Footnotes to Dance History
Last month you read of Marius Petipa's misadventures and misfortunes in the United States. Petipa, back in Paris, began to study more seriously, choosing the classes of Auguste Vestris. In case you are new to 'Footnotes to Dance History,' Vestris was a renown dancer and teacher. He was the illegitimate son of his father Gaetan and his mistress. Regular readers may remember that his father crowned himself the God of the Dance. Auguste was small even then for a man, but was known for his elevation, entrechats, pirouettes, and - later - the teacher to such noted dance figures as Fanny Elssler and Jules Perrot. (Petipa was to work under Perrot very soon). Vestris was eighty when Marius began studies under him.
In Petipa's words, from Russian Ballet Master, the Memoirs of Marius Petipa:
Upon returning to Paris, and not having an engagement, I started to perfect myself in the class of the then famous old Vestris. My brother Lucien was already dancing in the Paris Grand Opéra; I, also, wanted to appear on some Parisian stage, and the opportunity presented itself. Having worked for two months with my talented professor, I was blessed with such good luck as I hadn't dared to dream. I took part in the benefit of the great actress Rachel where I danced with such a great star as the then sensational Carlotta Grisi.
Participation in such an outstanding performance made me known, and within a few days I received an invitation to Bordeaux, in the capacity of premier danseur. We were five débutant artists, but the engagement of each débutant was final only after the third debut, when the public, or the faithful subscribers, pronounced their judgement. With fear and trembling, each artist awaited the approach of the decisive moment.
The curtain falls and the commissaire, who is seated in one of the boxes, gets up. Tomblike silence.
"The tenor, Faure, is accepted by a large majority." --
Applause, hisses, and even whistles, but the protesting minority must submit to the decree of the applause. Tenor Faure is accepted.
The same procedure is repeated upon the announcement of the name of Marie Lezaire, the first soubrette in comedy; she is also acknowledged to be engaged, to the noisy accom-paniment of applause, whistles, and hisses.
More dead than alive, we stood in the wings during the moment when our fates were decided; on this decision de-pended not only the security of the season, but our entire subsequent careers. My turn came.
"M. Marius Petipa, premier danseur .-"
I hear "bravo, bravo!", but hisses also are heard. Who will win? I can assure you that I shook as in a fever, and long afterwards could not forget the agony I experienced.
"Quiet, please!" shouts the commissaire. All became still, and I, it may be well understood, am all ears.
"M. Petipa is accepted, after three debuts, by the decision of the majority of the audience, because he had such a great and fully deserved success in 'Giselle,' 'La Pen,' and 'La Flue mal Gardée." Again applause, and here I am with a job. Such an examination an artist must pass even now in the provin-cial theatres of France, where they receive subsidies from the city and where their financial fate is in the hands of subscribers. Not a single enterprise could subsist on the support of the transient public.
Although I was not ballet master, I succeeded in staging, in the luxurious theatre of this wonderful city, four ballets which were successful and always made money.
Here are, more or less, my outstanding works:
"La Jolie Bordelaise"
"Les Vendanges"
"L'Intrigue L'amoureuse"
"La Langage des Fleurs."
The next time you are trying to survive an audition, or are worrying about your rank in the company, remember what Marius Petipa went through. The creator of several legendary ballets, one of which you may be rehearsing right now, had his share of hard luck moments and forgotten choreography.
This was a high point in the aging Petipa's eyes as he was writing his memoirs. But the arts are notorious for change. Eleven months later, the company folded. Petipa was jobless only briefly. He was invited to the Royal Theatre in Spain.
He said:
There I had something to be proud of....(he was given a salary, benefits and time off). I had a two-month vacation, but it was not used for rest.... With the premiere danseuse Mlle Guy-Stephan I used it to tour all the big cities of Andalusia, where an outstanding success awaited us."
Petipa wrote at length of his memories of Spain, the music, the people and the dance."....for one could not be but carried away by the surrounding setting." He added, "...the crowd has only one cult - passion."
A bit of passion was in his immediate future. •