Romantic ballet

Pas de Quatre: Carlotta Grisi, Marie Taglioni, Lucile Grahn and Fanny Cerito

The Romantic period in ballet occurred in the early to mid 1800s, and roughly corresponds to Romanticism movements in art and literature. Like these movements, 'Romantic ballet's focused on the conflict between man and nature, society and supernatural. Often the central character was either a spirit or ghost embodying some ideal or a "character" figure performing a national dance (or both e.g. La Peri.) The male dancer became less important and the ballerina took centre stage. Furthermore the development of pointework, although still at a fairly basic stage, profoundly affected people's perception of a ballerina. Many lithographs of the period show her virtually floating, poised only on the tip of a toe. This idea of weightless ness was capitalised on in ballets such as La Sylphide and Giselle and the famous leap apparently attempted by Carlotta Grisi in La Peri.

Other features which distinguished romantic ballet were the separate identity of the scenarist or author from the choreographer and the presence of specially written music as opposed to `drawer' music. The invention of gas lighting enabled gradual changes and enhanced the mysteriousness of many ballets with its softer gleam. Illusion became more diverse with wires and trap doors being widely used.

Cult of the ballerina

The Romantic era marked the rise of the ballerina as a central part of ballet, where previously men had dominated performances.

Taglioni became the prototypical Romantic ballerina, praised highly for her lyricism. The movement style for Romantic ballerinas was characterized by soft, rounded arms and a forward tilt in the upper body. This gave the woman a flowery, willowy look. Leg movements became more elaborate due to the new tutu length and rising standards of technical proficiency. Important Romantic ballerinas included Carlotta Grisi, the first "Giselle", Lucille Grahn, Fanny Cerrito, Marie Taglioni and Fanny Elssler.

see also: Cult of the ballerina

Design and scenography

Romantic Tutu

The costume for the romantic ballerina was the Romantic tutu. This was a full, white, multi-layered skirt made of tulle. The ballerina wore a white bodice with the tutu. In the second acts of Romantic ballets, representing the spiritual realm, the corps de ballet appeared onstage in Romantic tutus, giving the name to the term "white act" or "ballet-blanc". The tutus were white and multi-layered to give the effect of ghost. The dancers wore point shoes to give the effect floating. The reason was because it was during the industrial age in europe. People were getting laid off from their jobs. They needed to "escape" to another world and ballet was that other world.

Special Effects

Romantic ballets owed much to the new developments in theater effects, particularly gas lighting (Limelight). Candles had been previously used to light theaters, but gas lighting allowed for dimming effects and other subtelties. Combined with the effects of the Romantic tutu, ballerinas posing en pointe, and the use of wires to make dancers "fly," directors used gas lighting to create supernatural spectacles onstage.

Important ballets