Gautier et les arts de la danse (review)

This collection of essays (the proceedings of an international conference held in Montpellier in 2009) approaches Gautier’s dance criticism, his scenario for Giselle, and his literary work from a variety of methodological perspectives. As the editor lays out in her introduction, the volume seeks to elucidate the diverse contrasts apparent in Gautier’s relationship to dance — the material in relation to the spiritual or ideal, the critic in relation to the creator, the tensions of Romanticism — all summed up in her final statement: ‘La danse est le miroir magique où l’artiste peut contempler, dans sa miraculeuse présence, la figure palpable et animée de l’idéal’ (p. 21). The first section, ‘Le Ballet, un art total?’, connects Gautier to the broader nineteenth-century debates around the connections between the arts. Giovanna Belati’s ‘Une musique que l’on regarde’, for example, cites Gautier’s descriptive metaphors as the foundation for a synaesthesia of the arts. Other essays in this section address dance in relation to poetry and costuming, and a triad of pieces considers Gautier’s formulation of the body. Section II, ‘Le Triomphe de Giselle’, includes essays that look at this ballet historically, from the point of view of reception and archival records concerning the sets, as well as at the Romantic fascination with antiquity, reception in Italy, and the relation of Giselle to La Sylphide. ‘Écrire, danser’, the third section, considers Gautier’s work — most prominently his criticism and scenario for Giselle — in relation to literature and philosophy. Essays that stand out in this section include Bénédicte Jarrasse’s ‘Les Beautés de l’Opéra’ and Cristiano Merlo’s ‘Spirite: quand la danse réinvente la littérature’. Jarrasse looks at ballet writing as a literary genre and argues that the representation of choreography renders the book a ‘spectacular object’ (p. 220) in relation to its subject. Merlo explores the cross-pollination of literature and Romantic ballet narratives: although, he argues, we usually see literature influencing ballet, his essay reads the danseuse as an inspiration for a ‘literary ideal’ (p. 254). The volume concludes with ‘Émaux et camées’ (a reference to Gautier’s 1852 collection of poems), a series of papers presented at a study session at the Maison de Balzac in 2009. Overall, this volume gives an excellent sense of Gautier’s critical and literary work in relation to Romantic ballet and the importance of Giselle in the development of ballet. With the exception of a few references to Gautier’s cursory knowledge of choreography, the volume rarely takes the critical view that is prominent in many studies of Gautier’s dance criticism. Instead, these largely celebratory essays situate Gautier’s influential work on dance within a wide range of contexts, both historical and contemporary.