Ballet Russe and Nijinsky Influence the Gendering

¶ … Ballet Russe and Nijinsky influence the gendering of ballet? Consider both repertories and choreography.

Today, when the average individual thinks of dance, they quite often think of ballet. But if ballet itself is a cultural stereotype of what 'dance is,' the specific art form of ballet itself has a legion of cultural stereotypes attached to it. Legendary choreographic interpreters past and present have attempted to break such ballet cliches and stereotypes, with different degrees of success. But perhaps the greatest tradition breakers of ballet as an artistic form have come from the dances and dancers of the Ballet Ruse, such as Nijinsky.

Some of the stereotypes the Ballet Russe under the leadership of Nijinsky attempted to break were that ballet as a female art, conducted in a series of tightly constrained feminine steps, performed by dancers in highly recognizable dance costumes such as tutus, to conventional (then popular) strains of music. Although some of these stereotypes still dominate the common 'music box' conception of dance and even professional dance in general, the Ballet Russe and Nijinsky were able, if not to break some if not all of these artistic constraints by introducing new ballets, new choreography, and new dance music.

The Ballet Ruse conceptualized ballet as a professional dance art form, not as a subsidiary to opera or other artistic performance forms. The Ballet Russe was a highly theatrical Russian ballet form. It featured the dancer, not necessarily a female dancer, center stage. It became a drama of motion and often, although not always, of emotional movement and emotional 'story' as well as a simple recreation of intricate physical steps or a simple love tale. Although some of gestured and pantomimed motions, highly flamboyant arm motions, and other stylized innovations might seem stagy to modern eyes, the impact of Ballets Russes on the West during its day was profound. The Russian ballet forms and repertoire challenged French ballet which was often confined to between-act performances of operas and used more to show of the attractiveness of the female dancers than the art of the dancer's motions.

The Russian ballet, under the influence of its primary dancer Nijinsky, also made athleticism as well as beauty part of the art form of ballet. The list of the ballets premiered by the Ballet Russe during the 19th century included such innovative works as "The Firebird" and "The Specter of the Rose." In these ballets, male as well as female dancers came to the forefront of these ballets. The meanings of these works were often symbolic as well as story-driven tales, about a doll that falls in love, or a haunting soul of a flower, unlike the earlier "Swan Lake" and "Giselle" which had clearly demarcated stories about love and romance of adolescent girls, and predominately featured the corps rather than the principles in many of the featured movements of the piece.