Notable Feet Fanny Thrice: The Legacies of Three Romantic Era Ballerinas
If your name is Fanny, it literally means you are from France. Since the beginning of nicknames, Fanny was a pet name for someone named Frances (usually). Of course, your mother could actually name you Fanny as in the case of three early ballerinas Fanny Bias (1789-1825), Fanny Cerrito (1817-1909), and Fanny Elssler (1810-1884). It's not quite clear when the word 'fanny' also came to be known as a polite name for buttocks, but Fanny has been a popular girl's name for hundreds of years. Interestingly, the Rolling Stones made the name prominent with the 1975 song Jiving Sister Fanny.
FANNY BIAS
(1789-1825)
Fanny Bias is noted as a "pre-romantic era" ballerina, meaning she was part of the growing 19th century movement that pigeon-holed dance into the theatres and burlesque halls. Ballet moved from an esteemed activity of the royal courts to the level of traveling minstrels. The aristocracy transferred their support of dance from the palace great halls to the Palace Theatres forcing dancers to find support through patrons and one-night contracts throughout Europe.
Paris-born Bias trained as a young child in the Paris Opera Ballet School whose company she joined in 1807 at the age of 18. From accounts still existing regarding her qualities as a dancer, she was apparently a very light and ephemeral dancer. In the autobiography of William Jerdan, 1853, the dancing of Bias is compared to the lightness of air.
"Fanny Bias as Flora--dear creature! You'd swear,
When her delicate feet in the dance twinkle round,
That her steps are of light, and her home is the air,
And she only 'par complaisance' touches the ground."
Bias apparently attracted the attention of many a writer as John Poole accounts in his 1859 treatise Sketches and Recollections, "And Fanny Bias, Terpsichore herself," comparing Bias to the muse of dance in his segment on French actors.
At the age of 32 Bias was immortalized and made most famous in a lithograph by F. Waldeck showing her balanced on the tips of her toes. For this she is granted the prestige of being one of the first ballerinas to dance on pointe. It isn't clear if the portrait is wishful thinking or if Bias actually could balance on her toes. She died four years later but is still given credit today as one of the earliest toe dancers.
FANNY CERRITO
(1817-1909)
The romantic era of ballet encompasses the twenty year period of the 1830's and 1840's. Indicative of this period were ballets whose stories centered on mystical female images of power such as ghosts and sylphs. Hence, the productions of "La Sylphide" and "Giselle" were popular with ballet goers who reveled in the picture of winged women overpowering the emotions of strong-willed men and condemning them to lives of love-lost torment. Because the ghostly lover could not be had, the men lost their desires to live.
Foremost among the Romantic era ballerinas famous for their portrayal of the ethereal characters was Fanny Cerrito of Naples, Italy. Cerrito's full figure and fiery persona on stage and off provided her with the opportunity to create famous roles in the newest ballets of the time period. Cerrito is most well known today as an original member of "Pas de Quatre" danced with Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi, and Lucile Grahn and choreographed by French ballet master Jules Perrot.
FANNY ELSSLER
(1810-1884)
The youngest of three dancing sisters, Austrian-born Fanny Elssler studied ballet under her older sister Therese. Both sisters became troupe members of the Karntertor Theatre in 1818 joining their older sister Anna who was already dancing there. Fanny was eight years old. By age 15 she was an acclaimed ballerina dancing popular roles in many original ballets.
While dancing with the Paris Opera Ballet in 1840, she accepted a touring contract to dance in America. Although the pay was substantial, she ended up paying the Paris Opera Ballet most of the proceeds to settle a breach of contract dispute.
Elssler was considered representative of the sensuous rather than light, ethereal side of Romantic ballet. Her greatest triumph artistically and technically came in the ballet "La Esmeralda" danced in St. Petersburg in 1849 when she demonstrated her prowess as an actress and a ballerina in the fiery role of the gypsy girl Esmeralda.
Even though not many children are named Fanny today (and it is a cute name), the ballet world is indebted to the dedication of these three ballerinas. Their contribution to the historical repertoire of dance is evident as companies around the world continue to present pieces such as "Giselle" first introduced by these pioneering women. Their lives, dedication to the art, and perseverance deserve recognition as they represented the ideals of their time period while helping to incubate the classical vocabulary of dance that we still appreciate today.