Notable Feet: Carlo Blasis, Man of Lasting Influence
It may surprise some ballet dancers and teachers to learn that the organization of their classes and design of performances were created 179 years ago. Even some of today's prevailing ideas about what makes a ballet dancer were originally presented by an Italian dancer, choreographer, ballet master, and writer named Carlo Blasis (1795-1878.) To read his 1828 masterpiece The Code of Terpsichore is to recognize an amazing array of contemporary thought and ideas about ballet still in practice. Are they really "contemporary" ideas if we are still following such "antique" precepts? How and why did Blasis write about ballet in such a way that his premise is still the foundation of much of today's ballet?
Blasis was born into a wealthy family of the Italian aristocracy. He was afforded the best education available in the early 19th century and well instructed in the arts and sciences. He heard the music of Beethoven, Chopin, and Rossini as a young man and was guided through ballet training by the finest teachers in France. He was most influenced by the legendary Jean Dauberval in Bordeaux, a direct "ballet descendent" of Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810) and Maximilien Gardel (1741-1787.) Dauberval was hugely influenced by Noverre's theories of ballet d'action and promoted the ballet principles of Noverre and Gardel in his teaching and choreography. Dauberval contributed to the concept of ballet d'action by creating works based on average people and their stories thereby setting the stage for the systematic approach to ballet created by Blasis.
Blasis learned art and architecture as well. Thought revolutions surrounded him in 1820 as science, politics, and the arts exploded with new ideas and interpretations. Science and engineering particularly must have interested Blasis as he applied his understanding of mechanics and drawing to the art of ballet. He passionately set forth, as did his predecessors, that ballet was more than an interesting pass time or entertaining folly. It held the elements of design, health, and psychology within its willowy appearance. Blasis was the first to completely organize in writing the concepts of training and presenting ballet.
Body Type
Has anyone ever asked you, "Are you a ballerina?" After ten years of ballet it's hopeful that the grace, alignment, and carriage have made an impression and you look like a dancer. The untrained eye can identify a trained ballerina because of the long neck and slim physique. Have you ever heard of someone not winning an audition because of "body type"? Has your teacher ever said, "Your body is more suited to jazz than ballet?" Is training or nature responsible? Blasis says:
"Here we perceive how requisite it is that all who intend devoting themselves to the study of dancing, should scrupulously examine the make and facilities of their body, before they begin to learn an art in which it is impossible to succeed without several gifts of nature."
Do You Have What It Takes?
Making the choice to pursue ballet is one of sacrifices. (See Great Moves! "Coping With the Sacrifice.") Many will question your decision. Have you ever heard someone say, "I'm willing to sacrifice almost anything for ballet?" Do your teachers and choreographers tell you that to choose ballet is to forego everything else? Do you wonder if you have what it takes to be a ballet dancer? Blasis says:
"Can you be passionately fond of it? Can your chief delight be concentrated in its study and practice? Are you in most respects adapted to it? (There's the comment about natural ability again!) If in yourself you meet with a negative to these questions never expect to excel, nor even to attain the order of tolerables and passables."
Taking Care of the Dancer's Body
Do you know of a "serious" dancer who sneaked off during holiday break to go snow skiing and came back with a broken leg? Do you know teachers who tell their students not to be on the soccer team or take karate while they are training as dancers? Blasis says:
"Let no other exercise be intermingled with dancing: horsemanship, fencing, running, and etc. are all powerful enemies to the learner's advancement."
Dancers who drink alcohol excessively are ignoring what their teachers have told them about drinking. Blasis says:
"Be temperate and sober if you desire to become a finished dancer."
Too many classes?
Are you exhausted because you rehearse and take class six days a week? Has a ballet teacher ever told you that bodies loose 30% of their muscle tone and elasticity for every week off from dance? Blasis says:
"Remain not, therefore, twenty-four hours without practicing."
Repetition in Ballet Class
Do you ever wonder why your ballet teachers give class in the same order every day, year after year? Blasis says:
"The combination of elementary exercises and of the principle steps of dancing is what is usually termed the lesson. The learner first exercises himself in bending his knees in all the positions, in the practice of grands and petits battements, the rond-de-jambes on the ground and in the air, the petits battemens on the instep, and etc." Following an extended list of centre enchainments Blasis finishes by saying, "These exercises tend to form a good dancer, and afford him means of obtaining success. The lesson concludes by the practice of pirouettes, of tems terra-a-terre, and tems de vigueur." ('Tems' is movement of the legs.)
The point is not that ballet is old fashioned and still relies on the methods set down by an early 19th century ballet genius, but that ballet and all dance are drawn from an organized code of instruction and behavior. This awareness and appreciation of the roots of ballet's "restrictions" enables teachers and students to dance as descendents of tried and true practices with respect for their purposes. The exercises, lifestyle, and costuming are all devoted to the passion that is ballet and to maintaining its premises of refinement of movement and storytelling. It is fine to experiment outside the code but those diversions should not be termed as ballet. There is only one code of ballet.