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Ballerinas and their "protectors"


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I'm aware that during the history of ballet many female dancers had so called "protectors". Men, who in exchange for taking care of a ballerina financially (setting her up in a house, buying her jewels and attire) would then make her his mistress. It wasn't just dancers either, actresses and singers were fair game also.

I'm just curious about the practice and have some questions.

Did all ballerinas do this? The Taglioni's', Essler's, and Grisi's. As well as the lesser known members of the corp de ballet? I know that female performers were considered women of "loose" morals at that time. Is that why they did it? Did they think, "Well they think I'm loose anyway I might as well get something out of it." Or was there a real social or economic need to have a protector?

Also, when did the practice of ballerinas and thier protectors end? In the film The Turning Point, the aging ballerina character played my Anne Bancroft makes mention of her "protector", but I'm sure the practice had ended by that time.

I've always been curious about this era of ballet history, any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

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Also, when did the practice of ballerinas and thier protectors end?

Who says it has ended? :blushing: There are some very juicy bits of gossip doing the rounds about certain Russian dancers and their Mafia boyfriends/protectors. But we can only discuss history of course, not the goings on of today.

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Kchessinska actually had two imperial protectors -- though not at the same time. (After all, she was a prima. :blushing: ) Tsar Nicholas II dispensed with her when he married, and she then took up with one of his cousins, and had a child with him.

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Taglioni and Elssler and Grisi had lovers....but they made their own money. There certainly were "protectors" in the sense that perky writes about, though. In Paris, rich young gentlemen were allowed access to the green room where they could pick a mistress. Ivor Guest's books have some lovely stories about some incidents -- the cattiness, etc.

There were a few social issues, though, around this. First, for centuries, performers could not receive the sacraments, and no person from a "respectable" family would marry a performer -- I think that's why so many dancers married other dancers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Second, in 19th century France, a woman was, in essence, owned (in the sense of actions and finances controlled) by either her father or, after marriage, her husband. UNLESS she could get herself on the rolls of the Paris opera or ballet. then they were responsible for her. This attracted a certain type of young woman -- someone not fond of societal constrictions!

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In France, there was also the old tradition of Salic Law that held that a woman could not inherit in her own right. The Code Napoleon fixed a lot of that, but old ways died hard, and further, until the Vatican Ecumenical Council of 1871, the ballet was technically under proscription of the Church. Sort of like putting soccer on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum!

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Robert L. Herbert's book "Impressionism: Art, Leisure & Society" has a nice chapter on dance in which the mother/daughter/benefactor relation figures. Herbert uses the paintings of Degas, Manet, Morisot, and Cassatt to document a world in great change, where classes are mingling that have previously given each other wide berth...And doesn't Balzac Cousin Bette's cousin have a husband who is keeping a ballerina? Here is a bit of Balzac poached off the internet from "Unconscious Comedians" which touches on some of this:

"That rat, who is just leaving a rehearsal at the Opera-house, is

going home to eat a miserable dinner, and will return about three

o'clock to dress, if she dances in the ballet this evening--as she

will, to-day being Monday. This rat is already an old rat for she is

thirteen years of age. Two years from now that creature may be worth

sixty thousand francs; she will be all or nothing, a great danseuse or

a marcheuse, a celebrated person or a vulgar courtesan. She has worked

hard since she was eight years old. Such as you see her, she is worn

out with fatigue; she exhausted her body this morning in the dancing-

class, she is just leaving a rehearsal where the evolutions are as

complicated as a Chinese puzzle; and she'll go through them again to-

night. The rat is one of the primary elements of the Opera; she is to

the leading danseuse what a junior clerk is to a notary. The rat is--

hope."

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In France, there was also the old tradition of Salic Law that held that a woman could not inherit in her own right.  The Code Napoleon fixed a lot of that,

Probably cygneblanc or Juliette would know this better than I, as they are history students, but it seems to me that in fact the Code Napoléon often made things worse for the women from that point of view (and also the condition of women had somehow deteriorated at the moment of the Revolution- the Salic Law was for the succession of the kings, but there were some circumstances or regions where women could indeed inherit).

Also I vaguely remember reading than in the 18th century a lot of female performers at the Paris Opera in small roles were not paid, so there was no other way for them to earn a living than finding a "protector"... But I don't know how reliable it is.

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Well this has been a very enlightening topic for me. I've learned some things that I didn't know before.

It seems almost hard to believe somehow the very few options women had in the 18th and 19th centuries to have some control over thier own lives. If you were a young girl from a middle or upper class background your options were marriage, aging spinster depending upon the kindness of relatives or if you fell on hard times as a governess or paid companion to usually a wealthy widow. If you were from the lower classes you also had the option of working in the service industry as a maid or housekeeper, prostitute, or God forbid in the squalid Workhouses. So it cheered me when I read Alexandra's post that Taglioni and others made thier own money and paid thier own way through life.

But I also don't look down on Kchessinska and others who took on protectors. Often the only power a woman had at that time was sexual. And a little power can go a long way.

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Remember, that the "workhouses" of Dickensian horror were reforms made to the Poor Law by George III, replacing the former system of creating a social "safety net" for the maintenance of the poor. But by the time of Dickens' childhood, they too, had, in their time, become corrupt, and living deaths.

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the Code Napoléon often made things worse for the women from that point of view (and also the condition of women had somehow deteriorated at the moment of the Revolution- the Salic Law was for the succession of the kings, but there were some circumstances or regions where women could indeed inherit).

Actually the Salic Law did not affect the succession of French kings, but regulated inheritance within the Holy Roman Empire. It was mostly penal law, but one chapter of the 65 or 70 chapters of it, depending on which you find, entitled "de alode" simply makes it impossible for daughters to inherit real estate in their own rights. They could have it as a dower right, but not all by themselves. Burgundy, parts of Germany, bits of Italy that were not in the "Patrimony of Peter" and several other places had their local variations, but that was allowed under the HRE's headache-inducing honoring of "ancient traditions".

No wonder Charles V quit while he was ahead!

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And doesn't Balzac Cousin Bette's cousin have a husband who is keeping a ballerina? Here is a bit of Balzac poached off the internet from "Unconscious Comedians" which touches on some of this.

The middle part of Balzac's wonderful novel Lost Illusions revolves around a lovely actress / dancer (etc) Coralie who is sponsored by a dull old rich man while she has a young attractive lover (the protagonist) at the same time.

It's one of the great source texts about all the wheeling and dealing that went on in the theatre and media world, with actresses getting written up because the rich lover buys a hundred seats, and has them filled with a claque, unread novels getting great reviews just because the publishers says so, etc etc.

Sometimes it seems very little has changed. I don't know of any kept women in the (high) arts, but, yeah, no matter whether you're a man or a woman, exercizing charm at the right time and place is essential to succes.

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I think of a ballerina in the 18th century as roughly akin to the Japanese geisha. Geisha are very vehement that they are NOT prostitutes -- they are instead highly trained dancers and singeers, and also are taught to be charming hostesses to rich men at the all-male banquets. (In Japan, proper men and women simply didnt attend parties together.) Geisha did, however, often have "protectors" -- men whose identities were secret, but who discreetly supported them. I'd say female ballerinas had the same arrangement -- I go out and dance and look beautiful, and you give me the monthly check. I doubt these relationships were very romantic, but they did probably provide a lot of comfort and security to the ballerinas.

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