In earlier times, earlier cultures, men were always the priests, the medicine men, the storytellers. Their strength was in the power of their communication with their gods, their spirits and their tribes. And they communicated through dance. As faith in the old religions faded, these ceremonies lost their significance and slowly their dances became mere entertainments, dividing the community into doers and watchers. The most effective dancers were highly respected and their skills were in great demand. This was the first step for dancers on their path to becoming professional performers and they were exclusively male.
During the Renaissance in Europe, dance was looked upon as a necessary social grace for both men and women. Because there were social restrictions placed on the women and also because of the clothes they wore, the men did all the jumps and turns. The ladies of the court dressed to impress. Their gowns were made from the heaviest of velvets and encrusted with as many jewels as each dancer’s family could afford. So female dancing relied on much gliding and posing … and frequent fainting from the weight of her outfit.
All courtiers took a dancing lesson every day and their dances were exact and rigidly schooled. The steps were simple but the floor patterns were very elaborate. Great emphasis was placed on deportment and manners, on when and how low to bow. A courtier could lose the respect of his fellow courtiers and more importantly access to the king if he was not being exact in everything he did. Nothing was ever improvised. Not even by the king and the kings of Europe were frequently the most avid dancers.
Paris in particular saw itself as the centre of all social graces. The French court was noted for the elegance of its court entertainments, especially those of Louis XIV. He enjoyed dancing so much he insisted that all who attended his court should be accomplished dancers. It is Louis XIV whom we must thank for founding the first academy of dancing, thus allowing ballet to develop into a true theatrical art. It produced the first professional ballet dancers. And they were all men … even in the female roles! The youngest and slimmest dancers took these parts, as was the custom in other forms of theatre. Shakespeare’s plays, for instance, were always performed by all male troupes. It was a time when it was not thought proper for women to appear on stage in public.
Male dancers became the ‘superstars’ of their day. In demand throughout the world, they commanded large salaries and the friendship of kings. Three of these dancers Louis Dupré, Gaetano Vestris and his even more brilliant son Auguste were admired so much that it was thought their talent was more than any mortal could achieve and they were called “Gods of Dance”. However, within twenty years of the opening of the academy, the first professional females dancers appeared, and over the following 300 years, as tastes changed, they gradually dominated the stage, especially during the Romantic period.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Romanticism with its emphasis on unattainable ideals filled the stages of Europe with sylphs, and other ethereal, supernatural creatures, while the men became dreamers. Dreamers ready to sacrifice their lives for their Romantic ideal, and instead, ended up sacrificing their careers as they became little more than props for their partners. Although few male dancers found fame during this period, all the most successful choreographers and teachers were men.
By the end of the 19th century the centre of ballet had moved to Russia where the superior training and wonderful ballets created by Marius Petipa and later, Michel Fokine would soon aid the re-emergence of star male dancers. When Vaslav Nijinsky and Adolf Bolm leaped to International stardom in Paris with the Diaghilev Ballet Russe they restored the rightful place of men in dance. The year was 1909.
At that time in Australia, dancing was still not looked upon as a career suitable for a man. To be honest, very few Australian men would have wanted to be ballet dancers. Pre-television, most of them would never have seen a ballet. The only theatrical dancers they would have encountered were Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, so tap dance began to attract quite a few adventurous young males. If they were lucky enough to enrol in a dance studio that taught tap, jazz, acrobatic and ballet, then they could sometimes sneak into the ballet class with the encouragement of their teacher.
Of course, sometimes a famous dancer would tour Australia and leave a trail of girls and boys smitten by the magic of their dance. Pavlova did this all around the world. Here, in Australia a young musical comedy dancer called Robert Helpmann was so inspired by her that he sailed to England and eventually became that country’s leading male dancer. To be a classical ballet dancer in his day, it was necessary to leave home and travel overseas because there were no ballet companies here.
Edouard Borovansky changed all that. He was a dancer from Czechoslovakia (where there had never been any discrimination against male dancers) and he had toured Australia first with the Pavlova company and then with Colonel De Basil’s Ballets Russes. At the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe he decided to stay in Melbourne and start a school and a company. For Australian dancers it meant that at last there was a goal to aim for, a reason to continue with the study of classical dance.
With increased exposure to ballet came increased respect for male dancing. Admittedly at first it was more likely to encompass the physicality of the dancers, their athleticism rather than their aestheticism, but still male dancing was becoming more respectable.
Today, the number of boys studying dance around Australia is staggering. Not as in the past, mainly ballroom, tap and jazz, but now folk, contemporary and ballet. Competition is extremely intense for acceptance into The Australian Ballet School and other full-time training institutions, where upon graduation these young men now have the opportunity to join one of the more than twenty professional dance companies in Australia. Throughout the world Australian male dancers are valued and respected not just for their physicality, their athleticism, their technical prowess, but also for their sensitivity and their artistry. Male dance is alive and well. Long may it flourish!
