Shakespeare and Ballet

(Nancy Isenberg) The plentifulness of Shakespeare ballets performed in our times around the globe - works which have entered into the standard ballet repertoire and newly created ones - signals a tradition that dates back to the earliest days of ballet theater in the Seventeenth century. The intensity and tenacity of this tradition can be explained in part by certain common roots that the two stage genres share, and by the subsequent ease with which, over time, characteristics of the one could be adapted to the conventions of the other. To date, research on Shakespeare and ballet has focused in large part on cataloguing Shakespeare ballets by date, place, choreographer, composer, ballet companies and leading dancers, and to describing plot adjustments. There is much work still to be done before we can fully grasp the complexity of the Shakespeare-ballet connection. Investigation has been hampered by the ephemeral nature of ballet which does not always leave behind even a music score or set of choreographic annotations, both of which in any case require specialized deciphering skills to be comprehended. Furthermore, the perception of ballet as conservative, elitist, and strictly European or Western lessens its appeal as object of study in the current cultural context by comparison with other performative genres. However, recent work in the field of dance studies on how the dancing body means culturally can now advance our understanding of the Shakespeare-ballet connection from a performative perspective, and help to cancel out some of the prejudices against ballet’s cultural usefulness. This article draws on research carried out by both Shakespeare and dance scholars working from shared critical perspectives such as those informed by stage conventions, politics, multiculturalism, gender and sexuality.