The Romantic Ballet

The ballet "La Sylphide", represented for the first time in Paris in 1832, inaugurated the period of romantic ballet. Marie Taglioni danced the lead role representing a supernatural creature who is loved and inadvertently destroyed by a mortal man. The choreography, created by his father Filippo Taglioni, exploited the use of dance for tips to enhance the lightness and insubstantiality supernatural character played by his daughter.
"La Sylphide" inspired many changes in the ballets of the period, compared to subject, style, technique and clothing. Another outstanding work of this style was Giselle (1841), with music by Adolphe Adam and choreography by Jean Coralli, which also contrasted words human and supernatural, and the second act called Vilis spirits carried the white tutu popularized in "The sylph. "
The romantic ballet, however, not only in themes inspired by beings from another world. Austria's popular character Fanny Elssler more earthy and sensual. His most famous dance, the cap in Le Diable Boiteux (The lame devil, 1836) was a Spanish-style solo performed with castanets. Women dominated the romantic ballet. Although there were good dancers and Jules Perrot and Arthur Saint-Léon, were eclipsed by ballerinas such as Taglioni, Elssler, the Italians Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Cerrito, and others.

In Spain, about the same time, it is producing a splendid development of dance, folk roots nourished, adopted the European ballet style refinement. This style of Spanish dance called "school bowling." Between school bowling and the great flowering of ballet throughout Europe under the influence of romanticism there is a strong link clearly evident. And Elssler Taglioni danced in Russia, where he also created ballets Perrot and Saint-Léon. Elssler also danced in the United States, home of two dancers: Augusta Maywood and Mary Ann Lee, both of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

But in Paris, and in general in Europe, the ballet began to lose interest in art. The poetic qualities gave way to the display of virtuosity and spectacle, and discarded the male dance. During the second half of the nineteenth century there were few notable ballets at the Opera. The exception was "Coppélia, choreographed by Saint-Léon, in 1870," Sylvia "and" The Fountain ", with music by Leo Delibes.

However, Denmark continued patterns of romantic ballet. The Danish choreographer August Bournonville, who had studied in Paris, not only established a system of preparation, but created a large body of works, including his own version of "La Sylphide." Many of these ballets are still represented by the Royal Ballet of Denmark.

Russia also maintained the tradition of French ballet in the late nineteenth century, thanks to the French choreographer Marius Petipa, who became director of choreography of the Russian Imperial Ballet. Perfected the ballet with a plot that combined long and complete series of dance and mime scenes. His best known works are, among others, "Sleeping Beauty" (1890), "The Swan Lake" and "Nutcracker", the three in collaboration with the Russian Lev Ivanov, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.