Ritual Design for the Ballet Stage: Constructions of Popular Culture in European Theatrical Dance, 1650–1760
(Hanna Walsdorf, Petra Dotlacilová, e.a.)

Emmy Noether Research Group at the University of Leipzig, 2015–2019

The Project: Aims & Claims:

The three main components of theatrical dance – choreography, music, and costumes/ décor – have scarcely been investigated as a complex whole. On a broad basis of source materials, the project aims at systematically contextualizing and deciphering attributes and narratives. Therefore, an empirical, philological and iconographical analysis of the historical records is to be done, supported by ongoing academic discourses on transculturality, materiality and performance in order to confirm the European ballet stages as places of political and social negotiations creating images of popular, foreign and imagined cultures.
The ritual connection is self-evident: when the Other was portrayed in dance, be it in the form of peasant festivals, noble savages or ancient ceremonies, patterns of space and motion were generously applied in order to provide the audience with a clear ritual framework for the actions on stage. Working on the basis of a broad range of materials, this finding will be systematically researched and analyzed in case studies from Paris, London, Milan and Stuttgart in four subprojects:
SP 1: Transcultural Encounters (Dr. Hanna Walsdorf)
SP 2: Choreographical Structures (Kathrin Stocker M.A.)
SP 3: Compositional Strategies (Jelena Rothermel, M.A.)
SP 4: Vestmental Designs (Petra Dotlacilova M.A.)

Petra Dotlacilová, Prag, Tschechische Republik:

Doctoral student. Graduated at the Charles University (Italian philology) and Academy of Performing Arts (Dance Studies) in Prague, Czech Republic.
In 2013 her MA dissertation was published in Prague under the title Vývoj baletu-pantomimy v osvícenské Evropě (The Development of ballet pantomime in Enlightenment Europe).In February 2015 she commenced doctoral research at the University of Stockholm. In her thesis she will examine the development and reforms of the theatre costume in Paris from the perspective of Enlightenment concepts of 'nature', 'truth', 'character' and 'nation'. In Stockholm she takes part in project "Performing Premodernity". In March 2015 she also began a collaboration with Dr Hanna Walsdorf's project "Ritual Design for the Ballet Stage: Constructions of Popular Culture in European Theatrical Dance (1650–1760)" at the University of Leipzig. 

Hanna Walsdorf, Leipzig, Deutschland:

Studium der Musik- und Tanzwissenschaft, Politischen Wissenschaft sowie der Historische Hilfswis-senschaften und Archivkunde an den Universitäten Salzburg, Bonn und Bern. Magisterexamen 2006 in Bonn,im Juli 2009 Promotion mit Auszeichnung in Salzburg. 2009–2013 wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im SFB 619 »Ritualdynamik« an der Universität Heidelberg. Seit April 2014 Leiterin der Emmy Noether-Nachwuchsgruppe »Ritualdesign für die Ballettbühne: Konstruktionen von Volkskultur im europäischen Theatertanz (1650–1760)« am Institut für Theaterwissenschaft der Universität Leipzig.

The Italian Dance Manual as a Source of Action for Theatre
(Rachelle Tsachor, Tal Shafir)

To dance is to take action. Historic dance manuals are outstanding primary sources of detailed instructions for specific actions. Specific action is a foundation in actor training, where physical actions are the path to emotionally truthful behavior (Stanislavski1936). Current emotion science (Thompkins 1962, Laird 1974, Izard 1993, Flack 1999, Neumann 2000, Carney 2010, Shafir 2013, Shafir and Tsachor 2015) demonstrates thatsensory feedback from movement contributes significantly to experiencing emotions, validating theories proposed as far back as Darwin (1872) and James (1884). These studies have important artistic implications for how instructions in historical dance manuals can easily provide a simple clear path to action, and therefore emotional power in theatre. Indeed, language in the dance manuals themselves implies that moving in specific ways leads to emotional and interpersonal results.

This poster briefly reviews the scientific studies indicating how bodily action is key in producing feelings (both in the mover and in those watching movement). It shares findings from our recent study of motor qualities associated with specific emotions, and explores the specific dance and manners instructions in FabritioCaroso'sNobiltá di Dame as a rich sources of action, and therefore emotion, for actors to embody in period drama. Results from a recent Period Theatre Movement class show howdance instructions and concepts such as misure, pavoneggiare, become powerfully expressive physical action for actors, andgive examples how actors use discoveries from Renaissance dance to create truthful expression for period characters.

Tal Shafir, Haifa, Israel:

Tal Shafir (PhD U. Michigan, R-DMT), after certifying and teaching dance and working as a dance-movement therapist for several years, completed her Masters and PhD in neurophysiology of motor control, then two postdoctoral fellowships in brain-behavior interactions in motor development and in affective neuroscience. Her research at University of Michigan's Department of Psychiatry focused on brain mechanisms underlying movement-emotion interaction. This research is the topic of her TEDx talk: "How your Body Affects your Happiness". Shafir continues her research in her current position as Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Creative Arts Therapies in University of Haifa.

Rachelle Tsachor, Chicago, Illinois, USA:

Rachelle Palnick Tsachor (BFA Juilliard; MA, CUNY; CMA); is Assistant Professor of Theatre Movement, at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her historical dance publications include chapters in Dover's Courtly Dance of the Renaissance; Gordon & Breach's Moving Notation and the Institute for Historical Dance Practice's Terpsichore 1450-1900. Her reconstruction of Nido d'Amore was the basis for Dancetime's video The Majesty of Renaissance Dance. Tsachor was associate editor of Dances for the Sun King: André Lorin's Livre de Contredance. She researches the bodily expression of emotions with Dr. Tal Shafir. 

"Harlequinades" zwischen Commedia dell'arte und belle danse: Harlequin auf der Londoner Bühne des 18. Jahrhunderts
(Kathrin Stocker)

The neatness with which you perform [the] Character of Harlequin in all [the] different Attitudes which belong to it they which you give with so much Grace & suppleness; obliges me to take [the] liberty to offer you this little work. (Choreograph Le Rousseau um 1728 an den Tänzer Louis Dupré)
Die Figur des Harlekin war von den Londoner Bühnen des späten 17. und frühen 18. Jahrhunderts nicht wegzudenken. Louis Dupré war in London seit 1714 bekannt für seine artistischen und artifiziellen Darbietungen. Er baute seine Rolle als Harlekin zunächst in entr'acte-Tänzen und Afterpieces aus. Später machte er am Theater Lincoln's Inn Fields von John Rich – selbst ein bekannter Harlekin, jedoch kein Tänzer – Stücke wie Amadis, or the Loves of Harlequin and Colombine (Januar 1718) und The Necromancer, or Harlequin Doctor Faustus (Dezember 1723) zu Publikumserfolgen. Die wenigen erhaltenen Hinweise auf sein Bühnenschaffen weisen deutlich darauf hin, dass Duprés Harlekin das Publikum begeisterte und zu einem regelrechten ‚Harlekin-Boom' auf den Londoner Bühnen führten.
Le Rousseaus Choreographie in Feuillet-Notation ist eines der wenigen choreologischen Dokumente für Commedia dell'arte-Figuren auf der Ballettbühne des 18. Jahrhunderts. Es handelt sich zwar nicht um die Niederschrift eines Auftritts von Dupré, enthält nach Le Rousseau aber ausdrücklich Bewegungen, die auch für Duprés Harlekin typisch waren. Der Historizität der Harlekin-Figur selbst wohnt eine Widersprüchlichkeit und starke Ambivalenz inne. Ihr Bewegungsrepertoire ist zum Zeitpunkt von Le Rousseaus Choreographie seit Jahrhunderten herausgebildet, verfeinert, individualisiert worden – Harlekin steht also notwendigerweise in einem gewissen Widerspruch zum kodifizierten belle danse. Die Herausforderung einer solchen Figur an die Feuillet-Notation und ihre Bewegungssprache am Beispiel von Le Rousseaus Choreographie sollen Thema des vorgeschlagenen Posters sein.

Kathrin Stocker, Leipzig, Deutschland:

Kathrin Stocker studierte in Heidelberg Musikwissenschaft, Germanistik sowie Mittlere und Neuere Geschichte. Sie schloss das Studium 2011 mit einer editorischen Arbeit zu Tanzformen im norditalienischen Violinrepertoire ab. Seit April 2014 ist sie wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Emmy Noether-Projekt „Ritualdesign für die Ballettbühne" (Dr. Hanna Walsdorf, Leipzig) und arbeitet an einer Dissertation zum Thema „Choreographische Gefüge in Konstruktionen von Volkskultur auf der Ballettbühne des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts" (Arbeitstitel) an der Universität Leipzig. 

Mimesis in Jacques Callot’s Etchings
(Ekaterina Mikhailova-Smolniakova)

Using Callot's images as a visual source for the early dance and Dell'arte Theater is a tradition dating back to the 17th century. Nowadays pictorial analysis of Callot's etchings is still on the agenda in the academic community doing research into the history of dance and theater.
The object of the research is the Hermitage museum's collection of sketches and etchings by Jacques Callot, one of the biggest collections of his works in the world. The main question of the research is: "How can we use Callot's etchings as a visual source of early dance and dell'arte practice in Italy"? The interrelation between actual practice and Callot's images is not obvious and needs investigation, which are going to be presented as well as the descriptive technic we can use in the similar cases.

Ekaterina Mikhailova-Smolniakova, St. Petersburg, Russland:

Ekaterina Mikhailova-Smolniakova has started the career in historical dances in 2001. The leader of the renaissance dance ensemble "Vento del Tempo", one of the leaders of St. Petersburg Historical Dance Club, the secretary of the Historical Dance Association, a member of the organizing committee of the annual conference considering the reconstruction of European historical dances of XIII-XX c., the author of the book "Dance of the Renaissance" (published in Russian in 2010). Main field of interests is the dance and festival culture of the Renaissance in the context of aesthetic of the period.

Duel and Dance: Moresca Stage Directions in L'Amor Costante (1536)
(Lisbeth Langston)

L'Amor Costante (1536, first published 1541) by Alessandro Piccolomini is of interest to dance historians because staged fight sequences and dance performances are crucial to the climax of the play. The comedy was written for the celebration of the entrance of Charles V into Siena in 1536, though most likely it was not performed on that occasion. The plot is similar to other comedies of the time, but with unique aspects. The action takes place in Pisa, yet most characters come from Spain and speak either Italian or Spanish. The plot concerns hidden and mistaken identities, young lovers, and angry fathers. At the end, couples are united and antagonists are reconciled.
At the beginning of Act 5, stage directions specify two sword fights or duels. By the end of Act 5, misunderstandings are sorted out and order is restored. Crucial to reconciliation are the stage directions specifying "La Moresca in piotosa col bacio," La Moresca gagliarda," and "Lo Intrecciato," each separated by a few lines of dialog. This poster introduces the comedy and interprets the role of the dances in L'Amor Costante within a wider cultural context.

Lizbeth Langston, Riverside, California, USA:

Lizbeth Langston is Librarian Emerita at the University of California, Riverside. She holds an MA degree in Dance History and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, both from the University of California, Riverside. She dances every week: Western Square dancing, contradance, historical or vintage dance.