Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg: Ballet d'Action: Giselle

Ballet d'Action developed towards the latter half of the eighteenth century: just in time for the French Revolution. Dance during the Renaissance and then the Baroque eras increasingly became state ideology. Initially, dance was used in Royal masques by nobility, courtiers and lower aristocracy. In order to belong to the upper class of society, the ability to dance was a prerequisite. However, dance became increasingly more difficult to do. Fewer and fewer people were able to dance properly. Dance steps became increasingly complex, but meaningless as well. Dance events became increasingly expensive, finally bankrupting the state and endangering the state. The state had perhaps become a fop?

The French Revolution took place in an environment of slavery and serfdom, in which meaningless dance steps were not appreciated, and where dance steps were not relevant to a rising industrial revolution. Ballet d'Action expressed inner psychological states, something that was not appropriate for royalty, courtiers, or aristocrats to express; such states lacked decorum. The time of beautiful but meaningless dance steps had passed, to be replaced by the ballet d'action.

Ballet d'action is a form of dance in which the choreography of complex dance steps (viewed as beautiful, but somewhat meaningless) is replaced by a choreography of mime. However, this is not just mime, but pantomien (ALL gestures are to be in mime: a muette rhetoric). There is to be no necessary text spoken or sung, on stage or offstage. Librettos should not be required. Previous knowledge of a textual nature should not be necessary. The mime includes facial expressions, use of eyes, eyebrows, mouth, fingers, hands, wrists, arms, torso, legs, ankles, feet. Mime should be coordinated with music, costume, stage props, etc. Pantomien is to include psychological states. A somewhat independent form of mime using a "vocabulary" of gestures appeared at this time called chironomia or chirologia.

Choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. (Versions using Stepanov choreography were also created; as was a version by Marius Petipa.) It might be interesting if choreography were used to identify an aristocrat like Albrecht, or to identify a peasant, such as Giselle. Choreography that ignores social station must be understood as a bit more than an neutral aesthetic view, it clearly demarcates propaganda.

Costumes. This is significant, as in some versions of Giselle, Giselle is dressed in a costume approximating peasant dress, while there also are versions in which Giselle is dressed like princess. Pantomime was used in ballet d'action to obtain a dramatic effect, but dramatic effect is not the same thing as blatant propaganda.

"Giselle", or "The Wilis", is a ballet d'action in which a nobleman named Albrecht intends to use peasant Giselle (named this way because she is French). Albrecht feels he can better present himself as a peasant rather than a nobleman. Simultaneously, Hilarion (name? He is a French peasant too) is interested in Giselle also.

Giselle	Peasant girl
Albrecht	An nobleman (count or graf, possibly higher rank such as burggraf, waldgraf, pfalzgraf, etc.). When in disguise, Albrecht uses the name "Loys".
Hilarion	Peasant: presented as virile, crude, and suspicious peasant.
Berthe	Giselle's mother (a peasant).
Bathilde	Noblewoman who Albrecht is supposed to marry (arranged marriage in proper station for Albrecht).
Duke of Courland	Father of Bathilde. Courland (also Kurland) was a dutchy on the Baltic, roughly between Lithuania and Latvia.
Myrta	Queen of Wilis (Wilis are pagan female spirits who dance men to death).

Gestures used in "Giselle" are those associated with the red words between the "G" and "F" clefs. These gestures can be physical (such as a pointing finger on a hand or a facial grimace) or psychological (facial anguish). The position or location between the clefs of the text describing gestures indicates the coordination between mime and expressive music (see the blue arrows). As an alternative, chironomic notation could be used. Examples of mime descriptions that appear in these music scores include:

"Vous, je ne vous aime pas" (You, I don't love you) in which five mime gestures for "you", "I", "love", "you", "not" would be used.

Sometimes stage directions for mimed gestures are provided, such as: "elle court à gauche jusque sur la rampe" (she runs to the left, up to the footlights".)

"l'orchestre attend qu'Hilarion porte le cor à la bouche (the orchestra waits until Hilarion puts the horn to his mouth).

Sometimes psychological or dramatic action (mime) is described:
"Hilarion observe et temoigne son étonnement de ce qu'un Grand Seigneur salue un paysan ce qui lui donne des doutes sur Loys. (Hilarion observes, and evinces his astonishment that such a great lord should salute a peasant; this gives him doubts about Loys.)

"Ah, I know," he says while striking himself on the forehead. "He is a great Lord." This is as clear a gesture as there could be! A psychological gesture signifying discovery.

Berthe goes to her daughter and tries to grab her by the apron. She touches her heart and says to her,... Touching one's heart is effectively a gestural cliché.

Different interpretations of Giselle have introduced problems. Sense has at times been replaced by nonsense, when scenes have been moved, or removed. Sometimes scenes don't seem to make sense, they were never in the original and were added without regard to sense. "Divertissements" have been added (purely decorative but nonfunctional and dramatically empty). ³ These might be viewed as gestures of contempt. One must recall, however, that "Giselle" as a ballet d'action, led to the Romantic period's "ballet blanc", almost totally devoid of any intellectual or emotional depth.

Ambiguity of gestures must be resolved. What if there are dance gestures (choreography) as well as simultaneous mime gestures? The possibility of ambiguity exists: move arms as ... (choreography) but simultaneously: move arms as ... (mime). These different instructions may not be compatible, thus the possibility of ambiguity exists. Such ambiguity is resloved, as annotations of mime gestures are concentrated in non-dancing scenes.

Mixing music with dance (choreography)

Mixing music with mime

Ambiguity that might arise due to simultaneous occurence of music, dance and expressive mime gestures is avoided; for example: mime hand gestures with hand motions of dance choreography.

One way of attempting to make the gestures found in ballet d'action pantomime more accessible was the idea of "instrumental recitative", in which the words used on stage matched the speech rhythms or text written in the ballet libretto. ⁴ Another technique was for the music ("speech music") to match the gestural voices; thus pizzicato as opposed to arco (smooth violin bowing, for example). Another technique is the "air parlant", or a piece of music used as a cliché and borrowed from another well-known operatic source, thus smuggling-in known "text" from another the dramatic context; ⁵ thus, musical sounds that approximate human speech or voice such as a "... burst of tremolo violin to represent giggling ..." or stuttering, or "... leaping low brass for satanic laughter...".

Other well-known techniques were used to create a "speaking music" that aided mime. Techniques such as associating characters with a specific musical key (for example, the key of E major for the leading female, the key of A major for the leading male); leitmotifs associated with characters or themes (and these leitmotifs might use specific instruments such as trombones or trumpets, associated with death, or military campaigns or hunting scenes, as is done in "Giselle").

It should be noted that "Giselle", aside from being gutted to ensure that this ballet said nothing, absolutely nothing that might constitute social commentary had already been preceeded by a "version", thus was not exactly original. To be specific, "Poor Liza", by Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (1792) might be considered the predecessor of "Giselle". Catherine II commented upon "Poor Liza" and apparently liked it. Perhaps Catherine II would also have enjoyed Giselle: a kind of "Apres moi le deluge", which surely engulfed Tsar Nicholas II.

Having isolated some major criteria from "Giselle" in order to judge ballet d'action, we can now target "Medea" by Jean-Georges Noverre. "Medea" is a better candidate for study as there is less overt propaganda, and the psychological foundation of "Medea" is of a significant human level to make this ballet worthy of artistic analysis.

The "prologue" has spoken text (as well as gesture), but the prologue is not necessary. The artists felt that a modern audience needed some kind of introduction to the classical Greek theatre of Euripides. The remainder of this ballet d'action has NO spoken text, on stage or offstage. No super or subtitle text, no "cartels", etc. Pure "actio" (mime or dance, with "speaking" music). Costumes (use of light, for example) are significant. Use of stage machinery (cloud machine, thunder machine) is significant.

Gestures clearly provide a "textual" narrative. Some examples follow. Medea's audience hold their arms and hands in front of their faces to shield themselves from loathing Medea's actions. Facial contortions are repeatedly used by Medea's husband Jason, and by Glauce (daughter of Corinthian king Creon, Medea's rival). Medea uses a gesture of facial laughter at Creon's idea that Jason will be the next king of Corinth. The horrendous deeds of Medea are signified by the famous pointing-finger gesture. Medea's facial expressions switch back and forth in time: her humiliation, loss of love, loss of her children. This vascillation on Medea's facial expressions clearly betrays her feelings of uncertainty. Men (Creon, Jason) use a gesture to strut around, unfeeling: clear in their facial expressions and foot movements.

Glauce's gestures of vanquishing Medea are quite expressive. Glauce's gesture of holding her hands up over her head fingers in a pincer position seems all-powerful. Medea and Jason after a quarrel, seem to realize the horror they are drifting to: Medea's gesture of holding two arms horizontally, pointing to Jason is very effective. When Medea realizes she has been vanquished, the sorrowful expression upon her face can only elicit a comprehending identification by the audience. In reaction, Medea effectively uses a arm and hand gesture to strike Jason, while Jason uses his arm and hand in an equally effective gesture to strike at Medea. In anger, Medea threatens her rival Glauce with a knife. Jason, wounded by Medea, realizes they (he and Medea) are losing emotional control. Medea, in a sense of the future, clearly loves her children, using gestures to caress her daughter, concerned about her son. Jason holds up both children in an obvious gesture of love.

Medea repeatedly hits herself on her face, wiping away her tears. A threatening cloud descends. Furies or horrible spirits dance in and out of a stage spotlight, becoming briefly visible, then becoming lost in shadows. When these furies emerge into the spotlights, gold in the costume cloth catches the light from the spotlights. Thunder and lightening machines are effective prop gestures. Medea enacts (in her mind) her killing her children with a knife. Time switches back and forth: memory, and a scene to be enacted. A very effective gesture of emotions. At the marriage ceremony between Jason and Glauce, Medea threateningly uses her hands in an ironical gesture to bring together Glauce and Jason. Jason rejects Medea's gesture. Medea uses poisoned floweres as a gift to Glauce and Glauce dies with obvious gestures of farewell. Jason is in incredulous horror at losing Glauce. Creon, in thanks to his efforts, dies upon opening the Pandora's box gift from Medea. Medea then murders her beloved children. Jason is incredulous once again, Medea uses pointing hands to indicate to Jason that "he is responsible for this". Jason, with facial gestures, shows that he is overcome by horror, and he commits suicide. Medea then rises to hell (using a theatre machine, a kind of prop-gesture), in a revenge in which a gesture of facial anguish is used: it is a scream.

It has been noted ⁸ that comments about ballet d'action focus "... obsessively on the looks of the ballerina..." What is going on here? It is argued that there is a "... voyeuristic tone of certain reviews..." that displays a focus upon "... sexualizing the female dancer...". Specifically, wealthy bourgeois sought sexual relations with ballerina, seeking mindless women, as presented in the new mindless ballet d'action, a view that was reenforced by an inability to "read" the gestures found in pantomime. "Dancers, these reviews seem to be saying, would be better off if they did not even allude to words." ⁴

² "Mime, Music and Drama on the Eighteenth-Century Stage: The Ballet d'Action", Nye, Edward, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011, pp. 2, 3 Performers in ballet d'action should be viewed not only as dancers, but also as actors. Evidence may be found in the work of Auguste Ferrère where expression and meaning are emphasized, and where there is less emphasis upon complex choreographed steps (dance), with a deemphasis upon static poses.

⁷ Time has proven that intelligence and psychological depth has been replaced: an audience used to TV and Disneyland, not capable of understanding emotions of any depth has resulted in "Giselles" where slaves are confused with princesses, the idea from Orpheus soothing dangerous wild animals (Mozart's "Magic Flute") changing this opera into a reprise of Disneyland and targetting children (to suite the pride of their ignorant parents with their infant Montessori geniuses), a tragic "Lulu" understood now as a comedy. Opera and ballet have become a new, crude Commedia dell'arte. Hail the birth of Peter Sellars' CNN Opera, repleat with choreography by Mark Morris: a perfect fit to Sellars' street aesthetics. A "Peony Pavillion" (a Ming Dynasty Chinese Opera): a fiasco in which Peter Sellars thought that China was a part of Italy!

Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg Ballet d'Action: Giselle

Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Ballet d'Action: Giselle