Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Robert Greskovic

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Ballet 101

Limelight Editions

Chapter One

LET THE HISTORY BEGIN ...

    Before surveying the age and history of ballet, a look at danceactivity in general helps prepare the way. Dance partisans liketo challenge military men on the historical seniority frequently concededto another line of work as our "world's oldest profession." (Thestigma of this disreputable and sometimes unmentionable professionactually stayed with dancers of certain periods. Likewise, the sellingof the body's beauty can still be read by cynical onlookers as theselling of the body itself.) The logic from the champions of dancegoes something like, "Before the war, comes the war dance," or arelated argument, "We move in the womb, before we do anythingelse." Another take suggests that humankind communicated by gesture,a language of signs, before it spoke a language of sounds andwords. Historians of dance in all its manifestations, as opposed toballet specialists in particular, look to happenings in early peoplesand their rituals for our deepest dance roots.

    India's Hindu god Shiva has come to us depicted as a multi-armeddivinity deftly balanced on one leg and known as Nataraja, Lord of theDance. Actual Indian dance forms appear to have been in place around6000 B.C. From First Dynasty Egypt, circa 3000 B.C., come reliefs showinga kind of dance/body language. Acrobatic figures on later Egyptian wallpaintings and reliefs help illustrate dance methods to further degrees.Greek dances reveal links with civilizations on Crete, possibly transferredfrom Egypt, dating between 3000 and 1400 B.C. Greek theater, with itsdramas rendered by way ofinstrumental and vocal sound with preplanned movement, even further fillin our background.

    The Dithyramb, a theatrical entity made up of song and dance thatgrew out of celebrations of the Greek god Dionysus, gave rise to fullyformed classic Greek theater. Some key dance terms trace their roots towords the Greeks chose for participants in their dance dramas. Korugosand Koruphaios, variously transliterated from the Greek, identify thoseconcerned with training or leading the participants of the Greek chorus(koros). Similarly, the construction and design of theaters that todayhouse our ballet originate in this same world of Greek theater. Notable arethe orkestra, the round dancing floor of the chorus, and the skene, thecovered area behind the "orchestra" performing space. The raisedplatform place between these two sections was called the proskenion.This points to the later plan of the proscenium theater, which providedthe evolving art of ballet with its ideal frame.

    A renewed interest in things Greek, by way of Roman reworkings,surfaced at the end of the Middle Ages, with its chivalric codes and itsHoly Roman Empire. A focus on a "classic" past led to the era todayknown as the Renaissance and its philosophical bent called Humanism.Men and women themselves, rather than Mother Church and its HolyFather head, gained prominence" for ways of thinking about the world.Appropriately enough, male and female dancers would become ideals ofthe individuals making up the new philosophy. The main thrust of suchactivity centered in the citystates that then constituted what is nowadaysItaly. These small worlds periodically featured pageants or fetes toaggrandize local despots as they celebrated such occasions as empire-buildingmarriages or the birth of an heir. Their affairs included music,movement, and decoration, planned for indoor and outdoor venues. In thelatter instance, the events approximated our parades, specifically thosethat include floats and numerous marching units.

    There were many precedents for grandiose Italianate court spectacles,and one in 1393 became particularly memorable--infamous, in fact.To celebrate the marriage of one of his knights to a gentlewoman of hisqueen, King Charles VI of France participated in a masked entertainmentcalled, ironically enough, Bal des Ardents(Burners' Ball). Organized occasions for getting up in costume and maskoccurred with some regularity in this era. The theme of this masque ormorisco, as such events were called, was that of Wildmen of the Forest,after the folkloric figures also known as green men, foresters, or leafydevils. The king got actively involved in the affair, dressing as one of sixshaggy creatures sewn into costumes made of close-fitting linen coveredby clumps of hair made from flax and pitch. For some serendipitousreason, the king momentarily separated himself from his fellow beasts tospeak to a duchess just before a torch borne by a curious onlooker set theremaining quintet ablaze. When the king's flammable covering caught thefast-moving flames, the duchess smothered them with the train of herdress. Except for one other lucky soul, who threw himself in a water vesselkept by for butter making, all the other mummers died from their burns.

    The entry of this sextet of wildmen at the Bal des Ardents was meantto be significant and dramatic, though not literally so as things turnedout. But due to its notoriety, this ball gave dance history one of itsearliest examples of the entree, the entrance into a theatrical production ofa self-contained, particular group of performers, usually dressedidentically or at least thematically. These group dances and dancerswould become characteristic of the opera ballets that gave rise to ourballet.

    During the 1400s we find a few individuals who qualify as early balletmasters. (The term "ballet master" predates today's use of the term"choreographer," but is sometimes used synonymously. Some individualsin the history of ballet and choreography preferred the one over the other,and even now, when the Ballet Master title might appear on a balletcompany's roster, most people more readily understand theChoreographer title.) Our knowledge of early ballet masters comes mostlyfrom a paper trail. Those dance practitioners who left us written word oftheir art have secured themselves prominent places on the genealogy ofballet history makers. In this premature phase, the "dancing master," assuch men were then called, didn't act precisely the way we expect ourchoreographers to act today. Those maestros did it all; today'schoreographers have support from other specialists--teachers, coaches,and rehearsal assistants.

    The efforts of men such as Domenico da Piacenza (or Ferrara)or Guglielmo Ebreo (known also as William the Jew of Pesaro) wenttoward training courtiers in the prescribed graces of court dancing.Whatever we know of these particular dancing masters, as well as anotherof Domenico's followers, Antonio Cornazano, comes largely from thepages of dance manuals that survive to describe and diagram the ways oftheir dancing art. Maestro Domenico rises to the top of ballet'sgenealogical charts because he cared enough or was famous enough tohave his working ways written down. Literally so, in the case of histreatise, since he lived in Europe's pre-moveable type printing era.

    Domenico's De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducendi (On the Artof Dancing and Conducting Dances) bothered to choose ballo overdanza, both of which mean "dance" in Italian. Domenico used the formerbecause it referred to dancing of varied rhythm, as opposed to danza,which identified dancing to music of unvarying rhythm. The craft andcreations of...