Marie Taglioni

Marie Taglioni
Taglioni in a lithograh of 1839
Born	(1804-04-23)23 April 1804 Stockholm, Sweden
Died	22 April 1884(1884-04-22) (aged 79) Marseille, France
Nationality	Italian/Swedish
Occupation	danseuse
Years active	1824–1847
Known for	La Sylphide, other romantic ballets
Parent(s)	Filippo Taglioni and Sophie Karsten
Relatives	Paul Taglioni (brother)

Marie Taglioni (23 April 1804 – 22 April 1884) was a ballet dancer of the Romantic ballet era, a central figure in the history of European dance. She was one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the romantic ballet, which was cultivated primarily at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, and at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique of the Paris Opera Ballet.

Early life

Taglioni was born in Stockholm, Sweden to Italian choreographer Filippo Taglioni and Swedish ballet dancer Sophie Karsten, maternal granddaughter of the Swedish opera singer Christoffer Christian Karsten and of the Polish opera singer and actress Sophie Stebnowska. Her brother, Paul (1808–1884), was also a dancer and an influential choreographer; they performed together early in their careers.

Marriage

Taglioni was married to Comte Auguste Gilbert de Voisins on 14 July 1832, but separated in 1836. The couple had one daughter, Eugenie-Marie Edwige.

Training

Taglioni moved to Vienna with her family at a very young age where she began her ballet training under the direction of her father. Fillipo created a rigorous training regimen for his daughter that consisted of holding positions for 100 counts and engaging in two hour long intervals of conditioning exercises, adagio, and jumping combinations. In Vienna, Marie danced her first ballet choreographed by her father titled "La Reception d'une Jeune Nymphe à la Cour de Terpsichore".

Career

Lithograph by Chalon and Lane of Marie Taglioni as Flora in Didelot's Zéphire et Flore. London, 1831 (Victoria and Albert Museum/Sergeyev Collection)

Before joining the Paris Opéra, Taglioni danced in both Munich and Stuttgart, and at age 23 debuted in another ballet choreographed by her father called "La Sicilien" that jump-started her ballet career. Taglioni rose to fame as a danseuse at the Paris Opéra when her father created the ballet La Sylphide (1832) for her. Designed as a showcase for Taglioni's talent, it was the first ballet where dancing en pointe had an aesthetic rationale and was not merely an acrobatic stunt, often involving ungraceful arm movements and exertions, as had been the approach of dancers in the late 1820s.

Pas de Quatre

Taglioni (center) in Pas de Quatre, 1845

In 1827 Taglioni left the Ballet of Her Majesty's Theatre to take up a three-year contract in Saint Petersburg with the Imperial Ballet (known today as the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet). It was in Russia after her last performance in the country (1842) and at the height of the "cult of the ballerina", that a pair of her pointe shoes were sold for two hundred rubles, reportedly to be cooked, served with a sauce and eaten by a group of balletomanes.^[1] In July 1845, she danced with Lucile Grahn, Carlotta Grisi, and Fanny Cerrito in Jules Perrot's Pas de Quatre, a ballet representing Taglioni’s ethereal qualities that was based on Alfred Edward Chalon’s lithographic prints. "Pas de Quatre" was originally choreographed to be presented to Queen Victoria.

Retirement, last years, and death

Taglioni retired from performing in 1847; for a time she took up residence at the Ca' d'Oro on the Grand Canal in Venice. When the ballet of the Paris Opéra was reorganized on stricter, more professional lines, she was its guiding spirit. With the director of the new Conservatoire de danse, Lucien Petipa, and Petipa's former pupil, the choreographer Louis Mérante, she figured on the six-member select jury of the first annual competition for the corps de ballet, held 13 April 1860.

Later she taught social dance and ballroom to children and society ladies in London; she also took a limited number of ballet pupils. Her only choreographic work was Le papillon (1860) for her student Emma Livry, who is remembered for dying in 1863 when her costume was set alight by a gas lamp used for stage lighting. Johann Strauss II composed the "Marie Taglioni Polka" (Op. 173) in honour of Marie's niece, Marie "Paul" Taglioni, also known as Marie the Younger. The two Marie's are often confused.

Taglioni died in Marseille on 22 April 1884, the day before her 80th birthday.