Ballet: A never-ending story

Imagine: Versailles, at the turn of the 17th century. At Europe’s leading court, the audience gloats over a ballet performance. Every kind of mystic figure is dancing on the magnificently decorated golden stage, nymphs’ showing-off their charms, while fauns jump around. In their midst, elegant couples turn to the sounds of a Minuet, they step forward and slide sideways, smile and wave their fans, looking very professional. His Majesty, however, does not step on the stage any more. (As a young adult, King Louis XIV of France once danced clad in a costume of flames the role of the Sun God - hence his epithet, the Sun King).

Tsar Peter, later also known as the Great, became acquainted with this art of ballet on his legendary expeditions to Western Europe and was enthralled. His residence also entertained a form of dance, but it was different, rougher and more folklore-style. This resulted in him asking not only for military and administrative experts, but also for ballet specialists, one of them was Jean-Baptiste Landé. The Tsarina Anna herself named him artistic director of her newly founded dance academy, which would become one of the most famous in the world. The date of foundation has gone down in the history of ballet: 15th May 1738.

This cultural transfer from the West to the East marks the beginning of the impressive history of Russian ballet. Therpsichore, muse of the art of dance, relocated to the land of the Tsars, by the latest when Petipa came on scene. The French choreographer Marius Petipa (1818-1910) marked a whole era. He began his career in Saint Petersburg as a primo ballerino in 1847, and moved on to become a ballet master. He literally was a master of ballet. Until his death, not only had he created around 50 visionary choreographies, he also controlled in detail the dance technique, forms of expression and music. In this way, the Western ballet style became what is known as classical ballet, and its experts at the highest level were dancers from Russia.

Eventually, the memorable date 18th May 1909 would dawn, when Russian ballet presented itself to the capital of culture, Paris, and was triumphantly received. Anna Pavlova filled the stage with her soulful grace, and Nijinsky danced and sprang like a young God. The genius impresario Diaghilev (1872-1929) took care of the marketing and publicity. The audience fell into a proper spell, as if in a delirium. "I have just witnessed a wonder", were the words of a contemporary, "anything that fantasy could ever conjure seemed to be united on that stage." These were the fruits of Mikhail Fonkin’s ideas (1880-1942). He had insisted on an exact adaptation of the story in the dance, had promoted the highest degree of analogy between music and movement, plus role-matching costumes and set designs by famous artists (Picasso, Dalí, Miró). The audience’s enthusiasm would not diminish in the six weeks set for the saison russe. That was the moment when France had to abdicate the crown of being the leading ballet nation since the Renaissance.

Russian became the uncontested synonym for ballet, up to the point that Western dancers would "russianize" their names to keep up with the trend, especially in latter times, when more Ballets Russes established themselves in the West. Diaghilev also personally came with his company to Paris. This meant that, 180 years after Landé, another cultural transfer took place, this time in the opposite direction. A charming joke, seemingly perpetuated by the muse Therphischore.

The Soviet Union found its way back to classical ballet, after all sorts of socialist experiments on stage. The big tradition was saved from extinction, although the Saint Petersburg Ballet Academy was now called Leningrad State Institute for Choreography. In 1934, Agrippina Vaganova (1879-1951) was appointed its director. This superb dance pedagogue had collaborated with Petipa in her early years; she reformed the students’ curriculum and wrote one of the best scholar books on the basics of classical ballet. The Russian dance companies owe their international reputation to her methods, most of all the Bolshoi, the Kirov and the Russian State Ballet. Viacheslav Gordeev is the director of the latter company as well as the leading ballet master of the Moscow Bolshoi Ensemble since 1995, after being one of the company’s star ballerinos in the seventies. The circle is complete. Goordeev brings a fresh breeze to the honoured ballet troop, which the mostly young members of his Russian State Ballet already had experienced. By no means does this mean that all tendencies of Modern dance, which no longer has any taboos, are adopted. The Western avant-garde is happy to mix traditional sequences of steps with acrobatic contortions, Oriental and African elements are also on display, as well as disco mechanics, spoken texts and singing on stage; even a dataglove has had its own role on a ballet stage. Even so, it is possible that something new and exciting is created from the encounter of strict, Russian tradition with the carefree modernity. One thing is certain: ballet, which has so often been declared dead, is heading into the next millennium with a sputtering vitality.