Throwback Thursday and Marie Sallé
Born in 1707 in Paris, France, Marie Sallé was an
expressive, dramatic dancer during a period in history when technical
virtuosity was more prominent. She trained under Francoise Prevost, and he
sponsored her Paris Opera debut in 1721 – when she was fourteen years old.
Her rivalry with Marie Camargo, who also danced at the Paris
Opera, was well-known, although they were opposites in many ways. It was in
London, not Paris, in 1734 where Sallé achieved her greatest success. She
created the solo Les Caractères de l’amour and a ballet, Bacchus
and Ariadne, which revealed her talent as a tragic actress.
She was admired by Voltaire, David Garrick, and Noverre, and
her innovations in choreography involving integration of music, costumes and
story, seemed to foretell the changes made by Noverre that happened later in the development of
classical ballet. She was the first woman to dance in a ballet she
choreographed, and she also seemed to foreshadow the much-later dancer Isadora
Duncan when she abandoned the elaborate, heavy costumes of the day for
loose-fitting Grecian style dresses and flowing hair.
She retired from the Paris Opera in 1740, but occasionally
appeared at French court performances until 1752. She died on July 27,
1756 at age 49.
From the Big Blue Book of Ballet Secrets:
Dance History Factoid #107:
“Marie Sallé was the first woman to perform in a ballet that
she choreographed.”
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