Music, Literature, Dance and Fashion | Dance and entertainment
Transcription
Music, Literature, Dance and Fashion | Dance and entertainment
Music, Literature, Dance and Fashion | Dance and entertainment | Ballet “In the ballet the whole meaning of the story can be expressed by the dance.… The dance should explain the spirit of the actors in the spectacle. More than that, it should express the whole epoch to which the subject of the ballet belongs.” (Mikhail Fokine) In the 19th century, the art of dance developed into a combination of virtuosity and dramatic storytelling. The influence of Romanticism and the European fascination for the “Orient” were expressed in the choice of “Oriental” themes that included the Orientalist elements of the mystical, exotic and the irrational. The French ballet dancer Marius Petipa (1818#1910), who was chief ballet master of the Imperial Theatre at St. Petersburg from 1869 to 1903, created a series of ballets in the Orientalist style that included The Daughter of the Pharaoh (Egypt), Le Roi Candaule and Le Corsaire (Turkey) and La Bayadère (India). The Russian choreographer Mikhail Fokine (1880#1942) and his ballets for the Ballet Russes Cleopatre, Les Orientales and Scheherazade are further examples of “story ballets” in this vein. Needless to say, however, none of these works reflect any desire to relate ethnographic knowledge; rather they are the result of Western imagination and stereotyping. Working Number: FR 185 Name: Aladin ou La lampe merveilleuse : esquisse de décor de l'acte I ou acte II Holding Museum: National Library of France Date: 1822 Materials: - Curator Justification: Replete with movements and images inspired by the “East”, “Story ballets” were particularly popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Working Number: FR 179 Name: Holding Museum: Date: Materials: Curator Justification: Théâtre impérial du Châtelet. Aladin ou la lampe merveilleuse ; les génies de la lampe (ballet) National Library of France 1863 The impact on the Parisian public of “Eastern”-inspired ballets created waves of Orientalist-inspired creations throughout the fashion and art worlds. Working Number: FR 186 Name: Holding Museum: Date: Materials: Curator Justification: Théâtre de l'Opéra. 'Aïda.' L'avenue des Sphinx aux portes de Thèbes (2e tableau du 2e acte) National Library of France 1880 Europe’s elite flocked to a dazzling new Cairo to enjoy the sumptuous palaces, Parisian gardens and the newly built Cairo Opera House on the banks of the Nile, where Verdi’s Aïda premiered. Working Number: FR 183 Name: Schéhérazade Holding Museum: National Library of France Date: 1895-1897 Materials: - Curator Justification: Scheherazade, based on the central character from the Arabian Nights, was an exotic, timeless, evocative fantasy brimming with awe, sensuality and wonder. Working Number: FR 182 Name: Shéhérazade, ballet de Michel Fokine : croquis de scène Holding Museum: National Library of France Date: 1913 Materials: - Curator Justification: The inspiration for the ballet Scheherazade was the female storyteller of the Arabian Nights. Fokine’s “Eastern”-inspired ballet conveys the sensual aspects of the Orientalist fantasy in expressive movement. Working Number: US1 001 Name: Costume for Cleopatra in the Ballets Russes production of Cléopâtre, 1918 Holding Museum: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Date: 1918 Materials: Silk, sequins, mirror, beads, wool yarn, metallic thread braid, lamé Curator Justification: As Romanticism emerged and brought exotic settings into vogue the “East” became a popular theme for many artists and musicians.