From Pietro della Valle to Gaetano Gioja: or the Curiosity for the “Others”. The Interest for Indian Dances and Oriental Customs (& Costumes) in Europe (1663-1821)
(Tiziana Leucci)

In this paper I will focus on the strong impact that European travelers’ accounts in Asia had on the creativity of librettists and choreographers, whose ballets and operas/ballets were staged in Europe from the end of the 18^th century till the beginning of the 19^th century. By featuring Oriental plots, customs and costumes, I will show how a fantasy world was created which often had little to do with the ‘exotic’ countries portrayed on the stage, musically and theatrically speaking. In the meantime, the increasing awareness of non-European musical and choreographic traditions paved the way for the curiosity towards ‘national dances’. By using ‘national’ costumes, peculiar gestures, movements, rhythmic patterns and scales, such dances were supposed to evoke distant places and foreign cultures.

Tiziana Leucci, Les Lilas, France:

Tiziana Leucci studied ballet and contemporary dance at the National Academy of Dance (Rome) and gradu­ated in History of Performing Arts and Indology at the University of Bologna (Italy). She spent twelve years in India (1987-99) to learn Bharata Nâtyam and Odissitraditionaldances, and got a PhD degree in Social Anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Member of the Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud (CEIAS-EHESS/CNRS, Paris), Leucci collaborates with Universities, Museums and Opera Houses (Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Opera di Roma, and Opéra de Paris). At present, she teaches Indian dance at the Conservatoire de Musique et Danse ‘Gabriel Fauré’, Les Lilas (France).