Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A note on references
- Introduction
- Part I The ballet d'action in historical context
- 1 The voice and the body in the Enlightenment
- 2 A revival of ancient pantomime?
- 3 No place for Harlequin
- 4 Decroux and Noverre
- Part II The ballet d'action in close-up
- Conclusions
- Appendix
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
2 - A revival of ancient pantomime?
from Part I - The ballet d'action in historical context
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- A note on references
- Introduction
- Part I The ballet d'action in historical context
- 1 The voice and the body in the Enlightenment
- 2 A revival of ancient pantomime?
- 3 No place for Harlequin
- 4 Decroux and Noverre
- Part II The ballet d'action in close-up
- Conclusions
- Appendix
- Select bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
Whatever contemporary texts one reads concerning the ballet d'action (or indeed contemporary mime in general), from performance reviews to discursive essays, practical instruction to polemical tirades, one can expect to encounter references to ancient pantomime, usually Roman pantomime. In essence, the purpose of these references is simple: to put an unusual modern form of art into a respectable Classical context. In an age when the Classical legacy was generally felt to be beneficial, even essential, this tendency is not unusual. However, as anyone who has studied the nature of early modern ‘Classicism’ knows, the ancient ancestry claimed for one art form or another is often problematic. It is often inspired by cultural interests much closer to the contemporary era than by historical interest in the ancients alone. The ballet d'action is typical in this respect: its roots are not as deep as contemporaries sometimes claim them to be.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Mime, Music and Drama on the Eighteenth-Century StageThe Ballet d'Action, pp. 38 - 61Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011