 The code of Terpsichore.
Author: Blasis, Carlo Published: Carlo Blasis (1795-1878) was born in Italy, trained in France and worked as a dancer, choreographer and teacher throughout Europe. In Paris, he studied with Pierre Gardel and danced at the Opera. At La Scala, Milan he worked with the great choreographer Salvatore Vigano. After a successful dancing career, Blasis became a respected teacher. He taught in many cities, notably at the La Scala ballet school in Milan between 1837 and 1850 and in Moscow from 1861 to 1864. His pupils included the ballerinas Fanny Cerrito, Amalia Ferraris and Elena Andreyanova. Among his male students was Giovanni Lepri, who passed on Blasis's teaching methods to Enrico Cecchetti. Carlo Blasis is one of the very few dancing masters who have set down the precepts of their art. His first book, a brief practical treatise on dancing, was published in Milan in 1820. It was absorbed into The Code of Terpsichore, which appeared in 1828 while Blasis was dancing in London. This wide-ranging work includes dance history, mime and social dancing among its many topics. Blasis worked during a period of significant changes in dancing on the stage, and in part two of The Code of Terpsichore, Theory of Theatrical Dancing, he draws attention to these as he sets down his observations and his practice as a teacher. Blasis not only provides a unique insight into the dance style and technique of his time, he also records the art which lay at the heartof the romantic ballet. |
