When ballet became French : modern ballet and the cultural politics of France, 1909-1939 / Ilyana Karthas.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Karthas, Ilyana, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ballet--Social aspects--France.

Ballet.

Ballet--Political aspects--France.

France--Social life and customs--20th century.

France.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (405 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2015]

Summary:

For centuries before the 1789 revolution, ballet was a source of great cultural pride for France, but by the twentieth century the art form had deteriorated along with France's international standing. It was not until Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes found success in Paris during the first decade of the new century that France embraced the opportunity to restore ballet to its former glory and transform it into a hallmark of the nation. In When Ballet Became French, Ilyana Karthas explores the revitalization of ballet and its crucial significance to French culture during a period of momentous transnational cultural exchange and shifting attitudes towards gender and the body. Uniting the disciplines of cultural history, gender and women's studies, aesthetics, and dance history, Karthas examines the ways in which discussions of ballet intersect with French concerns about the nation, modernity, and gender identities, demonstrating how ballet served as an important tool for France's project of national renewal. Relating ballet commentary to themes of transnationalism, nationalism, aesthetics, gender, and body politics, she examines the process by which critics, artists, and intellectuals turned ballet back into a symbol of French culture. The first book to study the correlation between ballet and French nationalism, When Ballet Became French demonstrates how dance can transform a nation's cultural and political history.

Contents:

Introduction

1. Parisian intellectuals, the press, and the ballet

2. The "Russian season" in Paris and the politics of transnational artistic exchange

3. A nation (re)turns to ballet : the quest to redeem French ballet

4. Ballet and the cultural politics of modern aesthetics

5. In search of a national style

6. The return of the male dancer

7. The rise of the professional female dancer

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [361]-380) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed September 4, 2015).

ISBN:

9780773597815

0773597816

9780773597808

0773597808

OCLC:

921534198