All classical ballet dancers, everywhere, have a ballet lineage directly linked to Pierre Beauchamp, who is credited with the birth of ballet in the 1600s. His pupils and his pupils’ pupils can be traced down the years to identify each and every one of us as his ballet descendents. However, this passing down of the art and technique of ballet hasn’t just been by rote. At different points in this ballet family tree, significant individuals have put their creative minds to the purpose of enriching the ballet codex and a revised branch of the tree has evolved. One of these individuals developed the technical elements and artistic style that we practice today – his name is Enrico Cecchetti. Let’s learn more about him.
Surely destined for a life in performance, Enrico was born in 1850 in a theatre dressing room to parents who were both ballet dancers. They had three children in total, all born whilst travelling as dancers, which begs the question if his mother Serafina continued to perform on stage whilst pregnant! His official debut was in 1866, aged 16, in a ballet choreographed by his father where he partnered his very talented sister, Pia (both pictured left in Sleeping Beauty). In 1870 he joined La Scala theatre in Milan and made performances widely acclaimed for their virtuosity. He toured America, mainland Europe, Russia and England – all with enormous success. He was heralded as “the primo ballerino del mundo” the first dancer in the world.
He married Giuseppina, a ballerina, in 1878 and over time they had five sons. During a tour to St Petersburg in 1887, his performance was seen by the famous choreographer Marius Petipa and Ivan A. Vsevolojsky, director of the Maryinsky Theatre. They immediately engaged Enrico as principal dancer and second ballet master for the Imperial Theatre. Five years later, at age 42, Enrico accepted a teaching position at the Imperial School in St Petersburg, where he began to develop the series of exercises and enchainments that would become the method of ballet that we follow today.
During his time at the Imperial School, Cecchetti greatly influenced the Russian ballet, and contributed to their high technical standards. In 1902 he moved to Poland to teach at the Warsaw Imperial Ballet School. However, he soon returned to St Petersburg where he opened a private school. Between 1907 and 1910 Enrico taught private classes to Ann Pavlova , who of course became the first ballet superstar of the 20th century (pictured right).
In 1910 Enrico’s career took a new turn when Serge Diaghilev hired him as ballet master and mime for the Ballet Russes company. Cecchetti maintained the technical level of the dancers, enabling them to cope with the enormous physical and dramatic challenges for the company’s demanding choreographers. This included Mikhail Fokine who created the works The Firebird (pictured left with Karsavina), Petroushka and Les Sylphides. As an integral part of the Ballet Russes, Cecchetti was involved in the most exciting ballet revolution of the time. The Ballet Russes brought together artists who wanted to push forward a modern movement which would liberate ballet from being petty entertainment constrained by the patronage of the audience, short tutus and narrative sequences disrupted by applause. Its aim was to transform ballet into a potent art form. To do this they planned to bring together modern choreography that was purely designed to tell a story, costumes and sets that reflected the true setting of the piece, narratives that were more in tune with literature of the day, and music from contemporary composers. What an inspirational time this would have been for Cecchetti, and how great his students became – Tamara Karsavina, Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky were all taught by him.
In 1918, Enrico’s connection with London was firmly established when he set up a school on Shaftesbury Avenue, which was frequented by the greatest ballet dancers of the time. Fortunately for us his highly developed method of ballet was captured by Cyril Beaumont, an eminent ballet writer and critic of the day, who transcribed Cecchetti’s exercises into the syllabus we use today and founded the Cecchetti Society in 1922. Enrico and his wife retired to Italy in 1924, but he was persuaded to direct the ballet school at La Scala theatre in Milan for a further four years, before passing away in 1928.
Cecchetti’s Legacy
Cecchetti’s legacy is an integral part of the fabric of classical ballet today. His pupils spread out across the globe and have taught further generations the Cecchetti syllabus. Ballet in the UK is heavily influenced by Cecchetti as Dame Ninette de Valois and Marie Rambert were his pupils at the London school, and they went on to found the Royal Ballet and Ballet Rambert respectively. This has led to the founding choreographer of the Royal ballet, Frederick Ashton (pictured right), reflecting the Cecchetti values in his work. He wrote, “If I had my way, I would always insist that all dancers should daily do the wonderful Cecchetti port de bras. It inculcates a wonderful feeling for line and correct positioning and the use of head movement and épaulément, which – if properly absorbed – will be of incalculable use throughout a dancer’s career.”
Sources
The Cecchetti page on the ISTD website
Cecchetti A Ballet Dynasty; Livia Brillarelli, 1995, Arts Inter-Media Canada
Enrico Cecchetti A Memoir; Cyril W Beaumont, 1929, Cyril Beaumont
Fokine Memoirs of a Ballet Master; Michel Fokine translated by Vitale Fokine, 1961, Constable and Company Ltd.
Diaghilev Creator of the Ballets Russes, 1996, Barbican Art Gallery
Enrico Cecchetti Wikipedia entry