The Bent-Legged Jumps of Eighteenth-Century Ballet

 

One of the most interesting aspects of eighteenth-century ballet was its system of distinct styles: There was not one technique but rather four, commonly called the serious, half-serious, comic, and grotesque. In practical terms, this meant that a single given step would have had potentially four or more different manners of execution. The choice between these then depended on the role and the general style performed. Indeed, some movements and positions were proper to only one style and thus were not used in the other three.

One of the distinctive features of the comic and grotesque styles was the practice of “picking up the feet” in jumps. That is to say, while airborne, the dancer bent the knees and drew the feet up under the torso. These bent-legged jumps are mentioned or described a few times in some of the eighteenth-century sources, the most important of which in this context are Lambranzi (1716) and Magri (1779). Such jumps could be denoted in Italian by either ritirato or rancignato / ranzegnato, both meaning ‘drawn up.’ The former author (1716: 1/3; 2/45), for example, notes in one of his dance scenarios, almost certainly grotesque in style, that the dancer is to do “ranzegnati, that is, with the knees and feet drawn up.” And Magri (1779: 1/122) writes at one point that “all these sorts of capers stretched can likewise be done drawn up, be they French, Italian, or Spanish entrechats or cabrioles; the only difference is that the legs are shortened or drawn up [ritirato].”

A consideration of all the references to this practice – I have given only two here – makes it clear that any jump, whether beaten or not, could be performed in the low styles with the feet picked up, as well as with the legs stretched straight. As an example, I include here reconstructions of two different ways of executing a comic changement de pieds, with the legs straight (fig. 1), and with the feet drawn up (fig. 2).

 

 

 

 

Stylistic Restriction

This drawn-up execution was proper only to the low styles (comic and grotesque) and was not found in the high styles (serious and half-serious). It was, as it were, a kind of “thumbing the nose” at the high styles, wherein a stretched leg was de rigueur. As Pasch (1707: 61) notes, comic and grotesque dances “must be formed and arranged in contravention of all the rules that belong to the serious.” That such a practice was indeed proper to the low styles is clear from the following (as well as from other sources not cited here):

All the beaten springing steps and capers must be done with the knees well stretched as the legs interweave when bounding into the air, and this is what is known as fine dancing, for drawn-up capers were used in the past only in the theater, contrary to the rules, by grotesque dancers, and if today good taste has removed the ban on them, it would be unseemly to see them done in a hall for civil conversation [i.e., in the ballroom]. (Costa 1831: 227)

Costa mentions only “grotesque dancers,” but it was common terminological practice to lump together the two closely related styles of the comic and grotesque and refer to them by one term, either the comic or grotesque, even though they were, strictly speaking, not identical. The “ban on them,” that is, the stylistic restriction limiting their use, had been done away with by Costa’s day, as an upshot of the meltdown of the system of distinct styles at the end of the eighteenth century (Fairfax 2003: 257-91).

For further information on the low styles of eighteenth-century ballet, see the video below:

 

Forebear

The rancignato was no innovation of the eighteenth century. Bent-legged jumps were already in existence by the beginning of the seventeenth century, although the absence of full turnout creates a rather different appearance. Negri (1602: 77) describes a salto con le gambe piegate (‘jump with the legs bent’):

In the first jump with the legs bent, stand a piè pari [i.e., with the feet together side by side]; first rise straight up off the floor and bend both legs equally, with the left ankle over the right, and spreading [i.e., bending] the knees, land in the same place.

Afterbear

The practice of picking up the feet in jumps continued well beyond the eighteenth century, although without the old “ban” mentioned by Costa, i.e., without being restricted to low characters. Roller (1843: 216-19), for example, gives a few examples of some basic jumps – écart, pas sauté, changement de pieds, and entrechat – executed with the feet drawn up once or even twice while the dancer is airborne. Emmanuel (1895: pl. 3) provides a sequence of eighteen time-lapsed photos showing a dancer executing a string of three entrechats with the feet picked up (fig. 3). Note that the concluding land of the sequence (no. 18) is not in a demi-plié but on the toes with the knees only slightly bent, such that the greater part of the impact is absorbed by the elasticity of the insteps – another old practice. Compare the arms with those shown in figure 4, a detail from a dance for Harlequin from the 1720s.

 

 

Picking up the feet was particularly popular in the so-called Italian school – one of a number of connections between the old comic and grotesque and the later Italian school. (The comic and grotesque styles were extremely popular – indeed dominant – in eighteenth-century Italy (Fairfax 2003: 189-217).) In his preamble to jumping generally, Lifar (1951: 105), for example, writes that “the legs must be stretched out as far as possible, contrary to the teaching of the Italian school which recommends jumping à la crapaud, i.e. with knees bent.” Nicolaeva-Legat (1947: 118) also notes that “entrechats are taught with bent knees in the Italian school.”

Vaganova ([1934] 1969: 72, 74, 76) clearly disliked the practice and broadly proscribed it. In her discussion of the grand changement de pieds, for example, she writes that “in the Italian school, it is customary to bend the knees when doing changement de pieds” but prescribes straight legs for her Russian school (fig. 5).

 

 

And in connection with the assemblé, she adds that

in order to create an impression of a higher jump, the Italians bend their knees after grand battement, before lowering themselves into 5th position. This bending of the knees during the jump renders the dancer a grotesque character, spoiling its classic line. [fig. 6]

 

 

So too in the pas jeté, she notes that “the Italian school teaches the pupil to throw up the legs very high and to bend them sharply; the movement acquires a great strain and the design acquires a definitely grotesque shade.”

This practice has been largely rooted out of contemporary classical ballet, no doubt owing to the widespread influence of the Russian school in the twentieth century, which disseminated Vaganova’s taste. Only a small number of jumps involving such leg movements, most notably the pas de chat, are now regularly seen in contemporary ballet performances. The same goes for jumps with only one leg drawn up, such as the passé sauté.

 

Postscript

The foregoing is drawn from material that will appear in a major study to be called The Technique of Eighteenth-Century Ballet. For a more general discussion of stylistic conventions, see The Styles of Eighteenth-Century Ballet.

 

Bibliography

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Emmanuel, Maurice. 1895. Essai sur l’orchestique grecque. Paris: Hachette.
Fairfax, Edmund. 2003. The Styles of Eighteenth-Century Ballet. Lanham, Maryland, and Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lambranzi, Gregorio. 1716. Neue und curieuse theatralische Tantz-Schul. Nuremberg: Joh. Jacob Wolrab.
Lifar, Serge. 1951. Lifar on Classical Ballet. London: Allan Wingate.
Magri, Gennaro. 1779. Trattato teorico-prattico di ballo. Naples: Vicenzo Orsino.
Negri, Cesare. 1602. Le gratie d’amore. Milan: Gio. Battista Piccaglia.
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Zorn, Friedrich. [1887] 1905. Grammar of the Art of Dancing. Boston.