasculinity, and amazon unviolability,the danseuseen travestisymbolized in her complexpersona the many shades of lust danprojectedby theaudience on thenineteenth-century cer. Unliketheoldergenredistinctions based on bodytype, movement,and style, romanticism'sfemale tryptich alignedballeticimagewitha hierarchyofclass and sexual

and BlancheMontaubry in thedivertissement of AngelinaFioretti Hamlet,an operabyAmboiseThomas(1868),choreographed byLucienPetipa.

practice. If Taglioni's "aerial, virginal grace" evoked romanticism's quest fortheideal,italso summonedto the stage the marriageabledemoiselle,chaste, demure, and genteel.So, too, Elssler's "swooning,voluptuousarms," like her satins,laces, and gems, linked the concept of materialismwith a particularmaterialreality-the enpleasuresofa grandehorizontale. ticing,high-priced The travestydancer practisednone of these symbolic feminineconcealments.As shipboysand sailors,hussars and toreadors,the proletariansof the Opera's corpsde ballet donned breeches and skin-tighttrousers that displayed to advantage the shapely legs, slim corseted waists, and rounded hips, thighs,and buttocksof the era's ideal figure.Like the prostitutesin fancydress in Manet's "Ball at the Opera," the danseuse en travesti brazenlyadvertisedher sexuality.She was the hussy of theboulevardson theatricalparade. fooledno one, norwas The masqueradeoftransvestism was always a woman, itmeantto. The danseuseen travesti and a highlydesirableone (a splendidfigurewas one of therole'sprerequisites).She mayhave aped thestepsand but she never impersonmotionsof the male performer, ated his nature.Whataudienceswantedwas a masculine image deprived of maleness, an idealized adolescent,a beardlessshe-man.Gautier,in particular,was repelledby the ruggedphysicalityof the danseur,that "species of as he called him.-0"Nothing,"he wrote, monstrosity," thana man who shows his red neck, "is moredistasteful his big musculararms,his legswiththecalves ofa parish beadle, and all his strongmassiveframeshakenby leaps and pirouettes. "'' His critical colleague, Jules Janin, shared Gautier's prejudices:even thegreatestofdanseurspaled againstthe delicate figure,shapely leg, and facial beauty of the travestydancer.Janin,however,added anotherelement to Gautier'slistof characteristics unbecomingin a male dancer - power. No real man, that is, no upstanding memberof the new bourgeoisorder,could impersonate the poetic idealism of the ballet hero withoutungenderinghimself,without,in short,becominga woman in male drag.Janin'sremarks,publishedin theJournaldes Debats, are worthquoting at length: Speak to us of a prettydancinggirlwho displaysthe all the grace of her figure,who reveals so fleetingly Dance ResearchJournal17/2& 18/111985-86) 37

LhF oR:ZnaRcar n l86) anyEsse

a

ergsinL

treasures of her beauty.ThankGod, I understand I know what this lovelycreature thatperfectly, wishesus,andI wouldwillingly followherwherever shewishesin thesweetlandoflove.Buta man,as fellowwholeapsabout uglyas youandI, a wretched without why,a creature speciallymadeto knowing carrya musketand a swordand to weara uniform. Thatthisfellowshoulddance as a womandoes Thatthisbewhiskered individual whois impossible! an elector,a municipal a pillarof the community, a manwhosebusinessitis tomakeand ... councillor, unmakelaws,shouldcomebeforeus in a tunicof satin,his head coveredwitha hatwitha sky-blue wavingplume amorouslycaressinghis cheek,a danseuseof the male sex ... thiswas surely frightful

andwe havedonewellto andintolerable, impossible

remove such ... artistsfromour pleasures. Today,

womanis thankstothisrevolution we haveeffected,

thequeen of ballet ... no longerforcedto cut offhalf

init.Todaythe todressherpartner hersilkpetticoat exceptas a useful dancingmanis no longertolerated

accessory.12

As theconceptofmasculinity aligneditselfwithproducof the danseurbecame tivity,the effeminate sterility toballet'slargemalepublic. unacceptable Butindefining defined poweras male,Janinimplicitly as female.In photographs ofthedanseuse powerlessness entravesti themoder posedwithherfemalecounterpart, ofscale,a reduction notonlyin eyenotesa curtailment theheightand girthofthemasculinefigure, butin the of theimagedsexes.Whatis missing, physicalcontrast aboveall,is thesuggestion ofdominance, thatintimation ofpowerthateven themostself-effacing danseurcommunicates tohisaudience.In appropriating themalerole, thetravesty dancerstripped thatroleofpower. In eliminating the danseur,ballet turnedout the in-houseobstacleto sexuallicense.Withthe remaining declineof the clan, onlyhis lust,thatlast bastionof andtheschemeso artpower,stoodbetweenthedanseuse ull contrived of balletforthe by the entrepreneurs milionairelibertines oftheaudience.Forwhatwas the Thankstothetravesty Operaifnottheirprivateseraglio? dancer,no male now could destroythepeace of their of performance as privateharemor theirenjoyment topossession. foreplay In appearance,the feminine laid claimto androgyne anothereroticnexus.Tall, imposing, and majestic,she addedto thecharmofwantonness thechallengeofthe 38 Dance ResearchJournal17/2& 18/1(1985-86J

Me

~~~~~?:::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~i:jI. ~ ~ ~I~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~*: 'Iguvle(15);LuieMrqe

i

rzi

(16)

amazon,that untamedDiana who so fascinatedthe In Gautier'sdescription imagination. nineteenth-century of EugenieFiocreas Cupidin Nemea,notethesapphic allusions. in a more CertainlyLove was neverpersonified or morecharming body.Mle. Fiocrehas graceful, bothof the managedto compoundthe perfection younggirland oftheyouth,and to makeofthema sexlessbeauty,whichis beautyitself. Shemight have beenhewnfroma blockofParosmarblebya Greek and animatedby a miraclesuchas thatof sculptor, Galatea.To thepurityofmarble,she adds thesupare developedand plenessof life.Her movements balancedin a sovereign admirable harmony...What wouldenvythem!Whatan legs!Diana thehuntress easy, proud and tranquilgrace! What modest, measuredgestures!...Socorrect,rhythmical and nobleis hermimingthat,likethatofthemimesof old,it mightbe accompaniedby two unseenfluteIfPsychesawthisCupidshemight the players. forget original.13

beautiful womanwhocreated Fiocre,an exceptionally theroleofFrantzinCoppelia, wasoneofthemostfamous heroesofthe1860sand 1870s.Likea numberof travesty shesharedtheboardswitha sister, whose Op6radancers, as shapelylimbscommanded nearlyas muchadmiration hersibling's. sisterpairofthe Byfar,themostfascinating werethe Elsslers-Fanny, the romantic century temptresswiththebodyofa "hermaphrodite ofantiquity,"'4 and Therese,herpartner and faithful cavalier.ForoVer ten years they danced together, lived together, and traveledtogether. On stagetheycommunicated a veiled whileoffstage theirrelationship a eroticism, suggested feminized relicoftheolderclansystem. A giraffe of a dancerat 5'6", the "majestic"Ther'ese servedherdiminutive sisterinthemultiple rolesreserved inan oldererafortheballerina's nextofkin.Shehandled all ofFanny'sbusinessaffairs, decidedwhereand what sheshoulddance,andstaged,without credit, manyofthe balletsand numbersin which theyappeared.As a woman,however,Thereselackedtheclan'spatriarchal while as a dancer,she would always be authority, without thewealthand powerofthe "protectors" who materialized behindthescenes- promoting increasingly fundsas wellas maintaining dancers favorites, dispensing andtheirimpoverished families. Indeed,onesuchprotector,theself-styled Marquisde La Valette,who became

Fanny'slover in 1837, eventuallydestroyedthe sororial menage:his scornforthe ex-dancerwho sharedher bed forcedThereseto leave. One expectsthatthe likesofthe Marquis de La Valette relishedthesightofhis Elsslergirlscharmingconfreresof thelogesinferales.But one also suspectsthatthetravesty pas de deux was not so completelyunsexed as the householdhe ruled. Certainly,it had been neuteredby thesubstitution of a woman forthe man, but thathardly means it was devoid of eroticcontent.Mightnot audiences have perceivedin thechoreographic play offemale bodies, somethingotherthan two women competingto whetthejaded appetitesoflibertines?ConsiderGautier's accountof a duet performedby the two Elsslers: The pas executedby Mile. T. Elsslerand her sister is charminglyarranged;there is one figurein particularwherethetwo sistersrunfromtheback-cloth hand in hand, throwingforwardtheir legs-at the same time,which surpasses everything thatcan be in the of and way homogeneity, accuracy, imagined precision.One mightalmostbe said to be the reflectionoftheother,and thateach comes forwardwitha mirrorheld beside her, which follows her and repeatsall hermovements. Nothingis moresoothingand moreharmoniousto the gaze than this dance at once so refinedand so precise. Fanny, to whom Theresa has given as ever the moreimportant part,displayeda child-likegrace,an artless agility,and an adorable roguishness;her Creole costumemade her look ravishing,or rather she made thecostumelook ravishing.15 Th6resehad choreographedLa Voliere("The Aviary" in English),whichlike herotherballetsand dances made no use of men: she cast herselfin themasculinerole.Yet in theirattire,whatstruckGautier despitethedifferences was the oneness of the pair: he saw them as refracted imagesof a singleself,perfectand complete.In evoking an Arcadiaof perpetualadolescence untroubledand untouchedby man, the travestyduet hintedat an ideal attainable only in the realms of art and the imagination-notthe real world of stockbrokersand municipalcouncillors. Butdancingby itsverynatureis a physicalas much as symbolicactivity.In the formalizedmatinggame of the pas de deux,two women touchingand movingin travesty harmony conveyed an eroticismperhaps even more compellingthan theirindividualphysical charms. The fantasyof femalesat play forthe male eye is a staple of a kind of travestyperformanceenacted eroticliterature, in theprivacyof the imagination.Ballet'stravestypas de deuxgave public formto this privatefantasy,whetting audience desire,while keepingsafelywithinthe bounds with of decorum.For ultimately, sapphiclove interfered ofthe seraglioas muchas theobthesmoothfunctioning streperousmale. In the case of the Elsslers, where Thereseseems to have animatedher choreographywith akinto personalfeeling,theincesttaboocoded something as sisterlydevotionwhatmightotherwisehave been construedas love. And one cannot help thinkingthat the buxom travestyheroes of the Second Empire and subsequent decades flauntedan outrageousfemininityto ward offthe sapphism immanentin theirroles. In so doing, however, ballet robbed the danseuse of erotic mystery. Today,thanksto the exampleof the BalletsTrocadero, ofwe are apt to thinkthattravestyin dance inherently fersa critiqueof sexual role playing.But the travesty dancers of nineteenth-century ballet offeredno medi-

"La Belle" Otero

tation on the usages of gender, no critical perspective on the sexual politics that ruled their lives, no revelationof the ways masculine and femininewere imaged on the ballet stage. What they exemplifiedwas the triumph of bordello politics ideologized as the femininemystique-a politicsand an ideologyimposed by men who remainedin fullcontrolofballetthroughout the centuryas teachers,critics,choreographers,spectators,and artisticdirectors. The advent in 1909 of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes with its dynamic new aesthetic shattered the travesty paradigm.Seeing real men on the stage in choreography thatexploitedthe strength, athleticism,and scale of the male body simplyelectrifiedaudiences,causingthemto look anew at the travestydancer. But the audience itself had changeddramatically.The new followingforballet came fromthehighlysophisticatedmilieuof le toutParis. The greatconnoisseurs,collectors,musical patrons,and salonnieresof the Frenchcapital-many of whom were women-replaced thesportsmenand rouesofthelogesinfemales.At the same time a new androgynousthematic and iconography,particularlyevidentin works created for Nijinskywhere images of sexual heterodoxytransregressedrigidcategoriesofmasculinityand femininity, genderedthe ideologyof ballet,endingthe reignof the had femininemystique.The era ofthedanseuseen travesti cometo an end. NOTES 1. Forthedramatic oftheParisOperaafter changesintheorganization

the Revolutionof 1830, see Ivor Guest, The RomanticBallet in Paris,

forewords Ninette de Valoisand LillianMoore,2nded. rev.(London: Dance Books,1980),pp. 22-25.In England,nineteenth-century ballet in a commercial appearedexclusively setting. JohnEbers,a former ticketagent,assumedthemanagement oftheKing'sTheatrein 1820, an association thatendedinbankruptcy in 1827.He was succeededin 1828byPierreLaporte, ofthe 1832season, who,withtheexception controlled theoperahouseuntilhis deathin 1841,whereupon Beninchargeoffinances since1836,assumedthetheater's jaminLumley, In thehandsofthissolicitor/impresario, Her Majesty's management. entered (astheKing'sTheatrehadbeenrenamed) uponan eraofglory. In the 1830sand 1840s,underthemanagement ofAlfredBunn,the Theatre venueforballet. Royal,DruryLanebecameanother important Duringthelatter partofthenineteenth century up totheeveofWorld WarI, balletlivedon in themusic-halls, above all, theEmpireand Alhambra.Ivor Guest, TheRomanticBalletinEngland:Its Development, andDecline(London:PhoenixHouse,1954),pp. 33,46, 83Fulfilment

Ballet(London:SocietyforTheatreResearch, 87, 128-131;TheEmpire Autumn1959. Ballet,"DancePerspectives, 1962);"TheAlhambra Dance ResearchJournal17/2& 18/1(1985-861 39

In France, it should be noted,the commercialboulevardstage was the breedinggroundfortheatricalromanticism.Long beforethe Paris Opera's Robertle Diable, usuallyconsideredthe officialpointof departureforromanticballet,spectaculartechniquesand supernaturaleffects were commonplace in the melodramas and vaudevilles of the popular theaters.Ballet was an importantcomponentof these spectacles. Indeed, itwas at theaterslike theThatre de la Porte-Saint-Martin,which maintaineda residenttroupeand regularlypresentednew ballets and revivals,that the aerial style of dancing associated with romanticismbegan to crystallizeearlyin the 1820s. Amongthetalents associatedwiththe floweringofromanticballetat the ParisOpera who gainedearlyexperienceon the boulevardstagewere JeanCoralli,who producedseveralballetsat the Th6etrede la Galte.Guest, TheRomanticBalletin Paris,pp. 4-5, 13-14,16, AppendixD, pp. 272-274; Marian Ballet (London: Pitman,1974), pp. Hannah Winter,The Pre-Romantic 178-179,193-197. 2. Some instancesof genderswappingpriorto the nineteenthcentury are Marie Salle's appearance as Amourin Handel's Alcina(whichSalle choreographedherself)and the threegraces impersonatedby men in Plathee,Jean-PhilippeRameau's spoof of his own operaticstyle.The loverin disguisea la Shakespeare'sTwelfth Nightwas a popularconceit that called forcross-dressing.I am gratefulto CatherineTurocy for this information.For the response of the London audience to Salle's performance,see Parmenia Migel, The BallerinasFrom the Courtof LouisXIV toPavlova(1972; rpt.New York:Da Capo, 1980),p. 25. BalletinParis,p. 1. 3. Le Constitutionnel, quoted in Guest,TheRomantic 4. Les PetitsMysteresde l'Opera,quoted in Guest, The RomanticBallet inParis,p. 25. 5. AugustBournonville,My TheatreLife,trans.PatriciaN. McAndrew (Middletown:WesleyanUniv. Press,1979),p. 52. 6. Fanny Cerrito's liaison with the Marques de Bedmar, Carlotta Grisi's withPrinceRadziwill,Fanny Elssler'swiththe Marquis de La Valette, Pauline Duvernay's with (among others)Valette and Lyne Stephens,and Elisa Scheffer'swiththe Earl of Pembrokeare a few of

40 Dance ResearchJournal17/2& 18/1(1985-86)

the romances that dot the ballet chronicleof the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s. 7. For the changes introducedby Dr. Louis Veronat the Paris Opera afterthe Revolutionof 1830, see Guest,TheRomanticBalletinParis,p. 28. Under Ebers,the Green Room builtat the Kings'sTheatreperformed a similarfunctionas the Foyerde la Danse, while at DruryLane, Bunn allowed the more influentialpatronsthe run of the coulisses. Procuressesof "of theworsttype"circulatedbackstageat DruryLane, among them the blackmailingbeauty specialistknown as Madame Rachel. Guest,TheRomanticBalletinEngland,pp. 36-37,113. 8. Migel, The Ballerinas,p. 218. Married in 1845 (to the chagrinof Cerrito'sparentswho had hoped fora son-in-lawwitha fortuneor at herliaison leasta title),thecouple brokeup in 1851. Shortlythereafter, withthe Marques de Bedar became public knowledge.When rumors beganto circulatein 1844 about Cerrito'simpendingmarriageto SaintLeon, the ballerina's London admirers,headed by Lord MacDonald, created a public disturbance when Saint-Leon appeared onstage. thedancerstoppedbeforetheirbox and with Duringone performance, a "sarcasticgrin"and an "indescribablegesture"hissedmenacinglyat Lord Macdonald. The word cochonwas heard to leave Saint-Leon's mouth,a grossimpertinencecomingfroma dancer. Saint-LIon'swritten apologyappeared in the Timesa few days later.Ivor Guest,Fanny Cerrito:The Lifeofa RomanticBallerina, 2nd ed. rev. (London: Dance Books, 1974),p. 85. 9. "Fanny Elsslerin 'La Tempete'," in The RomanticBalletas Seen by TheophileGautier,trans.CyrilW. Beaumont(London, 1932; rpt.New York:ArnoPress,1980),p. 16. 10. "Perrotand CarlottaGrisiin 'Le Zingaro',"ibid.,p. 44. 11. "The Elsslersin 'La Voliere',"ibid.,p. 24. 12. 2 March 1840,quoted in Guest,RomanticBallet,p. 21. 13. Quoted in IvorGuest,TheBalletoftheSecondEmpire(Middletown: WesleyanUniv. Press,1974),p. 200. 14. "FannyElssler,"in Gautier,p. 22. 15. "The Elsslersin 'La Voliere',"p. 24.