Ethereal expression

Abstract

Set in 19th-century Romanticism, classical ballets are still playing to full opera houses across the globe. This article explores paradoxes of time, cultural capital and gender in ballet as a global physical culture on- and off-stage. Drawing on ethnography of three national ballet companies in Stockholm, London and New York and a contemporary company in Frankfurt-am-Main, I suggest that classical ballet is preserved because it is not only a `high' culture, but also a physical culture which has been taught and cultivated between bodies for centuries. Scrutinizing the stories of the Romantic ballets that originated during an era in Europe when the supernatural was à la mode and class and cultural background had a greater impact on marriage choice than today, we note that ballets still have the ability to touch audiences through the archetypical themes of love in relation to social structure and norms, desire and morality. The most popular classical ballet productions such as Swan Lake, La Sylphide and Giselle have been challenged in radical contemporary versions which confirm the prominent position of classical ballet both in the ballet world and society at large. Comparative ethnographic work on ballet schools in different locations helps to uncover the global connections that point to the robust existence of ballet as a unitary form of physical culture.