On Saturday evening 19 January 1867, a revival of the play Le Bossu opened at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin with new ballet divertissements choreographed by Henri Justamant starring the dancer Mlle Mariquita. Le Bossu, an adaptation of Paul Féval's popular novel, was already well known to Parisian audiences, and the actors Mélingue, Vannoy, and Laurent all reprised their roles from the original 1862 production. The novelty of Justamant's ballets was therefore a key attraction: as Louis Ulbach wrote in Le Temps, ‘the new ballet will bring the crowds back, even those that already applauded Le Bossu’. Justamant created two new divertissements for the reprise: a series of lively ‘gypsy’ dances in the fourth tableau and an elaborate ‘Grand Ballet Indien’ in the eighth tableau, the latter of which featured Native American ‘prairie girls’ and ‘huntresses’ frolicking by the Mississippi River flowing pure gold. Ulbach's review proved prophetic: Mariquita's fiery performance of Justamant's choreography, especially in the exotic ‘Grand Ballet Indien’, came to be one of the most celebrated elements of the show, and Justamant's ‘Indian’ ballet entered the popular imagination, becoming one of the most significant portrayals of Indigenous Americans in nineteenth-century Parisian ballet.

This essay examines representations of Indigenous Americans in nineteenth-century French ballet, focusing on the ‘Grand Ballet Indien’ of Le Bossu as a case study. Although several scholars have written about depictions of Indigenous peoples in European music and dance, most have focused on written texts (libretti, press reviews), iconography (costume designs), and sound (musical scores). Few have studied movement. After all, any discussion of actual movement is difficult, if not impossible, given the ephemeral nature of dance as an embodied oral tradition. For Le Bossu, however, we have Justamant's manuscript staging manual with choreographic notations of his version of the ‘Grand Ballet Indien’ divertissement from the 1867 Porte-Saint-Martin revival. The notations have allowed us to reconstruct what these so-called ‘Indian’ dances would have looked like in late nineteenth-century Parisian ballet – or, at least, how they were envisioned by one of the leading choreographers of the day.

Justamant's distinctive notation system is remarkably clear and explicit, and can be read by any dance scholar well versed in the gestural language of nineteenth-century ballet, making his staging manuals a valuable – if still largely untapped – resource.

Intricate plots, imaginative music, and creative choreography all contributed to the artistic success and critical appreciation of a ballet, but a production could be a box-office hit without even a hint of originality. The true raison d’être of music-hall ballet was spectacle. Examples of audiences favoring visual display over artistic innovation abound in all three halls. The Folies-Bergère, for instance, kept the military divertissement Les réservistes à venir (1887) on the bills for four months but performed the far more involved, pantomime-heavy romantic comedy Le château de Mac-Arrott (1887) for only seven weeks. The melodramatic historical pageant L’enlèvement des sabines (1898) outperformed its far more imaginative successor, La princesse au sabbat (1899), which also had one of the most original and colorful scores. In later years, the cliché-ridden, revue-like Antinoa (1905) and lightweight comedy Stella (1911) grossed higher nightly receipts and remained far longer on the program than the comparatively complex Montmartre (1913). At the Olympia, the bathing-suit ballet Bains de dames (1895) played for twice as long as the quasi-learned Le scandale du Louvre (1895); and the sensationalist Sardanapale (1897) and overtly sensuous Les sept péchés capitaux (1899) netted higher profits and enjoyed a longer run than the novel and comparatively erudite L’impératrice (1901).

Music halls did everything they could to emphasize the spectacular aspects of their ballets. Programs highlighted the names of famous performers in large bold type, announced colorful sets and period costumes, advertised unusual decor or special effects, and listed the number of women in the ballet corps. Posters featured celebrated personalities and depicted corps dancers in revealing costumes. Press announcements for imminent premières often made reference to the scale of a production or to the number of pretty girls in the ballet corps, to favorite set and costume designers, and to glamorous performers. Reviews of ongoing productions, in turn, sold ballets with grand proclamations of sensational costumes, lavish scenery, enchanting choreography, marvelous tableaux, and promises of mesmerizing, exquisitely beautiful—and preferably scantily clad—mime and dance artists.

Scenic Splendor

A quest for dazzling cascades of color governed every aspect of a music-hall ballet, beginning with the story's setting.

Divertissements Premiered at the Folies-Bergère

Information about divertissements comes from programs, posters, artists’ dossiers, scores (excerpted dances), and reviews. These sources are too inconsistent to create a systematic table.

Les conscrits espagnols, pantomime-ballet by Justamant, music by Olivier Métra, [ca. 1872−1877].

Le ballet noir, music by Métra [ca. 1872−1877].

Clown-ballet, divertissement by Justamant, music by Métra [ca. 1872−1877].

Les papillons noirs, music by Métra, choreography by Mariquita [ca. 1872−1877].

Champagne, music by Métra [ca. 1872−1877].

Cigarette, music by Métra [ca. 1872−1877].

Les fleurs, music by Métra [ca. 1872−1877].

Les volontaires, music by Métra [ca. 1872−1877].

Le capricorne, divertissement by Paul Meyan [1870s].

La crevette, divertissement by Meyan [1870s?].

La haute gomme, divertissement [1870s?].

La mer et les cocottes, ballet nautique by Charlin and Mlle Mariquita, music arr. by Gandon, November 30, 1871.

L’emprunt, divertissement, January 8, 1872.

Les folies amoureuses, pantomime-ballet by Gerny and Mlle Mariquita, music by A. Coedès, February 1, 1872.

Le bataillon des amours, operetta-ballet by H. Bedeau, music by Paul Henrion, dances by Mlle Mariquita, June 13, 1872.

Les femmes de feu, music by Métra, 1874.

Les fausses almées, ballet by Mlle Mariquita, music by Métra, March 8, 1874.

La jonquina, divertissement, music by Métra, September 15, 1875.

La Catarina, ballet, music by Métra, October 20, 1875.

La leçon de danse, divertissement, music by Métra, December 10, 1875.

Les boxeurs, music by Métra (?), 1875.

La posada, divertissement by the Armandi brothers, music by Métra, 1876.

Les joujoux, divertissement by Mlle Mariquita, music by Métra, March 20, 1876.

Noce bohème, divertissement arranged by M. Fuchs, music by Métra, November 1876.

Les fiancés du Béarn, divertissement by the Armandi brothers, arranged by Bertotto, music by Métra, November 1876.

Les faunes, divertissement by Bertotto, music by Métra, November 1876.

Une nuit vénitienne, divertissement by Bertotto, music by Métra, November 1877.

Aux porcherons, music by Métra, 1877.

Échec et mat, music by Métra, 1877.

Fouchtra, music by Métra, 1877.

Les frisonnes, by Charles Hubans and Bertotto, 1877.

Les abeilles, music by Hubans, 1877.

Les femmes chevaux, divertissement by Justamant, 1878.

Le bazar d’esclaves, divertissement, March 15, 1878.

La fête de Guy, divertissement, music by Hubans, June 10, 1878.

La petite muette, music by Hubans, ca. 1878.

Les tziganes, music by Hubans, ca. 1878.

Les noces de Polichinelles, divertissement-ballet, music by Hubans, October 29, 1878.

The most prevalent form of music-hall ballet was the divertissement. It was the first type of ballet to be adopted by the Folies-Bergère in the early 1870s, and it remained the hall's primary choreographic genre for nearly twenty years. Although the Folies-Bergère produced far fewer divertissements after Marchand turned to presenting pantomime-ballets in the late 1880s, the hall, along with the Casino and Olympia, continued to stage them through the 1890s and beyond. Divertissements could also be seen in smaller Parisian music halls and in the many halls that sprang up in the provinces in the wake of the Folies-Bergère's success. Together, French music halls produced hundreds of divertissements between the 1870s and 1910s.

Music-hall divertissements were typically short, lightweight ballets with little or no plot. Most consisted of loosely structured series of dances accompanied by music of utmost melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic simplicity. They were often thematically and stylistically derivative, and they did not require concentrated attention or any previous knowledge of the conventions of ballet. Despite this simplicity, their importance to music-hall ballet cannot be overstated. Divertissements constitute a self-contained, if constantly fluctuating, repertoire with direct links to various contemporary forms of ballet, from divertissements in large-scale works staged by the Paris Opéra or boulevard theaters to ballets created in English music halls. Although a few features were unique to the divertissement repertoire of a given period, many were either carried over into the large-scale ballets of the 1890s or prompted new developments in music-hall pantomime-ballet. Early divertissements therefore form the context in which music-hall pantomime-ballets were perceived and understood, and our own understanding of popular pantomime-ballet depends in part on a familiarity with the formal structures, topics, musical practices, and visual characteristics of early music-hall divertissements.

The Divertissement at the Folies-Bergère, 1871–82

The Folies-Bergère staged at least sixty divertissements in its initial fifteen years. Those from the early 1870s were truly ephemeral; for many, all we know is their title and authors. Nearly all had music composed by the hall's conductor, Olivier Métra, and most were choreographed by the young Mariquita or by M. Bertotto, who may have been the hall's ballet mistress and master.

Synopses of Ballets Staged at the Folies-Bergère, the Olympia, and the Casino de Paris

In a review of Henri José's Le tzigane for Gil Blas in 1899, Gaston Serpette encapsulated the essential qualities of a great music-hall ballet score. M. Henri Jose, he writes, “has perfectly understood that in a music hall, one needs above all to capture the attention of a public that comes far more for its own amusement than in search of great art. Also, all of his pieces are always melodically and rhythmically clear. One effortlessly follows this music that accurately underlines all of the libretto's situations.” To be a success, ballet music needed to be entertaining and functional. Although creativity and the ability to write arresting dramatic scenes were valued, music-hall composers earned the highest praise if they were able to write music that followed the contours of the plot and that was upbeat, danceable, colorful, and melodically appealing. The excerpts of reviews included below represent only a small sample, but their similarity is revealing.

Popular ballet music was light music. It was written for commercial venues as ephemeral entertainment that would appeal to as large and diverse an audience as possible. Music-hall scores were not intended for concert-hall performance or intellectual contemplation but rather as supports for pantomime and dance. Ballet music fit in with other types of music heard at the halls: polkas, waltzes, and marches played by the orchestra between circus or theatrical performances, music for song-and-dance routines, and exotic musical acts presented during intermissions. Music-hall ballet music was therefore closely tied to its function: its form was dictated by generic requirements and its tone by performance context and audience expectations.

Popular ballet music was virtually identical to Opéra ballet music in both form and function. Written to complement a particular libretto, ballet music closely followed the dramatic contours of a given plot. It set the scene, delineated characters, underscored the mime, and acted as a support for dance. Scores composed for music-hall productions also had to be as clear and predictable as possible, with musical cues that could be readily deciphered by a broad public. Music was therefore the most conservative component of a music-hall ballet. Composers adopted the stylistic and formal conventions of state-theater ballet music and preserved these formulas without significant change into the early twentieth century. The result is that while music-hall ballet scores ranged considerably in their rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic complexity (see chapter 7), their overall structure and the formal and stylistic conventions of their dramatic and dance music remained remarkably static throughout the history of the genre.

Dance Music

Dance and dramatic music were separate entities, each with its own function and conventions. Dance music was highly standardized and had a relatively narrow stylistic range. It needed to have a steady pulse with rhythms that propelled a dancer forward, an even number of measures, and balanced phrases. Dance music also needed to be simple enough to recede into the background and not distract from the choreography. Virtually all dances therefore consisted of repetitions of tuneful periodic melodies in small binary or ternary forms.

Of all dance types, ballet variations were subject to the most rigidly observed set of conventions. Composers nearly always used an ABA form with a twoor four-measure lead-in to set the tempo and a brief, sometimes more rapid, coda for bravura finales. Although variations could be as short as three sets of absolutely square sixteen-measure periods—no more than vignettes for the ballerina to make a cursory appearance on stage—most were double that length, and a few longer still. Variations usually had contrasting A and B sections with rhythmic patterns appropriate for different types of movements. One section might be suitable for delicate steps on pointe and pirouettes, the other for small jumps and turns across the room.

It's a ballet, a real ballet worthy of the Opéra itself and not only a divertissement mixed with dances that the Folies-Bergère has given us yesterday evening, with exquisite music by Varney… . One need not be a particularly clever prophet to predict a great success for this new work, La Princesse Idaea, which will bring all of Paris running to M. Marchand's music hall.

Blavet may have been somewhat carried away in his enthusiasm for the Folies- Bergère's latest première. La Princesse Idaea received mostly lukewarm reviews and merely average box-office earnings. Yet his declaration expressed a larger truth. By the 1890s, music-hall ballets were genuine pantomime-ballets that conveyed intricate narratives through mime, dance, and music. Indeed many of music-hall ballet's formal components recalled the genre's high-art counterpart. The two had the same large-scale structures, and they had similar scene and dance types. Both also relied for theatrical effect on a previous knowledge of dramatic, choreographic, and musical conventions. If one were to study only the conventions of 1890s music-hall pantomime-ballets, one might mistake many of these works for ballets produced by the Paris Opéra in the same years.

A Traditional Structure

The most obvious connection between music-hall and Opéra ballet was their structure. As the term implies, pantomime-ballet was a hybrid genre that combined pantomime and dance to tell a story. All pantomime-ballets staged by the Opéra in the nineteenth century had these two basic components, and while the proportions varied considerably, mime was at least as important as dance. In a study of Romantic ballet, Lisa Arkin and Marian Smith noted that “it is more accurate, in fact, to conceive of these ballets as mimed dramas that called for dancing from time to time.” Their observations may also be applied to pantomime-ballets staged at the Opéra a half-century later. Scores show that whereas dance considerably outweighed mime and action scenes in La Korrigane (1880) and La Maladetta (1893), the reverse was true in La tempête (1889). Les deux pigeons (1886) and L’étoile (1897) had a near balance of the two, with a slight emphasis on mime or action scenes and with most dances taking place in self-enclosed divertissements.

“It is ugly and it is superb, it is in both exquisitely good and outrageously bad taste.” With these words, J.-K. Huysmans summed up the paradoxical allure of the legendary Folies-Bergère, a venue celebrated as much for its resplendent decor and club-like surroundings as for its theatrical productions and circus acts. Huysmans's account of an evening at the hall in his 1879 Parisian Sketches evokes an atmosphere at once elegant and rowdy, refined and vulgar. Patrons swarmed the halls, creating a frenzy of noises, smells, images, and interactions; the air was thick, dusty from the seat cushions and carpets, and filled with cigar smoke; the crowds were lively and noisy; the courtesans ever-present and alluring. He concludes:

The Folies-Bergère was an English-style music hall that ultimately became a symbol of Parisian pleasures. Trading on a potent mix of laughter, sex, and dreams, the hall welcomed patrons into a dazzling fairyland to revel in hedonistic amusements. They could smoke or drink in an extravagantly decorated lobby, join the courtesans milling about in the vast passage that encircled the hall, or watch a succession of lighthearted entertainments in the auditorium. It was a favorite haunt for affluent Parisians seeking the latest trends, where the famous rubbed shoulders with the infamous, and where tourists could taste the heady combination of beauty and vice that fed Paris's reputation for joie de vivre.

In the late nineteenth century a popular form of ballet emerged in Paris's foremost music halls: first at the Folies-Bergère in the 1870s, then at the Casino de Paris and the Olympia in the 1890s. For more than four decades, music halls rather than ballet's traditional home, the Opèra, were the settings for a vibrant French ballet culture. Music halls had the money, artistic ambition, and public visibility to attract the era's best creative and performing artists, and the profitable staging practices to generate a steady stream of spectacular ballets. Performed to full houses night after night alongside acrobatic acts and song-and-dance routines, these productions quickly became the focal point of an evening's entertainments and drew a larger and more varied audience than had ever attended ballet.

Music-hall ballets were initially no more than divertissements similar to those integrated into large-scale lyrical and dramatic works staged at the Paris Opèra or Opèra-Comique. In the 1870s, the Folies-Bergère began presenting short illustrative ballets that served as pretty and sometimes titillating backdrops to an evening of socializing. They proved immediately popular, and ballet quickly became a favorite form of music-hall entertainment. Soon the Folies-Bergère was creating new ballets at a rate of four to six per year and producing them on an ever grander scale. By the late 1880s, the hall was staging grandiose pantomime-ballets: works with extended narratives conveyed through a combination of mime and dance. Pantomime-ballets in turn became a staple of Parisian music-hall entertainment.

As the Folies-Bergère grew to be the preeminent music hall in Paris, and as ballet became an increasingly important element of its success, other venues took notice. When the Casino de Paris and the Olympia became music halls in 1890 and 1893, they looked to the Folies-Bergère as a model and patterned their activities on those of the already famous and profitable venue. Between 1890 and 1909, all three halls presented new pantomime-ballets on a regular basis, each vying to stage more exciting and impressive productions than the others. In the 1890s alone, the Folies-Bergère created thirty pantomime-ballets, the Casino sixteen, and the Olympia eighteen, each of which was performed on a nightly basis for several months. Pantomime-ballet had become everyday entertainment for a broad public.

The appeal of music-hall ballets relied to a great extent on the stories they told. Although spectacle and glamour played an important role in music-hall ballet's popularity, the genre remained firmly rooted in the tradition of storytelling throughout its history. And the plots were fun. Most were light tales of love set in wondrous far-off lands filled with alluring women, or in glittering paradises both fantastical and Parisian. The genre was intended to be escapist entertainment, one of the intoxicating pleasures of the boulevard that helped fuel the legend of the Belle Époque.

While deeply enmeshed in the mores of fin-de-siècle Paris, music-hall ballets nevertheless remained aloof from social and political affairs. It is striking that during an era plagued by political turmoil, social unrest, and economic recessions, the authors of music-hall ballets pointedly ignored general strikes, bombings, riots, and fears of social decay. Instead they provided a reprieve from the onslaught of daily stress. In the music halls, history was mined only for colorful backdrops and costumes, social and political affairs served as fodder for comedies, and “contemporary” meant trendy places and pastimes and the latest fashions in dress. Music-hall ballets promoted pleasurable distractions, beautiful people and places, and gratified desires.

Story lines for the first pantomime-ballets staged by music halls in the late 1880s and early 1890s closely resembled the divertissements of the preceding two decades. These pantomime-ballets were longer and more complex than divertissements, but the two forms shared numerous stock themes, topics, settings, and character types. In the mid- to late 1890s, however, the range of ballet topics seen on the music-hall stage suddenly broadened. The halls continue to stage love stories, fairy tales, exotic fantasies, and pastoral sketches, but they also began to present lavish spectacles and parodies that drew on mythological and historical subjects. Ballets that made reference to contemporary places, people, and events—a type of ballet specific to the music halls that had been presented sporadically since the 1870s—also increased dramatically in the 1890s. As Hélène Laplace-Claverie observes in her study of French ballet librettos, the proliferation of subjects considered appropriate for choreographic interpretation was one of the most significant developments in ballet writing at the turn of the century.