Ballet changed dramatically during the French Revolution. Judith Chazin-Bennahum reveals how the cold, stylized dance movements and weighted ornamental costumes of the 18th-century court ballets developed into the ballet of the Romantic movement, where dancers wore lightweight costumes that allowed them to flow freely across the stage and take to the air.Chazin-Bennahum studies the "livrets "(printed scenarios) of ballets performed in Paris from 1787 to 1801 to illustrate how dance reflected the social and political upheaval of the French Revolution. Ballet s main characters changed from mythological heroes and heroines to the heroes of the Revolution. She examines three major types of ballets and their sources to document these changes: ballets based on classical mythology; ballets inspired by the revolutionary spirit; and ballets rooted in middle-class themes from pastoral drama, traditional comedy, and exotic settings."
- ISBN10 0809314878
- ISBN13 9780809314874
- Publish Date 1 December 1988
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 19 October 2003
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Southern Illinois University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 248
- Language English