Peter Stoneley
Designed for students, scholars and general readers with an interest in dance and queer history, A Queer History of the Ballet focuses on how, as makers and as audiences, queer men and women have helped to develop many of the texts, images, and legends of ballet.
Presenting a series of historical case studies, the book explores the ways in which, from the nineteenth century into the twentieth, ballet has been a means of conjuring homosexuality – of enabling some degree of expression and visibility for people who were otherwise declared illegal and obscene.
Studies include:
- the perverse sororities of the Romantic ballet
- the fairy in folklore, literature, and ballet
- Tchaikovsky and the making of Swan Lake
- Diaghilev´s Ballets Russes and the emergence of queer modernity
- the formation of ballet in America
- the queer uses of the prima ballerina
- Genet´s writings for and about ballet.
Also including a consideration of how ballet´s queer tradition has been memorialized by such contemporary dance-makers as Neumeier, Bausch, Bourne, and Preljocaj, this is an essential book in the study of ballet and queer history.
Introduction 1. Components: Spaces, Bodies, Movement 2. Nuns and Fairies 3. Swans 4. Queer Modernity 5. New York and the "Closed Shop" 6. The Prima and Her Fans 7. Dance of the Sailors. Conclusion
This is the first book-length study to trace the historical connections between ballet and homosexuality.
'An interesting and thought provoking read for anyone interested in an alternative version of ballet history.' - Dancing Times
'A wealth of biographical knowledge and creative thought... [a] precise study of ballet's origins.' - The Gay and Lesbian Review
'Including fantastic photographs and an extensive list of references, this book is valuable as a reference work as well as a critical study... Highly recommended.' - CHOICE
Serves as a study to trace the historical connections between ballet and homosexuality.
Über den Autor
University of Reading
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction 1. Components: Spaces, Bodies, Movement 2. Nuns and Fairies 3. Swans 4. Queer Modernity 5. New York and the "Closed Shop" 6. The Prima and Her Fans 7. Dance of the Sailors. Conclusion
Klappentext
"A Queer History of the Ballet"is the first book-length study of ballet's queerness.It theorizes the queer potential of the ballet look, and provides historical analyses of queer artists and spectatorships.It demonstrates that ballet was a crucial means of coming to visibility, of evolving and articulating a queer consciousness in periods when it was dangerous and illegal to be homosexual.It also shows that ballet continues to be a key element of the dance cultures through which queerness is explored.The book moves from the 19th century through the post-modern era, bringing together an important array of creative figures and movements, including Romantic ballet; Tchaikovsky; Diaghilev; Genet; Fonteyn; New York City Ballet; Neumeier; Bourne; Bausch; and Morris.It discusses the making and performance history of key works, including"La Sylphide, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty," and"Swan Lake."
"
A Queer History of the Ballet"will be especially useful to students and scholars involved in the growing number of courses on queer culture, theatre studies, dance history, gender studies, and cross-disciplinary approaches to literature.It is written in a lively, clear style that will make it accessible to the non-academic reader who has an interest in queer and/or dance history.
