A Treatise on the Art of Dance

Investigating a rare book from the collection of Paul Oppé, Hannah Jones, Archives & Library Assistant (Graduate Trainee) looks into the history of ballet and its study.

In a reference library, a publication can be significant for its own history, design, or rarity, as much as for the information it contains. At the Centre, one such title belonged to the British art historian, critic, art collector, and museum worker Paul Oppé, whose collection is owned by the nation and has been allocated to the Centre since 2017 (under the UK’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme) and includes a library of books, exhibition catalogues, auction catalogues, and periodicals on varied subjects such as British drawings and watercolours, artist biographies, and aesthetics and the philosophy of art. The book is a beautifully illustrated manual of dance discovered in the course of cataloguing the last items in the Oppé acquisition, titled Traité élémentaire, théorique et pratique de l’art de la danse: contenant les développemens, et les démonstrations des principes généraux et particuliers, qui doivent guider le danseur (which translated reads Elementary, Theoretical and Practical Treatise on the Art of Dance: Containing Developments and Demonstrations of the General and Particular Principles Which Should Guide the Dancer). Published in 1820 and written by Carlo Blasis, the book is extremely rare and only two other copies are held in UK libraries.

As well as wondering why Oppé had this item in his collection, I also had a strong personal interest and curiosity, as prior to my work at the Centre I trained as a professional ballet dancer and performed with companies including Ballet Cymru and Cork City Ballet.

Carlo Blasis (1797–1878) was an Italian dancer, ballet teacher, and writer; he is credited as the first person to collate and publish an analysis of classical ballet technique. As a teacher, he understood the necessity of daily class and taught through a programme of progressive exercises, which are explained and presented in this book, and designed to help improve a dancer’s technique and physical capacity.

The book also contains wonderful illustrations by the artist which accompany these principles. One example is Blasis’s description of the “attitude position” – a position he created in which the dancer stands on one leg, with the other raised and extended to the back, with a bent knee. Blasis credited Jean Bologne’s (1524–1608) statue of Mercury as his inspiration. Although the position has developed and been adapted over the past two centuries through dancers’ increased flexibility and range of movement, the position created by Blasis and depicted in this book is still recognisable as one that dancers learn to this day.

Further positions illustrated in the book reveal inspiration taken from other art forms, such as the “arabesque”, a French term derived from the Italian arabesco meaning “in the Arabic style”. Arabesques are a decorative art form of repetitive patterns and motifs, often used to add ornate and intricate designs to buildings and objects. As such, Blasis describes how through this particular position dancers can mirror the art form by creating interlacing patterns and circular, spiral formations.

In seeking to understand Oppé’s interest in the subject and his possible reasoning for acquiring the book, I came across another publication in the Centre’s library authored by Oppé and Cecil Sharp titled The Dance: An Historical Survey of Dancing in Europe (1924). The book presents the history and development of dance throughout Europe, discussing multiple genres of dance and their origins, including ballet. The text for the publication was written by Sharp, and the seventy-five plates and seven illustrations were sourced by Oppé.

Cecil Sharp (1859–1924) was a friend of both Oppé and his wife Valentine. He was a musician, author, and folklorist, collector of English folk songs and dances, and the founder of the English Folk Dance Society. In The Dance, Sharp references Blasis multiple times; he describes him as an “important figure” in the history of ballet and notes that in Traité élémentaire “the diagrams of the feet are fully turned out through an angle of 90 degrees”. While Sharp does not credit Blasis with introducing the idea of “turn out”, he does suggest that by teaching this technique, Blasis was able to provide his students with “a wide base-line and a stance of great stability. It thus brings within his range a large number of difficult physical movements which he could not otherwise have attempted […] varieties of entrechats, pirouettes, fouettés, extended leaps and other athletic feats”.

Sharp also examines the origin of pointe work or what he refers to as “toe dancing”, in relation to Blasis: “I cannot find that toe-dancing was practised at an earlier date than 1830. Blasis in his treatise of 1820, already quoted, constantly uses the expression sur la pointe, but from his diagrams it is evident that by this he meant what is known as the half-toe or pied à trois quarts – double proof that the point position as now understood was then unknown. Noverre, who also used the expression, could only have given it the same sense. If Taglioni was the first dancer to practise the modern position, as tradition credits her – and I cannot find any picture of an earlier dancer in this position – it did not come into vogue before 1830.” This sort of reasoning shines light on the importance of illustrated manuals to understanding the history of an ephemeral art such as dance, prior to photographic or filmed records.

A letter in the Paul Oppé archive, which is also held at the Centre, expresses Sharp’s thanks for sending him a copy of the Traité élémentaire: “I have nearly finished going through it – it is very helpful and shows plainly that the splayed feet was definitely in use in his day […] It is interesting that he should call dancing of the half-toe when all his pictures show quite clearly – sur la pointe”.

Oppé may then have purchased Traité élémentaire to aid Sharp in his research for their joint publication, highlighting that an individual’s library often reflects their relationships and collaborations, as well as more personal interests and expertise. Working with materials in both the library and archives, we can develop a deeper understanding of such stories behind our collections.

Page 26

Detail of Plate 67 in Sharp, C.J. et al. The Dance: An Historical Survey of Dancing in Europe

London: Halton & Truscott Smith, Ltd., 1924. Image courtesy of the Paul Mellon Centre Library Collection (OPPE-1824-4).

Page 29

Pl. IX, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 in Blasis, C. and A.P. Oppé. Traité élémentaire, théorique et pratique de l’art de la danse: contenant les développemens, et les démonstrations des principes généraux et particuliers, qui doivent guider le danseur. Milan: Chez Joseph Beati et Antoine Tenenti, rue de S. Marguerite (contr. di S. Margherita) no. 1066, 1820. Image courtesy of the Paul Mellon Centre Library Collection (OPPE-1820-4).

Pl. XIV in Blasis, C. and A.P. Oppé. Traité élémentaire, théorique et pratique de l’art de la danse: contenant les développemens, et les démonstrations des principes généraux et particuliers, qui doivent guider le danseur. Milan: Chez Joseph Beati et Antoine Tenenti, rue de S. Marguerite (contr. di S. Margherita) no. 1066, 1820. Image courtesy of the Paul Mellon Centre Library Collection (OPPE-1820-4).

Page 30

Plate 3 in Sharp, C.J. et al. The Dance: An Historical Survey of Dancing in Europe. London: Halton & Truscott Smith, Ltd., 1924. Image courtesy of the Paul Mellon Centre Library Collection (OPPE-1824-4).

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