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Ballet Dancers at Wanaw's Wielki Theater J A N I N A P U D E L E K In nineteenth-century Poland the ballet school attached to Warsaw's Wielki or Grand Theater was the only educational institution that did not charge tuition. This was a decisive factor in determining the social background of the pupils, who came, almost without exception, from poor families and were the children of small craftsmen, day laborers, and the like. Unable to pay for training in any other profession, parents sent their children "to the ballet." Sometimes several children in a family would be sent "to the ballet," and it was not uncommon for two or three siblings to be members of the company at the same time. Apart from financial inducements, an additional attraction of a career on the ballet stage-especially for women-was the opportunity it opened for an advantageous marriage, which in those days meant, of course, the possibility of getting ahead in society and enjoying a comfortable life. Low social origins were carefully buried in silence, making it easier to discover a dancer's date of birth than anything about her parents. We know, for example, that the two greatest classical dancers in nineteenth -century Warsaw, Aleksander and Antoni Tarnowski, were the sons of a typesetter for the Warsaw Gazette. But the social origins of danseuses such as the Straus sisters, Karolina N'endt, Julia Trawna, and Maria Frejtag can only be inferred from the absolute lack of any mention of their parents or background in the available sources. Another rather numerous group of pupils came from what were known as "theater children." The Krzesihski family of actors gave the Wielki troupe two well-known ballerinas, Matylda and Maria, and the pride of the company, Feliks.' Filipina Damse and Konstancja Turczynowicz were the daughters of a well-known Warsaw actor and composer , J6zef Damse; Julia Mierzyiiska, of the actor Andrzej Mierzyiiski. The father of the character dancer Ludwik Kuhne was the director of the orchestra at the Variety Theater. Similar examples could be multiplied at will: coming from a theatrical family was a mark of distinction for a dancer. Only occasionally did ballet students come from somewhat higher social spheres. Hipolit Meunier was the son of a French teacher who had settled in Poland at the time of the Napoleonic wars and married a Polish wife; Mikolaj Grekowski was the son of a Russian officer; the Palczewski sisters came from a family of small landowners in the Plock region. Differences in social origin lost their importance during the years of 144 / J A N I N A P U D E L E K the Straus sisters was similar. Two of them, Anna and Karolina, became principal dancers, while the third, Paulina, remained a coryphke until the end of her stage career. The financial situation of dancers in the Warsaw ballet was extremely modest. Until graduation, pupils of the ballet school, in exchange for free dance lessons, general education, and practice clothing, were obliged to appear in productions of ballets as needed. In the mid-1860s the starting salary for an artist entering the corps de bale r I let was five silver rubles a month, with a raise of two and one-half silver rubles every F.-7 sa two or three years. At the same time / 1 coryphies earned twenty-five to seventyW five silver rubles a month, plus an additional Mathilde Kchessinska and herfather Feliks one or two silver rubles as a bonus for each study at the ballet school. A career depended on ability and progress; only rarely did other, incidental factors play a part in its development. Antonina, for instance, was the only one of the Palczewski sisters to become a prima ballerina, although Teresa excelled as a dramatic actress. The case of Krzesihski-or Felix chess in sky, as he became in performance. The wages for soloists varied. Russia-dancing a mazurka near the end of his In 1823, for example, Karolina Bizos and career on the Imperial stage. Yearbook of the Maurice Pion were paid 324 zlotys a month; Imperial Theaters, 1897-1 898,p. 273. Julia Mierzyhska received 270 zlotys, plus a . bonus of approximately five zlotys for each - performance . In the same year, Debray, a teacher at the school, was paid 400 zlotys a month, and Thierry, the director of the ballet, received approximately 800 zlotys. If a dancer who was active in the company also served as...

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