基本説明
New in paperback. Hardcover was published in 1996. The first critical history of French Ballet that illuminates relations of politics, spectacle, gender, and narrative.
Full Description
'This complex and beautifully written investigation of ballet's development in France from the early 18th through the late 19th century extends Foster's earlier efforts to link dance theory and practice...This work is a landmark in the field' - S. E. Friedler, "Choice". 'Invents a new method for writing the history of performance: Foster has found an innovative way of appealing directly to the kinesthetic imagination of her readers, evoking the elusive styles of the pieces she reconstructs' - Joseph Roach, Yale University.'An impressive work of scholarship, this elegantly staged study...uses the concept of a culturally constructed, historically specific body to cut across disciplinary boundaries such as those of medical history, physical education, the practices of fashion, etiquette and comportment, and the science and art of representing the passions in order to elucidate pervasive values toward the body and the changes in these values over time' - Carolyn M. Mulac, "Library Journal".Susan Foster traces the development of the story ballet from the pantomimes of early eighteenth-century theatres through the Revolutionary fetes to the well-known romantic ballets La Sylphide and Giselle.She examines changing conceptions of the dancing body as ballet separated from opera and emerged as an autonomous art form during this turbulent period in French history. Approaching choreography as theory, she shows how choreographic choices are integral to the construction of bodily, individual, gendered, and social identities.
Contents
Illustrations Preface IntroductionDance 1. Originary Gestures 13 Painting the situations of the soul Vanishing physicalities Transgressive gestures Originating the action ballet The Bank of Grass (le banc de gazon) Telemaque dans lOile de Calipso (1759) On One Side, On the Other; Above and Below Arlequin Soldat Magicien, ou le Canonier, Pantomime (1764) 2. Staging the Canvas and the Machine Spectacular dancing bodies Horizontal and vertical perfection Challenging hierarchy The more sensible machine Make the Scheme Known Jason et Medee (1771) The Invigilant DancerApelles et Campaspe (1776)3. Narrating Passion and Prowess Dancing the action A passion for anatomy The language of dance The self-filled body The Duel Mirza (1779) The Earth Trembles: The Thunder Roars Le Premier Navigateur, ou le Pouvoir de lOAmour (1785) Escape into the Heavens Hercule et Omphale, Pantomime en 1 Acte (1787) 4. Governing the Body The street, the stage, the nation Muscular geometry Virtuoso docility Governing the Body politic The Magically Inscribed Message Les Royalistes de la Vendee, ou les Epoux Republicains, Pantomime en Trois Actes (1794) To Throw Oneself in the Arms Of (Se Jeter dans les Bras) La Dansomanie (1800) Begin and End with Dancing Nina, ou La Folle par Amour (1813) Tell-Tale Evidence Les Pages du Duc de Vendome (1820) 5. Fugitive Desires Cruel nocturnal dancing Crafting diversion Dancing the object of desire The dissolving object of the gaze Making Merry/Gazing On La Sylphide (1832) Maybe Yes; Maybe No La Voliere, ou les Oiseaux de Boccace (1838) Dark Spaces Giselle, ou les Wilis (1841) Conclusion: BalletOs Bodies and The Body of Narrative apendix notes bibliography index
