Dancing with Ghosts

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Dancing with Ghosts

Tensions between Classical Ballet and Ibsen's Modern Drama

Lianna Elizabeth Stewart

Master’s Thesis in Ibsen Studies (IBS4390) 60 Credits

Centre for Ibsen Studies

Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies (ILN) UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

May 2021

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Dancing with Ghosts

Tensions between Classical Ballet and Ibsen's Modern Drama

Lianna Stewart

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Dancing with Ghosts: Tensions between Classical Ballet and Ibsen's Modern Drama http://www.duo.uio.no/

Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo

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Abstract

Henrik Ibsen’s works have consistently been subjected to a wide variety of

adaptations, expanding the limits of spoken drama and dramatic text. Over time, readers and spectators alike have had the opportunity to understand Ibsen’s dramas from new

perspectives. Providing a thrilling addition to the growing list of adaptations, The Norwegian National Ballet premiered a ballet adaptation of Ibsen’s problem drama, Ghosts, in 2014.

Ghosts – Ibsen’s Gjengangere (Ibsen’s Ghosts), directed by Marit Moum Aune, reconsiders the story by utilizing the ballet form and kinesthetic language replaces spoken dialogue.

Despite the expanding multidisciplinary field of Ibsen studies, the connection between Ibsen and dance has yet to be extensively explored. Dance studies has also seen an expansion in the academic domain over the past century—connecting with other disciplines.

To answer this call to research, this thesis analyzes the juxtaposing notions between Ibsen’s modernity and classical ballet ideologies. While this production is considered a modern ballet, the strict classical ballet heritage permeates into today’s ballet sector. The legacies of classical ballet embrace ideal and unattainable images of perfection while Ibsen actively critiqued such ideals in his dramas—including Ghosts. Because of this juxtaposition, I argue that themes of gender, power, and silence are emphasized in this modern ballet.

Theoretical assumptions from gender, feminist, and semiotic frameworks stress how these themes are realized. Combing the disciplines of literature, dance, theatre, and Ibsen studies, this thesis utilizes an in-depth mis-en-scéne analysis to stress that classical ballet ideologies are challenged in Ibsen’s Ghosts.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to use this opportunity to extend my sincere appreciation to those who have helped me along the way in this beautiful academic journey. First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Liyang Xia. Words cannot fully describe what you have provided me throughout my entire experience as a student at the Ibsen Centre. Your valuable and though-provoking critique continuously encouraged me to become a better writer. Every single one of our meetings left me feeling reinvigorated, motivated, and determined to work harder. As an educator and a researcher, you have inspired me in countless ways. I appreciate all your time, patience, and support over these past two years—

thank you, sincerely.

I would also like to thank my wonderful educators and colleagues at the Ibsen Centre.

There is truly nothing comparable to the student experience here at the Centre. The diverse and inspiring academic community provided me with the essential foundations to grow as a young scholar. I want to especially thank my fellow colleague, Amanda, for our inspiring Ibsen-related conversations and for being an incredible support throughout our program. A heartfelt thank you also goes to our lecturers for navigating the pandemic this past year so eloquently—lectures and discussions were both intriguing and valuable whether they were in- person or on Zoom. I can speak for all my fellow colleagues when I say we greatly appreciate such an encouraging academic environment.

To Maren, thank you for your continuous support in my academic endeavors—I would never be on such a fulfilling path if it were not for you. As I finish this thesis, I recall our first discussions on Ghosts and how my interest in Henrik Ibsen was ignited in your classroom.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my profound appreciation to my lovely family and friends for their constant love. To my mom, my dad, and my siblings—

Amanda, Aaron, Eric, Taylor, and Sarah—thank you for expressing your excitement for my studies, encouraging me to follow my academic dreams, and supporting me in every way possible from across the ocean. To my beautiful friends—Coltan, Katie, and Tiril—thank you for constantly cheering me on and supporting my studies. Finally, a heartfelt thank you goes to Jorge for listening to all my ideas about my thesis, helping me through the bumps in the road, and being endlessly caring and compassionate.

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The Norwegian National Ballet premiered a modern ballet adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts titled Ghosts - Ibsen’s Gjengangere (Ibsen’s Ghosts) on the 19th of September 2014 at Den Norske Opera & Ballett in Oslo, Norway.¹ Director Marit Moum Aune and choreographer Cina Espejord presented a condensed 70-minute version of Ibsen’s problem drama. The Norwegian dance production delivers an adaptation of the scandalous story of the Alving household employing the corporeal language of dance. Studies on adaptations of Ibsen’s works keep expanding as new adaptations continue to emerge through a variety of different styles, media platforms, and cultural contexts. However, very few of these studies deal with dance adaptation of Ibsen’s plays. What is more, even though dance traditions span over centuries, the field of dance studies has only recently seen a revival as a topic of

discourse within the scholarly community. It was not until the latter half of the 1900s that dance scholarship progressed into the interdisciplinary field of “dance studies”.² To add to this growing discourse, I will examine Ibsen’s Ghosts, not the least because it is one of only two ballet adaptations of Ghosts, according to the IbsenStage database.³ My interest lies in the use of the ballet form and how it elucidates themes such as gender, sexuality, power, and the destructive power of silence in Ghosts. By utilizing dance—particularly ballet—as an art medium to present this Ibsen play, these themes are exceedingly highlighted on stage due to the contrast between the form (modern ballet which echoes the aesthetics of classical ballet in many ways) and the content (one of Ibsen’s most avant-garde plays that challenges the 19^th- century European social norms). In other words, the significance of researching a ballet adaptation of Ghosts lies in the complex juxtaposition between Ibsen’s modernism and the classical ballet aesthetics.

Performing one of Ibsen’s social problem plays, in this case, Ghosts, as a ballet creates an interesting tension. This tension is demonstrated by the fact that classical ballet aesthetics have historically been influenced by idealism, an idea that Ibsen actively challenged.

1 I want to allude to the production’s title, Ibsen’s Ghosts. The Norwegian National Ballet titled the work Ghosts – Ibsen’s Gjengangere and it is visible as such on the official Norwegian website for Oslo’s opera house

(operaen.no). However, the English translation of the website provides the title Ibsen’s Ghosts which is the title I will be referring to in this thesis.

2 Morris, “Dance Studies/Culture Studies,” 82; JSTOR, “Dance Studies Association;” Schmid, “Proust at the Ballet,” 184.

3 I refer to another modern ballet adaptation of Ghosts, choreographed by Cathy Marson for the Royal Opera House in London (2005).

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Renowned choreographer and scholar, Susan Leigh Foster, refers to idealistic art as having the “ability to provide a perfect image, one that both celebrated and exemplified social ideals.”⁴ This idealistic notion of art demonstrates that romantic art only created an image of unattainable perfection, an imitation of the ideal rather than reality. The classical ballet heritage upheld these strict standards, especially for the ballerina. Thus, an unrealistic vision between art and reality was established. Admittedly, modern ballet has challenged and opposed much of the aesthetics of classical ballet through reformed choreography, among other things. Nevertheless, the legacy of classical ballet still leaves a mark on Ibsen’s Ghosts.

If classical ballet embraced idealism and the rise of modernity critiqued that ideology, then the following questions arise: How does the use of the ballet medium effect a performance of Ghosts? How do traditional ballet ideologies juxtapose Ibsen’s modern themes? How can a performance analysis of Ibsen’s Ghosts help us understand this juxtaposition? How is this juxtaposition used to explore themes such as gender, power, and female oppression on stage?

What can the historical rise of modern ballet teach us about the critique of idealism? By looking at Ibsen’s Ghosts, the dichotomy between idealism and modernism can be unpacked.

Distinct themes such as gender, power, and silence are already present in Ghosts, but they take on new expressions when communicated through ballet.

Not only does this juxtaposition between genre and story awaken these research questions but dance itself differs vastly from other forms of art or adaptation. Firstly, there is a large contrast between conventional language and the language of dance, if we credit dance as a language similar to the notion of “body language”. This means that dance conveys meaning in a different way. It relies considerably more on bodily communication rather than verbal communication. While body language has the capability to mimic and symbolize objects, it is still more generalized and cannot contextualize meaning as indicatively as verbal language.⁵ Hanstein reflects on this by arguing that a “dance work is meaningful rather than meaning something” (my emphasis).⁶ While Ibsen is renowned for his nuanced writing of (verbal) dialogues, this thesis examines how themes that are expressed through words (or lack of words) in Ibsen’s text are expressed through kinesthetic language in the ballet performance.

In analyzing the kinesthetic language on stage, it is important to keep in mind that the body of the dancer plays a unique role in that the body of the dancer is, as Kolb summarizes

Nietzsche, “both the agent and the material of movement.”⁷ This adds to the tension between

4 Foster, Choreography & Narrative, 14.

5 Bannerman, “Is Dance a Language,” 65.

6 Hanstein, “On Speaking to the Audience Without Words,” 139.

7 Kolb, Performing Femininity, 26; Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, 32.

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idealism and modernism in the sense that the dancer is portraying ideal art, but they are also the imperfect human being behind the bodily art.

I argue that adapting Ibsen’s problem drama into a ballet creates a clear tension between modernism and idealism and that tension highlights aspects of Ghosts in the performance. The acquisition of perfected technique, feminist critiques of the male constructed ideas of femininity, and the overall obsession with the ideal are all steadfast principles linked to the classical ballet tradition. Characteristics such as these still dominate the framing of this modern ballet version of Ghosts and, juxtaposed with Ibsen’s modernity, amplify certain quintessential themes in Ghosts through the complex interplay between façade and reality. These themes, as explored in my thesis, include the illusion of the ideal woman, gender and power struggles, and the silences of secrets and withheld information that festers within the Alving household. The goal of this analysis revolves around the dissection of the many parts of a dance performance to decipher how these themes are portrayed on stage. By means of decoding the genre and other signifiers on stage, especially the body of the dancer, we can understand how each theme is represented.

To set this analysis in motion, a review of relevant literature will be presented

followed by an explanation of the methodology of my research. This will clearly lay out how my analysis will be realized. Thereafter, an outline of the chapters explains the logic and flow of my thesis.

1.1 Literature Review

The field of dance theatre studies has proven to be an established and expanding field, particularly over the past two decades, with scholarly research from journals such as Dance Theatre Journal, Dance Research Journal, and larger projects such as The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance and Choreographing Shakespeare.⁸ Ballet has a strong tradition of adapting literature into dance which insinuates that there is a recognizable connection

between the two forms, giving a basis for scholarly investigations.⁹ There is a well- established scholarly community that studies Shakespeare in dance theatre. The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Dance—written by scholars in the fields of theatre, literature, and dance—investigates this classical interconnectedness between drama and dance. This is one of only three books that revolve around the subject of Shakespeare and dance, the others

8 Sanderson, “Age and Gender Issues in Adolescent Attitudes to Dance,” 118.

9 Bennett, “The Language of Dance,” 57; Many of the most traditional ballets (Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty, for example) are most often based on dramas or folk tales.

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being Choreographing Shakespeare by Elizabeth Klett, which was published in the same year (2019), and Shakespeare and the Dance by Alan Brissenden (1981).¹⁰ With only three larger works on the subject, this proves that the concepts explored here are meant to be questioned, researched further, and expanded upon. My thesis will be drawing from this very research on drama and dance to obtain theoretical and analytical tools.

As far as Ibsen productions are concerned, there are over 40 productions and 61 documented dance events that fall under the genre of ballet alone, according to IbsenStage.¹¹ There are currently very few sources dealing directly with these dance performances of Ibsen’s texts. Frode Helland arguably has the most notable work concerning Ibsen and dance.

In the chapter “Three Chinese Dolls,” from his book, Ibsen in Practice, three Chinese productions of A Doll’s House are explored from the lens of cultural exchange politics to show how Ibsen as a playwright was used as a vehicle for modernizing Chinese spoken theatre as well as the exchange of cultures between China and Norway.¹² The third and final production analyzed in this chapter is a dance theatre production of A Doll’s House in Beijing (2010) with mostly Norwegian creatives and a mixed cast of Norwegian and Chinese dancers.

Helland’s research is concentrated on the socio-political implications of the performance rather than analyzing the performance from a strictly theatrical perspective. The analysis looks closely into context such as funding, commerciality, political and cultural reasoning behind the performance, and how two cultures coexist on stage. The entire study drives home the point that, when we look at all these details surrounding a performance, a greater picture of how the performance plays a role in the cultural and political history of China and Norway.

While Helland briefly addresses the problematic discourse of racial dynamic on stage as revealed through the dancers’ body language, his main focus is on how this Chinese dance theatre adaptation can be used to study cultural politics. My thesis, on the other hand, studies the ballet production of Ibsen’s Ghosts from another perspective—one with a heavier focus on the performance itself and how its themes are played out on the modern ballet stage. While the socio-political context of Ibsen’s Ghosts is beyond the scope of this thesis, my thesis does provide valuable material for further research on the reception of Ibsen’s works in modern- day Norway and the political discourses surrounding Norway’s exporting Ibsen to other

10 McCulloch and Shaw, “Introduction,” 2.

11 IbsenStage is a virtual database that includes information on all known Ibsen performances. The data provided for each performance includes actors, organizations, theatres, and other creative roles. The data then is presented in the form of an “event” page which shows all the data linked to each Ibsen performance.

12 Helland, “Three Chinese Dolls,” 120.

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countries.¹³ The juxtaposition between classically informed ballet aesthetics and Ibsen’s modern drama points, on the one hand, to how the contemporary Norwegian artists negotiate their way through seemingly contradictory art forms and, on the other hand, to the continued Norwegian state interest in using Ibsen in its cultural diplomacy.

Apart from the advancement of the field of Ibsen studies, this thesis will also add to the discourse surrounding dance and performance studies. Examining the topic of Ibsen and ballet illuminates a new perspective on the relationship between dance and literature while also considering the relevancy of classical ballet’s heritage in contemporary productions.

Furthermore, analyzing a performance mise-en-scène brings forth a more comprehensive view of the entire world of dance theatre, in this case, encompassing the breadth of

knowledge concerning Ibsen, ballet, and modernism. On the account of the lack of sources dealing with this Norwegian production and Ibsen and dance in general, I will design a methodology based on scholars within the fields of theatre, dance, and literature studies. A fresh methodology will open new opportunities in this multi-disciplinary field of theatre studies. In the coming section, this methodology will be elucidated and defined to clearly show how my coming analysis will take place.

1.2 Theories and Methodology

Combining theories and methods from performance analysis, textual analysis, theatre historiography, and a foundation of the basic history of ballet provides the methodology of this analysis. As mentioned previously, scholarly voices have recently rejuvenated dance scholarship to incorporate other disciplines. Therefore, I employ sources that ponder the relationship between literature and dance along with additional sources that point out themes of gender, power, and silence in Ibsen’s original dramatic text. I also draw upon theoretical conventions such as Judith Butler’s works on gender, Laura Mulvey’s conventions of the male gaze, R.W. Connell’s theory of gender and power, and Kier Elam’s work on semiotics in the theatre. These sources will assist in creating a suitable methodology for my investigation of Ibsen’s Ghosts.

Academics have recently delved into the relationship between dance and literature engaging with authors and playwrights like Proust and Shakespeare. Previous research

13 The official production page on operaen.no for Ibsen’s Ghosts, writes that the production has toured to a handful of other countries since its premiere (USA, China, Germany, Austria, and Hong Kong). The possibility of touring and the exportation of Ibsen as a Norwegian product is more accessible by using the language of dance, based on the assumption that dance is considered a “universal” language.

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pertaining to this subject matter assists in making the first steps in the exploration of Ibsen and dance, ultimately placing this analysis neatly and justifiably into the field. I point to Marion Schmid’s article on Proust and ballet and Elizabeth Klett’s article on Shakespeare and ballet. Both scholars analyze literature that has been translated into the ballet medium—just as Ibsen’s Ghosts has been. Observing how dance can emphasize/de-emphasize themes that were once textually evident, these authors structure their work from a thematic point of view. I have conducted the same organization in my thesis because this structure develops a thorough overview of each theme. Additionally, because dance works have historically been

palimpsests, the methods used to research general ballet productions are also useful. Studies on archetypal ballets have also served a useful purpose for looking at female representation in classical ballet from a feminist perspective, in a similar matter to my study. I have not

disregarded critique on these feminist views, however. Observing multiple viewpoints has only strengthened my argument in the coming analysis.

Helland’s work also provides a useful framework for discussion Ibsen and dance.

There is a shortage of work discussing this topic and none of them on the Norwegian ballet production of Ghosts. My investigation into the production relies on two primary sources: a live performance analysis (from January 19^th, 2020) and a DVD recording. Secondary sources were available in the form of theatre reviews from Norway and other countries in which the production has toured. From all ends of the globe, various news sources, press releases, and advertisements summarize, discuss, and critique the ballet performance. These reviews, especially those from Norwegian sources, show a clear commercial intent. Still, the handful of reviews available serve a purpose in the case of this analysis by showing evidence of the major themes that international viewers are picking up on and the overall reception of the production. Even if the production in question only has a few genre-specific sources to draw upon, this only provides for an exciting research journey taking inspiration from other scholars within the relevant fields. I will also note here that there are pros and cons to using this DVD recording. Walter Sorell, in his book The Dance Through the Ages, reminds us that the camera can alter the spectator’s viewing of the performance as “the camera abandons its role as the mere recorder of movement and begins to assert its own personality.”¹⁴ The camera decides what the spectator focuses on and can create its own interpretation of the production.

Therefore, it was valuable to utilize my own live viewing to interpret the staged performance

14 Sorell, The Dance Through the Ages, 291.

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without the guidance of a camera. There is value in this mixture of the two viewing formats, with these I can provide a more objective viewpoint of the performance.

As any other work of live performance, dance is confined to a temporal dimension within the space of the performance. While dance theater does have different elements from other forms of theater, we can examine ballet using a similar methodology to general theater studies. Nevertheless, it is still imperative to separate ballet from other forms of dramatic theatre. There is a certain understanding of dance theatre needed for an analysis of a ballet performance. Therefore, methods that are specific to dance are necessary to apply to this thesis. First and foremost, I offer the fundamental history and aesthetics of ballet because, as Christopher B. Balme states in The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies, it is of utmost importance to have a basic understanding of the history of dance, its styles, and choreography.

Balme maintains that dance is “always suspended in a dialectic between the world and self- reference.”¹⁵ Moreover, to fully grasp and analyze a ballet performance, both sides must be acknowledged. Self-reference, in this case, will be expressed through my personal experience as a spectator as well as the historical account of the ballet, a performance recording from the National Norwegian Ballet. Contextualizing ballet’s past will aid in situating Ibsen’s Ghosts in history and provide a clear frame of reference for the themes of gender, power, and silence as these three themes relate to ballet’s antiquity.

In addition to connecting ballet’s history, these themes—gender, power, and silence—

also reference textual interpretations of Ibsen’s original text. It is relevant to utilize these close readings to strengthen my analysis. I touch first upon two articles that highlight the theme of silence, written by Dimitris Vardoulakis and Toril Moi respectively. These studies become vital to my analysis on the theme of silence in Chapter 4. Vardoulakis, in his article

"Spectres of Duty: Silence in Ibsen’s Ghosts,” explores how Ibsen employs silence in the dramatic dialogue between Manders and Mrs. Alving. Suppressing each other’s opposing notions of duty ultimately has destructive tendencies in the dialogue. He claims that their varying concepts of public and private duty are the very core of the drama along with the obvious ultimate silence, the venereal disease inherited by Oswald. These characters are naïve to think their acts of silences will not come to fruition and end in inevitable tragedy. If it were not for Ibsen’s creative use of silence, the drama would not have such a strong social critique.

Toril Moi suggests a wider definition of silence in her article, “Hedda’s Silences.” In the Norwegian language, there are multiple definitions of silence and Moi takes a creative look at

15 Balme, The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies, 161.

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each of them to define the different types of silences in Ibsen’s play: purposefully withholding information, saying nothing, or the general lack of noise.¹⁶ I engage with her definitions to organize my analysis of silences without dialogue in Ibsen’s Ghosts (see Chapter 4).

Another pertinent textual analysis is an article titled “Power and Sexuality in Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts,” by Amir Hossain, Vlera Ejupi, Arburim Iseni, and Liljana Siljanovska. Their argument pertains to the effects of the patriarchy on marriage and the middle-class family.

With a focus on Foucauldian and Belseyian theories of power and sexuality, this article looks at the gender roles of 19^th century Scandinavia and how Ibsen’s characters depict the tragic reality of the modern woman brought upon by the patriarchy. The authors argue that there is a connection between power and sexuality in the problem drama and the strong hold that the patriarchy has on society leads to issues of gender imbalances.

All three articles focus on how Ibsen’s literary techniques accentuate themes of silence and gender dichotomies. My analysis focuses on similar themes—gender, power, and silence.

But what happens when these explicit themes become implicit when dialogue translates into movement? This is a question I ponder throughout my entire thesis when observing the wider socio-political context of classical ballet tradition and Ibsen’s modern drama.

Let us now consider the theoretical postulations of semiotics. This theory lays out an applicable framework for my analysis of Ibsen’s Ghosts. Ballet, similar to many other dance forms, places an emphasis on the moving body. Therefore, the genre demands an

understanding on how the body creates meaning—in addition to the rest of the activities on stage. Asserting that performances are made up of a system of signs that form to create meaning on stage, semiotics aids in understanding theatre meaning. In this instance, ballet is being analyzed as a semiotic process. The signs that are presented in ballet performance require the critic to recognize the historical habits of signs in classical ballet and in Western culture. Only then can we understand the tendencies of signs in a modern ballet production.

This is useful in untangling the tension between the modern story of the Alving family being performed in a historically idealistic genre of dance. My analysis pertains to this juxtaposition and how it utilizes the genre to create an emphasis on certain themes presented in Ghosts.

Furthermore, the reason an understanding can arise from studying sign habits of classical ballet is because it demands the “generalization of a past history of signs and a likelihood that this history will somehow regulate future sign action.”¹⁷ Semiotics is an effective framework for understanding how these themes are represented on stage by reading and translating these

16 Moi, “Hedda’s Silences,” 440.

17 Atã and Queiroz, "Emergent Sign-Action," 6.

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signs using a process of semiosis. As an audience member and theatre historian, I aim to make use of the classical ballet heritage and Western cultural beliefs to assert meaning to this

Norwegian production of Ghosts.

To further the understanding of the decoding of a sign on the ballet stage for specific themes, it is vital to incorporate other theoretical frameworks to create a stable and justifiable analysis. My analysis focuses strongly on the female representation in classical ballet and its connection with Ibsen’s text (Ghosts). Therefore, I implement the assumptions of feminist theorists such as Judith Butler and Laura Mulvey. Butler’s concept of gender performance provides this thesis the Western ideologies of what it means to perform femininity on the ballet stage. According to Butler, the dichotomous genders is a result of the continuous repetition of cultural standards on men and women. To reinforce these gender standards, Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze is regarded in relation to the masculine logic of the 19^th century bourgeois society. Relating to these the patriarchal views of society, the historical recount of ballet, and the 19^th century woman, the male idea of an ideal woman firmly situates itself in the analysis of female representation in Ibsen’s Ghosts. To further these gender theories in Chapter 3, R.W. Connell’s theory of gender and power is brought into play. His theory goes into additional detail about how a hierarchy of genders has given men a higher authoritative power in the Western society. His theory assists in formulating how dances between characters ascertain a distinctive dominance of the masculine.

This culmination of gender and semiotic theories will all interplay with the characteristics of Ibsen’s modern drama and how his rise to modernity can juxtapose the traditional ballet values. The downfall of idealism lead to Ibsen’s modern problem drama, including Ghosts. The modernist movement was manifested with the overarching desire for individual freedom over unattainable ideals. Modern drama disregarded the previous devotion to the well-made play and focused on a more naturalistic story with more personal, realistic dialogue.¹⁸ Modern ballet had a similar rise to power, eliminating the fantastic spectacle of classical ballet. Agreeing with Toril Moi’s methodology in Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism, my thesis will observe how historical values of ideals express the significance of Ibsen’s modernism.

Furthermore, the serious lack of sources on Ibsen and dance does not mean that this field of research lacks significance. On the contrary, the sheer lack of research on dance adaptations of Ibsen’s texts brings forth a call for research on this field of study. Out of the 73

18 Langslet, Ibsen: The Father of Modern Drama, 53 and 56.

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ballet dance events noted on the IbsenStage database, 49 of these productions were staged after the new millennium. The majority of these adaptations have been drawn from Peer Gynt, which has arguably the most “danceability” with opportunities for a larger staged spectacle.

Only a few other dramas have been adapted into ballet, namely A Doll’s House, Lady from the Sea, and Ghosts. My interest in this Norwegian modern ballet adaptation stems from the extreme social critique in Ghosts, juxtaposing the strict heritage of classical ballet. This information, paired with the recent premiere date of Ibsen’s Ghosts, sparked my interest in how ballet connects with Ibsen. In summary, despite an absence of explicit sources on this modern ballet, there is no deficiency of sources to design an appropriate methodology to dive into the topic of Ibsen and dance. With the revival of dance studies along with reputable scholarship on Ibsen and theatre, this thesis considers a new point of view on performing Ibsen.

1.3 Chapter Overview

This introduction has demonstrated the significance and demand for the critique of Ibsen’s Ghosts. It is now necessary to outline the organizational flow of the body chapters.

The following three chapters will expand upon the reach questions and claim that have primed the coming analysis.

In Chapter 2: Ibsen’s Women in Motion: Juxtaposing the Classical Ballerina, I explore how topics of gender, specifically femininity, are realized on stage. Chapter 2

provides a thorough historical and theoretical point of departure that helps in framing the rest of the analysis. To fully understand the juxtaposing female imagery in Ibsen’s Ghosts, the history of classical ballet and the rise of modern ballet must be outlined. Notions from gender and feminist theory will be used to frame the origins of classical and modern ballet. With this historical information, a comparison can unfold between classical aesthetics and the modern Ibsen ballet. The juxtaposition arises when the classical portrayal of the ballerina is compared with the modern ballerina and, above all, the avant-garde characteristics of this 19^th century play.

Having defined the origins of classical and modern ballet and the contrasting images of femininity in Ibsen’s Ghosts, the next chapter continues with a more specified analysis.

The structure and functions of ballet’s duet tool, the pas de deux, will be discussed in detail in Chapter 3: Pas de Deux: Imbalanced Relationships in Ibsen’s Ghosts. Focusing on the

disproportionate power relationships between Mrs. Alving and Pastor Manders and

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subsequently between Regine and Engstrand, the power dynamics between male and female are observed through partnered dance, semiotics, and a theory of gender and power.

To conclude, Chapter 4: Silence: Tensions between Dialogue and Movement ties together the entire gendered analysis by illustrating the importance of silence. Silence—once implicit in the original text—becomes explicit with the omittance of dialogue. Engaging with Toril Moi’s definitions of silences, I explore how different metaphorical themes of silence are apparent on the ballet stage. These silences interconnect with the previous themes of gender and power, binding together the entire thesis. To set the analysis in motion, we must begin by decoding the origins of classical ballet and how they aid in understanding the portrayal of Ibsen’s female characters on the ballet stage.

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Chapter 2: Ibsen’s Women in Motion: Juxtaposing the Classical Ballerina

Sharing similar qualities with Ibsen’s modern problem dramas, the modern ballet movement diverges away from the paradigms of classical ballet just as Ibsen diverged away from idealism in literature.¹⁹ The spontaneity and natural characteristics of modern ballet choreography oppose the ideal models of classical ballet technique. The dichotomy between the two eras of ballet parallels Ibsen’s text quite perfectly because Ibsen’s text (Ghosts) challenges the social norms of his time just as the modern ballet challenges the social ideals that inform the classical ballet. The Norwegian National Ballet’s production Ibsen’s Ghosts falls under the category of modern ballet as it moves away from traditional ballet ideologies.

Even so, the heritage of classical ballet is still present especially when looking through a feminist lens, such as Judith Butler and Laura Mulvey’s theoretical perspectives on gender performativity and the male gaze that will be explored in this chapter. I argue that the female representation in Ibsen’s Ghosts can be understood by examining the juxtaposition between the classical ballet which prescribe women a set of ideals and modern ballet which upsets those ideals. In consequence, certain gendered themes such as female oppression and their struggle for individual freedom are more apparent on stage. The term ‘juxtaposition’ is key to this entire analysis. The women in Ibsen’s Ghosts do not epitomize the ethereal image of the traditional ballerina. Instead, they are faced with the tensions in their own life, struggling between the bourgeois façade and a devastating reality. Ibsen’s modern problem drama, critiquing a flawed society, slowly reveals that ideals are unobtainable. Just as unobtainable is the ideal of technique and values in classical ballet. In this dance performance, women’s dancing bodies fight the patriarchal oppression present in classical ballet ideologies. For example, Regine and Mrs. Alving dance their story of oppression in several scenes—the kind of oppression that can be compared to the oppression that classical ballerinas were subject to.

Mrs. Alving and Regine’s dances visualize the contradiction between the ideal ballerina and the natural, flawed woman. The parallels to traditional ballet in the plot of Ibsen’s Ghosts, a modern production, bring about this tension in the production.

19 The modern dance movement encompasses a wide variety of genres and offshoots of dance. I do not discount these multiplicities but, for the sake of the specific comparison to Ibsen’s Ghosts, I keep my focus on modern ballet and will, therefore, use the term ‘modern ballet’ in place of modern dance.

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This chapter begins by outlining the traditional representations of female characters in classical ballet. To understand how female characters in this modern ballet performance are presented and why echoes of the classical ballet narrative appear on stage through the

danseuse, an understanding of the gender roles as portrayed in classical ballet is essential. My aim is to compare the classical ballerina and the contemporary ballerina, thus tracing

remnants of the historical traditions of classical ballet within Ibsen’s Ghosts while noticing the critiques on the traditions embedded in the production. As dance is nothing without the body of the dancer, examining the historical representation of the dancer gives a contextual reading of a ballerina. In addition to the historical context, this chapter also surveys notable female characters from renowned ballet productions and how they are typically personified on the ballet stage. Ballet has historically revolved around the female body. Social ideologies of the female body are consistently deposited onto the body of the dancer. Throughout time, the imagery of the female body in dance has shifted. I point to Judith Butler’s claims on gender performativity and Western ideologies of femininity are performed both on and off stage.

Continuing with a feminist framework, this chapter examines Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze and how female dancer representation is affected based on the historically male- ruled ballet industry. Representation for the purpose of this analysis will include typical movements, costume, and roles within the plot. These profiles will then provide the groundwork to compare with the portrayal of the complex female characters in Ibsen’s Ghosts. This chapter provides the answer to the following questions: How do the female characters in Ibsen’s Ghosts compare with female architypes in classical ballet? With the knowledge of its gendered history, how does the use of ballet as a medium emphasize a feminist motif? How does the female representation in classical ballet compare to that of modern ballet and where does Ibsen’s Ghosts fit into the dance narrative?

To preface the following analysis of female oppression and misogynistic themes that present themselves in the ballet tradition, I do not want to create a narrative that demonizes the ballet practice. There are unquestionably female dancers that find empowerment in their dance practice, dance scholar Jennifer Fisher being a dancer who experienced ballet as “a positive force.”²⁰ The aim of this analysis is to investigate ballet’s gendered history and how it has raised discussion in the feminist community regarding its steady gender roles present both on and off stage. With background knowledge surrounding the history of the ballerina, female characters in Ibsen’s Ghosts will be compared to conventional female roles and

20 Fisher, “Tulle as Tool,” 4

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representation. This comparison will heed the dichotomy between classical ballet aesthetics and Ibsen’s modern problem drama.

Additionally, while I argue that the medium of ballet emphasizes themes of gender with its choreography, plot, and characterization of the female dancer in this production, the theme of gender is not, by any means, silent in the source text. Scholars have highlighted themes of gender, sexuality, and power in Ibsen’s text referring to psychological and philosophical theories, among other things.²¹ While these ideas are not original, performing Ghosts using the language of dance provides spectators with a bodily perspective considering themes of female obedience and the power of male fantasy. After the foundational, gendered framework of classical ballet aesthetics are discussed, the rise of the modern ballet tradition will show a direct divergence from the traditional ideologies.

2.1 Theoretical Framework: Performing Gender and The Male Gaze

The exploration of female representation in the following analysis begins with a wider investigation of gender and what it encompasses. Citing feminist theorists whose work on defining gender provides the framework to clarify what characteristics are connected to femininity and masculinity. Prominent feminist and queer theorist, Judith Butler, is known for her work on gender performativity. Her theory contrasts the biological explanation that “sex determines gender.”²² Instead, she argues that both gender and sex are constructed based on cultural rules, common speech, and everyday actions.²³ Butler reinforces that the process of identifying one’s sex is based on an ideal within the “symbolic domain,” referring to the constitutive standards of a culture.²⁴ Moreover, according to Butler, sex and gender are not defined by nature but rather by deep-rooted cultural values that, over time, define what it means to be either feminine or masculine. What is more, a cultural ideal of a sex arises through a “repetition of norms” that produce an ideal image of what constitutes as

characteristic to any gender.²⁵ This repetition deconstructs the very idea that tangible genders exists because exceptions to these norms eventually arise, creating unstable gender

definitions.²⁶ The body is “a continual and incessant materializing of possibilities,” argues

21 Hossain et al., “Power and Sexuality in Ibsen’s Ghosts.”

22 Kimmel, The Gendered Society, 52.

23 Shepard, The Cambridge Introduction to Performance Theory, 185; Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution”, 519.

24 Kolb, Performing Femininity, 40.

25 Butler, Bodies that Matter, 10.

26 Ibid.

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Butler.²⁷ Therefore, gender variability is always at stake and this is one reason that nature cannot fully define gender. Even so, what historically constitutes as “feminine” in a Western society will contribute to defining the general representation of the female dancer, thus, understanding the depiction of the female dancers in Ibsen’s Ghosts and how they defy the gender paradigms of classical ballet.

Aligning with semiotic theory, Butler proclaims that “there is no body prior to its marking,” echoing the idea that a body is signified by social and cultural standards before it is even marked by a sex.²⁸ This is due to the gender models that have been firmly established before our birth. The differences in sex are not just material differences; the body’s

materiality is merely a result of these said cultural standards.²⁹ With these concepts in mind, the theater stage is also considered to be a symbolic domain according to semiotic theory.

Society associates gender to a body based on the routine performance of an individual, linking bodies and their enactments to theatrical signs. Thus, the upcoming analysis on the female dancer aligns with Butler’s ideas of gender performativity. Nonetheless, there are differences regarding gender performance on and off stage. Day-to-day, humans subconsciously and subtly perform their gender role based on cultural constructs. On stage, however, gender is more concrete, emphasized, and recognizable.³⁰ Since the theatre stage is entirely symbolic, everything on stage must provide the spectator with tangible signs to decode. Gender identity is translated on stage through symbolic acts that the “mundane social audience, including actors themselves” converts into gender identity.³¹ For this analysis of Ibsen’s Ghosts to successfully interpret some of these symbols, the gender norms in Western culture will be considered. In Western culture, as in all cultures worldwide, there are certain expectations for men and women. The multitude of these expectations should not be overstressed, but for the interest of this analysis, the patriarchal features surrounding the 19^th century bourgeois society will be in focus to tie everything back to Ibsen’s characters. With the knowledge of these constructs of male and female, along with how femininity is recognized and performed on the ballet stage, we can turn to the concept of the male gaze. Western ideals stress the duality between masculine and feminine, alluding to the fact that these two features oppose each

27 Shepard, The Cambridge Introduction to Performance Theory, 185; Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution,” 521.

28 Butler, Bodies that Matter, 98.

29 Ibid, 1.

30 Briginshaw, Dance, Space, and Subjectivity, 80.

31 Shepard, The Cambridge Introduction to Performance Theory, 185.

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other.³² There is great significance of the male gaze in the history of classical ballet because of its patriarchal foundations and polarity between male and female dancers.

The male gaze is a concept within feminist theory that strongly correlates to the gendered history of classical ballet. Conceptualized by Laura Mulvey for feminist cinema theory in 1975, her claim was that films were both created and intended for a specific viewer:

a heterosexual male.³³ Mulvey argues that women were merely objects for the viewing of this male spectator rather than individuals valued for reasons other than being looked at by men.³⁴ Since this study in 1975, the concept has been the root of feminist criticism of various art mediums. The notion of the male gaze proves to be an applicable framework when analyzing ballet’s history of female representation. As Christy Adair points out, female dancers

historically learned and executed dance technique that was “created by men and for men.”³⁵ Ann Daly, a feminist critic, reinforces this argument stating that displaying the female body on the ballet stage consistently re-establishes male power.³⁶ Men were the first and continue to be dominant in principal roles in dance such as choreographer, critic, and teacher in the world of classical ballet. And while men dominated the ballet stage first in the 18^th century, when the art became more female dancer dominated, tensions arose as the females were mainly used as an object of desire for the male creator and spectator.³⁷ Another indication of this male pleasure-oriented art form, was the widespread disapproval of male cross-dressing in classical ballet. If a male was dancing in female costume, it was said to have gotten in the way of watching that ballerina because it “provoked a homoerotic anxiety among male spectators.”³⁸ As I point out in this section, these predominantly male creators and teachers of ballet created the ideal ballerina seeks to obtain perfection in her body and movement. After that, examples of typical female representation in ballets that are synonymous with romantic ballet in the 19^th century will be identified to emphasize how the male gaze situates itself within the classical ballet paradigm.

This tension linked with gender arises when classical ballet ideologies, with an emphasis on the male gaze, is compared with the rise of contemporary ballet. There is a clear resistance to this male-dominated genre and the oppression of the ballerina. Normally

choreographed or directed by women, contemporary productions generally move away from

32 Alterowitz, “Towards a Feminist Ballet Pedagogy”, 8.

33 A Dictionary of Gender Studies, s.v. "male gaze.”

34 Ibid.

35 Adair, Women and Dance, 87.

36 Dempster, “Women Writing the Body,” 33.

38 Hecht, “The Phallic Swan Lake,” 63.

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the established male power. Similarly, Ghosts accentuates Ibsen’s modernity exhibited by his distinguishable social critique and turn away from idealism. Bearing in mind the differences between classical and contemporary ballet, performing Ibsen’s modern drama in the ballet medium juxtaposes modern and patriarchal ideas of gender.

On the contrary, it is beneficial to specify that not all dance critics accept that the ballet form supports a history of misogyny. Instead, some scholars argue that the ballerina is far from subordinate; she is empowered. The male dancer only legitimizes her brilliance with lifts and displays on the ballet stage.³⁹ The spectator is free to interpret movement however they see fit, just as female dancer is free to feel empowered. Another counterargument arises when considering the complexity of ballet’s art form and the dancer that arises when

analyzing such art through a feminist critic. “The weakness with this sort of analysis of

gender representation is that it runs the danger of reducing a complex artistic performance to a one-dimensional debate about positive and negative images and what used to be called

political correctness.”⁴⁰ My analysis does not aim to discount ballet’s distinct art. However, I argue that when the wider historical and cultural contexts are investigated, there are

indications that dance mirrored the cultural oppressions that woman experienced in society.

My reading of feminist theory compared with the ballet tradition is an effective method to analyze how the themes of female oppression are treated in Ibsen’s Ghosts.

2.2 The Role of the Ballerina in Classical Ballet: A Historical Overview

In terms of gender, classical ballet is seen as one of Western culture’s single “most powerful models of patriarchal ceremony.”⁴¹ In a patriarchal society, men have the upper hand within the sociopolitical sphere, meaning that they dominate society’s most powerful roles. As a historically male-run institution, the ballet tradition has consistently reinforced stereotypical gender roles, not only in the dramatic action of a ballet production, but also in its history and practice, all of which will be expanded upon in this chapter. If men possess more power, then it is interesting that the ballerina is regarded as the most central figure in ballet.

Therefore, there is much to be explored surrounding the female dancer in terms of her social role and the concept of the male gaze. Due to this patriarchal model, it comes as no surprise

39 Daly, “The Balanchine Woman,” 9.

40 Burt, “Dance Theory, Sociology, and Aesthetics”, 127.

41 Dempster, “Woman Writing the Body,” 25.

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that the ballet’s paradigm of the ballerina can be investigated through a feminist lens.

Moreover, a study of its historical cultural and social milieu will provide context on how Ibsen’s Ghosts both challenges aspects of classical ballet and reinforces others. To observe this connection, this section on classical ballet’s traditions will explore the historical context of the genre and the ways in which female dancers were influenced by male authority to portray their idea of a pure woman. Connecting this historical overview to the rise of modern ballet and the women in Ibsen’s Ghosts will pave the way to view the contrasting female dance imagery in this modern ballet production.

The study of female representation in classical ballet is a well-established research topic amongst both dance and feminist scholars. Ann Daly, renowned dance scholar and critic, claims in an analysis of George Balanchine’s dance work, The Four Temperaments (1946), that questioning how women are represented subsequently asks about desire, power, and the way in which the female dancer is displayed and observed.⁴² The representation of the ballerina and society’s positions on gender, power, and desire correlate directly to the feminist theoretical framework outlined by Butler and Mulvey. Gender demarcations and the elevated standards for female dancers are directly linked to classical ballet and its history. These traditional distinctions serve as a tool to analyze Ibsen’s female characters in dance form. The strong division between genders have made ballet into the genre it is today and ultimately triggered the rise of modern ballet. Elizabeth Demper claims that “dichotomized gender- imaging is fundamental to the ballet form” and continues to state that dance would not be ballet without these very distinctions.⁴³ A one-dimensional analysis of a dancer’s movement is not satisfactory if we want to fully comprehend the portrayal of the ballerina. One must also consider where women have been historically situated in the ballet tradition, both as dancers and as archetypal characters. The historical context behind this genre of dance uncovers a long history of male authority that directly affected women in the ballet community—dancers and creatives alike. The classical ballet form also places men and women into conventional roles that highlight this concept of the male gaze. Specific examples on these conventional characterizations will be discussed in further detail when examples are drawn from classical ballets later in the chapter. First, the historical foundations of classical ballet will be

introduced.

42 Daly, “The Balanchine Woman,” 9-10.

43 Dempster, “Woman Writing the Body,” 27.

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2.2.1 Origins of Classical Ballet

The classical ballet form distinguishes itself in its aesthetic traditions and technique.

Ballet traditionally involves institutional and ideological structures, as many art forms do.

Because of these time-honored aesthetics and ideologies, the ballerina has a distinct delineation. To form a fundamental understanding of how women are represented on the classical ballet stage, knowledge on the historical context is necessary. It is ballet’s

beginnings that expose its most influential values that permeate into modern ballet culture.

Beauty ideals in ballet are rooted in the rigorous technique that demands exquisite perfection from the body of the dancer. This model of beauty has been customarily associated with the high-class woman who illustrated grace and nobility. How did these ideals arise? It is a result of its aristocratic origins.

While the initial foundations of ballet were performed in the form of Greek tragedy, Roman theater, and folk dance, classical ballet took its most notable roots in a high society environment. The first formal ballet dances were performed in the European royal courts or palaces around the continent.⁴⁴ Court dance epitomized shared cultural ideals. The aristocrats commonly performed these dance spectacles, and they were the role models of society, situated right below royalty.⁴⁵ These royal court dances were inspired by the “ideal human form evident in the classical sculpture of Greeks and Romans.”⁴⁶ This initial fascination with the perfectly proportioned human led to the ‘ethereal beauty’ that is continuously sought after in ballet today. In addition to seeking supreme beauty, dance encouraged proper etiquette which was of utmost importance to this high-class society.⁴⁷ Polite manners were yet another way to demonstrate quintessential human behavior in a society ruled by the elites. Exuding grace through dance gave the impression that an individual belonged to the upper class. For, if choreography was performed in an ungraceful way, the dancer was associated with the lower class.⁴⁸ Dancing was also a way for elites to display their wealth, power, and free time to master complex choreography.⁴⁹ Thus, by mimicking the “manners and courtesies” of court life, ballet’s traditional style was created.⁵⁰ Dance masters—typically upper-class men employed by nobles—were the creators of these aristocratic dances and, in the 15^th century,

44 Lawson, A History of Ballet and its Makers, 9-12.

45 Hilton, Dance and Music of Court and Theater, 3.

47 Brinson, “1. The Role of Classical Ballet in Society Today,” 694.

48 Nevile, “The Early Dance Manuals and the Structure of Ballet,” 13.

49 Ibid., 17.

50 Brinson, “1. The Role of Classical Ballet in Society Today,” 694.

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they transcribed the complex choreographies to be performed by men and women in what is called a treatise.⁵¹ These treatises are the written foundations of classical ballet that were expanded upon over the next few hundred years by other dance masters.

In the 17^th century, Charles Louis Beauchamps, eventually established the official five-position ballet technique which concerns the placement of the dancer’s lower limbs.⁵² Dance masters lead to the creation of dance schools which then produced professional dancers. The dance masters, teachers, and first professional dancers were roles traditionally ruled by men.⁵³ High male involvement in these roles was primarily due to the social

conditions of the time. Europe’s patriarchal society had men in powerful roles, outranking the women in society. ⁵⁴ The men in these honorable roles were the pillars of classical ballet. By way of illustration, Charles Louis Beauchamps formulated the basic positions of ballet and his employer, Louis XIV established the first ballet school.⁵⁵ Male collaborators thereby

expanded the ballet form, turning it into a profession. The year 1681 marked a turning point in ballet’s history; women could finally pursue the career as a professional dancer, previously only allowed for men.⁵⁶ Thus commenced the narrative of the oppressed ballerina and her duties as a staged image of male desire, according to the concept of the male gaze. Hans Verwer, referring to the first women to perform professionally on the ballet stage, stated that

“having attractive women perform on stage was to distract attention from the creative element that makes the ballet worthy of being called art.”⁵⁷ This statement is strong and undeniably bias. Nonetheless, there is a point to be made here regarding the skewed role of women in dance. The possible function of the female dancer was to entertain and to assume the role of the male-desired object. The predominant male power in the beginnings of ballet history plays an important role in the portrayal of the female dancer, on and off stage. Alluding again to the male gaze, it is these male-centered beginnings that lead to what the image of the ballerina is today which encompasses movement, costume, and overall characterization. In ballet’s beginnings, men were not only the creators of the dance form, but they also dominated the stage. Over time, however, male participation on stage deteriorated as it was deemed

unacceptable for middle-class men to display high-class values on the ballet stage.⁵⁸ From that

51 Nevile, “The Early Dance Manuals and the Structure of Ballet,” 17.

52 Verwer, Guide to the Ballet, 1.

53 Prest, “The Gendering of Court Ballet Audience,” 127; Copeland, “Dance, Feminism, and the Critique of the Visual,” 139.

55 Verwer, Guide to the Ballet, 5.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid.

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moment on, it was the job of the female dancer to display these high-class values vis-à-vis the ballet form.⁵⁹

In the 18^th century, a more concrete ballet technique was established with the addition of turnout and pointe technique.⁶⁰ Eventually, during the Romantic ballet’s reign in the 19^th century, the male dancer was usually in the background, viewed as the mere ‘displayer’ of the ballerina.⁶¹ This transference created a paradox. Even though the woman was center stage, male creatives remained in authoritative power because of society’s patriarchal values. The creative freedom was, therefore, in the hands of the men. They chose how the ballerina carried herself, how she dressed, and what stories she conveyed in the ballet stories. It is also vital to note that these crucial decisions about the ballerina’s image and technique were appointed with the male spectator in mind. While the ballet audience was comprised of both men and women, the targeted audience member was most likely male.⁶² Jill Dolan asserts that

“theatre creates an ideal spectator carved in the likeliness of the dominant culture whose ideology he represents” (my emphasis).⁶³ Given the strong patriarchal values, male spectatorship was piquantly considered with the creation of the ballerina’s image.

The ideology of the ballet and the ballerina were, therefore, constructed by men for men, who eventually acquired a glorified level of stardom.⁶⁴ Early ballet traditions reflected the elevated standards that women in an elite society were bound to. The expectations for the ballerina were created by men and for male viewing pleasure, as seen in ballet’s history. Male creation and spectatorship established this initial male-desired image of the female dancer.

This paved the way for how women were represented on both the classical and modern ballet stage. The next section delves deeper into the construction of the idyllic ballerina and how the male influence made a difference in her image. Comprehending past gender relations in ballet supports an understanding of how these male-female relationships are subsequently reinforced in Ibsen’s Ghosts, especially concerning the image of the ideal ballerina.

60 The Oxford Dictionary of Dance defines: “turnout” as positioning the body outward by positioning the feet sideways and rotating the hips and legs forward, allows the body to be in full view on the traditional proscenium stage and directed the body and choreography outwards; “pointe” technique is traditionally only for women, performed on the tips of the ballerina’s toes, balancing the entire weight of her body, giving the appearance of defying gravity.

62 Prest, “The Gendering of Court Ballet Audience,” 128.

63 Dolan, The Feminist Spectator as Critic, 1.

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2.2.2 Constructing the Ideal Ballerina

As the classical ballet tradition continued to expand, the feminine imagery not only reflected certain cultural values, but it led to the creation of a romanticized female figure.⁶⁵ This was especially apparent in the 19^th century with the development of Romantic ballet, subsequently lining up with the period setting of Ghosts. Romantic ballet contained the archetypal depictions of femininity that classical ballet is recognized for.⁶⁶ A key concept in this symbolic imagery was the ideal feminine body. Obtaining the image of the feminine ideal began off stage with the search for students who embodied the conventional female dancer body. The ideal student “need[ed] to be good-looking and naturally slim, to have mobile, arched feet, flexible joints, efficient tendons, long limbs, a neat, beautifully held head.”⁶⁷ Maintaining this gaunt, flexible, and light build ultimately led to a body that was more likely to suffer from injury.⁶⁸ All that is natural in the body is erased already beginning at childhood when this rigorous training begins.⁶⁹ Ultimately, the ballerina can attempt to master the nearly unattainable technique only by obtaining this otherwise impossible physique. Adair states that a faultless female body is not a standard that only dancers must live up to. This ideal is

something that “all women are subjected to in one way or another” in society.⁷⁰ In other words, the constructed societal view of women was reflected on the ballet stage.

Ballet created a paradoxical image for women. The oppression that women were exposed to did not reflect the ballerina’s central role on stage. George Balanchine, a

prominent American ballet choreographer, argued that “woman is first in ballet by default.”⁷¹ Although women were glorified in the art form, their adoration was conceivably the result of the male fantasy. This is precisely why classical ballet contradicts itself. Women were worshiped on stage, but dance was also a part of a social environment where women were victims of stark oppression as they still are today.⁷² Ballet denied a female of having her own agency. This is because ballet training suppressed a woman of defining herself as an

individual and relying on the judgement of others instead of herself.⁷³ The glorified image of the ballerina as a symbol of the ideal woman creates tension in society. While the ballerina

66 Ibid., 51.

67 Jessel, Life at the Royal Ballet School, 12.

68 Pickard, “Ballet body belief,” 7.

69 Dempster, “Woman Writing Dance,” 26.

71 Daly, “The Balanchine Woman”, 8.

73 Dempster, “Woman Writing Dance,” 27.

Dancing with Ghosts

Dancing with Ghosts

Tensions between Classical Ballet and Ibsen's Modern Drama

Lianna Elizabeth Stewart

Master’s Thesis in Ibsen Studies (IBS4390) 60 Credits

Centre for Ibsen Studies

Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies (ILN) UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

Dancing with Ghosts

Tensions between Classical Ballet and Ibsen's Modern Drama

Lianna Stewart

Abstract

Acknowledgements

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Literature Review

1.2 Theories and Methodology

1.3 Chapter Overview

Chapter 2: Ibsen’s Women in Motion: Juxtaposing the Classical Ballerina

2.1 Theoretical Framework: Performing Gender and The Male Gaze

2.2 The Role of the Ballerina in Classical Ballet: A Historical Overview

2.2.1 Origins of Classical Ballet

2.2.2 Constructing the Ideal Ballerina